Saturday Night Special Time!

Hey everybody!  It's Saturday Night Special time again.  That means you can take 25% off your whole order in my shop tonight from 5 PM to 6 AM tomorrow.  Use coupon code SNS25 at checkout.  Click on anything below to go to that listing or click my name at the bottom to go to my shop. 







If you don't like anything in my shop, check out the other sales going on.  With as many people as there are participating tonight, I'm sure there's something you want there!

Click here for all Saturday Night Specials!

Happy Shopping!

Awkward and Awesome

I've been following Natalie at Blonde at Heart for a few months now, I think, and what initially made me fall in love with her blog were her Awkward and Awesome posts that are part of a link party.  (Click on the picture to go to the original link party.)  After reading the awkwardness and awesomeness of her week, I fell in love with Natalie's love for style, friends, her youth group and most importantly, God.  It's so much fun for me to find great God-fearing women who live all the way across the country.  Anyway, I thought it would be fun to link up myself, so here goes:

Awkward...

~Asking a coworker what the password was to one of our machines.  Not so awkward until we both finally realized that it was right above the screen where I entered the password.

~Dropping tube caps several different times all over the floor.

~This here is both awkward and awesome.  Awesome because I made a cute checkbook wallet with an ID window to match my new bag:

Awkward because I miscalculated my seam allowances and top stitching, so that even though it looks cool, nothing, not even the checkbook fits.

Oh well, lesson learned.  I'll just have to make another one. 

~Really Awkward:  Getting accidentally "felt up" by your 21 year old brother while you were playing monkey-in-the-middle with him and his girlfriend...at church!  But it was kind of awesome because Sam got really embarassed.  He got more padding than anything anyway :P

Awesome...

~There were 84 kids at our church's Wednesday night youth service!  I can't wait until I switch jobs so I can be a part of it!

~Date night with Hubs last Saturday night

~Two and possibly three Etsy orders in one week!

~My new bag! 

I really liked the general shape of the Made by Rae Buttercup Bag (there's a free pattern behind that link), but I liked the depth and the two pleats and straight lines at the top and sides of These Ickady Bags on Etsy, with the one big panel like Sew Spoiled's Ladybug Bags.  So I just piled what I liked from each one and drew up my own pattern for it.  I love it!  PS. if you love it too, I have it for sale in My Etsy Shop.

~Two days off next week that include another date night!

 

~Most awesomest:  Get ready for a long metaphor here...Having God knock your bowl full of milk and Cheerios out of your hands (I love my Cheerios in the morning), having a big cry over the spilled cereal, having several women (some who I know offline, others who I know online) coming to help you clean up the mess, then after those dear women have given you hugs and left, you look down into your bowl and realize it's full of peanut M&M's instead of Cheerios.  My heart is so full right now because of some of the things God is doing for me.  

I encourage anyone reading to at least think about what has been Awkward and Awesome this week.  It's made me not take my self too seriously (which I really didn't do in the first place :D) and it also made me realize that there are so many more awesome things than awkward.  Count your blessings y'all!

It's Saturday Night Again!

Have you been eying something in my Etsy shop?  Waiting for it to go on sale?  Wait no more!  It's Saturday night and I'm offering the biggest discount I can.  Just enter coupon code SNS25 at checkout for 25% off your order from Evan Becky.  Also check out the other Saturday Night Specials on Etsy.  Everyone offers a little something different.  Stop by and show some love! 

Click here for all the SNS Sales

Check out some items from my shop below.  Click to go to that item in my shop.  It's all 25% off!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

I'm back again after a blogging hiatus.  I surprisingly got almost everything done on my to-do list from the last post.  I didn't get the set of letters cut out for Emma's Harry Potter scrapbook, but after cutting the letters out for her card, I decided that it would be better to just invite her over for a scrapbooking party.  So, here's what I've been up to:

Emma's Birthday card and envelope.  She didn't want to open the envelope and ruin it, so it was surgically opened with a pocket knife.

My mother-in-law's second flower.  I put a leaf on this one because the yarn I used wasn't as big as for the black one.

And Hubs took some pictures of me modeling my crochet flower headbands so I can get them in my Etsy shop.  I'm not real sure why, but I like this picture. 

I didn't get the skirts taken up, but i figured that having clean skivvies was more important.   

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.

Sale! Saturday Night Special!

Hi everyone!

Tonight is the weekly Etsy Saturday Night Special (SNS)!  I join up with several other Etsy sellers to offer my biggest discount on EVERYTHING in my shop.  Different sellers do different discounts and specials, but I offer a full 25% off everything when you use the code SNS25 at checkout.  My newest listings are the wallets like I've mentioned in previous posts.  Normally they are $10 with $2 shipping for a total of $12.  Tonight with the coupon code, they will be $7.50 plus $2 shipping for a total of $9.50.  You'll get it for less that what it costs before shipping costs!

I'll also do custom color combos with the SNS, just buy one of these wallets, then tell me in the message to seller what combo you want. 

There are some other things in my shop too.  There are a few cards and some crochet baby items.  Just click on my name below to go to my shop!  Also check out the other specials going on in other shops here --> SNS Thread on Etsy for July 9, 2011.  Have fun everyone!



Buy Nothing Summer Fail

Yep, that's right, I gave into temptation.  But I did go a solid two weeks without buying ANYTHING.  And I do feel that my purchase was justified.  First of all I got a few things that I reallly and truly needed.

I was running low on the fusible interfacing and it was on sale.  I only had one snap left.  I thought I was about out of key rings, turns out I had a whole 'nother pack, but I got 20 of these for the price of 6 elsewhere...it was a good buy.  And the fat quarters were to make sure I could relist a wallet in these colors.

Now on to the Fail...

In my defense, I had a custom request for a black and yellow wallet.  I just already had some black and yellow fabric that I could have used, but I liked this much better.  And the grey and pink and pear fabric were on clearance for a dollar a yard.  A DOLLAR!  And I had to get matching fat quarters to line wallets and bags with.  And zippers.  But that's all I bought!  So I suppose I'm doing good.  Plus Hubs told me that I didn't buy them, that they are a present from him.  (That really makes no sense since all of our money goes into one bank account.) 

And I found the Etsy shop of all Etsy shops.  Well, Jenilyn showed it to me.  Zipit has wholesale zippers for a quarter of what I can buy them in the fabric store.  And that's calculating shipping in.  I'm gonna be buying a sampler pack like seen here --> 8 inch Zipper Sampler then I can decide which colors I need more of.

Zippers fall under the category of things that I may run out of that I need.  They don't count in the Buy Nothing Summer.

So, yes, I did fail, but not much.  I'm hoping my newest purchases can keep my happy for a while.  If not, I'll just go get my toes painted at the nail salon.  I may just do that anyway.

Tuesday To-Do, June 14, 2011

For alliteration's sake, I'm making my To-Do List posts on Tuesday now. 

The SS cookout was great!  My house was clean, the food was good (we are all very good Baptists), and the kids had fun.  Our neighbor has pecan trees and one of the kids found a pecan.  It was from that point on a coconut.  But we won't be having company again for a while, so I'm completely nixing the "prep the house" To-Do list.  But my crafting To-Do list keeps growing.

Hubs is gone on business again.  I don't like it.  He'll be gone until late Friday night, so I'll have to find things to amuse myself until then.  My problem is prioritizing things.  There are a bazillion and one things I'd like to have done by tomorrow morning.  The reason I'd like to have them done by then is because my Tools4Etsy ad goes live tomorrow morning!  When I signed up for the ad, I really thought it would be months before it appeared since it's free and the featured advertisers are chosen lottery style.  But nope, it's tomorrow.  So here's my attempt at prioritizing my To-Do list:

~Make the graduation gift wallets

~Make a couple more wallets to put for sale in my shop and list them.  Due: tonight

~Newest project:  Beach Roll--I've bought two large bath towels that I'm going to attatch a printed roll pillow to (handmade pillow, of course).  I'm also going to sew a strap on the back of the towel so that when it's rolled around the pillow you can tie it up.  Due: tonight

~Finish cutting out shapes for our Church Youth Card Ministry.  The kids were supposed to make cards last week, but someone only put out the cheesy boxed cards for them to sign.  This is no good.  I'm using the trusty Cricut to make some stuff for them to glue on.  This means that you will get free SVG files soon!  Due: tonight

~Sew the ribbons on the luggage for my Mother-in-law

~Sew beach gifts for my nieces (This is one of those things that keeps growing.  There is the Reversible Skirt, the Appliqued Tote Bag, and now the Beach Roll) Due: June 24

~Make the tutorial for the Reversible Skirt while I'm making one

~Finish the duffel bag and matching makeup/tote/toiletries bags that I started months ago and intended to carry to the beach Due: June 24

~Make the tutorial for the Crochet Zinnia.  Due: whenever it gets done

~Redo my shop banner, avatar, and some other things to finish rebranding my shop. Though I do have my outfit picked out, just gotta take the picture.  The picture will probably be made at the beach.  Due: whenever it gets done

~Make the concealed carry handbag I've been dreaming up for the past few months I have decided on the fabric and mostly the design for this.  I'm using the primary birdie fabric.  So there will be this cutesy little bag with a .38 revolver hidden inside.  I like the irony.  Due: whenever I can get it done

Look for pictures and posts in the next few days.  I'm hoping that even though I'm not happy with the fact that Hubs isn't home, his absence will make me get stuff done.  I'm in serious need of a fire under my hiney to get things done.

Freebie Tuesday?

It's just barely still Tuesday anyway.  I've determined that it's been waaaaay too long since I've had a Freebie Friday, so I made today Freebie Tuesday.  Plus I just trying to get stuff marked off my to-do list.  I know, ulterior motive.  Anyway, today's freebie is an SVG and JPEG file of a daisy.  They look especially cute with a brass brad stuck through the center and fastened to another piece of paper, or a lab coat, whichever.  Here you go!  These are Google Docs Files.  To download the SVG, click "File" in the upper left hand corner and then click "Download Original."  To download the JPEG, just click "Download" in the upper left hand corner.  Again, please let me know if these don't work.

Daisy SVG

Daisy JPEG

Have fun crafting!

Welcome to my Blog + Friday Freebie!

Hi friends and welcome.  This is my first attempt at blogging in a very long while, so bear with me!  I've started this blog in order to get some of my craftiness out.  No, not the sort of craftiness that has me pulling tricks on friends, the kind of craftiness that makes me churn out little bits of this and that that I have made with my hands.  I have been a crocheter for going on 12 years now and have been scrapbooking when I get the chance for about 5 years.  I just recently got a Cricut with the Sure Cuts a Lot software and have been unstoppable!  I'm hoping to venture out into sewing after my birthday in May (I have asked for a Brother sewing machine).  We'll see where else all my craftiness takes me.  In the meantime...

Friday Freebie!

I have made a mini crochet pattern for all of you out there who would be interested. 

*WARNING*  I taught myself to crochet and thus my technique is not perfect.  I crochet tight.  For example, if a pattern says to use a size H crochet hook, I use a J to get my gauge right.  Luckily for this pattern, gauge isn't really important.  I aslo use American terms.

Tiny Crochet Flowers

The flowers in this picture were made using embroidery thread using a size D crochet  hook.  I like embroidery thread because you only have to buy a tiny bit of a bright color.  On the other hand, since it is made to unravel, I don't recommend it for beginners.  These flowers can also be made larger or smaller depending on the yarn/thread and hook size that you use.

Stitches used:

Magic Ring--If you need to know how to do a Magic Ring, go here -->PlanetJune's Magic Ring Tutorial This is where I learned how to do one

SC=Single Crochet

SS=Slip Stitch

DC=Double Crochet

Round 1:  SC12 in Magic Ring, SS in first SC to join ring

Round 2:  *3 DC in next SC (do not CH 2 like normal), SS in next SC* 6 times.  Fasten off.  Weave in ends.

There.  Wasn't that easy?  These little flowers work up quick (about 15 min) and are great extras for scrapbook pages and other embellishing. 

Or if you still don't have time to make them, I sell them in my Etsy shop, $2.00 for six.  I do custom color orders too.  My Etsy Shop