A little "in"...

Here's a little "in" on what I used to do in my spare time back in high school:

I dug these out of a box when I was at my parents' place this Christmas.  I was SO proud of them back in the day.  I was probably around 13 when I made the rabbits and maybe a bit older when I made the dolls.  Not sure.  Definitely still in school though.  My great-grandma used to make dolls like the ones in the top picture and, when I found some doll faces in my mom's craft stuff, I decided to make some dolls of my own.  They are supposed to have little vinyl hands as well, but I guess we didn't have any of those lying around.  What do you think, if I could get my hands on some more of those vinyl faces/hands, do you think that there would be a market for things like this in my Uniquely Me Design shop?

Hiatus

I think maybe it's time I just admit it to myself and let you all know that I'm just taking a bit of a break from blogging.  I don't feel like I have much to say or much time to come up with things to say.  My business (Uniquely Me Design) has really taken off this fall so I am finding that every spare minute is spent working on orders for people.  I am loving it, but it leaves very little time for other things.  Optional things.  Like blogging.  And cleaning the house :)  haha.  Levi still gets plenty of mommy-time though.  Have I mentioned how BLESSED I feel to be able to be a stay-at-home mom?  Work-at-home-mom I guess I am now...  But anyway, now that I've let you all know that it'll probably be pretty quiet around here for who-knows-how-long, I'm gonna go work on some more orders!  I believe a purple toque for a special 3 year old is up next...

Uniquely Me Design (my shameless plug)

I've been having fun lately!  Alot of my spare time has been spent crocheting, something I've enjoyed doing for about 20 years now.  (It still sounds crazy to me to be able to say that anything was 20 years ago...!)  I've been adding things to my shop (Uniquely Me Design) every couple days which has been exciting.  Making things is something I love to do so it's been fun to be able to grow my shop a little this fall.  I hope to continue this winter.  Winter is such a great time to curl up on the couch with a good movie and some yarn.  (How "grandma" does that sound?! Ha!)  So anyway, I just thought I'd share some pictures of things I've been making.  If anyone has any ideas of things you'd like to see in my shop, please let me know!  I'm working on a couple more things, but I'm always open to suggestions!  And I'm also very open to custom orders...

Which is your favourite?  You can find these to purchase HERE. 

Coupon Code and a Giveaway!

First off, my Etsy shop has been sadly neglected over the past year or so (basically the entire duration of time that I've had a shop!) so I thought a COUPON CODE would be just the excitement my shop needs to get things cooking again!  Simply visit my shop and the code will be on the front page!  Also, if you haven't already, click on the facebook link on my sidebar and "like" the Uniquely Me Design facebook page!  It's brand new and a great way to be the first to know about giveaways and discounts!  AND, if you would rather pick up your order in person, I'll credit you the cost of shipping!  How's that for a fantastic Friday deal?  But hurry, the coupon code is only valid until 10pm tonight!

Secondly, I have a GIVEAWAY!  I've never had a giveaway on my blog before so I'm super-excited!  Through the blogger review program that I'm a part of, I received duplicates of a children's dvd that I requested.  They suggested that I "donate" the extra to a place of my choosing!  All you need to do is leave me a comment telling me what your favourite movie/television show was when YOU were a kid and you'll be entered to win!  I'll make the draw on Monday, May 30, so you have all weekend to enter!

Finished

I finished this little number a few weeks ago now.  I have been having the hardest time getting a decent picture of it to share though!  The lighting needs to be right, and you need to have a place to "display" it for the picture.  Oh well.  Here it is.  It was SO fun to make, and actually took me a few weeks to complete.  It was the perfect winter project.  Call me crazy, but I'm thinking of starting another one yet this winter.  Anyone interested in purchasing this one?  It'll be in my Etsy shop in the next few days.  Speaking of Etsy, I'm working on a few new things for the grand re-opening of my shop!  Stay tuned...

And just because he's cute and I'm INCREDIBLY blessed to be his mama...

Doesn't he look like he's hard at work?  No, we don't resort to turning youtube on for Levi when he's fussy...yet.  The day will come, I'm sure of it!  In this picture, I'm pretty sure it was just a plain, inanimate screen that had him so captivated.

Etsy...

So...I am not a business woman.  I've tried my hand at selling Creative Memories.  I couldn't manage to sell enough to even pay for the minimum requirement.  I've now tried Etsy and I am not a "go-getter" enough to advertise and be competitive and keep active.  Therefore, I've decided to go inactive as far as Etsy goes.  Especially with our coming year being so crazy with moving and moving and...moving again, not to mention our growing family, I just don't see myself creating things so that I can try to sell them to other people.  I have a feeling I'll be plenty busy and will be thankful if I have time to create stuff for myself!

That said, I do LOVE to make things for other people.  So if anyone would like anything (if they've seen something they like or have an idea of something), you can totally feel free to get in touch with me and ask me about it.  I will let you know if I think it's do-able or if I have time for it or whatever.  And I'm not looking to bring in a huge profit (with Etsy, they took a certain percentage so the costs were higher, plus I was potentially making things for random people as opposed to just for friends).  The costs should be reasonable as I'll just try to cover my costs and, depending on how busy I am, maybe some of my time. 

So the offer is officially open.  I'm game for some creative challenges, people!

FYI - Etsy Sale

There is a bit of a sale happening over at my Etsy Shop, in celebration of...hmm...the end of February?  I've marked almost everything down, some as much as 50% off.  Feel free to check it out...

I'll try to add some new things soon, but I haven't had much excess time for crafting lately.  Too much homework (or guilt about not doing homework) to sit down and create for hours on end!

New Etsy Stuff...

Oh, and I listed a couple new items in my Etsy shop.  Finally got around to making a couple more toques/beanies/hats/whatever-you-call-thems.  I have a link on my sidebar (left) so you can check out what's there (it can have a 24 hour delay), or you can visit my shop at uniquelymedesign.etsy.com.
 

p.s-I've also adjusted some of the prices of a few of the other items.  Once I found out a more accurate cost on shipping, it was so much easier to price everything!

Yosemite

Nathan and I went out to Yosemite with a couple of friends on Friday.  It was good, except for these roads driving in:

Winding roads along the side of the mountain + extreme elevation changes = sick me.
*sigh* I bought some motion sickness drugs when we got where we were going and took some before we left to come back.  I think they helped...I didn't get sick on the way back at least!

It was beautiful though:

Do you see the waterfall in the background?  Here's a better shot of it:

Apparently the waterfalls are at their fullest in a couple months when the spring runoff happens.  Makes sense.

We saw some other waterfalls too...they were beautiful as well.  Nathan is an amazing nature photographer.  I will admit, though, I was not always as patient as I should have been when he would park with the camera for 10-15 minutes in one spot...

Then again, he would get shots like this:

And I wouldn't.

We also climbed on some rocks right up to a waterfall:

I like climbing on rocks.  I think my low center of gravity and balance really help me.  In this picture I have something in each of my hands, so I had to catch myself with my other foot.  It worked.  I didn't fall once.  So I guess that book that I mentioned a while ago where I was warned about my lifespan being shorter because I am short doesn't apply to death due to rock-climbing (or any balance-related activity).  Take that, tall people.

Here is a picture of me and Nathan:

Looking pretty good for almost 5 years of marriage, eh?

This is one of the shots that we were climbing on the rocks to get:

Oh yeah, and we saw snow:

It was very grainy snow, not at all like the soft fluffy snow that you get on the prairies.  Here it was just packed ice.  It made me sad that this is all the snow some kids get to experience in their lives. 

And last but not least, something completely unrelated to our Yosemite trip:

 

This is my latest creation that is going to my Etsy site.  I couldn't get the colors to look true to themselves in the photo (boo on artificial lighting), but hopefully you can picture a real brown and a cute pink, cause that's how it really is.  I'll have to get a better picture next time it's sunny outside, but that might be a while.  It's supposed to be rainy at least until the weekend.

What am I doing these days?

I run from one activity to another like a 3 year old with a high on sugar life.  Among my latest are:
-  reading "The Gospel According to Lost" by Chris Seay
-  reading " Paul's Idea of Community" by Banks (and writing a paper on it for class - I finished this one yesterday!)
-  making my first actual "quilted" baby quilt - this I also finished yesterday
-  cleaning all the loose threads off my first rag quilt - this one gives me blisters, so I haven't picked it up for a few days
-  crocheting a scarf for my Etsy shop - would only take an hour or less to finish, but it's kinda nice knowing that there is a project sitting there in case I get bored with something else
-  thinking about a pattern for my next baby quilt - any ideas?

I guess while I'm making a random list of mostly projects, I'll share a few pictures of the latest.  Yesterday was a warm, sunny day, so I took advantage of the natural light and got pictures of everything.

A toque that I have listed over at my Etsy shop:

Scarf that's going to my Etsy shop just as soon as I finish it:

Baby quilt from the fabric I showed you here.  It's not perfect or professional, but I'd say it's pretty good.  Hand-stitching the binding was BY FAR the most time-consuming part of the entire project.  But I enjoyed it all. : )

And last but not least, a flanel, double-layer receiving blanket.  I found this fabric at Walmart in their sale basket (end of the roll) and loved it.  So I picked it up and later found that I actually had some navy blue flannel on hand from another project that would work perfectly for the back.  It took a bit of piecing (added white flannel strips to two sides of the back) to make it all fit together because it was made from all scraps, but I really love it.  I haven't been able to decide if I'll sell it or keep it in my stash for future gifts or (perhaps) personal use?

PoSt SoMeThInG...aNyThInG!

Don't you sometimes just want to post but have absolutely nothing to write about?  Yup.  I thought so.  I guess I'll just share random thoughts.  Those can end up being entertaining (not to mention, enlightening), right?  Let's see...

-  I started doing homework again today after almost a month off.  I was just not feeling like this was the right time to become a full time student again, so I put the books aside and re-evaluated what I was thinking.  I ended up deciding that I would go through with the whole application thing and then take whatever courses caught my eye.  So I won't be actually trying to complete any sort of degree while I'm here, but I feel so much more peace about this decision.  And this way I'll have some seminary credits sitting around in case I ever get around to finishing my BA and decide that I would like a Masters degree.  How is the homework going, you ask?  Well...how do I put this?  There are a few other things that I would rather be doing right now...

-  I wrote a bunch of letters yesterday.  It always takes me so long to actually get myself to sit down and write a personal letter.  I LOVE getting them though, so I can't expect any to come if I don't write them myself every once in a while.  So naturally, when I picked up the mail later that day, I expected our mailbox to be full of mail.  If I write some, I should receive some, right?  I DID end up getting a book in the mail that was part of a Christmas gift, though.  That was exciting.

-  Right now I'm babysitting our friends' daughter.  She's NAPPING so I'm sitting here at their place, with my laptop and homework reading, hoping that she won't wake up too soon so I can actually get some homework done.  But then again, if you remember my comment from earlier, obviously I would rather be having fun with an 8 month old than reading about Paul's idea of community!

-  It's raining outside...well, misting/sprinkling really.  It's been so foggy lately that we haven't really seen the sun for a couple weeks.  I thought California was supposed to be sunny all year round!  Apparently not.  It is foggy and cloudy and today it's raining.  We are in the middle of a drought, near a desert, though, so even when it rains, it doesn't get you too wet and doesn't last that long, so I really can't complain.  And it has been around 7 degrees during the day, so I really can't complain about that either. : )

-  I am working on a scarf for my Etsy shop...also almost finished binding a baby quilt that I plan to list.  Fun stuff.  Thing is, it takes money to make things, so the beginning has been unfortunately slow...

-  Does it seem to anyone else like pregnancies go in spurts?  It seemed like there was a huge amount of pregnant women that I knew back in 2007/2008.  And now there seems to be another swell (no pun intended) for 2010.  I counted the other night and there are 12 women I know who are either pregnant or who have had babies in the past week.  And most of those babies are due in June and July.  Wow.  Is it that alot of those 2007/2008 babies are going to be older siblings, that the timing between kids is the main factor?  I guess that could make sense.  But alot of the babies are firsts for the parents.  So I have no idea why they all group together like that.  Weird.  Must be some kind of conspiracy...

-  Nathan has started blogging again!  He wanted to get in on book reviewing, like I'm doing, so he has resurrected his old officehourthoughts.blogspot.com.  You can find him on my sidebar as "A Short Step Down From Thought Provoking."

Well, I really have no idea where to go with this post from here.  As always, I am open to post suggestions or random questions in my comments.

Have a good week!

Late nights...

What to do when the clock is ticking later and later and your body is nowhere near ready for sleep?  Our schedule has taken a beating since classes ended in early December.  While there were classes, we tried to be in bed by 11 or 12 and slept until 7:30 on class days, and about 8:30 on other days.  We had a pretty regular routine. 

And then winter break hit.

*dun, dun, dunnnnnn*

We've been staying up later, and as a result, sleeping in later, and therefore staying up even later, and sleeping EVEN later.  Not good, people.  My body has NO idea what to do with itself. 

The other morning I decided that I was going to start getting myself back on track and got out of bed at 7:30am.  Nice work, right?  Well, I started reading my book on the couch...in my pajamas...wrapped in a blanket.  And then I napped until noon.  Of course I couldn't sleep that night until 2am.  Arg.

Well, last night I was suddenly crazy tired at 9pm.  I was so excited, but tried not to let my excitement wake me up.  I put on my pajamas, crawled into bed with my book, and ended up shutting off my light at 9:46pm.  Impressive, right?  And the most impressive part is yet to come.  I slept 13 hours straight, waking up at 11am.  So guess what?  Now it's 11:18pm and I'm not tired in the least.  So should I go to bed and lay there in the dark, frustrated because I can't sleep, for two more hours?  Or should I scout the internet for interesting quilt patterns, crochet projects, and fun blogs?  I'll go for the latter.  Though reading my C.S. Lewis book would probably put me to sleep much more effectively.

Before I go, I'll answer my mother-in-law's question (and probably a few others had the same question): "What's an etsy seller? I don't understand. Could you please teach me about it?"  Absolutely.

An Etsy seller is someone who sells things on Etsy.  But I've heard that you should never give a definition of something using the same word that is in the original term in question.  So next I'll answer what Etsy is.

Etsy is "Your place to buy & sell all things handmade."  - Etsy.  It is an online group of "shops" where people from anywhere, really, list things that they have made and people can see these things and buy them directly from the maker.  The maker then is responsible for shipping the handmade item to the buyer.  I call it the Ebay of the craft world.  I'm sure it is not really very much like Ebay...but it kind of gives you an idea of what it's like. 

So being an Etsy seller, I have my own "shop" where I can list things that I have made and sell them to people around the world!  Pretty fun, I'd say.  So far some things that I've thought of making and selling on my site are:

-  afghans (crocheted blankets)
-  crocheted hats/toques/beanies
-  quilts?
-  scarves (also crocheted)
-  anything else that I find to crochet or sew
-  perhaps one day I'll try to sell some photography...but for now I like to keep my camera skills mostly to myself : )

So that's that.  Well, I think I'll head offline and see if C.S. Lewis has any interesting things to teach me. (I'm reading The Great Divorce, which is quite good, as are all things Lewis that I've read.)

Etsy

It's official...I'm an Etsy seller.  I just need to personalize it and add items.  But after four hours of trying to think of a name and setting up an account, my head is hurting and I'm done for one day.  Feel free to check out my shop in the next couple days and hopefully I'll get some stuff up soon!

UniquelyMeDesign (uniquelymedesign.etsy.com)

If anyone out there is an Etsy seller, PLEASE give advice/how to.  I have no idea how to:
-  add a banner (to personalize the shop)
-  sell items
-  ship items (from the States)

HELP!  email me or facebook me or comment any advice you have!