The Aftermath...

... Of not so spring Cleaning, that is... heh... When my husband realized he had yesterday off, he decided this weekend would be a "do things around the house" day. Worked out for me... I feel like I got a whole new Sewing room, all over again.

I had been talking about putting a bookshelf in the under-utilized corner. Before, we had a secretary's desk there, but it just didn't have any point in this room. Unfortunately, as pretty as it was, it kept being used only as a small inefficient catch-all.

So he cleaned up the desk, and brought it out into the living room. I finally hung sheers up under our curtains, which makes the room feel much nicer, and worked on re-organizing my storage spaces.

He brought down the bookshelf, and this morning I went to Walmart and got a couple clear boxes with lids, which fit perfectly, 2 per shelf... I'll have to get more later for the rest of the shelves. I also found an Ironing board for $10! I had a small counter top board, but was always frustrated with it, because it was always too small.

but I found I also got shelves for behind my sewing machine.th I couldn't find the wire cubes I was thinking of...these little shelves that fit there, and they were actually half the price! I am satisfied... and I discovered that by moving my desk lamp up to the top of the shelves, I get lots more light, and don't need to have the overhead on nearly as often.

I cleared the top of my storage dresser, and found homes for everything that was there. That was a lot of work... I didn't realize how much stuff there was!

The desktop computer area is still a mess, but that is more of my husband's space, rather than mine... so I'll let him handle it. Now if only I didn't have to go over there and use the printer and my thumb drive every time I want to upload pictures!

So that's what we did yesterday. Today, I put up the shelves behind my sewing machine, and am working on an order. Its almost done, needs snaps, a last piece of elastic, and the backs serged up for each diaper... that won't take too long.

Meantime, don't forget, Until tomorrow, you can still save 10% off your orders with the code 4th at checkout!

The Fourth of July

So, It's the 4th of July. Independence Day. For me, that means fireworks, and my husband home all day, and an overtired Toddler. But, it also means that this is the birthday of Our great nation. And for that, we celebrate.

In Honor of Independence Day, Beeba Bottoms Will be holding a sale. 10% off your orders at www.beebabottoms.com with the coupon code 4th all day on Friday and Saturday. The sale will end Sunday Morning whenever I remember to remove the code. So get in your orders! This sale won't repeat soon.

Also, Beeba Bottoms referral program is back!

Tell a friend about Beeba Bottoms Diapers and Covers and when they make their first order, you can earn free diapers. When your name is mentioned on the first order of any customer, you will get a credit towards your next purchase.

The more people you refer, the more you can earn. Credits will be given off of the first order only of any customer, and cannot be applied retro-actively.

If your referral buys $50-99 in merchandise on their first order, you will receive a $5 Credit.

If Your referral buys $100-199 in merchandise, you will receive a $10 credit.

If your referral buys $200+ in merchandise, you will receive a $15 credit.

For every 5 new customers you refer who purchase a minimum of $25 in merchandise each on their first order, you will receive an additional $5 credit.

Your name and email must be included in the orders you have referred in order to be credited. You will receive an email from me telling you how much of a credit you have earned, and including a coupon code to redeem it. You must use the credit within one year of it being awarded, and Credits may not be used with any other coupon codes or offers. If you earn additional credits before using the first, I will add the amount to your credit balance, but once used, the code will disappear, and with it any leftover credit balance.

Happy 4th of July!

To Rearrange, or not to Rearrange?

Heh. I just finished showing off my workspace,although I suppose really that was more about my machines, and I am already thinking about how I can re-arrange it. more specifically, make it more efficient. As it is, On the side of the room I didn't show, I have piles of fabric, and I can't even Iron because the Iron is all covered up. I have dead space behind my machines on my desk, and an underutilized cornier of the room.

So, my thoughts: Get one or two systems like this one. Stack them only 2 or 3 High. (I think thought that if you stack 2 high, you can only get one full cube from the other pieces in the set, so I am thinking 2 sets stacked 3 high.

One stack would be put in the back corner of my sewing desk, behind my sewing machine. It would hold, on the bottom cube: Stabilizers and Embroidery disks. maybe a binder if I print out my embroidery designs into a paper catalog... but not sure on that one.

Above that in the second cube would be Embroidery Blanks. Things that don't need to be cut. (things that need to be cut are better off being closer to the cutting area.)

The Third Cube would hold either more embroidery Blanks (which eventually I am sure I will accumulate) or I don't know what. On top of the third cube, I'd like to get a clock of some kind... something cute and fun.

Across the room, I would like to put a second stack. That would be on the table that houses our desktop computer. In that one, I would re-organize our computer paper, software, and etc. My Husband has a lot of games that take up space, it would be a good place for it.

Then, I'd like to bring down a bookshelf... we have one like this one only brown up in our spare room... unused. The only problem is, its pretty tall, and our toddler runs around in this room... we'd need to anchor it to the wall... and my husband does not want to do that.

but, if it got brought down, it would find its home in the under utilized corner. I would like to use the top shelf for accounts (paper copies of sales and etc), patterns, etc. Depending how much space was there, I would like to keep a basket of some kind for extra notions and things.

The rest of the shelves I would like to fill with plastic bins. The kind with locking lids. Each bin would have specific things.... finished products that are stocked on etsy, on beebabottoms.com, things that aren't stocked, items that are part of in-progress orders, etc. Then I can dedicate the drawers those things are in now to what they were originally meant for... more fabric!

I keep re-organizing this room... trouble is, with Beeba 1 running and playing in here, it gets a mess again in no time. I have to keep his little table here too... for him to color at, or do crafts of his own. And the swing for Beeba 2 stays too. And the toys Beeba 1 drags in... hmmmm... will my space every really be organized and efficient? for more than a day?

Ads on Blogs?

so, I have been working on advertising lately, looking for the cheapest good advertising possible... heh. I've got a few banner exchanges on the website. (only 3 right now, and don't want too many... they rotate, so you only see one at a time, but i don't want people to leave my site, you know?) Then I found some websites that advertise through people's blogs. you choose the blogs to advertise on, and they choose whether to let you. hmmm... but the thing is... Do people click on them? or do they just sit? even if the blog is popular, do people click the ads??? well, I have some up on popular blogs, we'll see what happens.

Diapering on the Go, or How our Hot Mama proved a point.

When I was pregnant with Beeba 2, My mother in law told me she was going to get me a gift. She said she wanted to make life easy for me, and so she wanted to buy me something to make it easier. So what did she insist on buying? DISPOSABLE DIAPERS. Yuck. Now, I am not against Sposies for people who need them. But I don't need them. I make and sell cloth diapers, for goodness sake.

She tried to tell me how hard it would be to launder them all the time. I proved that within days after Beeba 2 was born. Her next tactic was the on the go tagline. She thought it would be impossible to fit cloth diapers for both kids for an afternoon in my diaper bag. and that it would be impossibly heavy to do.

well, we proved her wrong a few weeks ago, and at her own house. It was really hot, and with our then 2 week old baby, we did not want to stay at our warmer than liked house. So, we called up and asked if we could come over and cool off in her air conditioning.

i packed enough diapers for an army in my Hot Mama Bag. I loaded up on wipes, filling my new Wipes Case (which will be available on my store site in the near future) and filling every poscket of the diaper bag with diapers. Enough small and newborn diapers for a 12 hour period (with a child who wets every 2 minutes, it seems) and 6 Large diapers for my 2 year old, since we never seem to know from day to day with him how many he'll need. I had an extra blanket in there, and an extra outfit for the baby. And 3 Wet Bags. And a bunch of covers. Plus the changing pad that matches the bag.

We used most of the diapers, by the way... thats just how my kids function, apparently. and I swear, they both wet more when we are away from home.

The diaper bag closed nicely, a little bulging, but more than sufficient. And when we got to her house, She had more things to give me, old clothes that were my husband's as a baby. (why she didn't give us these things when Beeba 1 (the boy) was smaller, I don't know... but that is beside the point.

The point is, we had more than enough diapers, and the bag was not overflowing, nor was it uncomfortable to carry. All the extras she sent us home with fit in the bag too. WE DID NOT NEED SPOSIES. This was a point I had been trying to make to her for some time. I think she might have finally gotten it. When I refused to take home more than one small bag of sposies she had gifted, back just before Beeba 2 was born, I swear she thought I was crazy. I think she was a little insulted, too.

But my kids don't need sposies. They do better in cloth. (so far as I know. Beeba 1 had bad rashes in sposies, Beeba 2 has never worn a sposie, so I don't know how she would do.)

I added some pics of my Hot Mama bag here. They are not pics of that day, at the time I was not thinking about blogging them, just show off pics I took when I first sewed it up. This is so far proving though to be the best diaper bag I have had... and I have had a few.

And sorry, I cannot find this fabric again. When I originally showed the bag to some friends, I had several people ask me to make them one. Its why I now offer custom Hot Mama's on my website. But they wanted the EXACT SAME FABRIC. Unfortunately, It happened to be clearance fabric, and is now gone, un-findable at my fabric stores. Personally, I don't have a problem with that, as I like the thought of these all being one of a kind. Don't you?

My Workspace

Ok... anyone wanna see my mess? lol. Here it is. THis is where I work, only slightly divided form where my toddler plays. This doesn't include the large dresser across the room full of fabrics, or the desktop I print off of next to that.

In This Corner.... The machines! from Left to right, there is my Pillowcase-covered Serger, which is a little workhorse. Its one of the Janome-made Kenmores, and I really do love it. The reason it is covered (which is a bit of a pain in the but for me, since the pillowcase doesn't really fit right) is because we have cats. Yup, thats right, 2 very loving and very pretty cats... Who decided that this table, and the thread kept on it, were toys. Note also that the thread is now kept on the wall, lol. The cats do not get near it anymore. and just to make you feel better, on the rare occasion that the cats have decided to sit on my fabric, it goes right in the wash. More of a pain for me, but I don't want to have any customers to potentially have allergic reactions. I do the best I can to keep the cats out of my fabrics entirely, keeping everything as much out of the way when I am not working with it as possible.

Next up, in the center of the corner, is my Brand new (just before Beeba 2 was born, so a few months ago, really) Kenmore 19606. Its also a Janome made machine, and works beautifully. Perfect stitching every time.

The last of the machines is my newest baby. It is a Husqvarna Rose Embroidery machine. I only have the 4x4 hoop for now, but I can do Embroidery! In the next month, I will be getting the card reader and software for it so I can do any design from online... that fits the feild, that is. For now, I am doing test stitch outs in random colors. I don't have the booklet that is supposed to tell me what colors to use. When I get the card reader, and the software, I'll be able to get that information from the card, lol.

Here is my cutting and piecing station. Ha! it is way too small for what I really need. Eventually, I am gonna get a real cutting table, big enough to lay out a full 60" wide yard of fabric. For now, I work on a small desk. But, it gets the job done. and yes, that is my side door there, blocked by the desk. We have three doors, side, back, and front, and never use the side... so I blocked it. now, it is just a wall and an extra window for me. it works.

I have tons of ideas how I would redo the room if I had the money... of course, it is technically my Dining room... no dining table, but it is my dining room. so if I had th emoney, we'd probably get a dining set first, and move the sewing room somewhere else in the house, lol. Probably to the living room, heh... we have two of those.

Yup... two living rooms... actually, a living room and a front room.... no, I promise we are not rich... we got an OLD, falling in around us house really cheap, and are working on it slowly... it just is big. heh... when we moved in, the first thing we had to do was fix every pipe in the house, which were all broken... most not even connected to the next.

Oh... and remember I told you I found some cute Cotton knits up in Ithaca? Here they are! These will now be available for custom diapers from my main site. I'm told the yellow floral on the right is Baby Nay... I just thought it was pretty. I almost didn't pick up any of these... but I couldn't pass them up, its just too hard to find cute cotton knits around here.