Hammer Softie Pattern & Tutorial

 

I instantly fell in love with the plush hammers I kept seeing pop up on Pinterest. There were several different places selling them. I couldn't WAIT to get one for my new grand-daughter for Christmas! This little girl just makes me SMILE. I'm so in love with her I just can't stand it! Every single place that sold the cute little plushies was a big red SOLD OUT. So I did what any other grandma would do. Wait it out? Be patient until after Christmas?? NO WAY! This mammie made her own pattern and made the baby her very own! It did take a while to get the pattern right. Here's how I did it:

You Will Need:

cotton fabric scraps

filling

sewing machine or needle and thread

optional squeaker

 

Until I figure out how to put a pdf on the page, simply right click and hit 'fit to page' then PRINT.

 

When you print off the pattern you will see a dotted line. Use this line to seperate your top piece from your bottom piece.

 

Cut 2 of the top piece and 2 of the bottom piece.

 

 

Sew the bottom and top to both sides and iron

 

Put the two sides right sides together and sew all the way around the hammer leaving the bottom of the hammer open.

Turn inside out and iron.

 

This part is kind of tricky. Roll the handle part of the hammer halfway down to make stuffing the hammer easier. Use a LOT of stuffing. You want the hammer to be very solid, not all soft like a teddy bear. I stuffed the right and left side (top) of the hammer very solidly. I then squished up the squeaker and pushed it up to the top center of the hammer. You can place it in the head of the hammer, the side, wherever you would like. I then placed even more filling all around the squeaker so it wouldn't show. Add filling until you are at the very bottom of the hammer. Turn fabric into the handle of the hammer and sew closed. I added a bow to the babies hammer just to add a dash of cute. You can also just use one piece of fabric but I liked the contrasting fabric look.

 

***Feel free to use this pattern to make or sell as many as you'd like. PLEASE at least let me know that you like it though. It did take a lot of time and trial and error to finally perfect, and a little comment would be appreciated***

10 WAYS TO MAKE OR KILL A CRAFT SHOW

My mom used to paint (quite well) and sold the paintings at craft shows. I remember sitting there as a kid and watching how she sold, how she set up. I remember all the work involved. It is a LOT of work. I've done a few small craft shows myself. My favorite part of craft shows is BUYING from them! I would much rather give $10 for something that is handmade by someone than $2 for something that came from China. I've been to a lot of craft shows, both big and small. One of my favorite to go to is the largest in Oklahoma. The Affair of The Heart. There is one in Tulsa and one in Oklahoma City. I always critique the displays in my head, always notice the little things. Coming home from the most recent craft show, I was thinking of everything I wish I could say to the vendors.  But alas! I can! On my very own blog :) How can I get more sales at a craft show? How do I get more customers?

 

 

 

 

 

1. BE ON YOUR CELL PHONE:

This should be obvious, but it's not. It used to bother me when I was looking at someones things and they sat there texting or yacking on the phone. Now if I see someone doing this I just walk on by. Have a buddy with you if possible. If you have urgent info, go away from your table and do it. It's just rude to not give them attention.

 

2. A LITTLE OPENING INSIDE OF YOUR DISPLAY:

I think it's really pretty when a display looks like a castle, or has tons of antiques all around the 'door' with a little opening to go in. There are sometimes hundreds of people walking around the same area at once and I hate the feeling of having to fight people to go through the little hole. Please don't make a hole. It might seem appealing at first but people are too lazy to walk in and out. Or they don't want to be that close to other people.

 

3. BE ORGANIZED:

There was a product I wanted with just my grand-daughters name on it. The booth sold pretty little bulletin boards and offered free personalization. Then I find out that there's a line around the booth and that the lady selling them is making everyone stand and wait. If you personalize, please just keep a paper and pencil handy. Take the order, tell the customer it will be ready in 30 minutes and let them keep shopping. I have no patience and won't wait. Many many lost sales are due to my inability to stand in line. I know I'm not the only one.

 

4. HAVE THE PRICE DISPLAYED CLEARLY:

Make a big messy sign, or put a little tag on each individual product. It doesn't matter how you price it, but please DO IT. People get tired from walking for hours and they don't feel like asking how much each thing is. If it doesn't have a price I usually just put the product back down.

 

5. BE FRIENDLY AND PERSONAL:

I know that it's tiring to stand there for hours and hours. If I'm walking by and someone smiles and speaks to me nicely about their product, the least I do is take a card. Tell me that your sister makes the blankets. Explain the scents that you have that others don't. Show me what your product has that others don't. Personal stories draw me in every single time. Products I never even planned on buying I will buy. Because I like that you made it and I like that you took the time to tell me about it.

 

6. NETWORK:

A fancy website isn't necessary but if you have a business, people must be able to contact you. It doesn't have to be expensive to make a business card. Write your information on a pretty tag. Write on a pretty piece of scrap fabric with sharpie. Sometimes I don't want to spend all of my money at once place and do online shopping later. If there is no way to contact you, you can't get a sale later on. The more creative you get, the better. My husband wrote out his information on a red solo cup. I thought this was such a crazy idea but everyone who talked to him took one and smiled and thought it was funny. The cups were pennies each, and I bet some of them still remember the funny guy with the red solo cup business cards. Facebook is free to add your business page to. I love 'liking' businesses on facebook and seeing all of the new products. This is a great way to build up fans.

 

7. OFFER A WORM:

Not a real worm, I don't want that! I've noticed over and over that when people offer a little handmade piece of cuteness for a dollar that I must have it. A big bucket of cuteness for a dollar each, a basket of hairbows for baby for a buck...whatever your speciality is. When there is something in the consumers hand that is yours and they know they will be spending money they are more apt to take the time to look around and maybe add something else to their buy. This also gets your business card and information in their hands. Everyone has a buck. Let them spend it on your awesome product!

 

8. HAVE ENOUGH STOCK:

When I go to a show, I plan on buying. Sometimes when I go up to a table there are only a few jars/pieces/bags. If there is nothing to buy, you won't sell anything.

 

9. HAVE CHANGE:

This should be a given, but I've had to put many a product back because the person didn't have change.

 

10. MAKE IT PERSONAL:

I recently walked by a Scentsy booth. The distributor was SO nice. She explained that she was a military wife and that she offers free shipping to all of her customers as a way to keep her customer base. In that one sentence she had a loyal customer for life! I am ALL FOR helping to support any military and who can say no to free shipping with every order?? It is definitely the little touches that get the sale. It is a hard economy and people are good and want to help out the little guy whose making everything piece by piece. Let them know how awesome you are and make them feel good for buying from you. I truly believe that is what it's all about!!

 

Humility

photo taken from pinterest

When I started this blog, I did it so that I could help people. I've been overweight most of my life and I wanted to show people how I DID IT. I was proud as a peacock and though I had permission to give each and every person my opinion on food, diet and exercise. I HAD THIS DOWN!!!

And then something happened.

It began like a leak. I'd gorge. Ask my husband to go get me a cheesecake, ice cream, ANYTHING with sugar. Then I'd eat it. In a day or two it would be gone. I kept telling him, "I can get these few pounds off in no time." Then for a few days I'd eat perfect. The drip would come back....the sound in my head, "Just this once, just this once, it won't hurt!". I was still going to the gym, still doing an hour on the elliptical at least 5 days a week, I thought I was still IN SHAPE.

And not so suddenly, I am right back where I began. My trainer notices, of course. I notice. For weeks I haven't been to the grocery store, to the mini mart, out in public. I don't want them to SEE. More than likely no one will notice or even care. But the second I see someone in public I tell myself that they are talking about me. Have you ever felt like that? I don't even know if I have blog readers. But it has been therapeutic writing this all down. Like a diary but it's one that I'm holding out to the entire world.

When I was little, I remember getting my first diary. I asked my dad what to put in it, he said "Just write down what happened in your day.". I remember my first entry was 'today was a good day'. When I was 16 I burned my big purple diary, I didn't want anyone to ever read it. And here I am throwing out all my bare-ness for the entire world to judge.

I'm not sure what caused me to gain it all back. I've had a lot of personal things going on. A lot of sadness, hurt, shame and guilt. I wake up in the middle of the night with guilt. For not being present when I should have, for working too much when the kids were babies.
Sometimes it covers me like a thick, moldy wool blanket and I feel like I can't breathe.

God is the only way that I can lose weight. God is the only way I can ease myself of the guilt. I wrote a letter to my biological father about things that happened in the past. I doubt I will ever give it to him but it felt like a large person fell off of my back. I hadn't realized I was keeping all of that in.

Summer is also a hard time because my youngest daughter is gone for half of it. I hate being without her and I need to get a grip on the fact that I cannot control things. You get a divorce so your children don't have to be around that person and then you have to send them with the same person you were trying to keep them safe from.

So today I am here to confess my weight gain. To get up and start over. Again. again, and again, and again. I have to be healthy for my family and for myself. I don't want to be so ashamed of my body that we don't have a vacation. I want to go to the grocery store and I want to smile and MEAN it. I'm not going to talk myself into thinking that everyone is thinking about how fat I've become.

I was on the treadmill and my humongous again body was sweating from the small bit of exertion I was doing.

My trainer said "You might have given up on yourself, but I haven't."

Imagine how mad he must be that I've been working with him over a year and am standing before hime now at the same weight I started with (40 pounds lost then gained over and over). I would have fired me. But he stands there and says he's not giving up.

I am starting again, I am not going to gorge. I've started at 1400 calories a day and have been walking/jogging so that I can make it through a 5k in August.

Sometimes all you need is that ONE person to believe in you. I hope that everyone has a person like that. I thank God for him, and for every blessing I have been given. And today, I will begin giving God the credit, because without him, I am nothing.

Luminess Air Review

Foundation has always been a big deal for me. I had bad acne as a teenager and it left a lot of scarring. I have literally tried every type there is. Heavy cream foundation caused more acne and sweats off in the summer. More affordable drug store foundation accentuates the scars and does not cover at all. Mineral foundation doesn't cover well and makes me feel like I have cakey dirt on my face. What I've been using for the last few years is Estee Lauder double wear foundation. It is $35 and lasts about a month. It does have good coverage but it rubs off on everything and everyone. In the summer time it only stays on a couple of hours and looks gross and oily. 

After seeing the Luminess Air on GMA for only $89 with promotion code GMA50 on Good Morning America http://www.luminessair.com/gma I immediately ordered it! The regular price was $179. (I do not know when this will expire so get one soon if you are wanting one!) Being the girly girl that I am, I have ALWAYS wanted to try this. I chose the free shipping option, which, the site states it takes 4 weeks to receive. My set only took 2 weeks to receive.

I tan a lot and thought I was pretty dark so I chose the 'tan' option. There are four options for color choice.

My package arrived and I was giddy to try it but had to go to my daughters school function so I couldn't do it until that evening. The packaging is pink and swanky. It feels like Christmas unwrapping it all. I watched the dvd which is short and to the point, and then I got started!

The two 'tan' colors are VERY dark. I still couldn't wait to try it so I put some drops in the machine and started spraying. The coverage is really amazing. In the video, it instructs you to use 3-4 drops.Because of all of the scaring, it takes me a lot more than that many drops. I have to do at least 3 'layers' which takes about 15 drops all together.

I called customer service to see if I could order a lighter shade. She was super nice and is sending me a lighter color for FREE!!

Luminess has a 'club' you can join which is just an autoship of the product for a discounted price. I will definitely be joining this and will get a large bottle of foundation for $38. Since it's summer time and I'm more oily during that time, I'm going to be starting off with 'matte'.

****  while writing this post I noticed that the Today show was doing a promo on the luminess tanning set https://www.luminesstan.com/TodayShow/SelectSystem.aspx for $68.50 regular price $193.50

 code: TanTODAY  ****

FINAL THOUGHTS:

I love this part, it's like Jerry Springers 'parting opinion'. I feel like I'm sitting in the front of the stage on my wooden stool right now.

* LOVE the system. I read a lot of bad reviews on this and I really don't understand why. A couple of people said that it broke them out.

* After just a week I can say that my skin is a lot clearer and smoother. I've officially switched from the estee lauder to the luminess.

* The bronzer is so pretty and looks amazing with just a few drops. It does take a lot of the foundation for the coverage I want, but I need a lot and expected that.

*Even if you 'tan', the tan is a little too dark. They send two different shades but the tan was really dark and super dark. You are supposed to be able to mix the colors to achieve the perfect shade. If you are like me and choose the wrong color, they do send you a shade lighter for FREE which is super cool.

* On the infomercial, they show coverage of dark scars. I have none, so we tried covering a dark scar on my husbands hand. Even he was impressed of the coverage. After about four coats the scar could not be seen. The makeup really does look natural and does not look like foundation at all!

* The only thing I would recommend is a super pale or almost white 'base' so you can mix it with the darker colors in the winter when skin is lighter. This would also help when you have lots of darker colors from not choosing the right color the first time. If I could just mix my 'tan' with some white/light drops, it would be perfect and would save everyone money.

I'm dying to try the tanning spray for a safer option than the tanning bed. It looks awesome!! It will be my next luminess purchase!

If you've been considering this, buy it while it's at this price, it's so worth it!!!

would love to know how you like it!!

*This is my own opinion. I was not compensated by Luminess Air , the Today shor or GMA in in way shape or form*