Sunshine on my doorstep

Have you yet met Ann with a plan?

She is a wonderful gal who makes such wonderful things as her own tatting press.....




and then wisks them off across the globe to surprise unsuspecting tatters like ME!

The little box arrived a few days ago, and when I opened it I was almost BLINDED by the amount of lovingly created sunshine that was contained within!

It is indeed the cheery yellow that was so needed to cheer me from the flu that has struck around here as of late..... we are on the mend, but nothing like a little surprise from a friend to bring some joy to the coughing and weary!

Now, mind you, I have no idea what i have done to be given such an honor of having my very own beautiful tatting press..... your kindness has brightened tatting corner for many days to come! Thank you from the bottom of my heart ANN!

Update

Greetings all, from the land of ick, misery, and the shoulda got my flu shot blues. Hubby came down with it on MLK day last week, and I fell prey on Friday. I can't remeber the last time I was sick enough to warrant Nyquil, but I've definitely needed help getting some Z's. Enough moaning and groaning for now, on to brighter things.

Sweet Pea earrings by Krystledawne on ETSY

These are a repeat of one of the very first pairs of earrings i listed on ETSY... almost two years ago. It is this design that I will be using to teach how to do stitches over a cabone ring at Shuttlebirds. I am offering the kit with earring findings, or a metal hook bookmark finding, so my students can choose to finish either one or two of the motifs.

Shuttlebirds is bound to be exciting this year, (even though I am scheduled to teach during the same time as ALL of the classes I was hoping to take myself!!) If you will be near Eastern Washington this coming April, I hope you will check out the Shuttlebirds website and take a look at all the fun we plan on having this year. You surely don't want to miss it!

Now I am off to wallow in my sorrows and drown them in cough syrup..... with a good helping of Mary Poppins on the side. After all, a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down!

Calling all Celtic tatters......

I've been asked to help in location the owner of the picture of this beautiful cross, in the hopes that we can find the pattern. If this is yours, or you recognize it, could you point me in the right direction?

Thanks!

Even more of the same!

I'm not tired of makng these yet, which is good I suppose in light of the upcoming farmers market season :-) I like making these earrings so much that I went and got some nicer swarovski hotfix crystals in several colors. Big grin.

In other news, I've started working to lose the last few lbs. of "baby weight". Truth being told, I lost all the weight while nursing the baby, but after she quit I gained back a few..... so really it's just a turn to swing the scale back in the other direction before it gets out of control. That being said, the first few days are the hardest while I've been a tad cranky from depriving myself from my usual indulgences. Poor hubby, he's handling me with grace and kindness. bless him.

The big news in tatting around here is that the registration for the Shuttlebirds Workshop is open! I am teaching two different projects, and I will do a proper update soon with pictures and such, until then you can visit http://www.shuttlebirds.com.
just click on Workshop.

Something else new

I've been a little more motivated than usual today, getting the housework done early. I actually ended up with a little extra tatting time this afternoon, enough to create and list the following -

Pink flower earrings - on ETSY

They are dangly, and I've made them double sided. They are "reversible", so that when the dangle and swing from your ears, there is never a wrong side in view.

Rhythm

Life takes rhythm. And no, I'm not talking just about musicality --- getting things done takes pace and cadence sometimes... and I totally let go of my "work at home making jewelry" rhythm over the holiday. Alas, I have been productive as I had promised myself, slowly working myself back into the rhythm that I know will be necessary to maintain my stay at home mom status.

Spanish dancer earrings in black and bronze

(made with Lizeth 20 black and the mostest beeeeautiful delica beads!)

Sanity takes rhythm I think. My natural habitat would cosist of artistic chaos if I would allow it, but in this season I am a mother, and children need lots of love and care by golly! So I work my rhythm to include crayons and cuddling baby dolls. And those most precious of children create an inordinate amout of laundry.....it borders on the obscene what little girls can muster and mash into their cotton apparel. So, my rhythm calls me to the laundry room to stir the home again with the soft rhytmic rumble of the washer and dryer.

Happy Birthday to me :-)

I am a whole 'nother year older today. For some reason 27 feels a whole lot older than 26..... but I can still make fun of my hubby, for he will soon be 32. Bwahahah!

Our wonderful little celebration consisted of the morning with the family, Hubbs took the baby to get me a cake. He also surprised me, he had a gift for me (usually I don't expect much for my birthday, we tend to have spent all the money on christmas and our anniversary in december) but he got me a standing jewelry armiore that I had been wantin.....in fact he bought it more than a month ago. I don't think he's ever done that lol! He's a sweet boy, prince charming when he wants to be. I should tell you all how he proposed someday.

Anyway, I failed my newyears goal already! I tat any jewelry yesterday, but rather than beat myself up I'll just make some time this evening. And I'll make something I WANT to make lol!

So, no pictures today sorry! I'm going to spend the rest of the afternoon playing with my girlies and avoiding housework (it's my birthday after all!) and I'll check in tomorrow with proud pictures of my tatting accomplishments.

Back in action

Well, the new year is here! I am excited to return to the world with renewed purpose and excitement after a hiatus. (hiatus meaning throwing my hands up in the air, screaming a little) Lol! Let's just say I have learned some lessons on how to quickly and frightfully stress myself out, and I plan on avoiding those situations. Priority one around here is to build my business in a way that I can sustain it.... joyfully and successfully. That means getting the shop stocked up again. There are quite a few things that need to be made (I've relisted some of the items that are easy to pull of and get sent out quickly) and after the holiday shows I'm rather short on stock. So I a purposing to make one item each weekday. I've taken the past few weeks to rest my brain and refocus, and now I am setting a reasonable pace to reach some goals this year - one of which is to sell at the farmers market this summer, one weekend a month.

Much to come friends, I'll check in tomorrow with that one item I've promised to make today (my making time is after the children go to bed of course :-)

See you tomorrow, with pictures of my progress!

New Years Resolution...

newest earring design

I'm crazy right? Christmas is not even here yet, and here I go spouting off about the new year and whatever it is that I plan to resolve.

It's a symptom of my new found businesswoman status.

I've spent the last few months playing catch-up, and figuring out the hard way....you know how it goes. The short of it is, that my early entrepreneurial experiences have motivated me to a more proactive mindset. Measurable results of that mindset have yet to be achieved of course. But, hey, you gotta start somewhere.

You see, I am definitely a seat of the pants kinda girl. I thrive in the moment, and shine at the last minute. I find myself immensely frustrating sometimes.... but that is a whole other blog post. I have been learning to appreciate this side of myself in some ways, but in the realm of well strategized business plans, I tend to stress myself out and wait until 6 hrs before a craft show to try and pull it all together. I think I get a few extra gray hairs every show I do lol!

The new plan for the new year, is to give myself the rest of December to enjoy making holiday gifts, while filling orders on etsy of course. My guess is that the online shopping season is nearing it's end anyway. In the new year, I plan to make one item a day, for the month of January, and I'll start by restocking things that are listed in the shop. After holiday shows, at this point I could potentially be left with an empty shop so I have been leaving things listed that are easy to replicate and turn around quickly, like the snowflake earrings. Anyway, after two months of this behavior, I think less than half of what I have in the shop is actually made at this very moment, and if I plan to grow my business, I could easily get myself in trouble by not having ordered items available in a reasonable time frame.....so I will fix that forthwith after the first of the year. And I will ask you all to help keep me motivated and accountable....because it's always much more fun to make what I WANT to make instead of what needs to be made lol! So, with eyes on the prize of being well stocked and prepared for farmers market season, I will begin the new year.

Where does the time go!

Why it seems like just last week we were on a quiet sleigh ride throught the Wenatche National Forest.....

Oh wait, that WAS last week! Must say we had a most fantastic Thanksgiving holiday. We were able to take off for a few days to spend time with my Dad and his wife. Never having been to Lavenworth, we were just giggling with oodles of glee when we pulled into town! It is the best christmas town in America you know, according to HGTV.

Leavenworth is a little Bavarian village nestled in the mountains. We had to cross two passes to get there, only had to chain the tires once. We were in fact glad to be away from the dreaded memories of the frozen pipes, car repairs, and general mayhem of the days prior to our little excursion.... and our thanksgiving trek did just the trick.

There was sledding, a sleigh ride, and much frolicking in the snow. Me and Hubbs even escaped to town on foot for a much needed "date". Nothing says romance like hot cider and an international cheese tray appetizer in "cafe Motzart".

The littlest one had a fountainous runny nose upon arrival, so she and daddy opted for a nap instead of the wonderous sleigh ride.... but general merriment was had by all. We checked out many of the small shops, and yes, I did put the viking hats on the kids...just for pictures of course.

There's nothing quite like the look of "mom. is this completely necessary? really?" upon your darling child's face.

Well, upon our return, general mayhem resumed. I hate how mayhem can be so prompt. The rest of the family got the nasty crud that the little viking had the week before, and our serendipitous decision to buy christmas lights for the house resulted in another vehicle breakdown. sigh.

Alas, my wings are clipped as we are currently a one car family.....the problem with my purple-people-eater- of a minivan is one of those intermittent electrical gremlins chewing on the wires type of problems, and barring a winning lottery ticket, it will likely not be replaced any time soon. So I am stuck home when hubby is working. And I'm an out and about kinda girl, so when the general call for "girls night" went out via text message in my circle of aquaintance, I sent the "please come to my house I am STUCK HERE" plea and was graced with the presence of two kind friend bearing pizza and cookie dough---half of which we baked, and the other half, well......

now they are gone, and I am left alone in peace and quiet to work on some christmas presents. Thankfully I am all caught up after "Black Friday" and all that, so the shop can wait whist I create some pressies for the girlies....

Amigurumi. I didn't know that was a word. Anyway, being that my children are of the three and under genre, I can still get away with making them cute stuffed whatnots. We don't have cable or an antenna so they thankfully are spared from the onslaught of toy commercials, and are delighted by anything made of pink yarn. I actually found a bunch of free patterns for crochet playfood.... so I am busting out my yarn stash. Sadly, after straying for a few years from yarncraft, I pared down to one small bin of yarn. And it seems I didn't keep much plain worsted, but a quick trip to the craft store fixed that. Vanna's choice 2/$5? can't beat that. I'm gonna make play cupcakes, and dollies. And whatever else I can get my hands on patterns for.

I did a market research test of course before major crochet toy production began, and upon receiving this more traditional amigurumi cat, my daughter promptly asked for another kitty with legs on it. And eyebrows. (?) so I will be filling that order as well. I'd like to also make an amigurumi nativity. My mom had this cool plastic canvas one when I was little. It was nice to have a non-breakable baby Jesus. I always appreciated that, so maybe it's time I passed on that tradition to my wee princesses.

Anyway, 17 points for making through that post. Tomorrow we visit Santa at Home Depot. It's probably a ploy of theirs to get us to buy a tree while we are there, and, well.....it will work I can tell you that. :-) And while the budget doesn't allow for new LED lights for the tree (I am looking for a set of LED in twinkle lights....haven't seen such a thing yet.) We did end up purchasing a small amount of lighting for the outside of our house. Now. It's still early, and this is our first year on this block, but we are the only ones who seem to have made the jump into the new and mighty bright LED christmas light technology. Amidst the few houses lit with old-school bulbs, our house has a mildly radioactive appearance. Them things are seriously bright! I think I hear airplanes circling.