New Design

Drumroll please!!! And the Winner is!

Sarah Halstead said...
I am following you and I tweeted about your giveaway @sarahmhalstead. Sarah, I will contact you today to get your details.

Now on to the Good Stuff!!!!

I used to make purses, seriously. The only problem was 1 bag would take all day long and nobody wanted to pay more then 40 dollars for one. So not only was I losing a day but I was also losing money as It cost more than 40 dollars to make one of these. So I put the purse thing aside but never really forgot about it.

OLD STYLE!

I personally don't carry a purse. I don't for many reasons but the main one is I will have an ADD moment and leave it behind. Its a tried and true tested fact about myself, I am not a good "carrier of things". So for the last few months I have been toying with making different bags. I really love the messenger style of bags, but they were way to big for me. Although they do come in handy at the post office when I need to put my envelopes somewhere.

For me the BIG problem with bags is... The bigger they are, the more crap you can put in them. Seriously do you really need all that crap? I can look right now in my last purse and there is still probably 100 receipts, 20 misc pens that I couldn't ever find, a few GI Joes, 3 or 4 Nintendo DS stylus, unwrapped gum (hopefully not chewed), loose change, fabric swatches, etc.. you really get the point.

Every time I have to travel, I just get a new bag that Is fresh and clean for my trip, because when I do travel, I do need a bag .. and start collecting crap all over again.

When you think about it, when you are traveling.. what do you need? Tickets.. ID.. a Book.. passport etc. You also need both your hands free to carry on your luggage, because I'm sure you are all the ones that take up the overhead compartments with the really not carry on luggage but hopefully will get away with it bags. So I set out to design a bag that I can travel with, that will fit all my "need" crap and leave my hands free.

This bag is in a messenger style. Its 9 inches wide and 12 inches long. It has a long across chest shoulder strap and will sit comfortably on your hip. Its lightly padded so It will protect your cell phone and small camera. It has a Velcro closure, and the magnet ones may cause issues with credit cards. There is also a matching passport cover that goes with it. You don't' have to put a passport in it, It will hold business cards, ID's etc.

This is a new Item that will be added to my shop after I come back from the holiday. It will retail at $35, and come in a variety of prints and patterns. And today IM GIVING IT AWAY!!!!

Ok .. So to Enter..

Leave me a comment. Tell me the worst Christmas gift you ever received. Mine was a hideous pink watch that looked like it came from Hannah Montana..and it was broken.. ummm last year... I'm sure you received something that really just made you think.. Does *add gift givers name here* know me at all?? Tell me all about it!

You can follow me on Twitter, if you already do, you can Tweet this giveaway for an entry
(over on the right there is a twitter update widget, and under recent tweets, it says follow me, Just click it!)

You can follow my blog if you don't already.

Leave a separate comment for each entry, So I can count them up accurately

Also, If your commenting, And this is very important!!! Please leave me your email if you don't have a blogger account.. I need to be able to tell you that you are a WINNER!

Don't forget, The last day to Order any products at Designs by Jessie is the 20th. There is a 30% off Sale going on right now, and All orders this week will be entered to win my fabulous (pat myself on my back) American Jane Quilt.

Gift Giving Love

EDITED

I Havn't forgotten about this, Its not to late! Im going to keep it going until 8 am Thursday Morning. Im having to update from my IPhone.. Gotta Love it!

First off.. The winner from yesterday is Number 49

MIchelle said...
Gorgeous straps! Fave holiday drink is Baileys Irish cream with milk and ice.

December 14, 2009 7:23 PM

Now of course MIchelle did not leave an email, or respond on a blogger account. So Michelle, If your coming back to check Please email me at jessie@designsbyjessie.com So I can get your details and get this in the mail for you.

On to today!

This is a new fabric selection that I have just picked up. Its also a sneak peak of some of the additions I'm going to put in my store come January.

Its a cover for a composition book, you know the ones that are .50 around back to school time? I pick up tons of them as all my kids use them. I use them as Idea books, note books, book keeping, and I keep a special one for the holidays to jot down idea, recipes, addresses and really anything holiday related. I have a scrapbooking one that I can jot down sketches, websites, lists of things I want to buy, and they are slim enough to fit in most purses.

So this giveaway is for One Composition cover, and 2 Camera Strap covers in the same fabric. $45 dollar in value.

oh oh oh ... wait for it.... I will put the name of your choice on it also!

Pretty cool eh?

Ok .. So to Enter..

Comment, Tell me what your secretly hoping Santa is going to bring you for Christmas, Link it up, describe it .. etc.. And How much trouble will "Santa" be in if its not under your tree Christmas morning?

You can follow me on Twitter, if you already do, you can Tweet this giveaway for an entry

(over on the right there is a twitter update widget, and under recent tweets, it says follow me, Just click it!)

You can follow my blog if you don't already.

Leave a separate comment for each entry, So I can count them up accurately

Also, If your commenting, And this is very important!!! Please leave me your email if you don't have a blogger account.. I need to be able to tell you that you are a WINNER!

Several People asked when was the last day to purchase from DesignsbyJessie. I'm Shutting my Shop at Midnight on the 20th. The trickling orders will go out the 21st. There is a 30% Sale going on, and I am usually getting orders out 2 to 3 days after. If you order before the 20th Deadline your order will leave my house no later then the 21st! Don't Forget!! Every purchase at Designs by Jessie will enter you to win my American Jane Quilt

Also, I thought I would leave a little sneak peak at tomorrows giveaway.. Think Travel!

Now I must go think .. Cake Balls, Laundry, and vacuuming... You ladies get better thoughts!

Giveaway Monday

CLOSED! WINNER ANNOUNCED ABOVE!

I decided that before I shut down my shop for the holiday, I would do a week of gift giving. Im always so grateful of every customer that purchases from me. I never would have dreamed a year ago that anyone would want to purchase anything that I made.

All Items that are being given away will also be avalable for purchase after the holidays.

First up is 3 Camera Strap Covers. It's my Black and White Collection. Each strap cover is 21 inches long, minky backed and has a built in lens pocket.

There is 3 ways to Enter..

Leave a comment. Tell me what is your FAVORITE Holiday Drink

Follow me on Twitter

or you can follow me on my blog.

This giveaway is not restricted to the US. I mail to EVERYWHERE!
This giveaway will last until my next post tomorrow Morning, when I will announce the winner and List my Tuesday giveaway!

Also don't forget about my quilt giveaway. You can find that post HERE

Im Giving it Away!

My American Jane Quilt that is.

With the Store shutting down for the holiday, Im also clearing out some inventory, so all next week I will be having some giveaways.

This is a big giveaway and will last until December 20th. There will be some more inbetween. (some camera strap bundles, and other things under the sewing machine)

This American Jane Quilt, was created using a turning 20 pattern and Recess by American Jane by Moda. Its 60" x 68" , and made with 100% cotton. The batting is Premium Warm & Natural. This has been machine quilted, and the binding was hand stitched.

To win this American Jane quilt, I will be taking the Invoice numbers from Designs by Jessie from Today Dec 11th to Dec 20th and randomly drawing a name.

Your purchase has to be more than 5.00.

Im just saying as Im sure there will be someone who would go in and buy 50 lobster claw clips on single purchases.

Purchase is Necessary to win this.

Cake Balls!

I have a pretty big love hate relationship with Cake Balls. These things seem to get more popular every year about Christmas time, and well.. .every year I attempt to make them, and every year they are a failure. So I tried again this year with a few new strategies .. and guess what! They worked!!! whooohoooo. So I put together a little tutorial to help the other cake ball challenged people out there.

All you need Is a boxed cake mix, a can of frosting, some chocolate bark and some perseverance and determination. I also got a jar of Christmas sprinkles, trying to be festive and all that!

Ok. So you make up your cake like normal. Bake it, let it cool but not completely. While its slightly warm start breaking it up and using a fork, or a handy dandy little tool start crumbling it into fine crumbs.
Add one whole can of frosting. As I used red velvet cake, I chose the cream cheese frosting.
Mix it completely until it looks like this. I know not nice. This is where I usually gave up as I thought I messed the whole thing up by this point.

Ok.. so here is the thing.. I went out and bought a fancy dancy little scooper thing because after repeated failures I had already learned rolling these suckers in your hands is messy. And you start to doubt if you had done it correctly. And then you have to wash your hands every 4th one .. blah blah blah.. so I bit the bullet and spent 6 dollars and got this little scooper. Worked like a charm.

See... All even!

Big TIP: Put them in the freezer for 20 min!! It will so help you handle them better during the coating process

Melt up your bark.

Hint: Everywhere says you only need one package of bark, but honestly I think you need 1 and a half.

Thought: Think about this.... If you are dipping red into white what is really going to happen? You should be thinking about these things about now.
Ok, yes I'm a finger girl. busted!

Dip the bottoms of your balls in the chocolate. With chocolate side down put them on some wax paper to cool. Once I filled up the tray I actually put them back in the freezer.

Then grab those little suckers by the bottom and dip the tops. I tried rolling the whole thing around in the chocolate and it just didn't work for me. They ended up with a huge covering of chocolate and looked all lumpy and stuff. While the chocolate is still soft add your sprinkles.
All Pretty and finished up!

Now to be honest, things weren't all hunky Dorey like the pictures may suggest. Although I did make it past the texture issue of past attempts the melted chocolate caused me alot of problems.

If I ever decided to do the red/white combo again I will have to revise a few things. The red cake DOES bleed into the white chocolate and in the end you end up with pink chocolate.

So I would do the bottoms the same, dip and then let dry. but at that point I think I would thin out the chocolate a little bit, place the cake balls on a cooling rack and probably pour the chocolate over them, it would give it a more even look I think, and Prevent the red bleeding issues from dipping.

I'm interested in trying some German Chocolate Cake with some coconut shavings. Or a little bit of triple chocolate that I can add some whiskey to.. The possibilities!

New Items

Being uploaded as we speak! You can find all of these in the Fully Loaded area of the Shop.

Say goodbye to that raw neck - this strap slip cover will be so much more comfortable and unique! This strap slip cover is -removable- and is machine washable! Buy a couple and switch them out!!

It is designed to fit over your SLR or DSLR camera strap. It is 21 inches long and 2 3/4" wide; I have purchased some at 2 1/2 inches and they are hard to get on, so I make mine a little wider. It will fit most standard camera straps.

To enhance durability and prevent slipping, the camera strap cover is lined with fleece interfacing, which also adds some padding for comfort.

This strap also has the most useful accessory you need: the lens pocket!. It is the perfect gift for any photographer, including yourself!

This Strap Cover is backed with Minky Fabric

Minky is an incredibly soft and plush "micro-fiber" fabric. These "melt-in-your-hand" fabric styles are great for baby blankets, baby clothes, pillows, robes -- anything that should be -- or needs to be -- soft!!

Shipping is always FREE! International Included

Getting Back on Track

OMG, we are supposed to have snow today! In Houston! What a topsy turvy world we live in. Hurricanes in the Summer and now snow in the winter!

Correction.. It IS Snowing outside, RIGHT NOW! Now on to the actual post...

The last 6 mos have been crazy, just insanely so. Big plans, and even bigger ideas. Some have panned out, and others not so. Sometimes Big plans and big ideas just stayed that .. ideas. So after careful reflection of this year I'm setting out to make some changes. For Designs by Jessie to be successful, things cant keep going the way they are going. I'm always behind, always struggling to keep up. I'm living in a tornado of chaos and crazy. I miss creating new things, working on new ideas, and designing for the joy of it.

So in saying all of that.... I will be closing my shop on December 18th. It won't be closing for good, but I will be restructuring it, adding new sections and new products, expanding, and decreasing. The virtual doors will reopen on January 15th with a new structure, ready to ship items, and a new line for ...... Well you have to wait until the 15th!

For the next few days I will be adding some ready made, ready to ship items. These are all fully loaded either with minky and a pocket, or just a pocket. Of course all strap covers are padded and Shipping is FREE!

All Products will be shipped out next day until the end of the sale on the 18th.

Thanksgiving is over

And I am just a wee bit sad.

Having family around really drives home the fact that you don't have alot of family near by. As much as the week was chaotic, insane, busy, and a blur.. I can really put it in my list of all time best Thanksgivings ever. As we were together for the first time in a long time we decided we would do some of our Christmas Traditions at Thanksgiving, knowing we wouldn't be together for the next holiday.

In our houses, every Christmas morning we have a Cinnamon dish and champagne. We have done this for years.. It started on way back when we were little and there wasn't anything to eat or drink Christmas morning. I cant remember if our mother was there or not, because lets me honest, some mornings she wasn't there. There were some stale cinnamon roles and a left over bottle of Cold Duck left over from some party or another that our mother went to. We got the bottle open, and that is what we had for our breakfast. The next year, I do believe my mother was home and she asked us what we wanted for breakfast. Ummm the same thing as last year??? Duh! What 8 year old wouldn't want to get tanked on Christmas morning.. and so then It began.. every year since.. This year I made monkey bread, its delish, and great for kids to help with. I personally don't like my kids to help with it, its part of my OCD, but well lots of other people love to cook with their kids. Her kids made a comment as we kept checking the oven...

Hunter: Ummm mom its not done yet

Debbie: Yes it is

Hunter: Ummm no its not, It still looks raw

Debbie: That is because we burn ours every year, it really is only supposed to be Golden not dark brown like we make it at our house!

It was finally time to get to work! We put the Mulled Wine in the crock pot...

My husband took Frank the turkey out of the brine and gave it a bath.. I think there were a few more pictures, but as the photo editor I am allowed to delete the ones that are not pleasing to the eye...

So after 2 bottles of champagne and much wine and beer, the camera was forgotten, and thanksgiving was a BLAST!!

The last day she was there, I remembered that I had wanted to make a soccer tie blanket for her daughter. 3 Stores later on black Friday, I finally found some cute soccer fleece. Of course I didn't photograph it, that would have been .. ummm smart? I also found some great flannel.. so On the very last day I strapped my self to the sewing machine and set out to make a rag quilt for one of my other nieces. Even my sister and her friend Nancy joined in. I never thought I would see the day that my sister would take scissors to fabric.. But I have proof now. And will be using this as leverage!

Just a few more pictures of the kids on the last night

It was a great time, I was sorry to say goodbye. I wish she lived down the road, but that really isn't reality is it?