Christmas Craftiness

I seriously feel like I've been thrown into the deep end and am treading water through these last few weeks.  I barely have a moment here or there to get my head out of my crochet craziness to pop in here and say hello.

I am thankful that I've decided to close the shop for a little while on December 11. I've got my little man's birthday coming up, then Christmas and the New Year festivities. My husband would love to stretch his legs out on the couch instead of avoid all the crazy skeins of yarn and measuring tapes and slippers taking up one half of it!

Besides my crafting, I have been trying to take the time to be a momma and do fun stuff with the kidlets!  We've got our tree up.

And we've decorated trees with foam stickers from Michael's. (kept the tots occupied for at least an hour)

We've even done some Christmas cookies. (I haven't done my homemade recipe yet, these were a mix)

And Daddy even brought home a TJ's Gingerbread house last night to make with the babes.

So that's what we've been up to over here. Can't wait until I have some more time to share more with you. What are you up to these days?

Secret Santa Swap

I participated in one on Ravelry...My favorite group was hosting..(Peaches & Creme) Here's my loot!! I scored. My Santa was awesome because she even stalked my blog...and bought me the necklace from EverythingElaine on etsy that I wanted. :)

Totally brightened my day and made me smile! Love it!!

Friday Feature- Kenzie's Klippies

Hello world! I have a really fun Friday Feature today. Seriously, I think you will love looking through this post as much as I loved putting it together. Let's begin, shall we?

Today I am featuring Kenzie's Klippies a business run by such a talented momma I met through our birth board. She became inspired to craft by the birth of her daughter. Here are her words,


"I initially started making simple clips for [my daughter], but then started getting requests for certain things. It just took off from there. With so many people making clippies, I knew mine had to be different. I'm big on details :) So I suppose my mission is to provide customized, quality hair clips at a fair price. Some of my clips take literally hours to make. I want people to feel like their money was well spent :) And of course I want them to come back!"


Wanna look at some of them with me?

Her all new Christmas Collection:

And she doesn't just make them for the holidays, she creates marvelous creatures:

And sweet creations: 

Headbands and bows too:

Best of all, Kenzie's Klippies won't break the bank! They are all so nicely priced, and so well made! These would make wonderful stocking stuffers for any girl in your life...and if you ask her, she'd even make them into  pins for you to wear! :)

So check out her facebook page http://www.facebook.com/KenziesKlippies  where she is always adding something new and cute, or her website http://www.wix.com/kenziesklippies/kenzies-klippies-1 and let her know you saw this blog. If you do, you will receive a free simple klippie in your order! 

So go. Go now!! She has soooo many more items to look at than I could share!!!

What are you still doing here??

Have a great weekend everyone!

  

November

Is already halfway through!! Wow that was fast!

I will be posting a pattern for little mommy doll slipper pattern soon. My little lady has been begging me for something to cover her little baby's feet!

I just had an eye appointment today, got me some contacts again!! Yeee haw!

Been working on tons and tons of slippers, I feel like I am just treading water keeping things afloat over here...just barely. I am really looking forward to closing down the shop for some much needed time off for the holidays.

Christmas shopping is pretty much finished. Well, for the toddlers..not for Mr Toddlerwhisperer...he's a little more tricky! :)

How about you? Finished? Started?

Friday Night Feature EverythingElaine

Tonight (because today was so busy) my feature is a shop I was introduced to a little over a year ago.

EverythingElaine on etsy is such a fun place to browse for almost any occasion gifts!  She has sections for each of the following : custom printing, greeting cards, necklaces, earrings, bracelets, bookmarks, hair accessories, destash, and seasonal. Really, something for everyone. Like Elaine says, "You don't have everything until you have EverythingElaine."

Last year I was fortunate enough to make a trade with her, and received some beautiful items I used as gifts...and something I gave to ME!

pretty much my favorite earrings ever

Do you have a reader in the family? Need a stocking stuffer or a gift for a co-worker?

book thong $10

bookmarks $7.50 each

Here are some beautiful earrings that are just begging to be purchased!

$16

Now lookie looo, a necklace I think might go nicely with my earrings...

$16

(hint hint Mr Toddlerwhisperer...)

Before I go, I do want to share something she makes for jewelry makers...custom jewelry cards. I love these. They give such a professional look to your finished jewelry.

So go check out her shop EverythingElaine and see what goodies you may behold! 

Thanks Lady, You just proved my point

What do these three things have in common?

Well, there's no need for keeping you on the edge of your seat for this one, I'll tell you.  

Today we went to a little friend's birthday party.  It was at a park. After enjoying pizza and a drink most the kids and mommy's and daddy's ended up over at the playground.  I don't know about you, but because my kids are still young (2 & 3) I supervise the heck out of them. Mostly because I don't want the big kids running them over.  

My little lady got ballsy enough today to try the "curly slide" as we like to call it over here.  With a little bit of trepidation, she sat at the top and I encouraged her to come on down! As she is in the middle of the descent, some huge 6-8 year old boy comes flying down the slide behind her. Momma bear came out, and I shouted, "Wait!!" (Didn't want bruises shaped like footprints on her back).  His mom who is on her cell phone calls him over and tells him to let little kids have their turn...yada yada yada...I'm playing with my daughter, but make my way over to her to say, "Sorry I yelled. I just didn't know how fast he was coming down that slide." Do you know what she did?

Nothing. She stared at me blankly, then looked away.

Soooooooo. As we are leaving the park...I am running through the whole scenario with my husband...all the way down to the last detail, ending with, "Can you believe that? Seriously, what is wrong with people these days?"  And my husband says, "People are totally just idiots these days."

What we didn't notice was the ginormous port o' potty on the edge of the park right beside where we parked and were not quietly discussing that woman. As I walked beside the potty, the door opened like 10 inches, I get a great big whiff of porto potty...and THE WOMAN sticks her head out of the door and says, "Hi." With her pants halfway down. She sure did want to make sure I knew she heard me. And I laughed. Because really, could she have proved my husband's point any better? classic.

      

Friday Feature- BPRDesigns

Hello lovelies!  I'm quite a bit late getting my Friday Feature out today!! (I didn't mean to keep you waiting, but I did have that pressing matter of getting the kids their free scary face pancakes at IHOP this morning)

I am very excited about today's featured artist BPRDesigns . I first learned of this shop through a forum on etsy about a year ago. I think it was really one of those "Hey, who has a facebook fanpage, I'll fan yours if you fan mine" kind of a deal.  I remember scrolling through her shop and drooling over her beautiful soap dishes.

contemporary cranberry $17

cobalt blue $15

What really struck me as totally awesome was her recycled slumped glass wine bottles.  She fires them up in her kiln and creates unique and truly conversation starter cheese plates.

$25

$20

Here's what she shares about her passion. "I have always loved glass and have found a real joy in working with fused glass. Living in the beautiful Northwest, which is home to Bullseye and Urobos glass, warm glass was a natural choice for me. So I bought a kiln and my journey began! 

I love the colors of nature and am drawn to those colors in my fused glass work. All of my slumped bottle plates and spoonrests are made from recycled bottles that I collect from friends and family."

Right now, BPRDesigns is carrying some truly beautiful and unique holiday items.  If you are looking for a special and unique gift this season, look no further! 

coasters $30

pair of stocking ornaments $8

Check out her shoppe or find her on facebook and get some shopping done!

Thoughts on Etsy Feedback

I remember when I first began selling on etsy two years ago this month, I carefully packaged my goodies and sent them away, ran to the computer and did my duty and left my feedback for the customer. Then, I eagerly awaited feedback from my first few customers. I was lucky because my first few customers were more than kind and left me with sweet feedback as well, and my customer base began to grow.

To this day, I still package the orders, and remove my feedback reminder to leave feedback for the customer by leaving feedback and ship them off.  Feedback for me is my way of keeping track of my orders.

Recently, I  had a friend who purchased an item that stated it took something like 2-3 weeks to receive after ordering. She gave herself plenty of time, and placed the order. Well, something like 4 weeks was approaching and she repeatedly tried to contact the shop owner. When she finally did get a response from the shop owner, it was very dry, and filled with empty promises. (Like I will mail it priority today, or the last one I did mail it priority on _________________ day.  She received it mailed first class much later than the day the seller had said she sent it.)

When it came to leaving feedback, my friend wasn't about to leave a green plus sign, and by this time her situation was far from "neutral" so my friend gave this seller a "negative" and explained the situation on the feedback. (which as a customer reading through feedback is invaluable. A plain ol' plus/neutral/or negative without any explanation is difficult to judge a situation by.   Within minutes, the shop owner went over to my friend's feedback section, and left really terrible, vindictive feedback.

This happens a lot of the time, yet often goes unnoticed. The practice of shopowners withholding feedback until the customer has left them feedback.

My aunt and I were discussing this and she shared a very similar story as to when she was displeased with an item, left neutral feedback (rather than negative) and in turn received neutral feedback from the shop owner.  She and I both agreed that the customer HAS FULFILLED THEIR OBLIGATION to us as a shopowner once they have paid for their item. They "owe" us nothing more. We both feel that upon sending the order off to our customer, that is when we should send the feedback as well. Basically to wipe our hands clean of the transaction.

Yes, it is wonderful to receive a thank you and a humongous compliment through feedback. If you are solely a customer through etsy and you have yet to leave feedback for your purchases, I want to encourage you to leave honest feedback. I'm one of those customers that as soon as my package comes in the mail, I open it up, see it, smell it, feel it, then hop on the computer and leave a feedback. Here are my three reasons for leaving feedback 1. the shop owner knows it has arrived  2. the shop owner knows how I feel about their work and 3. others will be encouraged to buy from that shop as well

And shopowners, should a customer feel like there will be retribution for their honest evaluation of your work?  Are you that concerned with the quality in the first place?  Personally, I never send out anything I would be ashamed of. I'm finished with the order when it is out the door and I have left my feedback. What about you? Do you wait? If so, why? (seriously just curious because as you can read from my perspective I may not know your reasoning.)

And as always, you are encouraged to share this article and comment your opinions as well.

Trunk or Treat

We're participating in one on Halloween. It sounded like an awesome idea two weeks ago when we signed up...but now, I am stressing about...well, not only dressing my daughter up...but my car up too.

Have you ever participated in one? Do you have any ideas for me?  I have a black SUV, and was thinking of making it a dragon or alligator or something...eyes on top of the hatch and teeth hanging from it...Oh, and I think hubby and I have to dress up too.

I will keep you updated my friends. :)

Friday Feature- Nenafaye

Today's featured shop is one of my favorites for wonderful little feminine gifts.  Everything stocked in Nenafaye's etsy shop is beautiful, affordable, and ready to ship! 

Here's what she has to say about her love of crafting, 

"I love creating, and I love a bargain, therefore, you will find items that are unique, well made, yet affordable. My love of glass beads, cotton yarn and embellishments controls my creative adventures! Come along with me and I bet you will find that perfect gift for that someone special...including yourself!"

Not to worry Nenafaye, we will...we will. Let's take a peek, shall we?

She has delightful Little Bit Purses that are a whole lot of color and detail...and are only $10. TEN DOLLARS!!! (Need a stocking stuffer for a sister or mom? A teacher gift?)

Really unique embellished cards. I mean, really, you  could frame some of these. 

(and they're only $3)

She carries lots and lots of beaded bracelets, necklaces, scarves and bookmarks... something within everybody's budget, and the cutest little crochet handbags as well. 

($35)

($20)

So if you are looking for something handmade, unique, and doesn't break the bank, you really should check out Nenafaye on etsy, and be delighted by what you find!

Friday Feature- GoneTheSun Vintage

Back in the late 90's I was attending college away from home.  Being that I pretty much had no money for spending at Abercrombie or American Eagle- I began my love affair with thrift shopping.  I found some amazing deals ($1 sweaters and 25 cent t-shirts) and also started my Anchor Hocking Avocado Sorreno collection. :)  But enough about me.

What I really love about today's featured seller, GoneTheSun Vintage is that everything in her shop catches my eye like my treasures from my "thrifting" days.  She has exceptional finds at wonderful prices!


Here's what her store philosophy reads,
"I just can't shake my obsession for the search of fun vintage items. I really don't need any of the stuff I find so rather that finding things and passing them up, I've decided to bring them here to share with all of you.
I tend to gravitate toward items that remind me of things from my own past or items that were just fun, cutting edge or trendy for the time or stuff that shows a touch of by gone glamor or simplicity. Stuff that will either take you back to grandma's kitchen or yearn for a time when life was slower and not so mass produced."

Vintage Raggedy Ann Doll $14

                            

Tea for two, or 8 perhaps $20

Vintage Lily Tin $5

And for the month of October, she has been running a Breast Cancer Awareness campaign. Here it is:

THINK PINK! In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, for the entire month of October, 50% of sales on any of my PINK items will go to City of Hope Cancer Center. Find a treasure, support a good cause! 

So for the rest of the month, any sales on items like the ones below will benefit a great cause!

PINK Vintage baby booties vase $7

PINK Vintage pink iridescent disy ashtray $10

So go check out GoneTheSun Vintage and make a purchase or two. You won't be disappointed! Everything I have purchased from her has arrived quickly and nicely packaged. 

Just Because You Can...doesn't mean you should (a toddler short)

Watching the children play from the kitchen window while washing dishes yesterday evening, I noticed my little lady adjusting her pants. It looked to me like she was pulling them up, but I didn't see them down...so...

She walked over to her big brother and told him something...something about something under the tree.  He walked over to the tree with her and both of them did that adorable little toddler squat...staring at whatever it was under the tree, they then continued playing until I called them in for dinner.

Dinner conversation was the usual,
"How was your day?"
"What did you do today?"
"What do you want to do after dinner"





"I pooped under the tree today."

Sooooo, pushing our chairs from the table, getting our shoes on quickly, Daddy and I went outside, across the patio, over to the tree.  You could see the flies from quite a distance.  Under the tree, two little lumps. I don't even know how she did this. Seriously. I've squatted in nature. It's hard enough to pee...She's pretty amazing.
Needless to say, we had a nice little talking to about the tree...and pooping...and appropriate places to do so.

Winner Gracie Girl Barrettes!

Thank you for participating!! A BIG thank you to Gracie Girl Barrettes for sponsoring this giveaway. Our winner is Kate!! Her comment  #9 won! (Thanks for taking the time to comment and to become a follower of thetoddlerwhisperer.) Be sure to tell us what you chose!!