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Can You Hear It?

Can You Hear It?

Can you hear it?

That solid, constant thumping sound?

No need to worry, it’s just me banging my head against the wall as I put together my taxes.

Ugh.

I have all of the paperwork and receipts in a box. A big black box. Every year I promise myself I will come up with a better system and do better next year.

Fifth year in business….still hasn’t happened.

Thumping, thumping, thumping.

Let me show you what has gotten in the way of doing those dreaded taxes.

This super cute hot pink/silver reversible Easter Bunny pillow!

When you move the sequins back and forth they change from pink to silver.

So many options for patterns you lose track of time and then you need to make supper and do dishes and go to bed.

No time for taxes.

But I haven’t given up hope for next years tax attempt. If you also have a small business, there are several options to help on Pinterest.

Just put in Taxes Organization and find the best option for you.

Or

If you have a shop on Etsy, Etsy has an option to purchase QuickBooks to pull all of your Etsy information into one place. (I’ve purchased this system but haven’t used it enough to give a review.)

If you aren’t an Etsy seller, here is the link for QuickBooks for the self-employed.

And my favorite option if you want to avoid your tax preparation all together, you can find the Sequin Easter Bunny Cover here. 🙂

~Wendy

I’m So Excited….

I’m So Excited….

When I get excited about something, my words and my thoughts become total goobulldegook. All of these thoughts go flying through my head, and the excitement takes over any hope of being able to clearly verbalize them.

This happens on a daily basis.

Sometimes those thoughts when they finally do settle down are just that, goobulldegook. But sometimes, I get my poop in a group and pull off something like this.

You see, my Mom and Dad gave me a blue and cream tablecloth from Magnolia Market for Christmas. I jumped for joy!

A perfect Wendy gift.

And today it struck me, that I could make something similar that maybe other “Wendy’s” would enjoy.

So I did.

I have listed this grain sack/feed sack/farmhouse tan stripe table cloth in Etsy shop here.

And if you happened to miss it, I also have these runners:

These placemats:

And these coasters:

Currently I only have tan available, but plan to have the blue stripe listed by the weekend and a red stripe listed soon after that.

Thanks for letting me get that off of my chest. 🙂

~Wendy

How To Make Money Blogging And My Newest Obession

How To Make Money Blogging And My Newest Obession

Have you ever wondered how to make money blogging?

Me too.

So in full disclosure, in the last 18 months that I have been blogging, I have not directly made a single penny.

Womp,womp

That will change, I have faith. This is a marathon, not a sprint.

But if you are interested in starting a blog, Miss Mustard Seed and Thistlewood Farms both have blog series starting today on how to do exactly that. Marian and KariAnne are the best of the best.

With Marian and KariAnne sharing their insight on heavy issues like making money….I would like to show you my most recent light-hearted obsession.

Like me, you have probably seen this reversible mermaid sequins fabric everywhere. You rub the sequins one way and they are pink,

And you rub them the other way and they are silver,

You can make messages,

You can make designs

*****WARNING: This fabric is addictive*****

I bought a couple of yards in a pink and silver combination and a couple of yards in a gold and silver combination.(The gold and silver won’t be available until late February, it is shipping from China!)

Does anyone need a unique Valentines gift? I have six covers listed in my Etsy shop with an option of buying the cover and the insert. They would make a great new obsession for any one of your Valentines.

~Wendy

Happy New Year! Starting The New Year Off With A New Piece Of Furniture

Happy New Year! Starting The New Year Off With A New Piece Of Furniture

Happy New Year!

I was writing out some checks this morning and it felt weird writing 2017. Just like 365 days ago it felt weird to write 2016. And soon enough I will be saying the same thing about writing 2018.

Time flies, no one will debate that.

Over the New Year weekend, Wade and I took down and packed up our Christmas decorations. Being on a blogging time frame, most things happen weeks, sometimes months before a non-bloggers time frame. For instance, our fall decor is set up around late August, early September and within the first week of November, everything changes from a fall color scheme to a festive Christmas theme.

So, by the time holiday things slow down, we are ready to pack up the tree and wreaths and hang on to a winter vibe for the next three months.

It was fun to look back and see what our Christmas house looked like in 2015. My Mom helped me decorate that year. She has such a great eye for styling different areas of the house. Each area felt like it could tell a story.

The biggest change for our 2016 house was the tall Christmas tree. I made a trade with my  neighbor Becky, a chair I had painted and upholstered for a tree that she could no longer use in her new house. Win-win.

And now as we move into our winter theme, I have arranged the furniture a little closer to encourage conversation and togetherness. There will be a lot of togetherness since it will be too cold to go outside for very long. 🙂

Did you notice? Did you notice my amazing new ottoman? I love furniture. But let me tell you, I am giddy in love with this tufted ottoman.

Seriously, the neutral fabric, the nail head trim and the casters. Oh, the casters.

I found this beauty at the At Home store.

I was familiar with the At Home store already because every year when I visited my parents in Texas, we would spend hours walking up and down the isles there oogling at all of the various pieces. Sadly I never got to bring anything home that was bigger than my carry on.

But this past fall, At Home finally made it to Minnesota! If you haven’t been to an At Home store drive as fast as you can to the nearest one.

Actually, drive safely to the nearest store. We are under another snow storm watch.

Tis the season,

~Wendy

Sidenote Saturday: Raise Your Hand

Sidenote Saturday: Raise Your Hand

Raise your hand if on Black Friday, you set your alarm for some ungodly middle of the night time and went out and fought the crowds for that amazing, can’t miss deal?

Some of you did.

I did not. I shopped from home after a full night’s sleep, in my jammies and had it all shipped to the house.

Now don’t get me wrong I have a good friend, Hi Lizzy, that has a great group of shopping girlfriends and every year they make a game plan and attack all of the deals on Black Friday and then end their adventurous morning with breakfast.

So I get it, but I am not good at shopping, and I am definitely not good at functioning with sleep deprivation.

One of the places I shopped this year was Pottery Barn and *bonus*, they had a free shipping coupon. The thing that caught my eye was these napkins.

They came in a pack of four and are 20×20 square inches.

So what does a girl who knows how to sew and makes her living by selling pillows do? You guessed it. I made pillow covers from these cute napkins.

I added a zipper to the bottom and attached a white cotton twill fabric to the back.

And viola. A super cute, festive gold Falalala pillow!

Another great day of Christmas decorating!

~Wendy

If you love these covers too, I have put them for sale in my Etsy shop for a selling-out-quick price of only $20 each. The cover measures 18×18 square inches and the 20×20 inch duck feather inserts are sold separately for $16.00 each. (I only have 4 inserts left). 🙂

The Dress Code at Old Lake George

The Dress Code at Old Lake George

Being self-employed has a million perks. One of the best perks is establishing the dress code for Old Lake George. All three of my employees (me, myself and I),  🙂 must wear comfy sweatpants to “work” everyday. But this time of year I take wearing those sweatpants to a whole new level.

Our overnight low on Saturday was 29 degrees.

That is cold, especially when we don’t have the heat turned on yet. Wade and I had a lazy day all day Saturday and ended the evening by watching a Netflix movie in bed. When the movie ended,  I was too lazy to get up and put on my actual pajamas, so I ended up wearing a long sleeve t-shirt and my sweatpants to bed instead.

I was so snuggly and I slept like a rock.  So yesterday morning when I finally left our warm, cozy bed, I knew we needed the furnace turned on to cut the chill in the house. However, we do not have a furnace in the garage and I had lots of odds and ends to finish for the quickly approaching Market on Old Lake George sale!

Being the problem solver that I am, I drove into Costco and bought this Presto Heat Dish.

If you have a Costco in your area, you know this heater. It’s the one that Costco has so brilliantly placed right inside the door to instantly defrost you as you enter from the cold.

What’s that? You noticed something else in my cart? Funny story: That cheesy caramel popcorn jumped right into my cart. I was in shock and by the time I had realized what had happened, I was already in the parking lot.  🙂

There was no assembly required for the dish. Simply plug it in and get warmed up, which is exactly what I did.

And then it was time to get to work.

My neighbor texted me the other day to tell me that there was some paint on sale at Target. I honestly didn’t even know that Target sold paint. The paint is by Valspar and has a chalky finish. Chalky finish paint is not the same as chalkboard paint. This paint you cannot write on. I was good with that and liked the price so I bought it in Peppercorn (black).

I still had one more bench to paint for The Market. The first one I used Miss Mustard Seed paint in the color Trophy (gray).

 

I was going to use Miss Mustard Seed paint again, but decided to try something new. I figured that if I didn’t like it, I could always sand it off and use the MMS paint.

Having never used the Valspar brand before, I didn’t know what to expect. The directions read that you do not need to prime or sand prior to using their product.

So, I didn’t.

Within the first five minutes, I knew I loved this product. This paint was thicker than most, but goes on smoothly and dries without brush marks.

The other benefit was that it took very little paint to cover this bench. I have plenty left to paint everything Peppercorn, my new favorite color and paint. 🙂

Time to get my company dress code required sweatpants out of the dryer and get back to painting.  🙂

I hope your week is warm!

~Wendy