Books!

So I forgot to post yesterday, but hey a few hours late isn't bad! (12 hours still counts as a few) No more crafting, and no pics yet, but since all I've been doing is reading, I thought I'd share a review of my favorite book from last week's school books (for YA lit class).

Going Bovine. By Libba Bray. Delacorte Press, 2009. 480 pages. ISBN: 9780385733977 $17.99. Grades 9+

Cameron Smith is an average slacker high school student who gets diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jakob’s disease (or more commonly thought of as mad cow) and is told there is no cure. After talking with a punk rock angel, Cameron escapes the hospital with his dwarf roommate, Gonzo, and starts on a wild cross-country adventure to save the world and cure himself. This adventure is peppered with visits from the punk rock angel, Dulcie, and “dreams” of being in the hospital bed still. Bray masterfully weaves together a serious story about the big questions and issues in life with the kooky antics of trip riddled with hallucinations and an ancient Norse god turned lawn gnome. Not only will this story have readers questioning reality, thinking about their own mortality, and most likely crying, but it will also have readers laughing out loud at Cameron and Gonzo’s adventures. The teenage characters in the novel are realistic in actions and speech, using slang and four-letter words in a natural and unforced manner. Going Bovine is a fabulous combination of Chris Crutcher’s Deadline and Christopher Moore’s odd humor and language.

No Time for Creativity

Between school and work, I feel that I have no time for creativity (hence the not posting in almost 2 years). Unfortunately my crafting has taken a back seat to the more pressing activities in my life. I’ve been trying as of late to fit it in a bit more, squeezing a necklace in here and a cake there, but it is an uphill battle. I’m signing up for a craft fair in the beginning of August (with my best friend) in hopes that a deadline will encourage me to make the time for the things that I love. I also made a trip out to the Wilton Tent Sale where I picked up some new scrapbook supplies which also helped to spark my creativity a bit.

On Sunday I wound up making a few different cards (from my new stamp supplies) and a few pieces of jewelry (some mix and match earrings that I absolutely love!). Unfortunately in the process I also discovered how woefully low on supplies I am and I have to put in another order for rings for my jewelry. This means that I’ll just be delaying my craft time for even longer while I wait to get the pieces I need. With any luck I can work on getting ahead in my homework so that I’ll have some extra time to work with the supplies when they do come in.

Hopefully after this weekend, I’ll have a few pictures to show you what I’ve been working on, although nothing will be listed on Etsy until after the craft show. I need to save my stock so I have enough to sell!

I'm back!

So its been awhile. A long while. But, I'm back in action and posting again. Between work, school, and crafting, the blog has fallen by the wayside but I have been inspired to start it up again. This time, I'm setting my goals lower and will be posting once a week on Fridays so that I will hopefully be able to keep up with it regularly. If I'm lucky I'll be able to post more than that, but on Fridays for sure.

Check back on Friday to see a little glimpse into what I'm working on in crafts and my life.

Board games, shoes, and crafts

A taste of my weekend:

Friday night was a dinner party of sorts and a hilarious game of Quelf. As the link will tell you its a ridiculously funny game. It is basically Cranium with much weirder stuff. Within a few turns I was rolling my die from 5 feet away from the table and getting penalized everytime it rolled off of the table. I was also clicking my heels together and saying "There's no place like home" everytime I moved my game piece. I highly recommend it for anyone who doesn't mind looking like an idiot for a few hours and also enjoys laughing at your friends for just the same reason.



Saturday was suppsoed to be a quick shopping trip morning with my mom for shoes and other items of interest. It quickly turned into a half a day event. I came out of the deal with a cute pair of shoes, some tasty lunch from Panera, shortbread (my favorite!), and a new toy for the pooch. While I spent more time than I had intended it was definitely worth it.



The rest of my Saturday afternoon was devoted to reading law homework. I had 7 chapters to read for Wednesday, and despite what you may think it is not because I was behind in my reading. Well, ok, two of the chapters were supposed to be read for last week, but the other five were this week's reading for Wednesday. I got two of the chapters done before I had to head out for a trip to Michaels and to hang out with my boyfriend. I had another great evening with him, watching one of the best movies of all time- The Princess Bride.



Sunday I went out to a late breakfast/early lunch with the boyfriend and had some great banana bread french toast, then went shoe shopping at DSW again! I lucked out, becasue a shoe that I had passed up on Saturday because I didn't 40 dollars like it was on clearance at this one and I got it for less than half the price! Absolutely fantastic!

After my relaxing and enjoyable morning, I went and ruined the day by heading home and reading another 2.5 chapters of my law textbook. Although I gave myself a little bit of a break and let myself try out some of my new Michaels purchases near the end of the night. I made three new cards, all hand stamped and stenciled and started on a new pair of earrings. Hopefully, I can get the boyfriend to take pictures of my new cards, and I can post them for your perusal within the next few days.



I guess that's my weekend in a nutshell- Board games, shoes, and crafts. And of course the homework, but I prefer not to think about that :)

More Cool Stuffs

I've been too busy to get any more crafts going on, so once again I share with you some cool stuff that I have found on etsy. This time, my focus (yes I actually have one!) is on new sellers who have not yet made a sale. A few I have found through etsy's pounce feature, and the first one I have found floating about on the forums.


This is just one of the creations of Themagicsleigh
She does some great ornaments of dogs and dog angels. She also has some statutes of fantasy creatures, like dragons and unicorns. This particular one is one of my favorites, since I am a huge terrier fan. I can't wait to see which dog breed she picks next to create. :)

Another etsy artist that I just discovered is ThingsThatGoBump. This one I discovered through etsy's pounce feature that lets you look at shops that have not yet had a sale.

What can I say? I'm a tree hugger and naked trees have to be extra cold and in need of hugs :) Really it is just downright cool looking. I saw it and I'm already imaging what I could use it to hold. The reigning champ at the moment would be a nicely spiced olive oil. Might even make a nice gift to a chef to get it and fill it with some chili peppers, olive oil, and spices (hint hint to any of my friends and family who might be searching for a gift for me) ;)

The last item that I will be featuring today is another one that I found through the pounce feature. This one comes from BrightSideOut. She makes some really cool stuff, a lot of it in bright colors. I've always been a fan of sharp contrasts, so this black and white one is my favorite. I also like the weaves of this ribbon pillow, it reminds me of when I was little and my mom taught me how to make Swedish Hearts. At least I think that's what they were called, but either way they had that cool weave going on, except in paper. It also reminds me of my boyfriend's mom's cherry pie since she does the weave thing with the top pie crust. Man, now I want pie...

So we end on a soft note. :) Hopefully my next post will be on something that I have been doing, but I have less time to get crafty than I would like so it might just be more shopping. :)

Some cool stuff on Etsy

Hanging out on Etsy for a while and trying to promote my shop ultimately leads shopping. I just can't help myself! There are too many cool things on the site and all sorts of different talents that I get caught up so easily in all the stuff that I want someday. This of course means that my favorites list gets a little too long! I thought others might be interested in my cool finds, so I am here to show off a few of my favorites.
One of the first things I found on Etsy when I was first discovering it was this adorable purse from pollyannacowgirlbags. As a baker and a cupcake lover it was love at first sight. :) She makes some other fabulous purses too. As I was browsing through her store, I found it difficult to pick just one favorite. This of course means that a few of her purses made it onto my heart list for further consideration when I can afford to spend some money on a new purse. :)


Another one of my favorites come from a great artist, alloverart, that I have also gotten to know a bit on the etsy forums. She does fantastic oil paintings of animals, landscapes and some abstract stuff too. While there are many of her paintings I'd love to have hanging in my house, I can't resist an adorable puppy so this one sticks out as my favorite.

It also comes in a print which is probably all that this poor student can afford, but I still can't get over how much this painting looks like a photo.

Going along with the dog thing is the last favorite that I'll be featuring today. Its the very first item that I bought on etsy, splurging on something that I probably didn't really need is justifiable if it is spoiling my pooch. :)


This collar comes from luckyfiona. I'm a huge fan of argyle (and plaid, and polka dots, and well, really most patterns) so it caught my attention right away. I had been looking for a new collar for my little pooch Freya and this seemed perfect for her. When I ordered, I just gave her Freya's measurements and had the collar custom fit to my pooch. Its sturdy, pretty, and Freya and I both love it!


That's all I have for today. Stay tuned for more craft adventures and other etsy favorites!

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas

Last night I took the opportunity of a little down time at the end of my day to start working on a new line for my shop- Christmas cards! Maybe it was the chill weather or the promise of hitting freezing temperatures overnight, but it got me in the mood to work on some Christmas cards. I created two simple cards with nothing on the inside (as I know people like different holiday greetings) and once sold will gladly stamp with a holiday sentiment. I even drew a picture on one of the cards- a nice picture that wasn't stick people! It's an amazing feat for me. :)

Pictures and etsy listings coming soon to a Blog near you!

Gotta love getting paid to burn things

So my library is entering a pimp my bookcart contest through www.unshelved.com and I got put in charge of making some scrolls that are supposed to look ancient. Over the past few weeks I've been coming up with creative scroll titles (with some assistance), writing them out, giving them call numbers, rolling them into scrolls, tying them with twine, crumpling them, and (finally!) burning them. Not the whole thing, obviously, but just the edges to make them look old and used.

I got to spend the whole morning outside the staff entrance, fighting the chill wind, and trying to burn 24 of these scrolls with a tealight. Thus far I've only made it to about 8 or 9. Just means I get to spread the fire around a bit more :D. I can only imagine what the patrons thought seeing a young woman huddled over a candle lighting paper on fire near the back door.

15 more to go and then I get to start dying them with coffee!

Revamp

Mismatched Sock has been somewhat revamped. It is now an outlet for my crafty side. You'll find within these posts exciting craft news (to me at least), random thoughts, and shameless promoting of my etsy site. www.thundercrafts.etsy.com

Hopefully I'll be able to keep up with posting! :)