I am not sure what I had done after my last post, but I could NOT log into my blog!?  It is rather frustrating because I have have had many little things to share...but of course my mommy brain is in gear and those wonderful thoughts are all gone now- because I have slept since then!

So...my Etsy Store is on home until I more and unpack.   It was just NOT realistic to try and pack down a house  and start up my Etsy store.  Anyone else try to take on more than they can handle?

We are now days away from our move...and as our luck would have it, Neil's job has scheduled an out of town business meeting spanning 3 days...beginning the day we intended to move!  lol   Oh well, what can you do?  I am going to see this as a way to relax a bit before we actually MOVE!




Last week it was Pinterest....and now I have discovered Swag bucks.  As I understand it, one swag buck is roughly equivalent to $1 on the gifts you can buy...which is about right.  I need a new coffee pot and was thinking that maybe by Christmas I will have enough for a Keurig?  I see them advertising all over the campus (University of Florida) and figure I might as well get on the band wagon and get "paid" while I doing the things I would normally do like search a bazillion things online everyday.  lol  If you would like to sign up you can do so from the Widget on the right...and in the bottom right there is a "sign up" link.

For me...the latest little bit of news is that I am seriously considering a drastic hair cut.  Drastic as in a donation to Locks of Love!  I will have to keep you posted on that...

So there you have it...maybe next time I have some stuff to share I can pop on here and post quickly!  :)

We are anxiously awaiting news...(smile)

I know I am trying to get my Etsy Shop up and running BUT like many people I am juggling other things.  (Isn't life fun?!)  We are looking to move before May 1st. and living in a college town that is in full session makes finding any available- affordable housing that is "nice", and will accept pets, a real challenge!  We have been searching for a couple months now, and have had no luck.  I can honestly say, the experience has been humbling because we have toured some potential homes that truly make me feel blessed that I do NOT have to live there!  (eeeek!)  Yesterday, after going back 3 times to the same location, we finally decided to proceed!  We filled out our application, and like two little children eagerly awaiting  Santa's arrival- we now sit and wait anxiously while they process it.  We should hear back in a few days.  (fingers crossed!)

Photo is courtesy of http://www.tblife.com/gainesville/

                                                                                                           


So while I wait...I am trying to plan what we can take, and what we have to sell/donate.  Thankfully, I have the ever popular Pinterest to help me!  Yeah Pinterest!  (you can check out this link if you would like to see what I have been up to Tanya's Pinterest Obsession )  If you aren't already on Pinterest you can sign up for free.  It is faster if you have an invite from someone already on there so please feel free to leave me a message and I will be happy to send you an invite!  (requires an email address or for you to be a friend on Facebook since it is a social networking site)  Does anyone else turn to Pinterest for everything from hand cream to recipes and decorating?  Since I have not been in the craft room I thought I would share a recipe I found on Pinterest.   Original post from artisanbreadinfive.com

5 Minute Artisan Bread

 

This bread only requires 4 ingredients.  Water, salt, yeast and flour!  Even better- you simply mix it up and let it hang out on your counter for a couple hours.  Then it rests in your fridge for up to 2 weeks, improving on flavor each day.  Bring it to room temperature for 40-90 minutes and then bake for 35 minutes!  It just doesn't get much easier than that!   On a side note: am I the only woman who feels like she has been transported back to Little House on the Prairie when she bakes bread at home?




                                                                                   

photo courtesy of tastykitchen.com

True the bread is awesome but I feel inclined to also pass along a soup- since they go hand in hand!  I will say, that I have lots of soups that I love but finding a recipe that me and Neil (my boyfriend) can agree on is a real challenge!  He doesn't like mushrooms or tomatoes- and many soups use them as a base.  I try to substitute where I can but usually one of us is not completely thrilled with the end result.  If you have a favorite recipe you would like to pass along to me- I would welcome it!  So, with some colder temperatures creeping into Florida this week...I put on a pot of Beef and Barley Soup.    Easy to adapt, we omitted the tomatoes, added a tsp of Worchestershire sauce, a 1/2 cup of corn and 2 stalks of celery.  Gotta sneak more veggies into him where I can!  (wink wink)

So there you have a sample of what I have been up to today...but for a "taste" of the project I am working on right now I am going to share a couple photos.

a sneak peek at my current project

Here is a shot of the fabrics.  There are actually 8
fabrics (a beige flannel is not shown here)  I am just
almost beside myself with excitement because I am almost done and can post some complete photos in the next few days!  Stay tuned!

Note card (and matching envelope) made from scraps  of fabric.

While working on this not so little project, I took a break to make my Chemo Angel a note card from some scraps.  I had intended to just include them in a card so she could see them, but then I thought why not sew them onto the card and send it to her!?  I also attached a small strip of even tinier scraps to the envelope so it would match.  Isn't it great when we can use something that otherwise would just get thrown out?


Are you working on any projects that you want to share?  Please post a link and share!

Getting started in the blogging world.

As I am setting up this blog for the first time, it is difficult to resist the urge to look at what other "popular" blogs look like and see what they are saying!  I am determined to do my own thing however and that means from the opening page I will KEEP IT REAL.

I am not sure about anyone else with a blog, but for me picking out a name, adjusting fonts and colors, and setting up the blog are the yucky parts of this adventure.  I want to skip over all this technical stuff and cut right to the part where I can interact with other crafters and begin the fun networking!  I know...let's get this intro stuff out of the way first.

My name is Tanya and I have enjoyed crafting for as long as I can remember!  The more hands on...the more paint and glue on my clothing...the more mess I leave in my wake- the happier I am!  There is hardly a day when I don't have threads stuck to my clothing, ink stained under my nails, and some unknown goop in my hair!  (and I would have it no other way) While many of my friends can claim an area of expertise, I fall more into the category of jack of all trades.  My defense here is that there are just so many things to make, and not enough hours in the day to do 'em all!  My mother was a tad bit old fashioned, and made sure us kids all knew how to knit, crochet, cross stitch, sew, cook.....you get the picture right?

About 8 years ago I really started to focus on scrapbooking.  I really enjoyed having a hobby that allowed me to interact with other women but as is often my personality I wanted to push the boundaries.  I noticed some embellishments with stitching and thought "I can do that!"  So I got a sewing machine and began stitching on almost every layout!  Then I wanted to incorporate fabric into the mix so I started playing around with it.  Sure it ended up on layouts in a sort of mixed media effect, but I also ventured into making custom draw string bags for my boyfriend's gaming friends!  This was my first real taste of making a little bit of cash doing what I enjoy....and I wanted more!  It's not that I wanted to travel the world or anything but as any "real" crafter knows...funding this addiction we call crafting takes some serious skills!  Since I am in no hurry to appear in an upcoming episode of some coupon reality show, I needed to find another way to balance the spending of cash to buy the latest "must have" tool, paper, or supply!  lol   I got a bit off track for a while experimenting with the wonderful world of making rag quilts and now 5 later...I am still dabbling in them.  Finally, I moved from an area where I could scrapbook with others, to a college town with no scrapbooking groups to be found.  I tried traveling as much as 1-2 hours to attend crops but found the drives home late at night not appealing to me.  I decided to go online.  I played around on several sites, and enjoyed the friendship, and the swaping and sharing of supplies and crafts but in the end still felt I wasn't quit doing what I needed to be doing.

I wanted to SHARE my work.   For me, a big part of being creative is actually sharing it with someone.  It's not the "hey look at me and how talented I am!" kind of sharing...but rather the "hey- I made this with you in mind- and I put thought, and attention into the details just for you!"  So I began to look for an outlet.  I considered several programs that involved the troops over seas...and just didn't feel the calling.  I looked into volunteering at children's centers and seniors centers doing crafts...but again it just didn't feel like a match.  Finally, rather by chance, I stumbled upon a comment on a users gallery where she had posted a card she made for her CHEMO ANGEL patient.    This was it!  Although I had never really made a card before, I knew this was what I wanted to do!  So yeah, add card making to the list.

Card making is nice because you are working with such a small project and the finished result is very satisfying!   I will say that there are a bazillion fabulous artists online who provide great eye candy and inspiration too!  This is one of the cards I created for my Chemo Angel Patient.  I haven't mentioned it yet, but I have a newly discovered frugal side of me.  I am really liking the fact that card making allows you to use many of the supplies you have on hand already- like paper scraps!  The matching envelope in the photo was pulled from my scraps stash, the ribbon was one I made too small for another project, ...and even the flourish was cut from a project I "messed up on" earlier. Put them all together and it looks like I intended for it to look like this from the beginning yes?  More on my resolution to "use what I have" later.

If you would like more information about being a Chemo Card Angel please go to Chemo Angel Cancer Support  to learn more and sign up!



So why do I have an Etsy blog?
That is such a good question!  Although I hope to have a functioning blog that is my creative outlet for writing and sharing with my online friends, I also want a place where I can post things I have created that I would like to sell on Etsy.  I am not wanting this to be my main focus- partially because for me, focusing on any ONE thing is just too much to ask!  I am a dabbler...I won't be the crafter who makes 1000 invitations to a wedding...I simply don't have that drive or attention span.  Crafting is a fun outlet for me...and I hope to keep it that way!  So here's to the new blog...and over the next few days the opening of My Itsy Bitsy Etsy Shop.  Right now it is empty, as I undergo the task of taking photos, and uploading them!  Once all this foundation is complete I am hoping that I am bit more exciting to visit...but we all have to start somewhere and today is the first day of this little journey!

Thanks for stopping by!
Tanya!