That was fast! An Orglamix review!!!

OK, the mailman delivered!!!  I didn't get the foundation I was waiting on (from another Etsy shop, not Orglamix) but my new EYESHADOW was in there!!!  I squealed like a girl all the way from the curb to the house because that's what girls do when they get a super nice package in the mail.  I ripped into it to find a lovely satiny bag inside with some fun, green rose petals inside.  AWWW!  I'm sorry but that was a nice touch.  I don't care what anyone thinks about too much packaging these days.  It's nice to order something and still get treated as if it's this amazing gift!  I knew what was in there (or DID I?) but it was still like waking up to Christmas...  Anyway, love it. 

So, I open the little green pouch to find not 1 but TWO pots of eyeshadow...  Was this right?  Could it be?  I don't know if it was a mistake (I'll ask) but before I thought about it, I was putting it all on.  I got 2 shades:  Moss and Wasabi

In their shop, they have the eyeshadow on a real eyelid of a real human instead of just random, blurry pictures of pots with powders in them.  The pictures are VERY accurate but you can't even begin to imagine the SHIMMER!  OMG.  It's truly a miracle.  I put some on the inside of my wrist right as I opened it to see how it blended and it's still there exactly as I put it on.  Shimmering.... 

Moss looks like this lovely, dark green shimmery color.  When you wet an eyeliner brush, it turns like this molten, green foil-ish color and glides on smoother than any liquid liner you can find.  I'm in awe!  Where have you been all my life, Orglamix???? 

I hate to say it but...

You know those emails that you get from Etsy that showcases a bunch of stuff for sale and it's all themed?  I hate them.  I hate about 98% of the stuff in those emails.  With this push to 'buy handmade', why am I supposed to want to buy an old pair of Justin lace-ups from 1992?  Really?  Cause, I'm not sure if they realize this but JUSTIN made those.  I understand that 'vintage' is allowed to be sold and supplies.  Believe me, I love supplies like crazy but there are some things I just feel don't belong on Etsy.  I can go to any old lady's yard sale in my neighborhood and buy some nerd-chic heels and pair them with a dress that I'm also wearing jeans with.  That's not what Etsy is about to me.  I'm just kind of sad and disappointed that that's who they're choosing to promote. 

By the way, what is going on with attractive young women wearing ENORMO glasses from the 80's?  Honey, I wore that look...IN the 80's.  I got made fun of THEN!!!  Who are these people and why are we taking their advice as to what to buy??? 

Pardon this rant of mine but it's just starting to get on my nerves a little.  I would love to see something featured that real people would buy.  Blah.  Anyway...

I am working on the most beautiful capelet for my 8 year old!  I'm using Knit Picks Swick DK in Nutmeg that will go with just about everything she has.  I'm using this pattern from Fiddle Knits and it's wonderful!  Not only that, but when I had a hiccup trying to figure out the pattern (it's not a hard pattern at all!  I'm just an idiot and let one of my stitch markers drop off), Erica, the designer, was so awesome about it!  I wrote and asked her why I was an idiot and she replied as kindly as possible.  lol  Really, she tried hard to help me and she did!  I'm not even almost nearly halfway at all, but this is definitely one of my favorite patterns so far!!! 

I also got done a pretty quick headband/neck warmer!  I made mine with some soft gray acrylic and gave it to my mom!  It looks awesome on her!!!  I don't have a picture (MOM, TAKE A PIC!!!) but I'll work on it.  ;) 

From Etsy, I have coming some mineral foundation and some mineral eye shadow and I CAN NOT WAIT!!!  I'm dying to see if it's in the mail today but it hasn't run yet!  EEEEEEEEEEEE!!!  Come on, mailman!!!  I'll update when I get it!  :D

Just an FYI...

If you're interested in reading something not-so-crafty, our homeschool blog is here:  http://littlesparrowacademy.blogspot.com/

So, on the subject of wool...

I ordered some wool that I had been drooling over for quite a while...  It was Cestari wool and just about the most perfect colorway that there ever was.  I waited for months to order it because I wasn't sure if I could justify paying THAT MUCH for wool...  Finally, I just bit the bullet and put the order in.  I waited.  My husband had mentioned that it wasn't showing up on the bank statement online so I wrote the wool place and asked when my order would be shipped.  They said no later than Thursday.  OK, so on Thursday I checked my invoice status...  Processing, it said.  Great.  I checked Friday...Processing.  Not great.  So, it's now Tuesday, almost 2 weeks after I ordered it and it still says processing.  I wrote on Saturday asking them to cancel my order.  I had to.  The card I used was my debit card and my awesome (I truly mean that) husband lost it and so I had to cancel it and get a new one.  Even if they do pull their heads out of their butts, they still won't be able to run my card.  They haven't answered my email asking them to cancel anyhow.  It sort of seems like they're idiots who just happen to sell really beautiful wool.  I'm sad. 

Anyway, we're actually doing school right now.  One of them is doing language arts while the other does math.  E is 6 and she's learning about the have family contractions and silent consonants.  M is 8 and is just reviewing.  I'm tired and pretty run down today.  The baby thinks it's his job to get into everything and I'm so tired of chasing him around.  If he's not into things he shouldn't be, then he's picking little balls of wool from  his shorties and eating them.  I do my best to fish them out but it's an all-day job.

The sad thing?  I've needed to pee for the last 4 hours but haven't had a minute to go.  Even as I write this, I'm doing other things...  I guess I'm not THAT bad at multitasking.  lol

For a lovely, wonderful, can't say enough good things about her, friend...

So, I met this lady online several years ago.  We were both pregnant (with our now-6 year olds).  It was my second baby and her first.  I've had one more baby and she's now cooking her third and due any day now!  I'm so excited to see what this baby looks like since all of her babies are THE most adorable little things in the world!  She did the 3-D ultrasound done and THOSE CHEEKS!  They make me smile so much and also regret not getting that done with mine.  When I saw those baby cheeks in the u/s, I decided that I just had to make something for the baby.  I wanted to make a complete layette set but I didn't have enough time (let alone the skill) so I set out to make a hat and a bonnet.  I used this pattern and some regular ol' acrylic yarn.  I would have liked to have used a nicer yarn but it wouldn't have gotten here in time.  ;)

For the bonnet, I used this pattern because I needed to get it done 'super quick'.  Same yarn but I made some cute little flowers to go around where the ties would be.  I do NOT feel comfortable with hats that tie for a baby.  I sometimes can't believe that so many people use them but they wig me out big-time.  It just seems to be a horrible, horrible accident waiting to happen...  Needless to say, I left the ties off.  ;)

There they are!  I made them with a ton of love.  This is a friend who just makes my day every time I talk to her.  I think if I could move close to any one of my friends, I would have to plant myself right next door to her, if not right in her living room.  LOL


ETA:  She had her baby TODAY on 8-9-10!!!  9 pounds 6 ounces and GORGEOUS!

Little faces, smiling eyes, fuzzy hair...

Right now, I'm holding my 1 year old, giant baby boy while he takes a nap.  He wakes up every time I try to put him down so he'll just have to get used to sleeping through my typing.  Today he called me 'mama' for the first time and my heart skipped a few beats and pride came beaming from my face.  He called me out of desperation while I was eating my lunch and he wanted out of the play yard.  Arms outstretched, he yelled 'MA-MAAAAAA' to me.  I got him out, don't worry.  I cherish these moments.  I have 2 older babies (8 and 6) and the bulk of their 'firsts' are over except for when E loses her first tooth.  The rest of the 'firsts' are the firsts that no mom really wants to think about.  First period, first bra, first pimple, first broken heart...  I can wait on those.  I would put those on hold indefinitely if I could.  But I have a sweet little boy who realized that he could say my name today and I would respond.  I'll *always* respond. 

Sleeping baby boy...under a girlie butterfly blankie.  Oh well.

A little news...

No, I'm not pregnant again.  lol  After thinking about how much I love knitting and how much I really want to make a little money to ease things for this coming Christmas, I plan on opening my Etsy shop again!  I'm actually really excited about it!  It's been such a long time but I think I'm ready.  I may be changing directions with it but hopefully I'll keep all of my hearts on my shop and appeal to some new people.  I've been a little down about how Etsy seems to be full of professional Etsy sellers anymore but I guess if they fall under the category, then what can you do.  They've stopped featuring smaller shops and plaster the front page with things you'd find in Sears.  Well, if you could buy handmade things at Sears.  lol  I'm not bitter. 

Anyway, I don't know when I'm going to open it back up but keep an eye out for me.  I need to build up my yarn stash (hahahahhahahaha, sorry, Hubs!) and practice just a little more.  lol  I may be a newbie knitter but I will not sell junk.  :D


So,  I am waiting on a couple of knitting needles in the mail before I can finish my latest set of woolies for the baby.  I'm doing my winter knitting.  I'm kind of really super thrilled that I can say that.  I've seen a lot of other woolie knitters say they were doing their winter knitting and I was always jealous.  HA! 

These are going to be wool longies made with this pattern and 100 Pure Wool in 'forest of pines'.  I'm not sure if they still have this colorway but it's darn pretty if you ask me!

The butt

So that's what I have so far.  I'm trying very hard to get the gusset right but I'm having a little trouble with these to be honest.  I'll get it, though.  Don't worry.  :D 

From now on, my name shall be Knitter!

I'm really doing it!!!  I started a soaker and although I ran out of wool, I'm still almost finished!!!

 I didn't even know that this pattern created this pretty little border!  I'm SO happy with it!


It's definitely not perfect, though.  Look at this mess.

Um.  Oops.  I don't know what I did to create that huge hole but there it is.  It's right in the front of the soaker and makes me sad to see it.  I think it'll be easy enough to fix though. 

Besides this project that I've had to put down so I can order more wool, I started a new one last night.  It's just a hat but I'm doing a good job with it, too and that's such a big deal to me!  I can't believe that after all this time, knitting is FINALLY clicking!  FINALLY!

Wool Soaker...GULP.

I'm going to try knitting again.  I get so frustrated and I say I'm going to quit but I can't!  I just can't quit!  It's like gateway crafting!  MUST KNIT!  MUST MAKE IT WORK.  MUST MAKE PRETTY THINGS.  At least if I continue the knitting, it won't destroy my family and sadden my parents like, ya know, cocaine or something.  I'm having trouble figuring out which cast-on method to use and how a knit pattern comes together.  Crocheting is just so easy to me and the patterns are a second language!  Knitting is just...  GAH!  SO FRUSTRATING!  I hate starting something and then getting so upset at the stupid thing that I unravel the whole thing and put it away.  I need to start something and actually finish it.  I'm going to start a soaker today so I'll be around to update on how it's going.  Cross your fingers for me.  Say some prayers.   Wish me luck.

For my next trick...

ALDI just recently came to Texas and although sticking a quarter in the cart and buying your own bags is somewhat...weird...I really love this store!  The closest one to me is really nice and clean and man, those checkers are FAAAAST.  For Texans, this is a totally new way of shopping and it's apparently hard to adjust.  My husband went in while I sat in the car one day (I had a cold and was doing my duty by keeping away from the general public) and I watched about 5 women get downright flustered at the lady attending the carts when I could see her explaining that you put a quarter in the cart to unlock it.  Oh, they got M-A-D, MAD.  I watched angry women walk away and thought that was probably for the best.  They would have blown their tops when they checked out and had to buy their own bags.  Speaking of...

I've bought SOOOO many ALDI bags now that I think I have enough to make a couple of market bags!!!  LOOKIE...

Cut off the top and bottom of bag with rotary cutter.

Start folding like this until you get almost all the way up.  ALMOST.

See that little part at the top?  LEAVE IT THAT WAY!  :D

Remember how your mom used to cut noodles?  It kind of looked like this.  DO NOT cut that little top part we left unfolded!

Mmm....  Noodles...  This is what it'll look like when you're done cutting.

Unfurl!

OK, open up that top seam that we didn't cut through! 

You're going to cut in this way through every 'noodle'.  This will make...

...one super long piece of plastic bag 'yarn'! 

Roll it up!

The beginning of my new market bag made from already recycled ALDI bags!!!  It's brilliant!

Our new kitten!  Her name is Gia!

Sweeties!

 

 

 So, as you can see, I'm making a market bag!  I think it's ridiculously awesome.  You take bags that are recycled in the first place and then MAKE something out of them to be used forever!  You can't even imagine how sturdy this crocheted plastic yarn is!  I'm just jealous that it wasn't MY idea in the first place! 

Egads and stuff...

A friend brought up meal planning recently and I thought, 'Oh, I can answer this!  I do meal planning!!!'  I DO plan our meals and shop from that list.  I also subscribe (in other words, pay) to a service...  The recipes are great and all but I'm trying to cut costs.  Life is expensive and the last thing that I want to do is pay someone to do my job for me.  Can I not sit down for half an hour one evening and print out some new recipes and make a grocery list from that?  I was just looking up 'meal planning' on Google and I swear that half of what I found also started in with the couponing...  Ugh.  Oy.  No.  I don't use coupons.  I've tried it and no matter what, I end up spending more than I would had I just gone to Wal Mart and bought store-brand.  I don't buy name brands and using coupons just makes me buy name brands.  So, my goal for next week is to cancel my meal planning service and do it myself!  I'll *try* and share my menu when I come up with it.  ;)

Now, for my BIG NEWS!!!  I finished Baby H's wool shorties!!!  I'm a sucker for a free pattern so I used this one:  Little Fire Crochet Pants

Hammy in finished shorties.  Those are some serious thighs...

Finishing the gusset...

I crochet with the very first hook my Grandma ever gave me.  It's pretty beat up.  lol  I saved an earthworm with it once...

I love this colorway...  It's beautiful!

Working on the leg.  I lost count of how many rounds it took me to do the first leg so I eyeballed it. 

My boy in the finished product.  It's been lanolized since this picture so now it's super soft.  We just adore these pants!!!

I LOVED it.  I have to give the pattern-writer a ton of credit on this one.  I usually don't like the look of crocheted woolies but this is a pattern that was easy and worked up so beautifully!  I used merino wool yarn from Pancake and Lulu in the colorway, INK.  The shorties are so lovely and squishy and they fit the bubs so perfectly.  I had to crochet extra rows in the gusset since my little guy has some MEGA THIGHS but that's easy enough.  I love it.

WIPs and why I'm not a knitter...

Well, most people visiting this blog will be those who already know me in some way or another.  What you probably know about me is that I have 3 kids, we homeschool and live in Texas.  What you may not know is that I do not finish crafty projects.  I’m a slacker.  I get that satisfaction of seeing that a project WILL turn out correctly and then I’m fine with never making the rest of it.  My kids have 1 mitten, 1 slipper and so on.  If there are 2 to be made, I make 1 and feel okay with it.  I made a stuffed panda for my youngest daughter and when my oldest daughter asked for one, I suggested they just share.  Yes.  Share.  This is no good so I thought that maybe if I started a blog to keep me motivated, I might actually finish the things I start.  In time, I hope to add another blogger or 2 so we can all keep this going.
My crocheting background goes back a long ways.  I started when I was about 12-ish.  I knew how to but I didn’t have a need to make anything until I got pregnant with my first baby.  That’s really when I learned the harder stitches and techniques.  My grandma taught me the basics and I went from there.  I hold my crochet hook like a pencil rather than the other grip that most people use so if I ever have any tutorials, that might be odd for the viewer.  We’ll see.  Anyway, I’ve always loved the look of knit but as I’ve found out recently, I’m no good at it.  I made one hat once and that turned out well.  Since then, I haven’t been able to capture the magic again.  Meh…  I’ll post the proof of that soon. 
I have a couple of friends who knit and they try so hard to help me and it just doesn’t work out.  I start out okay and then something weird happens…  For example, I went to make a pair of slippers and they started out well!  I didn’t know how that rectangle was going to make a slipper but I figured it would all work out in the end.  They didn’t!  I don’t know what went wrong but they’re not pretty (see below).   I can pretty much read a crochet pattern and know how it’ll work out.  Knit patterns are a big, fat question mark to me.  I don’t get them.

Knit/Crochet

Here is a perfect example of my terrible knitting vs. my fabulous crocheting.  On the left is my knitting.  Wow.  That’s really terrible.  It looks like I scooped the inside out of a blue baked potato and put it on my daughter’s foot!  Really bad.  On the right is my super cute little crocheted slipper that I worked with virtually no pattern!  See how well it fits?  She wasn’t even with me when I made it!  The second slipper (not finished, of course) fits just as well and I couldn’t even remember how I made the first one and they totally match each other.  See?  I should just be happy with crochet!
My other WIPs (works-in-progress):

Wee Bootie

More wee booties...

Wool Shorties

I finished a hat for my 9 month old last month that turned out really, really cute!  Did he wear it?  No.  He pitched it and we ended up having to pick it up off the ground a hundred times before we just put it away.

Hammy in his hat!

It turned out a little girlier than I had planned on it but whatever.  He needed a hat to keep his head from burning and he kept it on just long enough.  I also have some washies made out of cotton that I’ll share later on.  No biggie but pretty anyway.
I would love to start something really intricate like lace but my tastes are more modern and I’m afraid they would just go to waste.  We’ll see.  Well, there ya have it.  My first post in my new blog.  TA-DAAAAAA.

And so...

...here I am after a very, very long break.  What have I done?  Well, I had a baby.  He's just about the most adorable child on the planet!  He was born on July 7th via c-section.  What a horrible recovery that turned out to be but nevertheless, I survived and have a happy, albeit fat, little baby.  He's 4 months old now and I adore him so very, very much.  His big sisters are in love with him, too and he wants to be up and running around with them so much!  We're one big happy family, that's for sure...

So, where do I stand with Etsy?  Hmmm...  I don't know!  I still love the place but having a little nursling around really makes it hard to create anything and what I would be making, is already being made probably a lot better than I could make it anyhow.  I think the plan for now is to just enjoy our holiday season without worrying about selling anything or having to rush to the post office.  I think we'll just relax.  :D  One thing I have noticed about Etsy is that there are a lot more 'professionals' selling now than there ever was before.  Competition must be fierce, especially to little homemakers like myself who just wanted to make a little Christmas money.  ha! 

Anyway, there's an update!  This blog may very well turn into my homeschool blog or family blog...  I don't know.  Either way, I've enjoyed updating it for Etsy's sake but now it's probably time to turn my attention to something else.  ;) 

Big, big, BIG break...

So, we found out on November 8th that we're expecting our third little miracle! The baby is due July 23, 2009 and although I think I would love to continue creating for Etsy, I know how I am while pregnant. I'll likely be spending most of my time SHOPPING on Etsy for all things baby right down to the cloth diapers. ;) If I do happen to get bit by the creative bug, I'll definitely let you know! :D As of right now, I need a huge nap. lol Lots of hugs and love to you all! XOXO

Wow, I didn't realize!!!

It's been over a month since I've written! I've just been creatively challenged for a while and I haven't felt like making anything new. Life is a little beyond crazy right now so I'm taking yet another break from Etsy. I need to de-funk before I attempt to craft again.

I got some polymer clay and although I have a LOT of ideas, I need to get the curing method down. I'm either burning my clay while baking it or it's not curing all the way. Bummer! I made the cutest little cake because that was what made me want to try my hand at clay in the first place. It was so adorable when I put it in the over to cure but something went horribly wrong. lol Oh well. I'll get it down. I'm looking at the prettiest colors with something fabulous in mind. ;)

And what IS wrong with me? It's 9:30am and I'm eating one of those NASTACULAR frozen burritos! That's soooo gross and nasty but ATM, it's deeeelish!

Featured EtsyBlogger!!! TulipsTreasureBox

I can't even begin to imagine the amount of time, talent and patience this takes but I'm in awe and I SO admire her work! She's featured for a good reason! These amazing works of art come from Tulips Treasure Box at Etsy! Please go and visit the shop! :D The blog is TuLipsTalking.blogspot.com

Back to school- EtsyBloggers Blog Carnival!!!

So, the subject of what 'back to school' means for you came up and I thought it was a good time to talk about it here. :D

'Back to school' is pretty much just another day at home. Since we're homeschoolers and we go year 'round, this is just something we say in the morning. Before we actually started our homeschool journey, I had a system in mind for how it would go down. We would start in the fall and end in the spring and then promote to the next grade level! No big deal!

We received our first grade curriculum on May 17th in the mail and as I looked through it, Madeline just got more and more excited to start! What do you tell a kid who is over-the-moon about learning? "No, you have to wait until the fall! The FALL is when you're allowed to start learning!" Um, no thanks. I have no desire to break a kid's heart. LOL I get a LOT of 'YOU MAKE YOUR KID GO TO SCHOOL OVER THE SUMMER??????' outrage, but they just don't understand how it is. I have a 6 year old who reads at the 9th grade level and comprehends at the 9th grade level. She's a stinkin' sponge! If I wait a little longer to get school started, I'm absolutely HOUNDED by her to get started! I had to convince her to take a day off on her birthday!!! LOL

Our youngest just turned 4 and will start pre-k curriculum in September. She's a different kid so she might need a different schedule and we'll cross that bridge when we get there. :D Either way, it's my life's passion to homeschool. It's my absolute joy and privilege. I'm good at it. No, I'm excellent at it! Hang out for a little while longer and I'll still be patting myself on the back. LOL J/K

I have plans, ya know!

I really do plan on getting back on track with my shop. I've had too many blog posts here saying I am and to watch for new stuff. Then I get off the computer and forget or I end up cuddling with my kiddos and it's just not my priority. My very wonderful cousin sent me some cute, CUTE fabric today and I'm planning on making some dresses or shirts with them. I'm going to offer some new styles, too! I'm so excited to get sewing! I need a long weekend where my computer and TV spontaneously stop working (just for the weekend though! OMG, can you imagine? HAHA) and I do nothing but sew. Maybe I could get the hubs to take the DVR and my DSL modem with him while he takes the kids out for an adventure! HAHA I'm seriously addicted to TV. It's pretty sick. I have every episode of Project Runway recorded but I haven't watched any of them because I'm so far behind on my TV watching. I had to totally drop Days of Our Lives because there just wasn't that extra hour in my day to watch it. Oh, wait... Etsy... That's what I'm supposed to be talking about.

So, anyway, I'm going to take Friday night and Saturday and just sew like crazy.

Oh, hey! Guess what I made tonight!!! You know the cheese rangoons from Panda Express? I made my own and they were A-MAZING!

1 packages cream cheese, softened
6 green onions, minced
1 tsp sugar....yes, sugar!
1 tsp salt
couple grinds of pepper (or dashes, whatever)
Wonton wrappers!

Peanut oil
water

Keep your stack of wonton wrappers under a damp paper towel while you roll the other ones.

OK, mix up all of your ingredients except the wontons, obviously. Take a wonton wrapper and wet 2 sides. Put about a teaspoon of cheese mixture inside and then bring the wonton together, corner to corner to form a triangle. Then, bring the 2 end points (assuming your triangle is pointing up) to the middle. Secure with a little water and pinch closed. Try to work all of the air out while closing up your wontons and pinch the edges so that they're really secure. I had some poppers and man, that cheese burns SUPER fast! OK, drop them VERY CAREFULLY into your hot peanut oil. You're deep-frying here so don't be chinsy on the oil! Make sure you have a place to put them when you take them out of the oil, too! Don't be like me with all the panic and the OMG's and the PHIL GET ME A PLATE!!!! I totally burned my fingers. That's not part of the recipe, btw. I think you get the idea. These rangoons are best paired with Panda's mandarin sauce. I'm going to attempt to make that this weekend. I'll let you know about that one. ;)

Wow, it's been a while! I have something new, though!!!

And now for something new!!!

So, I was down in the dumps and guess what! A sweet Etsy-seller-friend of mine suggested I make something new. A loop on The Goofy Tooth so you can hang it on a door! HuH? Wha??? That's SUCH a good idea!!! I've already sold one and have another up in my shop and now that alllll of my kids birthdays and t-ball are over, I can get back to sewing and Etsy-ing! I'll soon have The Goofy Tooth up in so many new fabrics that your head will spin, possibly roll! We'll see about the head thing. Anyway, come check out the new item and see what you think! I'm SO excited about it!!!

In other news, I'm still not dead. Life just went absolutely bonkers! At the end of May is my sister's birthday, June 2nd, my youngest daughter's birthday, June 14th is my nephew's, June 21st, my cousin's and June 26th is my oldest's birthday! Sprinkle t-ball practice 2x/week and t-ball games PLUS homeschool! Man, I just didn't have any time to write anything! I'm back in the zone though so I'll be here more! :D

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=12881339