Monday, January 31, 2011

Baby hat and booties gift set, another treasury full of love and a dead fish


I'm always multi-tasking ... but sometimes it's better not too! Today was one of those days, you know the days I'm talking about. A million and one things on the to-do list and only 24 hrs in a day to get it done. So while I'm making dinner my kid decided to clean the big fish tank we have. I love looking at the fish but I hate cleaning the tank, always have always will ... heck I rather clean toilets then having to clean that tank. I think it all has to do with access to the darn thing. It's a very tall tank you see which makes it hard to clean. But my kid is taller then me now and can easily reach the bottom so she has taken on the job of cleaning the tank. I end up putting water back in it but that's the easy part. So while she was busily working on cleaning it I was making dinner while all the fish were removed and sitting in a bucket on the counter top, so Azriel and River (our cat and dog) wouldn't get the crazy idea to play with them. Well about 30 min later, dinner had been eaten and the tank was ready to get filled up with more water I stepped back into the kitchen to find one of our fish dead on the floor!!! So, I've given up on fish, my beta I replaced about a month ago, well his replacement decided he didn't like his new tank and died as well. I can't figure this out. We've always had fish and had them for years, for some darn reason we keep ending up with dead fish, which is a bummer because I do like my fish it's cleaning the tank I don't like.

Anyways, enough about dead fish ... I finally got a chance to take some pictures of my latest knitted baby hat and booties. These are really small so they are for a preemie or a newborn. I do love the colors I used in this set.

And a pair of my felted baby shoes made it in a treasury on Etsy entered into the nonteamchallenge 16 by http://www.etsy.com/shop/birose?ref=pr_shop_more. Check out her etsy shop which has all kinds of lovely button yoyo jewelry and gifts. The treasury is all about Valentine's day so check out all the cool items and shops that are listed in this one.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Nonteamchallenge 16 treasury on Etsy

I love the item (http://www.etsy.com/listing/57198686/keep-calm-and-carry-on-wood-floor-8-x-10) for this week's nonteamchallenge 16 on Etsy. I could have gone a lot of different directions with creating this one but I picked the baby way. So have a look at all the cool items I picked from many different etsy shops. If you like to join in the fun visit this blog http://treasurychallengenonteam.blogspot.com/ which tells you all about how to get involved and get your name out there if you have an etsy shop and if you don't ... still come and visit us and check out all the cool things to purchase. Here is a snapshot of my treasury.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Etsy's nonteamchallenge 15 treasuries with Valentine's day items

With Valentine's Day coming up there will be lots of love being spread around on Etsy and everywhere else. I found a pair of my pink needle felted baby shoes in this lovely treasury by http://www.etsy.com/shop/StoneSavvyJewelry who has some beautiful jewelry in her shop so go and have a look you might just find that perfect valentine's day gift. Here is the gorgeous treasury she put together for this week's challenge.



And ... here is the treasury I entered for the challenge as well. I love putting these together. Wasn't sure about the theme I wanted to use but I thought this to be an appropriate fit since the item of this week's challenge is a cool, cute print of a salt and pepper shaker from FlourishCafe shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/FlourishCafe?ref=seller_info and plenty of other cool items in the shop too pick from. Here is my entry for this week, hope you all like it.



I just found my felted heart listed in another beautiful treasury entered into the nonteamchallenge 15 for this week. Nicely put together by PoshGirlCouture http://www.etsy.com/shop/PoshGirlCouture. She has some beautiful items in her shop. Go and have a look at her shop and at all the beautiful picks in this treasury and feel free to leave a comment. We like to find out what you think!

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Alice Springs Beanie Festival - Emu Hat




A friend of mine commented on one of my profile pictures which is a photo of a hat I made a couple of years ago which I entered into the Alice Springs Beanie Festival (http://www.beaniefest.org/). I think that was the 3rd year I entered the competition and every year I tried to make a silly hat. Well I've always had a hard time making things look funny and/or silly. For some reason my stuff always ends up looking more realistic and elegant I've been told. I guess that's a compliment but believe it or not ... I used to get very frustrated by trying to make a cool, silly and crazy looking hat or beanie. Now the year I entered this one (2008) I had no clue on what to make but it had to be something related to emu's. I did have a big bag of real emu feathers stashed away in my closet and then I found this bag of metallic thread/yarn my mother-in-law had given me and I had no clue what to do with .... until that day! I started crocheting with no real pattern in mind, also didn't bother to match any of the threads, I just used them as they came out of the bag and voila ... this is what I ended up with. As I moved along making this I wasn't sure on how I would be able to attach a bunch of feathers to it so in the end I ended up crocheting a weird kind of thing for the top in which I could push the feathers into and attaching them with glue. I must say I thought it looked pretty silly, now my dear husband and child didn't think it looked crazy enough but that's the best I could do so I entered it just like that. It didn't win anything but it did sell which made me very happy ... at least somebody else out there thought it was pretty (and silly) enough to spend their money on it. I do wonder where it might be and what kind of person purchased my emu hat ...

Friday, January 14, 2011

100% calorie free cupcake!


I totally agree my kid is a much better baker then me but I must say I make great calorie free cupcakes ... give me a pair of knitting needles and some yarn and voila ... a chocolate cupcake, vanilla frosting and a cherry on top! Sorry, it's not eatable but it makes for one cute baby hat that's for sure. Just listed it in my Etsy shop so check it out.

So earlier today I discovered I had knitted 2 left baby booties ... I do get annoyed when things like that happen especially since I was trying to finish them so my husband could take them to the fire station as they are a gift for somebody. Oh well I guess they will have to wait another day. I figure I will now knit 2 right booties so I have one pair for the gift and another pair I can list in my shop. Now I feel much better about knitting 2 left booties earlier today. :0)

More treasuries with cute pincushions and adorable felted animals

My needle felted hedgehog mummy and baby were featured in this cute treasury by http://www.etsy.com/shop/ZionShore featuring some really amazing pincushions!



My needle felted foal was featured in this beautiful treasury by http://www.etsy.com/shop/Goatielocks featuring adorable animals!

This week's Etsy treasury nonteamchallenge 14 entry

Here is my entry for this week's challenge on Etsy's nonteamchallenge 14 so check it out, some really pretty items. I called it "You gotta love the earth"

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Yummy Cupcakes


My daughter loves to bake. I must say she's a better baker then me and we figured out why. I dislike following recipes just like I don't like to follow patterns. Now she always follows the rules (well most of the time!) with everything so when a recipe calls for certain things in certain amounts she measures it to the T. I usually add, subtract or mix things up on my own, now sometimes that works but other times it turns into a disaster especially with cookies and cakes. Hers turn out wonderful just like the ones you see in this picture. She was home from school today ... yes we had another snow day here in Fauquier county, so she had to find something to do. These are banana spice cupcakes (made from scratch) with cream cheese frosting and chocolate branches (which she made from scratch, her own recipe!). I'm so proud of my kid. At 14 she can cook and bake just about anything you ask her too. She shared with me that if for some reason becoming an equestrian vet doesn't turn out she has a back up plan ... opening a Patisserie. I told her I will be her first client!

Friday, January 7, 2011

This week's entry for the nonteamchallenge 13 on Etsy!

This week's item for the challenge was a pair of pretty earrings by etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/listing/64077261/salvaged-copper-and-turquoise-earrings?ref=tre-4d27c88936b86d91d08eb77e-6 made out of reclaimed roofing copper and turquoise! I wasn't too sure at first which way to go with my theme but finally ended up with this one:

Needle felted mom and baby hedgehog



I had made one of these last year and it sold so I thought I'd better make another one, this time I included a baby! They make really cute pin cushions or if you feel bad for poking them (hehe) you can have them just sitting around looking cute. They look really cute in a baby room so those of you looking for a unique baby shower gift this is it! As a matter of fact any of my felted animals would make a cute baby room decor. The baby hedgehog will easily fit into your pocket so if you want a pocket size conversation item he will be happy to be carried around. I do not recommend them to be purchased as toys for babies. Older kids should be fine.

I just listed them in my PurplePlatypus etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/listing/65442343/needle-felted-hedgehog-mother-and-baby so go and have a closer look!

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Critter Onion featured in a lovely treasury called Wilderness by hippiekingdom

Yeah, I never get tired of logging on to find out one of my items is being featured in a treasury on Etsy! I just want to say "thank you!" to all those curators who use my items in those lovely treasuries, I want you to know I do appreciate it very much. Today one of my Critter Onions got featured so hurry and go have a look at all the other lovely items featured in this treasury. The curator of this treasury, seller hippiekingdom on Etsy has a lovely shop with all kinds of really cool recycled jewelry made of paper, clay, hemp and thread so go and check it out. Thanks http://www.etsy.com/shop/hippiekingdom?ga_search_query=hippiekingdom&ga_search_type=seller_usernames

Here is the treasury she made which features my little Critter Onion!

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Recycled newspaper and a pretty treasury




It's amazing what people come up with! I wanted to make another treasury today and wasn't too sure what to base it on so I just picked two colors black and yellow to begin with and then tried finding some other items in a color scheme close to the ones I had picked. I always like the look of old newspaper so I tried that and voila ... it worked.

When we lived in Alice Springs, Australia my daughter made a purse by weaving pages of used magazines together using a nifty craft tool specifically designed for doing so. The tool was for weaving and glueing the strips together she actually made the little purse which is so cool. The handle is actually braided and the sides of the purse are coils of paper. I think she did a fantastic job! She was only 10 at the time.


Here is the treasury I made today with items made out of recycled newspaper mixed in with yellow and black items.