Give a MARIELIZ for Mother's Day

My mom finally took the plunge and joined the fabulous Etsy community of indie designers to sell her fabulous handcrafted purses, so I thought I'd come here and promote her shop. She has listed a few favorites and a couple of new designs and has lowered her prices as a Mother's Day special. Check it out!


Etsy
Buy Handmade
marielizcreations


What an excellent Mother's Day gift one of these purses would make, eh?
Sweet Accessories for the MOD Chick

First of all, I wanted to thank all of you for your super sweet comments on my big announcement. Your warm wishes and words of support just fill me up with joy and remind me of how lucky I am to be working in this industry chock full of wonderful people like yourselves! Oh, and for those of you who took the time to email me and ask if I would still be doing MODKID, I truly appreciate your concern but please rest assured that I will not forget my first love: designing modern children's clothing. As long as you guys are buying, I will be selling! LOL! I mentioned before... oh, it was in this old post (look at #3 and #5)... that I would love to make MODKID clothing out of my own fabrics and that is still my goal. :)

Anywho, as I will be headed to Quilt Market in 3 weeks, I wanted to make myself some practical but stylish accessories to bring with me and I just loved the way they turned out so much that I decided to offer them up (in limited quantities due to my fabric availability) in my etsy store.

This here is a Moo Card Wallet. I have mentioned here and here how much I love my Moo's and now I have a way to tote them around and also show off my design/sewing skills at the Mecca of Design/Sewing. I listed these late last night and they sold immediately, so I have relisted them for you. This Moo Card Wallet holds up to 30 cards (10 in each slot) and it is sturdy and versatile... it has an attached keyring so you can either use it as a key chain or just clip it onto your purse or backpack as a sweet dangling accessory. Check it out!

MODKID+Marimekko+Moo1

I also made myself an iPhone/iPod Cozy. After spending a fortune last weekend on my new iPhone I just couldn't fathom spending another $30 -$50 on something to keep it from scratching up in my purse, so I quickly whipped up this sweet little sleeve for it. This will also fit the iPod Touch perfectly and might work for other electronic devices too (see measurements in my listing!).

MODKID+Marimekko+iPhone1

I also recently listed a few more Blüm Collection separates. Sorry, these have no modeled pictures because they were customer special orders so I just quickly snapped some pictures on the wall before sending them off to their new owners, but you can find them all here.

Thanks, everyone!
My New Title

I've been hinting here and there about a new venture in my life... something that I've been working tirelessly on for the past few months. Sorry to have kept you all in suspense for so long. It's not like me to keep things bottled in but at the same time I wanted to make sure it was "official" before I blurted it all out and made a fool of myself if something went wrong.

But I can finally say it: I am the new fabric designer for MICHAEL MILLER FABRICS. Phew! I actually exhaled as I typed that. The long awaited contract finally arrived yesterday and I ripped open the envelope like a kid at Christmas. Everything has been reviewed, signed and mailed back so I can finally say it's official! WOOOHOOO!

I look forward to sharing tons of sneak peeks with you all in the coming months, but right now it's still a bit premature as we are not sure yet if all my designs will be actually printed or if some will get cut in the process. As usual, I was an over-achiever and produced more than my fair share of designs & colorways, so at some point in the next few weeks we will be reviewing my work and deciding what gets printed.


My new fabric line will debut during the International Quilt Market in Houston, October 25-27, 2008. But as I have mentioned before, I will also be attending the Spring Quilt Market in Portland, which is fast approaching in 3 weeks... gulp...so if any of you will be out there on May 15-18 you might catch a glimpse of my portfolio. :)

Now that the envelope has been opened, it's time for me to express my gratitude to a few people who I owe it all to. First and foremost, I'd like to thank Kathy Miller for taking a chance on me and offering me such a wonderful opportunity with her company. I have been a fan of Michael Miller Fabrics for as long as I have been in this industry and it is truly an honor (and a dream come true) to be working with you guys now! Secondly, I'd like to thank Sandi Henderson for introducing me to Kathy and for putting up with my non-stop blabbering during all those crazy late-night chats. Thanks, sweetie! And last, but certainly not least, I'd like to thank my wonderful husband, Jon and my girls, Sophie & Sydney, for being so patient with me and allowing me to slack off on my wife/mother/housekeeper duties as I tried my darndest to multi-task for the past few months. I know it hasn't been easy... I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!

Featured!

What a wonderful day this has been! Aside from getting to play with my new super fun toy (more on that later) and getting something in the mail from a certain fabric company that requires my signature (definitely more on that later!), I got word that my Etsy shop was featured on two different blogs today! WOOHOO!

Go check these out. First of all the creators at Eenie Meenie Picks picked my shop and said some super sweet things about it...


Secondly, the creator behind the Rio Oso Designs blog featured my shop on her Monday Minis, a wonderful feature she does every week in which she picks her favorite Etsy shops and shares their "mini" with her readers...


Thank you, ladies! I'm flattered!!
All Shook Up

Mm mm mm, oh, oh, yeah, yeah!

Our bed was shaking, rattling and rolling around 4:30 a.m. today... and NOOOOO! It's not what you think! Get your minds out of the gutter. Sheesh!

We had a 5.2 magnitude earthquake... the first I had felt since we moved to the States from Costa Rica when I was 16!! I thought I had escaped all natural disasters of the earth shattering kind. eeeek!

This one wasn't so bad and as a matter of fact Sophie & Sydney slept right through it. I am the lightest sleeper on the face of the earth so at the first sign of shaking I was literally on my feet screaming "WTH was that?!?" Jon woke up for a split second, checked his watch and said "probably just a plane flying really low" and went back to sleep. I walked around the house for a couple of minutes trying to figure out what had just happened. It's been 20 years since I felt that sensation!!

Eventually I went back to bed and when I woke back up a couple of hours later and checked my email I learned the truth from none other than my soon-to-be "coworker," the fabulous and talented Paula Prass. She sent an email telling me about her eventful morning with the earthquake and I knew that she didn't live too far away from me, so I checked out the news and it was one of those "AHA!" moments!

According to reports, this is the second strongest earthquake that has shaken this region of the country. The strongest being in 1968, so most of the people around here have never felt one this strong. And I could tell... everywhere I went today, people were gathered in groups sharing stories. LOL! And the funniest thing is that everyone's stories were pretty much identical: the wives all said that they got up and checked on the kids and turned on the news while their husbands went back to sleep in total disbelief or apathy. hmmmm. Men!
The Little Mod Dress

I've been busy creating a few new goodies for my Etsy store. These first three I am calling "The Little Mod Dress" ... super soft, comfy and stylish. Perfect for the warm Summer months but also look great layered on top of a long sleeve shirt and tights during the cooler months.

Click on each picture to visit the Etsy listing:

pink1

green1

flowers1

I also made this sweet little dress that I am calling 'The Euro Twirl Dress":

euro-dress1

And the matching yoga pants:

euro-pants1

If these links come up SOLD for you just click here to go to my Etsy. I will keep relisting them until I run out of fabric (I don't have a lot of the Euro flowers one, just so you know!) :)
Do you Moo?

moo2

I know I've shared this picture before but I just wanted to pop in here and publicly thank the folks at Moo for featuring my cards on their most recent MoosLetter that went out yesterday (04/10/08). If you guys get the MoosLetter you may have seen this already. And if you don't you can always sign up to get news, promotions and inspirational photos... or just to see what other Moo-lovers are ding out there. But if you don't get it and don't want to sign up but just wanna take a quick gander at this issue, you can always click here to see the online version of it. :)

I just placed my next order for some more Moo cards that will showcase my Blüm Collection, so I cannot wait to get them. :)

Thanks, Moo!
That Darn Meme

I keep trying to dodge it, but it just keeps coming back... like Freddy! And to quote my dear friend Nic, "I've done the 7 Things Meme a jillion times before." But I will indulge you guys one more time only because I came up with a funny idea this morning. In a small group I belong to, we've been chatting about weird things we've eaten (or regularly eat, in some cases!) and so I thought... "OK, I could do that 7 random thing meme about my weird food tastes, since it seems to be so intriguing to most."

So here it goes... Oh, wait, I'm supposed to link to those who have tagged me. OK... let's see... I've been tagged by Toni, Melissa, Michelle and most recently by Clara (boy, after writing it all down like that I all of a sudden feel popular! HA!) And if I missed anyone... so sorry.

OK, so now here it goes... Seven things that I eat regularly -- or have eaten in the past -- that most Americans wouldn't touch with a 10-foot pole:

1. Liver, liver paté and liverwurst. I will take a liverwurst (Braunschwiger) sandwich over pretty much any other sandwich in the world. And I LOVE all sorts of patés... chicken liver, goose liver... even duck liver paté. Oh, and turkey gravy isn't good unless it has chunks of the turkey liver floating in it. YUM!

2. Tripe. If you don't know what it is, look it up. No, I don't go out of my way to eat tripe and it's certainly not my favorite texture, but I have eaten it several times as one of my favorite Vietnamese dishes contains tripe and I don't pick it out of my plate... just consume it with the rest. ;)

3. Octopus. It's much yummier than calamari, especially when sautéed in olive oil and lemon. My girls adore it too.

4. Raw Oysters. If they're on the menu, I get them! And they're an aphrodisiac too... wink, wink.

(I could insert all seafood, cooked or raw, that I love here but then this list would well surpass it's 7-item limit)

5. Condensed Milk. Nope, not as an ingredient in cakes and pies. I eat it straight out of the can... with a spoon... like others would eat ice cream or yogurt.

6. Escargot. Again, if you don't know what it is, look it up. And again, not my favorite, but I have been known to eat it several times before just for shock value. LOL!

7. Sardines. OK, I lied... I had to insert one more seafood item on this list because I just love them so much... especially when they come canned in tomato sauce and spices. I love to eat them with Export Sodas.

I swear this list could go on and on, but I will have mercy on you since I know most of you have already thrown up a little in your mouths. OH, and for those of you who are in my group or have had the "weird food" discussion with me before and are wondering why I didn't include "maggots" in this list, well... I didn't actually consume those maggots. They were in my mouth for a split second and I spit them out as soon as I realized it. So, if you guys hadn't vomited yet, that little tidbit of information outta do the trick. ;)

Oh, and I am NOT tagging anyone because I'm sure pretty much everyone in blogland has done this one once or twice or a jillion times like me. But, if you haven't been tagged by some strange reason and would like to do it, please consider yourself tagged! Oh, and please post a link to your Meme so I can check it out!! :)
Back in business!

I sewed and sewed and sewed, ate some sushi, blogged and sewed some more and VOILA! my orders are almost all finished. If you shopped during my April Fool's SALE, you should be receiving your package sometime this week! All I have left to finish is a couple of orders that I haven't received measurements for yet. So... if you ordered from me but haven't sent me your info yet, please do so and I will get your items out a.s.a.p. :)

This means that my store is back up... YAY! No new items yet, but they'll be coming up soon! I promise. :)

Etsy
Buy Handmade
modkid
I missed Bernie's 30th Birthday!

My sweet and loyal Bernie turned the big 3-0 on April Fool's Day and I totally forgot to celebrate her. I was too busy playing our little boutique prank and having my 1-day sale and it just escaped me. But I will make it up to her this weekend as we will be spending lots of quality on-on-one time again. Jon took the kids to Chicago so I could catch up on my Etsy orders. Of course I am still allowed a few minutes of computer break every now & then, so I wanted to come here and share what's been going on. First, check out this hilarious message at the bottom of Bernie's sales receipt:

If you can't read it on the picture, it says: In the event of mechanical problems, place the machine in a Greyhound Bus, directing it to Alt's, 335 North Ashland Avenue, Green Bay, Wisconsin. Alt's will pay the cartage both ways and we will not charge anything for a period of five years.

A greyhound bus? WTF?!? Well, my FIL tells me that Bernie has never had to take that fateful bus ride and as long as she's been with me she has never had a malfunction (I have but she hasn't). So I really think Bernie has super powers.

This weekend, actually Bernie will get a bit of a break because I am sewing with knits and will be using Baby for most of the construction. Bernie will only be there for hemming and sewing on the tags, etc.

Want a little peek into my madness? Here's what my studio wall looks like right now. Not very pretty but keeps me organized and focused.


My cutting table looked like this yesterday morning, now they are all packaged and ready to ship.


I received a new shipment of Marimekko fabric yesterday and thought it looked just so sweet all piled together like this. I *heart* fabric so much I could just stare at it all day! LOL! Oh, and for those of you who've been keeping up with my Marimekko clothing designs, YES, that's a new print there (new to me) second from the bottom. It's the KIVET dots in hot pink & white. YUMMY!!! I'll be making some stuff out of this and other coordinates as soon as my pile of work is back to a manageable size.


Now I'll leave you with a fun close-up of some rolled hems. Jon thought this looked like a can-can skirt (It's actually 4 of my KIVET twirl skirts piled on top of one another!):


***adding to my post***

So, this is what $21.75 worth of sushi looks like:


Yes, my family is still in Chicago. This was just for me. I bought this much because I intended to eat half of it tonight for dinner and the other half tomorrow for lunch. But I parked my ass in front of the T.V. and watched an old episode of Project Runway that I had DVR'ed and next thing you know I'm plucking away at an empty take-out container with my chopsticks! Well, there goes my plan to lose 10 lbs. by Quilt Market! pfft
Gotcha!

Thanks for all the emails, convos and phone calls yesterday congratulating us on our merger, new name and new endeavor. All I can say about that is.... APRIL FOOLS!!!!

HA! By now you've probably seen the flashing "April Fools" logo in my previous posting or on all the "LimeJaynes" listings on eBay or even in some discussion boards. But in case you haven't... well, it's true. It was a practical joke we cooked up late last week to add a little fun back into the custom boutique community. It's all been so dark & dreary lately... well since the strike in February. There was a mass exodus -- a few designers left boutique altogether, others went to Etsy or other sites. So we felt we needed to do something wacky & fun to sort of brighten everyone's day.

Hope you enjoyed the prank! Thanks to the fabulous Jaynes for being our "partners in crime." :)

Oh, and my 24-hr sale was a prank too... I want my money back!!! AHAHAH... sometimes I crack myself up (probably too much!). Just kiddin', of course. The sale was real, and OH MY GOODNESS, you guys really took advantage of it! WOOOHOOO! Thanks for all the luv! I *heart* all you guys so much.

So, in order to fulfill all my orders and retain a certain level of sanity (as if that was even possible) I have temporarily closed my Etsy shop until these orders are shipped... probably for a 2 week period or less, depending on how much caffeine my body can take before totally breaking down. ;) I did leave a couple of ready-made items up there, so if anyone is interested in those, you are welcome to purchase them since all I have to do is package & ship. :)

So... thanks again! And since I have a hard time doing a post without pictures, I will leave you now with my very first Blüm customer cutie! Thanks so much Christy! I just adore seeing pictures of Miss Abigail strutting her MODKID! Abigail is sporting the Blüm Appliqued Tee and the Blüm Raspberry Flare Legged Pants. :)



Oh and here she is showing off her navy & cherry banded tank and her navy blue yoga pants:

BIG News, NEW Items and BIG Sale!!

If you don't follow custom boutqiue groups on eBay/Etsy then the next announcement will be completely irrelevant to you, but if you do, then you might be interested to know that 2 of eBay's top groups, Boutique LimeVine and The Not-So-Plain Jaynes, have decided to join forces and form one giant group of talented designers. The new endeavor, starting today is called LimeJaynes and you can now search "LimeJaynes" on both eBay and Etsy to find all the items created by these talented group of ladies.



In honor of our new LimeJaynes group I have created a few new pieces for my Etsy store in a gorgeous new lime green Marimekko pattern I recently acquire. And... to celebrate the new group and the coming of Spring, I am having a 24-HOUR SALE!!! It starts right now (approximately 11 am C.S.T.) and will go on until 11 a.m. CST tomorrow, Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008.

SALE: You will receive 10% OFF YOUR TOTAL ORDER PLUS FREE SHIPPING!! I know, I am feeling generous, so take advantage because once it's over, it's OVER! LOL!!! The prices you see in my store DO NOT REFLECT these discounts. Just check out and pay as you normally would and I will do a partial refund after your PayPal payment comes through ... I promise! :)

If you are paying via Money Order, just convo me after your purchase to get the total from me!

Remember... this is a 24-HOUR SALE, so it is first-come-first-served on some of these limited edition items and the sale will end around 11 a.m. CST on April 2nd, 2008.

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade
modkid.etsy.com


HAPPY SHOPPING!!!
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