New fabrics...one of my favorite things!

So I am lucky enough to have the website equilter.com based right near.  I needed some new fabric and was having a hard time finding them in the local shops.  I got lucky and found what I wanted on equilter!  I gave them a call to see if I could save on the shipping since they are right in the neighborhood and just pick it up...they said YES!  I was thrilled!  I still had to wait a day...have to wait my turn for cutting...but they gave me a call the next morning and I had my new a.lovely fabrics.  I can't explain my love of new fabric...it just thrills me to no end!  

Here they are...

 

So pretty, right?!  

You know, my grandmother owned her own fabric store when I was a very small child...I don't even remember the store but that must be where I developed this crazy love of fabric.  I do remember, after she closed her store, I would go and stay with them and she had kept a large cutting table and some fabric bolts from the store.  She had them set up like a mini fabric store right in her garage.  I would go out there and play store...for hours.  
  I thank you Grandma for this gift you didn't even know you were giving!  I adored my Grandma and Grandpa and this just made staying with them even better!


So now I have new fabrics...bags soon to arrive at my alovely.etsy.com site as well!
New fabrics always make any day brighter...try it...it really works!!

It's still snowing!!!

This is at 8am...

This is at 12:45...!

 

And it doesn't seem to be stopping!  The kids are thrilled!  They are hoping tomorrow will be just like today...

We are hanging out, eating yummy brownies, drinking hot cocoa, watching movies and every now and again putting on all our layers for another round outside!  

 

Growing up in CA, I dreamed of days like this...absolutely perfect! 

 

SNOW DAY!!!!

I woke up this morning early so I could check on whether I needed to wake the kiddos for school.  It started snowing last night about 7pm and hadn't stopped so the possibility was definitely there.  I checked the BVSD website and yep...no school!  I tried to stay very quiet but my early bird young man in the house was up like usual seeing what I was doing.  

 

Its always so pretty...especially before the kiddos get in the backyard and mess it all up!

 

So for now, this is what has been happening this morning...

 

and this...

 

Watching morning tv is even more fun when it's a special day off from school.   

I am sure the rest of our day will be filled with snow pants, gloves, hats and snow boots going on and coming back off!  Should be a very fun day!  

It's a hot cocoa and popcorn kind of day!  

Hope your day is just as fun!  It's snowing!!

My little piece of heaven at home!

So our house is small.  All the bedrooms are lovingly filled, dining room is now C's office space, kitchen is the always bustling and full, and our family room is another story.  It's always been a room that you just didn't know quite what to do with it.  I have had poor C re-arrange that room a million +1 times and still it was never quite right.  

The first problem...the room is long and somewhat narrow and it has a big, obnoxious, amazing, and very warm in winter, wood burning stove that we couldn't live without right in the middle of 1 wall.  

The second problem...I needed a space to sew! 

Here is what I came up with...

I finally have a whole area for my sewing and I LOVE IT!  It works out so perfect because I am right in the middle of the entire house.  I also have the 2 biggest picture windows right there.  I love having the sun streaming in and watching the birds fly and the squirrels wonder all over.

 

 It is one of my favorite places to be and I get to do one of my favorite things...sew!

When we had our company and the office space, we bought some office partitions that we ended up bringing home...I covered one with my favorite fabrics and use it as my inspiration wall.  It also works so well hiding my mess when there is...usually, always.  

I love my small house and I love making it work for me and my fam!  

So now you know where I spend my days!  It's the perfect place to create some alovely's!  

...my piece of heaven... 

Amazing Day!

The weather today was just so amazing!  Colorado is so weird in the fall...record lows last weekend and snow, record highs this weekend and flip-flops.  

Lili and I took a bit of our day and headed to the bike path.  Somebody, who knows who or when, put together these rather small yet still a bit intimidating hills to bike around on.  All 3 of our kiddos love them and I must say they are pretty fun for Mom and Dad too.  Lili has recently mastered riding a bike and these hills are helping!  I can remember her either running all over these hills while her brother and sister rode their bikes around or her on the "tag-along" behind me while I went all over the hills.  For her, this is much cooler! 

We really had a great time!  I love seeing her gain so much confidence.  A lot of times Katia takes the three of them herself to play on the hills...I am thankful they are so close (the hills and the kids).  The hills are just hard enough to make it challenging but still small enough that you are not too scared to try something new.  I really enjoy playing on them myself...I wish I had these hills when I was young.  

Can you see Lili has lost her front tooth?  So much exciting stuff going on around here!

  

This is her "big" bike.  It has hand brakes and shifters and it was passed down from her big sis!  She loves this bike.  The hand brake was a bit tricky at first but she didn't let that slow her down.  As kids, didn't we always make whatever we wanted to play with work out?  

We always seemed to find a way!  

 

 We really had a great time hanging out together!  She is in half-day kindergarten and still really likes hanging with Mom.  Note to self...I need to appreciate these special moments now! 

We made a stop at the park on our way back home...happy, happy day!  

It's off to sew I go!

I think I will spend the entire weekend sewing to my heart's content!  I just found out that my kiddos school is sponsoring a Holiday Bazaar so I want to make a few more bags to sell!  If you haven't already check out my etsy site...do!  I am having so much fun with it!  

Check out more at  www.alovely.etsy.com!  

Have a great weekend!

My favorite blogs!!!

Not only am I new to blogworld with my own blog but I am pretty new to blogging in general.  There are so many amazing blogs out there...so many creative, funny, happy, women who share there lives and make my day a little brighter.  Thank you ladies!

I thought I would share a few of them with you...

http://onebadrunner.wordpress.com/ 

http://megduerksen.typepad.com/whatever/

http://www.elisalou.com/blog/

http://somethingtodo-jamie.blogspot.com/

http://themcclenahans.blogspot.com/
http://littlebitfunky.blogspot.com/
http://lindseycheney.blogspot.com/
http://allthingslovely.typepad.com/all_things_lovely/
http://www.vanessachristenson.com/
http://theinspiredroom.net/
http://fromhousetocozyhome.blogspot.com/
http://karenrussell.typepad.com/my_lifejust_not_on_the_ro/
http://www.reinventedkb.com/
http://todayscreativeblog.blogspot.com/
http://thepioneerwoman.com/
http://heatherbailey.typepad.com/
http://www.farmergalsmarket.com/  
   


There they are...check them out and if you have a blog that you enjoy, please send it my way...I would love to add it to my list!

Happy Friday!!!...and enjoy your weekend!

What do you do on a lazy, quiet, cool fall day?

We bake!!  My kiddos and I love to bake and Apple Crisp was the perfect thing for our beautiful fall day today.   

We had all the ingredients too so all we needed was get started!   

The hardest part of the entire process is slicing up all the apples but it's all down hill from there!

The easiest part...

licking your fingers!  

It's also very necessary...builds the excitement plus you've got to have some quality assurance!

Just as easy as that!

Now to put them together and throw the yumminess in the oven!

Can't you just smell it from there?  

The easiest part...Eating it of course!

 So YUMMY! 

 

Now hopefully that inspires you to go make your favorite thing...it's so worth it!

It's the little things...

Some of my little things that make me happy...

A great fabric scrap basket full of amazing fabric!

Playing with those little pieces of fabric scraps to see what I can create!

A lovely bag that turns out perfect for my lovely mom!  I am thrilled you are so happy with it Mom!

Whoever said a piano was for playing...its just so perfect to set all my great stuff on!!

These are the some little things that make my life happy!  What little things make you happy?

What did you do this weekend?!!!

Here is all our weekend fun!...

      We played with our new season ski rentals!

     We played with friends in the park!

 

     We built snow forts only to knock down in the end!                                    

                                                                  

     and ...we loved every second of it!  Even Chrissa (K's AG doll) was dressed for the occasion! Thanks Grandma!

Then it was time to come in and warm up!  First snow, first fire in fireplace, first cups of hot cocoa to warm our bones (coffee for mom)!  

                    

Just another Fall day in Colorado...you never know what you're going to get!

                                                            
                                    
                            

Life can change in an instant...

I was saddened this week by a death of a high school classmate.  It was such an tragic accident...she was climbing a ladder to get Halloween decorations in her attic...she slipped off the ladder and suffered a head injury...she died the next day.  
She leaves behind her 2 kiddos,a husband and the rest of her loving family. 

The first thing that you think...Why?  Why did this happen?  

We can never make sense of things we don't control.  We have to trust that this is the way it was to be.  It teaches us that Life is so short...we must always try to do the things that make us happy and are meaningful in some way.  This is such a hard lesson and so hard to accept.

When we focus on only ourselves we lose the significance.  Make today count as we never know what might happen tomorrow.  

Here is a link to a youtube video her son did after his mom died...kids are amazing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdGtN1WTavg&feature=channel

In Memory of Julie Woods Bissey...  

It did Snow...a little!!!

It was a chilly fall day and snow actually did fall!  Lili and I went out to play!  It was so silent...just the sounds of snow hitting the leaves as they fall (oh and Lili screaming with joy!!!).  The first snow is always so magical...especially with a 5, almost 6 yr. old.  We walked all around the neighborhood and saw so many pretty things...here are a few!

 Such big snowflakes!

The colors are always so incredible!  How do the trees do it?!

Bright, red ones are my favorite!

We decided we had to bring a few home and do something with them!

 

We also found a few friends out enjoying the snow too...!

It made us want to cook up a big batch of soup and cozy up inside...which we did!  It is my favorite time of year...amazing colors everywhere, cold mornings-warmer afternoons (except today), the smell of apple crisp baking, all my comfy sweats...I love it!   
Happy Fall!

SNOW?! Already?

What?  Really?  That's what they say...snow tomorrow!  We will see if it actually happens (I will let you know!)
I don't think I am quite ready for snow...Summer this year in Colorado was so mild and somewhat cool...I never really got warmed up.  I don't know if I am ready to be wrapped up to the hilt all the time once again...waiting for the school bus at 7:30am is not fun!  BRRRRR!

I guess I should be used to this...we have been here 18 years and that's how it works...today-70 degrees, tomorrow-40 degrees.     

Well here is a picture to enjoy of our beautiful Colorado Aspen trees






 ...and some of our friendly creatures rummaging around the forests!  My first bear sighting...ever!




I will post more tomorrow if there is snow on the ground...gotta love Colorado!


 Leave a comment to let me know you stopped by and come back often...I love the company!

Finally...!

A.Lovely is real...finally...and I am so thrilled to be here in blog land. My blog will be a mix of my amazing family, my crazy addiction to fabric and sewing, my etsy store and my website. I hope to chronicle my journey through this crazy world of motherhood, business and the www. I have read many great blogs for so long and am so impressed by the time you all put in and the creativity that I see. You all are my inspiration...I hope I can live up to the tough standards!

So my journey begins...!