makelifesweet

One More

One more Valentine Kit!  Who doesn't need a reusable gift bag- you don't have to wrap and you don't have to find something cute at Target and then get the tissue paper to match (which I always forget to do- I get home and no tissue paper).  This kit includes 4 burlap bags with the fabric and labels:

They are available in our shop now.

About yesterday- thank you so much for the support.  I've calmed down- but thank you so much for your comments.  I'm having a better day- hope you are having a good one too!

Some Good Some Bad

Just a few things today.  Two very good things.  One not so much.  We will start with the not so good.  

We generally (like always) use our blog for positive subjects.  Today, I'm venting.  Just for a little bit and then I'll be over it.  Here's what happened:  Last night I had the sudden urge to see what was happening in the scrapbooking industry.  The CHA convention is held every year around this time, and because we used to be in scrapbooking we had a booth at the show for 8 or 9 years.  I sometimes miss it, especially at CHA time. So I was just interested in what was going on.   Which led me to several scrapbooking sites.  When I opened one page, I couldn't believe what I saw.  Our fabric!  This one:

From our Authentic collection.  Designed by us in 2008 and in stores in 2009.  Only it wasn't fabric.  It was paper.  And it didn't have our name on it.  It had another company's name on it (which I had never heard of).  And it was being sold.  For money.  By someone else.  To be fair, the "designer" added the word "enduring" to our design.  I guess that was his/her insurance that they weren't copying.  If you are interested, you can find the image of the paper design here.

I don't get outrageously mad very often.  But this was one of those times.  Here's the thing.  I totally understand that we are all influenced by what we see.  I am.  In designing, I'm influenced by magazine covers, store windows, a font on a billboard, a word in a book, lots of things.  I'm also influenced by other designers.  It is impossible not to be.  There are things I love and things I don't.  But...it can only go so far. It is totally unethical, not to mention illegal to copy someone else's work and claim it as your own.  For goodness sakes if you are going to copy, change the words.  Or the fonts.  The style it was put together. The color.  Seriously.     

I also get that there isn't a copyright on words.  Or numbers. Or stripes, dots, plaids, whatever.  But this is ridiculous.  I know there will be people thinking "why is she making such a big deal about one paper design?".  There are about a bazillion patterned paper designs out there.  This one isn't going to make any difference.  I get that.  But I also know we spend hours upon hours trying to come up with unique collections that represent our style.  It's just the principle of it.  Ok, I'm done.  Here anyway.  I will contact that company, give them my view on it and it will be over.   Thanks for letting me vent.  

Now, on a lighter note, we are so excited to be a guest blogger today over at A Little Bit Biased (Amber at GiGi's Thimble).  Actually, Susan was the guest blogger.  She is extra excited today that Amber gave her the friendliest designer award.  She let us know about it first thing this morning.  Anyway, Amber is totally sweet herself.  Check out her blog, and a few photos of our studio here. 

The last good thing is that we have a winner of our latest contest.  Congratulations to Karen, who wrote:

Always love the charms ladies, soooo cute!

Just e-mail us at info@sweetwaterscrapbook.com and we will get a charm in the mail to you.

Oh, one more good thing.  Mom is working on yet another Valentine project.  Thought we were done with Countdown to Kisses, but I guess not.  We will show you later this week!

They're Back....

We are finished with our 2012 edition of "Coundown to Kisses"...but we have a couple of products that we did in previous years that we've been getting requests for.  So we decided to bring these 2 back.  First, our Heart Pocket Kit:

And our Valentine Postcard Kit:

You can use a black pigma pen to address the postcards. Then put a stamp on them (you may want to put a couple of stitches in that stamp) and just drop them in the mail.  

We have a limited number of both of these kits in our Etsy shop now.

Since we are finished with "Coundown to Kisses" (and it is Friday), we thought we would give something away.  Simply leave us a response letting us know what product was your favorite these last 2 weeks.  Here is a reminider of what they look like:

The Heart Towel:

The Valentine Name Label:

The Valentine Canvas Prints:

The Valentine Charms:

The Valentine Pouch:

The 14 Kisses Pillow:

The Heart Tag Wreath:

We will pick a winner next week.  See you then.  Have a great weekend!

Day #7

This project caused us a few laughs (or headaches) this morning. 

The way it turned out is absolutley adorable but earlier today it looked like a heart with the measels!  Wish I would have gotten a picture of it but it was taken apart to quickly!!!  It looks perfect on our chalkboard door -

Now all I have to do is sneak the door out of our office into my house - Do you think anyone will notice?
The kit for this heart wreath is ready on our etsy shop.

We also have been busy getting our label crew project ready for February.  If any of you are like me you have plenty of items that fit into these three categories - JUNK, STUFF, and THINGS.  Now what to do with these things?  Put them in some cute bags - 

Did you notice the cute fabric buttons?  We will have those available as well as the fabric kits at the beginning of the month.  If you are not familiar with the label crew you can check it out here.

Have a Great Day!

 

Day #6

Countdowns aren't just for Christmas.... give your sweetie a treat every day in February before the 14th.  Today's project is our 14 Kisses Pillow.

Simply tuck candy, notes or any other treat you can think of in the 14 heart pockets.

As an alternative, you can keep the pillow out all year by leaving the labels off and just using the hearts.  But I'm sure your Valentine would love the treats.  My little boy already found the pillow and thinks it is Christmas all over again!  The kits are available here.  See you tomorrow!

Day #5

Day #4 of our "Coundown to Kisses" event features a zippered pouch- a great idea to package a sweet gift for your Valentine (think makeup, jewelry, perfume, candy).  

We slipped one of our charms on the zipper for fun.  Those are sold separately.

You can find the kits on our Etsy site.  Each kit will include enough fabric to complete 3 pouches.

And yes, my heart is broken. That's what happens when you are a sports fan.  The good think about it is that I'm used to it.  Totally used to it.  I still love you Broncos.  September is only a few months away.   

Day #4

Happy Friday!  Today's product for our "Countdown to Kisses" features 6 new Valentine Charms (including some personalized monogram designs):

You can find them here

And just one more thing.

Go Broncos.  That's all I'm going to say.  Promise.  See you next week.

Day #3

Day #3 of our "Countdown to Kisses" is a cute kitchen towel:

The best part of this project is the technique.

Have you ever wanted to embroider on dark or heavy fabric?  It can be almost impossible to trace the design on the fabric, even with a light box.  Or maybe you would like to embroider something, but just don't want to take the time to trace, period!  With this technique, you won't have to!

The kit includes an embroidery transfer sheet with the graphic printed on it.  All you do is adhere the transfer to the fabric (it has a tacky back, so no need to iron) and stitch.  When finished, simply place the embroidery section of the towel in cold water and the transfer dissolves, leaving just the embroidery!  So cool.

We are becoming a little addicted to this. The towel kits and additional transfer sheets are available on our Etsy site now.  See you tomorrow!

Day #2

For our second day of our "Countdown to Kisses" series, we are featuring 3 new prints in our Etsy shop:

Love Is All You Need:

Love Lives Here: (those are the words printed around the square):

And simply Love:

They are available in our Etsy shop now.

Tomorrow we have planned a fun project that uses a new technique that we are so excited to show you.  See you then!

Countdown to.....Kisses!

It seems as we just wrapped up our annual "12 Days of Christmas" event and whoa!  February is only a few weeks away.  I love Valentine's Day.  My husband totally spoils me with roses, candy and dinner out. Not really.  Not even close. Not that I'm complaining. He's one of those that claims "everyday is Valentine's Day with me".  Which is usually about 99 percent true.  We did celebrate Valentine's Day one year- he gave me flowers and took me out.  That was the first year we were dating.  Long time ago.  Anyway------

The biggest reason I love Valentine's Day is that I have hope.  Hope that winter is going to be over soon.  I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  Even if it is a very cold tunnel.  Last week I was at the mall and got excited about all the red and white in the stores (like Crate and Barrel and Williams Sonoma).  I love red and white.  Not Christmas red and white (although I love that, too).  But happy, fresh,  almost spring-like red and white.  Which brings me to our 2012 edition of

We used to call it "Hugs & Kisses", but I thought "Countdown to Kisses" was even cuter, so I changed it.  Didn't tell my mom or sister.  I just made the decision.  They will find out when they read this, which may or may not go so well for me.  

We will have a new project every day for the next um.... I really don't know how many days we will have this.  We have quite a few projects completed, but you never know when someone will come up with another idea.   So, for the better part of the next couple of weeks, we will have Valentine projects with the kit available on our Etsy site.

Our first is a take-off on our best selling item from Countdown to Christmas.  Here is our Valentine edition of our framed name label.

I love it framed, but I also think it would be super cute on a pillow or towel.  You can also have it personalized with a first name instead of the last name that is pictured.   The label is 4" x 5" and is packaged with the grey fabric that will fit a 5" x 7" frame opening.  

Come back tomorrow for a new project.  Right now I have to go- my husband is taking me out for dinner.  It really is Valentine's Day everyday with him.  Just not on February 14!