Thailand trip!

As some of you may know, my husband Ben and brother Mike went on a mission trip to Thailand a few weeks ago. They took some of the youth from our church and helped out an organization called Remember Nhu, more info here. I had a purse party a while back to help fundraise for the trip and through other generous donors, every child and leader had their trip paid for! PTL!

The trip overall was a huge success, totally life changing and wonderful. The stories are still trickling in and plans to go back are being dreamt up. Here are a few pictures from the trip...enjoy! And thank you to everyone who support Ben and Mike!

four years of fun

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MY LOVE!!!

I had to yell because he is in Thailand. If you can hear this....

YOU ROCK MY WORLD!!!

Woah, we look so young!!

r.i.p. forest andrews

It's been awhile since I last posted because tragically our friend, Forest Andrews was killed in a longboarding accident Friday, June 10th, the day of his high school graduation.

We've been very sad and somber, his death has rocked our community, especially our youth group. Forest was highly active in our church and youth group and was planning on going on the Thailand mission trip (which they flew out today). He was nothing but a joy to be with, always smiling and positive as well as a talented artist and skateboarder.

It's robbery that Forest passed at such a young age but we have hope in our grief. God has brought a lot of good out of this horrible situation. Time is healing everyone's wounds. Our prayers go out to the Andrew's family, we love you guys!!

Please check out this amazing song "You make beautiful things" by the band Gungor. They played it at Forest's celebration of life last Saturday.

inspirational thursday!

I've linked up with Gussy Sews and have decided to participate in her inspirational workshop every Thursday. It's a community of creative bloggers that blog every Thursday about their inspiration in a topic that Gussy chooses. I thought it would be a fun exercise and opportunity to connect with other creative bloggers. It will also help to encourage me to blog because right now, my life is a bit crazy and unfortunately I have no time to sew. 

This week's prompt is kitchens. Because of summer and the abunance of fruit in my town, I decided to blog about smoothies, YUMMY! Growing up, my family would make smoothies as afternoon snack on hot summer days. I loved them! Below I've listed a few of my favorites that I found and are going to try this summer. A mix of healthy and fun, all the while being unique.

Spinage, kale + pear smoothie by With Style and Grace

Healthy cake-batter milkshake by Chocolate Covered Kate

Banana blueberry flax almond smoothie by Eden Kitchen

Almond butter banana smoothie by Healthy Happy Life

china trip

I went to China a few weeks ago on business and had a blast! Here are a few pictures I wanted to share.

{From here}

market rice bags photo shoot

I thought it would be fun to share what goes on behind the scene here at roma during a photo shoot (yes, all of that mess!). About a month ago I did a photo shoot for my Market Rice bag. For my day job, I'm in charge of the product photo shoots so it was fun to use some tricks that I learned. Overall I think the shots turned out great, the two below are my favorite.

purse party pictures

I thought I would share some pictures from the purse party last month. It was such a fun event. Not only were there a ton of roma items to choose from but there was also a delicious array of tasted treats and wine donated from a local winery. Thank you to everyone who came out and supported me and the mission trip to Thailand!

This last picture is of my sister Rachel (on the right) and her friend Jamie (on the left). They are currently living the life, snowboarding everyday (well almost everyday). Don't you love their goggle tans!

ahnu women's shoe line

Not sure if you know this, but I have my Industrial Design degree. I used to do freelance and this is a project I did for Ahnu shoes for thier women's Summer 2010 line. I worked with the design firm, Modaliti, in Salt Lake City on design concepts. It was a great project, I enjoyed working with the team and love designing shoes. A few months ago I finally scanned in my sketches for my personal records and that I thought I would share them with you all. What do you think?

new material!

I found some more fun material this past weekend. A lace table cloth, floral sheet (which I'm debating on keeping for my bed), a geometric pastel curtain and a bunch of web, leather belts. I'm feeling rejuvenated with the Spring sun and I'm excited to start sewing again!

new clutch design

I need your advice on this clutch design above.

What do you think? It measures 10" wide by 11" tall. I envisioned it could be used as a larger zippered pouch, great for your littler things when traveling. Or use it as a clutch and fold it over when you are carrying it.

Your thoughts? Should I make more? Do you like the lace? I'm seeing it trending everywhere but you would buy it?

Thanks!

{ thankful thursdays }

Finally...it's warm and sunny!

YAHOO!!!

The tulips and cherry trees are blooming
My garden is starting to grow
It's light till 8:30pm
Backyard BBQing is just around the corner
and
The sun is out and is warm against my skin.

I love Spring!

old business cards?

What to do with my old business cards (I still have 200ish left and can't just throw them away!)? Cut off the bottom and stamp on new info!

{ from here }

{ thankful thursdays }

I just want to say a big

THANK YOU!

to everyone who came to the purse party last night.

Your support and kind words mean the world to me.

Over $400 was raised to be donated towards the youth Thailand mission trip.

Thank you so much!!!

To everyone who loved the black bag with red handle (picture above), I'm dreaming up some ideas for more bags and clutches similar to that.

I'll also be designing a large bag collection (diaper and laptop bags), as well as more wrap clutches.

But first, I'm going to take a well needed break. The laundry needs to be done, my bike needs to be ridden and my husband needs some love.

:O)

Thanks again for the fantastic evening last night. I feel very blessed by all of you!

PURSE PARTY {sneak peak}

It's on!

Bags, clutches and coin purses are made.

Wine and chocolate is bought.

Purse party tonight!

Here's a few pictures of some of the goods.