Semper Fab

Monday, March 12, 2012

First I must say Thank you Thank you Thank you to my bootcamp bunkie!! Semper Fab is now International and I have customers from Sweden and New York, New Jersey, Texas and Indiana. Not to mention my loyal friends and customers here in the Last Frontier.

It was a gorgeous sunny morning, I let Chloe outside to go potty and she about backed into the house. I checked the temp and it was -8 degrees outside. Brrrr hurry Chloe you're gonna freeze out there. It's that time of year and the days are longer, the sun is shining and the snow just gets deeper..... Well two out of three is not too bad. Keep pushing those snow piles back to make room for more snow. On a good note: as long as it snows:

Things are Semper Fab at Semper Fab Designs. I definitely can't complain and I am having so much fun sewing. I must say though how many book bags does one College girl need?? It seems like every time I post a big bag my daughter says "Mom can you make one like that for me?" She replies "I can have one for every class then. LOL"

On another note, we went to the local gun show at the Fair Grounds this weekend. We have quite a few of them there gun shows up here.... :-) Gotta love it cuz I love to shoot. Once a Marine always a Marine!! Well, I have my own weapon (or do I call it a gun now) of choice, but lately I have been missing something. After the gun show and looking at all the AR-15, P90's, and not to mention the FNF2000. We've got a few choices laying around here and the glock is fun, the shotgun gives me bang for my buck and if I am feeling a little Gunpowder & Lead I pull out the old 4570. But I do love the good ol AR-15. Ok you ask what does this have to do with my passion of sewing. Well it's my other favorite "S" word ....."Shooting."

Yep, I think I am going branch out. I noticed this morning that my husband and son have added a department to my Semper Fab Designs...."FAR" What is that....I ask. My son says for the rifles you are building. FAR = Fabulous Assault Rifles. I had to laugh. Too funny but I do LOVE IT!!! So I guess I have my summer project. Parts are on order and got my FFLs in line and just waiting for parts to arrive. I am so excited about the Summer!!! Gonna be exciting this year. Now we definitely need to add range time to the itinerary for our visitors this summer. For those who feel upset about this.... no worries guns aren't bad it's the person behind it you need to worry about. We have combined over 50 years of Military Weapons Training and LEO. I have even had one of the most challenging and rewarding job of being an Instructor for Women on Target. "Excuse Ma'am, PLEASE don't swing that gun around, place it down on the ready bench...I know it's not loaded but treat every weapon as if it were." Sighhhh..... But I must mention that same lady(s) who were swinging and scared were confident and in control after training.

Hey Bunkie......have I convinced you to get up here and visit yet? What else could you ask for a bag and a bullet. Hey I will give you a bag of bullets when you get up here. How does your arm feel? Twist Twist.

So all in all things are going well, check out the store at http://www.etsy.com/shop/SemperFabDesigns or go to link below.

PS I know I need to get the design going for the CC bag and I will get a kindle fire case out in the next day or so.

Thanks everyone for supporting me.

Semper Fab!

Monday, January 9, 2012

Wow long time no blog....

Time sure does fly by.....it's been a year since I have been on here... A WHOLE YEAR I feel bad....but what do they say "Better late than never" right?!?!

Not sure where to start, but here goes...I bet I lost all my followers not that I had very many, but I gotta get back in the groove. I guess it just me and Chloe May (my dog) and Zeppelin (my cat). I hope that my followers/friends will return or I will make new ones.

So what have I been doing??? I'll try and condense it: Most recently, logged back into Etsy and actually posted some items in my shop: "Semperfabdesigns" if anyone is interested. That took me two days to post two items....I am about as computer literate as a box of rocks! I love to create and sew but not comput(er)!!! And when I ask my husband to help he just does it and when he's not here, I am sitting and the computer trying to figure it all out.

Today, was better...I was finally able to get a couple more things posted. iPad cases are pretty cool and the new in thing according to my 13 year old son. Not that I can get him to carry one of my iPad cases to school. But your sister used to carry bags and totes I made to school and she still does at Arizona State. But I'll save that for another time. Hopefully not next year LOL!

So the iPad cases are up and I have LOTS of other stuff to put out there but need to figure out how to expedite the whole "add new item" for sale thing on Etsy.

That was recent, now to go back a year....I took up another hobby. Woodworking, I guess you could call it. Now to figure out how to post a picture of what I made. Ugghhh!

Say Hello to "Melvin the Moose" Yep I made him. My first project. I always wanted a Moose and now I got one. Made him up to be a Alaska State Trooper badge and all. Well Jr. AST badge (can't see it, on the other side). My husband couldn't believe it...."you made that??" How did you do that. Got a big piece of treated 3/4" plywood, a moose pattern, drew it up, cut it out....BTW your Black and Decker jigsaw SUCKS!!!
Bought me a Bosch Jigsaw and the guys at Lowes were all impressed with my project that I was making. Primed him and decided to paint him up like a Trooper!! Viola Melvin the Moose.
**If you ever make it up to Alaska you need to go to Talkeetna and visit all the Moose. Not sure who makes them, but there are quite a few in that little town all decorated up....Girl Moose with CD's for earrings and Boy Moose and even a Moose that has an Alaska Scenery on it.

Then I made a few more wood things. Maddie the Moose. She was fun to do and I decorated her all up for Halloween with a witches hat and a boa. She was a Diva Witch LOL!

So Halloween.....I made this and put it outside with colored lights in the eyes of each. It was really cool at night. I made a couple snowmen that I have in the yard for winter, but they are almost all covered with snow. We have lots this year!! As my son would say it's snowing money, cuz the more it snows...the more money he makes plowing!!! He is buying his motorcycle to take on the annual Dust to Dawson trip in June! Yet another adventure.

I am what you might call OCD a little. I can't do just one of anything. And I won't stop until I figure it out, but my limit is the computer!!! That drives me crazy! As I laugh.....because my office looks like a hurricane hit because I was trying to download pictures and figure all this computer stuff the past couple of days. Jim comes home and says what is going on in here. I look up and say "I've been busy on the computer" and he says what is all this stuff....WELL I was looking for things to post and then I got overwhelmed so I started to sew and then tried to download stuff and IDK what happened. I think a hurricane blew through my office when I went to the bathroom.

So here I sit in my messy office writing on my blog that hopefully someone will read, if not I just laugh at myself.

I will try and keep up with this blog thing. And I need to reconnect with the people I said I would follow too...Oops!

Well good night all and I have lots more to tell later.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

I'm a material girl

Now for some of the recent stuff. My husband said I had to use up some of the scraps of fabric I had left over from quilting. So I have made countless other things. I thought I would share some of it.

I made this bag as a gift for a friend.

This is the matching cellphone case. My husband should be happy with this one, I used my leftover fabric to make this :-)

This was a birthday present I made for my Eskimo Princess....you know who you are

I made this for my daughter at college. Now her girlfriends want one too.

A diaper bag I made for a friend. This was just a quick design I came up with. Getting better with creating my own products.

Okay, here is a little bag I made with actual leftover fabric for quilting. This is a little snappy bag that I made bigger as Aunt Jenn wanted something to carry to bunko. The top closure "snaps together" using a broken tape measure. Ghee not sure how it broke :-)

This Geisha Girl bag was made for my Mom.

I made this after I got my embroidery machine. I was so excited to start embroidering. Another project made with leftover fabric This is a curling iron/ hot iron case. The inside is lined with heat resistant fabric and 100% cotton batting. Great for traveling or if you go to the gym.

I made a bag like this for a friend who is a Nurse. This is actually the bag I made for her mom who is also a Nurse. This bag has great storage and looks chic.

Well, this is just a little of this and that. I have so much stuff I have done I don't want to overwhelm anyone. I am having fun making stuff and now I am having fun sharing it with you.

A creative mess!

A mess it truly was. I am not sure why I am posting this other than I love what I've done to my office. I thought I would share with you.

Since I've taken up my new passion of sewing I was able to phase everyone out of the old game room (which is now my office/craft room). It was a tedious process....

My husband and son would complain about me having the lights on in the game room. So one day my husband came home with a present. Yeah I like presents! It was a fancy little light for the side of my sewing machine. Here, he said I will help you hook it up. I love it, thank you! Little did I know he had an ulterior motive with that purchase. Honey, you really don't need the lights on in here to sew anymore do you. Apparently they had a hard time seeing the TV with the lights on while playing their game. Anyone familiar with Call of Duty? My son would ask me if I could turn down my sewing machine because it sounded like a .50 cal going off while he was trying to play COD. Sound effects I would tell him. But it was all part of the plan..hehehehe

After a few month of this battle, my husband and son decided to move out of the game room as they were getting lost in my "creativity" as I call it. Needless to say the great room is now the center for all video gaming not to mention watching countless football games. It was a win-win situation I figured. They got the big TV and I got my space.

Like I said it was a bit of a mess, I didn't realize how much of a mess it became after they moved out because I was lost in what I was doing. I knew where everything was but figured it was time to make it truly my space.

Here is what I did.....just a word of caution. It didn't look like this all the time, but when my husband started to refer to my office as a "Sweat shop" I knew it was time for change.

I thought storage containers were good purchase for all my fabrics. It worked for awhile. The handy little holder for my embroidery thread, another good purchase I thought, until Zeppelin (cat) decided he like to play with my thread and figured out how to "get it and go!" Then adding Chloe (dog) into the fun. One day Zeppy had Chloe tangled in a spool of thread. It's time to field day!!

My desk was overcome with creativity. However, Dozer was not a bit disturbed by all the commotion as noted by him sleeping in the chair.

I had my little stations set up now that everyone has moved out. I strategically placed my machines by the windows so I could look outside. Note the blinds are now shut...embarrassed by the mess!

A long weekend came up, and my son was home from school. He was taking Tech Ed: Industrial Arts at the time. So I decided to recruit him in my efforts. As a 7th grader he was still pretty easy to recruit. I asked him what kind of stuff he was doing in Industrial Arts and he said they were building things. Viola' I am in like flinn I thought. "You want to help me build some cabinets and stuff for my office?" He said yes. I was so happy!

We moved EVERYTHING out....except my desk. It was too big

Wow, look at all this space

And you can actually walk around in here without tripping over something my son said.

After choosing my paint which was not an easy task. I love paint, but couldn't decide on the exact shade of the color I wanted. I wanted something bright and cheery and this is what I ended up with.

So organized and my creativity is now endless

Now the guys want to move back in.......