Friday Favorites--PicnicBasketCrafts on Etsy!

If you have dry skin or are just looking for all-natural skin care and other products, let me tell you about Tiffany from Picnic Basket Crafts. She's a science teacher who really knows the science behind the ingredients she uses plus she's just an extremely helpful Etsy seller who can answer all of your questions. She truly knows her stuff and can even customize her products just for you.

http://www.picnicbasketcrafts.etsy.com/

I recently tried her Apricot and Avocado hand and body lotion for my dry skin, and she was also able to add Zinc Oxide to it for an everyday SPF in my moisturizer. I love how my skin feels and knowing that I'm not using anything harmful. At this point, I've switched my entire skin care products to using only items from her shop, and I love it.

I've also tried many of her cleaning products with great results, too. I highly recommend her shop, and you have nothing to lose. Seriously, you can try samples for only 20cents!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/63301544/try-me-1st-you-pick-a-sample-selection

Thursday Techniques--Rain Gutter Bookshelves

Little S has so many books in book baskets all over the house and really loves to read. If she's not drawing or creating art, she tends to be reading, and we really need better book storage ideas. While I'm still hoping to get a bookcase for her bedroom, I absolutely love this idea for her playroom, and it's a project I'm planning soon.

Image taken from the original blogpost here:

http://www.mustlovebabies.net/2011/07/rain-gutter-bookshelves.html

Wordless Wednesday--Perfectly Cute and Content

Picture is a month old, but better late than never, right? She thought she was being so cute here.

Inspiration Tuesday--Master Bedroom Ideas

We bought our current home (aka the one for the next 30 years) almost 2 years ago, and while it had great bones and lots of upgrades, we are slowly working to make it look and feel more like us. The family that built the home and lived here before us were in their mid-fifties were 3 older kids and definitely did not have our sense of style, color, etc. I typically like clean, contemporary design w/ lots of colors--not shabby chic or whatever her style.

While my hubby is working hard on our new deck and patio, I'm still trying to come up w/ some master bedroom ideas. I'm planning the room around our mission style bedroom set, which we love, and our new black and white comforter set. I'd love to do a gray/ black/ white/ red scheme.

I've included a few designs that I love sprinkled throughout this post. Let me know your ideas! It takes me forever to pick out a design I love. In our last home, the master bedroom was a deep red, and I loved it. Hope to love this one soon, too.

Monday Meet and Greet--Introducing Me!

I know that some of you have been a follower of this blog for awhile, but I'd like to reintroduce myself. My name is Traci, and I am a former elementary school teacher turned stay-at-home Mommy to an energetic little 4 1/2 year old girl. My life revolves around raising our daughter, working on my online shops at Etsy and Artfire, and keeping our household running smoothly. After staying at home for the last 4 years, I've learned a tremendous amount about myself, including running a part-time business while parenting and how I want to raise our daughter. All of this has evolved over the last few years and continues to grow and change. Welcome to my the inside look at my journey as a wife, mom, creative business owner, part-time homeschooling family, and more.

Here's where I'm at currently--
Personal--trying to keep our house organized, finding daily routines that work for my family (the little one and myself during the day), finishing teaching recertification classes before Sept. 1st
Business--updating my shops, developing new party items and a more cohesive line
Mom--teaching my daughter to read, looking for reading/ math/ and science homeschooling activities for preschoolers. My daughter attends a cooperative preschool during the school year and will attend 3 half days this fall. My homeschooling is in addition to her learning there.

Questions? I'm sure I forgot to mention several things, but I hope you enjoyed getting to know me. More to come in the future...

New Blog Schedule This Week!

Here's my upcoming schedule that I'm really going to try and stick with this week. I'll try it, review it, and then modify whatever needs changed to work more with my life.

Monday--Meet and Greets (brief introductions of me, some of my crafty friends and teammates, etc.)
Tuesday--Inspiration Tuesday (typically something Mommy or home related)
Wednesday--Wordless Wednesday (a picture or two of how our week is going, something we've tried, etc.)
Thursday--Creative Thursday (things I want to try, new techniques and tutorials, etc.)
Friday--Friday Finds (some of my favorite links, items, blogposts, etc. from around the web)

I'm so excited to finally get this figured out in a way that makes sense and fits in my life right now. There will still be lots of T and Little S Designs items mixed in with the Mommy, home life, homeschooling, etc. Stay tuned!

I Finally Figured It Out!

I finally have my new blog ideas figured out. In my quest to be a crafter, Etsy business, stay-at-home Mom, and learn more about homeschooling ideas, I've decided that this blog can be a mix of those parts of my life. I'm going to keep the same blog here w/ the same name, but the content will be much more varied and focus on whatever I'm working on in my life. Right now, that could be homeschooling some during the summer and working on beginning to read activities with my 4 1/2 year old.

Next week will be my first week back to blogging and my new blogging schedule. I promise to share lots of information, links to other blogs, tutorials, and of course, new Etsy items from time to time. Thanks for sticking with me!