Sunday, January 22, 2012

Life comes as you fast!

After spending some time getting adjusted to the fact that we might not get Scoobs I decided to call the shelter and check on the status of my application and inquire about the puppies they told me about. I called on a Monday around 3:30, she asked for my name and said “Well your application says approved pending a meet and greet with the family”. Um, excuse me? The shelter point blank told me yesterday that I had no shot at getting this dog and now you are telling me he can be mine! A wave of excitement fell over me followed very quickly by a wave of fear…yep straight up fear. The shelter was closing so we had to do the meeting the following day. THANK GOD!

After work I went directly to PetSmart armed with my “What I need to have at the house when I take home a dog I have no clue what to do with list” that I ran by pretty much everyone I know that has a dog. I wandered around the store for about 2 hours. I started with leashes and collars and I am annoyed that there are no good boy dog collars (a new Purplelicious dog line might be coming out as a result of this). Then I wandered to food, picked out a few toys, and then stared at the dog beds for close to an hour. First of all, why do they cost as much as a human mattress? Why are the patterns SO ugly? And the better question, what the heck size bed do I get? Feeling very overwhelmed the store dog trainer walked by and I asked for help. She talked me off of the ledge and said I didn’t need a bed right away and just to give him one or two blankets to lay on. Whew! She also gave my cart the once over and said I was in good shape with what I purchased for his first night at home.

Then I get home and my house looked like a tornado blew through it. Christmas still has not been put away, there is a staging area for all of our ski clothes (oh I didn’t mention we were going away? I will get there), and really just general mess because I am single mother who works full time and also has an accessories business. What I “should” have been doing that night were some Purplelcious orders and those 45 cheer bows I was on the wild ribbon goose chase for, instead I cleaned my house top to bottom. I threw stuff away, folded clothes, vacuumed every room, mopped the floors, and made sure there was not one thing a dog could chew on the floor. I was up until 2am. I don’t think I have ever cleaned this thorough for anyone. Before I went to bed, I laid out all of the things I bought, set up his food bowls, found a place for the dog food and treats. I grabbed 2 of my daughters old fleece blankets and brought them into bed with me. I felt myself becoming a “dog person” and I didn’t even technically have the dog yet.

The next day I could barely concentrate at work. I was so excited at the possibility of getting Scoobs but also very scared. Could I do this? How will I know what to do? What if the meet and greet doesn't go well. I picked Bella up right after school and we went to the shelter. The meet and greet was awesome! He had so much fun running around the yard. Easily warmed up to Bella and really just wanted to play. You can tell he had enough of shelter life and wanted a place to run around! We were out there for a while, I am not sure if this is standard. The whole time I was thinking, "Are we good? It seems he likes us. What more do they need to know?" Finally the volunteer told us he thought we were all a good match and we could finish his paper work and take him home! What was ever more fun is the volunteers who were with Scoobs when we met him came to the shelter during our meet and greet. They said they wanted to say goodbye to him since they saw he had an adoption pending. It was cool to see them there, right at the moment we knew he owuld definitely be ours! I signed the paperwork, got the folder with all of his medical stuff, and was given the leash. Shaking with nerves and excitement we walked out of the shelter doors and our lives with Scoobs began.

Saturday, January 21, 2012

The Application Process...and what a process!

Trust me, I get it. The application process to adopt a dog is a big deal. After what these dogs have been through, its important to make sure new owners will give them the life they deserve! I also learned that adopting a dog is bit like real estate. You have to act fast! I needed references since I have never had a dog. I was really hoping that would not hurt me. I envisioned them flipping to that page and saying, Ugh NO WAY, she’s a dog newbie. BUT thank goodness for amazing friends, especially ones that went above and beyond in telling the shelter how good I would be with a dog. They may have had a little too much confidence in me.

The night after meeting Scoobs I felt this very new feeling of emptiness. I missed him and he wasn't even mine. Then I felt myself checking my email every minute to see if the shelter replied to the follow up I sent via email because they were closed when we got home. I didn’t hear anything back so I called them when they opened the next day. I was basically told that the application ahead of mine looked really strong and that the chances of them getting Scoobs was really good. I felt my heart sink. Then it sunk even deeper when I had to share this news with my daughter. My daughter declared that she wanted to go to the shelter to see him anyway. And that is what we did. I thought maybe if I turned on my charm and showed that we were serious about this (were we?) maybe that would work in our favor. Visiting an animal shelter has got to be the most depressing thing ever. Seriously. Those poor little puppies, looking up at you with those eyes, silently screaming, “pick me, pick me!”, confused about why they are there and wondering what happened to them. Then there are the more aggressive ones that scare the crap out of you by jumping up on the cage. Understood hyper doggie, I don’t blame you for wanting out. We found Scoobs and he came right up to us with his tail wagging. Then he walked to the back of his kennel, grabbed the toy we got him the day before and showed it to us. Did you get chills? I was amazed and it made me want him even more, if that was even possible. His sheet said he was abandoned and animal control picked him up. Poor little guy. While we were looking at him one of the volunteers started talking to us. I told him we were the second application on him. He told me that to date everyone that was supposed to come pick up Scoobs has ended up not showing up. The volunteer at Petco told me the same thing. I couldn't imagine!! And to hear that, being the second application I couldn't help but hope that it would happen again with the people ahead of us so we could be the ones who show up and take him home! After our visit we looked around at some of the other dogs but we didn’t want anyone but Scoobs. I spoke with the people at the shelter, asked if maybe we could do the meet and greet since we were there and they basically told me to try to look for another dog. More heartbreak! They told me they transferred a poodle mix to another shelter and that they had some Bischon Poodle mix puppies set to be fixed that week. They said once my application was approved I could find the dog I wanted. We left the shelter, I was sad and my little one was filled with a bit of rage. I gave her the long talk in the car headed to the other shelter that Scoobs might not be our dog but the right one for us will come. Yada, yada, yada, she wasn’t buying it, neither was I for that matter. I always knew she was smart.

We arrived at the next shelter only to find out that said poodle mix just got adopted right before we got there. Of course we looked around, felt the ting on our hearts looking at more sad puppy eyes. I decided to take her to one more shelter and again, same story, same tears, and we just didn’t like anyone better than Scoobs. I knew the application ahead of ours was set to do their meet and greet the next day and to be honest I went to sleep hoping that it wouldn't work out.

Friday, January 20, 2012

I may have lost my mind…

Its a new year and again I find myself trying to breathe some new life into this blog. Well I think I have found a new muse. Look for a series of posts and new adventures about a little guy named Scoobs! I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I have enjoyed writing them!

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“That’s IT, I am getting a dog” I cried into the phone to my sister as I sat in the car with a screaming, scared 6 year old waiting for the police to come to my house because we discovered someone broke in while we were away. This was about 2 years ago and I didn’t really take action on that statement for a couple of reasons. 1. I didn’t really have the time and more importantly 2. We aren’t really "dog people". Now before you get upset let me explain. My mom is allergic to dogs and I am allergic to cats. Pets weren’t really an option in our house so I never grew up with a dog which I say doesn’t classify us as dog people. That does not mean that I don’t LOVE dogs, it just means I have absolutely no clue what to do when it comes to them.

Fast forward to last week when I was running around to all of the local craft stores looking for the perfect blue ribbon to match my daughter’s cheerleading uniform because I volunteered to make the hair bows. Being an overachiever sometimes gets the best of me but I will blog about those later. My daughter was not happy on this ribbon quest since we were already in 3 stores and she was getting hungry, NOT a good combo! I decided to stop and get us some lunch but the place we wanted to go didn’t have any parking spots (really?). So I promised her, “Just one more store” and we will come back, so she agreed as long as she got to buy something at the store. As we are walking into the craft store, they had some dogs outside of the PetCo. I asked Bella if she wanted to visit with them, but I think I may have wanted to more. See over the past couple of months, the idea of adopting a dog came to the fore front thanks to a post on a friends facebook page about a poodle mix that was thrown out of moving truck (Heartless jerks!). I thought about it, my sister gave me 7 reasons why I should go for it, I don’t remember all of them but they all made sense and I said ok let's do this! As soon as I sent a message saying we wanted to meet him, someone else adopted him. This sparked the research/stalking of local animal shelters websites and facebook pages and even a visit to one, where I told my daughter we were “just looking”. If we weren’t going away for Christmas, we would have started on this road a lot sooner! It also helped me realize that it was possible to adopt a poodle mix which I was in the market for due to their hypoallergenic tendencies. I had hoped that a poodle mix breed might be a dog my mom could be around. Back to last week, we walk up to the dogs outside with those little “adopt me” vests on and see this adorable tan and white dog, who is very friendly and named Scoobs.


I asked what kind of dog he was and she said a poodle mix. This is where I knew I was headed for trouble and I said, “Of course he is”. Scoobs captured our hearts, we played with him for about an hour, then went inside the store and bought him a toy which he loved. I think the volunteer was totally ready to go home but she let us sit and play with him. Throwing caution to the wind I filled out an application on him. As I was filling out the application I had to ask for help on every question. I thought, here you go, this woman is going to deny you right from the start. We were told we were the second application but to fill it out anyway as sometimes applications don't go through. We said our goodbyes, thanked the super nice volunteer, finished shopping, finally found a place to park for lunch, went home and waited to see if he would be ours.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Candy Everybody Wants

For a while now I have been thinking about how I can create some cute upcycled items for Purplelicious. At the same point that I had that thought I saw a little girl in Target wearing a Skittles headband. That was pretty much all I needed. I started asking everyone to give me candy and snack wrappers. It is funny how the people at work feel like they are making some sort of weakness confession when they hand me candy wrappers. The prize for who collected the most goes to my daughter who would bring home 6-7 snack bag wrappers everyday from school. It caught on so much that one day she was absent and her best friend collected them from her. Here is just a small sample of all of the wrappers I have collected. What's your favorite?



The first creation made with the candy wrappers were bookmarks which I talked about in a previous blog. I have recently made one for myself from a Reese's wrapper.


Then I tested out some wristlet keychains. I brought these to a craft show and I sold a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup one to a guy named Reese. The candy wrapper keychains can work for guys too!


And then of course I made headbands. The headbands have a solid grosgrain ribbon on the back which is made from 100% recycled plastic bottles. I had a few more styles of these but they sold at the craft show. Don't worry, I will make more, look at the pic above, I have PLENTY of wrappers!


I can even make custom items with your favorite candy. These were a special order for some good friends.


I am really having a lot of fun making these items and it feels good to convert trash into something fun to wear. I will slowly be adding these to my Etsy shop to keep your eyes peeled! These are a great way to enjoy your favorite candy without the calories...unless of course you are the one giving me the wrapper!

Sunday, August 7, 2011

R.I.P. Iron, its been real


Anyone reading this who sews, cooks, crafts, etc knows that you work best on your home turf using the supplies and tools that you are used to. Anytime you have gone over to someone else's house to create your art, it just doesn't feel the same using their tools. There is an exception to this, when I go over to sew at my moms, I have no issue, since all of her sewing tools are pretty much the best you can buy. Though you will still catch me using my own scissors, which are inferior in quality than those at my mom's but it just feels weird using another pair.

About a year ago my sister came up to do a craft show with me and was forced to use my work area for her crafts. Well let's say this was a little difficult for her, mostly in the area of my iron and ironing board. Making my accessories requires a lot of iron use so my ironing board and iron take quite a beating. At that time there was not much left of a my ironing board cover. My sister was kind enough to buy me a new one, which was later destroyed. What I didn't know was that she secretly took a picture of my iron and sent it to my mom. Let's just come right out and say that my iron is a potential safety hazard. It is so old and it has fallen so many times that the plastic cracked at the handle where the wires are. Mind you it still works like a dream and that occasional shock when it is filled with water is normal right?

Fast forward to last month when my sister was in town again and discovered that while I did buy a new ironing board cover (purchased by me a few days before she arrived), I was still using the same iron. I arrived at my mom's one day and was informed that she got me a present! It was a Rowenta Iron!!! This is one of the tools at my mom's that I adore using and might be one of the best irons. I was instructed by my mother to stop using my old iron immediately because it is a safety hazard and start using the new one. Well old habits die hard, that new iron is still in the box but I am busting it out today...no really I am. Before you hate on me, don't act like you don't have something similar to this in your workshop/kitchen. If you do I would love to know what it is and if it is a safety hazard may this blog serve as your intervention that upgrading from a hazardous tool to a shiny new upgraded tool isn't such a bad thing! :-) Happy Creating!

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Fun with Bookmarks!

Reading is something that I have always enjoyed. In fact, my ultimate happy place is me sitting on the beach, with my toes in the sand, listening to the ocean, while reading a good book. I am so happy that my daughter also enjoys reading and is slowly starting to get into chapter books. As all of these new chapter books are coming into the house, I knew that I needed to make some bookmarks for her, because buying them is a ridiculous option in my world. The idea first started as using scraps of fabric to make bookmarks and has later evolved into the use of something a little more fun than fabric. I realize we are in the technology age of e-readers and iphone apps but I would like to hope that there are still some people around, like me, who enjoy the feeling of turning the pages of an actual book. I know I can also count on kids still reading books the old fashioned way, at least for a couple more years!

I have recently begun thinking about some ways to incorporate up-cycling into my Purplelicious accessories. I have started collecting candy bar wrappers and snack wrappers. Correction: My daughter has been collecting the snack wrappers at lunch during school at the rate of 5-6 per day, it seems kids eat a LOT of Cheetos and Doritos. If you are a fan of those snacks...I will have some products coming soon for you! I think I have a future sales/marketing rep on my hands. Anyway, I have a lot of ideas for these wrappers (which I will blog about later) and initially bookmarks were not one of them, until I made a small error while experimenting with one of the accessory ideas. I was left with the Hershey bar wrapper that was the perfect size for a…you guessed it, a bookmark! I added some ribbon made from 100% recycled materials and here you have it. With the exception of the iron-on vinly on top of the wrapper this is made with recycled materials. Fun!

Then I experimented with another type of candy and created this! My daughter pronounces these “Mike a Likes”, I refuse to correct her. The reward for her cuteness, this bookmark is currently holding her place in “Where the Sidewalk Ends”. I will slowly be adding these and other candy and snack wrappers to the Purplelicious Etsy Shop so be on the look out!

Don't worry I didn't forget about fabric! In a few short weeks I will be teaming up with Michelle Ciarlo-Hayes of MKC Photography and Kicks by MKC at a booth at the Haddonfield Craft and Fine Arts Festival. We thought it would be fun to make something that was a combination of both of our talents and we came up with…right again, you must have had your Wheaties this morning. We are pairing up some of my fun fabrics with Michelle’s resin Art charms. The charm on the bookmark coordinates with the fabric but can be detached and used to accent anything that you can attach it to. Honestly I think it looks perfect as it is on the bookmark but would also make a really cute necklace! Depending on their popularity at the show, they could possibly show up at an Etsy shop you are very familiar with!


I hope all of you are enjoying gathering the books on your summer reading list. For those of you that have already been to my happy place, I am completely jealous and will try not to hold it against you. If you find you are tired of folding down page corners and/or using scrap pieces of paper as bookmarks, you know where to find me.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Hippie Chick!

The majority of the hits I get on this blog are for my tie dyed cupcake post. Which can be found here, if you are curious. When the letter came home from school that my daughter's first grade class was having a Coffee House where they would read poems and needed to dress like hippies I was immediately excited! Sometimes I feel like I was born in the wrong era because I like so many things about that time period. The kids made tie dyed shirts in school and the parents were tasked with accessorizing the outfits hippie style. The headband was simple. I have two peace sign headbands in my Etsy shop to choose from, my daughter has her own version of both. For this she opted for rainbow peace sign headband.


The kids needed to wear jeans so I wanted to make her hippie jeans. I had a pair of old jeans and I found a stash of peace sign bandannas I am guessing from another time I made a hippie halloween costume for myself. That and I am also a fabric hoarder. I cut out the shapes, adhered them to some heat and bond (also something I had "in-stock"), and ironed them on to the jeans. I think they came out pretty darn cute. Here is a picture of my hippie chick. Where is her headband, you might ask? In her desk, she completely forgot to put it on for the show. While I can't make hippie jeans for your little ones I can definitely help them channel their inner hippie with the peace sign headbands. I may even attempt to tie dye some fabric for headbands this summer, ya dig?