Summer shawl

My hubby and I will be celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary this summer. As part of that celebration we'll be making a trip to Seattle. Believe it or not, even though I live less than 3 hours away, I've never been. We'll also be attending a fan retreat for one of my favorite authors, Diana Gabaldon, who wrote the Outlander series. Yes, my husband is a very good sport, going to a fan retreat with 500 attendees, a GREAT majority of those being women! He's also attending pre and post retreat dinners. He pretty much rocks and I think I'll keep him around for at least another 20 years! :)

Anyway, I supplemented my wardrobe for the upcoming trip and one of the chosen tops is sleeveless. I really like something on my shoulders, so I scoured the internet to find a pattern that would be light, pretty and match my top. Enter the Irish Crochet Scarf . I made mine using Vanna's Glamour in Platinum color.

It was tricky at first, but once I made a few motifs the process went much faster. By the end I had the pattern memorized!

I'm now working on another one in Vanna's Glamour in Ruby Red color. It will be used in a raffle to raise money for the charity that Diana supports, NPH USA.

I have immensely enjoyed the process of making these shawls and will definitely be adding some to the shop. What color would you like to see this shawl done in?

Wow!!!

It's been almost a YEAR since I posted last! 

Life has continued on busy as usual. We have a senior in high school this year who is greatly involved in choir and theatre. Add in the freshman, 7th grader and 2nd grader and it can be hectic at times.

This year we do not have a Relay for Life team, however we are still raising money for the American Cancer Society as an individual walker. We've expanded our giving to include our local high school's theatre club and choirs and orchestras. 

Another change coming is that as of June 12th, 2014, I will no longer be accepting orders for custom items. The Etsy shop will only carry ready to ship items. This will allow me to create some items that are a little more time intensive. Hoping to keep adding a variety of fun and different items to the shop. It will also free up my time a bit to keep up with the family and with other administrative duties such as updating this blog and posting more on facebook!

Hoping this past year was great for you all!

Craft Room (toy room, kitchen, living room...) Overhaul

Wow, I'm horrible at keeping up with the blogging. Maybe this latest project of mine will keep me more organized. Probably not, but one can dream, right?

It all started one day when I saw this picture:

Click on the picture to read the blog post about this amazing wall!

I read the "how-to" on the blog post and thought that a pegboard yarn wall would be AWESOME!!! I discussed with Hubby and showed him the pics. He agreed that it would be pretty cool looking. So we started thinking of logistics. I had two large Billy bookcases from IKEA currently holding my yarn that needed a new home. We had been talking about using part of the toy room as a "pantry" and decided the bookcases could be used for that. On the toy room wall was 3 3x3 cubeicals that now needed a new home. I took 2 of them into the craft room and the other one now lives by the washer/dryer as storage for the laundry area. It replaced the freezer which moved into the new pantry area. Now, all those toys and books that were on the 3 cubeicals needed a new home which meant that the rest of the toy room needed to be reorganized and purged. The kitchen also received a full overhaul as we moved items to the new pantry. So far my little idea of a yarn wall was turning into a major project involving 3 rooms! My SIL helped last week with the toy room/pantry area/kitchen. I cannot even tell you how much stuff went to our local thrift store. But by the end of the week, the toy room/pantry looked amazing and as an added bonus, the living room bookshelves also received a makeover to house our collection of Nancy Drew, Black Stallion and Little House collections.  That was last week. Now on to this week. I'm by no means done with the craft room (that will probably take another day or two), but I am done with the yarn wall that started it all so I thought I'd share some before and after pics!

Drum roll please......

Here are some after pics from the other rooms. I forgot before pics which I'm kind of kicking myself for. :)

Living Room Bookshelves

New pantry area

Toy Room bookshelves and toy drawers

Improved toy room layout

New dress up chest

 Alright, now back to finishing up the craft room! Hope you enjoyed this little tour of my recent projects! :)

Etsy Tour Tuesday

It's time for another edition of Etsy Tour Tuesday. We take time to highlight our newest etsy listings and share some other shops who also donate to charity.

To start, we've added back our Clearance section! All items in our clearance section are $5 or $10. They are items that we will no longer carry or need to go to make room for more fun items. So get them while you can!

We have 3 items like this in our clearance section for only $10 + S&H!!!!!

Our charity of the month is Cranio Care Bears!

Their goal is to "spread awareness, support & compassion through loving care packages to families of children facing surgery for craniosynostosis."

There are only a couple of other shops selling items to benefit children with craniosynostosis.

 

Leaps of Faith Designs has an Ultimate Survival Bracelet. 50% of the proceeds benefits a Craniosynostosis Charity fund.

Cat O'neal Designs has this Cranio Grandma Fabric Key Fob. 100% of the profits will be donated to Cranio Care Bears. 

Happy Tuesday everyone!

Etsy Tour Tuesday

Today is the day we set aside to show off our new shop items and to share other shops/items we've found on Etsy who also donate to charities.

We have quite a few new items listed today! Just click on the picture to take you to the listing. 

First up this fun black crochet wig (pattern by CrocheTrend)

The rest of the Hoot Owls are listed. We now have one in each size and can be contacted if another color should be desired! (It's a hoot pattern by The Hook Hound)

New for summer, a 10 pack of mini flying discs, perfect for party favors! (Pattern by Playin' Hooky Designs)

And last one for today, our first listed afghan!

Since our Charity of the Month is the American Heart Association, I thought I'd highlight other shops raising money for this cause and other heart related organizations. Click on the pic to visit the treasury.

That's it from us today! Happy Tuesday!

Our Reason to Relay - Muriel E.

Today we take the time to remember my grandmother, Muriel E. who lost her battle with cancer on September 1, 2012. 

She was my grandmother by marriage, not by birth, but I was welcomed by her with wide open arms. My grandma was a very special woman, full of devotion and love of her family.  She never forgot a birthday and was always kind.

It was she who taught me how to crochet. I'm so happy to able to use the skill she gave me to raise money for the American Cancer Society. 

Thank you, Grandma, for the gift of you being you. You will be greatly missed!

Update on our Relay 2012 and my health

We know a little more about what we're looking at and facing in the near future. I have a severely infected kidney which has resulted in an abscess. This is not the first time I've experienced this and so the consensus has been that I have an unhealthy kidney that will continue to have these severe periods of down time. My other kidney looks quite healthy with no problems, so the best plan for me is to have the offending organ removed. Before that can happen, the current infection needs to get under control. Once that takes place (around the end of July), a removal date can be set. I'll be back in the hospital for 3-4 days then home to recover again. Personally a little bummed as this cannot be done lapriscopically, but rather old-fashioned flank incision.

Enough about me. I'm recovering nicely from the infection and have no doubt with my family's love and care, I'll recover quite nicely from surgery, too. This will, however, take time. This extra time recovering means that we will not be participating in our Relay event this year, at least not in booth form. We will try to make it out to support the other teams on an as feeling basis. We will have items in the Silent Auctions, so for those who donated to that, thanks again as it allows us a way for fundraising even when we cannot be available. I had HUGE hopes for a 1st annual sale to take place in August. That will be taking a back burner for a while. While I feel like this, I cannot crochet. So all our shops have been closed/placed on vacation status. If you have any question about anything we sold/sell, please email or message me. I can either recommend someone who makes items almost identical and I've also helped by letting other's know what I charge. If you have any questions in general, feel free to contact me. I'm not online as much as I was, but am checking email at least twice a day.

We want to give you, our supporters, a great, big, huge round of applause! Because of your generous support throughout the entire year, even with this slight hiccup in our fundraising, we will finish the 2012 season raising more money than we did last year! GREAT JOB EVERYONE!!! YOU ALL ROCK!!!!