Must See Front Door Wreaths for Fall

This is what I call my Hippy Fabric Wreath

This is Camouflage Fabric Wreath to
welcome home our Troops!

This is SooBoo's gorgeous black and beige beauty!

It's not too late to support the CUBBIES!

LOVED these fabrics and could not wait to
mesh them all together to make this one of
a kind darling.

Go Blue!! Need I say more?


Lions and Tigers and Zebras, OH MY!

SooBoo's Fabric Wreaths make super fun hostess gifts, birthday gifts and hobbyist gifts. Bring a little joy and laughter to someone with one of these unusual and fun fabric wreaths!

Love Those Plates!

I found this blog that has their favorite obsession today.. funny, it's along the lines of my own... she obsessed about ceramic mugs, I obsess ALWAYS about plates. I LOVE plates. If I had it my way, I would start a little brick and mortar store that had place settings of all different plates, glasses and silverware. I would have everything from plastic/melamine to fine china.
And of course, on some place settings, I would add some SooBoo designs tent place cards!

What do you think? Can you tell what is Melamine and what is not?

I am adding this idea brought to me by a great customer of mine, Laura. Her girls and she are very much Lilly Pulitzer fans.. so I added this green and pink border. These are SooBoo's Photo Gift Tags! I wound up using a flower hole punch for any string they might want to use to attach to a gift.
She loved them so much she had some made for her good friend!

Perhaps it's time

Hello People!
That's right! It's been forever since I have posted a blog on here. It's my loss, not keeping up this "diary" of sorts of my life and business.

It seems like forever since I've just plugging away hoping that things will turn around for the SooBoo business. Granted, I haven't been making a whole lot of new items to sell. My wreaths did pretty well during the holidays and that was a lot of fun. But this year, it's a different story. People claim, "it's the economy" and perhaps that's what it is for me(that's why I haven't been buying like I used to)... yet a bought a new printer that has gorgeous color and doesn't curl the paper like my last one did. I bought it in hopes that IF I bought it, business would come. It did, for a bit, then slacked off again. I'm now in the slack time again. So here I sit, writing about it instead of changing my work habits. Perhaps, if I write about it, it will change on its own? I don't think so, but I have a desire to scratch my writing itch.. if not just for the purpose of the diary thing.

I did a lot of research on the printer purchase. I made a decision to buy an EPSON R1900. I bought it over the phone with Epson realizing that it was an inkjet, BUT it took very heavy stock. I was sooo excited! All the reviews seems pretty promising and the cartridges weren't the expensive laser cartridges that I had been looking into or had with my former HP laser all in one. The HP had great color, but the paper curling was really grating on my nerves. My notepads were having issues and I did not want to put out another notepad like that. Anyhow, I received the inkjet, installed the software easily and then printed.. and I swear...the printing was saaaaallllloooooooowwwwww!! I thought, WTF? and the color? ickola! What were these people who rated this thing talking about? After a couple of days, I knew this was not the answer to my printing woes. So, I looked again at what I needed to do. Laser is the only way to go for me.. well, I wound up with an OKIDATA C6150. It's much smaller than the bulky slow inkjet. I learned so much about all this when I did my research.. if you want to know any particulars just contact me... I called Epson and let them know about the color and slowness of this printer. This CS chick desperately tried to get me to check the things on this inkjet to make sure it was set right. OH COME ON! She kept saying, "Perhaps" perhaps you can check this, perhaps you don't have this set correctly, perhaps you're not using the right paper.. so I perhapsed her back.. "PERHAPS I don't want this lousy product and perhaps you need to get me someone who can give me an RA# so I can send this thing back to you because I am under warranty and I know I don't want this thing in my house anymore!" Perhaps I got her attention then.. because I was quickly sent over to some guy who perhaps had been through this return process before.. ya think? sigh..

I had been in contact with some other stationery website woman who was completely fun to talk to about printers. Although, for some reason, nobody wants to say what their printer is. I can find out if it's laser, or inkjet and more recently solid ink printer, but NEVER the brand or model number. Guess if they had to do the research, so did I! Anyhow, I had told this colleague about this printer and when I emailed her about the slow printing and the color she said, hey! I think I have that one in my garage because it was so bad I couldn't use it! I was out of warranty on it so I couldn't return it.. GET RID OF IT! IT SUCKS! Sure enough, she checked her garage and it was the same Epson. Who knew?

So longer story a bit shorter, I went to my local office supply store and bought the OKI. It's actually not laser but digital. The cartridges are extraordinarily pricey, but I will choke on that when the time comes to change them out.

Meanwhile, I bought a CHEAP Lexmark injet for scanning purposes and to use for proofs and for the rest of the family to use for simple black white text prints. Perhaps it's cheaper to do that than to use the ink from the OKI..

Another big change in my life came when a stray meowed his way into my life.

A lot of you know that our beloved Rommel died a year ago May 7. I visited his grave in our backyard the day after for about 10 seconds. I brushed off his brick marker with his name and dates on it that I painted the day he died. Tootsie was by my side standing atop his grave as she usually does... and I, all choked up, breathless with the thought of him being underneath there and sadly recalling what he went through that last night of his life. I had to leave. I still cannot take it. I miss him so. But one day, God brought us a stray cat. He came from the fence right where Rommel is buried one day. Tootsie and I were out on the back deck and this fierce meowing got more and more prominent from the fence area. Then, this sickly thin kitty came slowly walking up, over the rail tie, across the yard and up the stairs to the deck. He was meowing uncontrollably. So thin and wasn't scared of Toots at all.. and Toots accepted him as a sorry sickly patient. I had NOTHING to offer this kitty except a little dog kibble. So I went inside and grabbed a small handful of dog food and laid it on the deck floor. He meowed THROUGH his eating. It was the sorriest thing I ever heard in my life. Pathetic.

I am allergic to cats.. but I was a goner now! I gave him water but he didn't want it..so I gave him milk. He lapped it up easily. Couple weeks went by and he was getting no heavier or healthier looking. My husband strongly suggested I take him to the vet to get him checked for worms. I did, he did, and after shots, tests and all that first time vet stuff, he was certainly ours.

We didn't let him in the house due to my allergies. But I started to hold him while walking through the house. My husband did NOT like this idea but suddenly, he started doing it as well and then before I knew it, GUS the Cat was in and out like a dog. He slept nights inside and came to wake us when he was ready to go out. We have no kitty litter box anymore after he used it in the screened in porch when we nursed his broken leg after perhaps being hit by a car.

The stories coinciding with that are hilarious, but maybe another time. He was ours! He took the sting out of Rommel's passing and he was fun to watch.. like a newborn baby a Mom cannot take her eyes off of... this is what it was like for me. I wanted to learn his signals, his cries, his likes and dislikes...but Gus is different because his habits change so much.. He is NOT routined.. and doesn't like routine. That is, perhaps, his routine. LOL! When he does come in to show what a freeloader he is, he STRUTS his front shoulder muscles as he walks over to his food. He is THE SEXIEST cat!. Those front muscles RIPPLE! He's strong, loving and healthy now. Rommel would have loved him...perhaps.

NOW, I need to go tend to my websites. Yes, that is a good idea...perhaps..

Seasonal Wreaths

I've finally made time.. not timet to read, or get a massage or do my nails or even get a long needed pedicure. I have made time to take photos of my new fabric wreaths and post them in my handmade shops. It's easy to forget how much fun it can be to list your items when you believe in them. Colors have always impacted my life, therefore, I can't go into a fabric store and not go NUTS surrounded by coordinating materials. My custom wreaths take 5 different fabrics. Normally, I would go into the store intending to buy ONLY a quarter yard of 5 different fabrics. But the holidays creep up quickly and the craft fairs are a plenty, so I have no choice (oh, sure!) but to purchase anything I can get my hands on. I have recruited my friend's Mom, Sandra, to tag along. She more than tags along, she helps me find the perfect fabrics that will go together and offers a point of view that helps often. When we both agree, we know we have the right fabric combination! Thanks, Gigi! (her grandkids gave her that name!) I have some for the holidays, for little girls rooms, for halloween and for the glorious fall when all the rich colors come into our yards and our homes. Please take a gander and some of my colorful creations! Susie

A New Kind of Custom

Hi People! I wanted to tell you a little story. I got a phone call the other day from a darling Mom who ordered a bag tag from me recently for her daughter. She had also sent me a note through my e-commerce site asking if I would be interested in creating a birthday invitation for her daughter. There were only going to be 8 invites. What did I care if there were only 8! Of course I was interested. A few days went by and I finally heard from her. (BTW, it had taken me a few days to get back to her since I had not looked on that email in quite a while.) We were gabbing away like old chums, but when she was delighting in telling me how her daughter loved to draw and how she had a nice little portfolio going already, I stopped her right there in mid conversation! "Wait!" I demanded. (quiet on the other side. She was probably thinking.. sheesh!) So I said to her, "How about if your daughter draws what she wants for her invite and you send me the art and I put it into invitation form?" She looooved the idea! I was pretty proud of myself. I don't think that this is an original idea, but it's generally not done, I don't think. I also had a big craft fair coming up and needed every free second I had. I felt it would benefit all of us if Nicole could use her own art for her Spa/Slumber Party and I could get my bearings here for this fair. I got the art.. actually 5 pieces. They are from a program called Fashion Design Pad. I think this is how it works; her daughter, Nicole, creates the face with hair color, eyes, lips, nose..the whole shebang on the computer. She then colors clothes onto the little computer models. She happened to send me a blond, a brunette and an Asian. I used all three and had them hold hands. Her wonderful Mom sent me a base for text and I changed it around a bit and then we finalized it over the phone when she got her proof. Here is the result. Isn't it cute?

AND, to save time, I made out the envelopes with green marker and added cute gift stickers next to her guests names. It turned out so adorably! This is truly why I love what I do. Personalizing things in a non- traditional manner is so much fun for me. And also, being an artist who doesn't enjoy repetition, this was right up my alley. Everyone was happy.. I can't wait for Nicole to get her envelope!

Sigh~ The other night I had a choice. It should not have been a difficult one, and in the end, it unfortunately wasn't. Does this sound contrary? Well hear me out. My son, has made the soccer team at his high school. He's a sophomore. His frame is very thin, but his heart is huge. He's made every tryout time, every practice, has perfect grades, a super sense of humor, and is an all around lovely young man - yes, I have been told this by many, not in my family, but by various people with whom he has just spent some time. I was so happy he made the varsity soccer team. He ran hard, played hard and is sitting on the bench hard after all that work. It breaks my heart. We tell him to talk to his coach or assistant coach and ask then to give pointers on how he can improve his game. They've given some advice, of which he's taken gladly and respectfully...yet still, a cold butt on a cold bench with a few others who are going through it as well is the result.

I went to the pre-season tournament games, which, by the way, were away games. I went to their first game which was about 40 mins away. They lost. The next game was at home. This was just on Wednesday. I was all set to go. I had already worn in my new WalMart stadium seat that has saved one person in our family from having a cold arse.. lol.. Then.. after I fed my son a nutritious, carbolicious dinner, just in case he was called upon to defend his team, I gathered the "ingredients" to start a new project; a small birdhouse. I gathered a lot of materials from my studio and messed up my dining room (much cooler). I armed myself with glue sticks, a wooden birdhouse, gesso, sandpaper, glossy enamel paints, paint brushes of all sizes, paper towels, sea shells, jars of store bought pebbles and, hey.. isn't that enough?? I started this project. I had no clue where it would lead, what the outcome would be, when I would finish. Time was of the essence since the soccer game was at 7:00. I would need to claim my spot shortly on that dreaded aluminum bench along with my other stadium seated soccer parent buddies. Tick Tock Tick Tock Tick Tock .. (I had already dropped him off for early warm-ups etc) The house had only the sound of Fox News chatter and distant dogs barking as the sun was readying to set. My eyes reluctantly darted with hesitance at the clock.. Oh MAN! I need to get going..but that glue gun was so much fun.. the hot glue burning my finger skin was a sensation that was I had missed, weirdly and stupidly. OUCH!.. that's %@# HOT! Crap! and then quickly back to burying my face in the small dyed sea shells of which I had bought eons ago at God knows what craft store, plucking out my next victim to be hotly burned onto the primed birdhouse.

Geeez! What am I doing? Why can't I get my body to move toward my purse and out the door to the car? What kind of Mom AM I? pluck, burn, dig, place, admire.. I just could not break away!!! This is what we crafters/artist are known for; losing sight of anything around us other than what craft is at hand. The smell, the excitement of something new and never created before. The idea that I could sell this thing at my next craft fair, the promise to myself that this birdhouse will be the start of many more natural looking homes for our feathered friends.. it was more than I could take to break away from all these sensations. Soccer? Son? Stadium Seats? Who cares? He won't be playing.. Of course, it would figure if he was put in the game and would make a game saving stop ...and I I would have missed it. Double sigh. Triple sigh! Oh well.

7:00 pm came and went but I finished my tedious, teensy shell appliques in time to go pick up my precious boy. All the regulars asked me, "Where were you? Were you sitting somewhere else tonight? How come you weren't here? We missed you! I put on my best deceitful facade and said, "OH. I wasn't here, I HAD this important art project to finish." "Oh," they replied bewilderingly. I'm certain they were wondering, what kind of Mom misses her son's HOME soccer game for an ART project?

My boy did not play, He says it was fine that I didn't go. I was simultaneously thrilled that I finished this zany birdhouse and sick and embarrassed that I could not control my urges to finish a silly home for birds to go watch my son's team win 1 zip. Maybe, maybe, JUST mayBE.. I'm bad luck at the games?. Well, I can't bring myself to say it was worth it, but boy have I gotten the compliments on this thing since I've completed it.

Next home game, though, I'll be there screaming and yelling and making up for time lost on those cold bug lit grooved stands. I cannot wait!.. Next project.. river pebbles and sheet moss. I will NOT start it on a game day. I promise!

Susie