Changes for the New Year

Its been a long time since I have opened up this blog to write. I love writing and I miss blogging but life gets busy and things get forgotten or put to the way side. But here I am with some time to finally sit down and say hi. "Hi!" The last few months have had a lot of ups and downs but there are huge changes on the way. Not "new year, new you" kind of changes...I'm talking life altering changes. At this point I wont write much. We haven't told our family or friends yet what our plans are. I am so incredibly excited and a little anxious though. Once we have told them, I will begin blogging again because it will all be too exciting to not share. In the mean time, this blog will undergo some changes too. I want to make it more user friendly. I'm gonna figure out how to get my posts to appear on the appropriate page and I am going to add you tube videos to it. I hope that everyone who reads this blog will be patient with me as I move forward with the changes. I promise, they will make everything better in the end...


Just keep swimming...

Rachel B. 

DIY: Block Print Stamp

The last few days my brain has been swimming with ideas for my very own product line. Because I am creating kid friendly clothes I want kid friendly fabrics, designs and prints. Now don't get me wrong. The print fabrics they sell in stores are great and all but I really wanna do my own thing. After some extensive research (which equals hours cruising pinterest)...I settled on the idea of block prints. This technique is where you take a block that has a design on it and print the fabric with it over and over again. Since I am a "do it myself" kinda gal, I didn't want to buy a stamp. But, I can't carve so I had to figure out a way to make my own block stamps. Preferably using the materials I already had on hand at home. So, without further ado...here is what I came up with!

Supplies: 

Poster board (6"x6") plus some small two inch long strips
Craft foam
Glue
Marker
Scissors
Some kind of weight (I used a rock)

Step 1: Cut the poster board to size

I cut my blocks into 6"x6" squares. It seems to really be the perfect size for handling the prints. After I cut out the main block, I cut the scraps into small long strips for the handle.

 

Step 2: Glue on strips/handle

I used Elmer's school glue which so far has held up pretty well. You just need a little bit to get it to stick. Once you have glued and stacked all of the little blocks on top of one another, place the weight on top. Allow to dry.

Step 3: Create your design

Take the foam and draw your design onto it. For this tutorial I did circles, which I intend to use on a cute skirt design I have in the works. (Polka dots rock!!) Once you have drawn the design cut it out and glue it on. There is no set way to do this. The more random the better. Allow to dry, again under the weight.

Step 4: Print Away!!!

The very first block print I made was of mini-mustaches. To show how well the block print works, I took a little bit of paint, sponged it onto the print (just covering the raised print) and then dabbed it onto a scrap of plain white fabric I had.

Overall, I think it turned out pretty snazzy looking. I hope that this tutorial will help inspire you to create your very own prints!!

Happy Printing!

Rachel B.

Busy Days Ahead

I think I have finally decided to take the plunge into this whole "business" thing. For years I have sewed for family and friends as a hobby. At one point I thought I would make wedding dresses that would be of my own design but I got bored with that quickly. I find myself, time and again going back to kids clothes. I have two amazing little boys and a whole bushel of nieces and nephews so I have plenty of opportunity to make stuff for little kiddos. I've just never sold any of it before. With that being said, the next few weeks are going to be spent drawing up and creating prototypes, developing my brand (hence the new blog design...) and creating a real life business plan.

Wish me luck!

Rachel B.

Hiking Season is Coming!!

Yay!!! It's almost spring time (well...in a couple of months or so) and in our house that means its time to get ready for the hiking season!! In the past our hikes have always been really low key short little treks out and back, usually to some waterfall. However, Bird, my oldest, has become uber fascinated with survival skills. What better way to teach him survival skills (and the rest of the family too) than to go on a few overnight backpacking trips! When I was a kid all we ever did was car camping and no hiking. My kiddos have both car camping and day hiking under their belts so this just seems like the next logical step. Of course I'm geeking out about it over here because I can just imagine how fun (and probably stressful) this will all be. So to gear up for the season we are going to start small, organize our gear, shake off our winter cobwebs and work on some fun projects.

We got started this last weekend by going for a short day hike out along Strawberry Island. There are several trails through this little patch of land that are pretty well maintained and are not very far from our house. Score! This really made for a perfect little trek out. While we were out there Bird decided to bring along some of his tracking books. We bought him several animal tracking books for Christmas because it never fails, every time we are out on a hike we come across tracks we can't identify. Not this time! Towards the end of our hike we stumbled across a print in the mud that at first looked like it could have been a dog (to my untrained eye). Checked the book...not a dog...Bird thought it might have been a cougar...checked...nope...William thought it could be a coyote print...checked and BINGO!! We took pictures and while its kinda hard to tell from them, we feel pretty good about our id. Overall it was a successful first trek out. Because of the weather here we wont be able to actually go backpacking until April or May but until then the short little day hikes should be good for brushing up on our skills.

Happy Trails,

Rachel B.

New Years Resolutions!! (Yep...it's that time of year again...)

Ahh New Years...That wonderfully obnoxious time of year where people talk about how they are going to change and make plans to do so but fail to follow through. Yes, I am one of them. Every single year I set goals, some I achieve, most I fail at. Why? Because change is hard!!! Also, I don't really put a lot of thought into my resolutions. I tend to regurgitate what everyone else does. Exercise...sign me up for that. Get better organized...oh yeah, I should do that too. So after giving it some thought this year, I realized that the goals that other people set are never, ever going to work for me. I have to put some thought and effort into what I need and what I want to work on.

On my old running blog (which I deleted...sigh*) I had written a post about SMART goal setting. Specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time bound. The theory goes that if your goals meet all of these criteria, you will be more successful at accomplishing them. Here is a wiki article for more information. While I had this in the back of my mind, the goals I laid out really don't fit within the SMART criteria. Yes, they are specific, attainable, and relevant. One of them is measurable but none of them are time bound because they are life long aims. Despite scoring 2 out of 3, I think they are still pretty smart. So, without further ado, here are my personal goals for this year...

1) No new volunteer commitments. Ever...ever again.

I love to volunteer, don't get me wrong! But...I have a habit of volunteering for EVERYTHING!!! Which in turn leads me to over extending myself and becoming super super stressed out. 90% of the volunteer work I do does nothing to forward my goals to be a better mother and provider for my family. If its not adding anything to my life, then its taking from my life and I can't have that happen any more.

2) Work towards eliminating TV from my life.

I gain absolutely nothing from watching TV, yet I find myself curled up on the couch watching it for hours on end. Sometimes, I will sit around and watch re-runs of the same movie or show that I have seen a dozen times. Not only is this not productive, it also takes up valuable time I could spend doing something else, like gardening, reading to myself or my kids, playing games with my kids...etc...TV is a time sucking vampire and I am soooo over it already.

3) Sort out my priorities. Family, Personal Health, Spirituality, & Wellness, Work & School. In that order!

There are a lot of things I put on the back burner because I am trying to be everything to everyone and have no time to be who or what I need to be. My goal for this year is to put a lot of time into my family and myself. Work on gaining experience and furthering my plans work wise and finishing up school by December so I can move onto my masters program. To me, these things are the only things that are important.

4) Embrace my inner night owl.

For years and years I have tried and failed (even setting this as my new years resolution on occasion) to get up around 5-6am to workout and get stuff done before everyone wakes up in the morning. For whatever reason, I have this idea planted in my head that getting up early is what "successful" people do. The early bird gets the worm after all... But I am not a morning person. Its not that I can't get up that early in the morning. Its just that I love sleep too much. I will try to go to bed around 9 in an attempt to get up early only to toss and turn for hours, look at the clock to see its midnight and then hit the snooze when 5 am rolls around. I am not a morning person. I get more done at night after everyone has gone to bed. My internal clock is set for sleep from 11:30pm-8:00am. I need to embrace that and stop fighting it. I think that in doing so I will save myself a lot of headaches and frustration with myself for not being able to get up when I planned to.

Overall, I think four goals are just right for this year. I will probably take the time to make out a list of how I am going to make these SMART goals (I'm an obsessive list maker...) and move forward from there.

The point I want to stress in this post is that if you are going to make resolutions, set yourself up for success. Don't look at other peoples lists and think, oh year...I should be doing all of that. No! You should be doing what you need to do to become the best you. Think about what you need to do in your life, for yourself and/or your family, that will enrich your well-being and add to your happiness. Remember: If its not adding to your life, its taking from it. Only aim for that which will add to your life.


Happy Planning,

Rachel B.

Post Christmas Report

I gotta say, I am glad the holidays are over. This year wasn't as stressful as most years have been. I got all my shopping done early, managed to keep baking/cooking to a minimum and spent a great deal of time enjoying my kids company. Christmas was a huge hit for me gift wise at least. My awesome husband bought me a new satchel and books!!! Books are hands down the best gift you could ever get me. I love books more than I love food and sleep. I have foregone both in order to finish a good book. On other blogs that I have managed (and since combined into this one) I had done book reviews. They were usually related to the books I read that pertained to that subject, example, running blog= running books, anthropology blog= anthropology books. But since I've combined everything together I haven't done any new posts. (And as a side note, I am considering picking back up the anthropology blog...just saying...some days I missed writing about humans...their fascinating creatures.) But I digress...

For Christmas my husband bought me two books. The first one, (which I have not started yet) is the first book of the Divergent series.

I was not overly curious to read this before I heard about the movie but since they are making it into a movie series I figured why not. The story line sounds promising enough. Although, I will admit, reading the book series of an upcoming movie has been hit or miss for me. I absolutely adore Harry Potter. (Proud Potterhead! Tattoo and all...yes I am that serious about it...don't judge me.) Twilight on the other hand...I would rather eat dirt than read those books again...and don't even get me started on the movies. Watched the first one by choice, next two by force, and didn't even bother with the last one. With the Hunger Games Series I was okay...except I thought the way that Katness was written reminded me too much of a whinny Bella (from Twilight) and that annoyed me. So, as far as Divergent goes I am cautiously optimistic...fingers crossed and all. I've never been one for the popular book series. My husband bought me the 50 Shades of Grey books thinking I would want to read them, cause their books afterall...he thinks I will read anything. I did not want to read them but since the money was spent I read them anyway and hated them as much as I thought I would. I work in the field of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault and could not remove my advocate hat at all...I spent most of the time wishing I could reach through the book and punch the guy in the face. Yes, he is a textbook abuser. Get over it. I have no intention of wasting my time with the movies. Anyways...moving on...

The other book that he bought me was one I have been wanting to read for a long, LONG time. 1984 by George Orwell.

About a year ago I got my hands on a copy of Animal Farm, another book by Orwell. Amazing!! Could not put it down for a second. If you have not read anything by Orwell, you should. He is a phenomenal writer. I've known of him since I was a teen but for whatever reason haven't got around to reading his work until now. So of course after reading Animal Farm, I had to read 1984.

I am only half way through the book and lets just say, I was upset I had to actually get some sleep last night in order to go to work today. Otherwise, I might have just stayed up all night and said screw sleep. Talk about a sitting on the edge of your seat, biting your fingernails down to the quick, thriller...holy cow! My intention is to do a full on review of the book once I have finished reading it. But so far, it has not disappointed.


Overall I am super happy with my haul on Christmas. I am a big book person and willingly admit to trying to force that onto others. My husband and kids get books for Christmas every year and will probably continue to do so until the day I die. In my opinion, books are the only gift worth giving. And just as a point to how crazy my book obsession has gotten, the satchel I got, I special requested cause I really, really, really wanted a nice bag that was big enough to hold a couple of books at a time, without actually having to carry a backpack around. My husband delivered! That's one of the many ways I know he loves me...he buys me books and crazy things to make carrying books on me at all time easier...lol.


Go pick up a book already...

Rachel B.

Christmas Bazaar

Well...its that time of year again...Christmas. Wow, that snuck up on me fast. A couple months ago I had signed up to do a Christmas Bazaar. Mind you, I have never done one before. My main purpose for doing it was to promote my new business, Raelyn Jack Studios. (Visit my Etsy page here.) My goal as a wedding gown designer was to have a sample dress made and ready to go to have on display. But displaying a dress would be just about the lamest table ever so I had to think of something to actually do while I was there besides take up space. What did I finally decide on? Gift wrapping!!! Gift wrapping is about the only thing I do well at Christmas time so I figured why not.

Because I live in a rather small community I bought enough supplies to be able to wrap about 50 gifts. I thought this would be an appropriate amount until I asked the chamber of commerce how many people the usually get through the event...6-700 people!!! Yikes...I know not everyone is going to want things wrapped but man did I under plan. After my shock wore off I started to get really excited about it all. I'm going to wrap gifts, sell my hand made salt dough ornaments, gingerbread cookies and sugar cookies. The event is this Saturday so needless to say I have a lot of work left to do. You may be seeing a lot of posts from me in the near future as I plan to take pictures of each of the different processes and then post them on here for others to do. Also, in the near future 2 Birds will have our own etsy shop selling handmade crafting goodies and children's wear! Check back for more updates...


Happy crafting,

Rachel B.