Merry Christmas To All!

And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow

Stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so?

It came without ribbons. It came without tags.

It came without packages, boxes, or bags.

And he puzzled and puzzled 'til his puzzler was sore.

Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before.

What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store?

What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more?

-- Theodore Giesel

Did you miss your favorite Christmas Classic?

Then check out this website: http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2008/12/christmas-tel-1.html

I'm seeing lots of regular TV show episodes listed like Bewitches, All In The Family & Happy Days. Come on, grab a cup of cocoa and sit a spell...(and yes, the Beverly Hillbillies are there too!)

Merry Christmas to all!

Tragic news...

Slightly Twisted Words

One letter spelling changes that provide a whole new meaning.

Skilljoy: The friend who's just a little bit better than you at everything.
Larger-Than-Wife: How a husband prudently describes other women.
IOUprofen: The economy's current drug of choice.
Loingerie: Underwear for men.
Igloot: Cold, hard, cash.
Limpostor: A perfectly healthy person who borrows a car with handicapped tags or plates.
Insulatte: The little cardboard sleeve around the coffee cup.
Knewledge: All the stuff you've forgotten.

Ok, you know I didn't make these up. I got them from my daily email called Mark's Musings. Click here if you want to subscribe. [selected from the Washington Post Style Invitational]

Wine Bottle Cozy - a work in progress

I'm not quite done with this yet...still need to add some grape leaves and some trailing vines. And it looks to me like someone grabbed that sweetest grape at the botton and ate it! Just might have to add 1 more grape!

Birdhouses Galore!

Wow...I've just finished listing a ton of birdhouses in my Etsy & 1000 Markets stores.

I still have 7 more to list! But no more tonight.

These are fun to make. I do a step at a time. Knit bases. Knit roofs. Full (felt). Shape. Air dry. Needle felt. Pick twigs for perch. Stuff. Add ribbon. Take pics.

19 times over. No, really. Do each step 19 times before going on to the next!

Please, if you know a bird lover or a felt lover or a Christmas ornament nut, send 'em over!

I now Own This Hour on Own The Hour

I just learned of this site yesterday because of a comment left by a reader of this blog - thanks Moxylyn!

I stopped by her blog and did some reading and Own The Hour was one thing she talked about. It is so easy! I just pick up to 2 available hours...add a link to an item from my etsy store, and pay using a credit card or Pay pal! The best part - the hours were on sale...10 cents instead of the usual 50.

Can you find my item there?

Don't You Just Hate It When

you're looking for something and cannot find it?

I'm in the middle of finishing up my bitty bags...and I need the larger grommet for it. I know I have some extra large silver grommets along with the setter here someplace...but I can't find them. I even cleaned up in several areas, hoping to come across them to no avail. I did find the bronze ones which will work well with most of my bags..but I need that larger setter! I really don't want to go out and buy it again!

1000 Markets has featured lil 'ole me!

Wow! I went to take a quick peek at my 1000 Markets shop and checked out the markets...clicked on the Handmade Haven one and saw myself! Doing the happy dance!

Makes me wish I had gotten around to listing new items yesterday!

Collapsable Light Box

I'm been trying to improve my pictures for my online shops. I bought a new camera last year and that helped a lot. It had a lot of settings I'm still learning how to use such as the white balance. Just a few weeks ago, I lucked out and found a tripod at Goodwill for a few bucks. This will help as well. It can be so hard to hold that camera steady.

As I live in Michigan, it's very hard to get good weather for taking outdoor picutres during Nov - April. We can go 30+ days without sunshine...or much of it. And many of those partially sunny days occur while I'm at work. But, recently I bought a collapsable light box. I had made my own light box using an old cardboard box and tissue paper. The tissue paper lasted all of 3 minutes before it tore. So, I used tracing paper instead. Much better! Except that even my large sheets of tracing paper were smaller than the sides of the box which meant taping them together which meant you could see that in some pics. I'm excited to try out my new light box. Hope you all can tell the difference.

later!