Vote For Me? I love Salt Lake City

You can still enter the Luna Protein giveaway here - low entries & 5 winners = a good chance to win! Ends Friday night.

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I am from Salt Lake City, Utah, and can't imagine a better place to grow up. When I got married to a California boy & moved to Orange County, I missed Utah. Not only my family, but the mountains, the change of seasons, yes, even the snowy winters. The way we ended up back in Utah was a total fluke - Marc was recruited by a company here for a great job totally out of the blue. They didn't know he had any ties to Utah or that his wife was from here. It just came at the right time & we were happy to take the fork in the road of life.

Utah is an amazing place - the people are nice, the weather is great, it has a great restaurant & music scene, and the mountains! How can you not mention the mountains? The view from our upstairs is breathtaking:



This summer I was excited to be part of the Salt Lake City Summer Crew - a program put on by the SLC Visitors Bureau to promote Salt Lake & all the fun stuff you can do here in the summer. Everyone thinks of Utah as a winter destination (well, we do have the best snow on earth!) but the summers are pretty amazing, too.

We spent the past 12 weeks doing challenges & trekking around to different locations around the city to discover the fun & different things our city offers. The boys & I have had a great time finding out about new stuff as well as rediscovering some of our old favorite things to do in Salt Lake.





Our final challenge was to create a video to highlight our favorite thing about Salt Lake & to get people to vote on it. I'd LOVE to win & would really appreciate your vote - I've had a great time this summer spreading the love about Salt Lake City & winning would cap off an amazing summer of fun!

You can watch the video & vote for me here on Facebook (you can vote once per day!)

Thanks so much!

Seriously Who Has Time To Eat? Luna Protein Review & Giveaway

Thank you to LUNA Protein for providing me a LUNA Protein sample pack to review. The opinions I've expressed here are solely my own and represent my honest viewpoint. This contest is now closed and the winners have been notified!

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Summer is always busy but this past few months has been absolutely crazy. Mason started Kindergarten, all 4 of us have summer birthdays, we've been camping a few times, and are now getting ready to go to California next week to run the half marathon I've been training for. Well, training for when I've not been too dead exhausted at the end of the day to go for a run. Oh and there's this little event I've been planning coming up REALLY quickly that is taking lots of time. I'm worn out.

One day last week I had been up and going since about 7am and realized at 4pm that the only thing I'd had to eat that day so far was my morning diet Coke and half of Grahm's banana. I was starving. We had been so busy that day, and even when I had fed the boys lunch I didn't fix something for myself - I usually do the dishes or fold laundry when they're eating. I know this is not healthy, but it is just not ingrained in my mind to eat a sensible meal morning, noon, and evening.



The next day I got some Luna bars in the mail, and of course about noon when the UPS guy dropped them off it dawned on me I hadn't eaten yet. I promptly scarfed down the mint chocolate chip one and went back to the conference call I was on. A few hours later I was thinking to myself, hmm, maybe I should eat something, but then realized, hey, I'm not usually as drop-dead starving as I usually am this time of day.

So I completely realize that a protein bar should not be the only thing you eat all day or should act as a total meal replacement. BUT - if you're busy like I am, like I know so many of you are, if hypothetically you do go for the majority of the day without eating anything, a Luna protein bar is probably a really good thing to have scarfed down. Gluten free. 12 grams of protein. High in calcium and folic acid. Good source of Iron and Vitamin D. Under 200 calories. And they are tasty.



The cookie dough one was my favorite flavor, then the mint chocolate chip & then the peanut butter one, which I ate the next day as I was sitting at the kitchen table water coloring with the boys. Which I'd much rather be doing any day versus trying to dig through the pantry finding something to eat for lunch. I can't wait to buy some more of them - at Amazon.com a case of 12 of the peanut butter ones is under $14 bucks! I have a feeling my days are only going to be getting more busy in the coming weeks!

GIVEAWAY

Luna would like to give FIVE of you the chance to try a variety pack of the 5 flavors of Luna Protein bars I got to sample! The giveaway will be open for one week, closing Friday, September 2nd at midnight MST. Only open to US residents.

1. To enter, leave a comment on this post. Say hello, give me 1/2 marathon running encouragement ;], tell me if you've tried Luna bars before, anything goes. A comment is your entry.

If you'd like to have additional entries, you can do any of the following. Leave a separate entry for each additional thing you did/do.

2. Like Two More Seconds on Facebook
3. Follow Two More Seconds through your choice of RSS reader
4. Follow me on Twitter (@TwoMoreSeconds)
5. Tweet or blog about this giveaway, making sure to leave me the link to the tweet or the blog post.

A total of 5 entries possible, and me drawing 5 winners means you've got a great chance to win a sample pack to try out these yummy bars. Good luck!

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Please click here to learn more about LUNA Protein. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective. All opinions are my own. #cleverLUNA

Travel Handmade! Make-Up Pouch Pattern Review

This giveaway is now closed, the winner was lucky #1, Diane!



This post is part of the Travel Handmade series, for more great travel bag posts click here!

Today is my day on the Travel Handmade blog tour! I'm only the 3rd stop on the tour but I hope that you're loving all the bag inspiration and creativity we've given you so far. I'm sharing today with Jana from Izzy & Ivy Designs, so make sure you go check out her post today too on a cute boxy bag! This is a long post, so settle in - there's a giveaway at the end! ;]

I was really excited when I got the cosmetics bag category. My make up bag situation has been pretty neglected in the past few years & I was dying for a reason to sew up something new & pretty. I had seen and admired Rachel's Make Up Roll before and so I was thrilled when she offered her pattern to me to sew up to share with all of you!

I mean look at this thing, isn't it cute? And when you untie that bow, look what's inside:

Space for my brushes & most-used pieces of make up. All tidy and neat and organized in some of my favorite bright fabrics.

The Pattern:

Rachel knows what she is doing with this pattern. It is clear, concise, & easy to follow. No muddy or missing instructions here. She gives lots of alternatives for different pocket combinations so you can mix and match to what will work for your make up. She has lots of great pictures that are clear and helpful.

The roll is a great size & is thick and padded thanks to the 2 layers of batting you use (she even gives a super-helpful trick in getting the batting away from the turning-opening so it's not really thick and difficult to sew in that space).

Notes:

The pattern calls for a button + loop closure, but I opted to make some long ties (about 10 inches) and insert them instead so I didn't have to mess with hand-sewing on a button ;] Plus I liked adding in another fabric that coordinated with my other choices.

As much as I love all the little pockets, I think I want to make myself another one using just the long, skinny pockets and have it be a brush holder exclusively! I have tons more brushes then are shown in this picture & this case would be perfect to hold just them.  I do love that short, fat pocket on the top right though - it holds my short, fat kabuki brush exactly.

Fabric:

- main outer dot fabric is Abstract Circles in Blue Jay from Just Dandy by Kaufman Fabrics
- inside turquoise cross hatch fabric is Solid Crosshatch in Turquoise from Fruit Punch by Timeless Treasures
- pocket fabric is Henna Garden in brown from Meadowsweet by Sandi Henderson
- ties fabric is Modern Texture Yellow by DS Quilts for Fabric Traditions


I love how the case comes together and how protected everything is! Other cases I've seen don't have the top flap, and so things can slide out and get lost easily. Need to pack it up? Just get everything you need to take with you ready to go and put in the pockets:

Fold down the padded top flap:

Rooooollllll:

And tie:

So cute and easy.  I can't wait to throw this in my bag for The Sewing Summit. I can see myself making lots more of these, the pattern was really quick to sew up, doesn't use much fabric, and would make a great teacher, girlfriend, or sister gift for Christmas. You can find the pattern right here in Rachel's online shop. Thanks for stopping by today & I hope I've inspired you to Travel Handmade with something next time you leave home.

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Giveaway Time!

Rachel graciously gave me this pattern & she wants to give one away to one of you, too! Just leave one comment on this post to be entered. I will leave the drawing up for one week & draw a winner next Thursday, August 25th, then Rachel will email you your pattern! If you don't have an email address attached to your profile, please make sure you leave a way for me to contact you.

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Disclosure: I am a Clever Girl and we believe in full blogging disclosure! I was provided the pattern in this review free of charge but my opinions are my own & they always will be. Some links may be affiliate links & I will get a small % kickback if you choose to purchase after clicking through -- thanks!

Travel Handmade

Have you heard of Travel Handmade yet? It's a blog hop going on this week focusing on bags, pouches, zippys, luggage tags, duffles, totes, and pretty much everything you need to travel all handmade. ;]

Amy and I kept thinking how great it would be to plan some sort of event or blog hop that anyone could participate in - whether you were attending The Sewing Summit or not. Our main intention in planning this conference has always been to further foster the online sewing community, and by rounding up loads of free tutorials, doing pattern reviews, giveaways, and putting on a fun blog tour through some of the best sewing blogs around online, we hope that we've offered something for everyone.

We were so excited when Jeni of In Color Order and Megan of Canoe Ridge Creations told us that they had been planning travel posts on their own blogs and would we like to turn it into a big blog hop including lots of the Sewing Summit teachers & friends? Well, yes, how perfect! Jeni and Megan have worked so hard behind the scenes to get all the Travel Handmade posts ready & have collected some of the best tutorials and patterns available today. I can't thank you two enough :]

Here's a little sneak peek at what I've been working on for my post, you can see the whole thing on Thursday!



Today is the first stop on the tour & it's at Jeni's blog, highlighting her amazing duffel bag she created to bring to The Sewing Summit. Make sure to follow through to each of the stops, some of them will have giveaways associated with them & there might even be one big giveaway at the end of the tour! There will also be a linky at the end with space for you to post links to pictures or blog posts of anything you've created to Travel Handmade!

cutting into my Katie Jump Rope

I finally did it. Those of you that sew will know what a big deal this is. Those of you that don't - well, it was ;]

This is an old fabric line, it came out a few years ago. It has become somewhat of a collectors item, which stunk for me because it's probably my favorite fabric line ever, and some of the pieces were hard to hunt down. (Thank you to those of you that helped me out - you know who you are!)

I was lucky that I liked it right at the start and bought some right when it came out, just not all of the prints.

Then when I decided I wanted to collect the whole thing, some pieces were getting expensive, and hard to find. Very expensive. I decided I'd better sew something with this all before Marc found out what it was worth and decided we should sell it all on Etsy and fund a Christmas cruise to somewhere exotic. It probably just about could!

But I was sick of having fabric sitting on my shelf that was "to pretty to use". I was sick of saying it was my favorite fabric ever but then being afraid to cut into it or use it. So I did this weekend! Finally got up the nerve (as lame as that sounds) to attack it with my rotary cutter and started a pattern for a beautiful quilt. A quilt that is going to be all mine, and so pretty, I just know it.

I have one block done out of the 9 I need for the quilt top. They're big blocks, but I love that, I didn't want to use a pattern that chopped the fabric up into too tiny of bits.

Can you see the one mistake I made in this block?  I didn't do it on purpose - and debated on tearing it out - but I kind of like that there is a mistake in it, reminds me that nothing is perfect in life, but it still can be beautiful.  Can't wait for it to be done! I think this will be my Sewing Summit quilt ;]

End of Summer Round Up

Mason started Kindergarten yesterday & we've been so busy the last few weeks finishing up our summer & trying to fit in as much fun as we can before it's back to school time. Our school is on a Year Round schedule which is why our first day of school is so early in the summer. Here's a couple of the fun things we've been doing:

Sailing on our community lake. Marc had to take a short class in order to be able to do the sail boats on the lake so we've been going out with him for him to be able to practice. Grahm is not a fan of the life vest if you couldn't tell by his Grumpy McGrumperson face.

Some DIY stuff ... I'm not sewing a ton lately but that doesn't mean I'm not being crafty. I recovered 2 of our kitchen chairs with this fun IKEA home dec fabric & I'm making tons of these fabric covered buttons for The Sewing Summit attendees. (Does anyone have any bright, fun 2.5" squares they could part with? My scrap piles have pretty much been picked over for this project!)

We changed Grahm's crib into a toddler bed, which is great but allows him to take his nap anywhere he wants sometimes.

Eating good sushi and lots of custard. I have been in love with custard from this burger place by us ... frozen custard is SO good (maybe not good FOR you, but so good!). Like super thick, super creamy ice cream.

And some Face Time dates with the Grandparents. To see my 4 year old being so comfortable with and such a whiz at technology is just amazing!

I hope your summer is going great, and I'll be back tomorrow with a fun tutorial using my new Accuquilt GO! cutter.

Pillow Talk Flickr Swap 5

I love love love throw pillows in my house. I have a pretty neutral house (couches, paint) so throw pillows are my favorite to brighten up a room. Plus they're easy and quick to make and can be so cheerful.

In the Pillow Talk Swap on Flickr I've been in all 5 rounds. I love that all the pillows I've received have come to me from all over the world and have been especially made just for me and my family.

For this most recent round, my partner wanted simple, with linen. I picked out these fabrics:

Cut out some half-square triangles with my Accuquilt GO! Baby cutter and started sewing them together:

And made her this pillow:

(Watch for a tutorial & review later this week on my new Accuquilt GO! Baby ... and yes, there will be a giveaway too ;] )

My partner, Alecia, totally scoped me out and knew I liked simple blocks, lots of color and white, and made me this AMAZING pillow.

Seriously, is it not gorgeous? I love all the fabrics she used (she figured out some of my all-time favorites)

And used a great Erin McMorris print on the back with an invisible zipper. It's so beautiful!

I had toyed with the idea of using this new pillow in the family room, but I can't bear knowing that it would be used for fort-building and couch-cannonball landing, so it's living on our bed now with some of my other favorites:

Thanks again, Alecia, I can't tell you how much I love it!

See, I told you I love pillows. And pillow swaps! Anyone think they need one now, too?!

And right now I have a bunch of scrap wood on the kitchen table stained various shades of green. Finally decided on a color (ok, a shade) to stain the bed Marc made us LAST year! Can't wait to get that done!