Ideas for the New Year

Ah! My mind is buzzing and flitting from idea to idea right now. My fingers are itching to crochet. I barely did any crocheting during my pregnancy. I don't know why because while trying to become pregnant, I made all sorts of things. It was therapy for me. Whenever someone announced a pregnancy, I coped by making them something. Every time I thought I was pregnant I would make things for our future baby (which is why Cai has two baby blankets and I have more stored away). But during my pregnancy, I didn't make much.

But suddenly, I have so many ideas I don't know where to start. Last night I messaged me best friend, who is expecting baby #3, her first girl, and told her to find some ideas on Pinterest for things she wanted me to make for baby girl. I had made things for her first two, including a baby blanket for each of them, so I want to make some things for baby girl too. She sent me a bunch of ideas last night which started me on a Pinterest search, and I found tons of ideas.

Which leads me to a plan I mentioned her on my blog months ago. I'd link to the post I mentioned it in, but I don't even remember when I said it. I want to open my Etsy store again. Actually, I want to open a new Etsy store. I had planned to open it in June, but then I got pregnant and it never happened. This time though, I don't want to do any custom orders; I want to build up some product, list it all, and add new things as I make them. No pressure, No deadlines, Just creating. I know it sounds crazy with a new baby, but if I set aside some time during naps or after bedtime, I can get significant amounts done at a time. I also have some stock already that I have set aside to give as gifts, but I can list those too. And I have the perfect name for it, which I'm not going to share now, but I will if I can get this going again.

Mainly this post is just to blurt out all of my ideas and tentative plans, but I'd also like to know what kinds of crocheted things you would buy. Not just baby things either. Tell me your thoughts and ideas! In the next few weeks I' m going to try to set a date for myself to get this all officially started and maybe even plan a giveaway and a grand opening! Ah! I'm so excited.

Working Hard

I am exhausted. And my house is a mess. But...I am almost ready for the craft fair I am participating in on Saturday. I've been working on a ton of new products including two new set of glasses (lilac and cherry blossoms) with iced tea pitchers, several new ipod/camera/cell phone cases, new children's hats, men's hats, name mugs, and some owl and bird mugs and glasses. I'm going to take some good pictures tomorrow, but here are some in the meantime.

Victory!

The closet  is behind the door.

Organized closet.

I'm pooped. So pooped, in fact, that at first I typed "popped." I feel like I got a lot accomplished today. I slept in, had breakfast with my grandparents, coffee with my parents and grandparents, changed my sheets, organized the closet in the upstairs bathroom (the first thing I have officially moved in upstairs-see the back story here), unpacked two rubbermaid containers that were filled with sheets, towels, and curtains in storage, washed some blankets that were packed away, made four new headbands, photographed those headbands, photographed my tie dyed onesies, stenciled another onesie, made what feels like 100 new listings in my Etsy shop, and ate dinner with my parents. Oh, and danced in the living room and vacuumed upstairs.

One of the new headbands.

This is a small victory for me. One of the sins I struggle with the most is laziness. It affects every aspect of my life, but particularly my relationship with Steve (and obviously my relationship with Christ). It has always been a challenge for me to make myself do anything on Saturdays, no matter how messy the house is. But a few days ago, as Steve and I were sitting in the living room, and I was observing the things around the room that needed cleaning, I commented to Steve that, although the room was a mess, I was pleased that it wasn't because of my laziness. This sounds strange, but it was so true (Steve even agreed). There are times, often, that I get busy and cleaning is the last thing on my list, but for several weeks now, I've gotten much better about using my time wisely. I've pulled myself away from playing dumb games on Facebook, watching hours of television, and playing games on my cell phone, and have spent more time doing laundry, vacuuming, folding clothes, and baking (which can also be a time waster for me). Now, don't get me wrong; I'm not saying I don't do those time wasting things EVER, I've just stopped spending all of my time doing those things.

This may not seem like a big deal to you, but to me, it is a small victory over a sin that causes me frustration and often shame. I'm sure this sin, unfortunately, will pull me down, or try to, again, but right now I'm feeling excited about this victory!


PS. The dancing in the living room was because I discovered the World Beats station on Pandora. It's an awesome mix of mostly instrumental music from all over the world. Most of what I listened to was Spanish, Jamaican, and African. It was great! Don't know why I hadn't discovered this station earlier. I highly recommend checking it out!

Snow Day = Work Day

We had ANOTHER snow day today. Surprise! When was the last time we had a full week of school? I enjoy every snow day, but they are making it very difficult to teach, and I don't particularly want to still be in school in JULY. 

All that being said, another snow day meant I had more time to work on these new projects for the giveaway (there's still time to enter). Below are some of my favorites.

Also, I want to try this new project I found through Craftzine.com from Craft is Cool's blog. 

Wouldn't it be cool to have a little army of baby monsters? If I had a little boy, I would put a ton of these all over his room. Also, it's a super cool project for beginner crocheters. The tutorial is SUPER simplified. It would probably be easy to put a little rattle or other noisemaker inside. I would probably use fabric paint instead of plastic eyes to remove any choking hazards. I look forward to trying this! I also think I'm going to use this idea as a spring board for an owl baby mobile for Traci.

Sneak Peek!

 Just wanted to give you all a sneak peek of some of the giveaway prizes. I used some of the ideas from comments as inspiration, and worked all weekend on getting some products together. There are many more things to come including little girl headbands and pins for hats, but take a look at these hair clips and combs.

Red flower comb.

Set of small red flower bobby pins/

Beaded pink flower clip (although you can't really see the beads in this pic).

White flower comb.

It worked out well that I recently got my hair cut! :o) Stay tuned for more updates!