Finding beauty in the unexpected....

 This is the sweet little spot that Ben & I recently found to shoot product pictures at.   {See exhibit A} Truth be told, it's actually a really ugly, sketchy looking alley.  Lovely right?  Not at first glance.  But when you look a little harder there is beauty in this questionable & dirty little alley.  Even a little bit of life.  It took me several times of looking over this photo to even notice the little weed plant growing up out of the concrete.

And now I find this place to be somewhat beautiful and charming in its own little way.  

It kind of reminds me of the Lord.  He takes something broken, used, dirty & unworthy & makes it beautiful.  He brings beauty to the overlooked & unwanted & life where there is none.

Thank you Jesus.

New to My Little Sunshine! {fabric + handmade}

we have some new excitement going on in both of the shops this week!

are you ready for this?

hobo satchels are back for the summer

 in 3 new fresh & summer-y styles!!

I love each of these prints & think they are perfect additions to my summer collection!  The hobo satchel is  a comfortable, roomy & classy bag with sweet pleats all along it & a lovely rosette in the center to finish it off nicely! 

{shop hobo satchels}

And in the fabric shop we are SO excited to announce that our Cloud9 prints are here!!  

These are our first organic cotton prints & we could not be more thrilled to bring them to you!

{shop fabric}

Hollyday Cards + Haiti Card Special

Hey Friends!  I hope your week is wrapping up splendidly :)  I wanted to let you in on some exciting happenings in the life of a very sweet friend & handmade artist.  Love to shop handmade with a purpose? Well, let me tell you how you can do just that ;)

Meet Holly:

Holly & I met through mutual friends at Texas A&M, this picture was taken of us at my wedding!  Isn't she a cutie?   Not only does this sweet little lady have a darling face, but she also makes some pretty RAD cards through her business Hollyday Cards

Holly & I both share a LOVE for crafting, but also have a heart to use our passion & abilities for purposes that further the Kingdom of God.  Many of you may know that My Little Sunshine gives 15% of our profit year around with an organization called Heartline Ministries in Haiti.  It is an organization & ministry that I have come to whole heartedly love over the past year as I have watched them (from afar) love on women & children, teach them life skills (such as pre-natal care, sewing and jewelry making), educate them & show them the abundant love of Christ. That's a cause I can get behind!

In a couple of short weeks, Holly is taking the AMAZING opportunity to go to Haiti & learn from & work with the people behind this ministry and YOU have the opportunity to help her get there!  

Here is a little window into Holly's heart behind this trip:

Just a little while longer and I get to meet this land called Haiti... this place I've had a special affection for.

Last January, an 8 year old card maker named Isabelle Redford inspired me at World Mandate, my church's annual missions conference. It was so sweet to me how she used her talents of card making to earn money that paid for orphanages to be built in Haiti. Tears wet my face and a 'yes Lord' came up inside me for whatever Jesus wanted to do with me and my own passion for cardmaking.

Last summer I learned more about creative business & ministry initiatives in Cambodia and Haiti where women who are oppressed and poor get to learn dignified crafting skills to earn income!

There's really something so satisfying about creating something with your hands and standing back and enjoying it... giving it that "yes, .... yes!" (I think God did that when He made the world & "saw that it was good." I think He gave it that double "yes.")

The thought is invigorating to me of using my passion & business of card making to introduce other women in third world countries into that unparalleled, "yes, .... yes!" when they create. And not only this, but get to spend time with and introduce women to Jesus, having opportunities to teach them to walk with Him & know His unmatched love.

And so I go to learn! I'll get to ask questions to the developers of the business arm of Heartline Ministries (which Ashley & I love to support) -- it's called Haitian Creations. I get to see it all in action -- women learning to sew and make purses to sell!

Learning from people who have done similar things before me will hopefully help light the path with wisdom for however God wants to further develop my business, Hollyday Cards, in whatever country He lands me in the future.

This card special I'm having will help send me on my way to Haiti! For $25 you get 5 all occasion cards that you can keep on hand for birthdays, sympathy, just because, or whatever else you fancy.

Thanks for your time, and may He grant you lots of fun and wisdom on the course He has for you to run! Dream big, follow Him boldly, don't be afraid to go for your passion and take risks for building God's Kingdom! Jesus is always worth it!  :)

  SO here's one way that you can be a part of what Heartline & more importantly, what Jesus is doing in Haiti.

In case you didn't catch it in her blurb, Holly is doing a card special, 5 cards for $25 (normally 5 for $30) with all the profit going to support her trip to Haiti!

Here are just a few of the lovelies you could get out of the deal:

Holly has cards for all occasions so check out her website & card special here for all the details!!

DIY Wednesday {Easy Coffee Sack Art}

I was at one of our local coffee shops the other day & saw some SWEET burlap coffee bags by the roaster, just waiting for their beans to be turned into coffee goodness.  The shop roasts coffee from around the world so each bag was so unique with two common links:  burlap & the smell of coffee.  That my friends, is a win-win.

I asked the owner if he would sell me one of his bags & sure enough, he did!  I decided to just snag one for the time being, but who am I kidding, I know I'll be back for more!

Soo here is what I schemed up to do with this particular bag!

Oh, and Bob helped *wink*wink*

I have a lot of old canvases with half painted pictures on them lying around, waiting for inspiration, so I grabbed one of those.

Then (lucky me) the bag was just about the same size as the canvas, so I just cut the bag into two rectangle panels at the creases. Snip, snip.

I turned the panel over with the printed side facing down & spread it out along the floor.  I then centered the canvas over it, again with the "canvas side" facing down.  

All that was left to do:: staple, staple, staple.

I slowly stapled each side of the burlap to the coordinating side of the canvas, trying to tighten the burlap around the frame as I went.  You don't want a saggy burlap picture...noooo way.  And truthfully, I could have done a better job at this--I think I will go back & re-tighten some areas around the canvas later. But for now, just know to tighten your wrapped burlap well :)

Once the stapling is done, all that's left is to turn your art over and....
Ta-da!! Easy Peasy.

Now I just need to find a home for this lovely!

Oh & can you tell I might be obsessed with burlap right now?

Coming Soon to My Little Sunshine

I am SO excited to introduce the newest (soon-to-be) additions to the MLS fabric collection!

Cloud 9 Fabrics specialize in cute, modern 100& organic cotton fabrics made with low-impact dyes.  This will be the first organic cotton collection that I will be carrying in the shop & I cannot wait for it to arrive!  Here are the prints you will find in the shop:

Top left: Hydrangeas; Top Right: Shards; Bottom Left: Splinters; Bottom Right: Free As A Bird

Here's the deal:

This week ONLY (as I await the arrival of these goodies), I will do a Pre-Sale of these prints for $9.00/yard

The normal retail value is: $12/yard

That's 25% OFF!!

email me at: mylittlesunshineshop@gmail.com 

or send me a convo on etsy @ mysunshinefabric & we will get your order going!!!

**fabric should arrive by the end of this week, so the turnaround time on your order will be a short one** yippeeee!!

My First Craft Show

I had my very first craft show experience this weekend with the lovely, Sandy a la Mode.

The show didn't have the traffic we had hoped for so not a ton of sales, but it was a good learning experience & we had a great time with Sandy & her husband! 

Sandy & I shared a booth--a shot of our booth :)

a closeup of some of my headbands, clips & props--love the old pepsi crate that i used for hair clips

rosette barrettes in fun spring colors--soon to be added to the shop!

simple pleated totes--another new item i plan to add to the shop soon!  hanging them along the wall was an impromptu decision that thankfully worked out well! tip: always bring extra rope ;)

bringing back the hobo satchel in some fun spring designs! the satchel is displayed on a bamboo tripod that ben devised :)

more pleated totes, i looooooved the way they looked against the brick wall!

my most popular item:: windswept wristlets!  

another angle of the display, i used chalkboard signs to display my name & pricing :)

i love my husband!  he endured a day full of craft fair goodness all in support of me:) and helped me with some cool displays that i could not have done without him!

Overall it was a really good learning experience.

Things I took away:

1. Make sure you know your venue & what kind of crowd it will draw.  This was the biggest problem of this fair.  It seemed the persons in charge didn't advertise well or much & thus there wasn't much traffic.  Also, it wasn't a "handmade only" fair, so there was a lot of disparity between what Sandy & I were selling & what others were selling--I thinking having more cohesive vendors might draw a better crowd. I don't know, just a first timer's thoughts ;)

2. Know your space.  Set up a demo- I did a mini demo & this time it worked out pretty well, but I think I could do a better job in the future of doing a mock set-up before hand.  Specifically with my purses & totes...I felt there was too much distance between them & our vendor table.

3. Always bring business cards.  I was able to hand out business cards to a lot of the other vendors & also the people who came to the fair--I've already connected with a couple of other sellers through my biz cards, so I was happy about that!

4. Have fun & bring fun people with you.  My husband, Sandy & her husband made the fair for me.  Having fun people around helps to pass the slow times & keeps you encouraged even when you may not be bringin in the big bucks ;)

5.  I decided to try out a lot of new products for the fair.  Even though I didn't see a huge amount of sales, I did note what the people who stopped by were looking at & this helped give me a good idea of what might go over well in the shop!

All in all, I had a fun time.  I really didn't know if this fair would have a good turnout & I guess my suspicions were right, so I wasn't really all that disappointed.  Besides, like I said--I had FUN people with me to pass the time ;)  We also went to Oklahoma Joe's with Sandy & her husband after the fair, so all in all we left having had a lot of fun, met up with sweet people & with full bellies. 

 And that my friends, is success.

A Not so DIY Wednesday...

You'll have to excuse me, I haven't had ANY time to put together a DIY for today.  But that doesn't mean my hands haven't been busy with lots of creating!

I am getting ready for my VERY FIRST Craft Show this weekend (yay!!) and have been drowning in fabric bits, strands of thread & lots of to-dos!

This baby has literally been on & running for the better part of most days.

the buffet is spilling over with clutches.  i may or may not have moved my craft room to the dining room for the week :)

lots of new totes & pretty fabrics

these little guys are soon to be display signs for the big show!  

And that's what I've been doing & will be doing until Saturday!  

I will probably be MIA on the blogosphere until then, so have a very Happy Easter & a wonderful weekend.  

I am thankful that HE IS RISEN!

Will post pics of the Craft Show next week!