Miniature Belts Have Feelings Too......

This morning I pose this question to you: how do you know when you have too much time on your hands?  I discovered the answer to this after I snapped the nonsensical photos below.  These are part of a collection titled: The Usefulness of the Tiny Belt.

Accessorize your figurines

Know without-a-doubt, which glass is yours

This look says: simple, yet classy

Beat the hipsters to this next trend

Nothing says 'Happy Holidays' like miniature belt garland

And since I have a flurry of thoughts to dump out of my brain today, I also feel the need to tell you that when you hear the phrase, "do one thing every day that scares you", it doesn't mean you should kick-off the karaoke contest at your boyfriend's holiday work party.  Unless you have a voice that challenges Sara McLaughlin's, then by all means sing on my friend.  I am referring to those of us who could end up on the reject reel of American Idol auditions.  We should truly stay in the shadows when entering a room with a spotlight and microphone.  It wasn't put there for us.

And now folks, drum roll please...........I have finished my ten new pieces for the month of January.  I missed my original deadline by two weeks, but scraped together enough ambition to complete the alternate deadline. Has this posting of new items helped sales, or simply increased any activity on our site?  Well it generated a little interest -  maybe a few new items added to favorites and one sale.  New goal to be posted later this week.  Until then.

It appears to be made of plastic and is absolutely fantastic....

While out on a California adventure last week near Point Reyes National Seashore, my gentleman friend (we'll call him Gandalf for anonymity reasons) and I spotted this unusual bicyclist: 

We saw him throughout our day on the point and even our shuttle bus driver gave him a shout-out over his intercom as we rolled past proclaiming, "my goodness he's unusual!".  Unusual yes, but he brought a smile to us all.  We collectively determined that this type of contraption is used as a wind-breaking device.  Now if you are one of our wiser readers and know our explanation is hogwash then please expose us and tell us what this silicone-looking-spatula-without-a-handle thing really is!

Speaking of sharing, check out this breathtaking view from the edge of the point.  We arrived at this point after weaving through numerous dairy farms (26 to be exact, one for each letter of the alphabet).  Thousands of cows were grazing in extraordinarily green pastures that abruptly dissolved into sheer cliffs, which prompted an elderly bus passenger to ask, "do the cows ever fall off the cliff?".  Think about that....until next time!

p.s. I haven't forgotten about my ten new pieces challenge.  To put your inquiring minds at ease, you should know I only have three more to go!

I did it... a small feat for me this weekend was accomplishing my challenge of PURCHASING FABRIC! As I was perusing the aisles of the local Joann fabrics, I was not impressed by what I was finding. I am going to make spring scarves that are ruched and I need a very light weight cotton fabric. What I found were some 100% rayon prints that are nice but I'm not certain about. Are they ugly, are they cute? I also bought a white voile 100% cotton piece that I plan on dyeing with natural dyes. More on that next week! This week the challenge is to get a scarf done and posted on our etsy site.

Overachiever attempt....

The challenge was to create ten new pieces by Sunday, January 16th. Did I successfully do this? Ashamed, dejected and publicly humiliated, I have to tell you that no, no I did not. To help you better accept this failure, I've compiled a small list of excuses: a mysterious party guest from Saturday's wine club stole my tools, all of the arts and craft stores in the Twin Cities area ran out of beading wire at the exact same time (weird how that happens) and then to top it all off, I was called upon last minute to be a judge at the annual dog show (my only credentials being that I enjoy looking at them).

Don't worry though - by the end of January, I will have these ten pieces done. I will, I will. Must stop staring out the window and daydreaming....and must stop creating challenges of Oprah-like proportions.

On a sunnier note - the treasury went well. I did learn something from another etsian, however, and that was to fill up all 16 spaces in order to be considered for the front page. Noted.

And then there were two...

I am writing this to you from my cubicle while I eat a meager lunch of veggie burger and apple. At least I have a chocolate Prairie Dog bar to look forward to for dessert.
My goal for this week (given to me by my sister and business partner) is to inquire about advertising our etsy store on another, more popular, blog. A seemingly easy task but somehow I have yet to complete it. Enter 'lack of motivation' that haunts me nearly every day. So, in an attempt to change this and become a successful, productive member of society, I will be contributing to 'Running From The Mundane' blog declaring and holding myself accountable for my goals.
1st step-- get to the fabric store! Seriously. I need a lightweight breezy fabric for some ruched spring scarves I plan on making. And that is my one and only goal for this weekend (besides the ad inquiry which I will update you on later).

Good day and happy Friday!

Digging for Treasure...

I had secretly planned another goal for myself this week and that was to create a treasury on etsy. It wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. First of all, coming up with a title for the collection was tough. I didn't want to have a similar collection as 100 other folks. And so I went with a history theme: when in doubt, nerd out. So I had my title, but then I couldn't figure out how on earth to do a history themed treasury. So I just started searching keywords like, "history" "kings" "americana" "wild west" and was able to get on a roll from there.

Searching for items to include took a lot longer than I thought. I thought by saving my treasury I could come back to it later before I published it. That is not true. Not a huge deal, but my poor little brain was confused. And now ladies and gentlemen (all 2 of you following who were forced to diligently read this blog due to relation) I give you........the treasury:


p.s. as for my challenge of getting 10 new pieces done by sunday....I have one done. That's right, 9 to go. Outlook = bleak.

In the beginning, there was a mess

It is a mess I cannot bring myself to clean up.  Beads, buttons, chains, glue, leather cords, wood blocks – you name it, it’s most likely loitering on our living room floor, waiting for a pick-up at a defunct stop.  These items cannot and will not be picked up.  They have a purpose: obstruct, trip, pierce.  By doing so, they will hopefully prevent me from reaching my final destination: the couch.

Usually it's a sharp piece of 22-gauge copper wire that just dives right in and takes the lead in this task.  As I scream out in pain and fall to my knees, I pull a 1-inch sliver out from my heel and am swiftly reminded I should be working on beefing up our etsy inventory instead of watching brain-numbing jibber jabber from Kathie Lee and Hoda.  Which conveniently leads into my goal for the week: create ten new pieces for the etsy store by Sunday, January 16.  I am short on willpower, ambition and supplies (ok, ok I don’t need more supplies), but let us hope I sleep-craft* and wake up to these ten new pieces by Sunday. 

When crafts attack

*Sleep-craft v similar to sleep-walking, but the subconscious purpose is to create ie: I sleep-crafted last night and woke up with this fabulous, crocheted scarf.