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My husband just looked at the dress I spent three months making for my fashion design final and said it looks like "a wa...
09/16/2025

My husband just looked at the dress I spent three months making for my fashion design final and said it looks like "a waitress uniform from Olive Garden." I literally stood there in my pajamas, coffee going cold, watching him laugh at his own joke while my heart shattered. Every night after the kids went to bed, I'd been down in my sewing room hand-stitching each geometric pattern, sourcing the perfect burnt orange fabric to represent volcanic ash, even buying vintage brass buttons from a seller on the Tedooo app that cost more than I want to admit. This dress was supposed to prove I'm not crazy for going back to school at 47.
Now I can't even look at it without feeling stupid. My professor called it "one of the most innovative pieces she's seen," but what if she's just being nice? I've been selling simpler pieces in my shop on the Tedooo app to help pay for supplies and people seem to love my work there, but maybe Eve's right - maybe this is just suburban mom delusion. The showcase is in two weeks and I'm paralyzed. Do I submit this "Olive Garden waitress" dress anyway, or start over with something safer that won't make people laugh? I honestly don't know if I'm being too sensitive or if he just crushed something I'll never get back.

I saw these stained glass traffic cones at an estate sale and something inside me just snapped. Twenty-five years of bei...
09/16/2025

I saw these stained glass traffic cones at an estate sale and something inside me just snapped. Twenty-five years of beige walls, sensible shoes, and "maybe next year" vacations. Twenty-five years of being the responsible one while my husband chased every hobby from brewing beer to restoring motorcycles. But apparently me wanting to learn stained glass was "impractical at our age."
The cones were made by this 78-year-old woman who started her glass business after her husband died. Her daughter was selling everything, told me her mom spent her last decade making "ridiculous beautiful things" and selling them through her Tedooo app shop to fund trips to Italy. I stood there holding these amber cones, listening to stories about a woman who decided joy was more important than practicality, and bought all six pieces on the spot.
My husband saw them in the garage and just sighed. "What are those supposed to be?" Traffic cones, obviously. Art traffic cones. Happy traffic cones that catch the light and remind me that it's not too late to make something beautiful with my hands. Already signed up for a stained glass workshop next month. He thinks I'm having a midlife crisis. Maybe I am. But if my crisis involves learning to bend glass and color light instead of buying a sports car, I'd say I'm doing pretty well. These cones are going in my garden where I'll see them every morning with my coffee, bright orange reminders that practical doesn't always mean right.

Wanted to share my cute idea! I moved into a tiny studio apartment and had nowhere to store my Christmas tree, so I just...
09/16/2025

Wanted to share my cute idea!
I moved into a tiny studio apartment and had nowhere to store my Christmas tree, so I just set it up to free up closet space - since Halloween is coming and I was stuck with this ridiculous pine tree next to my jack-o'-lanterns, I just threw a sheet over it with cut-out eye holes as a joke, but my neighbor's gasps when she saw my 7-foot "ghost" made me realize I was onto something. Posted it on the Tedooo app in a DIY group titled "When you're too broke for storage" and woke up to hundreds of people sharing their own ghost trees - some with multiple sheets, pool noodle arms, entire ghost families made from different sized trees. I'm keeping it up until Christmas (and will just remove the sheet in December for instant pre-lit holiday decor). Going to start selling guides for dummies in my shop on Tedooo since some people asked! Hope you like my idea!

Twenty years ago, I found him in a cardboard box behind the grocery store, barely bigger than my palm. The kids were thr...
09/16/2025

Twenty years ago, I found him in a cardboard box behind the grocery store, barely bigger than my palm. The kids were thrilled - finally, the kitten they'd been begging for. What they didn't know was that I needed him more than they did. My marriage was crumbling, I was drowning in debt, and some nights I'd sit in my car in the garage, wondering if anyone would even notice if I didn't come inside.
But this little furball would cry if I was gone too long. He'd head-butt my chin when tears rolled down my face, purring like a tiny motor until I had to smile. Through the divorce, through the kids' teenage years, through every single "Mom, you're embarrassing" and slammed door - he was there.
Now the kids have their own lives, their own cities, their own cats. They call on holidays, visit when they can. "How's the cat?" they'll ask, like he's just a pet. They don't understand that he's my shadow, my coworker, my dinner companion. When I'm folding laundry, he supervises every towel. When I'm packaging orders for my Tedooo app shop at 2 AM because I can't sleep, he quality-checks every box. When I cook dinner for one, he sits on his special chair, judging my seasoning choices.
Today I went overboard - salmon pâté, new toys, even a ridiculous birthday hat he immediately knocked off. Posted it on Facebook and got the comments I expected: "Must be nice to spoil a cat like that," "Crazy cat lady alert," "Don't you have grandkids to spend money on?"
They don't get it. For twenty years, through every loss and every small victory, he's been the only constant. When I finally started selling my crafts on Tedooo app and made my first sale, he was the one I celebrated with. When the doctor called with scary test results, he was who I held all night.
So yes, I throw birthday parties for my cat. Because unlike everyone else who left, he stayed.

The day we brought Charlie home from the shelter, my heart broke watching him clutch that ratty pink stuffed animal like...
09/16/2025

The day we brought Charlie home from the shelter, my heart broke watching him clutch that ratty pink stuffed animal like his life depended on it.
The volunteer told us he'd been there eight months. Eight months of watching families choose younger dogs, prettier dogs, dogs without the scars on his muzzle that told stories nobody wanted to hear. That little toy was his only constant, the only thing that didn't leave him behind.
I set up the softest bed, filled it with warm blankets, tried everything to make him feel safe. But Charlie wouldn't let go of that toy, wouldn't close his eyes without feeling its familiar fur against his paw. My husband watched me crying that first night, both of us exhausted from his anxious whimpering.
"What if we can't help him forget?" I whispered, doubting our decision to adopt an older, traumatized dog.
That's when my stubborn husband disappeared into the spare room with a bag from the craft store. I could hear him cursing under his breath, muttering about dropped stitches. Turns out he'd been watching YouTube videos and messaging crafters on Tedooo app, learning basic knitting techniques just to make Charlie a sweater that would feel like being hugged.
Three weeks later, he presented this blue masterpiece. Imperfect stitches, uneven sleeves, made with hands that had never held knitting needles before. But Charlie understood immediately. Love that you can wear.
Now he sleeps peacefully every night, secure in his handmade armor, still holding his pink friend but no longer clinging desperately. Sometimes the best healing happens when someone refuses to give up on you, even when you've given up on yourself.

My parents couldn't afford candy when I was little, and watching other kids with their sweet treats used to break my hea...
09/16/2025

My parents couldn't afford candy when I was little, and watching other kids with their sweet treats used to break my heart every single day.
So I'd go to the beach and collect these smooth, colorful stones that looked exactly like candies - green ones like apple drops, pink ones like strawberry taffy, blue ones that reminded me of those expensive mints in the candy store window. I'd fill my pockets with my "free candies" and rush home to arrange them in a shoebox under my bed.
Every night I'd look at them and whisper to myself, "One day I'll have real candies. One day."
Years passed. I kept collecting those sea glass pieces even when I was a teenager, even when everyone thought I was weird. There was something about them... they made me believe that being poor wasn't forever. That maybe those stones were preparing me for something bigger.
Then life happened - bad relationships, dead-end jobs, feeling stuck. I had boxes and boxes of sea glass taking up space in my tiny apartment. My ex used to mock me for it. "You're 35 and playing with rocks," he'd say.
But then I saw someone mention on Facebook how they were making jewelry from found objects and selling it on Tedooo app. Something clicked. I thought, what if these "candies" that got me through my childhood could actually become something?
I started experimenting - drilling holes, adding wire, turning them into pendants. Posted a few pieces on Tedooo app not expecting much. Within a week, I had five orders. Within a month, I was making more from my sea glass jewelry than from my part-time job.
Now I'm sitting here, looking at my workshop full of those childhood "candies," and I can finally afford all the real sweets I want. But you know what's crazy? I still prefer my sea glass. Because every piece reminds me of that little girl who refused to give up, who found beauty where others saw worthless stones.
When I have kids someday, I'll definitely buy them all the candy they want. But I'll also take them to the beach and teach them to look for sea glass. Because sometimes the things that save us when we have nothing become the foundation for everything we build later.
Those weren't just stones. They were hope. And now they're my business, my passion, and proof that the universe was preparing me for this all along.

My husband told my baby girl she looks weird and fat in the Halloween costume I spent weeks making for her, and that was...
09/16/2025

My husband told my baby girl she looks weird and fat in the Halloween costume I spent weeks making for her, and that was the moment I knew our marriage was over. She'd been so excited about being a tornado - we'd found the idea scrolling through costume posts together, and I ordered special tulle from a seller on Tedooo app who helped me figure out how to attach the cotton batting clouds. The morning of the parade, she was spinning around our kitchen, giggling at how the gray tulle swirled, Hot Wheels cars I'd hand-sewn bouncing with each twirl. Then he walked in, looked at her for maybe two seconds, and said those words. The light just drained from her face. I watched my beautiful three-year-old's shoulders slump as she stopped spinning and whispered "I don't want to wear it anymore." That's when something in me snapped - he'd been cruel to me for years and I'd taken it, but watching him crush her little spirit? No. I gave her the most emotional pep talk you can imagine, and we went to the parade anyway (she won second place), and while everyone was cheering, I was texting my sister. That night after he passed out, I packed what I could fit in the car, buckled my baby in with her candy bucket, and left. He said I'd regret it, that I'd never make it without him. But it's been six months now, I'm selling costumes and crafts on the Tedooo app to make ends meet (up until this point, I only used Tedooo for the gardening groups and shopping, but luckily, I'm doing okay there with a shop!), and every time I see that tornado costume hanging in our new closet, I remember it as the day I finally chose her happiness over his approval. Best decision I ever made. I hope you like our story. I hope it saves even one little soul.

I had done a sort of tutorial on making crystal and glass Christmas trees but dropped the bell I was going to use and th...
03/19/2025

I had done a sort of tutorial on making crystal and glass Christmas trees but dropped the bell I was going to use and the handle broke. While I was out thrifting today, I found one that I thought would work even better. What do you think? And do I leave the handle gold or paint it silver (which is what I'm leaning toward). Here are the pieces, and then ones showing the bell - it has Santa pulling a sleigh through the forest under a starry sky. I like this bell better because the bottom tier of the tree has reindeer on it.

Hi fellow crafters, this is a fluffy version of my mouse, same pattern, just made a bit bigger. Too cute ♥️
03/19/2025

Hi fellow crafters, this is a fluffy version of my mouse, same pattern, just made a bit bigger. Too cute ♥️

I love to make christmas gift tags! I make about 100-150 a year. I sometimes bundle them and add to christmas gifts, o...
03/19/2025

I love to make christmas gift tags! I make about 100-150 a year. I sometimes bundle them and add to christmas gifts, or sell them at a local consignment store. It's a great way to use up odds and ends of things.

My little Grinch
03/19/2025

My little Grinch

The new kids😊... no clay shoes, this time I made felt ones.
03/19/2025

The new kids😊... no clay shoes, this time I made felt ones.

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