Mary, Mary quite contray.....................

How does your garden grow? Here's a few photos from what's growing in my garden this year. I thought I would share the bright, beautiful, vivid colors this Monday. The Flower box right now that my children planted seems to be much more eye catching then our other garden boxes. Our leaf lettuce is taking off and the zucchini is starting to produce more than we can keep up with! LOL!!! We can't wait for the cucumbers to start coming on and this fall we will really enjoy the mini pumpkins scattered around the house adding to the seasonal decor. If you look closely enough you'll even catch the bee in the flowers. Enjoy your Monday.

YCMT - LIVE!!!!

Exciting news for the do it yourself type today! The popular website YouCanMakeThis.com has just launched their new look and LOTS of new features too!!!

Kim, the owner of the site, is such an amazing woman. I had the pleasure of
meeting her at the Boutiquecafe Girls Getaway in April. She is a woman with a vision, very talented and just the sweetest woman you could ever want to me! She even made me a "queen of chat" pillow as a thank you gift for the getaway weekend - which you can make your own name pillow by searching for ebook on her site! Kim has even set up a video TOUR of how to navigate the new site and also highlights some great new features! And if you hadn't heard yet - YCMT TV is coming soon as well! Very exciting for Kim and I couldn't be happier for her!

I was checking out the newly re-designed site this morning when I spotted a
fun picture in the "I made this" section. A place for ebook customers to share their creations/testimonials from the ebooks they have purchased and I spotted a pair of jeans made from my "decoupage jeans ebook" Here is what she had to say about buying my ebook: "I followed Creative Outlet's ebook, and I'm just thrilled with how they came out! The doll is only 16" tall, so the jeans are less that a foot! Even on such a tiny scale, Megan's techniques and tips worked perfectly".- Carla C.

I was thrilled when I saw her photo and was able to see how Darling the jeans turned out on such a small scale! Great job Carla!!!! Now if my daughter sees that she'll be wanting some for her 3 ft doll as well! LOL!!!

Hurry on over to the new YoucanMakeThis Site today and you can also visit their BLOG where they are giving out some prizes as well!

Gathering on the Ranch

4 days on the mountain does a family good. We attended a family reunion on my husbands side recently and got to play with and love on almost 90 relatives for 4 days. My assignment for the week was to be the "photographer." I had to captured at least one family shot of each family that attended and then capture some of the moments from all the activities during the week. It was a bigger job than I thought it would be. I created a collage of some snapshots of my family and few I managed I actually be in front of the camera. The one in the upper left corner is what I pretty much looked like the whole reunion - behind the lens. (wink) I also got to ride a horse for the very first time. Very fun for me - just call me city slicker! LOL!!! All in all a very good time.Here's a few more artistic shots I was able to capture this week as well taking in our surroundings and activities.






And just because you are in the mountains doesn't mean you can't still be fashionable while cooking right? One of my Husbands Aunt's received this Cherry Hostess apron I created as a gift for helping out with some other activities and prizes during the week. Isn't she so cute! She has a barbie like figure and looked so chic while getting the food ready!

Back into the swing of things!

Yeah! I'm back to my "real life" and already back in the the swing of things. I have a lots of laundry to do, emails and snail mail to go through - but that's typical! LOL!!!

The family reunion was fun and I got to go horseback riding for the first time. My husband has all the photos on his laptop as we emptied the 2 memory cards we had for the cameras at the end of each night to make sure we had room for the next days snapshots. We have SOOOOOO many pictures! LOL!!! So I'll share some photos possibly soon - if you want to see any.

But like I said - back to work for me! For those that don't know, outside of being a mommy and designing I also work at Boutiquecafe - a "podcast for fashion savvy mommies and so much more." I am now helping out with the podcasts more and have been given the new assignment of reporting the Boutique news!
It's fun to announce new ebay group launches, the launch of a new site or great sale or fun crafting event. If you have boutique news you would like to share with ALL of the listeners on Boutiquecafe - send me an email to - megan@boutiquecafe.com. We will try our best to get it included in that segment for you.

I also search out fabulous accessories and fashionable wardrobe pieces for the "BC finds" section. Daria - the host and owner - and I post amazing shoes, jewerly, outfits, aprons, etc for children and adults that we find on ebay and etsy. You can find something new, fun and fresh everyday in the BC finds! and hey, if you come across something great that you think deserves a bit of extra exposure send it my way - we just might feature it on the site!

OH Ty!!!??!!! come out come out wherever you are!

We just heard last night that Extreme Makeover Home Edition was doing a house in a nearby town just 30mins away. I guess that's what you get for not watching the news! I am sure everyone else already knew! ;) Anyway, not being able to pass up the chance to see it all in action and possibly catch a glimpse of any of the designers or the famous Ty Pennington we headed out in the 100 degree weather for a once in a life time opportunity!

They don't let anyone near the area where they are working so they bused everyone in from the local high school. We can't park and walk - they won't let you - so you just patiently wait in the line to get on the bus. It's quite an undertaking. I mean, we all know demolishing a house and re-building one in 7 days is AMAZING but to be on site and see it all and how much equipment, tents, PEOPLE, cars, trailers, etc around and how much progress they make from day to day - it really is quite an undertaking!

Unfortunately we didn't get to see of the designers from the show and I heard through the grapevine the TY wasn't even there today - he was in Oregon retaping something. So who knows! Still amazing to be there and see all the volunteers and hear the family's story. They handed out cold water and t-shirts to the crowd now and then and made announcements about accomplishments that crew had made. They will have the house up and roof on by tonight. Amazing! Sadly, we will be out of town when the BIG "MOVE THAT BUS!" day happens so I guess we will wait for the show to air to really get to see the house and the family.

And as I mentioned above we are heading out of town for a few days so I thought I would leave you with a few new goodies to look at that I have been working on. The first one is a NEW apron pattern I created done in the Chocolate Lollipop Fabric and the second one was a custom order so if she's looking she'll get a sneak peek of how it turned out before it arrives to her in the mail. Enjoy your weekend! See you next week!

My hat goes off to you

Ok! I get it. I knew photography was work - I mean isn't any job we do??? right? and I've done photoshoots of my own kids and/or outfits before BUT this was a whole new experience. A neighbor called me earlier this week and asked if I could take pictures of her kids and their cousins, 6 children in all, for them. I literally laughed out loud on the phone to her! LOL!!! They really wanted to try not going to a studio and they thought having someone different than their own mothers telling the kids to smile might help. So...............I agreed. I figured it would be good experience and I wanted to help her out as well.

Besides a thunderstorm rolling in, a brief but heavy downpour, air very thick and hot we could almost bottle it up, a 18month old that did NOT want to let go of his mother and 3 boys that wanted to look everywhere BUT at the camera - it was fine! LOL!!! They really were good and we all - meaning me, 3 mothers and a grandmother - did out best to rally them together as long as we could.

All in all the photoshoot was a lot of work and I left with a new appreciation for all you talented men and women who do this for a living, (Susan, Carrie, Nikki, Melissa and others) and made a note to self not to wear my favorite khaki color slacks again when shooting outside - never know when you have to kneel down on wet grass or practically lay on your stomach to "get the shot." *sigh* There's so much left for me to learn! But grateful that she asked me and I *hope* I helped them out and gave them some shots they all will like. I think I will stick to shooting for friends and family for now. Here's a few of my favorites to share with you

Inquiring minds....................

LOL!!! I've had many requests to post picture of my new "DO". If I posted pictures everytime I redid my hair that's all my blog would be about! *snicker* Plus in about 4 weeks the color will be redone and the cut will get "shaped" up again. So basically my hair is always changing and I'm always playing around with my hairstyles - sleek, curly, wavy, teased, swept to the other side, flipped out, etc. It's like it's own chameleon! LOL!!
This time I had my hairstylist take off everything from behind my ears and stack it up. I love layers! We left some pieces long in the front and I have just enough of my blond highlights left that it really showcases all the choppy layers and how fun the cut really is. So no more "up-dos" for me for while. It's about as up as it can get it and as short as I've ever had it. So all you inquiring minds who wanted to see - I hope it was worth it. ;)

Say what???

I get a big kick out of some of the search terms people use that bring them to my blog. LOL!!! Some are quite hilarious. Take for example this one - "Daria's high heeled pictures." Not sure who or what they were looking for but it brought a few hits to my blog. Don't think they found what they really wanted though - wink. I've gotten several hits from people searching for haircut pictures like - "rockstar haircut, short hairdos", etc. And on that note - I've cut my hair yet AGAIN! Yes I love to change it up every 4-6 weeks. Different style, cut, color, etc. So I will have more pictures to share after I take a few days to play around with it and that will probably just bring a few more hits from "odd" hairstyle search terms.


anyone thinking Halloween? I have spotted a halloween resell of mine. An adorable appliqued denim jumper. The auction ends in a few days so you'll have to be quick on this one! Click HERE to see the auction.

Wordless Wednesday - SMILE!

to see more Wordless Wednesday pictures click HERE and HERE

SPC - Elements wk 2 - Earth

Sunday afternoons are always good for walking with the family around here. This time I got my daughter in the on the Self Portrait Challenge for this month. She sure enjoyed snapping lots of shots with me as we strolled around the grain field and played outside that day.

UpTIGHT: Fashion forward Friday

It's time to show off your up-DO'S for summer! Amelia has issued her latest FFF challenge on show #64 podcast on Boutiquecafe.com. She wants to see your chic ponytails and fashionable "UP tight" hairdos PLUS your favorite hair accessory finds on ETSY!



Here's one of my "UP DO'S". I have a few ways I pull back my short hair. I like to leave it pretty free and "messy" sort of when I do though.

and of course, I had LOTS of fun searching around etsy for some great accessories. *sigh* Oh so many to choose from. A person can get lost in there if they are not careful. LOL!!! The first one that caught my eye was this pink "sprite whispers" little number by Mikiye. I could definately see that tucked into hair this summer. She also has a funky off-beat piece called "Miss Frisky" which I like too. RRRRrrrrr!

I use bobby pins all the time to pull my hair back so I naturally gravitated towards a few unique sets of Pins like this one from foundling. Not sure which I like better? The actual poppy pins or the artistic photos! The initial hairpins photos by DaisyChains popped off the page with their bright striking colors. SO cute for kids and back to school don't you think?

One thing that they all have in common besides being unique - which I love - is they all have been photographed well and that intices me - the buyer - even more! LOL!!! A little twist on creativity or a well taken photograph that evokes a mood makes me like the accessory even more. Kuddos to all the designers of these beautiful items!

Friday Freebies!

Friday is a great day anyway - the end of the week and the start of the weekend. Everyone seems to get in "party" mode, eating out, movies, etc. BUT to make Friday's even better a couple of sites I know have Friday giveaways!!!! SO - if you are itching for some free digital scrapbook images check out Digital Freebies every Friday. They do a weekly Freebie on Fridays!

OR if you are in the mood for FABRIC the Sew Mama Sew blog has Free Fabric Friday! They take all the comments posted over the weekend and draw for some fabulous free fabric the following Monday! Be sure to throw your hat in the ring to win some of that!

and one last reminder (yes I promise) that my BLOG SALE ends today at midnight! You last chance to snatch up a pair of Women's Shaggy Mosaic Jeans for only $135.00 - Check out the sale post for more details!

Do you know of any more Fun Friday giveaways???? post in the comments so we can all rush over to check them out!

Cover GIRL!

Well not me, but probably the closest I will ever come to being on the cover of anything! ;) The latest edition of Atlanta Baby and Kids Magazine is sporting the cute MADI modeling my Minnie Mosaic Outfit. There are nine ads in the magazine that feature other photos of Madi in the outfit as well. Thanks to Carrie - the photographer - and Lisa for sending me an extra copy! and thanks to you for indulging my little "cover girl" moment.

Wordless Wednesday - Impressions

For more Wordless Wednesday posts click HERE and HERE.

SPC - Elements - water

Where did June go? It came and went so quickly and I can't believe it's already July! The HOT summer weather has definately arrived which requires lots of water to keep cool. The theme for this months Self Portrait Challenge is to capture yourself in the elements - water, air, fire and earth. This is a shot of me kicking around in the pool and drinking up summertime.


don't forget about my 4 day sale! It Ends FRIDAY!


Also - I've spotted a RE-SELL! Snatch up my most popular woman's design combo - autumn belle. You can check out the auction here!

4 day SALE!!!! women's SHAGGY Mosaic JEANS!

I'm having a sale over the next 4 days! Grab a pair of Women's Shaggy Mosaic jeans or capris for only $135.00!!! that's a $15.00 savings! I have the following 3 design/fabric combinations avaiable! Don't limit yourself either - I can do full length jeans for fall and winter or capris NOW for summer!

Option 1: Belle

Option 2: Pink Lotus
Option 3: Red Lotus

Details: Email me at info at creativeoutletdesigns.com

Tell me which option you want and send me your paypal address as well. I will send you an invoice plus return shipping. The invoice needs to be paid within 5 days.

**YOU supply the jeans or capris to me - that way we know they are a perfect fit! they can be new or well worn! PLEASE send the jeans to me within 7 days of payment.**

Once I recieve your payment and your jeans please allow 2 weeks to create before shipping back to you!

That's it! Easy peasy for some super FAB jeans for you! ;) So act quickly - I'm only taking a limited amount of orders!

***SALE price ENDS Friday night***

My "Short" Story

"who wears short shorts?" da da DA da da. - I took on the FFF (Fashion Forward Friday) challenge from the BoutiqueCAFE show #62 podcast - To post pictures of your favorite shorts or capri and shoes. Sort of a what are you wearing this summer that flatters you? I'm a bit slow to get this challenge completed but better late than never! it's to fun NOT to participate! I took pictures of 2 of my favorites pairs of capris and fun shoes to match. The first is a pair I don't wear often but just love! can you tell why????

I didn't really get my shoes in the shot but you can see they are wedge sandal and make me VERY tall. Or should I say they make me extra TALL which is something I don't really need but I love to wear shoes with a bit of a heel to them.

The second pair is a dark chocolate brown pair with white stitching. I just love the POP the white stitching gives to them. The pockets really showcase the white stitching. I paired these up with some fun heeled shoes as well! Strappy for summer and feminine with that heel. Plus the brown capris can really be dressed up and or down so easily. I love versatility in my wardrobe.

There are lots of other ladies who took on the challenge and blogged their "short" stories as well! take a peek here for more links!