Finally!!!!!

I'm embarrassed to admit just how many times I have tried to get my Etsy site up and running!!! Every time I'd get to the point of listing an item only to run smack into a brick wall. After sitting in front of a screen for countless hours watching the little 'loading' symbol flashing the result was always the same..."Picture file too large to load"!!!!! UGH!!!!!!

Well I'm just so DONE with giving eBay such a large cut of my sales! The economy has had a huge impact on everyone's wallet and my barely marked up items are not always selling like in past years. This means the account for the food baskets for Mari's first family has been being replenished veeeeeery slowly of late. Then I get this little rush of orders and a chance to put some cash aside for the food BUT eBay eats into the 'profits' too much!! I had to make the Etsy site happen!!!

Happy to announce that with a little help from my friend Lynda at Socks That Rock I have had success!!!!! Now I can start listing all the outfits that didn't sell on eBay of late AND place my new designs up for significantly LESS!

Please check my store out and feel free to share with anyone that may be interested!!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/stellalunastyle

I'd put up a badge/button but my brain is still throbbing from all the geek challenges of this morning and I have absolutely no idea how to even attempt that feat.

Wow!!

I have not been a very good blogger of late. I would like to apologize! It's just that now that the testing is over in the schools, I'm back to work....and this just when I have a surge in custom orders?!?!? Just have one word that pretty much covers everything in this post....WOW!!

The Guatelinda dress seems to be well liked! Much of my 'free time' is now being spent trying to figure out the fastest way to get my darn sewing blog up and running so as to save on eBay and Etsy fees as well as finishing off the Easter requests so I can get started on the Guatelinda requests.

WOW! Is also what I have to say about this.....

my Julia selected from hundreds of local school children to have one of her art pieces be displayed at the local art museum!!! I'm very certain there will be a post on this in the future!!!

And WOW!!

There really is grass under that icy white stuff!! Don't want to jinx anything but we do seem to be seeing lots of signs of spring. More and more flocks of geese heading north and fewer days with temperatures below freezing must surely indicate an approaching spring?!?!? Hope we get a couple more days in the 40's and 50's so the dirty piles of snow hurry up and melt!

Guatelinda!!!

So excited to show you guys the latest outfit I've been working on!! I've just listed it on eBay and hope this is something that can help keep this little 'sewing rush' on track. The time to refill the food basket account is looming so needless to say I'm motivated at the moment.

 
 

Had gotten a deal on some Guatemalan flag bandannas and wasn't sure what to do with them. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. A few things I'll tweek on the next one I make but nothing major....unless it flops on eBay!

 
 

Here's a close up of the bandanna portion. I was actually bummed when they first arrived because the blue is too royal in comparison to the Guatemalan sky blue. Once the floral piece floated to the surface of my piles though I suddenly 'saw the light'.

 
 

I did button closures because I'm not sure how much longer the knot style would be appreciated. I'm going to see if I can find a deal on some cuter buttons since they are one of the costs I need to keep down to actually make money to put in the food basket account .

 They are items 120539861788 and 120539865123 on eBay if you're interested.

Those of you who kindly ordered Easter items will be receiving follow-up e-mails soon! I have most all of the orders under way except for those of you waiting on fabric choice pictures. I snapped those today and will have those off in the e-mails too.

Sew Spring?

Since all the local schools are in the midst of mandated testing, I have had a few extra days off this week. Just thought I'd show you a couple of the latest productions from the salt mine.

 

The last of my St. Patrick's sets for this year! It's a 5t Garanimals Brand EUC skort that I have added a ruffle of cute Snoopy Leprechaun print trimmed with a rolled hem and ric-rac paired with a peasant style blouse. I'm going to hold off listing them on eBay for a while to give any of my blogging buddies who might be interested a chance to buy them without the eBay fees. I'm asking $17 for this set.

 

Easter is quickly approaching! This jeans set is a 36 mos. Miniwear EUC elastic waist jeans to which I've added egg shaped appliques, co-ordinating print patch pockets, and a ruffle trimmed in ric-rac.

 

The top is a 3T Jumping Bean t-shirt to which I've added an Easter print ruffle, ric-rac, and a tie bow in back. I'm asking $22 for this set. 

 

This is a simple round yoked dress in a 4/5 with button tab closures on the shoulder. From the shoulder to the hem is 26 inches long and can be easily paired with her favorite top for cooler days. I'm asking $12 for this dress.

 

Here's another set in the same Easter print! This is also in a 4/5. The top fits a bust of 23-25 inches and is 23 inches long while the elastic waist pants fit waists 20-24 and are 22 inches long. This too can be worn with a tee-shirt for cooler weather. I'm asking $17 for this set.

 

Just off the machine in time for the picture taking session! This is another 3T Jumping Bean top to which I've added a strip of the Easter print trimmed with ribbon. The 3T Sonoma brand EUC elastic waisted denim skirt has had a double ruffle added in coordinating prints and the back pockets have been covered in the polka dot with the same ribbon trim as the top. I'm asking $22 for this set.

I have plenty of the Easter prints as well as EUC denim so if you see something you like but it's not in the right size I'd be happy to take a custom orders!!!

Where were you 10 years ago?

I can tell you where I was 10 years ago today...vividly!!! I spent most of the day pacing in a hotel room over looking this view of Guatemala City fielding calls from the U.S. State Department's Director of Children's Affairs and the Ambassador to Guatemala!!!

Only two days earlier these same people had directed me to abandon the plan to have Mari escorted back to the United States by the director of our adoption agency. In the days when adoptions from Guatemala were only taking 3-5 months to complete, ours was going on TWELVE!! Both of these officials had given me every assurance that if my husband and I presented IN PERSON to the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala City that we would be given the all important VISA needed to finally bring Mari home. Less than 24 hours after being given those directions we were standing at the infamous 'window' only to be informed that somewhere in the bowels of the embassy our new daughter's Guatemalan passport had been....um....misplaced!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh, and by the way, "the embassy will be closed tomorrow" so even if by some miracle of bribery you do get a replacement passport from your attorney we won't be issuing any visas until Monday morning when we reopen after having picked our noses all weekend long. Yes, 10 years later I can still feel the full rage I felt that day!!! They lose the passport but we get to replace and then wait around for the same bunch of incompetents to enjoy a long weekend off?!?!?

Needless to say I was on the phone to EVERYONE within minutes. Thanks to a very well connected sibling who was the highest ranking naval officer in England at that time, we received a personal call from the ambassador to England who was looking for the details of our case. He then took that information and personally called the ambassador to Guatemala...and suddenly there seemed to be one employee who would be working on Friday?!?!?! Nice to have connections sometimes (:

So here I am pacing, while Patrick sits on the floor playing with Mari, waiting for the suddenly available employee to call and tell us the plan. In a whirlwind, we are collected from the hotel and driven into a very dicey neighborhood where we are trooped up some dark and foul smelling stairs to sit in front of a clearly annoyed Guatemalan Imagracion employee who grills us for several minutes. During this time he goes from annoyed to accusatory! Suddenly we are being told that our attorney did not obtain a legal passport?!?! My heart just about stopped and I hugged the squirming toddler on my lap even tighter. My mind raced as it tried to keep up with his Spanish tirade and I was, for the first time of the trip, thankful that Patrick did not understand Spanish! In some adept linguistic maneuver, that I missed in my time delayed translations going on in my head, the embassy employee gets the man who turns out to be the HEAD of Imagracion in Guatemala to make a phone call. Whoosh!!! We are hurried back down the stairs and into the waiting taxi and flew through traffic across the width of the city because as Mr. Embassy informed us...not only had our attorney gotten a VALID passport but he had been smart enough to get it at one of the only sites that was fully computerized! We were now on our way to the police station located at the airport (because that was the location assigned to the embassy) to make out a police report?????

Sigh, yes, in one of those ludicrous Catch-22 scenarios we had to go the police and report her passport as being 'missing and assumed lost' and obtain a certificate. This certificate was the only way the Imagracion people would reissue Mari's passport.

One thing to say...Mari was an absolute trooper through this whole ordeal!! Can you imagine leaving the only people you have known for more than two years to be handed over to these pasty white strangers...who are clearly stressed about something?? Can you imagine going from a quiet life where you rarely left the four walls of the foster family's home to multiple taxi rides in this strange woman's lap as the adults around you talked in tones that were clearly not joyous?!? In all of her innocent youth all she did was watch everything with studious intensity with an occasional happy exclamation of, "Mira Mommy! Puedo ver muchos motos!!!" Later that night in the hotel room, Mari also told us she did not like the policemen. I was surprised because I had not found them particularly nice either so I asked her why? She said, "Ellos son malos porque los ojos no tienen sonrisas" which means "They are bad because their eyes do not have smiles".....very perceptive! You see, the police men were the first people I ever met in Guatemala who not only didn't smile at Mari and wish her good luck in America but there was a racist quality to the way they discussed how her physical description should be listed!! "Tipico Indigeno' said with scrunched noses and curled lips...

and so I am very grateful that we got that passport and visa so she could get out of that place where her future was limited by her 'tipico indigeno' label!! This was my beautiful daughter that I had waited so long to hold in my arms and the world is her oyster!!

 

 

Funny how some of those 10 years are etched deeply in my psyche but most of them have flown by in a heart beat!! 10 years ago tonight I went to bed as a Mom.....

Shameless Pitch #2!!!

I so try to keep this blog limited to our little family and their antics with an occasional nod  to my sewing addiction. Every once in a while, though, I do come across something that moves me to reach out to every one I know in every way I possibly can! So please humor me with this one short post directed at my Catholic blogging buddies.

I was just approached today about a woman working in Guatemala who is trying to establish a lending closet of First Communion dresses for a Catholic school in Guatemala. The whole idea seemed odd when the story first started but then it hit me pretty hard. Which one of us did not savor every second of the dress choosing process? Which one of us did not feel like a princess as we dressed that special morning? Which one of us did not feel holy through and through as we knelt in prayer after receiving the sacrament for the first time? 


Then I recalled some special Guatemalan girls in their First Communion finery and it brought a lump to my throat. 

These little girls had been adopted by American parents who had the resources to robe them in white on their special day!!! I can only imagine the number of girls in Guatemala who hold a tiny dream of getting to wear white on their special day.....

So for my friend who is trying to bring the dream of a white First Communion dress to the girls of Guatemala I am spreading the word! If you have or know of anyone who has a dress they would like to donate please contact me!! A dry cleaner owner has volunteered to clean and bag any dresses donated at no charge...now we just need to supply the dresses!! Used and new dresses especially in the smaller sizes would make a dream a reality.

Olympic Fever!!

As is the rest of the world, we are enjoying the Olympic coverage on T.V. Just as many other children around the world, my two girls are fantasizing about their own Olympic glory!! Very conveniently Julia's school had a scheduled outing at a local ice rink for this Sunday. Sad, I know, to say but my Midwestern lades have never been on ice skates! Did I ever mention how much I dislike winter???

So in anticipation of the big USA vs. Canada hockey match-up on Sunday we headed off to the rink to give it a go!

Did I say 'we'? Not a chance!! My skating days are looooong over so I requested tutoring assistance from the skating star, Andrew. This is the exact moment that Julia first put foot to ice!

 
He earned BIG TIME brownie points with me this day! He had the patience of Job with the struggling Julia!

 
Over and over he got her back on her feet! Such a sweetie as he assured her that she would be skating before the party was over.

One of the kiddie stands finally became available and it did the trick! My camera had gotten pretty wonky in the cold so I didn't get shots of Julia finally making her first fall free lap!!!! Let's just say Apollo Ohno's records are real safe. No winter Olympian in this house!!!

Oh, by the way...Mari used her rollerblading skills and did just fine. She still isn't Olympic fodder but she did stay safely on her feet  the whole time.

She's in one of those quirky tweener phases where pictures are 'uncool' and anything I say is wrong ...thus the disproportional appearances by Julia in the blog of late.