Back to School = Getting Organized!

Another great question, posed by the Etsy Bloggers Team -

“Back to school.” What does it mean to you?

Well, I have kids in public school, starting next week, so this definitely has meaning for me… but as I type this, I shudder. (Just the suggestion of sitting in a classroom, having someone tell me what to do makes me cringe!) So… for relevance… I’ll stick with what this means for me right now.

Peace! Organization! Regular Scheduling!

With a great big sigh of relief.

Just about every aspect of my life flows so much better when there’s a regular schedule, and thankfully, the school year gives that to me. The kids have to get on a bus by a certain time, and I have exactly x amount of hours until they return. If I’m subbing in a school that day, I know that meals have to be planned, knitting has to be packed, and I can’t be caught lounging or sleeping in. The more I have to do, the more I seem to get done.

For example, two posts ago I showed a 90% finished wallet. Since then I’ve crocheted some flowers & thrown it all into a washing machine to felt it all up:

Do you think I’m in any rush to sew a zipper in? No way! I need a schedule for this. A purpose, an occasion, or maybe I can put it in my to-go bag and hand-sew it while I’m out one afternoon.

I’ve been trying not to procrastinate too much this summer, but it’s been hard. I really feel I’ll get more done if I have less time. So… that’s what “Back to School” means for me. Oh yeah, clothes shopping, too… but having pre/teen kids now, they know I’m not crazy about the mall, so we’ve been doing bunches of online shopping! They pick out what they need, I search for coupons, and accumulate points at MyPoints.com this way, too! (If you want me to send you an email about signing up at mypoints.com, let me know, there’s bonus points if my referrals sign up.)

What does “Back to School” mean for you? (whether you have kids in school or not!)

Teamwork

Writing this post while in an Etsy Chat room with the EtsyChai Team – you can grab a badge to show your support & visit some of the great shops listed in the sidebar!

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Etsy Twitter Team Shop of the Week

Isn’t this necklace gorgeous? 

Not only is Nicole a talented jewelry maker, but her shop is also stocked with her photography!

Check out the interview with this versatile artist.  You can also follow her on Twitter @nikkyleedesigns and read her blog.
Special for this week: Free earrings of her choice with any jewelry purchase $15 or more. Enter code "Feature Shop" in comments at checkout.

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Featured Etsy Blogger of the Month

Yes, I still enjoy “meeting” all the fabulous artists on the internet whose groups I’m part of.  This month’s blogger is Edi, with her Memories for Life Scrapbooks blog & shop.  

Aren’t these flip-flop scrapbooks great?

You can tell she’s really passionate about what she does, and it looks like so much fun. 

Visit her blog, it’s pretty interesting…if I wasn’t excited for another gardener, I’d be jealous of her 100’s of tomatoes!!!

Yarn - in Prison, on a Plane

What’s a vacation without some crafting?!

First, a scarf – started this on the plane on the way to CA, took it out dozens of times before changing the pattern and then it worked up pretty quickly -

Apparently, prisoners at Alcatraz were allowed to crochet….

Inspired by this, I pulled out a crochet project I had packed, and got that completed. This will be a wallet and the small motif – a decoration? Not sure yet, maybe a key chain. The whole thing is going to be felted, so it will firm up and shrink. Then I’ll add a zipper and have a wallet to go. See the kit at One Stick || Two Stick.

Before picture: (Come back in a few days for the “after” shot.)

And… on the return trip home, some adorable crochet “Woodsy Acorn Pots” from Crochet Today magazine:

Only about 3” tall, these little containers are really adorable. Would be nice to keep a necklace in each one so they never get tangled up!

How many projects/supplies do you take when traveling?

40th Birthday & a Vacation

Saturday was a fantastic day (& I really don’t say that too often, weekends aren’t usually my favorite – all that unscheduled time stresses me out.)  I spent the day with my girls at an art festival in town volunteering for the local Main Street Program.  I helped out at the Smear Art booth – where everyone was encouraged to add a touch to an original drawing by artist Diane Ryan.  Finger painting. Here’s how the picture looked at the start of the morning:

A rendition of Goffstown's unique landmark, the Popcorn Stand. 

And by the end of the day:

I hope more folks add pictures from the event at flickr, to the group pool.

In the evening, my husband and friends joined us for an amazing dinner at Pinkerton Tavern.  Everything was perfect and the dessert, to die for. 

Now I’m taking off for a vacation, and I’ll be back here in a few weeks.  I was worried about losing readers (you won’t leave me, will you?).  I was obsessing about creating some posts to have up while I was away… and I was getting miserable.  So – I’m not doing it.  Want to see a picture of the bag I crocheted?  It’s at flickr.  Or see what other projects I have on the needles? Those are at ravelry.  When I get back, or while I’m away, if I get a good photo, I’ll put it up here to share. 

Why do I blog?  To meet other amazing people like Suzanne at Threepeats!  She included one of my cuff bracelets in a recent collection at her blog, the post titled Tout Ensemble! 

Will you just look at the things she makes?  I love that she reassembles vintage pieces into something new – nobody else will ever have one just like it!

 

 

If you’ve subscribed via email, or see my posts in a reader, then you’ll know when I return and start posting again.  I just don’t want this to be stressful.  I use this blog to connect with like-minded folks and as soon as I think of it as a “job” to do, I freeze up, it’s no fun and I’m not going to let that happen!  For the rest of you, come back at the end of August! 

Catching Up!

Well, I’m trying to catch up.  Seems like I have a million things going on and sadly, the blog is neglected in the mayhem.  Going to do my best here for now …

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First of all, I need to mention ♥ comments ♥ !  I love them! Thank you!  I just am having tons of trouble leaving replies/comments on other blogs lately, and I don’t know why.  I’ve gotten emails from some folks telling me that they can’t leave comments here either.  I don’t think anyone is doing anything wrong.. must be a glitch somewhere & I wish it would get better soon!  If you have trouble leaving me a message anywhere, my email is tamdoll{dot}{at}{dot}comcast{dot}net.

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The Etsy Trashion Team has set up a Facebook Fan Page (click the picture).  It’s a group “…of almost 100 Etsy Shops from around the world who specialize in turning trash into treasure!”  Being part of the group, I’m participating in a swap & I’ve received my package.  No picture yet… because I’m going to be creating art from what I’ve received!  I’m pretty excited about this and really have to get the wheels turning in my head.  As I begin work, I think I’ll put progress pictures up here – due date is 8/31, so expect to see things in the weeks ahead!

Have you ever done a swap or participated in a group challenge?

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Going on a trip next week and may not get back online until around the 21st…   And the EtsyBloggers Sale is done… but I’m going to keep my sales going for the time being.  I won’t be shipping until 8/22 but I’d rather keep the shop open so folks can browse while I’m away.  So – stop by my etsy shop for some Christmas in Summer Ribbon Specials and 40% off items that are part of my 40th birthday celebration sale. 

E.T.T. Shop of the Week – Uber Art

There’s one holiday a year, where my dinner guests all jot down a comment in a book along with the date.  (I wish I had started with a bigger, nicer book to add menus/recipes to.)  Of course, I would love to have a book for every brunch, dinner party or get-together with my friends, but it seems, for me at least, that these things are easiest remembered on the special occasions – the bigger events…or maybe, simply if I had nice journals to keep them in!  Check out this bold one:

Beth of UberArt makes great hand-bound journals and guest books.  Aside from dinner parties or special occasions, I know I’d like to take one of these on a vacation with me.  I’ve made it a ritual of picking up a small notebook at the stationary store before each trip and before settling in for the night in my hotel room, I make notes about what we did, ate and saw each day on our adventures.  These books have become invaluable for me when I return home and months later, when I develop pictures – I actually know where/when/why we were there!

These books are so stylish – you should definitely check out her shop.  An interview with this talented lady is over at the ETT blog. And she is running a sale for this week: Mention "EtsyTwitter" in the Notes to Seller section for 10% off any item in her shop (expires Sunday 8/9/09).

It stopped raining!

Just for a few days… predictions call for rain to start again tomorrow…

We had enough time to pick blueberries at the Berry Good Farm today.

I wanted to try different settings on the camera to get a frozen look on the water run-off near my house.  Some photo tips here.  I appreciate it so much that folks put stuff on the internet.  Not a day goes by that I don’t look up something – a recipe, a how-to, or some creative inspiration.

What do you like best about this world-wide-web?

Kudos

I was interviewed by the storybeader!  You can read all about it right here. Deb, the storybeader is on the Etsy Blogger Team and I was her final Etsy seller interview.  She’ll be continuing her series with Internet Artisans, so you should definitely check out her blog and see who will be (or how to be!) featured.

One thing that I love about her art is that she includes a haiku with many of her pieces.  I love this.  After creating something myself, I find there’s nothing more satisfying than adding words, even poetry to describe what I’ve made.  When I focused on dolls, this was easy as each creation came to life and I got to make a tale for each one.  I can really appreciate the art that she makes and the poetry that goes with it!  (Click the picture to visit her shop.)  Thank you Deb for the fantastic feature!!!!

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Woke up this morning to discover that I was a Fun Find of the Day over at Mikiye’s blog!  She saw my Pink Percussion Cuff Bracelet in my etsy shop and I love this description - “It's like cute meets ethnic funky.”   Thanks for the feature!

She’s a member of the Etsy Twitter Team and it’s so nice to meet so many people through the different groups I participate in.  If there were artists like her when I got married back in 1991, I would have loved to have worn one of these beautiful flower creations in my hair (Click the picture to visit her shop.)  I am a complete sucker for things that sparkle and she does this in such a beautiful and elegant way – just read how beautifully she describes it herself: “… luxurious signature jeweled center glistens and glows with high quality opalescent freshwater and Swarovski pearls, sparkling Swarovski crystals and rhinestone..”  Mmmmm, maybe I don’t have to be a bride to wear something like this?  Loving how pretty this is, I’m thinking that any dressed-up summer occasion would be perfect for this jewel!