a true addict

i’m a swap-bot addict.

there , it’s out there and i can’t hide from it any longer.  my days are filled with perusing the swap-bot site – looking for swaps to participate in.  waiting for ratings to come back.  and now, swap-bot itself has contributed to my addiction by lifting my “newbie” status and allowing me to join just as many swaps as i want!

ack!

and now, I can coordinate swaps!!  oh no!!

so i did.  yep – what’s a good addict if they aren’t helping to push along their own addiction?

i invite you all (yes, all 3 of you) to join me in my swap!

Girly Christmas Stocking Stuffer Swap

For parents of girls in the pre-tween age group (7-10) who would LOVE to fill their stockings up with fun items!  Buy or make 4 items (package value $6-12) to send to 1 swap partner.  Hair accessories, bubble baths, lotions, nail polish, charms – basically, anything that your pre-tween would like, would be good to send.

You must first join Swap-bot and fill out a profile, it’s free and easy.  You will not receive spam emails or any advertising from them.  Partners are assigned through the website only and the deadline is November 14th to join up for this particular swap.

And before long, you will have completed your first swap – and others – and you’ll find yourself joining me at our weekly Swap-bot addiction meetings.  But that’s ok, I like you and I’ll support you.

So, come on!  Get signed up.  I’ll see you over there!

Swap-bot Girly Christmas Stocking Stuffers

(and see how easy I just made that for you?  you don’t even have to go search for the swap!)

swap-a-roo

a few picks from my newest addiction:  swap-bot

Acorns - crocheted

the acorns are from this blog that i’m really just discovering and loving

Mojo Necklaces

oh!  these little darlins came from her too – via, belfry

ATC

and these little beauties are my own – for an ATC “Christmas” themed swap.

That’s it for today!  I’m sure more will be coming soon!

too long…

it has ABSOLUTELY been too long since I posted!

if you keep up with me on enchanted musing, you know that i’ve had computer space problems that kept me from uploading photos of much. that problem has been fixed and i’m here to share with you some of what i’m doing…

Scrappers Market Table

Magnets

Altered Journals

Exploding Box - sold as kits

Child ID/Fingerprint Kits

Child ID/Fingerprint kits - interior

in addition, i made tons of gift tags, gift card holders, gift cards and standard cards/journals. it was a good experience, if not exactly great sales – but that’s ok. the holidays are coming – what i don’t manage to sell at upcoming craft shows – i’ll give away as Christmas presents! HA!!

stay tuned – i’ve also managed to get myself involved with ‘swaps‘ – and i’m busy making stuff for those! ATC’s, postcards (ok – I’m not making these!), inchies, altered composition book journals, waldorf mushrooms, and pocket lady items. It’s a LOT of fun. Photos will happen soon.

so glad to be back…

Yarn Smackdown

photo credit: yarn smackdown.com

I entered my first ever competition in crochet!

Now, let me say – I’m not a lifetime crocheter.  No – I learned to crochet when I was about 8yo, mainly made “granny squares’ and gave it all up by the time I was 11 or 12.  It just wasn’t cool.  and now at the many-ith anniversary of my 29th year, I have found myself crocheting again – and loving it!

So, I entered this competition without much forethought.  I was in the throws of getting prepared for an expo and the sessions i was to teach.  the email announcing this competition came in from a friend, but with mere hours to decide on my participation!  my brain was too full and i knew i’d never get back to thinking about it – so i just signed up.  all done, i’d deal with the consequenses later.

i returned from expo with a ’secret dossier’ in my inbox.  the information of my target for my mission: crochet hat.  yes, secret information for my target’s eventual ‘death by yarn’!   the actual pattern for said weapon would be revealed in another 2 days.  this is the weapon that would bring sweet death to my target and others.  and eventually me.

i spent the first 2 hours after receiving the weapon information pouring over yarns.  what to use?  what to use?  and at the end of that 2 hours, I opened my email – only to discover one frantic crocheter who had already finished her hat!  YIKES!  they move that fast? Yes, Yes they do!  i got into gear and started work.  I’d already promised minime a visit to the movies, so i loaded my weapon and the tools to make it, along with a booklight and we headed to a viewing of “wall-e”.  sitting far back into the theater, I pulled out my yarn, hook and booklight and went to work.  I didn’t finish it in 2 hours – but by saturday morning, I was ready to start packing and mailing.

Off it went – to my target a mere 10-15 miles away.  A week would go by before my own sweet demise.  Death arrived in the form of a grey wool hat – with a bag of smarties!  yum!!!

The game is much fun – and if you are a fiber crafter – crochet or knit, it’s worth checking out!

project updates

i’ve got a few projects i’m working on right now!

purses!!  ooh,  yeah.  i’ve actually made three of them – all crochet – but i now need to line them.  i’m not a sewer sewing person.  i mean, i’ve done it, but i was pushed into it so hard during my youth, that i just can’t stand to do it now.  but here i go.  i’ve actually come up with some cool ways to get around a lot of stuff (and the lack of a sewing maching_.  I’ll hold off on the details of how i’m getting around it until i can prove out that these things can be done this way.  hahahaha

so – since i’ve no personal photos of my work to show (but i assure you – it’s all beautiful!) i’ll load you down with photos of other folks work that is close enough to what I’ve done.

So, this first back is from the same pattern i used “Stitch ‘n Bitch – The Happy Hooker”.  My bag is black, no ribbon and no weird octopus.  Lining to come…

photo credit: Lori & Friends Homemade Creations

Ok – this one only vaguely resembles my next purse.  Mine is in green cotton thread, bamboo handles and none of the “V” stitching.  The shape is also a bit more tubular.  Lining still to come…

and a little wristlet pouch that I can’t find a good picture of to represent my pouch.  But it’s also a green cotton, with a small wrist strap.  just big enough to carry a bit of money, id and lipstick in.

I will start lining the bags tonight (and hopefully moving some photos off the computer, too), so with any luck – I’ll have actual photos to show you soon!

until then…

catch up…

oh, i’m so sorry for not posting a birthday update!  i really meant to – but, well – it was birthday week!

just as a follow-up to all the goodies i got from Dragonfly Artisans – I got more!!  belfry made an extra special tote bag for me.  it’s extra big, so i can tote around not only my crafting, but a book (or two – or more), a small purse, a water bottle, and anything else i can think of stuffing in it.  did i mention that it has a Hidden Mickey on it?  Ok, it’s not exactly “hidden” – it is, afterall, a pretty big Mickey shape, square in the middle of the bag.  oh, so cool!

i also received from belfry my very own little cupcake!  i’ve been giving crocheted cupcakes to friends for most of this year.  actually, i think belfry was the very first person to recieve one back in february!  so – YAY!! – I’ve got my own, too!

it was also minime’s birthday last week.  we celebrated at the beach with a few friends and had a glorious time with some of THE best cupcakes ever!  DH winced at the price – but not a soul at the party (ok, the moms, since the kids got ‘kid’ cupcakes) turned away from eating one!  i justified it by saying they were for *my* birthday! heehee

belfry also made minime her very own craft tote.  It’s embroidered with her initial and she LOVES it.  along with it, came a wool/felt crown – also embroidered with her initial.  also well loved.

add to this, oddsoxx made a darling wand and dyed silk for mini and soap offered up an entire bag full of yarns!  ah, minime can stay out of my burgeoning well-stocked supply!

thank you dragonfly artisans, for loving us so…

DH also took me to lunch on my birthday!  wow!  that was a HUGE treat since hubby’s allergies prevent him from enjoying non-organic food.  for full disclosure, our initial plan was to visit the new organic restaurant.  but as we queried the menu & cook – we found it wasn’t organic enough for DH.  so, we had to settle for something else.  i enjoyed it THOROUGHLY!  heehee  And considering DH dabbled with a bit of this, i’d say his ‘lunch’ wasn’t all that bad either!

special note:  one day i shall create enough space on my computer so that i may upload all of the photos i take so that i can share them with you.  until then, please allow your imagination to fill in any blank visual spaces in my post…

Happy Birthday America! ooh – and me…

Just a short note to wish the country a very Happy Birthday !

While I’m at it – I’ll share a few things that I recently received for MY birthday (which is still 3 days away)…

flowers from sio

soap from ph

lotion from shenanigans

thank you dragonfly artisans for such luscious goodies!! it makes having a birthday fun. i think i shall celebrate ALL month long!

if you are celebrating today – please have loads of fun.  but please be safe, i want you all to be around for a long time.

-me

wow! i want that!

minime & i disappeared for the day yesterday.  so much has been going on in our lives that we are just unable to find some space of our own.  i finally managed to renew my disney pass yesterday – and so we went!!

how does this relate to crafting you ask??

well, during our first summer session of ‘hogwarts homeschool’, i, “professor angora threadbare” taught the wee ones to crochet.  they’ve all been crocheting up a storm – albeit, chain stitches.  i taught them to finish it off and make friendship bracelets.  making longer chains will clearly lead to chokers, belts, jump ropes and whatever else their brain can conjure.  it was a choker my dear child was wearing while we were in-line for ‘pirates’.

as we were waiting for the next boat, two girls (i’d say, early teens) were chatting quietly and looking and pointing in minime’s direction.  i quickly realized they were talking about her choker.  i pointed it out to them and told them she’d made it herself.

the looks on their faces were price-less.

them:  she made it herself???

me:  yes, she’s learning to crochet

them:  i’d pay her like, $10 to make one for me!!

me:  (after seriously considering the offer) oh, haha, it’s just crochet.  very simple.

them:  wow!!  that is seriously cute!!  i want that!!

we then boarded the ride and took off on our adventure

i paid no attention to our cruise amidst the pirates and jack sparrow, bones and water.  i instead, just sat there,  glowing with pride over our craft.  crochet.

here we go…

to my dear readers (i’m not certain that should be plural – but i’m being optimistic here – work with me!)

my woes with wordpress seem to have been resolved!

for several months, i’ve been unable to post properly to this blog. i won’t bore you with details – but suffice it to say, it has been an unhappy experience.

today – i awoke with the resolve to fix it. i’ve been on-line with their support services most of the morning and, thankfully so, they were very quick to respond to my questions, complaints and problems with fast answers. the sad part is that it was a quick and simple fix. (So why did it take me over 2 months to get to it?) it did require me to change my browser from IE 6.0 to FireFox – but aside from the 3 minutes it took to download the FREE browser, everything is suddenly in great working order. And I’m a HAPPY WordPress.com blogger once again!!

Ok – so now I need to clean space off my computer so I can upload photos of current projects… sigh.

for the love of…

the earth.

how are you loving it today?