Tamdoll Paints, Crochets, Knits, Shares, Sells

Just wrapping up April since I haven’t posted much in the last week!  Been busy, crafting and taking pictures, but not sitting still long enough to blog about them. 

 Bits of t-shirt fabric (recycling unusable clothes for this project).  First step – I’m painting these, then will layer, stitch and bead to make some new cuff bracelets for my etsy shop.  Look familiar?  I’m taking the idea from the skirt I made previously from the pattern in the Alabama Stitch Book.

Crochet, baby Hip Dress project in-progress (a gift… there are no more babies in my house!).  This is the one I carry in my handbag for on-the-go crafting.

I’ve been crocheting so much lately that I think my knitting has gone wonky.  I’m starting to knit myself a short-sleeve sweater, the Arm Candy pattern ... and my gauge has been consistently off no matter what I do.  I’m going to knit a size smaller and measure as I go… I hope this works!

 My Mother’s Day Banner Bunting Tutorial has a link at this new website, AllFreeHolidayCrafts.com – it’s pretty nice, if you check it out, let me know what you think.

  I have an odd bunch of things up for sale on eBay right now – tamdoll2001 is my ID.  There’s: a dress from the 80’s; Archie comics, 6-unopened, from the marriage series; Yogi Bear child’s bracelets from the 1970’s; and a stamp collecting book from the 1930’s – a collector may want that one, but also a collage artist would probably love it for the great graphics.  Once in a while I shop on eBay – and every so often I clean out my closets and sell things there, too.  Have you ever?  I noticed that fees have gone up, not sure what that means for me just yet – if it will affect whether I do business there in the future.  The auctions I have listed will close Sunday, May 8, 2011.

 

What have you been up to lately? 

April EtsyBloggers Featured Member - Lindab142

This month’s featured member, Linda, is familiar to me from the EtsyBloggers team and also as Team captain on the EtsyChai team.  She’s very active online … maybe you know her already … if you don’t – check her out!

Her shop:

I love the mix of items in Linda’s shop.  Check out these Basketball Orange Charm Earrings – unique and cute: 

I love big, cheerful jewelry, like this ring:

And Linda doesn’t miss any holiday – whether it’s a color, a themed charm or unique piece of jewelry for all kinds of occasions.  She’s very professional & I wish I could be as committed to my online shop as she is!

Her blog:

Linda has an interesting blog, with interviews, art and she also has a regular feature: "Linda's Top Etsy Finds" where you vote for your favorite of her picks in her sidebar poll.  It's fun and definitely a nice way to see new things! 

You can also find her on: Facebook as LinorStore & Twitter as  lindab142.

Enjoy your visit with Linda!

Baking Bread, The Movie

Title sounds dramatic maybe?  It’s just a montage of photos and a short video of me from last week, kneading some bread.  And since Passover starts this evening, it’ll be at least 8 days before I’m doing this again, so I hope you enjoy the little film:

I’ve Been Tagged

I’ve been tagged… and I wouldn’t have done this if it hadn’t come from Jane and been pretty unique.  As she puts it: “In case you're not familiar with this game, what it means is if you want to play along you just have to answer a few zillion questions. But for this handwriting version, you have to write your answers in long hand.”

I usually throw out chain letters, delete those emails that tell you to forward to 20 people and ignore requests like this most of the time.  But here it is – it took me only a few minutes, answering off the top of my head the best I could, and I’m NOT forwarding it on:

These are the questions.....
1. What's your name/Blogger name?
2. What's your blogs name/URL?
3. Write "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."
4. Favorite quote?
5. Favorite song?
6. Favorite bands/singers?
7. Anything else you want to say?
8. Tag 3 - 5 people.

On that last, anti-social note… if you’d like to participate, please do!  It certainly took longer for me to digitize this handwritten page than it did to answer the questions.  Now you can all see my odd half-script, half-print handwriting.

Are you going to play along?  Leave a comment with your blog post link, please. 

I didn’t exactly play by the rules (#8), and a (#5) didn’t pop into my mind quick enough.  This is my one and only tag/meme post for 2011!  There certainly is a love-hate relationship with tagging on the internet. 

As I’m looking over this post, I wonder, what does our handwriting say about us?  I once had a job where my boss insisted I hand-write cover-letters to faxes overseas.  He knew the people in the home office appreciate the personal touch and I always made sure to do that.  Do you take the time to handwrite nowadays?

Thanks Jane! this was interesting and not too painful. 

Crochet Bunting

I finally took down the heart garland from my fireplace mantel and put up something new (link is from over a year ago, but I usually just have that one up from January through February).  My original plan was to make a vine with flowers and twine it all around,

but got distracted making some crochet squares instead. 

Perhaps I’ll revisit the flower idea soon, I’m not too crazy about the squares. I have to work on making them less wonky and I think I’m going to switch the crochet cord for some bias tape. 

Have you decorated your house with handmade lately?

EtsyBloggers Carnival – the Public Library

StoryBeader is the host for this week’s EtsyBlogger Carnival.

Did you know the first Public Library (in the US) opened on April 9th, 1833 in New Hampshire? 
1) what fond memories do you have of your public library and reading?
2) Peterborough is the town where the first public library opened.  What's your town known for?  Show us around!

I love libraries, love to read.  Growing up in a small apartment, in a house of voracious readers, I was a frequent visitor to the library.  What’s not to love about libraries?  Knowledge, adventure and escape to new worlds are only pages away, and all for free! 

Growing up in Brooklyn, I remember the stacks of books and the rotating mini art exhibits they held in the front room.  As I got older, I made sure to get a library card at every town that I lived or worked in.  I still have a ticket stub from when I saw the Dead Sea Scrolls at the NY Public Library in 1994.  When I was in college, I loved to browse through the art books and ancient cookbooks that the university had on campus (preparing Chicken Marengo and my first taste of tarragon is embedded in a library memory … didn’t use the library much for studying though…)  Even with all those stacks, I always sought out local libraries and their cozy chairs and quiet corners.

Here’s the public library in the town that I live in now, taken about 100 years ago:It really doesn’t look very different today – there has been an addition of a 3rd floor, but since the building is on the National Register of Historic Places, the addition was put on in keeping with the original design. 

As soon as I could, I introduced my girls to the library and all they have to offer; now as teens they still make a habit of checking out books for leisure reading.  We even visit libraries when we’re on vacation – when they were little during children’s hour or to see exhibits on display.

 Mosaic on outside stairs of library in Saratoga Springs, NY, 2010 vacation

I’ve been the president of my local Friends of the Library group for about 9+ years now because I love the library so much. … But… this Wednesday night I’m having a meeting and I have to give it up.  I wish I could say that we had elections and someone new is willing to step forward, but they haven’t!  The Friends support the library, fundraise to buy discounted and free museum passes for patrons & so much more.  I’ve put it in the local news that we’re looking for active volunteers and I hope someone can take on this responsibility – future book sales depends on it!  After this long time, I’ve just run out of steam and have taken on some new volunteer jobs in town – the group deserves someone with more time and passion than I can give right now. 

I hope you have fond library memories!  Please share (or link to your post about a library in the comments.) 

Want to share book lists?  Join me on Goodreads – a great place to keep track of what I’ve read and looking forward to reading soon. 

“Libraries Change Lives” is the phrase that appears on our library book bags.  I’ve heard people mention that they’ve learned so much and felt safe in a library.  What do you think?

Good Bread, Bad Bread

There was a little girl, who had a little curl
Right in the middle of her forehead,
And when she was good, she was very, very good,
But when she was bad she was horrid.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. (American poet, 1807-1882)

….. continued at bottom….

When things go wrong in a kitchen, baking may not taste as good as it looks.

I set my dough to rise one morning and went out for what I thought would only be a one hour trip.  One hour turned into two and when I came back, my dough had tripled in size.   I quickly punched it down, put it into a loaf pan, slashed the top, and within 30 minutes it had already crested the rim and looked like this:

Baked it and this is how it turned out:

It was huge.  Dramatic even.  One slice could be cut in half to serve for a whole sandwich.  It was light and fluffy… and horrid.  No flavor at all.  <sigh>  (Just as a note – too much rising and that’s what happens.  It’s much better to let the bread rise slowly in a warmish area and only to doubled.)

The next day, piqued by CraftyRichela’s suggestion to make Club Med White Chocolate Bread, I got to work (used the recipe in the comment by ‘winterberryfarmer’).  This one didn’t even have a chance once it came out of the oven:

I almost NEVER cut bread while it’s really hot.  I hate how it gets all squished up, even with a sharp knife.  Actually, I rarely even eat the bread that I make for the kid’s lunches, but this one was irresistible.  Seriously.  I am already thinking of when I can make it again, but I must have company in the house when I do it, or I will devour it all.

I didn’t have the “gluten” called for in the recipe & I didn’t use any fancy white chips… probably could have shaped these better and covered the top a bit sooner to prevent burning – doesn’t matter.  It was very, very good.  Did I say that already?  If you make this one – eat it hot!   When it got cold, the chocolate lost it’s meltiness* and didn’t taste as great.  Nothing a little toasting or 5 seconds in a microwave didn’t fix.

So, the poem.  I remember reading it to my girls, from a children’s poetry book, and the cute illustration of a girl with a curl on her forehead.  The part of the poem appearing at the top of this post.  They had it memorized and would read along with me.  Never knew there was more to it until I looked it up online:

…. poem continued:

She stood on her head, on her little trundle bed,
With nobody by for to hinder;
She screamed and she squalled, she yelled and she bawled,
And drummed her little heels against the winder.

Her mother heard the noise, and thought it was the boys
Playing in the empty attic,
She rushed upstairs, and caught her unawares,
And spanked her, most emphatic.

 

What a different children’s book that would have been had the rest of the poem been included!  Are you ever baffled by children’s stories?  Who thought to include that little rhyme in a kid’s book? 

 

*meltiness – a made-up word.

A Surprise in the Garden

Looked out my front door and saw a patch of purple in the yard.  What a surprise!  Got up close to get a picture.  Yes, that’s a pile of snow in the background.  It’ll be a while before that all melts away.

Juice Carton Coin Purse

  

A cute, clever project.  My favorite part – just cutting and folding, no glue needed!

Thanks to Carole Ann of Connect the Dots and her tutorial, I will no longer be throwing juice and milk cartons into the recycling bin.

 

 

Failed project posted here:

March EtsyBloggers Featured Member - MysticWynd

  (I know, it’s April! How the time has flown!!!)

March’s Featured EtsyBlogger is Karen of MysticWynd.  She has a great shop, & blog.

Isn’t that a beautiful photo?  I was in AZ a little over a year ago and those red rocks are breathtaking.

Flowers aren’t blooming at my house yet, but this bracelet made me think of summer!  I’m always drawn to full bracelets with lots of charms, and this one is really pretty – tons of color and very pretty.  Gardener's Copper Charm Bracelet with Flowers:

It’s definitely my favorite piece in her shop!

Karen has a great blog, with beautiful and some insightful posts.  Enjoy visiting her!

Creative Crown Challenge Entries

Thanks to all of you who entered this challenge and got creative with the crown theme!  Enjoy browsing these entries; some are links to patterns, others to shops, blogs or Flickr photo site.  Readers, what’s your favorite?

Humility - Free Pattern
Of Frog Eyes and Kings
The White Queen
Personalized Princess Pack
Queen Bee Etched Glass
Vintage McCoy Rooster Cookie Jar
Crowns for the Contented
Kids Crown Pattern

Are you inspired to get creative with the crown theme?  Let us know what you think and if you have a favorite.  Enjoy!