Lorelei Caroline

I hated food the first 8 weeks of pregnancy. I'm lucky in that I didn't have the morning sickness that many do.  I did have a general feeling of being queasy and I hated all food except cold fruit.  Strawberries and clementines never tasted so good. And ice cold water.  If it was cold, I wanted it.  Thankfully that phase has passed.  Now I have an obsession with waffles.  I generally hate most breakfast foods so this is new to me. They're too heavy and dense.  Breakfast shouldn't leave you feeling like you need to get back into bed. Because I have a new obsession with waffles, I purchased a waffle iron.  After much research and debate, I purchased the Presto Flipside .  It's not the model that was recommended by Alton Brown, but it replaced that model.  You know, in case you're an Alton Brown nerd.  It's a Belgian waffle maker with non-stick plates.  The plates aren't removable but the non-stick coating works wonderfully.  I'm pretty sure you can

Life is funny. You finally resign yourself to accepting your situation and then BAM! Suddenly, things change.  I had accepted that I probably wouldn't have kids, but realized I needed to move forward with my personal goals. There's no sense in putting dreams and goals on hold for what might be.  That's a big life lesson right there. One that's more useful the younger you are when you learn it.  Don't put ambitions on hold for what might happen. Because it probably won't. Or it'll be delayed. And then you'll have wasted all that time that you could have used learning and perfecting your skills.   I had decided to move forward with my pattern making goals and bought some books and supplies to teach myself. I made a couple of simple skirt blocks that I was happy with and wrote up a blog post. As I was thinking it over, making sure my instructions were clear, I found out I was pregnant.  Absolute elation!  Then I realized I probably shouldn't sew

For the longest time I didn't really care about what I wore.  I take that back.  I cared, but I didn't care enough to figure out what styles and colors looked best on me. I didn't care enough to pay attention to whether or not something fit the way it was supposed to.  I especially didn't know what   my style was. It was either what someone else bought/picked out for me or whatever was on sale and fit. My Dad had the joy of taking me shopping during the dreaded pre-teen and teen years so I was at the mercy of what he approved.  At the time it felt so incredibly strict.  All the other girls get to wear skirts above their knees, silver tube tops and brick shoes -- why can't I??  Who remembers JNCO jeans? But then he took me to the Banana Republic and JCrew outlets in Commerce, GA.  This was back when they actually sent out of season clothes to outlets rather than designing a cheaper line for them.  And back when you could get a good deal.  The clothes were beautiful

Any aspiring entrepreneurs/mompreneurs out there?  One of the first things we're guided on is to identify our Why. Why are we doing this?  Mine is simple, albeit a little selfish.  I'm a petite girl who loves clothes. I could just buy clothes and blog about it, but there are two factors playing against me.       1. Every couple of years I really just hate the trends and fabrics being used.  I've figured out my style, what silhouettes work on me and want to stick with it.       2. Not many stores cater to petite working women.  If I want to try clothes on in person, I'm limited to Ann Taylor/Loft because the Banana Republic, JCrew and WHBM near me don't carry petite sizes.  Not to mention that these brands have recently increased in size/bought into the loose clothing trend.  You know what loose clothes look like on a 95lbs, 5'2" individual?  Too big.  That's what they look like.  At this point I know what some of you are thinking. And, no, shutting

Yes, I do still exist.  And I'm about to open up and share some things about myself with you and maybe help someone else in the process. I've been kind of lost lately and not real sure what I want to do with this whole sewing/craft business and blog thing.  Two things have been working against, but ultimately for me.  1. I've been listening to entrepreneur podcasts to help keep me motivated, give me direction, and learn how to market my product.  2. I have a wide variety of interests and several skill sets that I want to develop.  Why are these two things working against me?  The entrepreneur advisers all advise on working on one item.  One.  I'm all over the map right now.  I'm doing home projects/décor, small craft projects, sewing, embroidery... everything. I feel like I'm doing everything. And because of that, I'm doing nothing.  Why?  I'm a big introvert and get overwhelmed easily. That overwhelm leads to paralyzing anxiety.  I have tons of ideas

I have a pretty great hubby dubs. He built this cabinet for me. Doesn't it look great! It give the closet a fantastic built in look and provides a bunch of storage for my bulky fabrics.  The top drawer is shorter than the bottom two, making it perfect for all those sewing notions that I need, but don't use often.  Like elastic and Velcro.    The wheels lock so I can open the drawers without pulling the cabinet halfway across the room.  I just love it. He built it in the same style as our nightstands. In my head this provides continuity in our house. I don't know that anyone else really cares about that. Oo la la! I can slide it out from under the desk so I still have that workspace and can access my fabric storage in the wings of the closet.  But, wait... SHAZAAM! That, my friends, is a drop leaf extension.  I wanted a drop leaf in the closet but unfortunately it just wouldn't work out. We talked through a bazillion plans and they all had major

Y'all. Last Friday I went in to Target to buy a bed pillow and some BC powder. Mine was awful and I was seriously Mrs. Grouchy Pants all day every day because I wasn't getting a good night's rest.  Anywho. This was my cart when I finally made it back to the pillow section.  Um. There's a pillow in there?? Turns out I have a bit of a shopping problem. It was a rough week. I was grouchy and the colors were so bright and fun.  Instantly cheered me up. I sincerely can't stand the term retail therapy.  But sometimes, yo.  I also justified it by saying everything came out of the $ section and I needed a project I could blog about. It's totally for my business. That's what I told myself. My original plan was to monogram the plates and put little decals on the cups and bucket. Small hiccup came when I realized that vinyl isn't food safe. I pondered for a while, asked around and did some research.  I even considered taking them back and scratching the whole

Hey my peoples!  I took a short break to finish up some much needed spring cleaning.  But have no fear--I'm back! And I'm back with a tutorial on how to work with Glitter Heat Transfer Vinyl (HTV).        Materials Design Weeding Tools (if applicable) Glitter HTV Shirt Vinyl Cutter (I use the Silhouette Cameo) Marking Pen (optional) Parchment Paper or Pressing Cloth Tile or hard pressing surface 1. Cut out your design. (Skip this step if you purchased one pre-cut).     Two tips on this step if you're cutting out your design:  Remember to mirror your design in the software. DON'T cut your glitter HTV with the glittery side up!! It will come out backwards! So unless you plan on reading your shirt in the mirror... These two steps are essential.  The adhesive is on the back side of the vinyl and a protective, clear plastic is on the front.  You don't want to cut through that sheet of plastic.  That's what allows you to transfer

Hey everyone!  Guess what. You're in for a treat because The Hubs is doing a guest post today!  He's pretty darn talented in many areas, two of which are woodworking and mathematics.  So naturally he combined the two and made this sweet knot/cube diagram.  Below you'll get to read all the fun details of how he put it together.  I posted this project over the weekend and got several questions from people about it, so I thought I’d share some of the process in case anyone’s interested. You can find out more about where the object comes from here: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.314.4240 and here: https://arxiv.org/abs/0811.0225 Be warned….there’s math in them thar links! The process is pretty straightforward. To begin, I cut bars 1 inch x 1 inch, making sure they were long enough to get several of the final pieces out, without a lot of waste. Then I took them over the router table to round over the corners with a 1/4 inch roundover bit

Hey there folks! I'm still moving along on my closet redo but am getting to the point where I can start incorporating more craft time into my week.  This week I made a mini portable ironing board.  When sewing you have to iron constantly if you want your project to turn out well. Sometimes, though, it's just a huge pain the butt to set up that big ol' ironing board for two little 3" squares.  Raise your hand if you've forgone setting up the ironing board and then regretted it later. *raises hand*  Yeah, um... That's when it ends up looking homemade rather than handmade.  I saw this tutorial from Popsugar on Pinterest several weeks back and tucked the idea away for later.  It's a mini ironing board.  I made mine 15"x15" and it's perfect for the smaller projects.  I'm going to show some pictures of my process, but you should really check out their tutorial.  Materials 1/2" Plywood, cut to size 4 Wooden Knobs w/S

Ladies, the next time your man asks if you want to go to Harbor Freight (or any other hardware/tool store) you should say, "Why, yes, honey!  I would love to!"  He may soon realize that no store is safe from your shopping prowess.  Just make sure you take some nose plugs with you. If you haven't ventured into the hardware store to find items you can use in your craft room then you're missing out.  Harbor Freight has a reputation for being cheap. And they are. And sometimes you get what you pay for.  However, sometimes you find some gems.  General rule of thumb: if it needs to be precise, buy it elsewhere. Before we begin, these are in no particular order or organized in any way.  I also have no idea how prices compare to other stores. Pictured below: self gripping hangers, black Velcro, 18" magnetic bar, stretch wrap. The self gripping hangers are great if you need a spot to hang things but don't have the room or layout for a tension rod or bar