Back from the abyss...

I've been a bit absent these past few days. Or maybe it's been a whole entire week, I don't know. Anyways, I haven't forgotten about you or my blog. I've been putting all of my free time into completing a large custom order for my Etsy shop - which I finished tonight. WOOHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

This was the largest order I have completed to date, so it felt like a major accomplishment when I threaded the last bit of thread through the last hole. The girl I made these for has been an absolute joy to work with. Supportive, friendly, understanding, aboslutely a dream.

I spent a lot of time on assembly-line production on this project, which meant that I watched many, many episodes of American Justice (my secret crafting shame). It also allowed my mind to wander and play around with ideas while my hands were busy cutting and gluing and poking. When I needed a break, I took a few minutes here and there to try out some of my ideas. These means that I've got a few new designs to play with and few new items to list in my shop. I'll be adding these in the next few days.

It's a FACE style!

Liv was feeling MUCH better today after, so we had some much needed Mommy-Daughter time today. Liv wanted to give me a makeover, which I worked hard to avoid. Usually makeovers involve her brushing my hair, which is oh so sweet, but oh so painful. So, after I turned her down for the makeover, she ran after me saying: "Mama, mama, I have something I need to tell you!"

"What is it?" I turn around and ask.

"It's not a HAIR style, it's a FACE style," she says with the sweetest look on her face as she's doing a Vanna-style hand-flourish around her face.

Mama could not say no. So I got my make-up done by a 4 year old. And then she decided that she needed to put some on herself. I know I should have stopped her, but she was working so seriously and with such purpose.

And of course, once she was finished, I HAD to take a picture. This is fodder for a high school year-book full page ad I'm foreseeing, oh, about 14 years from now.

Want to learn to embroider?

With my recent felt obsession, I've realized that I might like hand stitching after all. This is a shocking turn of events, given that my usual approach to sewing is machine-only. If I'm forced to put in a hand-stitched hem, I usually con my mother into doing it for me. Or buttons - yep, usually sewn on by my husband.

When I started making my little felt pins, I ventured into the land of hand stitching with the blanket stitch. This was a big step for me, ya'll. And then after looking at the stitching on Denise's heart brooches, I realized that I might just need to learn how to do it after all. It's just so - GORGEOUS.

Now, I'm a girl who has a hard time learning about three dimensional projects from written directions only. I have to observe someone actually completing the task. So after a quick google search. I found this most wondrous site - Mary Corbert's Stitch n Thread. It has VIDEO TUTORIALS of hand embroidery stitches. How cool is that?!?!?

Etsy Word Results: Copacetic

Here are the long over due results from last week's Etsy word game.

First, Denise's picks. She said that the word "copacetic" reminded her of jazz.
John Coltrane by edavy63

Jazz Shoes by Blandy Snorhal

2 Clarinet Cabs by prodigalprogeny

I think she's on to something. The word "copacetic" does have kind of a jzzy, fat cat sound. And speaking of fat cats, that's what the word reminded me of. Except the literal fat cats - little round, satisfied, self important balls of fur. Well, not all of these guys are fat, but they sure look satisfied with their fine lives.

Raindrop Catnap by Endless Whimsy

Nude with Pearls by Clear Jade Studio

happy happy Simon print by matteart (Matte Stephens)

King Cat Fish Stick Co. by Gemini Studio

That's all for this week!

Since it's already so late in the week, I'm just going to wait until next Monday to post a new Etsy word.

Please bear with me!

I know today is supposed to be the day for the Etsy word search results, but I'm just not going to get everything together until tomorrow afternoon at least. Liv is -still- sick and I'm swamped with work and all sorts of randomness for the next day or so.

Know any serious crafters?

My sister called me yesterday to let me know that she was at an estate sale filled with craft supplies. Ooh, estate sale and craft supplies - two of my favorite things in the same sentence! My daughter was sick (and still is, though that's beside the point), so I couldn't take her with me. Which meant that I had to wait until today to go, when my husband was home from work.

Denise was kind enough to swing by and pick me up this morning. We got there right when it started, but were disappointed to find that much of it had been picked over yesterday. My sister reported hoards of people using the "snatch & grab" approach the day before. They were supposed to be putting some more stuff out, but apparently hadn't had a chance to do so yet.

Even though it wasn't quite all that we had hoped for, we dug around and we each found a little stack of interesting little treasures. It was at this point that I noticed a pair of small hardware chests. You know, the plastic cases with all the clear little drawers? I started opening them up and found that a couple of them included some items that held some possibility - 8 little gray miniature mice and 6 little plastic mushrooms.

The guy in charge saw me looking at these items and informed me that I could have the pair of chests for a mere $20.

Me: (squelching my desire to laugh at such a ridiculously high price) Umm, well, I was really only interested in a couple of things from there.
Dude: Well, I'm sure that a serious crafter will want these, then.
Me: (looking at Denise) You don't know any serious crafters, do you?
Denise: (purposefully not looking at me so as not to bust out laughting) Well, I know one.
Dude: (very helpfully, and apparently not getting the sarcasm) Well, give her a call then!

Needless to say, the little chests stayed at the sale. Apparently no serious crafters have been by.

hee hee hee

I did make it home with a cool vintage child's picture book, some gold & hot pink lame, a bit of printed fabric, a square of brown felt, and some large gold fake leaves. (I had plans to use the gold leaves as a background on a collage one day, but my sister informed me that the little glass balls for berries make them mildly collectable. Dang it, now I'll have to hoard them instead! )

Of course, while we were negotiating the asking price for all these goodies down to a somewhat almost reasonable price, dude informed me that I should go ahead and pay the dollar more that he wanted me to pay because, and I quote, "you're just gonna piss it away on the way home anyway." Seriously. For once in my life, I had no response.

Thank you, Idyllhands!

Yesterday I checked my blog, only to find that Idyllhands had given me an award on her blog, Knitting Hands. Woohoo! Yesterday was a pretty cruddy day, between my daughter's mini stomach bug and my own budding cold, so Erin's compliment totally lifted my spirits. Thank you!!!!

As part of the award, it's now my turn to call out five of my own choices for good blog reads. So, here goes:


What Can I Say? by Stacie Hooder. Stacie is a fellow ya-ya and, to put it mildly, a goddess. Her creativity knows no bounds, and her workmanship is meticulous. Be sure to read her post about her butterfly egg for Eggshibition. My jaw hit the floor.

DiamondMeenah Creations - Follow along in Julie Anne's serialized fictional stories about her intrepid birds. Be sure to also check out her line of hand sewn aprons on Etsy!

Rouge Picote Noir's blog - I got to know Melanie first through a feature on her blog, and then we traded items from our Etsy shops. The necklace she sent me is fanTABulous! She has an amazing way with color.

This Old Henhouse - Amanda stumbled on to my blog one night looking for some recipes, which led me to her blog that chronicles her love for paper and jewelry making. A girl after my own heart!

JunqueRethunque - a collaboration between Punkinhead (Idyllhand's sister) and Rimdweller (their mother). Read about their adventures in flea markets and how they repurpose items that have been cast aside by others into little works of art.

Oh, and be sure to check out Denise's list of honorees as well!

And since no contest is complete without the fine print, here are the rules of the blog award:

--Blog awardees should mention their name of their awarder (that's me) on their own blog, along with a link.

--Blog awardees should then honor five other blogs by giving them the award.

Let the blog awards go forth and multiply!