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.

here we go...

Today has been one of those days. More than one of those days. My puppy, who has been my love for 5 years was hit by a car and killed today. I feel so...heavy. I keep thinking, thank God it wasn't a kid. On the other hand, I am so sad. I pet her before we buried her. She was really tore up, but I pet her anyway until she got cold. I thought I was done and ready to bury her, but I wish she was on my bed as usual so I could hug her. My fat little beagle girl...She was one of my babies too and I'm gonna miss her so much...

I need some cheering up big time, so I want some advice from my readers...

Since it is spring, I will be getting back in my shop again to weld, but while it was cold I started making journals. I really like it, but its really hard to have nice even pages when you make your own. I found where you can buy those composition books for a dollar a piece. I have been just working on nice covers and the overall affect has been more desirable, in my opinion, than the from scratch journals. I am just happier with the pages being even and more professional.

Anyway, here is 2 journals I made. The red one is scraps, but I use heavy fabric stabilizer on everything to make is sturdy and to keep the appliqué nice. The black one is covered in fake leather. The owl is appliquéd on with scraps and decorated with...uh. graphics? OKay, so I'm not exactly thrilled with that one, but its only my third---cut me some slack.



Anyway, my question is, do you think they are sell able? What do you think of an etsy shop selling swap items? You know, just little things to make swaps special-unique bookmarks, small packets and unique envelopes to make simple swaps special like my little mug envelopes that work awesome for coffee, tea/drink swaps that otherwise would be nothing more than a packet of something in an envelope? Of course the price had to be right and maybe have minimum orders for small items? Thats what I'm thinking about right now...

Other than that, I have sent out a few swappies the last couple of weeks. Here is my "seeing green" swap:



I packed some hot chocolate and a chocolate treat in the mug envelope and sent a handmade journal. This is one of my first journals with hand bound pages. I made up some swap cards and a quick little bookmark for my partner...I haven't heard if she got it yet, but I hope she enjoys everything.