A Jewelry Lady

I am really looking forward to mid-July. On the 14-16th, my hubby & I will hop in the car and head to Ft. Worth for Premier Design's National rally and I am so excited about it. For those of you who don't know, Premier Designs is a high fashion jewelry company. They are based in Texas, and each year they invite all their jewelers to the Dallas-Ft. Worth area for National Rally. Everyone who attends gets to see all the new jewelry being released for the next year. And since I'm a jewelry lady and I am trying to make my business grow, I will be in attendance.

Last August, my mom invited me to a jewelry show at her house. I love going to home parties, so of course, I went. I liked the jewelry very much, so I booked my own jewelry show for the following month. When I held my show, I got $283 of free jewelry as the hostess. As someone who has had other types of home parties, I was impressed by the large amount of hostess benefit I received from Premier and when my jewelry lady told me what she made on my show, I realized I was very interested in becoming a jewelry lady myself! I joined Premier in October of 2010 and have been very happy with my decision. I've worked for other direct sales companies in the past including Pampered Chef, AtHome America, Avon, Melaleuca and others. However, Premier is the only one with which I've actually made a profit with. And I am excited about that!

I love the product. I love the other ladies in Premier. I love sharing the jewelry with hostesses and customers and I'm having a lot of fun doing so! I'm so glad I've finally found a company that can help me meet the goals I had in mind when I decided I wanted to earn some money and still be a stay-at-home mom. Before Premier, I was really starting to believe that I couldn't do both successfully. I'm definitely not willing to give up time with my kids for a decent income. And now I feel like I don't have to!

Cake That!

One of the hobbies that I failed to mention in my initial blog entry is that I love to bake & decorate cakes. I learned how to do the basics while working a short stint in the local Walmart bakery. I caught on quickly and, after leaving Walmart, bought many books and learned more just by doing. That was about 14 years ago. Now, as a way to earn a little extra money here and there, I make cakes for friends & family and have done so for the past two years.

One of my favorite cakes is a pirate cake I did for a friend's son.


I've done lots of cake for lots of different occasions. Another personal favorite was the cake I made for my cousin's wedding. I made both the wedding cake and the groom's cake. While both were lovely, the groom's cake came out really cool and it was my very own original idea. I called it the "Chocolate Fortress."



Of course, I do all of the birthday cakes for my own kids as well and I think I'm the queen of the themed birthday party. lol And with four children, we've been through lots of themes. Here are just a couple of the cakes from the past few years.

Anna's kitty cat party:


Ella's Mickey Mouse party:


I try to avoid doing fondant covered cakes because I intensely dislike working with fondant and I like eating it even less. But once in a while, I'll get someone who insists they want fondant. So they gave me a napkin and, Voila! I matched a bridal shower theme with the cake below.


Just recently, a young girl at our church was married. I was asked to do the wedding cake. Wedding cakes always make me just a bit nervous because, let's face it, that is the most important cake of your life! No other cake will ever matter more. So I always approach my wedding cake projects with a certain trepidation. Here are a few that I've done. And so far, no wedding cake disasters!

First Project Flying "Sewlo"

This morning, I find myself wanting to ride down to Hobby Lobby to buy ivory thread for a pillowcase dress I started on a whim late yesterday afternoon. However, I had promised myself I was going to stay home today and get some things done around the house. What to do? What to do?

I am really enjoying my latest hobby of sewing. A few weeks ago, I purchased a few patterns from Hobby Lobby. One of them was Simplicity pattern 2433.



I bought some cute black & white puppy & kitty fabric and a coordinating black & white paw print fabric. I got home and went right to work. This would be my first attempt at a sewing project with no outside help.

I chose the size, cut out my pattern, laid it all out and cut my fabric, paying very close attention to the sewing instructions the entire time.

The first hurdle was the binding on the armholes. My mom had just recent;y showed me how to do this with store bought binding, but this pattern was a little different, so I was confused as I followed the directions, but just did as I was instructed and I was pleasantly surprised & pleased by the result.



After both armholes were done, I continued onto the bodice work. I had to sew a small portion along the top for the ribbon to run through and a ruffle along the bottom. The ruffle was a bit of a pain in the butt because I had never done one before and I had to figure out how to adjust my machine for those particular stitches, but it did come out just fine in the end.





The next step was the ribbon for the neckline. I was lucky enough to find white ribbon with tiny black paw prints on it. Incidentally, I got this dress finished just before my two year old daughter fell in love with Blue's Clues on Netflix, so right now, she's really into finding clues. This dress will keep her busy!

I attached a safety pin to one end of the ribbon and ran it through the casing at the top of the dress, front & back.




That was the last step. All I had to do was tie the ribbon. I did, however, add one final touch. Because I love to make things and I have three daughters, I had learned years ago how to make bows. I knew I wanted a cute bow on the dress. If you look at the pattern, the dress is supposed to have one right in the middle of the front. To achieve that look, two button holes were called for so that the ribbon could be pulled through. I didn't want to have to mess around with buttonholes, so I followed the directions for the top of the set also pictured on the pattern. Then, I simply assembled my bow for the front and sewed it right on. When Ella wears this dress, she has a tie on one shoulder and her pretty perfect little bow on the chest.



So, that's the finished product. I'll admit, I was proud of myself and I definitely felt like I had accomplished something. A wearable item! It certainly gave me the motivation to buy more fabric and patterns. Granted, this was a very easy pattern to follow, but as I become more & more comfortable using my machine and learning how to do different things, I'll work my way up to more difficult items.

Hello. My Name is Delilah.

Mother of four.
Homeschooler.
Wife.
Avid reader.
Writer.
Novice seamstress.
Scrapbooker.
Wannabe photographer.
Daughter.
Friend.
Jewelry Lady.
Chicken farmer.
Cat lover.

That's what I am.

All of those describe who I am and what I do on a daily basis. They are listed in no particular order, although the first one is obviously my top priority! My kids are wonderful gifts from above and I can only imagine how boring and meaningless my life would be without them. They keep me busy from the moment my feet touch the floor in the morning until I kiss the last one goodnight in the evenings. My only son is my oldest. He is 14. My girls are 10, 8 & 2. I have been married to my husband since May of 1999. He is my best friend in the world. We have a rather unique married relationship in this day & age. We actually like each other and desire to spend as much time together as possible. Imagine that!

As you can see from my list above, I am also a homeschooler. Jacob will be starting the 9th grade in the fall. It will be my first foray into homeschooling a high school student. Luckily, my family & I are members of a wonderful homeschool support group, so this task doesn't seem as daunting to me as it could. The group offers all kinds of activities for all ages, but Jacob will benefit from activities such as Student Council, Teen Pact, co-op and others. There is also a group within the group specifically for parents of high school kids that offers info on things like getting into college and other topics.

Recently, my husband & I decided to try our hand at raising chickens. We hit the feed store, bought some chicks, built a coop and did some research online. Now, a few months later, we have 27 chickens and are eagerly awaiting the day when our girls start laying. I like the idea of not having to buy eggs at the grocery store anymore! It's been very interesting to watch these birds grow up. Most of them have names. We even have a few that are very friendly and like to perch on our laps when we visit the coop with treats.

Sewing. I've never really been good at it. I've tried a few times. My first experience was many years ago in 7th grade Home Economics. I remember sewing a pair of shorts for PE. The elastic in the waistline kept twisting. They were pretty awful. Then when Jacob was very young, I sewed curtains for his bedroom. They came out fine and they were pretty easy to sew. But just a week or so after they were hung, Jacob decided to cut them with a pair of scissors. About this same time, I tried to sew myself a shirt. It was completely unwearable. Absolutely hideous. So, a few weeks ago when I was shopping at Hobby Lobby I decided I'd give it another go and try to sew some dresses for my girls. After all, I was feeling quite homemakerish what with my chicken farm and all. I purchased a few easy patterns and some different fabrics that the girls chose. The first dress, with the guidance of my mom, came out quite wearable! I was very excited. So, I decided to tackle the next dress without the help of my mom. And to my surprise, it came out even better than the previous dress. I was downright pleased with myself. I have more patterns and fabrics to play with and the fruits of those efforts will be shared here.

That list up there is long and I don't have time to cover it all today, but more is on the way. If you stumble across the blog, I hope you enjoy it. I think it will be fun to chronicle bits and pieces of my life here on this blog. I'm looking forward to it. See you around! Have a blessed day!