Etsyblogger Treasury

Check out my etsybloggers treasury i just created!

SALE!!!!

alright everybody! from friday nov. 28th to monday dec. 1st, i'm offering free shipping on everything in my shop....worldwide! so check it! pick up some nice artwork for yourself or as a gift.

Candy Cane Legs

i just finished a piece that i'm crazy excited about! why? because i dreamt about it first! that doesn't happen very often with me. i think the last time it happened, i dreamt about a really awesome shirt! problem is...i don't sew clothing! lol
anyway, this turned out EXACTLY the way it looked in my dream! colors and everything! i want to make a few more pieces with this except in a different color scheme, this one turned out a bit halloweeny.


aaaand...i finished my christmas hatchling! i'm just in love with the candy cane legs.


as you can tell, i'm trying to load up the shop. i'm really crossing my fingers that things will pick up after thanksgiving.

Good Deeds

i can't believe i haven't posted about this yet.
the company willie works for had a gala last week to raise money for them to go to africa. they've set up something they're calling &initiative. where every year they choose a charity to donate or work with. this year it's building with books.
if you visit courtney & co.'s website, at the bottom is a link about &initiative. i think it's a really marvelous thing they're doing.
if they raise enough money, they'll be going to mali, africa to build a school there. very exciting! and i'm extremely jealous. willie's going to be going to africa without me!
so i donated my blue and green polka dot hatchling to their silent auction and willie screen printed a really awesome beatles messenger bag:


awesome awesome thing they're doing.

Sparkle Sparkle!

how about a quick sneaky peak at my newest sparkly hatchling? these aren't the best pictures, i plan on taking some better ones tomorrow in natural light.
i'm also working on a christmas hatchling which should also be done tomorrow.
then i have a 3 piece wood artwork set that might also get done tomorrow. i'm all about jumping around to different projects. i still need to get a custom order done for a couple of embroidered aceo's. those shouldn't take too long.
ideally, i am hoping to get some ornaments up in the shop, but it's looking more and more like that won't happen. at some point it's going to be too late. but i haven't lost hope yet!
i just received some caramels from haveitconfections....lordy lordy....good stuff. if you're only going to purchase one flavor....i recommend the mayan chocolate. followed by autumn spice and then egg nog. those are the only flavors i've tried right now.

i'm still trying to work out how to balance promoting/networking and actually making things for the shop. i'm trying to put as much work as i can into this. it's hard work! at this point...it's still a hobby. i can't consider this a business in any way. heck i've only made 3 sales. but then again, i just opened shop in august and i certainly don't expect any miracles. i don't list often enough. so my shop can't stay on the top of etsy searches that way. but i'm trying! i'll keep working at it.

Good Karma & Chocolate

so, i'll post about the chocolate show in a bit but first.....on our way to the chocolate show, we were on the subway and i took out my iphone to listen to some music. got to our stop, got off.....and as i was putting the iphone back into my coat pocket...realized my credit card and drivers license had fallen out. of course immediately got out of the station and frantically called my credit card company to cancel it. rest of that part of the story continued at the end of this post. after that, i was able to enjoy the chocolate show which was incredible!!! we gorged ourselves on all sorts of amazing chocolate from decadent melt in your mouth truffles to cherry chile candy bars to blue cheese chocolate truffles....yeah...blue cheese. it was surprisingly good! it was just really nutty. no blue cheese taste that i could tell....and i don't like blue cheese. we spent way too much money on lots of chocolate. but we'll be set for awhile. seriously, fun stuff!! i was in a major chocolate coma by the time we left. we also saw keegan gerhard there! he hosts the food network challenge shows. but i couldn't remember his name and felt too weird to ask if i could get my picture with him. he was just at one of the booths on his cell phone. but that was cool too!
they also had a chocolate fashion show.....



amazingly enough, those are really the only chocolate pictures i got. i was too busy eating the other chocolate to take pictures of it! hehe.....

so onto the fiasco with my credit card and driver's license. fast forward to an hour or so ago, willie gets an email from the couple that found my card and license! they wanted to let us know they found them and would be mailing them back to us. they did a bit of detective work, found my blog and through that found willie's email address. i could seriously hug them right now. if you guys are reading this......THANK YOU!!!! you've restored my faith that there are still plenty of honest people in this city. thank you thank you thank you a million times over. oh....and another funny detail....the gentlemans' wife...is also a quilter and fiber artist. pretty cool huh!!
so i get to go to bed tonight with a nice warm fuzzy feeling....good karma to my two saviors today!!! you guys are awesome!!!! i've been rescued from the horrid endless line at the DMV....lol. :)

Wonky Ladybugs

well i made a baby quilt for a friend of mine yesterday. i think this was the ultimate in procrastination. the baby shower was at 4 pm saturday. friday night at 10 pm is when i started the quilt. i went to bed at 2 am. then started back on the quilt again at 11 am. i finished it 10 minutes before my friends came to pick me up to go to the shower. so i literally gave it to her hot off the sewing machine. lol
it's not a terribly complicated quilt for obvious reasons. but i'm happy with how it turned out. not so happy with the pictures, but i had 10 minutes to photograph it and it was really cloudy and rainy outside so there was no natural light to speak of. but here it is anyway, in all its wonky glory. :)

November Featured Etsyblogger!

November's featured etsyblogger is storybeader who makes some seriously stunning jewelry. i love the stones she uses in her pieces.



or how about the wire wrapping on this one! pretty pretty pretty!



and how sweet is it that she also includes a haiku with each piece!

please do go check out her shop and her blog as well!

Vote?

polls are closed but still...did you?

White Chicken Chili

tonight i made white chicken chili from the september '08 issue of cooking light.
it turned out soooo good! and would also make a great burrito filling!
but i'm a bad blogger...we were so hungry and psyched about it....i kinda sorta neglected to take any pictures.
so i guess you'll have to take my word for it. it...was...good.
now, it doesn't make a whole lot. it was just enough for me to have one bowl and hubby to have seconds. so, if you're feeding a family, i would suggest possibly doubling the recipe or serving it with something else. also, i added a bit more broth at the end as i was adding the cut up chicken because it was a little too thick for my taste.
here's the recipe:

White Chicken Chili

2 tsp canola oil
1 1/2 cups chopped onion (about 1 large)
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups fat free less sodium chicken broth
5 tsp green hot pepper sauce (such as Tabasco)
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 1/4 lbs skinless boneless chicken breast halves
2 tbsp stone ground cornmeal
1 (19 oz) can cennellini beans or other white beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cups plain fat free yogurt (i just used reduced fat sour cream)
2 tbsp thinly sliced green onions (about 1)

Heat oil in a dutch oven over medium heat. Add chopped onion and garlic to pan; cook 5 minutes or until onion is tender, stirring occasionally. Add broth, hot pepper sauce, salt, and chicken to pan; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer 15 minutes. Remove chicken from broth mixture to cool.
Add cornmeal and beans to broth mixture, stirring with a whisk, simmer 15 minutes. Mash about 1/4 cup beans against side of pan. Cut chicken into bite sized pieces. Add chicken to pan; simmer 5 minutes or until mixture thickens, stirring frequently. Top each serving with yogurt; sprinkle with green onions.

November Blog Carnival

this month's etsybloggers blog carnival topic i chose is: what are you working on?

i'm working on getting more items into my shop. working on getting my latest hatchling finished and also working on some more hatchlings! am hopeful that i will be able to produce more of these little guys more often now that i've decided on keeping the realistic legs. cross your fingers folks!

i decided to go with mounting my latest floral piece on wood. i like the way that looks the best. it's now in the shop.



i've also got some more pictures of my hatchling. this will probably be listed either tomorrow or tuesday depending on if i can pick up the last item i need for the label.



ideally, i would also like to get some ornaments into the shop for the holidays, but we'll see how that goes. i'd like to stick with the wood theme, but i would need to find some wood that would be good for ornaments. being without a saw....makes it a little difficult. we'll see....

Decisions

yay!! hubby's back! and with him...the camera! so i took some pictures of the things i finished...or almost finished.
one of the almost finished pieces is part of my funky floral series. i painted this one on an old french dictionary page. now i'm just undecided on how i want to finish it. do i just have it matted and leave it at that? or do i do what i've been doing and mount it onto a piece of wood like the other pieces in my shop? what to do?

then here's the finished....another version of my funky floral daisy ACEO, this one i embroidered.

second is my latest hatchling. i swear i love these little guys and i really need to get in a good groove to produce more of them more often. i've come to the decision that i will stick with the more realistic legs. the other crazy legs were just more trouble than they were worth. it slowed me down because i was essentially learning or experimenting with a new technique EVERY time, which meant i was being slowed down. the realistic legs just look better. it just identifies it as a hatchling better.
so this little guy is just missing his label. he should be ready to list in the shop this week.