Give-Away Alert

Deborah from Deborah's Journal is hosting a fun give-away on her blog. She has just released a video workshop based on her fabric collage work and is offering three different collage kits as her special give-away.

Check it out!

PicMonkey

PicMonkey is a photo editing Web site that I just learned about.

I think it has a lot of great potential, however...it can also be like setting a young child loose in the candy store - too much available all at once and wanting to try everything.

I wanted to just slightly alter a photo.

It went from this...

To this...

So what do you think? Do you like it?

Giving Thanks

I have so much to give thanks for.

Unfortunately, I forget about many of those things on a daily basis.

May I be guided to remember my many blessings and be thankful for them each and every day.

Great illustration borrowed from businesspundit.com.

Etsy Sets New Records

The following is a pretty exciting announcement from Etsy regarding it's sales for the month of October.

As the seasons change, Etsy sets new records and continues to foster the handmade way of life! The stats:

• $29.9 million of goods were sold by our community in October, 12.4% higher than September's $26.6 million.
• That represents 1,677,986 items sold for the month, 14.5% higher than September's 1,466,039.
• 2,452,359 new items were listed in the month, 11.6% higher than September's 2,196,970.
• 322,466 new members joined the Etsy community in the month, up 41,928, or 14% from September.
• 842,291,766 page views were recorded on the site in October.

The $29.9 million of goods sold by the community represents a 55% increase from 2009's total. At the same time, items sold were up 41%. All the October stats represent new Etsy records!

I have to say that I am pretty darn proud to be a part of that community! Cheers to Etsy!

Peace Please

I need just a little extra peace today. I'm feeling over-whelmed, under-loved, over-worked, under-needed, over-indulged, and under-organized.

Ahhhh..... I think I'll be alright now.

Big Honkin' Plans

I got these wooden salad bowls at couple recent thrift store visits.

As with most things I get my hands on, the salad bowls have a whole new life ahead of them.

I've created an itinerary for the bowls. It goes something like this:

• See bowls.
• Buy bowls.
• Take bowls home.
• Prime and spray paint bowls. (What? Of course!)
• Stack bowls and place on back porch cupboard for at least two weeks. (No sense rushing things.)
• Use some fun recycled wool sweaters and turn them into some big honkin' pin cushions. (Big Honkin' Pin Cushion photos to be posted soon.)
• Post for-sale on Etsy page for some big honkin' bucks.

Ordinary Courage

Remember the Perfect Protest that our friend, Brene Brown started?

Well, here's a fun look at just some of the "PROTESTS" she received.  My little chalkboard protest is even in there!

It's WOOL WEEK

Wow! Who knew? I just found out it was Wool Week!

The Campaign for Wool (created in part by the Prince of Wales in January 2010) is presenting this week as Wool Week. It is just part of their efforts to help promote wool in it's many forms and uses.

The fairly new (but very cool) campaign supports sheep farming and the many textile communities and industries as it encourages people all over the world to LIVE NATURALLY...CHOOSE WOOL.

Me?  I LOVE it! Love wool. Love the campaign. I'm glad I happened across the information and could share it with you.

Now, if only I lived closer to the Prince, I would most definately attend some of the events happening this week in England!  Hmmm, I wonder what the airfare would be from Wisconsin...

Purple Beauty

When on my recent trip to California, we were able to take an afternoon from work and took a cab for a quick 15 minute ride to La Jolla.

Thought I'd share some of the fun photos of the day.

Beautiful flower. Perhaps in the Status family?

Our walk along the water.

Waves, rocks, and birds.

A gentleman playing violin in a little shelter.

Beautiful flowers.

And more flowers. I think these are Bougainvillea. Loved them!

A peaceful view.

This gal is going to start painting. Would have loved to have sat and watched her for a couple hours!



A few swimmers!

Keeping an eye on....everything!  :-)



Staying, Sleeping, and Stitching

I recently traveled to San Diego for a work conference. Of course I took some wool-work with me. Normally I would. But especially right now, I really would - because I have such big commitments to sale/shows/stores this fall. Right now I feel like there's absolutely no time to waste. It's wool-work, wool-work, wool-work!

While in my hotel room, I wondered to myself if anyone else staying there had their extra bed filled with projects like I did. I even put out the "do not disturb" sign for two days so the housekeeping staff wouldn't accidentally disrupt my perfectly planned wool layout. Sick, I know. But it made sense to me. After all, I didn't think I needed my sheets changed that badly!

Recycled Bottle Caps

I love to reuse things. Now, I can't go on and on about what a perfect recycler I am - because sometimes I really stink at day-to-day recycling. But I do enjoy including newly recycled items in with my wool creations to add just a little more umph to my goodies.

I recently created a flower pillow that included a recycled bottle cap. I smashed the dickins out of the bottle cap on my front-yard cement steps (also where I do my grommet work), created two holes with a large nail, coated it on both sides with spray primer, applied a couple coats of lilac spray paint, and finished off with a couple coats of poly spray. WaaLaa....a metal button!

I liked how they turned out - and would also like to try some decorative rub-ons on my next batch.  My only problem is I don't drink anything out of bottles that have metal twist caps. But I've asked a few of my friends to keep their eyes open for any!

Oh....funny story - recently when I was in San Diego for a work conference, I was waiting in line in the hotel gift shop when a gal opened a bottle of soda that had a twist cap. She was kind of looking around for a waste basket and I offered to take her bottle cap. She looked at me with this quizzical look and I briefly explained about my new "button" adventure. She laughed, offered me her bottle cap, and then proceeded to ask me specifics about my process because she said her husband would love to try it himself! I wonder how many he's made by now??   :-)

Store Shopping

Fun news! (Well, for ME anyway!)

I've just put some of my wool items in a shop smack-dab-in-the-middle of the cozy little downtown of White Bear Lake, Minnesota.  It's called Truly and has some really fun stuff. It's quite a small shop - but packed with goodness!

Stop on in and browse if you're in the area!

Treasuries and Peeps

I initially posted my "peeps" back in the spring. But I recently re-posted a pair that were done in gray and off-white.

Since I reposted them, they've been popping up all over. Within the last couple days, these little chicks have been featured in three Etsy Treasuries.  Fun!

You can peep.....er, I mean peek....at them here, here, and here!

Falling for Lavender...er LavendAr

Today I created my first Etsy Treasury! It was quite fun.

Let's see...(I say to myself) if I were to create a treasury, what could be one key word or theme that I could start with? Purple you say? Then purple it is!

Check it out here!

An extra fun thing about creating your own treasury is that you can also include one of your items that fits in the theme. I decided that my little Penelope Sue would be included. She smiled. :-)

Rose Hips and Happiness

I don't know what is it about rose hips but they make me feel warm, cozy, strong, and stable.

Really. I don't get it - but I love them.

I Treasure Treasuries!

I'm so excited to be included in a couple more Etsy Treasuries!

My bird pillow was included in a treasury called "Love Love Birds".

And my cottage flower picture is in a treasurey called "Cottage Shabby Chic Decor".

Yippie Skippie!

I Was Framed

Remember when I showed you a mirror that I got at a local thrift shop?

Well, this weekend it went into transformation mode.

First, I did a little online looking for information about the mirror (utilizing an original sticker and trademark on the back). I am not one to encourage decreasing or defacing the value of something old - if it's worth a nice chunk. But if it's just so-so - then I say do what you want to make it more likeable for you. And if I have the information available, I usually try to do a little research on the item before making any changes to it.

So this is a Syroco Mirror. I took about  1 1/2 hours searching the internet for possible value of the piece that set me back $7.00. Most everything that I could find that was similar to it was in the $25 to $50 range. Now, don't get me wrong - $50 is a nice price - but I decided to bite the (gold) bullet and spray paint the gold mirror frame away anyway with my handy-dandy heirloom white.

After considerable consideration (well, maybe about 5 minutes) I decided that, for now anyway, I wanted to just hang the frame by itself and leave the mirror out.

I thought this little candle sconce hanging on the door on my back porch might like some company.

A couple small nails later, it was up. I liked it.

What do you think?

IMPORTANT DUMB NOTE:  This morning when I jumped on the internet while preparing this post, I did a quick search for the Syroco name again - you know, just to make sure I spelled it correctly. What do you think was the FIRST google search that came up in the list? Yup - a picture of a mirror - not exactly - but very similar to mine - valued at $299.  What?  Where was that picture when I was searching on Saturday? Either I was extremely blind or it was posted after my very thorough weekend search.

So what's a girl to do? I had no choice but to just giggle and shake my head. Another financial opportunity in ruins.

Making Snowballs

I'm working frantically...ok, not really frantically...but semi-frantically - on my wool items.

I've completed some scarves - with more to make.

I've completed some mittens - with more to make.

I've completed some pin cushions - with more to make.

And I'm close to completing some snowball/snowman ornaments. Oh ya - with more to make.  :-)

The Catalog Has Arrived

I just reviewed the most recent Sundance catalog.

Oh my. They have some great goodies for this fall!

I can't help but share some of my favorite things with you...grab some coffee...there are a few...

Just LOVE that Sundance!

Oh my goodness. These are SO cute!

Very fun! Cut off boots!

Did I mention that I like boots?

Darling wrist/arm warmers. It gives me a fun wool idea...

Cool, cool, cool! The purple ones are my favorite!

Great colors.

Did I mention....oh ya - I have a thing for boots.

  

Oh how cute they are.

These look so comfortable. Do you think they will guarantee flatter stomachs?

Darling.

How incredible is this quilt?

What? It's mine for only $2,195 plus $400 shipping?  NOTE:  Oh geez...my girlfriend just corrected me on this....it's the BED that is this cost. No wonder it's a hefty shipping price! Guess I needed to slow down and read better! :-)

Gotta love knit-wear.

More boots?  See, I can't help myself.

As they say - I love-love-love these shirts!

Did I tell you I adore watches too?

Very classy.

These are the coolest things! Snow sneakers!

Thanks for all the great temptations, Mr. Redford.
(All photos taken from 2010 Fall Sundance catalog.)