Dollar Tree Jackpot!

I took my kids to The Dollar Tree because...well, who doesn't like crap for a $1? I know I can't pass it up either, call it a weakness of mine. Technically, we were going to look for one of those long back scrubber things for me and some more art supplies as my children can use up all construction paper, pens, tape, markers, etc. in this house, but as usual we end up finding about $20 more of "must have" stuff.

My first great find was those black and white journals for $1, I picked up half a dozen to alter. And my children have been mesmorized for hours now as little archeologists (Mr E gave his "this is hard work" face for the picture). They found these eggs with dinosaur bones inside in the toy aisle. As you find the bones, you dust them and take them out, then when you are all done, the bones fit together to make a little miniature dino skeleton. Mr. E has already decided he is adding archeologist to his planned resume when he grows up. Be warned, if you happen to be a clean freak (which I am most certainly not) watch out, these are serious dust and dirt makers.



So, while going through the little crafting aisle that is usally crappity crap, I discovered they had Blue Moon beads. You know those adorable glass beads that are like $3.99 at Michael's and JoAnn's? A $1!! I bought $40 worth of beads for only $10. And they had all kinds of colors and designs. It wasn't much and I cleaned out about half the packages for them, but go check out your local Dollar Tree if you are as addicted to those beads as I am. The clerk told me they get them in all the time, but I think she's nuts because I have never seen them and I go there fairly regularly.

Also, next to the beads, they had these odd little fabric embellishments, some were crap, but others were nice and very intricate -- like crocheted and beaded embellishments to sew on. They were perfect for altered art clothing. I didn't pick up any because I couldn't figure out what I would do with them and I already had $40 worth of stuff in my shopping cart, but I they were adorable. Oh and another cool thing I picked up, little unpainted shadow boxes next to the craft stuff, about 4 x 4 inches in size. I'm going to see what of kind altered art project I can come up with for it. I really want to create a collection of vintage sewing shadow box for my new sewing studio, so I'm experimenting with one.

And that my dear friends was my trip to the Dollar Tree....the end!

Attn: Homeschooling Mamas - Mardel is having a sale

I was at Mardel last night picking up some of my kid's homeschooling curriculum and they had signs all over the store. Next Thursday, July 17th, they are having special hours 8 AM to 10 PM with 20% of all the education stuff. They carry a lot of HS books I was looking for like Handwriting without Tears and Wordly Wise and Easy Grammar. They had others like Saxon math. Lots of other stuff too. If anybody knows if they carry Singapore Math, post in the comments. I did not find it and they were closing so I didn't have time to ask, but I'm thinking of trying another one to see if they carry it, I had heard they did carry it.

I'm not sure what's not included in the sale, but it's all education and office stuff on sale. They do have an ad on their website for this sale.

Also, I don't know if it is a well known thing, but Homeschool Buyer's Coop is a great place to buy discount programs in a co-op. I purchased a subscription for Mr. E for Click n Read phonics. He LOVES it. He just started and he's already learning to read his very first words. He's 4 yrs old and has been dying to read for quite some time, but was not into doing phonics with me. He wanted something he could do himself, and this program is wonderful for that. At the co-op, it is only $29.99 for a lifetime subscription for 1 child. Additional children are cheaper to add.

Anyway Homeschool Buyer's Coop is free to join. You can even print off a homeschool teacher ID for yourself so you can get discounts where educators get discounts. They don't charge a membership, just fees for when you buy products. So far I am really impressed.

And Miss Em wanted to go ahead and start school, so I was going to sign her up for Big Spelling Time, but they now are called Big IQ Kids and have spelling, vocabulary, math, and states and a special price of $59.99 for a 1 yr subscription to all 4 and I think I read that was a limited time price. She loves it, everything but math. The math is hard without writing stuff down, so we are going to do math in workbooks, but the vocabulary and spelling are fun, and when you finish a lesson, you get tokens to go play games. I had Em do the demo lessons and she really enjoyed them before we purchased it.

Sewing Chick's Book Club

Yes it is that boring time when I switch from sewing stuff to books. There are days I wish I had become a librarian. I love books so much and feel the incredible urge to share them with the world. Seriously, there are times I'm in a bookstore and I feel like pulling people over and handing them books, crazy I know. There is nothing better than coming home with a giant bag of fabric full of project ideas, and I feel the same way when I come home with a bag of books just waiting to be read. I savor the time until I can crawl under the covers and read, and if it's cold and raining outside, it makes it that much more perfect. I know most people prefer nice sunny days, but give me a cold dark thunderstorm and I can't wait to crawl in bed and read all afternoon.

So here are a couple of books I just finished, both by Jennifer McMahon. It was quite the task to find Island of Lost Girls. Of all places, it showed up at Target when I checking their itty bitty book section.
This is her first book called Promise Not To Tell. It's not a very long book, but I loved that I could not guess the ending. I had suspicions of who was the murder but kept questioning myself, and I really enjoy a book I can't completely guess the ending. This book is about a school nurse named Kate. She is called to go back home across the country because her mother has developed Alzhemier's. She grew up in a hippie commune with her mom, and as a child her best friend, Del, was murdered and it was never solved. She left Vermont as soon as she could after that. The day she comes back to town, another little girl is murdered exactly like Del. So suspicions are all around including about Kate, and it seems her mother is somehow channeling Del in her Alzheimer state to help Kate find the killer. It's a very good story. I devoured it. I really liked how chapters would flip flop, one in the present and one in the past when Kate and Del were children.

This book is Jennifer McMahon's second book called Island of Lost Girls. McMahon does the same flip flopping of chapters with one in the past and one in the present. This book is about a girl who just graduated college and she witnesses the abduction of a little girl at a gas station by a giant white rabbit. It is a small town so people are pissed she didn't do anything when she witnessed the kidnapping. So her guilt forces her to volunteer with the efforts to find the girl. Soon she and another volunteer begin their own investigation into the abduction because she wants to prove the police wrong because they are suspecting her childhood friend, Peter. Soon she starts to believe it is him too, and this leads her back into her past because she remembers a white rabbit from her past too and she and her friends have some odd things happen. She remembers Peter and his sister Lizze, her best friend -- their dad just disappears one day back when they are kids, then Lizzie also disappears a few years later on the way to school one day. And with this abduction, she starts to examine her childhood with these friends. The ending is a big surprise. I was trying to figure it out in my head, but the story takes a complete twist and the kidnapper is not who you think they are. The way McMahon wraps everything up at the end is very good because secrets coming spilling out of her childhood. This one was a short read as well, but I couldn't put it down. I read it in 2 afternoons.

I love period books, and I absolutely love reading fiction on Asian cultures from the past, so I happened upon this book (at Target too!) called The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrzavani and thought I might love it as much as the Asian period books, and it's really good. I think it is her first novel. It's a period novel about a Muslim girl's life from 17th century Persia. I just started it yesterday and had to peel myself away. It is getting very interesting. Her father dies and she and her mother are so poor they ask their only relative, her father's rich distant half-brother to live with him, so they move to this huge city from their small village, and life is so different. They become servants to his half-brother's family. I am only 100 pages into the book and it's pretty thick, but from other reviews, I have read she decideds to free herself and her mother from this family and I can't wait to get back to it tonight to see how this plays out.

Nursing Cover/Apron is now downloadable

I had a sec, so I went ahead and did it. The link is over in the Freebies or you can go to it right now if you click on this picture below:



Just to clarify if anyone is not sure. The Nursing Apron Top is a shirt to wear. The Nursing Cover/Apron is the cover up for nursing with boning. I had seen it called a nursing apron and a nursing cover, so that is why I had both names for the cover. I hope that is not too confusing.

Dallas area fabric addicts!! Golden D'or Sale

I forgot to mention this til today. If you live in the Dallas area -- Golden D'or is having a sale in their clearance room fabrics. Their clearance room is HUGE.

And I have a 30% off coupon for 1 regular price fabric. Email me and I can email it to you. Email link over there ----->

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The Semi-Annual Clearance Room Sale is Back!
July 7-12 ONLY

For one week only we will have unbelievable prices throughout the store! Save 30% off any regular priced item in the store with your coupon and save BIG in the already reduced clearance room!

Prices in the clearance room will be as follows...

*All bolts marked up to $7 will be $0.99 per yard!

*All bolts marked from $7+ to $10 will be $1.99 per yard!

*All bolts marked from $10+ to $15 will be $2.99 per yard!

*All bolts marked from $15+ to $18 will be $3.99 per yard!

*All bolts marked over $18 will be $4.99 per yard!

This is so COOL!!

I just discovered the most adorable hair clips on Etsy. Have you seen these? Thought bubble barrettes!! Is that not the cutest idea? I love the Star Trek ones - Resistance is Futile and I Love Data (Brent Spiner) - I'm such a Trekkie. That is such a creative idea!

I'm seriously thinking about getting one, my mother is already embarassed by the pink hair, I can't imaging what she would think if I added a thought bubble clip.





Go check out the Etsy store by clicking on the banner.




P.S. I'm updating the nursing cover/apron tutorial so it's a PDF download with some real live pictures. My sister-in-law offered to model while nursing her youngest if I cut off her head in the pictures, I compromised and cut off half her face, lol. I thought a total headless picture would be kinda strange. So it'll be up in a couple of days.