etsy treasury

I only seem to make Etsy treasuries around the holiday season.  Perhaps it's because I'm looking for gifts to get for friends & family, or maybe it's so I have plenty of ideas on hand for my family.

Here's the first...of many I'm sure.  And of course, it's all pomegranate - I can't stop thinking about them!  I'll take one of each, please!

'pomegranate perfect'   

//pomegranates - the most beautiful fruit on the planet & a perfect representation of femininity.//

Pomegranate printed bro... fawa $6.00	Tulle Flower Headband -... MaieDae $8.00	Pomegranate Ruby Black ... Artesserae $250.00
OOAK Vintage Dictionary... oliviamoon $12.00	Pomegranate print nottapixiepres... $15.00	Pomegranate branch (8.5... joojoo $25.00
Pomegranate tree cushio... roddyandginger $38.00	Pomegranate Giclee Prin... CindyLindgren $25.00	Yaroma - Pomegranate Ma... Sephyra $24.00
Pomegranate love tea co... IbsenLab $33.00	Pink Pomegranate Jar -L... StudioElan $48.00	Porcelain Pomegranate V... NewMoonStudio $38.00
Pomegranate Soap Smellitlikeiti... $5.00	pomegranate-hand carved... fawa $3.50	SALE Pomegranate Flower... circularaccess... $24.00

Generated using Treasury HTML code generator by Whale Shark Websites. 

Have you made your first holiday treasury? 

the crazy, yet oddly balanced day

Luckily, a ton of different good things have not happened today.  If they had, I would have probably ended up having a more negative day.

The pomegranate tattoo appointment fell through!  Once I arrived at work, I received a text that the only appointment that was available was now between 1pm & 3pm.  Bummer!  Jessica still went, and got a little Indiana tattoo.  I, on the other hand, now have that much more time to ponder upon exactly which design I want to go with!

These are the two finalists:

  

I'm leaning towards the first one for a few reasons.  The pomegranate is beautiful, yet incredibly simple.  I love the detail on the wing, as well as the little lace sort of pattern on the birds neck.  The bird is also incredibly close to one of the designs that I use in my hex signs, which makes it even more special.  While the second is a really beautiful illustration, I'm just not all that sure how well it would work as a tattoo.

I have a short shift at work tomorrow, and I think I'm going to utilize my afternoon to go speak with the good folks at Metamorphisis.  I've been told I should speak with Matt or Megan, so here's hoping that one of them is there! 

To balance out the sadness that was no tattoo, shortly after I received an e-mail from raw foods chef Audrey Barron letting me know that she can use my help this Friday for her class "Unbake: Breads, Crackers, & Cookies in the Raw!" being held at Perk Up Cafe in Broad Ripple.  This should be an awesome time, and right up my alley.  I am totally ready to start learning alternative cooking methods from professionals.  There are a few spots still available if you're interested in coming to the event! 

 

The other bad part of my day, I found my shower leaking.  All over the floor, lots and lots of dirty water.  The plumbing in my building is old & confusing.  So, a lot of clogs happen.  My boyfriend & the landlord had to tear out part of the wall.  Eeek :/

It's alright, though, cause I won a $100 Amazon gift card for the awesome folks over at Real Zest!  If you haven't checked out the website, I highly suggest doing so.  It's run by a group of interesting and unique women with something to say, and say it!  My favorite article so far is In defense of the Choice to be Childless - I couldn't have said things better myself. 

I think the good far outweighed the bad today.  I'll leave you with this, just in case your day wasn't so balanced, this should at least put a smile on your face!

pomegranate pie

I've been obsessing over pomegranates ever since my lovely friend Sham taught me to to shuck/seed/whatever you want to call it, a pomegranate last week.  So last night, I tried my hand at making a pomegranate pie.  The crust was basically a fail, the insides turned out delicious!  So head on over to nutritious knitting, my cooking/school fundraising blog, to check it out!

Keeping in the theme of pomegranate, I'm going to get a new tattoo today. A pomegranate tattoo. With my dear friend, Jessica, who is moving back to Hawaii tomorrow.  She was the first person to ever share with me the deliciousness that is pomegranate.  She wanted to get a tattoo before she left, and we tried to bounce ideas of one another.  Then, just a few days ago, a pomegranate was suggested.  Perfect!  I've got lots of artwork I like, and only about 7 more hours to decide.

What do you think?

special orders galore.

I've been absent again, I do apologize.

I am still "participating" in the blogging workshop, by reading & thinking about each prompt.  Unfortunately, I haven't had the time to actually post entries!  This is, in all actuality, not unfortunate. I've been incredibly busy trying to crank out special orders.  Of the 10 (yes, ten) special orders I received in the past two weeks, I have gotten 4+3/4 pieces done.  On top of a few items for the Murphy's Seasonal Bazaar, and a knit cap for the Santorini Benefit being held tonight at the Vollrath.  My fingertips are sore and I've gone through yards & yards of yarn.

I'm not complaining, trust me!

Santorini Benefit Prize Pack featuring:

Knit bow & Cap by me!

Pendants & Ring by Sunday Afternoon Housewife

Hipster by Bustys Fun Bags

Small Wall Hanging & Belt Buckle by Mamus!

Gift Certificate courtesy of Homespun:Modern Handmade

handmade promenade!

 

It's this weekend!  I hope to make it (I have to work, like usual) to start my holiday shopping list!  Alot of my favorite local artists will be there like Sunday Afternoon Housewife, Busty's Fun Bags, and Geek Soap.  Rumor has it that the weather will be perfect, and the Promenade is held in conjunction with the Broad Ripple Music Fest - one of the best music fests Indianapolis has to offer. 

These events really get my holiday juices flowing (I like to start formulating ideas earlier rather than later) so that I can be proactive about the holidays and make sure I can get everyone something unique & thoughtful.  How early do you start your holiday shopping list?  Any events that you can recommend for me to check out (in the midwest, of course!)?

schedule schmedule

If it was a perfect world, I would spend my days knitting scarves & hats & toys, rolling in the grass with my dogs, cooking vegan food, and watching Tom Hanks films. 

Unfortunately, that is not my life.  I would like to work less - but work pays the bills.  And work also provides money to buy supplies to knit into items that I can sell so that I can save money to go to school. 

Luckily, my job is pretty "easy" for lack of a better term.  I chat with folks all day - they ask silly questions, I answer them, and then get to chuckle about it later.  Sometimes, I even get a few stitches in or a few paragraphs read. I'm a people person 9 to 5, (more like 12 to 8) so after work I love to curl up on the couch and knit and turn "off."  I get alot of crafting done as I try to relax from work - luckily for me it's actually not relaxing to sit there and do nothing. 

On a perfect day (and this is ....sometimes... what happens on my days off) I wake up at my regular time (9) and watch court TV shows while perusing the internet for anything I may have missed the night before.  I drink my coffee, take a shower, then I put on a movie and knit.  After that, I can do pretty much anything and the day is a solid win in my book since I was productive at the start of my day!

What does your schedule look like?  How do you find time get all your crafting done?

blogging workshop: playing catch-up

I've been completely & utterly consumed with knitting & new tasks at work these past few days. I haven't been doing the blogging workshop prompts, but I have been thinking about them. Am I procrastinating?

So this is me, playing catch-up.  I have a brief moment in between knitting projects (which, by the way, you can see the new cap I made over at my nutritious knitting blog).

Our first prompt of the week was to write a book review! A book review?!? I haven't read a craft book in ages - I guess I like to learn most of my crafty knowledge by experience & through others.  But, when we were in Cincinnati for crafty supermarket this past spring, we managed to pick up Grace Dobush's Crafty Superstar. 


I whizzed through this book in just a couple of days - being a seasoned craft fair vendor/attendee, there wasn't a ton of knowledge for me to learn.  Chapters 5 (Get Noticed) and 6 (Finding Balance) were more up my alley - but were a little bit further than where I was ready to go. 

This book is CRUCIAL for crafters wanting a basic idea of what to expect and some great tips on how to get to their goal.  It's written from a DIY perspective & is fun and interesting enough to keep anybody's attention.  The whole end of the book (Appendix A-I) are probably the most helpful parts of any book I have.

And lastly, I will share a mission statement with you:
I am an artist, through and through.  Knitting is an art, paper crafts are an art, even food is an art.  To me, art & creativity are everywhere and in everything. I love sharing mine, and I love sharing yours.

five friday faves!

i've got five favorite etsy plush artists to share with you!

1.  Sleepy King

 

Who doesn't love woodland creatures?  I don't think I would really want to know you if you didn't love these little creatures.  Bears, bunnies, owl wings, even raccoons! 

2.  Steff Bomb

Steff Bomb is consistently coming out with clever plush items for those of us that love food.  They're funny, they're cute, and they are serious top quality.

3.  Cronopia6

You can find tons of cute & colorful plush items in the Cronopia6 shop.

4.  Melissa Sue

Melissa Sue has an amazing talent for making slightly creepy, slightly cute plush items.  Better knows as "soft sculptures," these creatures have an amazing amount of attention paid to little details.  Melissa Sue recently moved across the sea to Zurich & while she was getting settled her shop was pretty sparse.  I'm really excited to see some new items up!

5.  Snaulkter

Seahorses are pretty freaking neat if you just sit back for a minute and think about it.  Sea horses come in the chessman variety, soda-straw and plant-like shapes, and range in size from one to eleven inches.  They can change colors to blend in with their surroundings and beat their dorsal fins nearly as fast as a hummingbird beats its wings.  Seahorses live in long-term monogamous partnerships - and the male seahorse actually carries the young to term.  This shop is full of my favorite sea creatures!

Do you have some etsy plush artists that you can recommend?

pro·cras·ti·na·tion

who doesn't like to put things off every once in a while?  i know i do, and once i start procrastinating, i really don't stop.  it's like a snowball effect.

for me, the best and practically only way i stop procrastinating is by diving into a project that isn't too tedious.  one that can be completed fairly quickly & easily.  once that one is completed, that sense of accomplishment tends to keep me motivated (for the next few days, at least). 

if i have a few larger projects looming in the distance, i try to break them up in to smaller pieces.  do bit by bit instead of thinking about the final product.  it's almost a surprise when everything comes together & is done.

do you have any tips to beat your procrastinating self?

higgins waterproof drawing ink

(it's my fortieth post, and i think i've decided to actually start giving posts titles. interesting idea? i think so.)

today i'm going to tell you a little about higgins waterproof drawing ink. i've figured out that this is mamus' secret weapon - i swear, before i knew about this stuff, i couldn't paint.

but put a paintbrush in my hand now, ask me to do details - and, voila! after a quick warm-up i feel like i've been painting for days. this acrylic ink glides on smoothly to any sort of paper/paint surface like it just knows where to go.

do you have a favorite paint/ink? i'd love to know some more brands that i could try!

thirty-ninth

for the third day of the october blogging workshop we have been asked to create an "about" page - clearly one of the things people hate writing about most! funny thing is, it never even crossed my mind that perhaps someone might want to know something "about me" without having to skim through all of my posts. so, if you want to know "about me", click that little link up in the left-hand corner. need to know anything else? please feel free to ask!

thirty-eighth

happy monday! it's my first full week of the october blogging workshop run by sunday afternoon housewife. it only makes sense that we will be doing a recap of our crafty vendor/shopper weekend. this past first friday, i was a vendor at the indieana handicraft exchange mini fall even at the harrison center for the arts.

i split a table with mamus, as i wasn't sure in the beginning if i wanted to vend. and to be honest, i wish i hadn't bothered. the whole event was really terrible for me. it was great getting to see friends i haven't seen in a while, meeting a bunch of new people, and getting to see some new items from my favorite artists - but aside from that, meh.

i had a similar experience at the last handicraft exchange, so it's really forcing me to take a look at what i'm doing. during the summer event we were outside where the temperature was 90 degrees plus and a lot of the shoppers didn't even know we were part of the event. this time around the event was very poorly advertised in my opinion - no flyers, posters, and very minimal online advertising. after having conversations with past vendors and shoppers, it came to light that many people did not even know the event was happening. that's all fine and good, but i have to wonder, am i just making up excuses to make me feel better?

i can't really tell. i get a lot of good feedback from my items - "that's cute!" "how funny!" "this is beautiful" "how soft" - but i don't get a lot of sales. perhaps it was too soon for scarves, perhaps many of the shoppers did not plan on buying anything as it was a first friday event (where the majority of people aren't shopping), or perhaps i'm just missing....something.

i have one more event coming up on friday, november 5 - Murphys Seasonal Bazaar. i have higher hopes for this one - the murphy building's artists have put together this event, hopefully the first of many!

thirty-seventh

i've taken on quite an ambitious cause (one of my own, so it's excusable).

head on over to nutritiousknitting.blogspot.com to see what's happening.

i hope you can take part! please, also, if you have any recommendations/criticism/helpful tips, do let me know!

thirty-sixth

this marks the beginning of the October blogging workshop run by the amazingly fun martha of sunday afternoon housewife fame.

i've been wanting to write more & participate in a workshop, and when i saw her post that she was offering one the other day - i couldn't pass it up! so, here goes nothing!

our first prompt was to check out some new-to-me craft blogs on the interwebs and poke around them to find out what i like/didn't like. what's better than looking at new crafty goodness!?!

first up:
polka dot robot
the first thing that struck me was how well (& how many) photos were used - photos for everything! i love being about to see photos about what i'm reading about, instead of just imagining things. don't get me wrong - i love using my imagination - but seeing what someone is actually writing about is great! i am totally one of those people that wants to take a photo of everything to share it, but i forget to take the photograph! while i enjoyed the idea of having 4 different crafty ladies post on the blog, it did in part feel like i was reading 4 different blogs at once - which felt a bit confusing.

next:
loladee (actually was a click-through link from polka dot robot that i couldn't pass up reviewing!
i immediately was drawn to the simple, bubbly graphics. the first post was "5 things [i fell in love with] friday." i gotta tell ya, i love these things. i love seeing what other people love - because more often than not, they are truly love-able! this can actually lead to a endless chain of link-clicking and cuteness - i've lost days at a time by doing this. the design of this blog is so simple, yet everything pops so dramatically. i am definitely adding this one to my google reader!

last:
bakerella
the first thing i see on this site is a big beautiful red apple. i love food, food is fighting for my number 1 passion (along with creating things). any time you blog about food, you're a#1 in my book. when you attach incredible photos to that, you're golden. i could look at these photos for hours (i imagine a snack will be had after this post...) i love that this blog has minimal design, but plenty of content. simple colors and graphics lead to a simple, easy to navigate site. this site did have a negative for me - the corporate advertising. these ads felt ridiculously out of place and really ruined the vibe for me.

well, that looks like it for today! my next prompt is monday - can't wait!