Pins

Just to change things up a little bit, I spent some time mounting another doily. This time I'm not disguising the color because it's such a small section of the piece. I had actually intended to do more of them yesterday, but these tiny little pins are murder on my fingers. In fact, my fingertips are still a little tender this morning. They're call sequins pins and they're only a half an inch long. Hell, I think the heads of these are are narrow as my tatting needle, so pushing them in is like pushing this tip of that.

I did also read and knit as well. I think the knitting project should be wrapped up this weekend and then I'll have to decide on something new to do. I wish I could say that I'm in the mood to create something entirely new for the shop, but it continues to be so quiet there that I don't feel encouraged to add to it in any way. I know that's likely the wrong way to think about it, but when I sell nothing, I feel like making nothing, thus all the time spent making gifts instead. I guess I'll just cross my fingers yet again for something to give.

Productive

 I actually had a fairly productive day yesterday despite not doing anything besides schooling until well after noon. I pulled out the shadow box frame I ordered and the newly arrived pins and selected one of the Armenian lace doilies to experiment with. A little measuring and a little cleaning off of complimentary cat hairs and I was pinning away. It actually turned out perfectly...well, I think so anyway. The pins are very short, but you can still see them and they kind of remind me of those old string art pieces from the 70's. We had a sailboat one when I was a kids. So I'm calling it this a success and will be ordering up the rest of the frames I'll need to mount the others and a nice chunk of my holiday gift giving will be completed.

I also managed to finish up the Armenian lace necklace I was remaking for the shop. What's funny about that one is how long it too me to remember how I added the beads to the thread. I forgot that I couldn't pre-load them like with tatting. Instead I eventually remembered that I knotted that section with a beading needle so that I could easily add the beads as they were needed. It's a pain to knot like that, but it's the best way to get the beads into the mix.

That leaves me starting today with only my knitting project and reading of course. The knitting is going much better now that I'm using larger needles and the reading is going much faster since I left the gibberish chapter behind. I should be able to report good progress on both tomorrow.

Small Gifts

I'm not really sure how to start on the weekend recap this morning as Friday was kind of a terrible day for most parents I imagine. I coped by being able to hug my kids at any given moment and by keeping my head mostly off the internet and just kept tatting. I worked on several pieces getting quite a few smaller things remade for the shop, though not surprisingly, it was incredibly quiet there as well.

Saturday was a more uplifting day, we went as a family to go see The Hobbit. I personally had no complaints about the movie, except perhaps that we have to wait so long for the next part. Well that and it was so long that the entire day was essentially shot. We did nothing else really the rest of the day. I did discover as I sat down to work on the newest afghan that I had made a terrible mistake several rows ago. I had left two crochet hooks in the bag and at some point I picked up the smaller of the two to start working on it and hadn't noticed until I picked the whole piece up and saw the horrible distortion in size. So I got to undo much of the work until I got back to where I was clearly still using the right hook. I then removed the offending hook from the bag so it couldn't happen again. So that was fun.

Sunday was the day of gift tatting. As even views in my shop have gone from nearly 1000 a day to I think 300 something I figured most if not all the Christmas shopping has been done. I really still hope that's not the case because I still need  to make quite a bit more thins month if I want to come anywhere near last years numbers, but I digress. The lack of views and sales told me it was time to stop stalling and make all the tatted gifts I keep saying I planned on making. It's quite a little pile of bits. Mostly they are earrings for my nieces that have finally started to take a shine to what I do. There are a couple of other pieces hidden in the pile for other people too. They all need their hardware and to get boxed and wrapped. I think there might be a few more things to make, but I'm not sure what to make for the last few folk on the list. I always worry about giving tatting to people who haven't specifically mentioned that they like it. I'm always afraid they'll view it like it's macaroni art or something.

So today I'll finish work on the gifts and after some stalling I imagine that I'll get back to work remaking things for the shop. Sales may have dried up but that doesn't mean I don't have plenty of work left to do. There are only three days left of schooling this week and then it's onto cleaning the house for the holidays too. Man, it's going to be one heck of an exhausting week.

The Great Gift Reveal - Part 4

Oh my how the end of the year has snuck up on me this year. So very much has happened for me in the past year, but all that can wait. I have more handmade gifts to share with you today.

Originally I had purchased a Dalmatian print by johnwgolden for my mother, but her birthday present was running late in the mail so I gave it to her then. As a result I had to rush to find another handmade gift for the holiday. This one is from TheSofterSide. It was really too simple to make a great gift, but it worked well as a compliment to existing items. She has a great love for the Dalmatian and she almost always has a Dr. Pepper can in her hand, so if nothing else she has plenty of opportunity to use it.

My brother in law is also hard to shop for, but after he expressed great desire for brass statues to place atop his mantle. The vintage sellers on etsy had plenty of pieces for me to choose from. I settled on this family of ducks from theSaturdayShoppe and a unicorn from stephieD . The unicorn was especially interesting as it is identical to one his parents bought decades ago.

For my mother in law and my sister I added these cute little yarn shaped soaps from aBreathofFrenchair and I bought a few soaps from dennisanderson as well to add to gifts to others. They smell wonderful and make a great finishing touch to a box full of gifts, especially for people with yarn stashes the size of my mother in laws.

The last set of gifts I bought were from RedMarionette. From her I bought a whole bunch of finger puppets for stocking stuffers. They are so very cute and well made. Though I think I picked up a few more things throughout the last few months I shall stop the sharing here. I was certainly happy with all of my purchases and I got the impression that they were well received as well. Tomorrow starts a whole new year and I wish the best for all of you and yours!

The Great Gift Reveal - Part 3

So you might be wondering how many of these posts I'm gonna do...well I don't know. There is at least one more after this. Honestly, these have allowed me to keep blogging though my life is not back on schedule yet. Since we have one more week of holiday strangeness and our annual trip to Macworld next week, it will be a while before normality is reached again.

Today, I shall drag out the jewelery gifts I picked out. First off is a return order to zozo. Her garden is full of really unique pieces that I wish I had occasion to wear. Lucky for me, my brothers girlfriend Mary has just the right look to pull off these great pieces. They come gift wrapped in the cutest boxes and I'm certain to buy more from her in the future.

For my sister, I visited two extremely different jewelry artisans. The first is an old etsy friend ahna. She make the most wonderful silver hammered jewelry and handcrafted stone cabochons. I own some earrings and a gorgeous ring that she made. This was one piece that I honestly almost kept for myself mostly because I adore the amazing purples in the piece, but I let it go reluctantly. I hope my sister appreciates the sacrifice.

For something completely different and much more casual, I visited azurine. I picked up both this set of earrings and a pendant. They are hand painted glass pieces. They have a very simple yet striking design that is perfect for an everyday look. I'm sure I could have kept these too, but as a stay at home type, I tend to pick one pair of silver earrings and wear them constantly.

The last thing I'd like to show off today was a gift I received from my husband. He selected this ring from CatherinetteRings that he found in my favorites. The really interesting thing about this rings is that I generally do not like wire wrapped rings. Usually they give off the vibe of not just handmade, but too easy to make. This is not that kind of ring. It is made in such a distinctive style, is comfortable and, well awesome. It has this great steampunk vibe even in silver which is great for me since I only do silver jewelry.

Tomorrow, I have some more handcrafted goodness to share and who knows maybe the next day too. Sure I could have done one long post, but this way the artisans that created my Christmas get a little more attention.

The Great Gift Reveal - Part 2

I had a hard time deciding whether to do jewelry or manly gifts today. I have settled on showing off the gifts to the men in my life. I don't know about you, but buying on etsy for the males in my life is, well, challenging. They are not a bunch of hipsters or even classic man types so I have to look long and hard. First up is a gift for my brother who is in his first year as a high school teacher. He also has an obsession with the ocean and sharks. This tie from simplyneckties seemed like s good place to start.

Both of my brothers are also into photography and I thought that these key chains from TimothyAdamDesigns would be a perfect addition to their gifts too. They are small and interesting, though I have to admit that one of my brothers had to be told that it was a camera...oh well, I tried.

My youngest brothers obsessions include not only photography, art and his cats, but also bikes. I really thought I was done shopping when I saw this clock by 1byliz. Not only is this piece made from salvaged materials, but unlike a lot of recycled things, it is very chic looking. I was really excited to find this one for him.

One last handmade thing today. This one was for my father-in-law who is notoriously hard to shop for. It's not because he is very picky, but he simply buys himself what he actually wants. We usually give him a plethora of gift cards and that appears to make him happy, but I was determined to get him something handmade. I settled on this wood puzzle by sopsop88 , though I won't be really surprised if he never puts it together. It's still a neat little piece to add to all those gift cards.

The Great Gift Reveal - Part 1

For my first great handmade gift reveal, I shall start with the stuffed. I have been so lucky to find so many wonderful sellers that will make exactly what you imagine. The first pieces I had made were by weirdbuglady. My daughter has an obsession with praying mantids and thankfully I knew exactly where to get one made. This pieces was made to very realistic specs and it is huge and cuddly to boot. While I was at it, I had her make a small rat for my husband. Even though we are currently without rat friends mostly for fear that the one year old would not be gentle, we love the ratties so much.



For my next piece of stuffed goodness, I asked the sweetestpea to make me a special penguin for my mother in law. She loves the color green and she loves the penguins, so a fat penguin seemed the ideal gift for her. Not only was the stuffie made quickly and in the perfect shade, but a personal touch of a mask was added. It always shocks me to find out that the sellers I admire so much know who I am and what I make. I was very impressed with the quality of this little guy. It would have been at home in a very high end toy store.

My last stuffie was a ready made piece that was perfect for my youngest daughter, who for some reason loves apples. Maybe she just loves saying apple, I'm not sure, but either way this was the handmade piece of goodness for her. Made by PterodactylPants, it's a huge rainbow apple that also reveals a household affection for apple computers that goes way back. It like the other pieces, is soft, well made and exactly what I wanted for a gift.

I have barely scratched the surface of the handmade gift reveal today, so stay tuned for more wonderful pieces next week. It was a pleasure shopping with these sellers and I do recommend them wholeheartedly for all your stuffed needs.