Winter hiatus

I know I've been AWOL all winter because of some drama in the fall and a major move that kind of threw my imagination into a tizzy.  After a substantial break though, I am ready to show you what i have been working on.

A friend of mine said that she needed a cup cozy.  I thought it a most frivolous thing.  who would need a cup cozy anyway?  But, I went ahead and free formed one and tried it out.

Amazing!  My knuckles were not burned on the side of the cup!  My tea stayed hot longer!  I was able to sip and savor instead of  chugging in fear of cold tea!  HA!

This was my first one. 

and then, because I can't leave anything alone, I made a duck.  :)

I am thinking that these will be on my website before winter's end.

Upcycled tobacco can births mini drying kit in a can

If you follow my other blog, you know I am really into herbs and natural food and stuff like that.  I have tutorials on how to preserve and use certain things over there.  My drying line is simple: 2 cup hooks with a piece of jewelry wire looped at each end to hang on those cup hooks like a clothesline situation, then mini clothespins to hold your herbs up while they dry.  Like this:

I've been asked by a couple of people to make a little herb drying kit for them, so they can dry herbs as well.  I was laying in bed one night thinking of what I could use for a container, when I spotted one of my husbands empty chewing tobacco cans.  HA!!!  Thus the Mini Herb Drying Kit in a Can was born AND I finally figured out a way to recycle my husband's bad habit residue!
                                   

Featured!!!

I was featured on Trashion's blogger today! Come read my interview!

http://etsytrashion.blogspot.com/2010/07/feature-me-friday-unique-euphoria.html

Memorial weekend, doves, Jesus and angels

I managed to score a pile of these little white doves that I thought would make awesome wind dangles and I am trying my best to decide on an appropriate centerpiece. At first I was thinking an earth/globe situation with the doves raining down from it. Then, since it is memorial weekend and I do make most of my sales as grave bling, I thought a Jesus would be cool with the doves raining down. Maybe I could do both? On the other hand, I do have deep respect for my Jesus and I can't seem to really capture him in stick person form. Nothing that makes you take one look and say--Hey, isn't that Jesus?

I might be safer just going with an angel...whatever I decide, I need to decide quick. Until then, I am busy drilling holes into these little plastic doves...

Remembering the euphoria

While I would love to say I was one of those care-free moody artists that had all the time in the world to lay around and get inspired, I sometimes need to remind myself that this is the real world and that wanna be rock star persona was left behind with the Ramen noodles and green hair of old-I never told anyone that the green hair was an accident. Something about cheap black hair color on bleach blond hair...I don't know. I ran with it.



Anyway, today I steal a few seconds while my home schooled son finishes up some reading and my 18 month old tries to unveil the meaning of life with words of 2 syllables or less. The laundry needs to be done, my floor needs sweeping, the dishes are stacked. Glamorous.



To say I would rather be creating in my studio would be a lie at this point. It's damned cold out there and instead of tackling the much needed housework, I prefer to blog and crochet some arm warmers for a certain someone for Christmas. I wonder if I can talk someone into gifting me a Snuggy?



Okay. Agenda updates. After all, this is my shop blog, Not my personal-whining-winter-blues blog.



Bottles are slumped and waiting final touch ups before going up on the site. Today I took the time to make some sexy address labels for my outgoing packages. Possible etching tonight. I'm not sure if it's wise to go with the Christmas theme or not, since sales have been so slow. I would rather not store them if I can help it. Hm...Perhaps I should consider a huge sale? Thoughts?

Working hard

Hi there readers. I have been working hard on a couple special requests for customers and haven't been here to write as I should.

I am making some wine bottles for someone who wants to mount photos behind them. I thought this was a great idea and of course has to be done with clear bottles. What a cute Christmas present for a family member. Anyway, here is one of my bottles with a photo of my daughter behind it.

The bottle I used is a little "overcooked" and I wonder if the bottle looks more like a sloppy piece of glass than a bottle. I may have to do another batch.

The other thing was a request for a tree-like thing that a customer could hang her handmade cards from at craft shows. It's still in its raw stage, but basically, this is what I came up with:



As you can see, I have a lot of cleaning up to do, shaping and sanding etc before primer and paint. The idea is that a short beaded string hang from each "branch" with a hook or clip that she can attach her handmade cards to. people can look at what she has while being displayed really cool. I thought this would be a really neat idea for hanging jewelry from. Maybe painted white
or solid black. How pretty would it be on a dresser draped with pretty necklaces and rings? Oh...I may have another idea for a Christmas present.