It's Wednesday and I Have No Pictures To Share...

Today was another excellent mail day :) Remember that really cute picture of different coloured roving with the bunny? That arrived this morning. As did my Ikea catalog. No bills accompanied either. These things all together make me very happy! I was really hoping the roving would arrive with the flat plate bobby pins I ordered on the same day though... that would have put me right off the chart of happiness because I could have started making and listing my felt ball pins today. Technically I could felt the balls today and then adhere them tomorrow, but it's just not the same. It's probably better actually, since the felty balls need atleast 24 hours to dry... genius, glad I thought of it! This afternoon along with boiling bottles, washing my bedding, and complaining about my back which feels like it may be dislocated, I will felt some rainbow balls. I'd love to promise pictures will follow but I'm out of food for the camera (Read: Batteries) until tomorrow when Mr. Pretties goes out to obtain some for me.

This has been a super slow Etsy week and I can't say I'm sorry for it. I've got orders done, I've ordered new supplies, I have one more order to do, and I've got a fat stack of mail to take out in the morning, and I'm done. Hopefully until after The Little Boy Person gets here. That's a funny think to wish, eh? 'Gee I hope I don't make any sales this week!' I'd obviously be stoked if I did, but for right now I'm just going to list things I've got made already and take no customs because I can't promise they'll be out in a timely fashion for atleast the next few weeks. Clippies that I just need to package I can promise will be out and on time. I also have three sets of freebies to send out and once I get 15 replies to my Facebook group I'll have to send out another 30. If I don't hear back from more than, say, two people I'm not sending any out, it really defeats the purpose. I also have to start stocking up for the fall Mom2Mom sales I attend as well as for Little Sprouts Turnabouts. I'm still patiently waiting for my clip cards too... I'm also regretting getting them in pink and brown. I know, I can't believe I just said that either. But it occurred to me during my 3am bathroom break that when I make my clip cards I use cardstock and paper that match or accent the clips and makes them look purdy. Pink and brown is no going to accent, or match most colour combos I sell. This could make them look ugly, and then I wont use them and I'll be back to making my own. Damn it. Well, we'll give it a try, but I can really see myself purchasing new solid coloured cards in a light, light green and light, light pink which are Meaghan-Marie's other colours and tend to match most of what's going on.

I've added a 'vintage' section to Etsy as well. I'm going to see how it goes but I'll probably end up opening a shop especially for fun housy stuff and vintage items. Some how they don't seem to 'flow' with little girl pretties... But I've got so many vintage goodies that could really use some loving elsewhere that it only seems to be the humane thing to do. I may keep some of my housy funs on MMPretties, but only ones that can be used in a baby nursery, or kiddie room. Don't really need a big 'beard' garland in grown up colours cluttering up the rainbow of hair clippies. Just doesn't make sense or look all that cute. I'd love to list my vintage haves today, but again, need to get me some batteries. Or find one of the Little Pretties toys that doesn't need them... Hmm... that's a good idea too, although it may not be profitable because I try to limit the amount of annoying noisy things that require batteries coming into the house... Crap, I actually don't think there is anything that already has batteries that work. Well, tomorrow and Friday we'll be having a list-a-thon, even if I have to take the pictures from my hospital bed ;) That should be fun!

Mr. Pretties promised that if I hadn't had The Little Boy Person by tomorrow I could go to the cheap-o nail place (Not the love-me-some-pink-and-brown spa from my birthday events) and have them remove and reapply my nail polish. I was very excited about this prospect as my toes now look like someone took extra special care to only paint the top halves of them. They aren't chipped or anything, just super grown out. And I spilled white paint on two of them when I was painting my mantel thingies white. I can't get it off. But it appears that Mr. Pretties has now decided he's going on a grocery shopping spree instead. Like we need groceries! Apparently he doesn't understand that I'm on a time line here... he can still go grocery shopping after The Little Boy Person gets here, I on the other hand could go to the toe place, but wont because the amount of complaining and whining I would receive from Mr. Pretties when I got home would undo any good the toe painting would have done for me. Plus, it would pretty well defeat the purpose, I need nice toes so the nice nurses at the hospital have something interesting to look at during delivery ;) I'm sure they've seen more hoo-haws than they'd like to discuss, but how many fun toe nail paintings have they seen? Probably not nearly as many! I was planning on having fun flowers painted on them and everything just for added effect. I think I'll have to rediscuss this situation with Mr. Pretties this evening. He must've over looked these important details when he thought he needed to grocery shop.

PS. If anyone out there loves me, I could really use the Creative Homes magazine, as well as that one that's about prettying flea market finds, and things of that nature. They'd be fab for easy hospital reads, but, I'm not about to spend $7 on a 1.5mm magazine. Sorry. I'm stingy like that... so if anyone has them laying around just let me know. Unless you're in the US or the likes, then don't let me know because it'll make me cry that you have them and I can't come get them. Thanks. I remember when magazines were $3.50 and that was expensive. $7, that's just ridiculous!

Off to felt some balls and find a chiropractor (or hot bathtub) to do something about this back situation.

Sweet, Sweet Garland...

Okay, prepare your eyes for the worst pictures known to humanity. Seriously. My livingroom seems to have the worst lighting situation. Ever. We have a veranda in the front that blocks out most of the light, there's only one window, and the paint is dark. It's very cave like and with no ceiling light it's very hard to get a decent picture in there. Even with all four lamps sans shades, and the diningroom light on. Combine that with the severe suckingness of my camera and you've got yourself some pretty horrific pictures, almost to the point of being pointless.

But I promised there would be pictures, and there shall. This is the mantel before:

I'm actually really embarassed I let it sit this way for so long. Notice the black paint on the mirror, it used to be covered in black and white scrapbooking paper when it was in the then black and white hallway. I tried to use paint to make the paper stick because I didn't want to haul out my blue gun... yeah it didn't work.


-->Please insert blushing and horribly embarrassed smiley here<-- That's even a water wing on the mantel there, and my outdoor bunnies awaiting their paint job. Could it be any uglier? This was taken lastnight after the majority was done, again, really crappy pictures/lighting but you get the idea.
Now this is without the garland. I like the new whiteness of all of it. Since I couldn't get a close-up without it being black I'll describe for you ;) To the left is my outdoor cement bunnies, now white. They have chocolate brown and light green neckties. In the center is an antique tin that used to have horrible ugly vintage fruits on it. I painted it white and added the same chocolate brown satin ribbon and light green swiss dot ribbon around it and added some flowers. To the right is a full place setting of solid white dishes with the same ribbon spilling out. It sounds stupid but IRL it looks really cute.




This is this afternoon after I tied my little hands off making this garland. The green isn't the right colour, but when you're shopping WalMart's remnants section (Ps. WalMart in Canada has all of it's fabric 50% off currently as it's doing away with the fabric section FYI) so it's comprised of green sheer, chocolate brown sheer, chocolate brown minky, white linen, white flannel, white satin ribbon, green swiss dot ribbon, black and white ribbon, and moss green roving (Have you noticed this roving is working into WAY too many projects now? Me too... but I just love it...)


This is the best picture I could get, this with four lamps shadeless, the hall light on, the dining room light on, and my camera set to night mode. It's also still daylight here... All I can say is, wow. How crappy can one camera be?! So you can't even really appreciate how sweet i looks since you can't see that the paper in the white frames is the same coloured stripes as the garland and everything else. It's really sharp IRL. This garland ways a freakin' ton too. The cement bunnies and place setting full of rocks and roving are barely doing the job, I have to figure out a way to keep it up there safely. It's also easily 5' long, oh how I love ragamuffins!

These are the colours up close:
Considering the green isn't what I wanted and I ran out of brown half way through I think it turned out pretty good. You also can't see that the pukey green chair and black telephone table are beside the fireplace and the chair is the exact colour of the green fabric so it does look fab. I don't usually do garlands that's all solid fabrics so this is different than my other ones. Mr. Pretties even encouraged the garland for the fireplace after the first bit was done. He thought the transformation, even though small, looked nice and cute and he may now consider sitting in the living room. I'll sit in the living room simply to admire the garland because I love them. I'm going to make one for the Little Boy Person's area in our room too. That will require a stop at the thrift store though because I want to use some old blue and green plaid shirts and possibly some denim as well, and those are things we do not have in this house. Especially not to rip up. This garland cost me two king sized flannel pillow cases (That had that really yummy flannel smell), one vintage linen crib sheet (Really shouldn't have ripped that one up...), 1.25 yards of brown, and 2.5 yards of green. Then several rolls of ribbon. This is by far the biggest garland I own now. I even found some more black and white patterned material as well as another small piece of toile that I can stuff into the little one in the kitchen since I still think it needs something. I might also use the rest of the left overs from the garlands in the Little Pretties' room and make another one for Etsy. We'll see how this whole Little Boy Person exiting situation goes. Then again, maybe I'm the only person goofy enough to love these little cuties. I'm glad I don't have loads of money because I'd buy every single ragamuffin garland that The Nester makes, and then I'd be out of space for sure.



I had my *LAST* (Do you hear me Little Boy Person?!) obstetrics appointment this morning. I really hate these appointments. With the Big Little Pretty they were so exciting and made the time go by so much quicker! With the Little Little Pretty they were exciting to begin with, but after going 12 days late they quickly got old.

Dr: 'Have you had any contractions?'
Me: 'No'
Dr: 'Any weird discharge?'
Me: 'No'
Dr: 'Any questions?'
Me: 'No'
Dr: 'Wow, you're having a boring pregnancy!'
Me: 'Thanks'

You can only have that conversation so many times before it loses the hilarity. This time we even have a new Dr and are using a different hospital, so they should be exciting again, right? Wrong. Accept this time the waiting chairs are always full (Not always by pregnant people either... jerks...) and you have to stand in the cement hall. Usually for an hour before being seen for your 30 second appointment. There is one bathroom in this area where patients from three different OBs need to pee in a cup, as well as anyone else in the hospital who also needs to pee. This causes a fair bit of chaos. And annoyance. Then I proceed to have the same conversation as above. I'm not even due for another three days and there's already talk of induction. No thanks. Also if I don't deliver by this weekend I'll have to have a completely different Dr. Essentially that is fine, accept that we chose this hospital and this Dr for the purpose of seeing the same person and knowing who was going to deliver, versus with the other two having no idea. So it's not that we haven't gone this route before, we just didn't plan to this time. I even researched this Dr. to make sure it would be a good match, and for what? So someone else can deliver anyway? What was the point?! I suppose I'm being hormonal and overreacting, but still. Aunt Pretty is also moving this weekend making The Little Boy Person's arrival on the weekend a little inconvenient for most as the Little Pretties need to go to Aunt Pretties so Mr. Pretties can come with me. Although I could really go myself, Mr. Pretties almost missed it the last two times anyway... So I asked the Dr. if The Little Boy Person was in position and ready to make his way out and he said... 'Who can really tell?' Great. Who knows. I stood in a non- air conditioned hallway for an hour, listening to a newborn scream because the mom is 'putting her on a schedule' (That is the worst sound to hear, breaks my heart!), to hear 'Who knows!'. He could have lied. He could have said 'Any minute now! Watch for signs because I can just tell he's practically knocking at the door!' and that would have made me happy. Even if it wasn't true and wasn't going to happen. Saying 'Who knows' and discussing induction dates with me is not conducive to a happy person. Having to book an appointment with a different Dr. for next week also does not make me a happy person. The prospect of still being pregnant in two weeks having an induction makes me really unhappy. I think I'll just skip next weeks appointment and save myself the swollen legs and disappointment.

Mr. Pretties came home from work and I was stoked to show him the ragamuffin sweetie, even though I may not keep her (If she doesn't sell she's always welcome here ;) ) I still think she's darling and full of whimsy and character. He looked at it, put on his serious face and barely croaked out 'Yeah that looks nice' before falling into hysterical laughter. Which only became worse the more angry I got. Apparently, the garland is too 'bushy' and makes the fireplace look like it has a beard. I should take half of the fabric out and make a second one since this one is so full. Right. Like he's a knowledgeable source about whether or not my garland is too fluffy or bushy or whatever. I think I'm a better source of trendy info. How rude. Does he not understand that I will be suffering from severe arthritis or something from ripping all that fabric and tying all those knots? Probably not...

I Think We Passed Family Time 101...

Well we gave that whole 'family thing' a try again today when Mr. Pretties woke up from night shift. I think we actually passed as an average family enjoying eachother's company this time! That's progress people! We took The Pretties to Port Dover:

It was super packed because of summer holidays and parking was brutal (The only time ever I've considered paying $10 to park anywhere) but eventually we made it to the beach. The water was nice, albeit quite sea weedy and gross... We escaped with only two complete melt downs courtesy of The Big Little Pretty. It was the perfect day to go, there could not be a more perfect day ever. I wish we could have stayed all day/evening. We may actually go back tomorrow... no doubt it wont work out as well as today did. Who knows, maybe we'll meet The Little Boy Person tonight instead. Or not.

I hit the hay at 4am this morning. I think I have a problem... fortunately I didn't attempt anything too creative so I have no barf-esque items to share with you today (Big sigh of relief). I did finish 28 clippies, 12 clip cards, and 3 envelopes. I also decided it would be smart to put my glue gun down on my bare leg. I believe it was at this point I decided I needed to go to bed for my own safety. I got to take all that pretty mail to the post office this morning and impress the mail clerk again ;) She was so thrilled with my envis last time that when one of them has still yet to show up over a week later, I'm thinking I know where it went... I hate the postal service. Unless it's bringing me something I ordered, then it's okay.

A really nice person suggested I start a Facebook group for Meaghan-Marie. I hadn't thought of that... so for anyone interested the new group is called Meaghan-Marie Pretties in the search thing. Anyone can join. I think I'll be posting clippie parties on it as soon as we move. I've had quite a few requests for one of these, I simply don't have the room right now. What will happen is I'll have both a rear-end load of clippies already made, ready to take. As well as a promo book with clippies that can be available, and custom order forms. We'll have decadent snacks, drinks, and pick out clippies. I may incorporate some other items at this time too... we'll see how it goes after the move. I usually not a 'selling party' type of person, but it might be fun and there's been a demand. I'll list events like that in this group. It's also got current pictures of what's available in Etsy, just incase typing http://www.meaghanmariepretties.etsy.com/ is too much work ;) I know how that can be. Even though you should have it book marked... Kidding. Sort of.

Have you guys been over to Nester's Nesting Place Blog? I think you should. I love this blog. I've linked it before too, but I think I need to do it again. I love the ideas she has for super cheap/simple/great looking home decor. Honestly, it should be illegal for one person to have all these great ideas, it doesn't leave much for the rest of us (Read: Me). Her blog is down the side or if you don't feel like scrolling down it's http://www.nestingplacenc.blogspot.com/ and she's got a really great Etsy shop at http://www.nestingplace.etsy.com/ check out how adorable those ragamuffin garlands are! She's totally into using her ideas so I have two pink/white/cream ones in The Little Pretty's bedroom made of their old baby blankets, clothes, etc... and a black/white/toile/scarlet one in my kitchen from a kit I actually bought from The Nester. I really love them, they're just so cute and foofy and great. There's like a million and one uses for one! Mine aren't nearly as nice as the Nester's but this is the one in my kitchen (I'd planned to have pics from the Pretties room but my camera ate three sets of batteries to get one picture... Yeah it's crap)

I really love it. I could be bigger. Way bigger. But it's the right size to hang on that little shelf in the kitchen. No that's not a string going across the top of the shelf rungs, it's a dried up rose that looks a lot more appealing in person ;)