Sorry!!!!!!!!!!

So sorry I haven't blogged in FOREVER!!!

So what is it that's got me sooo busy? Well currently I'm still watching two children, along with my own, during the day and I am also job searching.  Another thing I Jessica Maus went BLONDE!!! Yes for the first time EVER in my life I went blonde! For no apparent reason, just spur of the uh, moment? I also got my hair cut again even shorter from Salon Seva my stylist's name was Kelsey (sp?) and I LOVE HER!!! I am thinking of doing a "tutorial" to show my personal experience and process of going blonde if I can get the pics off my Blackberry, that Mikinlee broke, onto my computer.  That's another thing! I have decided to move up in the world and purchase my first Apple product. As of this coming Sunday I will be the proud new owner of and Apple iPhone 4S!!!!!!!!!!! Yay!! For now I'm stuck with Jeremy's old phone the Instinct which I think is a dinosaur compared to my Blackberry.  It's gotta be one of the very first touch screen phones there ever was lol. Any who I'm thinking of having a giveaway for Christmas.  Any thoughts? Well I best be going now these crazy kids are running wild around my house lol! Tata for now!!

The New ME!

So out of a wild whim, thanks to Pintrest and this lovely picture I stumbled across:

I decided with great caution, to cut off my hair and donate it to Locks of Love .  

Here is a picture of the before:

And here is what I took off:

And here is before I, being the picky stubborn person that I am, I took a scissors to my hair:

And here is after I colored and cut it myself!

I love it! Hope you do too! I'll try and revamp my blog also since it's been quite some time since I posted last! I've been consumed by the classic housewife motto, Gym, Cook, Kids instead of the GTL.

The Truth About Cloth Part 1

So for months now everyone has been asking me, why cloth? Most of the time my answer is, I don’t know, because it’s good for the environment?  Then they automatically think that cloth diapers are just rags put on the bottom, held together with pins.
These days cloth diapers are just as advanced as the computer your reading this on.  Believe it or not there’s more the five types of diapers to pick from.  There are the classic ones that everyone is familiar with their grandparents used which are prefolds (the burp rag looking ones) that are held together with either a snappi or pins picture below.



^Snappi ^



^Diaper pins^

Then there are the All in Ones (AIO) that are the closest to a disposable as you can get.  They work just like a disposable except instead of tossing them in the garbage you toss them in the diaper pail.


Then there is the All in Two (AI2) which is similar to the AIO but has a removable liner that cuts drying time in half.



Then there is the fitted cloth diapers that have two different pieces the shell and the outer cover.



There are many different types of cloth and they all come in different sizes to meet your needs.  My personal favorite is the one size pocket diapers. They fit newborns all the way up to potty training, unless you have a larger baby then it may not fit all the way to potty training.  I use Sunbaby 2.0 and 4.0 cloth diapers and have had good luck with them.  My daughter, Mikinlee is almost one and still wearing them.

Now lets debunk some myths about cloth diapering:
Cloth Diapering is more expensive? Well actually, cloth diapers are cheaper in the long run.  Granted the start up cost, depending on which ones you choose, can be costly but these days $200 worth of cloth diapers can get you all the way up to potty training.  Where as with disposables will cost you upwards to $2000 through your diapering years.  As for the water and electric bill used to wash the diapers, it honestly is much of an increase.
The laundering is time consuming?  Its just an extra load of laundry every three days.  After about two weeks the routine sets in, this is coming from someone who HATES laundry with a passion.  It’s simple.
Cloth diapers cause diaper rash? Actually recent studies have proved the opposite.  Diaper rash can be caused by many factors, not just wet skin.  Because disposables feel dry even after many times of being urinated in, they are usually changed less often, therefore leading to more rashes.
Cloth diapers are hard to change?  Nope honestly they are just as fast, with options like snappis, snaps or Velcro, they are easy peasy and with the snaps they are much harder for babies to remove! Just ask Jeremy about changing a cloth diaper, he dose it all the time now!
Cloth diapers smell? Well what’s the difference between putting  disposables in the garbage than putting cloth diapers into a wet pail? If maintained properly, cloth diapers don’t smell.  I have a garbage can that I use as my diaper pail.  There is nothing but a pail liner in it and no it doesn’t need anything added to it.  I just toss the dirtys in and spinkle with some baking soda if needed.  They usually don’t smell.
You have to clean them in the toilet? Actually only solid poops have to be dumped into the toilet which to me is quite easy.  They roll right off into the toilet and then go straight into the diaper pail.
Okay got crying babies gotta run! I’ll add more later!

Sun Suit!

Here is my latest creation. It is available for custom orders on my Facebook and soon my Etsy! Hope you like it as much as we do!!

HEAT WAVEEEEEEE YIKES!!!

So since Friday we have been under an extreme heat advisory in NORTH DAKOTA! It's been in the 90's for a few days and it's hopefully only going to last till tomorrow. We've been to the pool to keep cool but man my motivation to get things done for the Farmer's Market is dwindled to near nothing.  Hopefully after a strong cup of coffee today and some breakfast I can try and get my newest products (bandanna dresses) finished and up for previews!  I can't wait and I hope that everyone loves them as much as I do. They are supposed to fit 4-6 as a shirt and 12 months to 4 years as a dress so they would be great for any age! Also I got the cutest bandannas you wouldn't even know that they were bandannas! I wish Mikinlee were a little bit bigger so that they could fit her but she's pretty petite so I don't see these fitting til maybe next summer.  Just a reminder to my 8 followers (I think I'm at 8) I am having a giveaway on my birthday August 1st!! So come check out my blog then and enter!! Can't wait I will be turning 23! What a milestone!! I am also going to try and work on the layout of my blog so bare with me as I make some changes! Thanks for reading my randomness!

Much Love!

Jess

The Dreaded Muumuu!!!!

Ok so I finally got up the courage to work on the MuuMuu (sp?). It's by far the most feared dress of all nine that I bought. I tried using color remover to remove some of the color before I tried to dye it black and neither worked very well but I kinda like the end result of the black dye. It's slowly growing on me. After that I chopped and stitched and came up with the end result which was inspired by this gorgeous red skirt from ModCloth!

 

Here is the Before:

And here is the after!

I've also been uber, uber busy with the Farmer's Market downtown every Saturday from 8:30am-2pm. I've done relatively well. Here are some pics of my booth and my little lady who is, by the way, crawling everywhere now! I'll also try and upload the video of her moving lol!

Oh yeah sorry to make this so long but I'm in love with the sun hats I made for the Farmer's Market and for my Etsy shop!

Tattoos and Summer Dresses

Sooo I'm back again, sorry it's been so long. I've been uber busy getting things ready for the Farmer's Market downtown that starts on the 18th of June! Anywho my two new tattoos finally healed so here are pictures of them. The first one is my mom's signature, people ask why get that? Well, when I was little I used to always try and forge my mom's signature in my planner at school because I was the one kid who had to have it signed every day, which to no surprise I never did and always forgot. So its just something that I thought I'd do to humor my mom who LOVED it! Mind you it was so far the most painful tattoo and the smallest! The second on is of my first camera I ever got. I am really into photography believe it or not! It was my grandpa's camera and I use it still its a Nikon FE. I love it sooo much! Ok here's the pictures of them!

My tattoos were done by Justin Zaun of Independent Ink in Fargo, ND! Check him out! He's amazing and does amazing work.

Ok now I also refashioned another one of the dresses a bought a while back. I was inspired by this adorable dress on http://www.modcloth.com/ I love this site in general and get alot of my ispiration from it!

Here is the dress that inspired it:

Here is my interpretation of the dress:

Before:

And After:

Thank You!!

Thank you to everyone that entered my Giveaway! My winners have been selected. Thanks again have a fabulous day! Don't forget to check out my Etsy Store http://www.jmaus88.etsy.com/ and 'like' me on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Mikinlee-and-Me-Boutique/186541941389327 oh yeah I love followers!!

Giveaway Day Monday!!!

So Monday is the first day of Giveaway Day and I will be able to start taking entries for the Giveaway. Now to be entered into my Giveaway you have to simply comment on THIS thread. Now you may ask, "What is it, Jessica, that you are giving away?". Well after much thought I compiled a few bows to pick from:

Okay you pick one of these bow sets. Daisies are 4in and the 2 bow sets are 2.5 inches about and the Korker bows are 3in.

Okay I'm adding a few more to sweeten the deal!

The three bottom ones are bow holder!

Also one lucky winner will be able to recieve $4 off a custom order. Entries can be entered until May 25th at noon!

Here is a link back to the Giveaway Day from Sew Mama Sew: http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/

Also check out my Facebook page, I will be having a giveaway there the week of June 1st! http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Mikinlee-and-Me-Boutique/186541941389327

and also feel free to Follow my blog, I will be having giveaways this summer and one big giveaway on my birthday!

Giveaway Day!!

On Monday May 23rd, Sew Mama Sew will be hosting a May Giveaway Day with a list of blogs that are giving away something to a lucky winner. I of course will be participating but would like to keep it a secret kinda of what I am giving away till that day! So come check back on Monday!!

Summer Clothing for the Little Lady!

So all day almost yesterday, I sewed, and sewed, and sewed to finish most of Mikinlees summer wardrobe. Here are the pics we took out back at Bre's apartment.  The grass was soo nice there I can't wait to take more pictures of her there!!
Oh and I used this tut for the sun suits! http://www.made-by-rae.com/2010/06/baby-sunsuit-tutorial.html

I made some shortalls but shes to short for them lol and a one shoulder dress is still in progress. Mikinlee got antsy when I was working on the bloomers for it.

Dresses of a Lifetime!!!!

So today my friend Bre and I decided after a trip to Mi Mexico for some of our favorite fajitas, and a double take through the parking lot of Starbucks looking for their drive through, that we should go garage saleing! The first few we found were ok but some were over priced, but I did pick up a few books for little miss.  Mikinlee seems to have a huge fear of Bre's car and cried the whole time so after the first three we decided to take her home and drop her off for some daddy time.  Well as soon as I get there and tell Jeremy she won't stop crying and I was leaving her there for a bit, I go grab her and magically, since she knew she was going with daddy, she did what she always does for him and fell right to sleep. Hmm... maybe I should mention daddy more often and see if she goes to sleep?! Ok, ok back to garage saling so we go to a few more and try to follow a lady in a little red prius who was trying to out run us to find the best garage sales but she out witted us or followed a house for sale sign and we ditched her.  So onwards we got to byfar my favorite garage sale to date and let me tell you I Jessica Lee Maus found the MOTHER of all refashionable dresses!! Jeremy saw them and said they were absolutely hideous and couldn't believe I came home with 9 yes 9 dresses!!! He just doesn't understand my passion to refashion! I couldn't wait to get my hands on them! I of course had to take before pics and here they are! Be prepared these are diamonds in the rough and boy some are very rough!!!! Also to add I only spent $9.00!!!

And of course tonight I had to refashion one because I just couldn't wait! Here it is!!

Before

After front

after back!!