A Big Change

HELLO! Miss me? Who is even following this adorable little blog anymore? Well, I'm here to tell you that a huge change happened in my life a few years ago and that is why this 'blogging break' of mine turned into practically me falling off the face of the blogging earth. But, with that said, I am back. Kind of. Kind of back part time and not here. Chevron Stitches had a great run, and maybe one day when I don't have multiple children and can actually brush my teeth without interruption, let alone blog, I'll bring it back. but for now, I'm just being a mom and living life. You can see a little bit of what I've been up to, though. Go ahead and take a peek at my tribe life-The Daoust Tribe. I'm not at all serious over there, I post whenever I can, nothing is crafty (yet), I don't have open spots for sponsors, there is no 'followers' posts, I've lost the whole swing of blogging thing and it's just a basic layout. But, it brings me happiness. And since I care about each and every one of you, I want to share my happiness with you. Feel free to leave a comment on any post over there saying 'hi! I'm still here!' or whatever you want to say, really. Oh! You could offer a suggestion on which DIY post to bring over there. I was thinking about recycling one of them there. Help me choose?

Thank you all for being so loyal to me in this little corner of the blogging world. I hope to see you over in my new little corner.

Much Love,
Ashley

A Blogging Break

Hey hey! So sorry for the absence here my friends. Life got the better of me and I have been trying to play catch up. But this post isn't about me announcing that my break is over, this is to let you all know that my break is really just beginning. You may have noticed I have sort of been M.I.A. all over the map including here and it is for good reason. Though I really cannot share with you the storm that has hit my household, I can let you know that once the storm has calmed, I will be back with a better and brighter outlook and will be producing posts again in no time. 

Really, most of why I feel I need this break [just so you all aren't totally hangin'] is I have lost inspiration in creation. My house is out of control and there really isn't any creative space here for me anymore so I feel totally overwhelmed with projects. Until I can find that inspiration and get back in to a creative space, I can't offer you all the posts this blog was intended for. And for quite a few months now, what I have offered has been subpar and that's just not fair to you and it certainly isn't fair to my Sponsors.

Which leads me to my next announcement: I will be putting Sponsorship with Chevron Stitches on hold until I return and get back in to the groove of it all. I not only want to be able to provide you guys with quality posts, but I also want to make sure the people who pay me to hang out on my sidebar are getting the most out of my blog as well and since I have seriously dropped the ball here, I cannot continue to string them along any more. It's just not fair all around. 

I will be heading to San Diego for a little while on the 17th to be with my parents and my family as well as friends. My daughter leaves for her dads on the 25th to Kansas for the summer so I will be able to take some time to put everything back in to place and get back to where I want to be, where I need to be. There are some plans to meet up with a fellow blogger and fellow IG friend while down there so I hope that will get my creative juices flowin' and I can come back with a whole new inspiration of sorts. 

I don't really have a time frame of how long my break will be, I just know that my kids need me and all of me right now and not mommy who sits behind her laptop and cell phone all day long blogging her little heart out. This break also extends to my other blog B.You, and partly in to my personal blog A Fox & A Wolf. I will be pulling back my position at B.You for a while and I hope that it can continue, as it has been quite successful. I'm only pulling back slightly at A Fox & A Wolf, blogging when I feel I want to share something rather than blogging with obligation. If you want to stay updated on my personal life outside of Chevron Stitches, please follow me at A Fox & A Wolf. 

Thank you all for being amazing readers and supporters! I promise I will be back as soon as I can! Love you all! XOXOXO

Blogger Book Swap

I recently participated in an awesome book swap hosted by The Simplicity, Spillerena, Spunkyrella, Three31,run(dance)love, & I Believe in Story. It has been my favorite swap for a lot of reasons; I love to read, I love to meet new people, and because all of the hosts had a weekly link up, which made it so much fun! You can take a look at those link ups here, here, here, here, & here.

I was partnered up with an amazing gal, Bri. We were able to connect with each other and share more than just swap packages and I am happy to have a new friend in the blogosphere! Bri blogs over at School In Our Slippers and is a Independent Executive Director and consultant for My Thirty One Gifts. She sent me such a lovely package and I was totally excited to get it!

First of all, she wrapped it up so lovely with cute tissue paper and a tie & flower clip!

Bri had asked me in one of our many email exchanges if there were any particular books I wanted. I am really glad she asked because I have been wanting to get Eat Pray Love again. I had that book back when it first came out and it was like a personal Bible for me. I had highlighted it, made notes, underlined, had tabs... it was very important to me! I lent it to a co-worker who later was fired and she never returned the book to me! I was devastated. I may, or many not, had sent her a few nasty emails about hijacking my book....

Anyway, Bry sent it to me along with one of my faves, The Shack, and a fave book of hers - The Pilot's Wife. I am definitely diving in to The Pilot's Wife next!!

Holy moly peoples... she sent me two amazing bags from her catalog! A personalized zipper pouch and an OWL COIN PURSE!!!! Thanks Bri!

I sure hope Bri enjoys the books and goodies I sent her! Both of the books meant a great deal to me so I am hoping she can find meaning and importance in them as well. 

I want to thank all of the hosts for this amazing book swap! I can't wait to participate in another and host my very own in December for my online book club, Thread the Pages. 

Book Character Crush

This weeks link up, hosted by Kimberly at The Simplicity, is about character crushes. 

Hands down, without a doubt, Edward Cullen is my book character crush. 

First of all I have to rant about how incredible the love is between Edward and Bella. Like, wow. How incredible is the chemistry with them? How absolutely parallel everything is with them! It's amazing how Edward had waited hundreds of years for her, not knowing it was her all along. It was always Bella. I can totally relate to that. 

Now on to why I'm totally crushing on Edward. A lot of it has to do with the things he says to Bella, how he approached their relationship, and how natural and organic things progressed between the two of them. But also the vision I had of him in my head was amazing. The way he looked, moved, talked, smiled, how his eyes glistened; all amazing descriptions from Stephanie Meyers that made it possible. That's what I love about books; your interpretation on the physicality's of every aspect of the story. Of course, when they cast Robert Pattison in the movie, I was visually pleased with her vision of who Edward was. But most of all, the biggest reason why I am crushing so hard on Edward Cullen... he's a vampire! I wish I were a vampire! Their porcelain skin, gorgeous eyes, amazing abilities [as depicted in the Twilight series], and 'vegetarian' diet are all incredibly appealing. It's no wonder Bella was so mystified and craved becoming one of them. I would too! Especially to be turned by Edward, and to be his. Forever. 

Yep; I could live with that.

Who's your character crush? Don't have a book crush? How about a movie crush? [Mine would be Noah from The Notebook; duh.]

Call For Guest Bloggers

First, let me give a shout out to Elsie and Emma at A Beautiful Mess for my absolutely fave photo app! If you haven't downloaded it yet, head on over to iTunes and get it! It's called 'A Beautiful Mess'.

Okay, now on to business. I will be out of town in June and taking a bit of a break to fill my Storenvy shop with goodies for you and your bambinos and am looking for guest bloggers. If you read Chevron Stitches, you're used to the content. I am not necessarily looking for the same content as it would be nice to offer my readers something else that I cannnot offer or know a lot about, so I am open to any ideas and suggestions you have. 

If you're interested in being a guest blogger, please email me at chevronstitches [at] gmail [dot] com. 

Don't Judge A Book By Its Cover

This week's blogger book swap link up is all about not judging a book by its cover, which I am totally guilty of! Nicole of Three 31 is hosting this week and had some questions for us to answer:

1. Do you judge a book by its cover?

You betcha! If it ain't pretty or doesn't catch my eye [basically, if it's boring], I won't pick it up. Yeah, yeah; the post title says 'Don't Judge A Book By Its Cover'... psh. I'm a visual person, sorry! I need me some pretty book covers!

2. How important is cover design to you?

Very. As mentioned above I am a visual person! I need to see pretty in order for me to read it. I will admit that there have been some books I've read where the cover wasn't visually pleasing; books that I willingly picked up! But typically, if it doesn't grab my attention, I won't even think twice about picking it up. 

3. Share your favorite book cover

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4. What book surprised you the most, despite its unappealing cover design?

I honestly have yet to pick up a book with an unappealing cover and liked it. I have picked up books with covers that I don't really care for, but I equally did not enjoy the content. I am sure, though, that there are plenty of books out there that I would enjoy that have boring covers. Someone just needs to actually hand them to me and tell me to read them!  

5. In your opinion, what makes a book cover intriguing?

This answer isn't really my opinion per se, but just what I find intriguing and appealing to me. When I am looking for a book I first look at the spine for color, texture, and lettering. There isn't any specific color or type of texture or lettering, it just needs to be appealing to me. If the spine catches my eye, I'll pull it off of the shelf and look at the cover. The cover must share the same characteristics as the spine, but also share the theme of the book. If the cover doesn't really have anything to do with the book, I will not read it. Any of the following are all factors of what an intriguing cover would look like:

colors

font/title

art/photos

text [the least amount, the better]

texture [or maybe none at all]

use of vocabulary

I know, I know; don't judge a book by its cover. But I am a firm believer in first impressions are everything and the same goes for a book!

Featured Small Business: Salvage Audio

Hand made items and small businesses are popping up everywhere. Anyone can take something and create a product and turn it in to a business, but not everyone can catch your eye. While scrolling through my IG feed one day, I saw a friend of mine had posted a photo of a hand made audio box. Now, I don't own an audio box, nor do looking at audio boxes do anything for me; but this particular one stood out.

After some investigating and lurking on his Facebook and IG feed to find out more about these audio boxes, I saw what he was doing was totally amazing and unique that I just had to share it with the world. So I sent off a few questions for him to answer so you could learn a little bit more about Jared Kirby and his hand made business Salvage Audio.

When did you start Salvage Audio?

The idea for Salvage Audio started during the summer of 2011 when I was shopping for an iPod speaker to put in my living room. I couldn't find anything on the market that fit my style, so I decided to build my own! My friends and family really liked what I had made. I built a few more for others, then started selling online in November of 2012.

Can you tell us what Salvage Audio is all about?

Salvage Audio is about quality, design, and great sound while blending the rustic look of old reclaimed wood, with the sound quality and convenience of new technology. All of my Music Systems use Wireless Bluetooth connectivity to use with your phone, tablet, or computer. I'm really trying to bring back quality craftsmanship into a market full of molded black plastic. This is accomplished by being eco responsible with my practices, such as, reclaimed wood and recycled packaging supplies.

Where are you based out of?

SA started in San Luis Obispo, CA, but has since moved to a shop in Atascadero, CA. I'll soon make the move back to a shop in SLO. I love San Luis and most of the reclaimed wood that I use in my systems comes from SLO, so I can't wait!

Where do you get your inspiration from? Are you a musician?

Music and old westerns! Music has been a huge part of my life from being in a few bands back in high school, to attending a Recording and Sound Engineering school in Hollywood. I've always been a stickler for sound quality! I found my love of rustic aesthetics through my Father, watching old westerns growing up. I'm watching Rawhide while typing this!

What were you doing before Salvage Audio?

Before the creation of SA, I continued my love for music by working part-time at Ernie Ball Music Man building their new Armada electric guitar. Now, I blend both creative pursuits.

Can you tell me a little bit about yourself outside of your work?

Well as any small business owner would probably say, I'm normally working on Salvage Audio outside of working at Salvage Audio… but I try to get out as often as I can! I love getting out into the world, backpacking and camping in beautiful Central California. One of my favorite spots is called Paradise Beach, just outside of Guadalupe. It's a bit of a trek to get to, but so worth it!

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More info: 

I'm very excited to say that I'll be coming out with two new designs next month! One is a brand new design for a larger system, and the second is an upgrade to my popular small bookshelf system. You can stay updated by following me on Facebook and Instagram. For more info take a look at my website.

Salvage Audio is currently offering free shipping plus 10% off any order with code THEWORD! Go pick up your audio box today!!