Girlish Garb & Yarn Balls

I can't remember where I saw these but I made them for christmas and they were so cute that I left them hanging around! They're basically styrofoam balls with yarn wrapped around (2 colors to add some dimension). And then I stuck a christmas hook in them and hung'm up! 


















And here's an outfit I wore a couple of days ago to work. It feels so nice to work again. And for some exciting news!!! I got a custom domain for my new store front: samwishstore.com . I feel so legit now, I just need to make some new business cards and I'll be set! I love, love, love where my store is now. It's all falling into place and becoming so awesome. Yay (: 





Outfit Details: Blouse-Thrifted Skirt-Urban Outfitters (on sale, of course) Leggings- I believe I got them at a clothes swap (Leah???)



My week has been... well let's just say I've had my share of ups and downs. I'm in the middle of doing Sunday homework and chores so I'll have to write a post about it tomorrow. And it might be a long one so stay tuned! 

Smasssssh

This dance is amazing. Seriously the best dance I've seen in a really long time. 


I loove Imogen Heap. And I wish I were in that good of shape. Hello abs! Anyways, today has been really good so far. I got to work and was super productive. I did a photoshoot for some new things that will be in the shop soon and I'm very excited about it! It's like cute retro vintage meets boho hippy. I might even make a lookbook? We'll see. 
Also, I was featured on Beauty Riot again today! Visit this link to check it out: http://www.beautyriot.com/fashion/real-girls-wear-my-favorite-shoes-g9951-page7

Girlish Garb: New Hair!

This is going to be a short little post. I've been busy lately crafting up a storm! Oh, and I also died my hair and cut my bangs. Have a looksy! 



I couldn't decide between the two photoshop actions so I did them both! 




see the lookbook version here. 
Today (and by today I do mean the last couple of hours) have been kind of emotional. I'm usually very good at keeping a positive attitude but that usually comes with pushing all my negative thoughts/feelings to the back of my mind until they explode. And they exploded. But instead of just forgetting about it again and moving on (until the next time of course), I'm going to deal with it. It's scary and real and hard. I don't like doing these things because I'd rather just move on and do things productive but I realize that I need to confront my emotions for things to work out. Gahhh. Such is life, right? 
So that's where I'm at.... just venting a little. Hope you don't mind. 

Our Christmas Eve Dinner

Since this was our first Christmas Eve dinner we kind of went the traditional route. I really wanted to make ham because I haven't had a good ham in years so that's what we did! Then we made some good ol' sweet potato casserole and green beans. Here's what we did: 
Honey Glazed Ham 3-4 pounds ham Glaze: 3/4 cup brown sugar 1 tbs balsamic or cider vinegar 1/3 cup honey 1/2 teaspoon ground mustard 
I bought a larger ham and cut it in half which would make it about 3 to 4 pounds. Bake according to directions (I baked mine at 325 degrees for about an hour). I mixed the glaze ingredients and applied them about 20 minutes before it was done.  

Sweet Potato Casserole

1 yam 1-2 tbs butter 1/2 cup brown sugar 1-2 cups marshmallows 
Peel and cut up yam into 1" pieces. Boil for about 15 minutes (or until tender). Drain and mash up. Mix in butter and brown sugar. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. Last 5 minutes, cover it with marshmallows. 

Parmesan Green Beans

1 1/2 cups fresh green beans (ends cut off) 1 tablespoon butter 1 clove of garlic (minced)A couple tablespoons of grated parmesan 
Blanch green beans for about 3 minutes, drain and rinse with cold water. In a pan, melt butter and saute garlic for 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently. Pour garlic and butter over beans and mix. Sprinkle with parmesan. 




Everything turned out soo good. It was a great first Christmas eve. 

New Website/Store

As I told you guys yesterday, I have a new storefront! It's really awesome and I thought I would share a few things about my store. Here's what my home page looks like: 

I love it, I designed a new logo and re-wrote all my policies, about stuff, etc. I opened this website about 5 days ago and am just head over heels. I love that I can customize it to make it my own while still having my Etsy store. 
And, I don't know if you guys have been to "The Store" Tab up there ^^^ but I recently sat down and wrote out my story of how it all started! And here it is: 
I opened Sam Wish the beginning of 2010. When I had Eliza (July 2009), I was lucky enough to stay home with her all the time. But after a while, I started to get cabin fever from being at home 24/7. So a I turned to the internet as an outlet and discovered Etsy! That was like my hallelujah! moment that pretty much changed my life. So I created a store and named it Sam Wish. Sam, for my first name and Wish, from my last name (Wishlinski). It's been a nickname of mine my whole life so when I needed a name for my store, it was an automatic choice.
Anyways, I started small with upcycling some t-shirts and just practiced my sewing. I also made a "pregnancy journal" and some stuffed animals that were a flop. I made all kinds of really bad things before I found vintage. I started selling vintage and would reconstruct things here and there as a way of modernizing some of the clothes. Before I knew it, I had a full on business! I added shoes, purses, and jewelry to the mix (all vintage of course).
Then, I switched over to Big Cartel for a bit and even started a handmade jewelry line! But Big Cartel didn't really work out, I didn't have the audience that Etsy did. So, Sam Wish went back to Etsy only to find that they had their new relevency strategy in place! The whole recently listed strategy was the main reason I had left in the first place so it was perfect.
My shop really thrived from then on. I opened a second store to separate my handmade and vintage goods around August 2011. After that, I started to sell a few house wares as well. And I just recently moved everything back to a single shop and opened up my new store front! (it's really cool, you can check it out here) And that's that! It's been a long (and rough) journey but I wouldn't trade it for the world! I love doing what I do and hopefully I can keep it up and just improve from here (:
I don't usually share a lot about my store but this was really important to me. I'm so so soo excited to have my computer back and finally get 2012 started! 
Anyways, how has your weekend been? Mine has been.... strange? Do you ever feel like you are having an out of body experience? Like you're just sitting back and watching things happen but you're not really there? That's kind of how it's been. Just weird, I think I should work on getting more sleep.... haaaa. Well hope you guys are having a good one. 

Christmas!

Here are some pictures from our Christmas morning! It was our first real christmas as a family in our own home so it was pretty special! We had a great breakfast that Brandon made for us and then opened our presents before we had to hit the road and visit all of our parents. Anywho, here they are!













































Tonight, we're going to Pappadeaux (my favorite restaurant ever) and then to see a play! I can't remember if I told you guys but I closed my second store so that I could just combine the two! And my special surprise is that I opened a new storefront!!! Here's a link for you to check it out, tell me what you think. It's integrated with Etsy so I still have my store there but I have a little website that I can customize and show off my stuff! And then when people check out, it takes them right back to Etsy. Pretty cool, huh? If you have an Etsy store, you should definitely check this out: CraftLaunch. Well, I'm off to enjoy my weekend. 

Friday! Friday! Friday, ooooooooh!