Shop update and some cheap tappers

Howdy friends! I hope you all had a lovely weekend! I (finally) listed the Matilda Jane mesh bag hair accessories in the shop, along with 5 new sets of pillow covers.

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And reason #428 why ebay is the bomb-diggity:

Eliza started back to ballet last week and had outgrown ALL of her ballet and tap gear. While ballet shoes and a new leotard were quickly picked up on the cheap last week, tap shoes were not. I type 'girl tap shoes size 9' into the search bar of ebay yesterday and the first listing is for a pair IN THE BOX that closes in 16 minutes, and get this- they're currently at .99 with no bids.

I won those puppies for .99

It will cost me more to ship them here (9.00) than the actual cost of the shoes, but a score none-the-less.

Yes?

(I must say that when I asked E what her favorite part of dance class was last week, her response was "Tap-shoeing". That girl has musical theatre in her blood, I tell ya. Makes me smile.)

Happy Monday!

In a fundraising state of mind

Meet Oliver.

My sweet little Jedi.

A boy who loves books and legos.

And light sabers.

And school.

He really, really loves school.

A boy who surprised us a bit by asking if he could audition for the chorus at his school. A boy who became a member of that chorus.

A boy who is ecstatic because this chorus will be singing in Disney World in just over 2 months.

A boy whose parents signed him up to go sing in Disney World with the chorus and also plan to send his mommy and 2 sisters so as not to send a 7 year-old to Florida without a parent and whatnot, and are now wondering exactly how to pay for it all.

(gulp)

Yup.

That's right.

While in the grand scheme of things, I know a Disney World trip is not high on the super-important-things-of-life scale, but to our kiddos who have never been, we know this will be a HUGE deal to them. Not to mention the fact that I'm quite looking forward to seeing their faces as THEY see and hear and experience the most magical place on Earth.

This is where I tell you about 3 things I'll be doing this week to hopefully put a dent in the cost of this trip.

#1- I've recently purged all of the closets in the house, and I mean ALL, and will be posting pics tomorrow right HERE of several girls items (12-24 month clothing and TONS of shoes), boys items (4, 5, 6), and several things from my closet as well. What's the rule? If you haven't worn it in 6 months it needs to go? Or is it a year? Or 5 years? Anyway, I'll post pics of all of it here on the blog first, and what doesn't sell will go straight to ebay.

#2- This Saturday, I'll have a booth at a local craft fair and will have TONS of pillow covers, headbands, clips, banners, notecards, pins, and chicken wire memo boards. (This was the very first craft fair I attended last year, which pretty much cemented my love of craft fairs. Is there a prize for most mentions of a craft fair in one sentence? Hmm?) Every dime I make will be going straight into the get-Oliver-to-Disney World fund, so if you're local, PLEASE COME BY AND SEE ME! If you're not local, please take a virtual stroll through my shop. I love doing custom orders, so if you don't see the colors/style you need, just shoot me a message.

#3- There is also a chorus-sponsored fundraiser going on right now for the 'Enjoy the City' coupon books. If you've never seen these, they're packed full of hundreds of coupons from local eateries and businesses for freebies and discounted items/services. The cost for each is $20 and 50% goes straight to the student. That's $10 per book, which is pretty darn-tootin' good, but I understand that some won't give a hoot about the coupons, SO (and this is mostly for our family) if you'd like to give a flat donation of $10 or $20 or $1000 to Oliver's trip fund without purchasing a coupon book, well that's just fine and dandy too.

Here's a list of participating businesses as well as a couple coupon pages:

So, that's pretty much all the news that is the news. Come back tomorrow for a slew of clothing for sale as well as a pic of a tiny ballerina. We'll be trying again today for E's first day back at ballet after a feverish day last week. Until then, I'll leave you with a few recent pics, because nothing says 'Help us get to Disney World' like the sweet faces of the kids

Shop talk

It's "Show us what you make/sell" day over at Kelly's blog, so I figured I'd do a quick shop update and link up! I have some new goodies to show you, so let's get to it! (And if you landed over here from over there, then WELCOME! I have an etsy shop where I sell hair accessories, pillow covers, notecards, pennant banners, and Christmas stockings, as well as plenty of houndstooth/crimson goodies for my fellow Tide fans. You can see the items I currently have listed by clicking HERE.)

First off, I'm loving these hair accessories I made out of Matilda Jane garment bags! Each piece of clothing comes in a cute mesh bag, so I figured I'd try my hand at putting them to good use-

I currently have 10 different styles on a variety of hair clips and stretchy headbands. My model prefers the headbands-

 

Football season officially kicks off TOMORROW, so I'd thought I'd do a little collage of Roll Tide goodies I have on hand-

 

 

and a little something for the Auburn fans...

 

 

 Here's a few other items I have on hand (some are listed in the shop and some are custom pieces. If you have questions or would like to place a custom order, you can email me at funnygirl33180(at)aol(dot)com. And yes, I'm one of the last humans on earth to still have an aol account.)

 

Mini flower clips- $3

set of 6 notecards- $5

need an accessory to match a certain outfit? I do custom orders...

 

 The mini-cluster headband (above) also comes in 6 other colors...

I also make custom sashes for parties, showers, graduations, and Thursdays.
This is my seester who will soon be "Mrs. Clark"in the sash I made for her Bachelorette Weekend.

If you have any hair accessory, or sofa accessory, or mantel accessory needs, or perhaps you need monogrammed notecards, or a houndstooth clip for your lapel, then I'm your gal. Feel free to browse my shop & happy Friday!

Giveaway: D's Stitches

Happy Monday to you, friends! I'm so thrilled to host a giveaway this week for a fabulous etsy shop located right here in my home state of Alabama. Danielle of D's Stitches has some of the cutest mongrams & appliques to personalize anything from onesies and t-shirts to dish towels and bloomers! She sent shirts for each of my kiddos and not only do I love them, but my kids are thrilled with them as well. Know what we call that, friends? A win/win. Take a look...

I'm so thrilled to have new shirts that the kiddos will actually look forward to wearing, because if you have kids, then you've probably already experienced the whines that are brought on by trying to force something on their bodies that they're not keen on. Follow me? My kids started putting up a fight before age 2 about what they would/would NOT wear to the point of tears, tantrums, and hair loss. Well, that last one was just me, but I think I've proved my point. Thank you Danielle, from the bottom of my heart, for these shirts that will put a smile on their faces each and every time I pull them out of the closet.

A few of my other faves from Danielle's shop are the mustache onesie:

these sweet bloomers that can be personalized with a monogram or name:

and these fab linen tea towels that would make great gifts for friends, teachers, or yourself:

She also has Disney appliques as well as Roll Tide and War Eagle gear, and oh so much more. There are also additional product pics on her facebook page HERE.

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Danielle is generously offering a shirt, onesie, or towel from her shop and there are 3 ways to enter. You could do just one, but wouldn't you rather have more chances to win?

Here's what ya do:

1. Visit her shop, D's Stitches, and favorite it by clicking on the heart under her shop header (leave a comment on THIS BLOG POST that you have)

2. Visit her facebook page and 'like' it (leave a comment on THIS BLOG POST that you have)

3. Leave a comment on THIS BLOG POST with your favorite item from her shop

**As always, giveaways here are for Mathews Family Happenings subscribers. Not a subscriber? It's easy!

Just look on the right sidebar----->

and join through Google Friend Connect or enter your e-mail address in the box to recieve updates**

I'll leave this giveaway open until Sunday night and will post the winner (chosen through random.org) on Monday.  Remember to leave a seperate comment for each entry that you do! I'll be back tomorrow and Wednesday with a few 'how-to's' from the party.

Good Luck!

just like BK says, "You can have it your way"

Anyway, I think that's how the slogan goes.

I've been working on some super cool custom orders which have promted me to actually make a listing for something custom.

Up until now, I've only done custom orders for friends & family, but now you can 'have it your way' too thanks to a listing for custom banners in my shop.

What kind of banners, you ask?

Well, maybe some like this...

Maybe you'd like shades of yellow, or perhaps pink.

Maybe you want black and white patterns.

Maybe you want half-circles instead of triangles.

Maybe you want a banner that's made just for your party and not his party, or her party.

Just yours.

Maybe you want one for your mantel.

Maybe you need that perfect something  to hang in a nursery, or a playroom.

Well, friends, this could be that something.

Just click HERE and tell me how I can make it your way.

And in the meantime, have an awesome Tuesday, mmmkay?



crazy busy

Happy Wednesday to you friends!

I've been a little MIA as of late simply because my crazy busy schedule of teaching, running a small etsy shop, hosting 3 parties at my home in the past 4 weeks, and being a momma to 3 and wife to one AND rarely getting more than 5 hours of sleep per night have caught up with me.

As in, the massive amounts of coffee I drank yesterday morning had no effect whatsoever and at 12:00 pm, I found myself unable to keep my eyes open.

No joke.

Good thing yesterday was a field trip day for Oliver, and a half-day field trip at that. We ate at IHOP yesterday morning and then saw the new Lorax movie before the kids loaded the buses and headed back to school in time for lunch. Since I had a sub, I headed home for some lunch + playtime with the girls and hubs and then thankfully, was able to grab a short nap while the girls slept and hubs went to school to get O.

Still feeling a bit groggy at the moment, but wanted to post a few pics from the trunk show/open house and to thank those of you who came! I had such a great time and enjoyed seeing all of you so much! I'm still working on a few custom orders from the party and bought more supplies today to make pieces that specifically coordinate with the Matilda Jane clothing and anything already hanging in your closet as well. Since I rarely remember to take pictures during parties, here are a few taken before the whole shebang even started-

Aren't those clothes yummy?

Since Spring Break is next week for us, I plan to carve out some time to photograph the new pieces in my shop so that I can add them online. In the meantime, I'm hoping to start catching up on some much needed rest, which for me would require going to bed before 1:00 am.

Hope you have a fabulous day!