Princess Mini Tink

Madi simply LOVED her Minnie Mouse Tinkerbell Tutu... Can you tell by the look on her face and "pose". Of course, the Elmo candy bucket was Daddy's idea. I tried to ignore the "non-matching" factor, since Madi didn't seem to mind. Of course, the Halloween Costume has a dual purpose - with Tutu a costume, without - a fabulous embroidered shirt and matching pants. I just LOVE multi-purpose clothing!!

Are you ready for Halloween??

After a few years on hiatus for making Tutu's - I have returned to the tulle world. Here's the first two and just in time for Halloween costumes!. Pricing for Tutu's start at $15 for the basic tutu.

Monogrammed Onesie - V for Victoria

A chocolate monogrammed onesie for a precious baby girl... So, the embroidered "V" was created in Pink with the "lace" capital letter "V" with her name, "Victoria", in a smaller lavender color. Absolutely Girly!!! I will start listing the Onesie's soon via www.aprilmichelledesigns.com. That is - once I count my inventory of colors. I just LOVE the brown!!!

The beginning price for the embroidered onesies and t-shirts will be $20.00 for a simple design - similar to the one here. Applique and more complex designs will vary.

STAY TUNED.. we will soon add Ribbon Onesies!!!

Brother and Sister Embroidery T's

I love this cute embroidered design. I made this Lightening McQueen Yellow Racing Car T-Shirt, as an embroidered gift for the son of Madi's preschool teacher. Racing McQueen is her little boy's favorite character - he just loves cars! Let's get ready to race!!!

Mini-Totes.. Too Precious!

I am loving the new Mini-Totes. I ordered just a handful to test them out and was surprised that I actually 'like' them! They will be listed for sale at $22.00 for monogrammed initial or $25.00 for monogrammed name. Colors currently available: light pink, zebra, brown, navy and black.

These two cute totes were created for a friend with the LSU theme. The mini-market totes are great for little ones who like to carry around their crayons, toys, and other stuff. Easy size for the college aged to carry their bath/shower items. I am giving one away to a friend as a spa birthday gift - once finished, I'll add a photo.. The cute tote will have her name embroidered on the side and filled with lotions, spa gels, monogrammed towel wrap and anything else I can find.

Hope you all love them as much as I do. :)

This is a lightweight tote that folds flat for quick storage. It has aluminum frame with a soft foam padded handle. The approximate size is 11” x 9” x 6.5”

Disney Inspired

Summer is almost over and school is about to begin.... but I just can not put down this TOO CUTE Ribbon! I have played around with the various styles for the printed ribbons. And I am really liking the layered look. The printed ribbons look a bit bare when styled as single bows. Who knows - maybe I"ll start making the big layered bows again, but for now - This Layered Double Ruffle Bow and the Layered Boutique Bow are my fun.

FOUND ONLINE ~ Great Ab Exercises!!

I know - I KNOW! It has been a couple of days since I blogged about the great challenge. I will update later today. There's been a couple of great days and a couple of not-so-great days. I am not saying they were bad.. Just not 'perfect'.

But I wanted to make a quick mention that I found a few great Ab exercises. I am such a visual person - so, it is GREAT to have an online video to work with.

Abs, Hips, Arms, Thighs is where I NEEEED most of my work. so.. I'm going to work on the plank and see how it all goes!

Get out there and do it with me!!! Come on ladies!!! WORK IT!!!!

Day Six of 70 - Father's Day

Sunday.. Oh, Sunday. My darling husband let me sleep, while he woke up with the kiddos. So, the much needed sleep was wonderful!! I really should have woken up early and visited a new church, but sleep was needed more! (We are searching for a new church home, hubby feels that Second Baptist is too large for his taste, although I've attended for over 1/2 my life) Oh well.

Anyway - Gee - imagine this...... I had NO coffee this morning.. wow! Just Orange juice and my usual Blackberry Nutragrain Bar.

Day Five of 70

OH MY!! I FEEL SOOOO GOOD TODAY!. I am so excited that I didn't over eat.. I did a good amount of exercise AND spent time with the family!!

Madi decided that she was going to start my day at 6:30am. Wasn't that just nice of her? ha! Fine.. After making her breakfast, I fixed my usual. You probably know it by now. Coffee w/ low fat French Vanilla Creamer, 2-spoons of Splenda (notice, I went from 3 to 2 of Splenda) and my Blackberry Nutragrain bar.

Madi and I fussed around the house, waiting on the boys (Kevin and Cy) to wake up, so we could all start the house cleaning and such...... Then, mid-morning snack - low fat yogurt. Once Madi was down for her nap - I finished up the packing for my weekend mail pick up. Packing boxes, running around - always makes me sweat - So - I added skipping and jumping, in hopes of picking up that cardio/heart rate.

We all ate lunch - sandwich - roast beef & mozarella cheese with water. then - off to the pool for family swim time. So - after a LONG conversation the other day, with my Mother - I took her advice on 'exercises for the pool'. Let me start off by saying - I feel a little ridiculous doing these things in the pool, with all these cute figures running around. Not only the younger ones - but the other Mom's running around with young ones - and they LOOK FABULOUS!! I'm so envious of how they look. So - let's try to turn that envy into motivation.

My Mother's trainer suggested the best pool exercise is - to cross country ski in the pool. And that is what I did - I tried to stay in one place, or just move a few feet, back and forth. I wanted to keep my full body in the pool, but when you're only 5 ft 1 in - you can't get too deep or the water would rush over my head. HA! "woman underwater after cross country skiing in pool". Now, that's a funny headline. I also added water crunches. While holding on to one of those floating noodles - I brought my straight legs up, with only a bend at the waist/ab. Hopefully that makes sense. While Kevin had his focus on Madi, I also swam a couple of laps. My stamina is so low right now, that I can only do a lap at a time.

Afternoon snack was 2-peanut butter & crackers with water, at the pool. After two hours of pool time - we all came home - cleaned up and headed to Pappadeaux for dinner. Normally - or 'in the past' I would order a large Lobster Bisque and the Large Greek Salad. And as healthy as the salad might look - it is HUGE... my issue was the Lobster Bisque. it is my favorite and with losing weight/eating healthy - I fully believe that we can still have our favorites - just in limited portions. I ordered a small cup of Bisque and grilled Mahi with Green Beans and Raspberry Iced Tea to drink. Now, I'm sure there was butter and who knows what else in the Mahi, so - I limited my portion to only half of the Mahi (it was huge) and all the green beans.

The workout at the beach left me sore... Off to take my Motrin and have a relaxing evening

Day Four

Friday.... Hmm - my normal "mexican food night". But not this Friday!!! Today, my schedule was packed too full!. Once Madi was off to school and Cy off to my Mother's, I had 2-shirts to embroider and deliver, visit Emmanuel Salon in Sugarland (vendor for my hair accessory line), then home to count and finish a Stephen Joseph buy.

Needless to say - my eating today was not the best.... My exercise was full of "running around". I figured out a great cardio plan, for days like today. With my embroidery machine running and music blasting throughout the the house, my day began. So - some of my time consists of standing and watching the machine, ironing, measureing, etc.. I found that instead of just standing - I can do squats, dance around, skip from one room to another, do the twist. ANYTHING to keep my hips moving!! I'm assuming that keeping that heart rate up will help or at least it can't hurt.

Breakfast - the usual.. 1-cup of coffee and low fat french vanilla creamer (hey - I switched to low fat)
1 - black berry breakfast bar.
mid-morning snack - had full of green grapes.
lunch was on the road - had to pull into McDonald's and drive while eating. Where else could I get something quick? are small fry and small hamburger. I know - I know. trust me.. I hated doing it. It was Taco Bell, McDonald's or Burger King. There was no time to sit and eat a salad..
No afternoon snack
Dinner was Roast Beef sandwich.

Honestly - Did I reach 1100 calories?? I really don't feel that I over eat on a consistant basis. I DO over eat at moments... but not daily. Right now, I"m trying to make my eating consistant and choose the "right" foods.

Day Three of 70 days (10 weeks)

Well, after my cheese filled day yesterday - I felt a bit more motivated today. Although, the day started off with my usual cup of coffee... I've given up sodas and other things, I must keep one vice!

Once Madi was off to school - I had a couple of orders and such to complete, a buy to work on and a few house chores to finish before Cy arrived home from Disney. I feel a bit better mentally about this challenge, feeling that it may be possible after all. And NO - I haven't lost a single pound - but hey, it's only day three - right??

My food intake was ok for the morning...
1-cup of coffee w/ usual white chocolate creamer and splenda
1-Nutragrain Blackberry breakfast bar
1-Mid-morning Yogurt. the Yoplait Light Wild Cherry and plain water
Lunch was 1/2 a Chicken Cesear salad from Panera Bread w/ dressing on the side and French Onion Soup, water with my Benefiber Cherry Pomegranate mix

After lunch, I started feeling a bit zippy. I finished my 'list' of things to do - and decided to jump on my bike for a quick ride. It had to be quick - because it was 95 deg outside (feels like was over 100). The ride lasted about 15 minutes. I started feeling lightheaded and came back home. I get lightheaded easily, when I overheat - been known to pass out with that before. Anyway.. Once inside. I took about a 5 minute break to regain myself and drank about 1/2 bottle of water. Then - guess what - I actually pulled out my little weights to work my upper body. Ok, so - they are only 3 pounds weights - but hey, a girl has to start somewhere!! I made it through 3 reps of 10, then 2 reps of 10 on another one.. And in walks my in-laws with Cy. So - the work out stopped. But that's ok. It was about time to pick up Madi and I was really feeling good about the little bit of exercise I had done today.

We stopped off at my Mom's house and she had made beans, cooked with a Ham bone. YUMM.
My afternoon snack was a very small bowl of beans and 1 plain water.
Dinner was follows up with a small plate of beans and white rice, and final water for the day w/ the Benefiber mix.

My Mom has going through a program similar to this and I am using alot of the information she learned in that experience. What to eat, what not to eat, etc... And we figured out that a BIG part of my problem is that one day, I may not eat enough in calories and the other day I will over eat my calories. Yes, consistancy is the key - I'm just super bad about it!!

I found out that for losing weight, my calorie intake should be around 1120, maintenance will change to 1500 - once I've lost these 30 pounds. So - here's my question. with the store purchased food, it's super easy to count your calories. But - for home made food - like my Mom's beans and rice - how to you 'count' those calories?? I know my yogurts are 100 calories and the breakfast bar I eat is less than that. Did I even eat 1100 calories today? I'm not sure. But I feel pretty good about my food intake.. so - hmmm???

Thoughts?? Comments??? advise????

Day Two

Well, I did NOTHING today to help this challenge!! Infact - I probably back peddled. Yes.. I hit Berry Hill Tacos and ordered a large queso with chips for lunch. GEEZ!!... really?? Yes - I did.. Of course, that's all I had for lunch today - but UH.. after eating it.. Ohhh - it was so good.. and I felt sooo bad!!

Of course, Jason sent our "Day Two" Challenge Email. And what the luck - it was about Nutrition. How many calories we need to lose weight, etc... I know this is my 2nd largest challenge. My first being - exercise - but we can chat about that another day.

My food intake for today......
1-cup of Coffee w/ White Chocolate Creamer and 3-spoons of Splenda
1-Blackberry breakfast bar - YUMMMMMMM
Lunch - Large Queso from Berry Hill Tacos (ate just about all of it) - and a mini-Coke (small can)
15 butterscotch candies
1-bottle of water (16 oz) plain
2-bottles of water (16 oz) with Benefiber mix added - Cherry Pomegranate
Dinner - Pimento Cheese Sandwich on White Long Grain Bread
1-large glass of Cran-Raspberry Juice

Ok - do you see my problem?? CHEESE!!! I LOVE CHEESE!!!

and ZERO exercise. I had a couple of rush orders to finish by Mail pick up - then there was only about 30 minutes before picking up Madi. ugh.. I would LOVE to walk outside - but my body can't handle the heat. OK OK - we won't even discuss the treadmill that is inside the house - In Air Conditioning. But - where' the motivation? I refuse to look in a mirror - in fear that I'll see the 'belly'. YUCK!! What was that movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger - where he was on Mars and one of the characters had a small human attached to it's belly. Uh - that's what I feel like. This thing is alive!!

Katy Slimdown Challenge - day one

I received our "Day One Email" from Jason Hodge, with Medical Fitness Pros - he is the Slimdown Challenge Ring Leader. Our challenge for today is to write down our goals. Why are we doing this? What do we want to receive from this experience? Hmmm.. There are just SOOO many reasons. Let me see if I can put this into words.

The simple version - I would like to lose 30 pounds. Since Madi was born, I have had a difficult time - health issues, emotional issues, and now weight issues. I am carrying enough excess weight to create a small child. Yuck, when you think about it.

I've never had a weight issues... Many of you know that I was less than 100 pounds, most of my younger life. I believe I hit 105, just before my pregnancy with Cy (12 years ago), oh - I was in my late 20's at that point. I think most of us want to turn back the clock and look young again. ME ME ME.. Now reality is - 105 pounds is just not healthy for me, a dream, yes - reality - nope.

My goal is to return to a size 2-4 and return tone to this short body. I would say that I would love to be 110 pounds... but - as most of us know - muscle weighs more, so - I'm not putting too much into the end weight number. I have this beautiful wardrobe with size 2/4 clothes and I'd like to wear them again.

So - at my weigh in on Monday - my "stats" are:
Height: 5 ft 1in
Weight: 140
Chest: 35
Waist: 34
Hips: 41 (YUCK)
I didn't write down my leg and arm measurements....

Time for a new look ~ or am I just crazy??

Well... Turning 38 this year has been a bit difficult to handle. Who knows why.. but - inching my way towards 40 - ACK!.. Plus... There's this little issue of these extra 30 pounds that I have been dragging around, since our daughter was born. Yes I KNOW that was over 2 years ago. And now my extra poundage weighs as much as my 2-year old. Something MUST be done!! Ok, so some of you have known me for years.... Ahh, remember - the days when I could fit my rear into a size 2. Gee - that was only 12 years ago. After Cy was born, I was back down to a size 4.. and I would LOVE to be there again.

So, here's the deal...I received the weekly newsletter from Freckletown, in Katy, TX - and there was an article about the "Katy Slimdown Challenge" and decided to take a leap and seek a bit of "official" guidance and peel off this excess weight. Plus, the winning price is a cruise - so, what do I have to lose - right??

So, wish me luck and ugh!!!

Flowers, Flowers Everywhere!!

Flower Loops Hair Bows have arrived at April Michelle Designs. Be sure to check back often because they are just starting to bloom and we are expecting many different designs to blossom. I personally love wearing the smaller flowers ~ they are just precious!

Summertime Fever!!

So... it seems I am having a bit of SummerTime Fever!!! With the crazy schedule of the last two weeks and looking at our end of school events for the next 8 days, turning 38 a couple of weeks ago and watching my 5th grader - graduate and start the journey into Jr. High School....I Am Ready For Summer!!! of course, summers are just TOO HOT in Houston, but the pools are near and the air conditioning has been charged.

Here we are... Summer fun... Watermelon and Lemonade... Swimming pools and summer camps and living through the youth of my children, now I have hit a creative stride - so enjoy the watermelon, ruffles and ladybugs.. More is soon to come!!

Funny Stages of Life

So, I'm sitting here, watching "Farrah's Story" (about Farrah Fawcett) and thinking about life, past, present and future. Growing up, I watched Charlie's Angels and saw some of Farrah's movies. I remember thinking - who pays attention to her, she's ditzy and the typical blonde responses. Now, I must say that my view has changed and I respect her as a woman. So many women only want to make themselves feel better by pushing other women down. And it makes me wonder, when their time is near, how will they reflect on their life? A small (very small) part of me is sad for those women, they have no idea what is precious in life and how to live life on the positive.

Of course, while watching this show, I reflect on my own life. The ups and downs, changes for the better and lessons learned. On Tuesday, I will turn 38... and I still have so many things to do and such much life to live. I'm extremely thankful for every day, live in the moment, but plan for the future!! Kiss my children and hubby daily - Laugh as though it was the cure and just keep going on. Earlier in the week, I heard Donald Trump make a statement - that I now have taken and put on my list of "Life Mottos"... If you are headed in a direction that is not working... don't give up - keep pressing on.. the plan may need to change, but do not let anything stop your dream. And I love that idea. But I also sit here and think about all that I have had to deal with this week with fellow women, and it saddens me a bit.

I am always amazed that as women, how can we be so cruel to each other. More cut throat than any two business men. We must cut each other personally, professionally and emotionally. It's just horrible. Part of the joys of being a lady is you are able to learn and grow from others, admit when you made a mistake and learn, be kind to others while always looking out for your family. Maybe that's the difference between a lady and a woman. I don't know, some women "just don't get it". Nothing is their fault, the blame of their failure is always pushed onto others and they are always right. Wow - wouldn't that be the perfect person??? But we're not all perfect, are we. Anyway, sorry to run off on that tangent. This has been a wild week.

But on the funny side... While watching the story about Farrah Fawcett's battle with cancer, they showed a few moments after she had shaved her head. Wow, all that famous hair, gone - except her bangs. The one thing that defined her for so many years - gone.... But yet, she remains the same. To me, a little ditzy in her mannerisms, but so sure of what she wants and loves. Then, I remembered that I have a hair appointment tomorrow...and I just laughed!!! How many different hair cuts and colors have I had over the last 23 years. yes, I say 23, because tomorrow, I am cutting my hair and will see more of my natural hair color. A color that I have not scene since I was 15 years old. So over the years, the blonde highlights have changed tones, color ranging from platium to now red, hair from super short, down the back long and shoulder length.... Tomorrow - it will all return to the "naturale" look. Or as one of my groupie friends say... "Virgin Hair". That just made my night.

So, every night - reflect upon your day. Ask yourself... Did you help fellow lady today? Did you kiss and love your hubby and children? Did you live today as if it was the best day of your life? Did you take a moment out to enjoy just being you? If not... then maybe you need to take a moment and think... what if this was the end for you.. do you have regrets? do you need to make amends? what can you do to make yourself a little happier tomorrow?

Ok.. I'm off my soapbox for the moment. What can I say - this has been an insane week and only to close with an amazing story, about a 70's icon losing her signature image. Best of luck Farrah - my prayers are with you!!!

New Pony Cuff's

It's amazing what happens when I can find a few hours to sit down and create new goodies!!! So.. I'm thrilled to introduce Pony Cuffs!!! I wish my hair is long enough to use these.. but - it's too short now. Oh well. ha! More for my customers!! Happy Mother's Day everyone!!

The little things that make you laugh

How many times in one day can one laugh?? Not enough, if you ask me!! Most of us, pass the day - working - handling the kiddos - dealing with life.. and often, we forget to laugh. Well, for me - today was one of those days, until just a few moments ago! I received an email from a fellow craftier and this cute image was attached. So.. This is my laughter for the day!! Enjoy!!

Sharing the Savings

In a effort to help other Mom's save a few pennies ~ I have decided to start posting coupons and other savings deals for child items. So - if you know of any great coupon or discount deals, please post a comment!!

As a Mom and penny-saver, I enjoy helping and supporting other Mom's.

YoPlait Kids Coupon