Why I have been MIA from Blogland...

I am so sorry that I haven't come back here in so long. And I apologize for not doing the business card giveaway yet. I honestly forgot because of some very sudden personal issues. I really don't think I am ready to talk about it yet, but when I am I will let you know on my personal blog. It seems this year I have had my share of bad luck if that is what you call it and it feels like every time I am in the groove and moving along something happens to stop me dead my tracks. I wonder sometimes if I had an employer to answer to how long it would have taken to be fired. Probably not long this year. I assure you though that in the past I have lasted much longer without nearly such a bad run as this year has been. I guess I could just say it's been a rough year and maybe it will be better in the new year. Here's hoping and praying. I know you don't know what is going on right now, but I appreciate your prayers if you are so inclined. I can use all the help I can get right now. Thank you friends!

Halloween Listing!

I finally have a new listing up! This Halloween set is a custom and currently listed on Ebay. Click on the photo to visit the auction. Thanks for checking it out!

Uggg!!!!

I totally forgot to draw the winner for the business cards because I haven't had much online time since the contest ended. Normally I am on this thing all day and part of the night working between chasing kiddos. lol. I promise to draw the winner after the weekend is over. We've had so much going on lately. I'll try to update my personal blog soon since I haven't even gotten through half of my crazy stories for summer. Mommy Craze is definately the most appropriate name I could come up with!

September 11, 2001

Today I am writing to ask you to help me honor the memories of those lost on this day. For those of you who don't know, I am a NJ resident with a great love of NYC. I lost a friend on that day in the World Trade Center. Please visit my personal blog, Mommy Craze, to help me honor him and everyone else who left us that day. Your prayers and comments are appreciated and welcome. God Bless America.

Remodeling!

I'm finally getting a web makeover for my website! So while I am working on it I will be adding new products. Once I have it ready to go I will be having a remodeling sale for my mailing list members. Feel free to sign up here for my mailing list. I run contests and offer members only specials. Mailing list subscribers can rest assured I will not share or sell their email information. Thanks!

Contest Time! Free Business Cards!

Win Free Business Cards! Don't forget my blog contest going on now. It's free to enter.

I'm Back! Sharing some recent work for a Special Baby...

Well, we got back at the end of last week but it has been so hectic I haven't had much time to post here. I have been catching up on orders, emails, mail, bills, etc. all while trying to keep a 3 year old and crawling 1 year old out of trouble. Exhausting! I will be back soon with some new pictures and some more ramblings as soon as I get my bearings.

For now, I'd like to share with you a baby gift set I made for a local radio DJ here in NJ. If you are in the tristate area, you may know of him. Casey Bartholomew of NJ101.5 Radio just recently became a dad again with the birth of his son, Maxwell. And what a birth it was! You can read all about it on Casey's Blog! I was honored to be able to present him with this custom baby gift set. I also included a custom big sister t-shirt for his daughter, Spenser.

You can find more of these sets and other samples of my past designs in my Etsy store or on my website.

Going away for a few days

We're going on a road trip. Kind of a mini vacation. My niece is visiting from Tennessee and I have to bring her to PA to meet up with her Grandma so she can bring her home. So, we are going away for a few days to some fun places on the way since it is about 4 hours away. I'll be back in a few days.

Speaking of Contests...Check this one out!

My good friend Debbie of BridgetandCo is having a contest of her own! Of course as I am writing this encouraging you all to enter I am secretly hoping you don't because I want to win!! Debbie's designs are fabulous and I'd be thrilled to win her latest. Take a peek and let Debbie know I sent ya!
Oh, and don't forget to scroll down and enter my contest while you still can. Free is good and contests are fun!
Enjoy!

Contest for Free Business Cards!

It has come to my attention that some comments weren't going through. I have some great blogger friends who I know are showing my blog their love and some new friends stopping by so I want everyone to have a chance to win. Therefore, the contest will continue until the end of August. So be sure to link my blog to your blog or website. Just check out all the details on how to win here! I hope you all stop by and drop me a note. Thanks for visiting my blog!

Birthdays, Birthdays and More Birthdays!

As promised, here is my little man Brandon in his 1st Birthday outfit I made. His birthday party was literally a disaster. I'll fill you all in on my horrible weekend on my other blog, appropriately titled, mommy craze. But here I'll just show off my Brandon. lol

Happy Birthday Brandon!

Today is my little man's 1st Birthday! I am taking him tomorrow for pictures in his birthday outfit and Sunday is his big Birthday Party!
So I have been pretty busy this month. As I have mentioned on my personal blog, mommy craze, we have tons of July Birthdays! We've already had 3 ice cream cakes this month. As much as I love my ice cream cakes, I gotta get in shape one of these days.
Here's my little guy on 4th of July. He is the most handsome man I know.

Don't forget to enter my contest below! I am running it until the end of July. I know you are all super busy like me but take a minute to enter for a chance for free business cards. You'll be glad you did if you win!

Contest Time!

I've been trying to come up with a great idea for a contest to celebrate being blog of the week over at Journal Modiste. So here's one I thought would be a fun way to pick a winner. I am going to give away 100 free full color business cards to one of you. Here's a sample of one of my many card designs for my customers.

All you have to do is add me to your blog or website with a link back. If you want me to add your blog to my blog list, I'd be happy to do so, it is only fair. Just let me know! Once you add me, post a comment here to let me know with the link to your blog or site that you added me and that you want to be entered in the contest! That's it. I'll check out everyone's links that post and enter you all in a random drawing for the cards. To check out some of my past designs, visit my website or my Etsy listings.

Here's my blog image to paste in yours:

Add me to your website or blog! Copy and
paste the code to link to me.

<!-- Start Uniquefavors Blog Code --><br /><br /><a href="http://uniquefavorsboutique.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><br /><br /><img border="0" alt="Uniquefavors" width="181" src="http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f80/aymelynn/ad125x125A.jpg" height="151" /><br /><br /><!-- End Code --></a>

I will run the contest now through July 31st to also celebrate my birthday on the 30th! So please don't forget to leave a comment to let me know you added me. If you already have a link to my blog on yours or your website, comment here to be eligible for the contest. Thanks for reading my blog! NOTE: CONTEST HAS BEEN EXTENDED!! Ends August 31st so you have time to enter!
**Blog Roll links are good as well if you can't post the image above. Just add me to your favorite blogs and link back to my blog. Thanks!

Welcome to my blog JM!

So I just found out today that this little read is the featured blog over on Journal Modiste this week! I am very honored to be the featured blog so I will voe to keep up with my posts this week. This will be short and sweet since most of my posts are pretty long winded like me. lol. I just want to say hi to anyone visiting for the first time from JM! Feel free to leave a comment or let me know if you have a blog and want to exchange links. If you have a chance, take a peek at my personal blog where I share my life as a work at home mom over at mommy craze.

I have found that I love blogging so much (since I am a writer at heart) that I got some blog work over at Mommy Approved! and will be writing a book review this week. Check out the current reviews by some of our other mommies!

And for the boutique community I love being a part of, I have started listing features on the Boutique News blog so if you want to be featured, just send in your information from the blog!

With all of that, I continue to sew and create custom print work for my wonderful customers. I will have to run a contest this week in honor of my JM feature! Yes, that's it. I'll have a contest. Let me sleep on it and tomorrow I'll announce. So add me to your favorites and come back again soon!

It's official...we're in a recession!

You know how I know this? Let me tell you. Because a vacation home is no longer a cute little cottage on the lake or at the beach. Nope, not anymore. Why? Because American's who usually rent one for a week or two in the summer can't afford it anymore. How do I know...take a look at the latest in vacation homes...here.

Just listed for the Roxy & Rocco "Picnic in the Park" Launch! Custom Sizes. Please click on the picture to visit the auction. Thanks! Ayme

I'm on a roll!

I have been pretty busy lately! It feels good to be back designing new sets. I just listed these custom sets over on Ebay. Please click on the photos to view the auctions. Ayme

This one is for the ABSD Sisboom Launch featuring fabric designer Jennifer Paganelli.

Twist of Lime

Just listed this new one. I just love how it turned out. I collaborated with Melanie of Lilmisspriss who made the fabulous bows and clippies. She also took some awesome pictures of her little sweetie modeling for me. Please click on the photo to check out the listing.

Some Resells Just Listed!

Just listed. Please click on the pictures to visit the auctions. Thanks! Ayme

2T resell by Lil-divaduds!

18m/2T/3T Resells of mine:

Always working on something!

I haven't posted in a bit because the days have just flown by! I am working on quite a few new sets and some upcoming launches. My design group, Roxy & Rocco, is having a launch in the beginning of June with lots of great things to come. Keep an eye out here for more information about the launch, the designers and other great surprises.

I have posted on my personal blog so stop by if you get a chance. I also realized how much I miss writing since starting the blogs so I have been working on new boutique blogs to help showcase my fellow designers and friends. The talent is just endless and I can't wait to share it with all of you! Please bookmark the Boutique News blog and send in your listings on Etsy, Ebay or your Website. We'd love to feature you and your offerings! I'll also be writing features and interviews for some other blogs in the works so stop in when you can to find out more.

Visit my personal blog

I just started a personal blog about life as a wife, mother, sister, daughter...just crazy! Check it out, lots of stuff to share and I am sure many of you can relate. Or at least I hope you can and you let me know so I don't feel soo alone when going crazy! lol. Check it out! Mommy Craze!

Recovering addict...1 week clean!

Yep, that's right! Marissa has successfully made it for one whole week without the Binky!! Whoo hoo. It has been a tough week but we have made it! I really hope Brandon doesn't get this attached to his. He didn't seem like he was very interested in it at birth. He always spit it out and wanted a bottle. But Marissa was suckling so hard when she was born she latched on to that bink and never let go! My husband thinks we should just ween him off now while he is young. lol. Poor Brandon, he has really gotten used to that binky now that he is 9 months old and his teeth are taking their sweet time coming out. He has been teething for like 5 months now but those teeth do not want to show. But I think Brandon will be easier to handle. He is so laid back and unlike Marissa, patient. lol. She is definately the firecracker of the two right now. She has always been. She didn't start sleeping through the night until after Brandon was born and by then she was 2 1/2! My little man has learned to sleep through the night and more recently, through his sisters loud rantings at night for her binky! He is such a trooper. Thank god. lol I am really proud of how well they did for recent photos so I have to share my cuties with you!

Here they are...all smiles!

I love how they both look so serious at the same time.
The most handsome man I know.
Here's a group shot with their cousins, Kaitlyn and Brianna. Brandon and Brianna are only 11 days apart, both 9 months old here. Marissa is 3 and Kaitlyn is 5.

Cherry Tree Avenue on Etsy!

I am a proud member of Cherry Tree Avenue. It is a great group of talented designers that come together to create a line of clothing by season that coordinates with each other. CTA hosts trunk shows all over the US and show hostess' can earn Cherry Tree Bucks! To view our upcoming shows and most of the line available, visit the website at http://www.cherrytreeavenue.com. The items on the website are available for purchase online and everything is custom made when you purchase!
Now you can find Cherry Tree Avenue on Etsy as well. We are adding our inventory daily so stop in and add us to your favorites! http://www.cherrytreeavenue.etsy.com/
Here's one of my designs for CTA's current line, Spring 2008.

Major Withdrawls...

So today is day 4 of no Binky. Yes, we have made it 4 days! It feels like forever, most likely because of the lack of sleep for me. My sweet, adorable, loving little girl has become at times in the past 4 days a crazed, screaming inconsolable, unrecognizable tantrum-throwing wild child that is just exhausting. These tantrums are lasting at least an hour and include, (but not limited to), lots of screaming, deep voice rantings, yelling, hitting and even mean hurtful words. Today's was witnessed by a very shocked and hurt Grandma and Cousin Heather. Lucky for Daddy, he was at work and so far has missed the really crazy ones. Nice. Some of the not so nice things my daughter has spewed during her rantings:
"I don't like you. Go away." This was said to Mommy, Grandma and Cousin Heather all within 20 minutes.
"Don't Talk!" Was demanded toward any one of us that opened our mouth's to try to calm her.
"I don't want you here!" Again, each of us got that one.
Then she begged "I want to go in the crib and get a Bink!" Yes, she wants to take over Brandon's crib and his Bink's because, as she tells it, she "doesn't want to be 3 and doesn't want to be a big girl."
When I tell her she is growing up, she replies, "I don't want to grow up!" (Yes, I admit, I don't want her to grow up either, but I can't tell her that, as it seems she has become too smart for her own good and would be thrilled if I agreed with her on any of her points.)
So, today, as my sweet daughter's head spun around and around like a horror movie, my heart ached. I knew she didn't mean to hurt us, she later apologized and said she didn't mean it when her sweet, innocent side returned. But it ached to hear her say she didn't want to grow up or be 3. She is clearly telling me that she is not ready for all of these big girl changes. So I feel guilty. Mother's guilt is the most heart wrenching. She has been getting me alot with it lately.

When she moved up to preschool class in school with new teachers and friends because they felt she was ready and needed to be with older kids, I knew they were right but she has been determined to change that. The tears and begging for her old class really had me going...I was ready to wave the white flag and save her from preschool...until they showed me my hysterical daughter...2 minutes after I walked out...tearless and having fun. Man, she is good!
Ok, so back to this Binky addiction and our very bumpy ride to recovery. The withdrawal process has drained me of my rather large reserve of patience. I am exhausted from the battles, day and night. Yes, she is sleeping now as I write this, finally, but not without a fight. She gives a good one and goes down fighting still. (I admit, I am proud too...my girl is gonna be a tough one and I hope this means she won't put up with any junk!) But, when I think it is over, and I can finally rest, she recharges and by 2am, back in the ring for another round. Then everyone is awake as she battles the Binky urge. She goes down swinging, but she takes us all down with her!
So, wish me luck in our quest to quit the Binky. I have been strong. I enlisted Grandma to keep with it too. She admitted today when she told Grandpa that we were not giving the Binky anymore while Marissa was there playing yesterday, he said "but this is our house..." And Grandma told him it didn't matter. To respect his daughters wishes and not work against her. Go Grandma! I have to say, little disappointed in Grandpa for that one. And if he gave the Binky, I probably would have thrown my own tantrum after all of these long, sleepless nights! Thankfully Grandma knows to toss them before he can! I just don't get why he wasn't such a sucker for my brother or I when we were kids?
I guess it is time to try to sleep before the next round. Here's hoping this fight is over very soon!

Quitting Cold Turkey...

So my little girl turned 3 a few weeks ago. The party was so much fun and you would have never guessed a few days earlier, on her actual birthday, she ended up at the doctor's office and diagnosed with pink eye in both eyes, an ear and throat infection. By the time the party came around, she was totally fine.
So, now that my big girl is 3, I decided I had to help her be a big girl once and for all. This time I had to be strong. So this week, after months of advice from everyone and anyone, I just did it. I quit cold turkey. Yep, I quit the binky. Ok, so I didn't quit it personally, but in many ways I did. That binky, man, was it an easy fix! I never realized how that thing helped me every day. It was relaxing and soonthing and gave me a much needed break. Yes, the binky was my crutch too it seems!
So, we are quitting it. Marissa and I. Marissa and our entire family as we all have realized how hard this is. Habits are hard to break. And this one is as tough as my little girl! Yes, we have tried to quit before. Oh, how weak we were. Not long ago, we caved and sunk back into binky addiction in less than 2 hours. We couldn't handle the withdrawls. But, this time is gonna be different. I keep telling myself, I keep telling my husband. Yes, this time, we are quitting cold turkey!!

Well, here is my first official listing posted here on my blog! Now that I am hopefully getting the hang of this blogging thing, I'll be here a bit more often. Now I just need to spruce up this place to reflect some of my favorite places and things.

Here we go:
Just listed for the R&R Tropical Breeze launch on Ebay! Thanks for peeking! Ayme

Custom Sizes:

Welcome to my blog!

Well, here I go! I have finally gotten in here and I am writing my first post! Welcome to my blog! Let me start off by giving you some information about me so we can get to know each other. Since I am here first, I'll go first. Seems to be the best way to get this party started. Hello, my name is Ayme and I am a fabricoholic. Oops, wrong blog...lol. No, seriously, I am. I am addicted to anything crafty and I can never seem to get enough. I love fabric, ribbon, scrapbooking paper and notions. I just collect it like it is going out of style. So, in order to justify that collection I have to try to create as much as possible with it. And I love it. That is where uniquefavors comes into play. I started working from home doing graphic design after I stopped working as a newspaper editor. I have been a graphic artist and writer by trade for many, many years now. (Yes, many...)
I stopped working as an editor and went into the bridal industry for a few years right after I got married in April of 2004. In April of 2005 my daughter was born. During that time I was still working in bridal but my little girl inspired me to create cute little outfits for her. By her first birthday, I created the first custom outfit for her party that would become my first favorite and I started listing my creations full time on Ebay. I fell in love with the boutique clothing world online. I just couldn't get enough of it and I was so inspired to create more cute little girl outfits. By this time I was home full time caring for my little sweetie and working as a freelance graphic artist.
Fast forward to today and I have a retail business selling quality fabrics, notions, patterns, etc. on a few different sites, along with my custom clothing store and my new websites. I also create personalized embroidery designs and have expanded my graphic design business to include online orders! I am proud of all of my hard work, but the creations I am most proud of are my daughter who will be 3 in a few weeks and my new little guy who was born in July 2007.
So, there you have it. A bit about me and what I am up to.
I hope you stick around as I try to keep you up to date on my work and whatever else I can think of. Since I am new at this blog thing, I can't really say where this is gonna go or what kind of ride you are in for. I haven't a clue! But I hope you strap in and come along anyway. The more the merrier on any road trip!
--Ayme