teddy & giveaway winner

I just walked past Cami's room... I looked in to see her bed so nicely made and "Teddy" with a place of honor. She's been making her bed like this for awhile, it's just one of those moments when how special it is hit me. Special because my little girl is such a sweetheart and it warms my heart to think of how proud she is of all the little things I make for her and her big sister. Special because I made "Teddy" 20 years ago for Leila and after all these years Teddy still gets love and a warm bed to sleep in. (Although he now only has half a smile. Cami refuses to let me fix this.) Special because both of my girls are growing up so quickly. I am so proud of them and their accomplishments. I look forward to sharing in their continued growth... and I hope Teddy will continue to share their hugs and kisses too.

The winner of this month's chocolate tag giveaway is Nathan! Congratulations Nathan! I'll be sending out your set of chocolate tags soon! :)

creative & busy team leader...

It's been about a month since I mentioned who the featured EtsyBlogger is... that means it's time for this month's big announcement!!! The featured EtsyBlogger for September is...

Joey and Aleethea

I have to say that the EtsyBloggers would be nothing without our fearless leader! She is the Admin and Team Leader for our team. I don't know how she juggles it all! Two small children, her busy, adorable etsy shop, the blog, the team.... she must be super woman! :) Look at the adorable items in her shop! (Sampling seen below.) Take time to see what else she's up to at her happening blog! Thanks so much for all you do for our team! :)

a new pincushion

I finished creating a new milk chocolate with white chocolate swirl truffle today for allyegator. (She requested one similar to my avatar.) It's been a month or so since I created a new chocolate pincushion. I really enjoyed sitting down with my needle and thread to create it. Thanks allyegator! :)

I have three finished chocolate tops that are waiting to be made into magnets or bookmarks. I have to decide.... hmmm... maybe I'll do both! A chocolate bookmark and a pair of chocolate magnets. I'll have to look at them again and figure it out. I'm kind of dragging today so I suspect that they'll stay in their current state a little longer. I've been having more good days than bad, but those bad days sometimes just seem to creep up on you. I definitely feel the pressure from it this morning. My next doctor's appointment is on Friday, it will be nice to hear about the results from the test I had last week. In the meantime, today is one of those days that I think I'll need to take it a little easier.

recap & new list

WEEK OF 09/15/08 PROJECTS:
Custom Order - Chocolate Swirl Truffle Pincushion
Flower Bookmark
Chocolate Items

WEEK OF 09/15/08 LISTINGS:
Custom Order - Chocolate Swirl Truffle Pincushion

WEEK OF 09/08/08 PROJECTS RECAP:
Flower Bookmark
Chocolate Items
added: Custom Order - Chocolate Tags Set - Completed
added: Custom Order - "3" Birthday Clippie - Completed
added: Devilish Headband - Completed

WEEK OF 09/08/08 LISTINGS RECAP:
New Blossom Card - Completed
added: Custom Order - Chocolate Tags Set - Completed
added: Custom Order - "3" Birthday Clippie - Completed
added: Devilish Headband - Completed

It was nice to have some custom order requests during the week last week. I always enjoy creating things especially for someone. Today I will begin work on another custom order, a chocolate truffle swirl pincushion. I also have some chocolate tops complete waiting to be made into a set of chocolate magnets. I'm hoping to have those completed this week too.

devilish headband - september challenge

September's challenge for the CCCOE (California Crafters Club of Etsy) team is "Fall Traditions." This theme encompasses holidays such as Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Rosh Hashanah. I think we'll see a very broad range of items in this theme! :)

My entry for this month's challenge is my "Feeling VERY Devlish... Headband." I first created this headband last year for Cami and her friend to wear to school for a special event near Halloween. I was so happy with how it turned out! Cami loved how comfortable it was to wear AND the fact that all her friends thought it was pretty cool! :) I was going through my box of extra items and came across my prototype. I hadn't written down any instructions so I went to work on recreating the headband... this time writing down how I made it! :) I also made one with white horns that turned out really cute too!

I really would like to add some other variations. (Another item to add to my future "project lists!") I made some cute pig ears headbands last year too... they were for Cami and two other girls who were in the school play as the three little pigs. They were so cute! Click here to see a picture of the pig ears headband.

You can check out the challenge participants here. Go to the last page of the thread to see the most current list of participants. The list of entries will continue to grow until the deadline, September 30th.

I LOVE blue!!!! ...and chocolate tags give away...

I LOVE blue... all shades of blue! (Even my car is blue!!) I decided it was time to make a Blossom Card that had a lovely blue flower. (It helped that it was also an EtsyBlogger carnival challenge to show your favorite color in your work as well! :) ) This aqua blue floral paper just grabbed me when I saw it at a store months ago and it's been patiently waiting in my stash for the perfect time to bloom. I really love how it "pops" against the orangey pink background paper. I just listed this Blossom Card in my shop as Blue Posies Blossom Card.

Now it's time for the September drawing announcement!!! This month's give away is for a set of 3 of my chocolate tags. Drawing will take place on Monday, September 22nd. (Comments counted until Noon, PST on 9/22/08. U.S. residents only, please.) So, leave a comment so I know you’d like to be entered in the drawing and tell me, what's YOUR favorite color! :)

UPDATED 09/22/08 @ 1:30 pm: Drum roll..... The winner of this month's give away is... Nathan!!! Congratulations!!! Thanks so much for commenting on my blog!

chocolates & radioactive scrambled eggs

I made these cute little chocolate candy tags for barneybetty today! It had been a little while since I had put together my little chocolates and I had fun cutting and pasting them into yummy candies. Thank you barneybetty for the order! :)

This morning I went to the hospital for the gastric emptying study. They had me eat some radioactive scrambled eggs (not yummy) so they could watch my digestion (or not). I had to lay still for an hour and a half in a confined space while the machine did it's job. I'm hoping that somehow I've gained some super hero trait through the radioactive eggs... at least maybe I could glow in the dark! :) I'll keep you posted! I'll get the results from this test next Friday when I see my gastroenterologist.

Hmmmm.... super hero traits... what would you choose as yours?

celebrating a new year clippie

I'm so thrilled to have some energy today! I got to work and finished an item that's been on my "to do list" for WAY too long. (Thanks mommab for your patience!) This little hair clippie was a custom order for a mom of a soon to be 3 year old. She's just going to look so precious showing off her newest number/year! :) The number "3" and all elements of this clippie have been hand embroidered.

recap & new list

WEEK OF 09/08/08 PROJECTS:
Flower Bookmark
Chocolate Items

WEEK OF 09/08/08 LISTINGS:
New Blossom Card

WEEK OF 09/01/08 PROJECTS RECAP:
3 New Blossom Cards - Completed
Flower Bookmark
Chocolate Items

WEEK OF 09/01/08 LISTINGS RECAP:
3 New Blossom Cards - 2 Listed

I'm keeping my list fairly simple this week. I still need to work on my office and some of the paper management!

treasury & your chance to vote

Yippee! My Apple Felt Bookmark was featured in another treasury! This one was put together by localcolorist... (Thanks so much for including my bookmark in your wonderful collection of items!) This treasury features some of the entries for the CCCOE (California Crafters Club of Etsy) Team August Challenge. You can vote for your favorites here, until Sunday, September 7th... So please stop by and vote (I'm #31!!!) for your back-to-school favorite! :)

a featured item & new blossoms

I am so happy that my newly made Apple Felt Bookmark has made it into a treasury! Yippee! Thanks so much Katy of KisforCalligraphy for featuring my bookmark!

I've been hard at work today on two new Blossom Cards. This one is the Polka Dot Plum Blossom Card. I love how polka dots make things look so cheery!

This one is so fresh! Chains of daisies on a field of green polka dots!!! I guess I was in a polka dot mood today! I listed this one today as well, it's the Daisy Blossom Card.

I have another Blossom Card that I'm hoping I'll finish and be able to photograph tomorrow. It's always fun to see how the paper combinations turn out. I get a thrill every time I pull the ribbon to open the blossom. When it's fully open is when I can see if it came together like I imagined. Isn't it so fun to create?! I LOVE it! :)

recap & new list

WEEK OF 09/01/08 PROJECTS:
3 New Blossom Cards
Flower Bookmark
Chocolate Items

WEEK OF 09/01/08 LISTINGS:
3 New Blossom Cards

WEEK OF 08/25/08 PROJECTS RECAP:
MORE Blossom Cards! Order of two cards - Completed
Get to that Bookmark!!! Completed

WEEK OF 08/25/08 LISTINGS RECAP:
Blossom Cards
Bookmark??? :) Completed

Ahhh.... A three day weekend! It's so nice to hear Cami playing with a friend in the pool. The BBQ is all fired up too! Yummy!

I am hoping to organize my office a little this week also. Putting up my new computer made me realize how big my stack of "items to scan" has grown. Time to do a little paper management! :)