A little vintage shopping therapy ...

The Big Guy left me home alone for a few hours this morning. (You'd think he'd know better, after all these years!) So, I relished in having the place to myself for awhile, and, then ...


A light bulb went off!!!!

Hmmm, I had money in my pocket and a real big thrift store right around the corner! (He doesn't like me to go there without supervision as he's trying to get rid of all that extra stuff around the house. Thus, the development of the Vintage Section in my Etsy shop.) I mean, he doesn't mind if I'm going strictly to look for supplies like ribbons and lace or the occasional brand new (with store tags) lampshade to paint. He doesn't want more figurines for the collections we already have (the ones we're NOT selling off) or "interesting" finds that I thought I couldn't live without.

So, after deep consideration (about 5 minutes of thought), I took off for an adventure. I didn't do bad. Well, not tooo bad. I only picked up a few items that were bea-u-ti-ful! All of which I think are perfect for painting and reselling. Lucky for me I had plenty of time to get them home and hide them carefully. I know. I could justify their purchase with the "they're for the shop" argument but then he might point out I already have a stock pile of "To Be Painted" pieces. (Also, lucky for me, he doesn't read this blog!)

This is what I grabbed, for a mere ten spot!!

The one in the front, to the left, is a beautiful amethyst color. (The picture just doesn't do it justice!) The small one on the right is a solid black heavy glass. (At the moment, I'm thinking either white daisies or bright red poppies on that one.) Of course, the blue ones will probably feature fish. I seem to be able to really move fish and seascapes on blue glass. I find those canning jar style pieces are very popular lately so I've always got an eye out for them.

As of today, I'm vowing to steer clear of that place until these are painted and listed in the shop. Please, wish me luck on this one! (I mean, the only way in and out of my house is to go right past their driveway!)


MARCHPHOTOADAY

I've joined the Marchphotoaday Challenge along with Mama Tink and some other bloggers. Basically, every participant posts a picture of a specific subject for each day of the month.

Today's subject is "Something You Wore":

Those are my trusty crocs, right where I kicked them off.
Gawd, I LUV those shoes!

Here's the list if you'd like to play along, too.

Fun With Oyster Shells

I've been terribly neglectful of this blog lately. Life has just gotten in the way and some things had to give here and there.

I find writing here therapeutic and, boy, have I missed being here. Tomorrow starts a new month and a fast countdown to Christmas. The "Busy Season" for most of us. I'll need therapy to get through the next 25 days, believe me! So, I'm pledging, here and now, to post each and every day until Christmas. Please hold me to it. Push me, pull me, cajole me into posting. Send me notes, etc., whatever it takes. I need you, all of you!!


Well, we've now worked through most of the Thanksgiving leftovers. (Which in our case is pretty good as we didn't do our turkey dinner here until Monday! We go to another family member's home on the true holiday.) One of the "leftovers" I had from Thursday was a box of empty oyster shells. (It's a Maryland thing - raw oysters for appetizers!) So, what's a creative painting gal to do?!?

Start painting!! The shells have a natural flow with ridges and lumps and natural lines to follow. Each is different of course. I kind of let each one speak to me and tell me what it is. (Okay, a few glasses of wine helped that creative flow along a bit. I'll admit it.) Suddenly, I was surrounded by Santa faces and more.


Some shells wanted to be so much more than just the Jolly Guy's face, some wanted to include his body, some wanted to stick him in the center of a wreath, or be his sleigh. One shell aspired to be a tree and one, I think it was female, wanted to be an angel. I gave each one some leeway to become what they wanted to be.


I think the results were quite rewarding. I added some ribbon loops and am working at giving each a listing of their own in my shop tonight. Well, sort of. some are going there in pairs - you know, the old two-by-two thing!

I'm thinking of playing with some sand dollars tomorrow!

The trouble with fabric painting ...

Aaargh!!!

Don't you just hate it when you finish up a project and then mess it up in that last second? The trouble with painting on fabric is it is totally unforgiving!

I had an order for 2 sets of my infant's "Big Brother" onesies. They're one of the easy and fairly quick paint jobs. I spent yesterday afternoon painting them and only had the one word "Drools" to finish on the last one when we broke to go to dinner.

We came home and I painted that word in about 10 minutes and then -- just as I went to sit it aside to dry -- I smeared red paint on the leg binding!! STUPID mistake!!! Had to do a whole new onesie from scratch.

Can you say "FRUSTRATED"?

That's the offending smudge, right there to the right of the exclamation point.
I just wanted to scream. So glad I had plenty of onesies on hand.

I can salvage that one with some creative trim work but I couldn't use it for this order.

Oh well, such is our life in crafts!

Hot + Hazy + Humid = Miserable!!

It has been * HOT * HOT * HOT * here this week!!!!
This kind of weather is not unheard of in these parts but we usually don't get it until August, by then, we've acclimated a bit more. Not that one can ever really get used to heat indexes of 107 degrees and more. It will always be defined as HOT!!!!

Our air conditioner has been a reluctant player this week to complicate matters. It's still under warranty so we called for service. They can't get here until Tuesday!!! (10 days from the date of our call!) Fans have helped some but it has been so oppressive that I just want to flop like a rag doll!!

Don't get me wrong. There have been a few upsides to this. We don't dare add to the inside temp by cooking so we've been forced to go out to dinner each night!! Since it uses the least amount of energy, I've done a lot of reading as opposed to housework. (What a great excuse!!) I've finally finished the second of Stieg Larsson's trilogy (The Girl Who Played With Fire).

(If you haven't read these, get to it!
But be sure to start with his first book,
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo)

The heat however has attacked my creative mojo. I think it melted. I've had to force myself to work on my many projects. Orders have, of course, taken the first priority. It's a little harder to keep the new ideas flowing in this hot air, though. To prove I'm not just sitting around reading and eating snow balls, I'm sharing some Work In Progress pics. Maybe that will push me on toward getting them done!

I was inspired by the arrival of cherry season and began working on a Cherry Baby concept. Hopefully, I'll get this in the shop by Monday.

I'm still stitching lace at every opportunity, too. It does take time to plan out the placement and get it pinned in place. Once I've got the lace on a garment, I'm letting the outfit itself guide me in the painting concept. This little pink dress is now talking to my paints about it's future.

Remember the Apple Jars? These were the ones I picked up at the trhift shop with D's apple-themed kitchen in mind. Then, once I'd painted them, I thought maybe I'd put them in the shop instead. Well, I guess my conscience was working on me, 'cuz they've been sitting here and I haven't been able to bring myself to put them in my shop. After all D is a sweetie and they will look so good in her kitchen. So, after all is said and done, they will be making their way to her shelf.

Now, the challenge is to fill each one up with something special (and apple-oriented). So far, some of my ideas have included apple-flavored jelly beans, sour apple candies, even apple jacks cereal.

I'm open to suggestions. Any apple ideas out there?

It's been a good week so far.

I finally got the rest of the first batch of vintage miniature figurines listed in the shop this week. Taking the pictures of these tiny pieces took a lot of time! I was lucky enough to make a few sales, both online and off. I've gotten some new orders, too. (Maybe one of my best non-holiday weeks of all time in terms of orders!)

'Tis the season for all things beachy and ocean-related. I've had lots of requests for my handpainted lamps and lampshades featuring fish and shells so yesterday was spent basecoating a bunch of pieces, mostly lamps. I already have a few new shades in the works. Hopefully, I'll have time to do the detail work on some of these tomorrow.

Remember the little glass canisters with the apple indentations that I bought a few weeks ago? I painted them yesterday, too. Now all they need is some cute bows around their necks. My original plan was to give them to D. for her apple-themed kitchen but I'm seriously considering listing them in the shop instead. If they're still around when I need a gift for her, maybe she'll get them then.

Poor thing! As a child she inherited all the dolls whose handpainted eyes looked a little crossed or the bear that simply didn't sell after a full season of craft shows. Now, as a grown-up, she's still a fall-back for merchandise.

Then there were some custom orders to complete, too. Since they are gifts and the recipients don't have them yet, I can't share them with you at the moment. Maybe soon. Let's just say I had fun and am very pleased with the results.

While all that paint's been drying, I've been sewing a lot of lace onto all sorts of things. Some of the lacy items should be ready to show you by tomorrow. (Most of those also have some painted details.)

On Monday night, Queen of Sienna included one of my glass paperweights in a feather themed treasury on Monday night. You can see the entire treasury here. Be sure to take time to check out Queen of Sienna's Etsy shop, too. She has a really great eclectic collection of vintage pieces.


Then, today, June over at the I Sew Cute blog, featured my "I Speak Cookie" apron on a post about baking her way through the Betty Crocker Cooky Book. Sort of makes you want to jump up and make a batch of cookies. (Or, at least, eat some cookies!)

When you get a chance, stop in and see some of the adorable pieces of resin jewelry June makes and decorates with sprinkles, glitter and love. You can see her shop here.

I think I'm going to sit back, relax and do a little reading now. I've just started reading The Girl Who Played With Fire. it's one of those books, one simply hates to put down!!

Rainy days and Saturdays...

"It was a dark and stormy night . . . "

Oh, wait - that's a different story.

It was a gray and dreary morning and really didn't get better throughout the day. I had the day to myself and I had plans. I try not to do damp and dreary. I find it depressing. I don't like getting wet and my plans called for a lot of outdoor and in-and-out type errands. I really wasn't feeling it.

I decided to regroup, rethink and stay in. Heck, I didn't even get dressed 'til noon!


What I did do was take a couple hundred pics of more of that vintage stock I need to get listed in the shop. I'm getting better with the camera but it still doesn't come easy and it does take me lots of shots to come up with five good (or, at least, "acceptable") ones to post. Now, all I have to do is get my descriptions together and spend the time typing them in to the site. I try not to list all at once in order to spread my exposure out over a longer time but I do draft the copy and have it ready with the list of the pics I want to use. It all takes time.




I finished painting a shirt I was working on for The Big Guy. I've told you before he's an a-fish-ionado (Get it?) of tropical fish and fish of all sorts. He loves when I do cartoon style fishies in my work. He's also a bass player. So I combined both and made him a bass-playing blue fish (I think he's got "da blues!") He likes it!

I added some new painted items to the shop. I still have quite a few other new pieces to add this week but I'll do a few each day.


I've recently painted a few more lampshades and looked forward to getting them in the shop but, all but one of these new ones sold before I could even list them. (That's a "good thing"!) Now, I've got to get out there and locate some more bargain shades to work with.






I also added some of the new Spring potholders to the shop. Everybody can use a bright spot of color in the kitchen, can't they? Oh yeah, they make great gifts. Everybody has a kitchen. They usually come with the house!









I spent the rest of the day sewing lace on all sorts of things!! Can't wait to finish them up and post them to show you what I did with all those trims and such.

It was a full day and I am exhausted!!

Stump the Paint Chump

The kids in our family have long played a little game we like to refer to as "Stump the Paint Chump." (Me, being the "Paint Chump.") This began a long time ago when the 30-something crowd were young. We had a whole slew of kids in the clan at the time and coming up with Christmas gifts could be a bit challenging. One year, I decided to paint everybody a sweatshirt geared toward their particular interests or activities. This was back in the days of those shiny, rubbery fabric paints that stuck together when you folded a garment, chipped, cracked, peeled and were laundry nightmares.

They must have liked them because by November the following year, they were putting in requests. Most I was able to fulfill. In fact, I only remember one that didn't fully satisfy the requester and I think it was set as a trap to begin with. I collect reindeer things and he knew it and played off of that. His dad is a hunter and they were raised looking forward to being old enough to go on those hunts. He requested a big deer's head, surrounded by a scope. (The telescopic sight on a rifle.) I painted him the deer without the scope. He still mentions that "disappointment" now and then!

The myth that I can do anything has been passed down through the entire clan so the Omaha 5-year-old is usually prepared with a special request for me when I get there. (I ALWAYS travel with paints.)

The request this time was for a "Crocodile With a Heart" on a sleep shirt. Once I found a satisfactory garment to paint, I had to come up with a crocodile off the top of my head. I was confident she would not be technical enough to think it was an alligator as opposed to a croc. Most adults don't know the difference, either.

This was what I came up with. Think she liked it?

Score "1" for the Paint Chump, again.

Painting Senior Marbles (or, "Saggy B - - bs")

My (older) sister tried her hand at painting wine glasses this week. Her first efforts were less than successful but made for a good story. I asked her to write a Guest Blog about this venture.

So, without further ado, I present My Sister:

Since I have reached the venerable status of "senior citizen," I have made a startling, and not so thrilling, revelation that at this stage of life, everything in your life takes on a different look, attitude or slant.....i.e. middle age, or worse yet, "senior-aged".

When I wake up in the morning, regardless of the pep in my step, there is an old lady staring back at me from my mirror. Some days she looks sooooo tired and in need of some (a lot) of that so-called rejuvenating cream that is advertised on TV. Doesn't it just burn your buns when the promoter asks someone like Christie Brinkley, "How have you managed to stay so young looking and you are already 45?" Gasp, cough, gag!!! If I was 45, rich, had a personal assistant, a manager to handle all my finances, a personal body trainer (although in my case it would take a body training team), and someone who helped me raise my kids through all of the terrible twos, fours and teenage years, I, too, would still look young and feel young. What didn't look young, would be touched up by my personal make-up artist.

Stepping back into the real world, even my hobbies reflect my advancing years. For instance, when I decide to bake something decadent, I have to make a special trip to the grocery store for real butter instead of the low fat, low cholesterol, heart-healthy spread I usually use. I recently decided to take up painting on wine glasses. This new project involved gluing those half marbles (like those used in the bottom of flower vases) to the side of a glass goblet, then painting a dress over them. The purpose of which was to create a 3-D picture of a sexy girl on the side of the glass.

I purchased the glassware, the glass paint and made sure that I purchased "glass glue". Of course, I didn't purchase a book teaching me how to do that. "I don't need no stinkin' instructions." (Oops, there goes a little of the masculine side of me.) After all, I have been painting and crafting all my life.

I started right in gluing "boobs" to all of the glassware I had purchased. One who is as experienced as I....or maybe the term is over-confident.....never does just one item to test or practice the technique. I always figure "Why make one when you can make many?" Well, I glued all the marbles on all the glasses and laid them on their sides to dry. I was really anxious to start painting. Then I went out to the laundry room to throw in a load of wash, feeling so proud that I was multi-tasking.

When I returned to my project, there it was. The ugly truth! My whole life had ventured into the dreaded "senior world". All of the "boobs" had slid down the sides of the glasses. Visions of my sugar plums shifting when I lay flat on my back in bed at night flashed in my head. Even my painting has made the quantum leap into senior-hood. Now, I needed to figure out how to dislodge the misplaced boobs and return them to their original "perky" state. I only hope I can remember what "perky" is.

A call to my sister, Ramblin Mama, saved the day. She told me how to save the saggy boobs. WOW, she's better than a "Glasstic Surgeon". After reconstructive surgery, I started gluing again - slower, more carefully, and, definitely, wiser. I have decided to make a series of glasses with "old gals" on them. You know, we love 2 for 1 Happy Hour Margaritas and don't forget the Strawberry Daiquiris.

Now, all I have to do is find long tear-drop shaped half marbles. Better known as "senior marbles".

I'll be back with more stories about life as a "Silver Diva"(TM) (women over 50 with a passion for life).

Thanks, Sis (aka Silver Diva)!!!

Two months !!!!

OH NO !!!! Do you realize CHRISTMAS is only TWO months away ????

I'M NOT READY !!!!!!!

I mean, I'm REALLY not ready - not for the holiday itself or for the prep necessary to have my shop ready. I'm waaaay behind. I swore this wouldn't happen this year but here I am, two months to go with all these holiday plans swimming around my head and not in the shop. Doesn't matter what excuses I can come up with, I have simply dropped the ball once again. It's time to scramble.

O.K., I need to take a few minutes (only a few minutes) to formulate a crisis plan with regard to preparation.

**Tops on the list must be finishing the orders I need to get out of here tomorrow. Whew, those are ready to go in the box and head for the Post Office!

**Second, I need to clean up the shop. You know, get my existing listings in order. Tweak the descriptions, photos, etc. and rearrange the order they appear in. (Halloween merchandise can drop to the bottom if I choose to even leave them in the shop.)

**I need to check the "inactive" section of my shop to be sure all holiday merchandise that is ready to move has been relisted. Something I recently learned was that by redoing the whole listing on these items and making it a "new" listing, Google bots like it more than simply "relisting." Apparently, getting a new URL pops it right up there for their attention. (When you simply relist, the item keeps it's old URL.)

Next, I need to paint, paint, paint and produce, produce, produce so that there will be plenty for that mob of customers to pick through.

I'm off to get those paint brushes moving!!!

Talk at you tomorrow!

So, what have I been up to ?

Sorry, folks. I just wasn't feeling very bloggy the last few days.

I was, however, fairly productive. I spent my week sewing, crocheting, hand-dyeing and painting onesies. Some were for orders, some for gifts (like the Pooh bear) and a few were for new merchandise in the shop. Here's a sample of all that was happening on my little work table:
There are still a few works in progress, too. Like this one: Then there was the "accidental painting" - yep, that's a blotch of black paint on my pajama top. One fact about fabric paint : It's PERMANENT. Which explains why I prefer to paint in my pjs each morning. It also explains why I don't entertain a lot while painting, too!

And, yes, they are flannel jammies. It's gotten quite cool here. The Big Guy actually turned the heat on last night because HE was cold!!! (That doesn't happen often.) Ooooh, it felt sooooo good!!!

It is supposed to warm up again over the weekend. I hope so. I'm not ready for coats and such. I don't DO winter. At least not of my own free will.

Here's hoping you have a happy, creative, productive and warm weekend, wherever you are.

***P.S. Don't forget about the Autumn Harvest Extravaganza over at The Nuthouse. My contribution to this huge give-away event will be awarded to some lucky entrant tomorrow. It's not too late to enter and it's really easy to get in on a chance to win any of a number of Fall items.

Busy, Busy, Busy !!

Once again, I've missed a few posts. While I miss getting the chance to chat with y'all it's been a good thing. I've been busy working on orders!!!

I was beginning to worry as business had been slower than I had anticipated but suddenly, folks started calling and a few etsy sales started rolling in and, all of a sudden, I'm quite busy!

Most of my repeat clients have wanted customized designs which have involved some real brainstorming and numerous test sketches. This weekend alone, I've had numerous projects in the works. I finally drafted a ride-on plush duck pattern that worked. (The first two drafts just weren't anything to quack about!) It's sewn, stuffed and painted. (That's him above. Just wanted to give y'all a sneak peek!) All that's left to do is attach the functional soft sculpture wheels tomorrow. (Okay, so nothing is easy!)

I switched gears and paint boxes and moved on to a couple of customized and personalized painted wine glasses. They're baking now. (The paint is a heat set type of enamel.) I've finished dying a onesie to the right shade of green and it's currently in the dryer. I'll be painting that in the morning.

I've spent the last hour sanding a wooden stool so I can do the first base coat before going to bed. The wooden pieces take the longest to paint as they need multiple layers of base coat and are shellacked before I even begin the detail work. There's a lot of "drying time" involved between coats.

Within the next few minutes, I'm starting to paint two custom design shirts. Both feature hamsters. These are my first hamsters and they aren't as easy to sketch as one might think. (Go ahead. Draw one. Does his personality shine through? Would a total stranger know it's a hamster and NOT a guinea pig or such?) It's a shame no one has ordered an armadillo, as that's what one of my early sketches looked like! Grandma has provided very specific details as to the proper coloring of each of the hamsters.

I'll have to post some finished pics for you tomorrow. For now, I've got to get busy!!

Hello, again!

Still trying to get caught up but taking a few minutes to post for the night.

I've been really disappointed with my online sales this holiday season so far but my offline sales have been fairly steady. Most are coming from repeat customers which is a good and rewarding feeling. Most have been for customized items requiring a fair amount of designing effort and , in one case, a couple of trial and errors on designing the pattern! This was for a large plush creation. I can usually eyeball the pattern design fairly well and rarely have any totally unusable disasters but I've really had to work on one particular item. It's been a bit of a learning experience. I think I've finally worked it out and should be able to complete that project within the next day or two.

In addition to the sewing projects, I've been painting quite a bit each day. (Yes, I even put in a few hours with the paint brush on Thanksgiving Day!) Most of the past week, I've worked on clothing orders but this week will involve some smaller furniture pieces which means some time spent sanding. I'm hoping to find time tomorrow to list a few new items in the shop and to work on stock for some of my direct sales.

This year, I've tried a sales approach which I'm referring to as "Totebag Sales." Basically, I've provided totebags to a few sales agents (nieces and other family and friends) filled with "little" items which they can simply sell right out of the bag. These have included potholders, ornaments, mini-plaques, hair accessories, some smaller clothing pieces, etc. I've also included some one-of-a-kind items. They collect the money and keep their cut (sales commission) right off the top. They also have some catalogs/fliers featuring a limited selection of my larger items (mostly personalized products) which they can take direct orders on also. I deliver those items to the sales agent and they, in turn, deliver to the customer.

This approach is working fairly well. The smaller items generate quite a bit of cash flow but are not really practical for online sales as shipping costs as much as the item in many cases. I find folks are more likely to buy small items in this manner rather than needing to order them. I have asked the agents to e-mail me the orders each evening instead of holding them until a specific date so I can work on the products as the orders are coming in. I tried this in a very limited way last Christmas and I fine-tuned it a bit this year.

As I mentioned above, my potholders seem to be a popular item this year. I include a cookie recipe with each set and, in my direct sales, also include a cookie cutter. Luckily, I can make these fairly quickly. I hope to get some more sets up in the online shop but they seem to be moving so quickly through direct sales that I haven't had a chance!

Well, I've still got painting to get done before I go to bed, so I've gotta run.

See y'all tomorrow!!

Finally - A creatively productive day!!!

I spent the day painting both orders and some new holiday items for the shop. I have a bunch of stuff to photograph and list by next weekend when I believe (or at least fervently hope) folks will hit the computers with their credit cards handy and start buying - a lot!!

I did get some holiday potholders listed yesterday and I've already sold a few of those. I was also able to list a product that I've been selling off line for a while but had trouble working out a practical means of shipping until now. I haven't sold that one yet but it did get quite a few views yesterday when I first added it to the shop.

In between painting, I also did some major cooking and even caught a little interesting news along the way.

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Did you know, you could actually be arrested for refusing to tip a waitress?

It happened in Bethlehem, PA recently! A group of eight friends reportedly spent a little time at a pub and racked up a $73.00 bill. Service was awful. It took over an hour to get their order and one of the women needed to get up and get their own napkins and silverware. The place was busy but this was a bit unreasonable. They even had to go up to the bar themselves for a soda refill as the waitress "never came back."

When the bill arrived, there was an 18% ($16.00) gratuity tacked onto the bill since it was a large group (not an unusual practice). This was just too much to bear for one of the couples. They went to the bartender in charge and complained about the gratuity when service was pretty much non-existent. Supposedly, the bartender offered to comp the food but demanded the gratuity be paid. They refused to pay the tip but paid the bill for the food in full. The bartender called the police and the couple was actually arrested and charged with theft since the gratuity was officially a part of the bill.

They have a Court date scheduled for next month!

I know they felt it was a matter of principle, but wouldn't it have made more sense for the establishment to simply forgive the tip in the interest of customer service, OR, in the alternative, wouldn't the customers have made out better to pay the tip under protest but accept the comp on the food? To quote my b-i-l, "Let's pretend one of us wasn't stupid here..."

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On a sad note, the U.S.P.O. has discontinued Operation Santa. There's hope it will be resurrected. The Alaskan town that serves as North Pole Central is frantically working to resolve the issue. I'll tell you about this one in tomorrow's post.

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Okay, now for something a little lighter...

Let's look at some of my new stuff!!!!

Here's one of my handpainted tables that I've finally been able to list in my online shop.

I love painting these and they sell fairly well offline but I had been unable to find a practical means of shipping them. I could not locate boxes for packing them and could not afford to swallow the costs of having one of those shipping stores box it for me. (Boxing and packing is where those guys make their profits!)

Recently I read a thread in one of the Etsy forum posts about shipping framed artwork and it was suggested they use boxes available from the U-Haul Stores referred to as "mirror boxes." I checked this out and they do have an appropriate box at a reasonable cost. The actual shipping, once it was boxed, was not outrageous. Look for more of these tables in the shop in the future.

I was also able to get some holiday potholders listed yesterday and today.

Want more details, simply click on the pic for a link to the listing at Splashin (my online shop).

Santa and Frosty are all smiles. Wouldn't these be great Secret Santa items?

I'm sure Granny and Great Aunt Mable would love them in their kitchens, too!

Then there is Mr. and Mrs. Ginger, "the cookie couple." I listed these this morning just before lunch, ran out to the grocery store and came home to find they'd already sold! So, I listed a second batch of them.

These have proven to be the most popular in my offline sales, as well.

This is Ray the Reindeer, he's the lesser known cousin of Rudolph. He wasn't blessed with a glowing nose so he's been relegated to helping Mrs. Clause in the kitchen!

****There's a bonus Christmas Cookie recipe included with every potholder purchase.

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Oh yeah! I mentioned cooking today, too. Seems we bought some oversized produce this weekend. What can I say, I can't resist a bargain. Among our purchases were a bag load of bell peppers at 4 for $1 ( I cut these up for the freezer. We use an inordinate amount of peppers around here. They're as much a staple in my kitchen as flour and eggs!) and a giant head of broccoli for 75 cents! We do love broccoli, so we just cut that up and have steamed some every night this week. (I believe I will be ready for a different green veggie in the next few days. I like it, but enough is enough!) Then there was the large economy size head of cabbage, weighing in at close to 6 lbs!! This was the deal at only 50 cents!! I couldn't resist taking their picture ( the soda can is for size perspective) and sending it off to my b-i-l the "bargain king". He's so jealous!!

Today I shredded all that cabbage and I'll be cooking it tomorrow. I have a great recipe for a hot spicy slaw that tastes like a richly seasoned sauerkraut but is much more colorful. it really looks "harvesty." (Is that a word?)

Just saying "Hi"...

Not much time to chat tonight, gang.


Been busy painting all day.


Finished up this little doggie wearing a skeleton costume. These are done on infant bodysuits.

Even the tiniest among us need to look festive.


Finished up two orders and then worked on new merchandise. Got to get the shop stocked for the upcoming holidays.

Tonight I worked on Halloween onesie-style bodysuits for infants.
These should make their way into the shop by Tuesday or Wednesday.




I will need to cut off Halloween sales by the 20th.



I'll have more to say in the morning!

See ya'll then.

Decisions. Decisions. - Cleaning or Crafting ?

Decisions... Decisions...
So many choices!!!













Cleaning .... or Painting.... I just can't decide!!!



All right!! Let's get real. Of course, I want to paint. BUT...

I’m trying to get an early productive start today. My “ToDo” list seems quite long (maybe ‘cuz I didn’t accomplish a lot yesterday)! I figure it would be a good start to get my posting done and published early. (Actually, it’s preferable to starting the day vacuuming.)

I didn’t get the pictures taken for posting my new merchandise to the shop yesterday. So, of course, it got added to today’s list. I have a deadline for readying the guest room. Our boarder returns today for an indefinite stay. He’s been with us several times before and I do enjoy having him around. He’s a naturally cheerful person and tends to keep the mood light. I’m planning a nice dinner for his first evening and actually did begin the preps yesterday but ran out of some ingredients and need to finish it up this morning. I’ve got a pile of ironing to do before day is done, also. The list goes on… and on…and on.

IF I have time left over, I want to get some painting and some promo items done today, too. (What are the odds on that happening?)

Hopefully, you get a chance to get out there and be creative today!!