Tomorrow’s my due date but baby is still warm and cozy in my belly!

***

So I’m seriously not the most crafty person, I really wish I had more time and talent for craft, but a few weeks ago I did redo a lampshade that I’m pretty proud about.  It’s by no means perfect but it’s my little pride and joy since I made it and put it together all by myself.    First, I started with a green lamp stand that I thrifted for $3.  It’s a fabulous green color with some great curves.

Then I found a lamp shade for $2 at another thrift store, score!  Except, next time, I would go for a flat instead of ribbed shade as the ribs kind of show through when the lamp is turned on.  Oops, lesson learned.

Then take some brown Kraft paper and roll the lamp shade along the paper and make marks on the top and bottom every few inches until you get all the way around the lamp shade.  Then cut out Kraft paper along those marks.  Then the fun part, find a fabric that you want to use for your lamp shade (must coordinate with the lamp stand) and cut out your fabric 1-2 inches bigger on all sides than the Kraft paper template.  The fabric was the most expensive part of the project, especially because I used a designer fabric (does anyone know the designer of this fabric?  I can’t figure it out for the life of me!).  Sew one of the side edges in by 1/2 inch as it will be the part that wraps around on top of the not sewn edge and sew the top edge in as well by 1/2 inch.. Then wrap the fabric around your lamp shade, folding the top and bottom edges inside.

Glue the edges to the inside of the lamp shade.  This was kind of the hard part because you have to pull the fabric so that the outside is flat and there aren’t any bumps.  It doesn’t really matter what the inside looks like.  I suppose you could have sewed down the bottom edge too but I was lazy and you can be too since no one will see the bottom insides.

OK, all done with the lamp shade!  Like I said, let’s blame the fact that I got a ribbed lampshade as the reason for why I couldn’t get my fabric completely flat on the outside.  Hopefully you’ll have better luck (esp. with a non-ribbed lamp shade).

Put your lampshade on top of your lamp stand and you are done!  Plug lamp in, turn light on, grab a book, get a cup of tea and get cozy on the couch next to your D.I.Y. lampshade!  We have ours in our living room so I get to look at it every day.  And I am obsessed with the fabric, such pretty colors!  But the best thing about this project was the fact that it was less than $10 to make!

That’s all folks!  Have you made one of these before?  Got any other tips?

Entries for this giveaway have been closed, thanks for entering!

Hey friends!  Today, I turn another year older, and to celebrate I’m hosting SIX giveaways.  Can I get a “woot, woot”?  First up, we have one of my favorite stamp shops ever, Ampersandity.  There are stamps perfect for your holiday presents and for self addressing your envelopes.  Forget handwriting!  Ready, set, enter!

{BIRTHDAY GIVEAWAY #1 of 6}

Win your choice of a non-calligraphy stamp from Ampersandity!

To enter:

1. What has been your favorite age and why?? (mandatory entry)

For additional entries, leave a separate comment for each action.
2. Visit Ampersandity and leave a comment with your favorite item!
3. Be a Google Friend Connect follower of this blog
4. Add Ampersandity to your Favorites on Etsy
5. Follow @sandyalamode on Twitter
6. Blog, facebook, or tweet about this giveaway (make sure to include @sandyalamode in your tweet) and include the link (one entry each). 

Feel free to use this tweet:

Celebrate @sandyalamode’s birthday with 6 #GIVEAWAYS! Enter to win an Ampersandity stamp! http://bit.ly/vdJ97E

This giveaway is open INTERNATIONALLY and closes on Monday, November 7, 2011 at 12PM CST. Good luck!

Entries for this giveaway have been closed, thanks for entering!

In just a matter of a few weeks, I will be standing by my old college roommate and best friend as she marries the man of her dreams!  We spent our junior year of college together in what we called the Pink and Purple Palace/Jello Shot Factory.  If you can’t tell by the name, our apartment was decorated with all sorts of pink and purple decorations and it was the hub where jello shots were made for parties, haha.  We studied together and partied together, and the infamous PCrew group of friends (7 girls, 1 boy) formed.  And we’ve still all been friends ever since college!

During a weekend back in May, I headed back to Michigan for Christine’s Purple and Green Bridal Shower.  The other bridesmaids and I had been emailing back and forth for quite some time trying to figure out venue, food, decorations, games, and schedule.  Since I was traveling from afar and most girls were local, I agreed to bring my one specialty that I now make for all bridal showers, Martha Stewart’s tissue paper pom poms.  While the rest of the ladies all made some amazing food and took care of the other decorations.  All these pictures below were taken by the talented MSteps Photography!

The MOHs and bridesmaids who planned/set up the party with the beautiful bride!

Here’s the beautifully decorated cake and brownies table!

And the perfect purple and green cake.

Refreshing lemonade for a nice hot day.

A look at the food and close up of the desserts!

The soon to be married happy couple! 

Here they are cutting their cake, opening presents and practicing their smile!  (Yes, they are college football rivals just as me and Marv are as well).

Beautiful guest favors made by the mother-of-the-bride, delicious smelling lotion and boxes full of chocolate!

And then later that night, we headed to MGM Detroit for a super fun Bachelorette party.  Can you tell we had fun? 

Congrats again to Christine and Ryan!  Thank you for letting me be a part of your wedding celebrations and I can’t wait to stand next to you on your big day.  It’s going to be a BEAUTIFUL WEDDING! 

If you follow me on Twitter, you may have heard, but I am planning on closing up my etsy shop.  I don’t have a definite time frame that I’ll be closing it up for, could be a few months or it could be forever.  Or I may actually just put it on vacation.  Does anyone know, if you officially CLOSE the shop, can you reopen it again? I’m going to be traveling tons this summer and between blogging and work and just keeping up life with family and friends, it certainly wouldn’t be easy.  As you handmade owners know, between making items, taking pictures, posting them, and making frequent trips to the post office, it definitely takes a lot more time and effort than it may look!  I currently have a good amount of inventory leftover from recent craft fairs I’ve been apart of, so I plan on listing those items within the next few weeks.  So there will probably be a few more months until I fully close up shop, but just wanted to give everyone a head’s up.  I hope you understand!

I’ve honestly had a lot of fun with my shop.  I’ve made a lot of handmade business owner friends, have truly learned what it takes to have a shop open, and learned a little bit about customer service as well.  I definitely want to THANK all of the people who have helped me in getting started with the shop, given me advice on how to improve my shop, and of course to all those who have made purchases and kept me in business!! 

Here’s some of my newest inventory, just listed!!

And to celebrate, from now through June 4, 2011, take 20% off your order with code MEMORIAL!  Please help me clear out my inventory if you can!  You can bet that all orders will get FREE EXTRAS as well!!  All of my items would make great gifts, just saying!! 

Over Easter Weekend (I know, I’m super delayed on posting) I went to my second craft fair!  It was in a huge space with a variety of vendors and the lighting was great!

But the best part of it all, was that I shared a booth with Ashley from My Little Sunshine.  And both our husbands were sweet enough to stay the whole time with us and they sure chatted it up.  Here’s a look at our joint booth!!  Thanks for letting me borrow the chalkboard sign, Ashley!

Here’s a close up of my setup.  I love the vintage suitcase, the inside is pretty gross but I plan on sprucing it up so I can have it open for my next display!

It’s a pre-req that if you have a sharing booth, you should match… Ashley and I ended up wearing the same Forever 21 shoes, just in different colors haha!

And the best thing known to craft fairs is Square payments.  If you don’t currently use it, you should, it totally makes credit card payments a jiffy and allows for email receipts for cash payments if you so choose!  Here’s a little step-by-step guide I created.    Open in new tab to see a more close up view!

1. Enter in amount with a description (No, my earrings are not usually that cheap, this was only for demonstration purposes!)

2. Take picture of item (too cool)!

3. Click on Charge icon.

4. Select method of payment (Card or Cash).

5. If Card is chosen, swipe card on handy dandy Square card swiper!

6. Wait for payment to be Authorized.

7. Have customer sign their name with their finger.

8. Send a receipt via SMS or email!  An immediate email gets sent to customer AND you!  The email includes product description/picture and even location purchased on a map!

9. You are ready for your next payment!

What are you waiting for?  Get your Square now!  It’s free to sign up and the device only takes a few weeks to be sent to you.  The fee is 2.75% per payment, which is comparable to Etsy/Paypal fees.  Payments are sent to your bank account nightly!  (I totally wasn’t paid to advertise for this, I just thought it would be a cool thing to share since I’ve had people ask me how it works.)

Do you accept Square payments at your booth or have you paid with it before?

Hi friends!  Hope you are having a great week!  It’s been quite some time since I’ve updated my shop, as you know I haven’t been home very much and this weekend I’m going to have a booth at my SECOND CRAFT FAIR!  My sweet sponsor, My Little Sunshine and I will be sharing a booth space together and I’m excited to have her company.  For all those in the Kansas City area, check out the KC Artists Easter Craft Fair for more information on the event, hope to see you this Saturday! 

Speaking of my shop, it’s about time I share some customer photos.  It always makes me giddy inside when I see my friends sporting handmade creations made by moi!  First off… we have the bow that pretty much defines my shop, the mustard lacey, which comes in bow clip or headband form!

1 Love how colorful Adventures in Love and Happiness’ outfit is!
2 Selective Potential matched a mustard skirt and lace top with the bow… how perfect is that?
3 Totally adore how The Violet Reaction wore her bow with her hair up and isn’t her purse too cute?
4 Teehee, love that Freckled Italian sent me a phone pic!  She’s cuuuute!
5 Yellow Heart Art is hysterical, charming, sweet, and a great designer! And she’s fashionable too!

And we have some of  my other items modeled here:

6 Goose and Lovie kept her hair out of her face with a vintage pearl pin!
7All Kinds of Complicated sported a bow to put her hair half up!
8 Wattlebird matched her Sandy a la Mode earrings with a cute bow headband.
9 And Gracie Bella Butterfly spiced up her messy bun with a mini hairpin!

Next I have a GIVEAWAY WINNER to announce, woohoo!

The winner of the Rouge and Whimsy giveaway is Jenna from A Home Away From Home!

Congrats Jenna!  Please email sandyalamode(at)gmail(dot)com with your mailing address and let me know which color headband you’d like (yellow, magenta, white, light pink, turquoise, red, black or purple)!

Lastly, our wedding was featured over on Lemon and Lavender yesterday!  Head on over there to see how Marvin and I met, to learn a few of my wedding tips, and to see where we went on our honeymoon!    Sorry for the somewhat random post, but I just had a lot to share.

Don’t forget to enter the Livy Love Designs giveaway for the print of your choice in 8.5 x 11″ size!

To get me prepped for my craft fair this Sunday, take 15% off your Sandy a la Mode order with code GOODLUCK (through Friday only)!

I’m back home from a week of traveling and I couldn’t be more sad this time.  The past 3 days were some of the most inspiring, encouraging, eye opening experiences I’ve had in awhile.  I spent 3 days with bloggers and shop owners who can totally relate with me.  I’ve met many of the bloggers I talk to daily in person, many of them who are just the same in person as they are online, but it was great to get to put a personality and a voice to each and every one of them.

Well this isn’t going to be a full recap of the conference, but I wanted to give y’all a preview of some pictures from the weekend.  I’m still on my high and have some orders to get out since I was gone all last week, so hope this will do for now! 

The cupcakes, oh the yummy cupcakes, and not to mention the fabulous decorations.  We ate well this weekend.

The handmade market featuring many shops that took my money.   And a love for silly Oh, Sweet Joy! and Much Love, Illy that grew way deeper.

Lots of fabulous colorful outfits and accessories from bloggers/shop owners around the country.  This one is Aisle To Aloha.

Getting to meet bloggers who I’ve followed for awhile and the opportunity to find new bloggers as well.

Getting to do an impromptu maternity shoot of my fave hot momma and preggo lady, Josiah’s Nest.

LOVED spending time with these girls and showing off our handmade headband collection.

Pssst… you have until Tuesday at noon to enter the Oh Sweetlee Me giveaway!

It’s here, it’s here, it’s finally here!  Right now I’m in sunny and warm Arizona for the first annual Creative Estates conference!  For those of you who don’t know, it’s a blogging conference for those involved in the handmade community.  What I’m looking forward to most are the cupcakes (holla!) and cocktails reception, the letterpress and DIY necklace classes, shopping the handmade market, and finally meeting so many of my blogging friends that I pretty much talk to daily!

Sooooo in celebration of this upcoming conference and my new fabric bow hair tie line, I just wanted to offer a 15% discount to my etsy shop (good through this Sunday) with code BECREATIVE15!  Shop away!  I’d love to come home to some orders!

And last but not least, one of my FAVORITE fashion bloggers (bonus points because she lives in Michigan), Selective Potential is giving away $25 credit to my shop!  Head on over there to enter and definitely follow her SWEET blog.  I am seriously swooning like crazy over her latest outfit post!

Have you attended a blog conference before?  If so, which one and what did you think?