What the Friday?

So besides the post on the Foil Pack Chicken Dinner, I have fallen off the face of the blog world this past week.  I was trying to get things done, and they just didn't happen as planned.  I'm not quite sure where my 3 days off went.  I even made a list, which ususally helps me get things done, but it didn't help.  I think I will perpetually be two steps behind.  

I did get a couple of custom orders made:

And I figured out why the white balance wasn't working that well on my pictures.  I had two different kinds of light bulbs.  I thought Hubs put the same kind all together in a box.  I was wrong.  Thus the difference in the top and bottom pictures. 

A high school friend also bought a Train Engineer Hat for her new nephew, and that was pretty exciting too. 

I think I'm finally building a customer base.  I've been trying to wear and use my products and some people that I meet in real life are starting to ask about things.  Hopefully this will continue.  July has been a very good month for my business.  I should probably start doing some book keeping.  Time to get out Excel, and make Hubs help me since he is and Excel guru. 

Now...on to the weekend!

Tomorrow night I actually get to go out.  It seems like it's been forever since I've gotten to go out on a Saturday night.  My middle niece is going to turn 10 on Monday and wanted to go to a Japanese steakhouse for her birthday.  Bless this child's heart, she always wants to make sure I can come because she is one of the few people who understands that I have to work at night.  Did I mention how much I love these girls?  So we are going to Wasabi in Greenville.

For some reason this one is never crowded.  It's a year or two old, very clean, very reasonably priced, they give you TONS of food (I take home about half), and it's in the busy part of town.  But it's never crowded.  I'll take it.  But before we go to eat, I have a mini To-Do List for this occassion.

~Emma is a HUGE Harry Potter fan.  She saves her money to buy the Harry Potter Lego sets.  She's very artistic, loves to read, loves to craft.  My sister-in-law told me that she wants to make a Harry Potter scrapbook and asked that if I find anything while I'm shopping that would work well in a Harry Potter scrapbook, that I get it for Emma.  I didn't find anything in the stores Monday, so I decided that I'm going to break out the Cricut and make her some alphabet cutouts using a free Harry Potter font I found online.  So that is to be done.

~I'm also making Emma's card.

~I need to take up the skirts I made for the girls.  They were about 4 inches too big, but I think that shouldn't take too long.

~I need to finish my mother-in-law's crochet flowers.  I don't know why I have been avoiding this.  They are practically done.  I just need to finish them.

~I need to sew and pack up another wallet that I sold.  I had every intention of doing this last night, but I had a few kinks in the custom ordered heart wallet and at 3 AM I was tired of dealing with wallets.

~I have got to wash clothes.  I know this is TMI, but I'm out of underwear.

I think i'll leave it at that.  Hopefully it will be a good night here at the hospital, no computer downtimes like last night.  If so, I'll go home, sew up the wallet, pack it up, and go to bed "early" (1 AM-ish).  Then get up early-ish and get to the post office and finish all of the goodies I need to finish.  I need to get back on a regular sleep schedule anyway.

The Buy Nothing Summer

As I have discovered among people in the craft world, we all have too much stuff.  By stuff I mean materials.  We all seem to hoard fabric, and buttons, and paper, and yarn and whatever else we have ever used for any project whatsoever. 

I started following http://craftymoira.blogspot.com/ during the Sew, Mama, Sew May Giveaway Day 2011.  She gave away a dump truck load of zippers that I rather wanted.  Alas, I didn't win them, but I did find a new blog to follow that has been very entertaining. 

Moira has decided that she is not going to buy any more crafting materials from now until September 1 and just deal with what she has.  I think this is a fantastic goal.  So fantastic that I think I will join.  Starting Tuesday.  I have a few things that I know I'm going to need before this weekend (i.e. seersucker, broadcloth, some buttons and maybe, just maybe a peek at the clearance table). 

Moira has her own rules and exceptions, and other people have kind of set some exceptions for themselves.  Since me saying that I won't buy anything all summer would turn me into a liar, here are exceptions:
1.  I can buy things that I run out of that I need, such as zippers, snaps, buttons, interfacing, etc.
2.  If I have a request for an item in my shop and I am out of that fabric, I can go buy more of that particular fabric.  Same goes for yarn.
3.  I should not buy anything off the clearance table just because I like it.  I need to use what I have first.  But of course that doesn't mean that I won't.  But I'll try my darndest.

I think I'm going to create a page here on my blog chronicling the undertaking.  I'll post pictures of things that I have made as a result of my stash busting, and maybe you can send me some of your pictures!  I love pictures!

So there is is.  All the credit for this goes to Moira, but I would like to know if you are participating.  Let's make it a party!

Pay it Forward Giveaway!

I found this lovely little thing over at The Little Mouse blog.  I think Esther may have followed my blog during the SMS May Giveaway Day 2011 and somehow I missed it.  She has such a nice little blog.  Anyway, I found this on her blog and thought, "Hey, why not!"  So here it is.  I've copied the rules directly from Esther's blog 

Here are the rules:


1.  I will make something for the first 3 people that comment on this post.  QUICK! Comment now and read the rest of the rules later!  Just kidding... you might want to see what you're getting yourself into before you commit.  Also, if you do comment, make sure that your email is attached to your account, or include it in your comment.  I need to have some way of getting a hold of your to get your address!

2.  I will have a full 365 days to make and send your item.  Maybe when you least expect it and have forgotten about this, it will show up in the mail.  

3.  Once you comment here, you must post about your Pay It Forward on your blog to keep the fun going with the Pay It Forward badge.  You then will have the joy and fun of making something for the first 3 people that comment on your post!


Also, feel free to join the Flickr group to see what else is being sent!

I'm looking forward to this.  I really get a lot of joy out of making people happy, and what better way to do it than this!

Happy Monday!

Ok, so I didn't really feel very happy while trying to find a place to park when I got to work this afternoon.  In fact, this may be the most unhappy Monday of the year since the weekend was gorgeous and DST started yesterday and I'm all out of whack. 

But I don't have a cold anymore, and the weekend was amazing.  I went shopping with Mama on Saturday, then Dave took me out to dinner Saturday night.  Sunday morning church was just what I needed.  Middle School Small Group's Service Night went very well.  The boys made birdhouses and the girls made cards for the shut in members of our church.  Next Service Night the girls will paint the birdhouses and the boys will make cards.  And I'm sore from doing cartwheels and wrestling with said middle schoolers in the front yard.  I know I'm about 10 years older than they are, but most of them are bigger than me, so it's ok! 

I guess overall it's a happy Monday.

In craft news, I did some research this weekend regarding selling my crochet patterns online.  I'm thinking that this may be beneficial for me.  Right now, my key blog traffic comes from Crochet Pattern Central, a site that I love and adore.  But it seems that people want the patterns for things I'm selling in my Etsy shop, which is no way to make money.  So I think I'm going to sell patterns, as well as submitting my little freebies to CPC.  I may also start selling some SVG files for the SCAL and Make the Cut software and Cricut machines.  To say the least, I've got to get busy whether or not I sell patterns because I have so many ideas in my head and none of them are in yarn yet. 

In the meantime, I found this on Etsy today.  I know I'm not a knitter, and this particular item was a custom listing that sold already, but I had to share

Is that not the cutest thing?  The creator is wearthou.  Here's the link to her shop, you should go check it out http://www.wearthou.etsy.com/

I'll see y'all later for another Freebie Friday!