Family

Personalized Initial Ornaments

December 29, 2011 by froggygirl Leave a Comment

Still playing catch up on Christmas projects and things, but this should be the last one for this year! I didn’t finish these up until Christmas Eve that’s why I didn’t post them earlier. I got the idea for free hanging machine embroidered ornaments, one for each kiddo. I took a fabric that they each had mentioned liking at one point or another, then I used the initial of their first name and as you can see, included the date as well.

These were also kind of a trial run as to how to get the best result since I think these will be an offering in the shop next fall (see, planning early!! LOL!). Wyatt’s was the one I did first and I didn’t add anything but the fabric and ribbon, turned out way too flimsy. The rest I added a layer of felt between the fabrics and they turned out wonderfully!

As you can see, I didn’t even manage to get all the stabilizer off of these before they got tied to stockings. That’s how close I was cutting it. The kids thought they were awesome though, they love having their initial on anything. Kids are so funny.

How about your Christmas projects? Were you done early? Or burning the midnight oil like I was?

Filed Under: Family, Sewing Tagged With: Christmas, custom, dated, embroidery, gifts, initials, kids, machine embroidered, ornaments, personalized, Sewing

Merry Christmas to you and yours

December 24, 2011 by froggygirl Leave a Comment

From me and mine! Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a fabulous and blessed New Year! Enjoy some virtual cookies, they have no calories!

^“8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹ An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Filed Under: Family Tagged With: merry christmas

Hard drive: CRASH!

September 26, 2011 by froggygirl Leave a Comment

SO, a week or two ago (although it seems like..MONTHS!!!) my hard drive crashed. That little cartoon above? Totally me! Technology and I don’t understand each other very well most days. So that, combined with financial issues meant I couldn’t get the computer fixed until this week. Thanks to Jeff from church (who runs Holloway Mart) who helped me out so much with this! The new hard drive didn’t like Windows, so I’m now learning my way around Ubuntu. You said, huh? Ya, me too lol. But so far I like it! I do have a new tutorial to post, just give me a day or two to get back in the swing of things over here!

Filed Under: Family Tagged With: computer, hard drive crash

Where I’ve been

August 5, 2011 by froggygirl 9 Comments

So my internet has been acting up for a few weeks now, and late last week it decided to just give up the ghost. Not sure what’s going on, but man you don’t realize how much you use the internet until it’s not there. I’ve had these wierd bugs on my squash and no way to look them up. Criminal I tell you. So what have I been doing instead? How about some pictures?

We recently discovered that underneath the nasty cream carpet in our house, are these gorgeous hardwoods. Initially I was afraid they’d be majorly damaged or something but once it was all done (except a few places under heavy furniture…need the husband’s help for that!), they’re in fabulous condition! Once we get it DONE, I’ll do a whole post about it.

See, we even put the toddlers to work. Gotta earn your lunch around here! LOL!

We found a spot where the chickens have been hiding their eggs and found this. Haven’t found any there since. We know they’re somewhere…just don’t know where.

Lots of this. Always lots of this.

Ree had her first french braid. I’m not great at it yet, been out of practice for years! She liked it though, and that’s what matters.

A custom flannel pj set for a customer. This was the last I had of this space themed flannel and I’m kind of sad. It’s so wonderful for older boys who are past the “puppy dogs” stage.

Making a ton of Froglets! Some of these are for orders, and some are stock building for a big show next month. I think they look so pretty all lined up like this!

Last but not least, last night Jacob had his awards ceremony for baseball. This was his first year playing an organized team sport, and I’m so proud of him! He improved ALOT, and won an award for “Most Determined Player”. I have to agree with that one!

So, what have YOU been up to this week? Anything exciting?

Filed Under: Family, Homesteading, Sewing Tagged With: chickens, froglet, hardwood floors, jacob, Ree, Sewing, trophy

Cooking, and sewing, and thinking, and praying

July 25, 2011 by froggygirl Leave a Comment

For some reason, I have the song “Wishin’ and Hopin’” by Ani DiFranco stuck in my head today. And while looking for that link, I’ve been on a whirlwind youtube tour of music from My Best Friends Wedding (which is one of my favorite movies ever!). So, on with the post!

Cooking: Lots and lots of zucchini bread! We have 4 or 5 plants that were producing very well until we got hit with this heat wave/no rain goodness. Always happy for the blessing, I’ve been baking up all different combos and giving some away, and putting in the freezer for winter those loaves that don’t get scarfed down by the kids within 2 hours of coming out of the oven. The one above is Pumpkin/zucchini (the base recipe I’m using is this one, and it’s delicious!).

Sewing: I’ve been doing some pattern testing for Bonnie over at Fishsticks Designs again. The shortall above is one of the patterns. Despite the fact that I messed up the straps, it turned out so cute and will fit Ree for at least a few more weeks lol. There’s another I’m working on too, but no pics of that one yet!

Thinking: About some things I need to dust off and fix up here on the blog. Nothing major, just some housekeeping to make things easier to find!

Praying: Today was school registration for the oldest 3 kiddos. My oldest son Jacob will now be entering Middle School. He’s nervous, and afraid-he knows this is the next step towards growing up. The first step is always the scariest isn’t it? So I’m praying for my sweet boy young man to keep traveling down the path he is forging. He promises that he will NEVER get involved with drugs or alcohol (he is disgusted at the thought of either of those entering his body thank God!), and thank goodness he still pretty much thinks girls are gross lol. He’s so smart, but is always so worried about looking “cool”, this year will be a hard year for both of us as we continue to have conversations about peer pressure. So today, I’m praying for him-praying for him to have the strength and sense he will need, and that he will always feel safe and loved as he faces new challenges.

Filed Under: Cooking, Family, Sewing Tagged With: cooking, fishsticks designs, jacob, middle school, praying, Sewing

Tired of pretending

July 12, 2011 by froggygirl 6 Comments

These last months have seen me in a swirl downward. Lots of little reasons caused it, and I went deeper and darker than I’ve been in quite a few years. I don’t think anyone enjoys the thoughts and feelings that come with this sort of decline. Depression is a bitch ya’ll.

I’m slowly coming back into the light, and with that come many realizations. Changes I need to make to myself, my home, and my life. Some are more possible than others, but I promise to try my best. One thing I realized is…I am not anyone else. For so long I’ve been trying so hard to have a successful business, clean house (HA!), etc. that I’ve kind of lost sight of who *I* am. No more.

As for the business side, I’m still not 100% sure where I want to go with that. I’m lacking the marketing skills I think is necessary to go to the next level which has been a source of constant frustration. I’m trying, and hopefully will gradually learn. The thing is though, I have FIVE small (ish) children-2 toddlers, and 3 school age. They are still at ages where they need me alot, and my number one priority is to be a good mom to them. I haven’t been. That’s the thing about depression for me. It makes me wallow in my own thought filth, getting wrapped up in what’s wrong with ME, how can I fix ME, what makes ME feel bad. It’s hard to see out of that.

I get up every day, get them dressed and fed, make sure they have their needs taken care of, dole out kisses and hugs and snuggles..but sometimes I feel like I’m not actually participating. Like I’m just going through the motions. I’m sure that doesn’t make much sense to many of you, but I have a feeling some will get it. We also have our little homestead going. There are chickens to take care of, a garden to tend (which God is blessing us so far..despite my lack of knowledge, it IS producing..YAY!). At this point in my life, I just don’t have the TIME to sit on the computer spending 18 hours a day networking, or sewing, or whatever. Lately, I’ve been lucky to get an hour or so on the computer in total throughout the day.

This isn’t to whine, really! This is to make it public that I’m tired of pretending to be something I’m not. I’m not a woman with no children, or all school age children, or all adult children that would give me hours upon hours to do as I wished. And honestly, I don’t want to be. The level of crazy around here is well, crazy sometimes..but crazy wonderful. It’s time to be me, and take care of me…so I can take better care of those I love.

I’m going to keep sewing, and trying to grow my business..but I’m not going to stress about it so much anymore. I’m going to blog, but I’m not going to stress about how I’m nothing if I don’t become The Pioneer Woman or something. I’m me, Mika, Froggy Girl Designs. Sometimes I curse, I’m a woman finding her way back to God, learning to farm, loving my husband, and trying to be the best damn mom my kids could have.

But depression is still a bitch.

Filed Under: Family Tagged With: chicken pictures, depression

Happy Mothers Day!

May 8, 2011 by froggygirl Leave a Comment

My weekend started with this:

This is my oldest son Jacob playing his 1st baseball game EVER. At his 2nd time up to the plate he got his first base hit! He was so stunned he started running then he stopped (and got tagged out then), but man I’m so proud of him!! There were only a half dozen kids or so on his team that hit the ball, but regardless, they won the game 5-4! Totally a proud mama over here!

Today, we spent working on this:

Well not THIS specifically, but the garden. This is our bed of onions that are growing SO well!! In the background you can see part of the tires that we planted full of potatoes today. We have more potatoes to plant but we need more tires! I had read that you get better yields with potatoes by planting them in tires so I thought we’d give it a shot. It also seems like you’d use less space by doing that unless you’re like us and plant about 40 lbs. or so of seed potatoes.

We managed to get the rest of the beds tilled today(I think, we’ll see how it shakes out once I get planting!!!), and I got the potatoes and carrots in finally. Lots of work equals one tired but very happy mama. Planting continues tomorrow of course!

Happy Mothers Day to all out there! I hope your days were filled with massages, good coffee, chocolate, and perfectly behaved children!

Filed Under: Family, Homesteading Tagged With: baseball, garden, mothers day, spring

Just what I needed to hear

April 26, 2011 by froggygirl Leave a Comment

I think we all go through times of struggle. Everyone in their way, on their turf. Well, we’re there..again. And have been for awhile but I’ve been mostly ignoring it. So this morning, I read this forum post by my friend Jessica, and it was just exactly perfect for my eyes to read today.

“I heard a great analogy the other day. We don’t doubt that a chair will support us, right? we don’t tremble with fear and worry, will this chair hold me? will it collapse under me? no, we just flop in it without thinking about it, KNOWING it will support us.

KNOW that God will support you. Fall into Jesus with that same trust as you trust that couch isn’t going to buckle under you.

Then tell the Devil – God’s working! no fear, no doubt… just
“It’s coming! God’s working! you wait and see! God is working on it!”
And that picture has nothing to do with anything other than my daughter’s awesome fashion sense that makes me laugh every single day. My kids are my joy.

Filed Under: Family Tagged With: beliefs, god, kids, struggling

The newest addition

April 23, 2011 by froggygirl 2 Comments

Those of you who follow me on Facebook or Twitter have already been introduced, but I figured it was time to do a formal introduction here on the blog. But first, the back story.

Some of you will remember a couple of years ago when we spent a short time living with my parents during a transitionary period. Well, when we made that move, 4 of our cats ran away-never to be seen again. I get very attached to my kitties, and I still tear up when I think about them-I miss them so much! We still have 4 (yes, I’m totally a crazy cat lady, I admit it!), but now that we’re settled on the homestead I told Bobby I’d like to get a couple of more cats/kittens. So I started casually keeping my eyes out. Enter…Phantom:

I saw him on Craigslist, his owners were moving away and couldn’t take him with them. So Bobby went and brought him home. He was TOTALLY a spoiled boy as the only “child” with his previous owners, but man he is SUCH a good cat! He’s declawed in the front, and frequently cracks us up trying to sharpen his claws. The first couple of days he hid from us and the other cats, and they’re still kind of adjusting to one another but overall he’s settled in very well.

He is a BIG boy and a total lover, but I think he spends the most time with me in my sewing room. As you can see, he checks packages before shipping, and he also resides behind my sewing machine when I’m sitting there. Other times he just lays on the table and “supervises”. He’s such a good fit with our family, I’m so happy we brought him home!

Do you have a special sewing room “helper”? Tell me about it in the comments!

Filed Under: Family, Sewing Tagged With: cat, phantom, Sewing

Bartering or Trading-making it work

March 7, 2011 by froggygirl Leave a Comment

Photo Credit

We all know what bartering is right? Or trading? It means trading something you no longer want/need/use and trading it with someone else to get something you do need/want/use. No cash changing hands. It’s been the basis of living for hundreds of years, but fell out of society’s eye sometime in the last few decades as people started thinking that “used” stuff was bad or whatever. I, personally, have never felt that way. I’m thankful every day for the lessons my parents imparted to me regarding finances-one of which is that getting something 2nd hand wasn’t bad. They taught me that not only were you spending less money than buying it new, but helping the environment in lots of ways (less resources consumed for making the new widget, old widget not sitting in a landfill, etc.). Now, my parents weren’t very “green” or overly environmentally conscious, it came more from the direction of it just makes sense!

Photo Credit

For a really great in depth article on the technicalities of bartering, read this one, it’s fab. In this day and age, you aren’t limited to your local community. I’ve done some fun trades with other artisans product for product. I bartered for my logo design (which I completely adore!), and she also did various other things like my business cards and the graphic for my woven clothing tags. There’s a website called Swap Mamas that helps coordinate bartering, I think childrens items and coupons are the most active categories there, but I’ve traded for things like file folders (which I use to organize my sewing patterns, and I was out!) and canning jars.

For me, I never know how to approach someone about bartering. How are you supposed to know if they’re open to the idea? I’m always afraid of offending, so it’s very rare for me to ask! Some places, like the folks over at Weksny Acres, have a page up on their site with what they are currently bartering for (which they refer to as “Farm-cycling”-how awesome is that?). This is the place that is breeding some chicks for us right now, by the way! OK, but if someone doesn’t have it out there like that, then what? Any suggestions? Should I just chill about it and not be afraid to ask?

Another thing that’s hard is that alot of the things I’m wanting/needing are really limited to my local area. We’re slowly working on getting to know more people in our community, and I’m hoping once we are “out there” more the bartering will flow more freely.

So what’s on my list you ask? Well, it’s kind of long!!!

Hormone/antibiotic free beef
Knitting lessons (although this may lead to a yarn stash that rivals the fabric stash which may lead to my husband leaving me lol!)
Fencing for the pasture
Lumber-so many projects for this one!
An assistant to help me with writing listings and such
Photography lessons
Accounting services (would have to be an ongoing thing of course)
Graphic design services (I want to build a whole website for Froggy Girl Designs!!!)
Pyrex pieces from this vintage collection
Good quality jelly roll pans
Anything from my amazon wishlist (and no, it doesn’t have to be new..just usable!)
Wool dryer balls
Homesteading magazines (stuff like Mother Earth News, Homesteading Today, etc.)
Dansko clogs/shoes in a womens US size 6
Red worms for vermiculture
Livestock for our homestead (chickens, goats, sheep, maybe even a cow?)

And my dream big/trade up list:

New pole barn (ours is ridiculous, I should do a post about it sometime so ya’ll can laugh)
Truckload of organic compost
Electrical work
Acreage

See, everything from little stuff to big..now, to make it happen! I want to know your thoughts about bartering! Do you do it? How do you go about making those connections? Interested in a trade with me?

Filed Under: Family, Homesteading Tagged With: bartering, farm, trading