Thursday, February 28, 2013

Another Sneak Peak . . .

I'm working, these days, on some textile art  for a new shop.  I love fabrics, trims, lace, buttons, and ephemera. I've been working with new floss, threads, yarns, and twine. I'm upcycling and recycling!  Using the machine and doing hand work!  

  

I'm not revealing what these items are yet, but I am excited about my new venture!  So far, my focus group is excited too!  One participant said; "Gorgeous . . . represents time and talent!"


Working on packaging, and photos.  Shooting for April for the grand opening! Looking forward to it!

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Basketball WW


Recently went to my granddaughter's game and couldn't resist this picture!  
Wonderful abstracts everywhere!

P.S.  Linking up with nannytomommy.com for Wordless Wednesday linky!


Monday, February 25, 2013

Red Challenge

The Blogging Business Artisans Etsy team challenge for "February is about hearts, love, roses...the color red. Create any project you like using the color red!"  So . . . . I thought about it.  I have 
never made any cup cozies in the color red!  I really don't know why, it's just about my favorite color. Also, I had never put any trim on my cozies.  For this challenge, I decided to do an all red cup cozy, non-reversible, as I usually do.  


What do you think?  I like it!

I will be linking with others on our team blog after the 25th of the month.  Please visit and see all the other projects in red! Blog.

Friday, February 22, 2013

Tip of the Day

I used to have two bathrooms.  Each had it's own decor style.  I now have one.  Sew . . . what do I do with some of my decor items now?  Here's one idea--a leftover toothbrush holder.


Yep!  It holds my scissors, my sewing machine cleaning brush, and a chalk marking pencil.  The scissors stand up, ready to be used, easy to grab!


What have you re-purposed for your craft?

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Lunch anyone?

Here's a quick healthy recipe for a nice lunch!  We had this today, 'sew' I thought I would share. I call it a Southwestern Bean salad. It's wonderful for February Heart Health Month.



You will need:
Lettuce for your base - I used iceburg, romaine and butter lettuce
cilantro - leaves only
cucumber - about a third of a whole
bell pepper - I used a quarter of a yellow bell
onion - finely diced
(1) one boiled egg per person - chopped
(1) one can of Great Northern Beans
(1) one can of Tri-Bean blend
Salad dressing of your choice

I used organic canned beans which I mixed, drained, rinsed and set aside.  Chop your lettuce, enough for each serving and place in a large bowl.  Add chopped vegetable to your own taste: cilantro, cucumber, bell pepper, onion and egg.  Lightly toss so as to not disturb the egg very much. Place this mixture in flat serving bowls for each person to be served.  Add the drained bean mixture on top (two cans are more than enough for two persons, so you will have some left for another day!) Then use your dressing of choice! Filling and good for you!  


BTW-- I have been using a great dressing that I recommend for this salad.  It is Girard's Premium Dressing created in San Francisco.  I used the Light Champagne on this salad and it was perfect--only 60 calories and 5 grams of fat per serving!  Maybe you can get something similar where you live!


Enjoy!

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Lenten Thoughts

After a short break away from home and my routine, I have returned to wonder about the validity of my usual daily existence. After being totally emersed in another way of life, mainly caring for my little grands with ALL my time being taken up with their needs, I am a little bit disoriented this morning. My time at home is consummately given to myself!

My usual routine is to get up late, go to the computer with a cup of hot tea (or occasionally coffee) to see what might have occurred during the night hours in my online shops. (If you are not interested the tedium of day, skip down to the next paragraph.) I read several of my favorite threads to see what my blog friends are up to, read blogs and do my morning "maintenance." Many of my friends have wondered how I keep up with three online shops and two blogs while still being so creative. Well, it involves my morning maintenance where I check what listings have expired, what is trending on the activity thread, what of my items has been favored, what has sold that I need to package up, and generally do an overview of my shop to see what might need to be fixed or changed.  (I did this for all three of my shops, now for two, since I closed one of them on Feb 10th.) Yes, this takes a while, but must be done. the middle part of the day was devoted to creativity, house upkeep, meals and more creativity, including listing new items. After supper, I would usually relax in my easy chair to a couple of TV shows and doing some handwork i.e. cutting fabric, embroidery and pressing my work.  In between all of this was time taken for blogging, sometimes in the mornings, and sometimes at night, depending on when the inspiration hit me.  This also does not mention time taken for photography which is essential to online selling and blogging!    

So much for my routine, so back to my thoughts.  I wonder about my effectiveness.  I have already raised my family, hence the giving of my time to another person's well being is not a part of my typical day, except for the things that I do for my husband, but he's pretty self-sufficient!   I spend time on my own desires, and creativity.  Hubby is happy to let me do this, but I think sometimes that I should be contributing more to the family budget.  I do contribute a little, from my online businesses, but not that much.  Most of my earnings go back into creativity supplies, and the circle starts over.  Therefore . . . how am I effective?

As this is the Lenten* season, it is the time to consider habits and routines to see if they are indeed beneficial.  It occurs to me that all this doing for myself is like a hobby turned into primary priority.  I think I need a little balance to all this!  Thus the question becomes:

What can I do to add a real lasting benefit to someone's life at this stage in my own life? 

I know this is a heady question, but I just thought I would let y'all know what I was thinking . . . during this Lenten* season.  

*Lent or Lenten season:  Lent is a time to prepare for Easter by observing a period of fasting, repenting, moderation and spiritual discipline. The purpose is to set aside time for reflection on Jesus Christ - his suffering and his sacrifice, his life, death, burial and resurrection.  

Thursday, February 14, 2013

The Story of AJ

It's Valentine's Day!   Over the years, I have received many lovely cards, boxes of chocolate, large bouquets of beautiful flowers and even poems written by my hubby just for me!  This year he brought home a box of chocolates and a wonderful card but, in today's post, I want to share about the sweetest gift that I ever got for Valentines. Actually, I think I got it before valentines, but no matter, it is the epitome of love!

Meet AJ!






My hubby bought him for me seven years ago when I was in the hospital for mastectomy surgery for breast cancer. My husbands name is Andy.  As is true to my husband's character, there was a story that went along with the gift. He said, "Meet AJ!  This is Andy Junior! He is my replacement.  I know that you cannot hug me, right now, so I got AJ for you to hug--he's soft and cuddly.  When you hug him, just imagine that you are hugging me!  You will be hugging me again soon!"

I only lost one side, so when I got home, I needed to prop up my arm on a pillow to be able to sleep well.  Then there was the long process of weekly painful expansion injections to enlarge a space to place an implant during the second surgery. So . . . AJ was large enough to hug on that one side, and he has a much softer texture than my pillow surface!  AJ and I had many cuddly times together during that period of my life.

And the rest of the story . . . . I love bears, my bedroom is decorated with black bears.  I have a big black bear pillow that I use when I read in bed.  (Yes, and wouldn't you know it--I have an heirloom quilt on my bed!)


But AJ's place is not equal with my bear pillow, he usually occupies this spot as "top dog" (sorry, AJ) on my pillow keeping watch over everything!


Love you AJ!  Love you, Andy!  U R mine!  

Happy Valentines Day!    

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

More Scrap Fun!

I love using up my scrap yardage.  A few weeks back I made a Spring pillow cover for my sofa that started with making a quilting block from my scraps (see the end of the post), which I previously blogged about.

I also made a table runner which started with a couple of quilt blocks.  i loved the colors in the block and it seemed to scream out at me with another idea for Spring--tulips!



I have listed this in my Creations shop today!  
Someone will be the lucky recipient!

What is new in your shop or craft?

Monday, February 11, 2013

Well, I did it!

Well, I did it!  I closed my Design Shop, which mostly carried jewelry (and some fancy pouches)!  I am finding another venue for these items, hopefully a booth in a local craft mall for the jewelry with the pouches going exclusively into my craft show stock!  Changes are inevitable in our world and this one is being embraced wholeheartedly by me! (And it is a part of my business focus for 2013!)
Why did you do it? you say!  Well, after being open since June 2009, having 187 admirers, and only 36 sales, I think it was time!  I "gave it a good go"  as the old saying goes! 

What am I going to do now?  We if you know me at all, you know that I love all kinds of craft mediums--fabrics, beads, paper, whatever!  So the shop will be renamed, in late Spring, and carry a new product!  I'm not revealing what the product is at this point ( I am still working on my inventory), but it is quite exciting, to me anyway, and I hope it will be to you also!  Here's a sneak peak of one item, of course, not a full picture, that would not be as fun as a surprise!


I will keep you updated about the new grand opening in Late March or Early April!  Can't wait.

And what about my other shops?  PruittCreations and PruittSupply -I still have them!  I am also working on several new items for the Creations Shop (I'll share one of them tomorrow) and will of course be posting many more yo yos and vintage supplies in my Supply Shop!  I love keeping busy!  

Well, that's what's new in my life!  
What is new you your crafty world?

  

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Wordless Wednesday Question


I took this in October (in Washington State)  but do not know what this is.  
Anyone know?

P.S. linking with Sue at InHimWeLiveandMove blog