Black Friday Sale!!!!

Bare Bottoms Boutique is having a Black Friday Sale! That's right...sleep in, avoid the long lines, and get some adorable gear for your baby's bum at GREAT prices! All day Friday, November 28, 2008 - Buy any item and get any second item (of equal or lesser value) 50% off! Applies to both custom and instock items. Excludes diaper packages. All diaper packages will be 15% off. Please place your order and then wait for a revised invoice with your discounted total. Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Shopping to all!

Warning - Not for those with a weak stomach!

So, I'm assuming most of those who sew have knicked their finger more than once in the sewing machine. I've done it countless times myself. But, I took it to the next level on Tuesday. And trust me, it isn't an enviable level. I've been sewing like crazy lately...trying to get Christmas gifts made and continue adding new items to my shop along with keeping up with custom orders and trades. So, when I dropped my daughter off at preschool on Tuesday, I rushed home and got started sewing. Honestly, I don't recall exactly what happened, but here is what I DO remember: I was topstitching some flannel backed satin and it wasn't feeding well. I apparently got my fingers a little too close. I hit my left ring finger and immediately pulled it back to find thread sticking out of my nail. I had to pull pretty hard to get the thread out and of course it stung a bit. Then I looked at the needle and noticed that not only was it bent all out of shape, but it was also broken. So, I start looking around for the head of the needle. It didn't take me long to realize that it was IN my finger. Yup, that's right - it went through my nail, bone, and broke off in my finger. I started to panic...tried calling my husband at work, of course I couldn't get a hold of him. I'm calling him, emailing him, paging him...nothing. Irritated that I really need him and I can't get a hold of him, I just send an email saying 'I need to go to the hospital, call me'. That was it. Luckily my mom works only 15 minutes away from my house, so I got my mom to come and get me and take me to a quick-care facility. I had to have x-rays, a tetnus shot, and then they had to make a small incision in the back side of my finger to remove the needle. The doctor was having quite a hard time getting it out...he had to cauterize my nail (don't ask me why) and finally call in an orthopedic surgeon to come in and get it out (he got it out first try). All the while all I can think about is I wish I could turn my cell phone on because I'm sure Josh has gotten my email by now and is freaking out and I really need to call Ryleigh's preschool teacher to tell her that it will be my mom picking Ryleigh up from school today. Finally, I got to turn my phone on. Poor Josh had been driving around to every hospital known to man looking for me. lol...Then they cleaned up my wounds and sent me on my way - without pain meds, by the way. Thank god Josh had some pain meds left from when he threw his back out last winter because once the novicaine wore off it was QUITE painful! By yesterday, though, it wasn't nearly as painful as I thought it would be. My arm was killing me where I had the tetnus shot, though! But, I was able to go without pain meds. My nail is in rough shape. Warning - some graphic pics coming up. Here's what my finger looked like about 36 hours after:
Entrance Wound:

Exit Wound (definitely the less painful of the 2):
I was able to keep myself away from my sewing machine for about 24 hours. Its feeling much better today. Hope I never do that again! :)

And the winner is...drumroll please.....

JAYME! There were 47 entrants. All names were written on a piece of paper and placed in a bowl.

Then mixed...and tossed....

Then I had Ryleigh choose a name from the bowl.

And she picked Jayme!

Jayme, if you're reading this, I'll be trying to contact you to get your order. However, I don't believe I have your email, so feel free to contact me at: barebottomsboutique@yahoo.com. A big huge THANKS to all of you who entered!

Ditto Daddy Gear Grand Opening - GIVEAWAY!!!

For those of you who don't already know, I'm now an Official Ditto Daddy Licensee!

If you don't already know about Ditto Daddy, you definitely need to make your way over to the Ditto Daddy site to check out all the great patterns available including training boxers, briefs, diaper access pj's, and cloth bum onesies. And now, you'll be able to shop for all these fabulous Ditto Daddy products in one place! How convenient! All the Ditto Daddy licensees are teaming up to bring you Ditto Daddy Gear - your one stop shop for pre-made Ditto Daddy items. Of course, you'll still be able to purchase the patterns from the original Ditto Daddy site to make yourself if you so choose. :)

Ditto Daddy Gear will be having its Grand Opening on Friday, November 7th at noon. You can preview some of the items that will be for sale now. Please check it out!!! There are even FFS lottos you can enter there as well! To celebrate, I thought I'd do a blog giveaway! Follow the directions below and your name will be entered into a drawing to win a CUSTOM Ditto Daddy Cloth Bum Onesie. That's right - custom-made!!!! You choose the size (NB-24mo/2T), fabric, sleeve length, and whether you'd like snaps at the neck or not. Here are some samples of Cloth Bum Onesies that I've done:

To enter the drawing:

1. Go to Ditto Daddy Gear www.hyenacart.com/dittodaddygear

2. Check out some of the items that will be for sale and choose your favorite - please, your favorite does NOT have to be one of MY items. Feel free to pick from any of the wonderful shops - what you choose for a favorite has no impact on whether you win or not - it is a random drawing.

3. Come back to this blog post and post a comment telling me what your favorite item is and why (doesn't need to be a book - a short answer will qualify) :) Make sure you leave an email, or some way to contact you in case you win. OR send an email to: barebottomsboutique@yahoo.com with the same info. Enter 'Giveaway' in the subject line.

4. Want an extra entry???? Post about this giveaway on your own blog and leave me a comment with a link to the post.

The drawing will take place one week from the Grand Opening of Ditto Daddy Gear - November 14th, 2008. You may continue to enter until 11/13/08. Make sure you check back to see who the lucky winner is!!!

YAY for Organization!!!

Not too long ago I had a pretty decent set-up for my crafting needs. I had a nice little corner in our finished basement dedicated to both my sewing and scrapbooking needs. I had drawers, shelves, cabinets, a closet...I was in good shape! I mean, yeah, of course everyone has that picture in their mind of their dream crafting space, but I was very content with my little corner in the basement. That is until my mother-in-law moved in with us a couple months ago and what was our familyroom, office, and my crafting center was turned into her little 'apartment'. So, what's a woman to do??? The only other room in the house that was not really 'used' was the diningroom. So, my diningroom is now my office and sewing room. My scrapbooking stuff is now in bins and boxes, but that's a whole different story. My major focus now is sewing....so, anyway...I went from an area with a built-in desk that spanned 2 walls, built-in cabinets, shelves, and drawers, and a closet to....NOTHING in the way of storage. And since 90% of the furniture that I used in the basement was built-in, it wasn't something I could just move up into the diningroom. So, as you can imagine, I had quite a mess. I had Josh build me a cutting table with some big drawers to store fabric in. But, it wasn't nearly enough. I had so much stuff crammed EVERYWHERE that whenever I needed something, I'd have to dig through it and it ended up a huge mess very quickly. Here...let me show you. :)

Here's the cutting table and an old desk that I pulled out of the basement for my sewing machine.

Now, I know what you're thinking....that's not bad at all, right??? Well, that's because you haven't seen the inside of the drawers yet. lol...Top drawer (and, yes, the entire drawer was in the same kind of disarray - it wasn't just the top layer):

Bottom Drawer - same story...a big mass of tangled fabric, oh, and don't forget the elastic mixed in there, too!

And how about the drawers in the desk....well...here's a sample of that - all my Aplix tangled beyond recognition...don't ask me where the end of it is.

And what's worse is what I forgot to take pictures of....the piles of fabric to the left of the cutting table and against the opposite wall. There simply was not enough room for it all. So, I put Josh to work again! I had him buy some pegboard to hang above the desk so that I could move my thread and some of my other tools and notions up onto the wall freeing up space on the desk for the serger which in turn freed up space on the cutting table for the snap press. Then, I had him build shelves up to the ceiling to hold more fabric and notions. Then I organized everything! I wrapped all my elastic around little cardboard pieces and put them in bins, all my aplix is now neatly wrapped around a rod above the cutting table, and MOST of my fabric is now visible, and easily accessible. I used some pieces of mdf to wrap my fabric around - like little bolts that you'd see at the fabric store. I'm quite happy with the result! It's been so much easier and quicker to get things done! No, its not perfect, and no, its still not my dream sewing space, but it sure is an improvement!!! :)

Boy am I thankful to have such a handy husband! :)