JeweledElegance

World of Warcraft Handwarmers

2011-12-11T06:51:00.000-08:00

Yes, we have joined the 10+ million people in the world who play World of Warcraft. If you don't know what that is, it's a massive multiplayer online role-playing game by Blizzard Entertainment. A huge shared world environment you adventure in with your avatar.

To keep my son's hands warm this winter while he plays online, I made him this cool pair of handwarmers. His fingers are free to keyboard, but his hands stay toasty! I love the color shifting in this yarn. The yarn is half wool and half acrylic so the finished handwarmers are both warm and washer friendly. My Ravely page for the handwarmers with all the knitty details is here.

If you think Warcraft sounds fun, you can play free to level 20, and they are having an awesome sale right now .... $5 for the game and first expansion, with the other expansions at rock bottom prices!

Book Review: "Interweave Crochet Accessories 2011"

2011-12-09T13:03:00.000-08:00

Next up in holiday knit and crochet magazine reviews is the "Interweave Crochet Accessories 2011".

As an avid crocheter, I have been drooling for this to be released. Bought it without even peeking inside and settled down happily at home with some tea ready for some crochet bliss. Well....should have peeked. All I can say is, "What happened??" I have been noticing the 70's trending becoming more and more prominent in "Crochet Today", and it is certainly present here. In spades. All those bad 1970's acrylic crocheted toilet paper covers, lamp shades and granny square afghans in lurid colors are the reason it took crochet such a long time to stage a comeback. Let's not bring back that reputation. When you look at all the smart, gorgeous modern crochet patterns promoted in places like Stitch Diva Studios and Russian crochet periodicals,and by designers like Robyn Chachula in her Blueprint books, this issue is a real missed opportunity.

There are a few cute things in here, like the children's hats, but on the whole it made my eyes hurt. DayGlo primary orange, red, blue and yellow seemed to be the colors designers were urged to use. Many, many designs were of the repetitive "one simple motif" kind. The type of projects beginning crocheters start out with. It's true gift items need to be speedy to be finished in time for the holidays, but simplicity never seems to be a factor in similarly themed knitting magazines. Only crochet seems to be perpetually for beginners in the marketing overmind.

Bottom Line? Skip it. Live in the new Millennium.

Book Review: "Jane Austin Knits 2011"

2011-12-06T12:55:00.000-08:00

Well, I've been super busy for weeks knitting and crocheting holiday gifts. Can't show any of those though or the recipients might see them! So, I thought I'd do a few posts on holiday knit and crochet publications.

First up, "Jane Austin Knits 2011". I spied this on a special display stand at my local Barnes and Noble and snapped it up. It's brilliant. At $14.99 it wasn't cheap, but well worth the money. 35 knitted projects inspired by Jane Austin's narratives. Plus a sprinkling of articles, which are not just fluff filler as is so often the case in these special publication, but rather interesting pieces on Regency fashion, knitting, and Jane Austin style.

The patterns are separated into four themed sections: "Country", "Manor", "Garden", and "Town", and gorgeously photographed. Here's a shot of what's included (click to enlarge):

This is a really nicely edited selection of patterns. Often times, there will be one or two good projects in a magazine and a few ho-hums, but there isn't a bad one in the bunch here. Great mix of types of items to make and skill levels.

Bottom Line? Good buy. Within minutes of cracking open the first page you'll find yourself popping in a Pride & Prejudice DVD, the first of what will be a Jane Austin movie marathon, putting the kettle on for a cup of hot tea, and picking up a knitting project to work on. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon :)

P.S. Looks like a "Jane Austin Knits 2012" is in the works, so head on over to janeaustinknits.com for their call for entries if you're a designer, writer or Regency-era historian.

The Cave of Forgotten Dreams

2011-12-06T11:30:00.000-08:00

Not so long ago I wrote a post about "The Cave of Forgotten Dreams", a 3D documentary film by Werner Herzog about the Chauvet Cave in southern France.

I am happy to announce that it is now available via Netflix as both a DVD and instant streamable!

Cheery Flowers & Purple Lace

2011-10-03T13:51:00.000-07:00

I have been super sick with a nasty lung infection these past 6 weeks. It started as the flu and went deep into my lung. So .... there hasn't been a whole lot of creative crafting here lately. I can now drive about town without coughing up a lung (lol) and on my first grocery trip went out to buy some cheery flowers for the house. I love having fresh flowers around the house. I remember it was a very liberating moment when I was young, to realize that I didn't have to wait for someone to buy me flowers .... I could buy them myself anytime I wanted! So, now I always splurge on a bouquet of colorful flowers when a little bit of cheer is needed around the house.

I also was on the mend enough to squeak in one quick project, this lilac lace bowl.

This is stiffened to hold its shape with hot liquid sugar. I worry about bugs and heat using the sugar, although I haven't had any problems to date. Maybe I'll try starch or some plasticizing art compound next time, if I make another. I shaped this one over the back of my mixing bowl, but you can really shape the lace over anything and make all kinds of intriguing shapes. Just remember to line your object with clingwrap first if it can't be washed later - the sugar is very sticky and dribbles all over!

Still sick and coughing, but much improved and hopefully getting better and better every day now!

Summer Lace Shawl: Finished!

2011-07-31T07:53:00.000-07:00

Hurrah! My first lace-weight shawl is finished! Looking forward to summer nights sitting on the porch, ice tea with lemon slice in hand, wearing this gorgeous shawl instead of working on it :)

Wish I had a more glamorous backdrop than my garage door to photograph it against, but you work with what you have. I had a deadline to get a picture of this posted for an online class and this was the only place with bright enough, indirect light at photography time.

I do admit to not being thrilled with this while working on it, but its nature changed completely upon severe blocking and it morphed into quite a beautiful shawl. Very instructive project on the nature of lace weight yarn in garments.

Going out for a celebratory lunch today to mark the successful completion of this big project. There are more than 1300 yds of spider-silk thin yarn in this!!! I will, of course, be wearing my new shawl to lunch.

Here's the link to a prior post on this shawl if you're interested in making one of your own.

Chemisty Professor Cats and Puns!

2011-07-27T16:56:00.000-07:00

I ran across this at I Can Has Cheezeburger this morning while I was checking my email and sipping my fresh-from-my-garden mint leaf tea and just HAD to share. This combo of cats, chemistry, and bad punning is awesome!

In other news, I've been working diligently on my lace weight shawl. I'll be ready to block it tomorrow or the day after. I'm going to block it outside because with this summer heat it should dry in just a few hours. I can't wait to see what it looks like after. Pictures coming soon!

Stainless Steel and Silver Kimono

2011-07-06T16:49:00.000-07:00

"Miya Ando has hand-soldered over 4000 sterling silver rings and stainless steel plates to make a ‘Furisode‘ (long sleeve) kimono".
Photo and quote from Spoon and Tamago

I. Love. This. Not as much as I love the Mutant Bunnies, but I do have a nice large blank wall this would look awesome on! Although I'm not sure it could handle the weight...it must be pretty heavy?

Could Be a Great Crochet Book!

2011-07-05T17:47:00.000-07:00

Look at what I just saw over at Amazon for pre-order! Austentatious Crochet: 32 Contemporary Designs from the World of Jane Austen.

Looks like it has the potential to be a very yummy crochet book!

First Lace-Weight Shawl

2011-07-01T08:26:00.000-07:00

I'v been busy on the crochet front working my first lace-weight yarn shawl. This stuff is like working with a thick spiderweb! Very delicate. I'm doing the Midsummer Twilight Shawl from Interweave Crochet.

This is the first time I have used Knit Picks yarn, a popular mail-order yarn company. It's not great for ordering a ball or two, because of the shipping costs, but if you meet the minimum for free shipping, it's a good deal. I also ordered my first pair of 16" circular knitting needles from them in that beautiful Harmony Wood product line. I've also heard good things about Jimmy Beans Wool as an on-line supplier, although I haven't tried them yet.

I'm about 60% of the way done with the shawl. To be honest, it doesn't really look like much right now, but I've heard that the magic of lace-weight is in the blocking where the yarn relaxes and opens up and the shawl changes completely. I've finished all the main shawl repeats and am ready to start the wide edging section. I can't wait to block it and see the magic happen!

Cute Kid Gift Tags

2011-06-27T17:37:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I forgot something really important in my last post! The gift tags!

Since discovering all the wonderful gift tags that talented indie designers generously make available as free online downloads/printables, I have never again bought a mass-market store product. The gift tags I used on my children's end-of-year teacher thank you gifts were these super cute blank tags from The Small Object. I love how they feature little kids .. just perfect!

I have assembled a list of downloadable/printable holiday gifts tags that I love, but these cuties I found on this fabulous gift tag compilation site at Living Life As Art. It not only covers holiday themed tags, but a whole bunch of all-occasion tags too. The great thing about this site is that it shows images of the all gift cards, so you don't have to click through each link to see what they look like. It is image intensive and the page takes a while to load .. but it's worth it!

Happy Teacher Washcloths & Soap

2011-06-21T14:25:00.000-07:00

My little munchkins discovered my old soap making supplies and decided they wanted to make handcrafted soap for their end-of-year teacher thank you gifts. So the kitchen transformed into Soap Central and we had a glorious day making soap together!

They had been Mommy's soap helpers when they were much younger. Now that they were older, they were able to do almost all the steps themselves from designing and mixing, to choosing additives, pouring and unmolding. They came up with the most awesome soaps! They made:

1) chocolate expresso soap (with real chocolate!!)
2) pink plumeria flower soap
3) ginger-lime nebula soap
4) rise and shine calendula flower soap
5) green tea relaxing soap
6) french lavender soap

They worked so hard making soap, I decided to crochet some custom 100% cotton washcloths to go with them. I did two for each teacher, some with crab stitch edging and some with a more delicate, feminine, ruffled edging.

I love this shot of the washcloths. It's so hard to make washcloths look interesting in photos, but I love how they look here. Like colorful cakes with white frosting.

This yarn was multi-colored and the patterns the colors made as work progressed were very interesting! Like abstract works of art.

Mom helped wrap everything up and off the gift bags went to school. My boys were very proud of their creations and thought that making soap for their beloved teachers was a most special gift! I hope their teachers enjoy these gifts made with love!

Pittock Mansion: Visiting Local History

2011-06-04T08:04:00.000-07:00

High above the hills of Portland, Oregon is the Pittock Mansion, an early 1900's French Renaissance-style mansion that has been restored and opened to the public. My parents recently came for a visit and we all went and toured this fabulous piece of history. Our children were fascinated by all the old-fashioned technology. A great time was had by all!!

The mansion was completed in 1914, complete with progressive features of the time, including a central vacuum system and intercoms. The Pittocks hired Oregon craftsmen and artisans, and used Northwest materials to build the house. The final estate included the mansion, a three-car garage, a greenhouse, and a gate lodge servants’ residence, all situated on 46 acres of woodland and garden 1,000 feet above bustling downtown Portland.

An old fashioned intercom installed in the wall.

This is a crocheted bedspread. What an amazing creation! Can you imagine all the hours to handcrochet this out of crochet thread? Truly an heirloom piece.

They were having a special exhibit on beaded purses while we were there. Gorgeous collection of more than 50 well-preserved purses beaded and mesh purses (two of which were owned by Pittock family members) from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This type of elaborately decorated purse peaked in popularity between 1900 and 1930 and it was fun to see all the techniques and decorations used in the creation of them. This special exhibit is on display until July 10 if you are in the area.

Steampunk Necklace: New Crochet Pattern

2011-05-30T07:00:00.000-07:00

I've been working all Spring on this little design and it's finally ready!! I love the design ethos of Steampunk, so I designed a steamy choker with a stylized flower petal motif. I did mine in a deep antique chocolate color, a steamy influenced choice. Hmm.. "antique chocolate".. I like that phrase! Might use it as a future pattern name :) I've also been told it looks like shells and waves, which would make it look fantastic in opalescent whites, or sparkling blues and greens.

It uses ribbon tiebacks so it will fit any size neck, and is my first fully illustrated pattern with MANY annotated photos. An adventurous beginner could certainly complete this quickly.

You can buy the pattern at my Etsy store, or as an instant download at my Ravelry shop. You do NOT need a Ravelry account to just buy from Ravelry, only to access the rest of the site. The design has been fully 3rd party tested (like all my designs) and is available for $3.50. My chokers are $4.00, but due to the current popularity of Steampunk, I'm going to be offering this at the special introductory price of $3.50 until Aug. 1st. Then it will be the regular price of $4.00... so get it soon for the discount! You don't need to make it right away, you'll just have the pattern on hand (at the discounted price) for any time you want to make it in the future.

P.S. If you like this design, please feel free to blog, pin, facebook, tweet etc. with the images and/or info above. I'm a new designer and could really use some help getting the word out about my designs!

Pearl Cotton vs Crochet Thread Sizing

2011-05-16T12:26:00.000-07:00

When designing crochet jewelry, I am partial to thin yarn/thread because the finer the thread, the more delicate the finished piece of jewelry. I used crochet thread for years, but one day tried embroidery thread (also called embroidery floss) and was instantly hooked.

If you live in the US, embroidery thread is found in craft stores in the sewing/embroidery section. It comes in a mind-boggling array of beautiful colors. Often time the store will have row upon row of this stuff. And .. it is extremely inexpensive.

For those who may be confused on embroidery thread vs. crochet thread for knitting or crochet, the important thing to remember is that crochet thread and embroidery thread run on different sizing systems. Both are mostly 100% cotton. Here are the nearest equivalents:

* #5 pearl/perle cotton is a little thicker than #10 crochet thread, but is suitable for most #10 cotton patterns.
* #8 pearl/perle cotton is about the same as #20 crochet thread.
* #12 pearl/perle cotton is about the same as #40 crochet thread.

New Crochet Pattern: Empire Beaded Lace Earrings

2011-04-06T13:52:00.000-07:00

They are finally done! My Downton Abbey inspired earrings!! These are so delicate and lacey. I love them!

The earrings are beaded crochet done with thin crochet thread. I'm advertising them as intermediate skill level, not because they are difficult but because working with small beads, a tiny hook, and skinny thread can be a bit fiddly if you are a beginner. It's better to start with a nice fat yarn and hook if you are just learning crochet.

I published an illustrated tutorial on "How to do Basic Beaded Lace" not too long ago with these very earrings already on the drawing board. So .. if you'd like to give beaded lace a try check out the tutorial :)

My favorite finished pairs were some with translucent peach beads and the other with 18K gold-plated beads (very luxe!!). Here's me trying to photograph white earrings against my pale skin. Hmmm... didn't work very well. No contrast.

Next shot .. trying to get some contrast with the white earrings against my darker hair. Better! I always like to include a shot of earrings being worn by a human being so you can get a sense of scale and how they hang.

As with all my designs, they are rigorously tested before I release them for sale. I am only human though. If you find something confusing or need help, please let me know. I can't help you if I don't know something is wrong!

Geek Girl: Cave of Forgotten Dreams

2011-03-29T18:10:00.000-07:00

Time for a geek girl moment :) I just heard about, "The Cave of Forgotten Dreams", a 3D documentary film by Werner Herzog about the Chauvet Cave in southern France.

What's inside the cave? Hundreds of animal paintings, most from about 30,000 years ago, depicting at least 13 different species, including some rarely or never found in other ice age paintings. There are not just the familiar animals of the hunt that predominate in Paleolithic cave art, like horses, cattle, reindeer, etc., but also predatory animals like lions, panthers, bears, owls, and hyenas. The soft, clay-like floor of the cave has even retained the paw prints of cave bears! The cave is believed to have been untouched for approx. the past 25,000 years until its re-discovery in 1994. The cave is carefully preserved and the general public is not allowed to enter.

Why is this so cool? Paleolithic artists incorporated the subtle bulges and contours of the wall into their art which means the experience of their hybrid sculptural/pictorial art simply cannot be replicated in a 2D photographic reproduction. Also, the sounds and other non-visual stimuli present in the cave environment would have imparted an influence. This film is in 3D and will give a sensory experience much closer to what Paleolithic artists intended.

One caveat. I've seen a trailer for this and it seems that all the lighting used inside the cave is bright white. In keeping with generating an authentic viewing of the art as a Paleolithic experience, it really should have been more torch-like in my opinion. Flickering warm torchlight gives a vastly different visual experience than modern florescent floodlights. But still, it looks like a film not to be missed!

Annotated Tips for Knitting the Noro Scarf - Part III

2011-03-23T16:34:00.000-07:00

Hurrah! I've just finished my Noro Scarf!! It is gorgeous and I can't wait to wear it out and about tomorrow. Here's some pics of the finished scarf and my last notes on what I've learned:

The tails - So many, many ends to weave in from cutting out knots and the too thick/thin bits in addition to beginning/ending skeins. Wasn’t sure how to do this since there is no “back side” to hide the tails on. Found this great video on weaving in the ends on ribbing and that’s how I handled all the tails: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzMQ4tpFQoA

Final thoughts - My scarf ended up approx. 5 3/4" by 66". I am an extremely slow knitter and I do throw my yarn (entailing taking my hand off the needle completely to work a knit or purl) so this scarf took me an eternity. I clocked 82 hours from start to finish. This does include time spent researching how to do certain relevant knitty things and those first two endless weeks where I frogged and restarted the whole thing so many times I thought I'd wear out the yarn. But ...I have to say this project was excellent, through shear repetition, at teaching knits and purls and how to identify and fix any mistake involving basic knitting. I now feel very confident at knitting and am ready to try something more advanced. I am so very proud of knitting my Noro scarf!! Job well done, self :)

I've been chronicling my adventure in learning to knit with the Noro scarf on my blog. Want to make a Noro scarf or making one at this very moment? Follow my journey and read all my annotated (and I hope helpful) posts:

A Crochet Learns to Knit: Adventures with the Noro Scarf - Part I

Annotated Tips for Knitting the Noro Scarf - Part II

Annotated Tips for Knitting the Noro Scarf - Part III

New Crochet Pattern: Fire Flower Lace Earrings

2011-03-18T11:19:00.000-07:00

I love to have fresh flowers around the house. Here is a gorgeous artistic photo of a brilliant bouquet of flowers I received from someone very thoughtful.

A big, beautiful bouquet of flowers bursting with color and scent. It inspired me to design these lacy floral crochet earrings. Think huge, gorgeous blooms like dahlias, peonies, and chrysanthemums. This pattern is really easy and definitely suitable for beginning crocheters.

Feeling creative? You can also use the pattern as a starting point and sew on little beads or pearls. Or, you can glue vintage metalwork, cabochons or cameos onto the center part to make it more steampunkish. You can find the pattern at my Etsy Store.

As always, if you don't want to purchase through Etsy, I can send you a Paypal invoice via email to pay from if you prefer. I've also started to make some of my patterns available as instant Ravelry downloads. There are 3 up there right now to see how it goes. If it goes well, I'll add the others :)

I have another earring pattern in the works, a *stunning* Victorian beaded lace design, plus a steampunk choker with a really unique backward petal design both available by May. And then ... I will be leaving crochet jewelry for a bit to enter the exciting world of crochet garment design! Should be an exciting year!

Downton Abbey: Must See Period Costume Drama

2011-03-11T12:32:00.000-08:00

If you haven't seen Downton Abbey yet, you are in for a real treat! I'd call it an Edwardian soap opera (first season set in the years 1912 – 1914), and it is riveting. It has it all: mysterious pasts, jealous sisters, gay footmen, medical dramas, secret ambitions, inheritance scheming, backstabbing housemaids, smart dialogue, the legendary Maggie Smith, and .... and... AWESOME COSTUMES!!

I know many of these costumes were reused from other productions, but it doesn't matter at all. You can run these episodes on mute and just be dazed by one glorious costume change after another. Especially if you know your costume history, it is just delicious. Get a sketchbook, a big piece of chocolate cake and watch these back to back for design inspiration overload!

Perfect period style.

The dress. The gloves. The lace!!

The evening dress choker!! (Hmm.. that looks familiar from another well-known film. Still gorgeous though!)

How to Do Basic Beaded Crochet Lace

2011-03-06T13:05:00.000-08:00

With beaded lace patterns I'm often asked, "How do you get the beads on there?" or "How do you do beaded crochet?" or "How do you bring up a bead (abbreviated in crochet patterns as 'BUB') to crochet it?". Here's an illustrated tutorial on how you do it (Note: Beaded lace is tiny - Click on any photo to ENLARGE IT):

1)Pre-string all beads needed for the pattern on your yarn/crochet thread. I use a big eye collapsible needle (available in beading stores) to string my beads. Not all beads in a batch may fit over the needle and onto the yarn - discard those that don't slide easily on.

2)Let's start with adding a bead to a chain stitch. Hold the majority of the beads behind your left hand away from your working area. Slide up a bead to work with.

3)Push the bead up snug to the prior stitch. You have now brought up the bead and it is in place to work the stitch called for in the pattern, which in this example is a chain stitch.

4)With your hook, reach over the bead to grab the yarn and KEEPING THE BEAD UP SNUG TO THE PRIOR STITCH .....

5)...complete your chain stitch. You will notice that the bead will always appear on the BACK side of your work, not the front.

6)Let's continue by learning to add a bead to a double crochet stitch. Again, keeping the rest of the beads off to the left out of the working area, bring up a bead and push the bead up snug to the prior stitch.

7)With your hook, reach over the bead to grab the yarn and KEEPING THE BEAD UP SNUG TO THE PRIOR STITCH .....

8)... insert your hook from front to back and .....

9)... draw up a loop. Look at the photo closely. You want the bead to be on the back side of the crochet hook. (Note: clicking on the photo will enlarge it)

10) This is an example of what you do NOT want. Look at the photo closely. The bead is in front of the crochet hook. You want it to be at the back, or on the top leaning back, but NOT in front.

11) With the bead at the back, complete the double crochet stitch as normal. You will notice that the bead is again appearing on the BACK side of your work, not the front. Once you've made a few more double crochet stitches ....

11)... flip your work over to see all the beads perfectly incorporated into your project.

How to Make A Magic Ring / Adjustable Ring / Magic Circle Loop in Crochet

2011-02-25T11:04:00.000-08:00

One of the questions I get asked most about my patterns is, "How do I make a magic ring?". A magic ring, also known as an adjustable ring or magic circle loop, is a starting technique for crocheting in the round. Instead of "chaining 2 and then putting ___ # of stitches into the second chain from the hook", you create a loop to put the stitches in that can be drawn up tight to leave no, or a barely visible, hole in the center. It is used often in amigurumi patterns and other Japanese crochet patterns. Here's how you do it:

1) Leaving a long tail hanging off to the left, wind the yarn from the yarn ball around your fingers as shown.

2) Grasp the yarn at the top with your forefinger and thumb where the strands overlap. The tail is still the yarn hanging off to the left hand side.

3) With your hook, reach through the ring from front to back and grab the yarn that leads to the yarn ball.

4) Pull up a loop and ....

5) ... chain 1. Think of this chain 1 as a "locking stitch". It is NOT part of your stitch count. It is part of the magic ring.

6) With your hook, reach through the ring again to pull up another loop to make your first single crochet. Continue making as many single crochets as is called for in the pattern. Here I did 8.

7) When you've finished making stitches into the ring, grab the tail and pull gently on it to close the ring.

8) Slip stitch into your first beginning single crochet, NOT the chain 1 "locking stitch". Pull the tail of the yarn again to make the ring tightly closed. Note: Some patterns may have you skip the slip stitch and start your second round by stitching directly into the first stitch of the first round -- either way is valid.

8) Your'e done!!

Castle Inspired Striped Scarf Crochet Pattern

2011-02-17T17:18:00.000-08:00

I love the scarves worn by Nathan Fillion as Richard Castle on the television show “Castle”. In opposition to the usual classic grey/black/white scarves for men, Castle’s scarves often have bold geometric color combinations while still being extremely masculine.

I made this Castle inspired striped scarf for my wonderful DH as a special gift.

Here's me modeling the scarf. Sorry I'm not a great model ... and I forgot to put make-up on that day!!! ... but you get the idea :)

I've had quite a few people enquire about it so I decided to post the pattern here. It's one I made up just for my DH :) and it hasn't been formally tested, but if you'd like to play around with the pattern and make your own Castle inspired scarf, please enjoy. I wrote this from memory, so if anyone finds a huge error, please let me know!

2 skein bulky (5) yarn in Burgundy
1 skein bully (5) yarn in Navy
1 skein bulky (5) yarn in Dark Plum

I used Cascade Yarns Baby Alpaca Chunky which is *fabulously* soft and luxurious on the skin and very, very warm. It is a bit pricey though, so feel free to substitute another bulky yarn.

Hook size: K

Pattern -
ch 23

Row 1: With burgundy, hdc in third chain from hook and then hdc in each chain all the way across.
Row 2: Turn, ch 2 (counts as first hdc), hdc in back loop only of next stitch, *hdc in front loop only of next stitch, hdc in back loop only of next stitch*, repeat from * to * all the way across, making sure to put the last stitch in the top of the ch 2 turning chain.
Row 3-16: Repeat row 2.
Row 17: Change to dark plum yarn; with dark plum, ch 2 (counts as first hdc), hdc in next stitch, hdc in each stitch all the way across.
Row 18-22: Repeat row 2.
Row 23: Change to dark blue yarn; with dark blue, ch 2 (counts as first hdc), hdc in next stitch, hdc in each stitch all the way across.
Row 24-28: Repeat row 2.
Row 29: Change to burgundy; with burgundy, ch 2 (counts as first hdc), hdc in next stitch, hdc in each stitch all the way across.
Row 30-44: Repeat row 2.

Repeat rows 17-44 until the scarf is as long as you want. My scarf had 4 repeats.

Fasten off and weave in the many ends.

Annotated Tips for Knitting the Noro Scarf - Part II

2011-02-13T08:05:00.000-08:00

About 1/4 done with my Noro Scarf adventure. Here's what I've learned so far:

The instructions - Had to look up how to do slip stitch edging. There is a video out there on this scarf. It has slightly different instructions than in the original pattern. Don’t follow the video. Just slip the first and last stitch purlwise on the second row of each color. (slipping purlwise = put your right-hand needle through the stitch as if to purl, slip it off the left needle onto the right needle and continue with the pattern). Turns out very nicely.

The slip stitch edging - Worth learning to do for the very nice finished side edges. What I learned the hard way: when you reach the end of the second row of a color and are slipping the last stitch purlwise, make sure your yarn is pulled to the front so it’s in the right position to pick it up again in the next color shift!

The tension - With all the color changing and yarn flipping etc, especially at the beginning, you will be tempted to pull the yarn up tight at each color change. Don’t!! Relax on those edge stitches so they are not at all tense or tight or you will get a curve in your scarf edge. I pulled the yarn up completely, but didn’t cinch it tight. Some of those loose edge loops seemed huge but they usually stretched out tight as I continued.

The yarn - Beautiful color shifts and it’s addicting to watch the changing color stripes…what cool color combo comes next? However, it varies quite a bit in thickness and thinness. Had to cut out a few sections where it was so thick it created big puffy sections in the knitting. Also .. the knots! Has knot in it that never seemed to occur on an edge so had to cut out those and rejoin yarn for those too. Also .. don't be afraid to cut out certain undesirable colors or re-roll a skein entirely in the opposite direction to avoid the effect in the third photo. Both skeins had a light grey/green color at the same time. The colors are different, but similar enough that the stripe effect is lost for a bit.

Here's the scarf on my Ravelry Page: Noro Striped Scarf

iTouch / iPod Cozy - It's a Cute Poptart!

2011-01-28T18:24:00.000-08:00

I'm just about ready to start my "learning to knit" Noro scarf adventure, but thought I'd review the basics of knitting (what does a purl stitch look like again?) by working on a slightly smaller project first. I saw this darling knitted cellphone case pattern and knew it was just the perfect intro project. It's basically a stockinette rectangle that you sew up the sides. And besides .. it's a PopTart! How can you not want to make something so cute?

The pattern is for a cellphone, but I wanted to make it a bit larger to fit an iTouch / iPod. (I love making handmade birthday gifts). Feel free to check out my modifications to the pattern on my iTouch PopTart Cozy Ravelry page. I also included a few useful tips on things I learned while doing this project.

I'm really pleased with how this turned out. I know the recipient is just going to ADORE it!! I'm thinking of making a few more for next year as holiday gifts ... maybe some chocolate ones? Or white with rainbow sprinkles?

Breakfast Apple Tart Recipe

2011-01-10T15:20:00.000-08:00

I have always admired the European, medieval-style fruit tarts I would sometimes see in upscale-bakery store windows. How different they were from traditional American pies! They never had a "top" crust and they were served room temperature, not hot. And they were always made of such wholesome, natural, seasonally-appropriate ingredients.

This holiday season I decided to try making a fruit tart inspired by those beautiful medieval-style tarts. I wasn't really keen on making a super sugary dessert though. I was thinking more of breakfast pastry type of thing. I wanted something tasty, healthy and low-sugar. Preferably 5 ingredients or less for a speedy dessert.

After a bit of experimentation, I came up with the recipe for the breakfast apple tart pictured above. It even ended up being mostly organic too! And how did it taste? Kids and adults both agreed .... really yummy!!

Breakfast Apple Tart
1 pre-made organic pie/tart crust
5 organic braeburn apples (or other apples good for baking)
4 T organic salted butter
1/4 c. raisins
cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Peel, core and slice the apples very thinly. Line the bottom of the pie crust with apple slices, then continue to build up layers, wedging apple bits into the gaps to make a nice solid apple filling (adding raisin in as you go). Push lightly with your hands to compact the filling. Melt the butter and brush *all* of it evenly over the top. Bake for 45 minutes, then turn heat to 400 degrees for 15 minutes to brown the top (careful .. you don't want it to burn; please check on it as it is baking). Sprinkle cinnamon on top. Cool, then place in the refrigerator until **completely & absolutely chilled** (a few hours) before cutting and serving.

A Crocheter Learns to Knit: Adventures with the Noro Scarf Part I

2011-01-03T15:21:00.000-08:00

This is THE Noro Scarf. Drool.

Photo & Noro Scarf pattern from Brooklyntweed.

And the object of my undivided attention for a while because, you see, this crocheter is finally halting her dabbling in knitting and has decided for 2011 to finally learn how to knit properly and confidently. Making this scarf is the route I have chosen to achieve this goal. It is done in 1x1 rib and after 5 1/2 feet of knitting and purling I should finally have those mastered. Plus I get to learn slip stitch edging, color changing, keeping even tension, and many more things.

I LOVE this scarf. It's unisex, goes with everything, and thanks to the magic of Noro yarn .. every single scarf has a mysterious, unfolding color arrangement. A true, unreproducible, one-of-a-kind scarf. The Noro Scarf, like Noro yarn, is apparently legendary in its desirability. There's even a Noro Scarf Flickr Group!

I bought my supplies today:

Needles: US 7/4.5 mm
Yarn: Noro Silk Garden (45% silk|45% kid mohair|10% lamb's wool|100 meters); 2 balls each of #245 and #319

Can't wait to start!

Happy New Year !!

2011-01-01T08:43:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!! I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year's Eve and was able to celebrate the arrival of the New Year in style with fun, family, and food! I truly wish that 2011 brings each and every one of you all that you desire, that it rewards all that you work hard for, and that it has a few unexpected extra-nice treats in store for you.

Free Printable Holiday Gift Tag List

2010-12-04T12:18:00.000-08:00

I'm busy as an elf working away on holiday gifts & goodies. Can't post about any of those though just in case the recipients are looking! So ... how about a post about where to find free, indie printable holiday gift tags to put on your handcrafted gifts? These are some of my favorites (p.s. I wasn't sure about whether I could copy the tag images to show here, so you'll have to click through to see them .. but it's worth it!):

Inside a Black Apple has a charming set with hot chocolate, a mitten, a beret-wearing bird, and several others.

Sew Mama Sew has an assortment with simple motifs and contemporary colors. I love the ones that say "handmade with love".

LollyChops has some for baked goods that say "from the kitchen of".

Creature Comforts offers a festive bunch with fun, bright colors and a large open writing area.

Finally, from Kitty Genius come the most darling little people tags. Love the little fox suit ones. There is second page of these cuties here.

Happy Holidays!!

Mini Crocheted Holiday Stockings

2010-11-21T07:09:00.000-08:00

I'm always looking for cute ways to use all those little bits of yarn yardage you're left with after finishing projects. You know, 4 feet of that gorgeous green alpaca, 6 ft of that yummy white mohair.... bits too small to use in any substantial project but too big to throw away.

I use many of these remnants to make my flower pins, but what I really found myself wanting this year was a way to use them to make holiday gifts. So I was thrilled to find this delightful pattern on Ravelry: My Stocking Ornament. I'm going to make lots of little mini-stockings and use them as the "wrappers" for little candies to make quick holiday gifts. The stocking can become an ornament after all the candy is eaten.
The pattern makes the cutest little mini-stockings! It's a really easy, quick, adaptable pattern and will work with any type of yarn. And they are terribly addicting to make .. you can't make just one! I'm leaving mine plain, but these would be super cute with felt holiday shapes appliqued on them or initials embroidered on.

Incoming from a Parallel Universe of Mutant Bunnies

2010-11-04T06:25:00.000-07:00

I believe your home should be filled with things you love and cherish. That speak to your heart and dreams and soul. Today I found a fellow Northwestern artist who makes the most amazing textile artwork: Zoe Williams. According to her bio, there are no armatures used in her work and it's all solid needle felted wool. Which, if you've ever done needle felting, you know is incredibly time consuming.

Photo via Boing Boing

Art is very subjective,(beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder) but there is just something about this morphing bunnies series that speaks to me. I can't decide if they are mutant bunnies pushing their way through the picture frame from a parallel universe, or if they are transmuting from a primordial genetic ooze into bunnies. But I either way .. I LOVE these! She has quite a number of other amazing works viewable at her website X03, but these bunnies are the ones I've fallen in love with. Only thing I wish is that they were brown bunnies ... I don't know how white those white bunnies would remain without a display case, and where's the fun of sticking sculpture behind glass? :)

It looks like she has her first solo show coming up, Somnium Bestia (at the Ghost Gallery) where her textile creatures will make an appearance. Wish I could go!

Autumn Fire

2010-10-31T18:43:00.000-07:00

The deciduous trees here have been putting on the most GORGEOUS show. Such vivid red, orange and yellow leaves. Just love this row's fiery autumn foliage. Every year they turn this amazing hot orange color. Just beautiful!
I'm not sure of the species, but one row of trees I pass by walking my little guys to school creates distinct yellow, red, and light orange leaves .... all from the same tree!
The golden yellow ones were my inspiration to make this lacey, yet warm, autumn scarf. Here's my Ravelry project page: Golden Leaves Scarf. I ADORE this scarf pattern. It's one of my favorites. It's called the Queen Ann Lace pattern. You can see two more gorgeous examples of scarves I made using this pattern here.
Yes, that's me in the photo. I'm not terribly keen on being my own model since I feel I photograph poorly, but my son is a blossoming photographer and he loves helping me take pictures of my crocheted goodies. I guess when I'm 80 years old I'll look back on these and think, "Hey .. those weren't half bad!" :)

PDF Pattern - Bunny & Striped Tulip Bowl Set -- Cute Storage Containers

2010-10-26T11:52:00.001-07:00

Every desk, vanity or crafting table always has a need for cute organizational containers to round up all those bits n' bobs. These darling bowls are just perfect for buttons, hair ties, barrettes, paperclips, beads, push-pins .... you name it! Here's the pattern: PDF Crochet Pattern: Bunny & Striped Tulip Bowl Set -- Cute Storage Containers

Love the bunny tail!

This bunny is holding pirate treasure! Ok... glass beads, but it looks like treasure :).

Perfect way to corral small art/craft supplies.

I adore making crocheted jewelry and wearable accessories like gloves, scarves and shawls, but I must say that designing and making these cute little bowls was super fun! Hmmmm....maybe a new direction for a while?

Versitile Mini-Shawl PDF Crochet Pattern - Icicle Capelet

2010-10-14T11:38:00.000-07:00

I love how versatile this new lacy capelet pattern is! It can be tied with a ribbon, secured with a brooch, and draped across the body in soooo many ways. Take a look at these photos to see how many cute ways it can be worn!

It not only looks great in icicle arctic white, but in any other color you might choose!

Bonus: this is a super easy, and very fast, pattern. I'm a fast crocheter and can whip one of these up from start to finish in about an hour, so I'm sure most people could complete this in an afternoon.

Given that it is almost Halloween, it occurs to me that this, done in black or a very dark purple, would make a wicked cool spiderweb looking cape. Hmmmmm......I like that idea quite a bit :)

You can find the pattern in my Etsy shop here.

Geek Girl Loves This Library

2010-10-03T08:58:00.000-07:00

This is the most amazing, thought-provoking library I've ever seen. Jay Walker's Library of the Human Imagination. Note: This is a private library, so I will probably never be able to see it in person, but a girl can dream :)

Okay, I added the words on this last one, but it's an appropriate sentiment :)

You can find an amazing walk-through video of the library here: The Walker Library of the Human Imagination. It is totally worth the time to view. Really a beautiful, inspiring visual paeon to human knowledge.

Cute Animals at Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival (OFFF)

2010-10-02T08:18:00.000-07:00

Last week my family and I went on a mini-adventure .... we travelled to the Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival! It's a 3 day festival with livestock, food, fleece, yarn, classes, demonstrations .... basically everything related to the animal fiber industry.

We went Sunday morning and it was just *pouring* rain. I felt so bad for all those vendors out there in the rain, with few customers, watching all their merchandise get damp. We didn't stay long because of the bad weather, but still had a great time exploring and looking at everything. The kids *loved* spending time in the barn looking at all the goats, sheep, alpacas and llamas. Just look at this cutie!:

There were so many different breeds of sheep and goats. I got to see Cashmere goats .. where cashmere wool comes from! And then there were these fellows: Look closely, each animal has 4 horns! Two that go up and two that curl down. Really prehistoric looking. I don't remember what they were, but they were definitely interesting.

Last Week for the Sherwood Saturday Market

2010-09-23T11:23:00.000-07:00

To all my local lovely customers and friends: This Saturday is the *very last day* for the Sherwood Saturday Market where I'm a vendor. The weather is supposed to be 80 degrees and gorgeous, so come and down and say "hi", get in all your final market shopping, and get a jump on your holiday shopping. Most of the things I sell at market are one-of-a-kind pretties and are NOT available online, so come on down and take a look. Hope to see you all there!

New PDF Pattern - Mina Harker Crochet Lace Choker

2010-09-13T06:11:00.000-07:00

Just in time to get ready for the Halloween season, here's a brand new crochet pattern: The Mina Harker Necklace! Bram Stoker's Victorian heroine, Mina Harker, might have worn a beautiful beaded choker like this. Delicate violet lace with an abstract floral motif drapes closely around the neck. The bead embellishment is optional, but highly recommended to add. At my Etsy store.
Here it is on me :) You don't need to make it in these Gothic colors. I also made one in a pastel green with diamond-like crystals to wear with a sundresss and it looked fabulous!
Keeping with the vampire theme .. look what I discovered yesterday night while browsing at my local book store! Vampire Knits!
Obviously it's cashing in on the Twilight/True Blood craze, but it does have some really cute patterns in it beyond those super popular Bella gloves.

New PDF Pattern - Peacock Earrings (Easy Crochet Lace)

2010-08-31T17:36:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! Fall is just around the corner here and school for my little guys starts in just a few days .. how the year has flown by. Unfortunately, I've had quite a few surgeries this year so I haven't been able to spend much time in the studio .. but it looks like those are all finally behind me (yeah!) and I am ready to get back into the swing of things for fall.

First off, there's a new pattern available: Peacock Earrings. These are a really easy beginner crochet lace pattern. They are very lightweight to wear, look fabulous on everyone, and only take an afternoon to make. The pattern includes finishing instructions and the exact yarn I used in the photo if you want to duplicate the color scheme. The pattern is over at my Etsy shop. If you haven't been to Etsy lately, the shops there have all had a face lift and have a new, more modern look. Check it out.

Here's me wearing my pair :) My son is quite the budding photographer and took this picture. He's only 9, but has such a natural eye for setting up a great shot!

As most of you know, I'm not just an artist, but a complete geek girl too :) I forget how, but I ran across these fabulous geeky science lab cookie cutters. Oh yes, I want some. I do, I do!!
Also .. I found this great binary scarf knitting pattern:
You can include any phrase or sentence you want to knitted into the scarf, secretly encoded in binary. How cool is that?

Oh, and I did finish my new winter scarf made out of that amazing Mochi yarn I showed you in this post. I'm blocking it now and will take a pic as soon as it is dry and ready to be worn. It really turned out beautifully and I can't wait to show you!

Treasury Love

2010-08-20T10:09:00.000-07:00

So honored to have the pattern for my Vanilla Snowflake Earrings included in this beautiful Treasury by ZionShore at Etsy! Love the title and the theme of the collection! Visit the treasury here. Treasury compilations are only available to view for a few days...so if you want to visit don't delay :)

Yum Yum Yarn

2010-07-27T20:46:00.000-07:00

Yeah for birthdays! I got a little money on my special day and ... you guessed it .. hit the yarn store. Look at the yummy yarns I purchased! I've been wanting to try the Rowan Kidsilk Haze forEVAH. It is sooo luscious. And the Mochi, from Crystal Palace ...well, just look at it! Gorgeous color scheme. I badly need a new scarf or two for winter. I'm down to just one and it's looking pretty tatty after some very hard use last winter. So I'm going to treat myself to two new scarfs :)

For the Mochi I'm using a pattern from Inside Crochet. It's a British crochet magazine that I just ADORE and am fortunate enough to have stocked at my local Barnes and Noble. You can get digital downloads of Inside Crochet here if you can't find it locally. You need to keep in mind that British crochet terminology is a bit different than US while working, but the patterns are all very well written and photographed.

As for the Kidsilk, I think I'm going to make that fabulous striped scarf from the new Rowan Crochet Workshop book. Which is really good! I think I'll do a review on that soon. It's definitely THE book I would purchase for a friend who wanted to learn to crochet.

In other news .. I'll be taking a week off here, so all orders will be shipped out NEXT WEEK. Thank you!!!

Teacher Gifts: Crocheted Apple Jackets

2010-07-02T14:33:00.000-07:00

I just remembered I forgot to post a picture of what I finally settled on for end of year teacher gifts for my children's teachers! I made them these killer cute apple jackets! I thought it was a clever twist on the "apple" theme for teachers :) I also made their two primary teachers home-baked double chocolate brownies ... yum!Apple jackets are an attractive protective "garment" to keep your fruit from getting bruised and damaged when tossed into your bag for later consumption. Made in a durable cotton yarn, these can be washed and used over and over again for many lunches.I can't tell you how cute these all looked lined up on the kitchen counter ready to gift. After I took these shots, I made leaf shaped gift tags out of lime green paper for my kids to write a short message on and then attached them with ribbon to the apple jacket.

Garden Goodness!

2010-06-06T20:30:00.000-07:00

Look at my lettuce! Wow!! My family and I have really amped up the home veggie gardening this year and this is our first "crop" of the season. What wonderful salads it will make!The kids get such joy every year out of watching and helping the plants grow and then harvesting their goodness. Such a wonderful way to get children involved in healthy eating!

We also are fortunate enough to live in an area where you can order a box of farm-fresh, local organic produce to be delivered to your doorstep. We get ours from Organic to You. We love the mystery of opening the box every week and discovering what wonders lurk inside. It's a great way to get exposed to different things you might not ordinarily cook with.
Here's a pic of the inside of this box. Yum! The upper "greens" part of many vegetables is often still attached and I have to admit, as a city girl, I am often stumped by whether you can eat those leaves in the first place and .... if you can, how do you prepare them. Anyone know some good recipes for carrot top greens??

Delicate Clutch Bags

2010-06-04T13:46:00.000-07:00

I've spent several weeks poring over crochet patterns looking for just the *perfect* thing to make as graduation gifts for several young ladies. Finally I came upon a basic pattern for a simple clutch bag. A few modifications to the pattern combined with a nicer yarn .... and it makes an elegant make-up/accessory bag ...... perfect!! I only have this sky blue one finished so far, but I am really *loving* how these are turning out!I used a lovely button as the clasp instead of the crocheted one it called for. Much better.
Gosh, these are so nice I really want one too! :)
I need to start thinking about end-of-year teacher gifts too. I love baking cookies for others...the rich aroma of melting chocolate in brownies and 7 Layer Bars, the buttery goodness and almond scent of almond drop cookies, the vanilla smell of marble cookies....yum!! But handmade treats are so lovely to make and receive too. Hmmmmm..... have to think on that for a while.

Free PDF Pattern - Pin Up Girl Bow

2010-05-25T07:15:00.000-07:00

After watching a string of 1940's era movies, I fell in love with those cute velvet and fabric hair bows. You see them often in old print ads of the time too. I thought, "Why not design a cute pin-up girl style hair bow using crochet"? These turned out so cute and are just fabulous for using up left-over scraps of yarn. Especially those luxury yarns where you want to use up every little bit. I think these are just such fun. A little touch of elegance.
You can find the crochet pattern on my Jeweled Elegance free crochet pattern page. Just click the download button and you're set to go. Need a PDF program to view the patterns? Just follow the instructions at the top of the free pattern page to get the free Adobe Acrobat Reader software. You can also download this at Ravelry as a free pattern download. If you make one, I'd love to see!

Summer Retro Coasters

2010-05-24T18:20:00.000-07:00

When you think of crocheted goodies, most people think of scarfs, gloves, blankets, pillows ..... cold weather things. But there are lots of great crocheted projects for summer too. Think lacey, barely-there tops, open weave silk wraps for evenings on the patio, or brightly colored sunhats. And don't forget crocheted bikinis! For outdoor dining, try making some fun summer coasters, like these retro summer coasters.I love the fun colors and random patterns of the multi-colored yarn. Each coaster turns out as a unique little piece of art. Cotton is a great yarn choice for a non-skid coaster that gracefully absorbs water from sweating glasses. Perfect for casual dining on the patio; catching the condensation from chilled mint juleps and iced tea.
If you'd like to make some coasters like mine, you'll find all the details on my Summer Retro Coasters Ravely page. These whip up SO quickly. You can easily make a set in an afternoon, or work on them one by one in a spare hour here and there.

Like the idea but not the pattern? You can use any block pattern meant for a quilt or blanket. Most of those blocks are a fairly good size. Just use a very thin yarn and a fairly small hook to scale it down to coaster size. Happy creating!

Bag End Hobbit Hole Miniature Dollhouse

2010-05-10T17:42:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I run across artistic eye candy just too cool not to share. Here is one such thing: crafter Maddie Chambers has created a handcrafted Hobbit hole miniature ... Bag End from Lord of the Rings! Complete with removable roof and a detailed interior!! Yep, this sure does appeal to my inner geek :) Here's a few pictures, but I encourage you to visit her blog to see more cool photos and learn about all the authentic movie details she incorporated.

She also has a post called How I Made the Hobbit Hole, which has some amazing production photos.

Japanese Flower Necklaces, Vintage Style Poppy Pins & Collage Pendants

2010-05-10T09:40:00.000-07:00

Here's a few of my favorite new items from the 2010 Market Season.

First up are some handcrafted crocheted Japanese style flower necklaces. I love, love, LOVE these!! Each one is made completely by hand and is one-of-a-kind creation. They are crocheted with delicate premium yarns, hand stitched with embellishments and a proper backing, and then featured on a hand-patined necklace with various old-fashioned crystals, pearls .. or if I have them.. matching vintage beads. I could make these all day I just love them so much!!

$35 and up from Jeweled Elegance.
Stock is varied and limited. Email for current offerings.

These bright red poppy bobby pins are sure to brighten your day! Each one is delicately embellished with tiny black beads at the center. They come on a pretty vintage label.

$10 each from Jeweled Elegance.

And last, but never least, I adore how each of these vintage image collage pendants features a different word. I make these completely by hand starting with a blank plain piece of wood. Many steps later ... voila!...a beautiful classy inspirational pendant. These also are one-of-kind and come on high quality, lead and nickel free, hand-patined vintage style metal chains.

$20 each from Jeweled Elegance.
Stock is varied and limited. Email for current offerings.

Now ... off to make more flower necklaces! :)

2010 Market Season Booth Pictures

2010-05-10T09:03:00.000-07:00

Here's what my Saturday Market vendor booth looks like this year. Every year I change it up a little bit, keeping it fresh and trying new things to see what is most effective. This year I focused on "Verticality". Keeping more things visible to people causually walking by vs. them having to come up and really look over the table. I tilted all my display boxes up so that 50% of the inventory could be seen from far away.

And I got a wonderful new glass fronted display case! I am starting to do more and more crochet jewelry and although I wanted to bring a few pieces to market, it's an outdoor venue and I wasn't sure how to protect them from the elements. Most things I bag to protect them from the elements, keep sterling and other metals untarnished, and basically keep the piece in "new" condition until it is sold. Crocheted pieces don't always fit nicely in bags, so I liked the idea of the case. I modified it with a false backing to incorporate ribbon straps with sewing pin "hooks" (to hang necklaces) and built in anti-tarnish strips to protect the metal. I'm very happy with how it turned out!

If you are in the Sherwood, Oregon area on a Saturday morning ... stop by and say "hi"!

Timberline Lodge

2010-05-02T07:14:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was the grand opening of the Saturday Market I'm a vendor at. And wouldn't you know it? I forgot my camera!! So .. pics will have to wait until next week. It was a bit chilly, but with plenty of sunbreaks it turned out to be a really good opening day. It was so lovely to see and reconnect with fellow vendors and longtime customers, and meet some lovely new people too!

Photos from Wikipedia.

Afterwards, we had to hustle and drive out to the historic Timberline Lodge for a wedding. You may have seen pictures of it - it's the snow-covered building used for the exterior shots in the famous 1980 movie The Shining. I hadn't expected so much snow in May. It was DEEP. And way, WAY up in snow country. The lodge is a historic building created in 1936-1938 as a Works Progress Administration project during the Great Depression. and is just a beautiful work of Art Deco. It's three stories tall, but there is so much snow that the first and second levels are often below the snowline. You could even ski off the roof there's so much snow!

Photos from Wikipedia.

The interior is warm and toasty with giant stone fireplaces and lots of warm wood and forged iron everywhere. It really retains a 1930's atmosphere and you can tell the effort that has gone into preservation and restoration. It was just enchanting to walk around and explore all the wonderful architecture and artistic details. Here's one of the many carved animal posts at the lodge.

Photos from Wikipedia.

We hadn't realized how far away the Lodge was, and we still have young children who need to get to bed at a reasonable hour, so we weren't able to stay at the wedding very long. I can see why it would have been wise to book a room there for the night, but we'll know for our next trip there!

Cute Crochet Baby Bear Hat

2010-04-15T13:54:00.001-07:00

Yes, I've finally done it .. taken the plunge and joined Ravelry! I haven't had the time to really do more than just poke around it a bit, but it looks like a great community for knitters and crocheters.

I was thrilled to see that it is a pattern haven! Can't wait to upload some patterns of my own, but for now I'm having fun looking at all the massively talented people sharing their hard work, their patterns, and their creations. I was smitten by the look of the Osito Infant Bear Hat ... and I had been looking for something to make for a baby gift, so here is the hat I made!
I didn't have a live model to show you how super cute this looks worn, so a jar of marbles is standing in for a "head".
If anyone wants to catch up with me on Ravelry (or give a Ravelry newbie some advice), I'm Artifax on there.

Crazy Busy Spring

2010-04-09T11:08:00.000-07:00

Wow are things busy around here! Market season starts in just 3 weeks, and I'm working hard to meet that deadline. In three weeks, I will have:

* designed and printed new better-visibility sign/price tags for my market booth
* constructed new ribbon display boards for my market booth
* finished several of my new "Twig" necklaces
* finished my new line of Japanese inspired "Bloom" crocheted jewelry
* finalized TWO new crochet patterns and posted them online
* completed at least two lacy crocheted capelets for Spring
* gotten my lettuce, pea, cucumber, and pole bean seedlings settled in their permanent garden beds
* prepped the house for company arriving in the beginning of May

and last .. but unfortunately not least....
* somehow convinced the sun to come out for an extended period so I can take some good, well-lit photos of all the aforementioned things!!

All this busy time in the studio means I haven't had much time for online activities, but I'll be back to regular blog posting on May 1st. And have lots of cool photos to show you and things to share then!

Time for High Tea: Best Family Friendly Buttermilk Biscuit Recipe

2010-03-10T02:34:00.000-08:00

Ah..with Spring comes flowers, hummingbirds... and a new season of colds and flu. There's been a nasty bug going through our town and of course ... every member of my family (except my feline baby) has came down with it. When you're sick, you long for comfort foods. I thought I'd share one we've been making a lot of this week.

This is the best recipe for buttermilk biscuits: quick (I can get them in the oven in 7 minutes flat), easy, and perfect for little chef's assistants to help with. Like all buttermilk biscuits, they are best warm ... and with a liberal application of yummy jam!

Easy Family Friendly Buttermilk Biscuits
Makes 12 biscuits

2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tbsp baking powder
1 tbsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup cold butter
3/4 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400F. Have an ungreased cookie sheet ready.

In large bowl, blend together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Pour in buttermilk. Using knife, cut/shred butter into rough fat slivers and blend into bowl with a fork (or you can knead it together in the bowl using your hands - it's much faster) until a crumbly, soft ragged dough forms. Important: you want the dough to hold it's shape: if your dough is too liquidy with standing water in the bowl, add a tiny bit of flour, if it's too dry with chunks falling off, add a tiny bit more buttermilk.

Turn out onto floured surface. With lightly floured hands, knead gently until dough comes together. Pat out in a rough rectangle shape about 3/8 - 1/2 inch thick. You can use a floured cutter to cut shapes, or just cut the large rectangle into rough bar shapes. Place on prepared pan. Gather up scraps and repat dough; cut out more rounds, pressing remaining scraps into final (cook's) biscuit.

Bake until golden, 18 to 20 minutes.

New Pattern! Fabled Flowers Crochet Lace Necklace

2010-03-01T10:49:00.001-08:00

The plum and the cherry blossom trees are so beautiful here! Hopefully it will stay sunny for a few days so I can enjoy their fragile beauty. One day of hard rain and they will all come off in a flurry of pink snow and then quickly turn into a soggy mush underfoot. How I wish they were a bit more hardy and would bloom all season long!I finally finished up the last of the crochet lace necklaces I was working on ... hmmmm...seems like I had plum and cherry blossoms on the brain when I designed this. Delicate, five petaled flowers ....yep, definitely some inspiration there. Lace necklaces are always so romantic, so I named this one "Fabled Flowers". Like all my patterns to date, this is another gaugeless wonder, meaning you just need to smack a ruler down on it once in a while, but no gauge swatch is necessary. This is an advanced beginner/intermediate pattern using only basic stitches, but it's so much lacier than my other crochet necklaces that I decided to include process photos. My first pattern with annotated photos that show key steps in the creation process. How exciting!This is the same pattern in white with pearls that will be stitched to the inside of each flower. It's going to be a bridal necklace ... so lovely!!

What Color Tulips Did I Plant? & OWOH Winner!

2010-02-16T10:42:00.001-08:00

The tulips have just started shooting up all over .. which means Spring is here! I can't recall exactly what color I planted here by the front door, so it will be a lovely surprise when they finally burst forth into flower. Hmmmm....was it the purple? The red? Or the red and white candy-stripe? Sometimes a little mystery is fun!!

Alas, the Japanese grocery store didn't have any cute bento boxes (see prior post)... but my lovely bloggie friend Sugar Bear brought my attention to this store. They not only have bento boxes in many cute designs, but all the cooking gear and accessories to make the artistic bento lunches too.

The One World One Heart Giveaway world event is now over. Thank you to everyone who stopped by and entered my giveaway!! It was so wonderful to ride the magic carpet and meet up with old friends again and make lovely new ones.

Without further ado .. using ye olde random number generator, the winner of a crochet pattern of their choice is:

Tara at Sew Gorgeous!!!

Congrats to Tara and I hope everyone had a wonderful time in blogland with the OWOH!

Cute Bento Boxes

2010-01-31T11:56:00.000-08:00

Art isn't just something you can wear or decorate your house with...it can also be something you can eat. For the past few weeks I've been following several blogs that showcase the *cutest* bento boxes! Now that both my children are old enough for grade school, I've been dying to make them cute bento boxes to take for lunch! Each lunch is like a tiny miniature work of art ... that you can eat. Just adorable.

Penguin Bento from Hapa Bento.

Purple Bunny with Carrots Bento from Happy Little Bento.

Wanna see more bento boxes? Check out these two blogs I'm just enthralled with: Hapa Bento and Happy Little Bento.

I'm hoping to hit the big Japanese Grocery store about 45 minutes north of me in a week or two to look for some cute little bento boxes. If I do find some, I also plan on ordering this inspirational book....and some metal shape cutters for stamping food out in cute shapes. I'm hoping I can even get my two little guys to try some new foods by making them look like cute little ninjas and creatures!

If you haven't entered the One World One Heart Giveaway yet, there is still time. Just scroll on down to the next post and enter!

One World One Heart Giveaway

2010-01-24T16:42:00.000-08:00

It's time for the One World One Heart blogger event!! Started by Lisa Swifka in 2007, this worldwide event brings the international blogging community together creating a fabulous opportunity to discover new and wonderful friends.
If this is your first time to my blog .. Welcome! You can take a look at the rest of my blog here. I love visitors and new bloggy friends!

This is my FOURTH year (wow!) participating in OWOH and I am so proud to participate again. This past year I have worked really, *really* hard despite numerous obstacles to finally get my line of crochet jewelry and crochet patterns off the ground and was thrilled to finally list the first one in November 2009! In celebration of that, I am offering your choice of any one of my new patterns as my giveaway item:

romantic lacey choker, garden flower choker, fingerless gloves, scarflette, zakka breakfast mat, or snowflake earrings

To enter and be eligible to win you must:
1) be a blogger
2) leave a comment - make sure I have a way to contact you if you win. If your blogging profile doesn't link back to your blog, then please leave an email address; oh, and you don't need to choose which pattern you would like now .. you can decide that after winning :)
3) make your entry on or before Feb. 14th

This fabulous blogland event ends on Feb 15th and I will be contacting the lucky winner on that day!

Be sure to check out all the other blogs participating by clicking on the One World One Heart logo on the left and make some wonderful new bloggy friends! :)

PDF Crochet Pattern - Black Forest Ruffle Scarflette

2010-01-06T16:39:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday!! Things were really humming here. Always such a busy time of year in so very many ways. I think my To-Do List actually weighed in on the scale at a few pounds ... LOL! School started back up this week for my little munchkins so I'll be back in the studio soon. I know a few people are waiting for new scarflettes and fingerless texting handwarmers so I'm putting those first on the agenda :)

In the meantime, I wrote up one of my scarflettes as a do-it-yourself crochet pattern. I made the sample out of a luxury alpaca yarn, but this is such a forgiving and easy pattern, you can make it out of any yarn really. Like all my patterns it has been fully tested, has easy to follow instructions and is essentially gaugeless. Yes, I am one of those people who hate making gauge swatches. I much prefer patterns that, at best, you need to put a ruler down on occasionally to measure. So that is the kind of pattern I write.

I have it up already at Etsy and will try to get the pattern added to the boutique soon. As always, I try to make the pattern as perfect as I can but I am only human, so if anything doesn't seem clear please don't hesitate to ask.

Blockbuster Holiday Lighting Show: Carol of the Bells

2009-12-25T13:26:00.000-08:00

If you are going to do holiday lights, might as well do them with style! This family has synchronized their light show with the traditional carol "Carol of the Bells". You are going to have to trust me on this. You haven't seen your neighbors do holiday lighting, until you've seen them do this:

Happy Holidays!

2009-12-21T08:26:00.000-08:00

To all my wonderful friends, family and customers: Hope your holiday season is merry and bright . . . . and I wish you all a simply fabulous 2010!!!

On a Roll: PDF Pattern - Vanilla Snowflake Earrings

2009-12-04T20:03:00.000-08:00

"Oh the weather outside is frightful,
But the fire is so delightful,
And since we've no place to go,
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!"

No snow yet ... but we did have our first heavy frost this week! The air is certainly chilly enough for visions of snow and roaring fires; inspiring these cute vanilla snowflake lace earrings.I went ahead and embellished one pair with Swarovski crystals and freshwater seed pearls .. oh la la la! They embroider like a dream! I had such fun playing with patterns and possibilities, but once I settled on the red and white candy cane colors, each earring only took about 30 minutes to embroider. I plan on wearing mine about the house while I bake holiday cookies and wrap presents :)
If you'd like the pattern for these, you can find it here or here.

And here is someplace that is always beautiful, but whose gardens are even prettier with the addition of a few snowflakes:

1. Versailles under the snow again! 07.02.2009, 2. Versailles under the snow!, 3. 030111 Versailles Snow E, 4. Versailles under the snow!

English Rose Choker: PDF Crochet Pattern (Customizable in Color and Length and Perfect for Weddings!)

2009-11-22T12:24:00.000-08:00

Another new pattern is ready to go! This one is a graceful floral choker. I made the model with an English winter white rose, but you could customize this with any color rose you liked.
This would be so cute as a bridal or bridesmaid accessory, don't you think?
I found these cute little antique bronze rose buttons to go on the back, but you could use any type of button you wanted. Mother of pearl, shell, or vintage gems type buttons would look especially lovely! As usual, you can find this at my Etsy shop :)

Hever Castle Rose Garden fromWikipedia.

Here's an inspiration shot of the gardens I have seen that inspired this choker design. This is at Hever Castle. Lovely, isn't it?

Photo from David Austin Roses

Here's another inspiration photo. Our poor rose tree is on the decline, but I love having roses in the garden. This Huntington rose is one I've been eyeing as a replacement. Old world Rose characteristics (means great smell!) and hardy enough to survive in my garden. So beautiful! I think this would look very nice next to the porch.

Evolving at Last: Romantic Lace Crocheted Chokers

2009-11-06T18:25:00.000-08:00

Yeah! I'm so excited to finally have the first few of these up! I've been working on my romantic crochet choker line for a long time and this is a big milestone for me as I move into crochet patterns and develop a more distinct look as an artist. I'm no stranger to crochet, been whipping up crocheted goodies for 18 years. Have always loved those super romantic eras, the Gilded Age, Art Nouveau, the Jazz Age, etc. And I've always dreamed of creating crocheted glamorous chokers. Always. In fact I have doodled sketches of them in almost every art notebook I've drawn in.

I went back and forth on designing patterns (the original idea) vs. actual product, but finally decided to produce mostly patterns with just a few pieces of each design available to purchase as a finished product. I've also decided to produce items from the patterns on demand for weddings, both for brides and bridesmaids.

First up is L'Amour, an actual lovely lace choker with ribbon tiebacks and pearl accents. So soft and lovely!! Available at Etsy.

And here's Victoriana! This is the first pattern I am offering, available at Etsy as a PDF pattern emailed to you. Would make a gorgeous bridal choker! I've had this pattern tested numerous times, but I'm still a little nervous about selling my first design. Big step!! If anyone makes this, I'm always open to feedback.

It's exciting to be evolving as an artist! Those who know me know that family medical issues have nearly derailed this artistic evolution several times , but I have persevered and am so happy to have finally reached this point :)

Life-Like Driftwood Horse Scupltures

2009-10-29T17:03:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I come across an artist just too cool not to share. Heather Jansch uses driftwood to craft magnificent horse sculptures. Despite their graceful, airy appearance, each horse weighs three quarters of a ton and is free standing. The structure is strong enough to not only withstand public display but also heavy winds without falling over. Each scupture is totally unique and can take up to three years to complete.Can only imagine how awesome these look when the tide comes in and they "play" in the waves. No surprise there is a long waiting list of buyers.

Photos fromSomethin Wonderful.

She also has branched out into stags! Hmmm.... well, if I win the lottery I think a few of these hidden around my new mansion's grounds would look pretty cool!! :)

Help Needed With Oregon Spider Identification

2009-10-25T15:57:00.000-07:00

Look at the beauty I found in the garden today! Well, actually I first became aware of it when my two little boys started screaming to save the beetle from the Big Spider. I sprinted right over and sure enough, a hapless beetle was being pursued by this large, fat, but absolutely beautiful spider. We dutifully saved the beetle from becoming spider lunch (spider now very hungry, I'm sure). But I'm wondering what kind of spider this is? Usually the power of the internet comes to my rescue when identifying bugs, but this one must not be dangerous because I can't find a picture of a similar one anywhere. Anybody know what it is??? I'm in Oregon and this was about the size of a half dollar.
Spider Update: I forgot to mention that I did get a quick look at the underside and I didn't see a bright hourglass shape. The closet thing online I could find was this spider or this spider, but mine has no white cross.

Store Update: Part I The Jewelry

2009-10-24T16:33:00.000-07:00

Whew! Surgery is now behind me and recovery is well under way. Big, big thank you's to my uber-wonderful neighbor, my supportive husband and all my caring family and friends!! They say your true friends are the ones that stick with you when times are good AND bad .. and that saying certainly proved true last week.

Now .... I have been photographing market pieces every day. The variable fall Oregon light is making every photographic session an artistic adventure, but I finally have a few that are good to go. I'm going to start with my favorite, "Fleur de Gorgeous" . I adore the design of this necklace!! Followed by a few more lovely neck adornments, some Mouline Rouge inspired earrings, and a new lacey scarf like the beautiful ones in this post.

"Fleur de Gorgeous -- asymmetrical vivid floral necklace"
for sale at my Etsy Store.

"Satine Earrings -- mother of pearl and freshwater pearl earrings"
for sale at my Etsy Store.

"Eternity Circle -- vintage style pearl circle pendant necklace"
for sale at my Etsy Store.

"Affair of the Heart -- candy jade little bird necklace"
for sale at my Etsy Store.

"Tuscan Sun Lacey Scarf"
for sale at myJeweled Elegance Boutique.

You may have noticed the title of this post: "Part I: The Jewelry". I am very, very, very close to finishing my crochet jewelry patterns and will be showing them to you for part II. I have been working really hard on these since the beginning of the year and can barely wait to finally get the first few up. Just 1 more week!! Assuming the H1N1 Flu moving through our neighborhood will stay at bay :)

Cate Blanchett and Granny Square Crochet Dress

2009-09-24T08:33:00.000-07:00

Photos from Horiwood.

Yes, it's time to show my inner crochet geek :) What says "crochet is making a huge comeback" better than a granny square dress appearing on the red carpet? A one-shouldered, full sleeved, ruffle-ornamented couture crochet dress. Cate Blanchett would look great in anything, but I love that she picked this to wear to the opening of an event down at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI).
I know some people have pretty strong opinions on granny squares, but honestly, she wears it really well and looks great!

Catastrophe!

2009-09-21T16:29:00.000-07:00

Free wallpaper from Digital Blasphemy

It was a warm, sunny morning, the sky full of innocent puffy white clouds. I curled up on the couch nursing my Japanese mug full of steaming sencha tea, flipped the power button on my laptop and instead of the usual welcome screen there appeared nothing but wildly moving patterns of lines and abstract blocks of color. Then the words "fatal hardware error" appeared just before .... endless black. Just like that. In a heartbeat, without any warning, my beautiful computer died :(

Well, the old computer proved to be beyond resuscitation. I'm bringing the humble replacement up to speed, but it's taking quite a while (and many hours of reformatting, updating drivers, etc. Yuck!). Thank goodness for cloud computing! Email was restored quickly and Blogger and Etsy were untouched.

While I sit here reformatting this thing, I've been skimming book review blogs looking for fresh reads. I read quite a bit this summer and, on the whole, was really disappointed with the quality of what is being published these days and worse, what poor writing is getting best-seller attention. (for books I recommend, check out my GoodReads) What books are you looking forward to as being good reads? Or at least different and thought-provoking! :)

My Bust Gets Dressed! .....New Vintage Style Flower Necklaces

2009-09-16T11:24:00.000-07:00

Today I tried "dressing" my handmade paper bust with neck that I made for photographing my scarflettes and scarfs. I put a pale blue camisole on it and shot a few pics. I think it looks cute dressed!

Waterlily -- vintage style flower and jade necklace
available at Etsy

Passion -- vintage style flower and leaf necklace
available at Etsy

The colors in this necklace are so soothing and tranquil, like one of Monet's Waterlily paintings. Can you see the influence?

Waterlily -- vintage style flower and jade necklace
available at Etsy

Waterlilies by Claude Monet from Wikipedia

School, Art History & Dracula

2009-09-15T13:30:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! It's been a long, busy summer, but school has finally started up again for my little munchkins ..... they are soooo excited! With school back in session and Saturday Market (where I sell my jewelry in person) wrapping up in 2 more weeks, I'll soon have more studio time to devote to my biz and my online activities :)

Until then, I want to share with you a fun contest. If you know your art history, some of these paintings are just a blast! Worth1000.com challenged members to take an existing historical painting and add to it, filling in what was happening "off-camera". Here are some of the entries from "Beyond the Canvas: If Artists Had More Paint"

Lady of Shalott altered by Mishikal

The Scream altered by irishbryan

The Kiss altered by drucom

Love that last one especially. Reminds me of "Bram Stoker's Dracula", a movie memorable for its cinematic photojournalist style and ... its costumes! In fact, it even won the 1992 Oscar for Costume Design. What girl wouldn't love to wear one of its gorgeous fantasy Victorian frocks?

Mina's Red Dinner Bustle Dress [back view] from Bram Stoker's Dracula

Long Summer Days

2009-08-07T12:59:00.000-07:00

The days are long and warm and filled with the kind of adventures you can only have during the commitment free summer holiday. (And how lovely to have power and working AC again on these hot days!)Last weekend we went to a Civil War re-enactment (also known as The War Between The States, the War For States Rights or the War of Northern Aggression). In Oregon. It was really interesting and something you definitely don't see too often West of the Mississippi. We timed our trip to see one of the battles. They even had firing cannons...what a lot of smoke and noise those made! The Re-enactors were awesome with the kids getting down and personal with them and teaching them all sorts of things about the Civil War. I felt really badly for the participants that the event wasn't better attended. I think partly because Oregon just isn't steeped in Civil War history like some other states and partly because the signage to get there wasn't very good. The road it gave as an address didn't show up on any of our maps and we drove around for a while until we happened to stumble upon a small festival sign. For more info click here.

I've also spent some of the long afternoons continuing the Great Spring Cleaning that was deferred this Spring for family medical reasons. I've recaulked one whole bathroom, waxed all the floors, sent tons of boxes to charity and .... (drumroll).. made my own lampshade for a poor naked hanging lightbulb! I was inspired by this post on Instructables on how to make your lampshade from an IKEA colander. But I wanted an Asian look so used a $10 Target woven basket. Looks SO COOL!!! And it took about 5 minutes max. :)

Cleaning out my studio, I'm selling off a ton of surplus supplies I unearthed. For example:These shoes are on Etsy. Here is an example of how beautifully they can be altered and customized with these supplies:So you can make some cool French shoes too if you'd like! :)

Don't forget that August 15th is the last day to take advantage of the Bloggie Friend Free Shipping coupon!

Who Doesn't Love a Coupon?

2009-07-28T18:26:00.000-07:00

If you've ordered something from Jeweled Elegance, LLC lately, you may have seen an extra surprise in your order: a coupon! I've wanted to do coupons for a while but until recently didn't have the production capacity to produce them in the studio. I finally ironed out the technical glitches and am happy to introduce this new perk of being a Jeweled customer!

Coupon Questions: How do I redeem a coupon?
If you are purchasing in person, just present the coupon at the time of purchase.

If you are purchasing online, look at the bottom where it says "coupon code". This is the code for that particular special valid until the coupon expiration date. If you are ordering through the Jeweled Elegance Etsy Store, just include the coupon code in the "message to seller" when checking out and I will issue a refund to your account. If you prefer, you can contact me through the Etsy convo system before you purchase and I can put your item(s) as reserved/held for you with your coupon price discount already figured in.

If you are ordering through the Jeweled Elegance Boutique you can redeem a coupon in one of two ways. One: email or convo me with what you would like to buy and which coupon code you want to use, then I will email you an adjusted invoice to pay off of. Two: purchase what you would like and then email or convo me your coupon code, then I will issue a refund to your account. Easy as that! If you have any questions please feel free to email me at enquiry@jeweledonline.com

Coupon Questions: Do they expire?
Yes, they do. Please refer to the coupon expiration date at the bottom of each coupon.

Coupon Questions: Can I combine coupons?
No, sorry. Coupons cannot be combined. You can use a coupon on each seperate order though, so if you had three coupons the way you could use them all would be to place three seperate orders.

Cheers!!

Pioneer Lifestyle in 2009

2009-07-28T17:39:00.000-07:00

A record breaking heat wave is sweeping across the land here and it is hot, hot, triple digit HOT!! Usually this is a valley of cool temperate weather, so the power grid is not used to unrelenting demands from greedy air conditioners, fans and other cooling devices set to the maximum so ... you guessed it... blackouts have started to occur with thousands being affected. Case in point: two long blackouts have hit the house in the past 24 hours. With 105 degree weather and no fan or air con, it is mighty hot until the sun sets at night bringing some very welcome relief. Bizarrely, the street behind us still has power. Weird how that works sometimes!Without electricity it is feeling very 1850's around here: reading by candlelight, washing clothes by hand, room-temp. water to drink, etc. It seemed appropriate to work with natural farm-fresh wool the past few days to fit the pioneer spirit. I've been working on some secret projects I can't show you yet, but I can show you these!
My little guys wanted to start an old-fashioned grocery store so we've been crocheting cute little veggies and other produce! So far we have green beans, tomatoes and strawberries. Tonight it's carrots and tomorrow...eggplant! I need to switch to a smaller hook, maybe a "D" because the stuffing is showing a bit when they are tightly stuffed, but this is just fun, quick playfood so I'm willing to let my trademark perfectionism slip a bit just this once :)

Wanna make your own super kawaii cute veggies and fruits? Check out these super generous free patterns from Lily Sugar n’ Cream yarn. Here is the link for some veggies and the basket too!

Paper Dresses : Unpractical Dreamy Pretty by Isabelle de Borchgrave

2009-07-16T10:59:00.000-07:00

Clothing that takes hours and hours to make and when finished is not even meant to be worn. Welcome to the fashion world of Isabelle de Borchgrave. Designer of exquisite replicas of historical dresses ..... all made of PAPER!!

Panier dress of the Countess Vittoria Elisabetta Alfazio
by Isabelle de Borchgrave
from Threads

I used to work in an art gallery and I would see countless art posters by Isabelle. Always the same mass-produced prints (the identical ones that you and 40 others of your neighbors had) and they were always very bland, inoffensive watercolors suitable for reception rooms and hospitals. They were very popular though and she was a very savvy businesswoman for catering to what the WalMart masses wanted. But her paper dresses are something different. Something very different indeed. Something rare and beautiful, filled with passion and originality. Just look at this replica of a Fortuny Delphos dress.

Replica Fortuny dress made of paper, not fabric
by Isabelle de Borchgrave
from Telegraph

Paper can be such a fragile medium, but there are so many varieties of paper in the world and so many different ways you can treat, decorate and transform it. Even the humblest, most inexpensive of newsprints. See more of how she transforms paper into high fashion from throughout time in the very spendy, but utterly cool book, Paper Illusions: The Art of Isabelle de Borchgrave.

(Thanks to Artful Muse for sharing news about this book with me!)

Cat in Box = Really Funny!

2009-07-10T08:47:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you just need to take a break from all the serious things in life and have a good dose of cuteness! Anybody who keeps abreast of such things knows that Japanese cat videos are the funniest cat things around. Here are two of a cat's obsession with boxes that will make you giggle!

How An Average Girl Takes Awesome Firework Photos

2009-07-06T08:09:00.000-07:00

Hope everyone had an awesome Fourth of July Holiday Weekend! And if you're not in America, I hope your weekend was excellent too! Our family quickly burned through our fireworks early in the evening and was fortunate enough to get to watch a neighbor's fabulous show later on. What a treat!
Did you know your digital camera might have a specialty selection for taking firework pictures? I was actually trying to set the camera in "night" mode to take a picture of the full moon, but I noticed an arrow at the bottom of the selection screen that said "more?". I pressed it and there were more options, including "behind glass" and "fireworks". Hmm.. newly discovered firework mode, fireworks show right in front of me..... had to try it! And look at the fabulous results!!!!
These fireworks in these photos might look impressive, but I assure you all fireworks used were legal in this state. Tip#1: take pics early on because once the smoke gets too thick, the quality of the photos diminishs. Tip#2: embrace chaos theory .. don't try to capture the perfect shot because everything changes so rapidly, just randomly click and be surprised by how the most oddball of shots can produce the most stunning results.
This is what my kids using sparklers look like! Who says there are no such thing as real magic wands! :)

P.S. my camera is nothing special, a four or five year old basic thing, so if my camera has this mode, chances are good yours does too somewhere!

Garden Green Freshness

2009-06-29T16:09:00.000-07:00

Our veggie garden is churning out its first goodness of the season. We planted three varieties of lettuce before it got hot, hot, hot and they have really blossomed into prolific plants. Just look at this tasty dinner salad. Everything but the tomatoes is from our garden!! How cool is that? There is something just so satisfying about making dinner out of your own backyard.

Green is obviously a color very much on my mind this week. Here's a Julie cuff I'm working on ..... in green. You can find the free pattern for it here. If you make one, I found the stitch diagram to be leagues clearer to follow than the written instructions. This is one of those pieces where blocking is a must. Blocking works straightening magic on fine crochet thread motifs like this. Here it is currently being blocked.This link is the best tutorial I have found for blocking crochet for those who would like to know. My tips? 1) A piece of thick foam core covered in paper towels works great for a low-cost blocking surface. 2) Use rust-free, rust-proof pins! Seriously, do not fudge on this or you will not be happy.

Now... if only the local bakery has green frosted doughnuts, this will be a beautiful, if very hot, week :)

Queen Anne Lace Scarves

2009-06-22T06:00:00.000-07:00

School is out for the summer! My little munchkins are happy to have their long, carefree summer vacation ahead of them, but yes .. there have been tears of sadness over saying goodbye to their teachers and friends. I don't know how teachers do it bonding with their kids all year long and then having to say goodbye to them all every year. I'd be a complete blubbery mess for sure. This year both my children were blessed with *stellar* teachers. Really exceptional professionals who taught them well, looked out for them, and really cared. For end-of-year thank you gifts, my munchkins worked hard making little bookmarks, baking cookies, and hand-writing notes to them, but I really wanted to do something extra special for them. I found this pattern for the elegant and versitile Queen Anne's Lace scarf, named after the lacy white flower, and thought. . . perfect!. I asked each boy what color clothes their teacher wore to school often, or if they had a favorite color. Answer to question #1: "maybe dark black?". Answer to question #2: "no idea". So .... new strategy. I took them to the yarn store and asked them to pick out a color their teacher would like. Success! One picked "peacock" and the other picked "plum pudding". Love that name, "plum pudding"!

They turned out even prettier than I had imagined! At one point I rolled one to put it away for the evening and thought .. "hey, that looks like a flower blossom rolled that way! How cute!" Can you see the resemblance?So, I rolled them up for packaging. Of course they didn't stay rolled up all on their own, but a little coordinating ribbon did the trick.
Even with everything else going on I managed to get these done just in the nick of time. Even one day early! Which was good timing because I wasn't sure if I would be in town the very last day of school and was able to walk my munchkins to school and drop them off a day early. Yeah!!

Free Pattern: Drop Stitch Scarf

2009-06-20T13:44:00.000-07:00

Scarfs are usually thought of as a winter accessory to warm and protect against inclement weather, but scarfs can actually be worn all year long... it just depends how you make them and what you make them out of. A drop stitch scarf is not only lovely to look at, but the huge slits in it created by the dropped stitches create an airy, lightweight fabric that lets cool breezes through. Wool is not a great choice for warmer weather, so you'd want to stick with cool cotton or .... ribbon yarn! Ribbon yarn is thin and thick at the same time, comes in a dazzling array of colors, many of them multi-colored. This is one I recently made in a vibrant, shimmery ribbon yarn.Drop stitch scarfs are VERY easy to make and work up very quickly with a minimum of yarn. I've never needed more than one normal-sized skein per scarf. You can find a free pattern for this scarf here. It is suitable for beginning knitters and the results, whatever yarn used, are always very satisfying. Fringe (not pictured) is optional, but highly, highly recommended to add.

How to Make a Sticky Post on Blogger

2009-06-15T11:28:00.000-07:00

This is a useful trick to know: how to make a "sticky post" that always stays at the top of your posts in Blogger. Here's how:

1) Sign into Blogger and click the "Layout" tab at the top.

2) Select "Add a Gadget" and then choose "Text".

3) Complete the "Configure Text" window, click the "Save" button.

4) Drag the text item to the "Blog Posts" section of your layout.

5) Click "Preview" to make sure the sticky post appears at the top, then click "Save".

6) You are done!

Free Pattern: Simplicity Summer Scarf

2009-05-22T13:47:00.001-07:00

I needed a quick graduation gift and had been toying with a vine trellis / flower crochet concept for a while, and suddenly, it all just came together! Five hours later ... and this cute, lightweight summer scarf was ready to be wrapped up.

You can see a hint of my famous pumpkin wall in that last shot. And I still can't believe how well that bust made of paper mache turned out! All my jewelry busts were, alas, short and neckless, so after a couple of layers of handmade paper (the cool stuff, with flower petals and leaves pressed in it) and many, many coats of Modgepodge .. Ta Da! You many recognize it from the photos of the scarflettes, its photographic debut :) I am *so* in love with the greater versatility of having a neck!!

If you crochet and want to make a similar pattern, I'm offering it for free on this page. If you make a scarf from the pattern or find wording in the pattern that could be improved, let me know!

Gosh, it is lovely to not have that page be completely empty anymore! Lots of firsts involved .. my first digital pattern, my first PDF, my first HTML to get the PDF to download... etc., etc. Ah .. I love learning new things! :D

Can you Define Your Style in One Picture?

2009-05-16T09:15:00.000-07:00

This week I had the pleasure of having my vintage rose button beads selected as an Etsy Item of the Day! Very exciting!

And .. I was tagged by Gracie with the "Style Challenge" to pick one image that describes my style. This was really tough! Because I don't have just one style. If I had to pick though .... how about this Jules Verne type bedroom at the Atlantic Hotel in Dubai. Sleek and modern, but very biological:

Pictures from All4YourFun

The contemporary fusion design coming out of places like Morocco, Hawaii and Thailand looks like "my style" too :) This Moorish fantasy house is in Florida, but you get the idea.

Pictures from Architectural Digest

What's your style? Would you like to take the "Style Challenge"? Play along in blogland by posting a pic (or two) that defines *your* special style!

Kids Learn to Crochet

2009-05-15T08:13:00.000-07:00

"Can you teach me mommy?" This is something I've been hearing a lot lately from my eldest son :) So I was thrilled to find this book on teaching kids crochet.It is by far the best book I have found for making crochet concepts understandable to first time beginners of any age. The cheery projects and simple language are geared for kids, but it has such excellent step-by-step instructions that it will demystify crochet for anyone.

He and I have been working through the first few chapters together focusing on the basics: slip knots, chains and single crochet. His hand dexterity is not *quite* developed enough yet, but he is really trying hard because he is just dying to make his own Stripey Stu kitty project!
Speaking of kitties, my little baby kitty is home safe and sound and doing fabulously! Thank you everyone for your concern for her!!

How To: Get Marie Antionette Hair

2009-05-07T09:47:00.000-07:00

Regular readers know I'm an addict for movie costumes, esp. historical costumes. Hair, jewelry and makeup are all part of costuming too. Since the current Marie Antoinette trend is still going full-steam ahead in the US, here's a tutorial on how to get Marie Antoinette hair. Unlike some tutorials I've seen that skip steps or gloss over the nuts and bolts, this one is very doable and easy to understand. The French background song is a fun touch too :)

A Pet's Ten Commandments

2009-05-07T09:15:00.000-07:00

My poor baby kitty has to go under anesthesia tomorrow at the veterinarian :( I am so worried about her. She's actually a grand old lady in terms of age, but she will always be my little furry baby.

The vet had this posted in the exam room and I wanted to share it. I thought it was very thoughtful and gentle and well-put.

A Pet's Ten Commandments

1) My life is likely to last 10-15 years. Any seperation from you is likely to be painful.

2) Give me time to understand what you want of me.

3) Place your trust in me. It is crucial for my well-being.

4) Don't be angry with me for long and don't lock me up as punishment. You have your work, your friends, your entertainment, but I have only you.

5) Talk to me. Even if I don't understand your words, I do understand your voice when speaking to me.

6) Be aware that however you treat me, I will never forget it.

7) Before you hit me, before you strike me, remember that I could hurt you, and yet, I choose not to bite you.

8) Before you scold me for being lazy or uncooperative, ask yourself is something might be bothering me. Perhaps I'm not getting the right food, I have been in the sun too long, or my heart might be getting old or weak.

9) Please take care of me when I grow old. You too, will grow old.

10) On the ultimate difficult journey, go with me please. Never say you can't bear to watch. Don't make me face this alone. Everything is easier for me if you are there, because I love you so.

~~Take a moment today to thank God for your pets. Enjoy and take good take of them. Life would be a much duller, less joyful experience without God's critters.

Sherwood Saturday Market Opening Day!!

2009-05-04T18:37:00.000-07:00

This weekend was the opening weekend of the local market I vend at. I had a fantastic time and it was so wonderful to reconnect with all my vendor friends, catch up with all my long-time customers, and meet so many lovely new people!Now, this weekend was super stormy, rainy with strong tree-whipping winds. Given the weather and the fact that the local newspaper failed to run their usual article on the market opening, we still had a fantastic turnout and everyone had a blast! As any true Northwesterners will tell you, a little rainy weather is no reason not to get out and about. Here in the Pacific Northwest, it traditionally rains 1 or 2 days out of every three, so you can see where the mentality comes from :)
I made some booth changes this year to try to make set up and take down a little easier on myself. Here's one of the decorative plates I'm trying out. This one is full of Little Tweet package toppers. Love these cuties!And here's the day's best seller. A sweet little bird necklace with blue terbium glass. I have a limited supply of this particular cut and color of glass, so I only have ONE more of these to put out for sale next week.
Ah, and here are two of my new favorites. Asymmetrical necklaces with awesome nature embellishments. The green one has large jade gemstone beads and a lovely red ladybug. And the lighter one has red mountain jade gemstone beads and a cute flower / leaf combo. All feature vintage style, but lead and nickel free, brass.

It has been an insanely busy past four weeks for me! I didn't get everything done I had planned to, but I got my website and blog freshened up, got to market with a full table of lovely wares to sell, and had a *great* visit with my mom. I wish she didn't live so very far away, but I am glad she got to spend a little quality time here with me and the kids. And she agreed to be a pattern tester for me! Whoo hoo!

Crocheted Scarflettes Arrive!

2009-04-19T06:28:00.000-07:00

The first crocheted scarflettes are finally in the shop! I've got more in the pipeline at the studio and of course, still working on the patterns. I am so excited to finally have a few of these to show you!
I love using flower brooches, so many of them will come with complementary detachable flower brooches. I've also procured some fabulous vintage jewels I'm using on a select few.
I think I'm going to meet my May 2nd deadline for everything getting done! I've been running a bit behind this week and working into the wee hours of the morning playing "catch-up". Why? Our poor car is dying a slow death from old age and heavy wear and tear, and hubby and I decided now was the time to stop repairing and start scouting for a new vehicle. Car shopping is not high on my list of things I enjoy, but a safe, reliable vehicle, esp. when you have little children, is a must! My mother also is arriving this week for a visit. She's an *awesome* crocheter and I can't wait for her to visit the studio. I'm hoping she'll volunteer to be a pattern tester for me :)

LinkWithin -- A Handy Blog Widget

2009-04-16T18:13:00.000-07:00

Vintage Cinderella & Fairy Godmother Illustration

The Jeweled Elegance Cinderella transformation continues! On this post I started listing related posts at the bottom of current posts because I felt there was so much goodness buried in my past posts. Well, that strategy worked .. but as I got more and more posts, it became more challenging to manually sort through all my posts. Luckily, I just found LinkWithin! This blog widget does all the work for you. It generates related posts with photo thumbnails for every post. I am really liking it, but some of the things it generates as "related" do seem a bit weird!

Vintage Sleeping Beauty Queen Illustration

I've been working hard like a busy bee and have *mostly* finished my website boutique overhaul. How fresh and bright it looks! The banner now complements my business cards. The blog and site match perfectly. The press page is upated. The promo pics are redone. And I redid from scratch about half the product photos. Worlds better! (The other half are things I'm taking to market in 2 weeks and since they might soon be in happy homes, I didn't want to spend the hours photographing them quite yet). I still need to get my newsletter program fixed .... and get the scarflettes and patterns up! I have 6 scarflettes almost done .... and am working on the patterns for at least 4 of them, plus the pattern for the fingerless gloves. The patterns are taking longer than I thought because I first have to write them, then test them myself by crocheting straight from the pattern to sure it flows smoothly and has no mistakes, .. and THEN have an independent crocheter test the pattern out. Soon!!

Geek Crafters Rejoice: Moonlit Flowers Tutorial

2009-04-13T06:00:00.000-07:00

"Moonlit Flower DIY Kit" from techdyi

Those of you who regularly read my blog know that it can be a bit eclectic at times. Today is one of those days. I bring you a really cool tutorial I found online that merges technology and craft: Moonlit flowers!

What's so cool about it? How can conductive thread united with LEDs and felt not be cool? Especially that conductive thread -- what a fabulous industry supply with unending possiblities! Please see the full online tutorial at TechDYI. There is even a downloadable template. It states that there are kits available at Etsy, but the shop was empty when I went to check it out. I'm hoping a local Radio Shack will have some of the materials. Don't know about that conductive thread though ... out here with the llamas it could be a challenge to rustle up.

Getting Gorgeous

2009-04-07T06:22:00.000-07:00

Hi all!! Well, you might have noticed from the changed look of my blog that big changes are afoot. Not only is my blog completely redesigned, but I am also working on completely redesigning my website boutique. It's been two years since my last major website update while I worked on getting Etsy up and running and my poor neglected website really needs some love and freshening up. So, I'm ignoring the beautiful weather outside and keeping my nose to the grindstone making new graphics, taking new pictures, creating new product, and handcoding lots of HTML and XHTML. I'd love to have a fancy, integrated cart website with all the bells and whistles, but that will have to wait until I win the lottery or something :) So, it's still the Paypal shopping cart, but it's going to be just gorgeous!!

As if that wasn't enough of a project, I am also moving ahead on launching my crochet goodies and patterns. AND starting at least one new blog project (maybe two) to create a new direction for the future of my company. So, I'm not going to spend much time in blogland for the immediate future .. because as great as that is, it can consume enormous amounts of time, and I'm a girl with a mission!

I want to have everthing up and running before the start of my Saturday Market on May 2. Oh, that's right! With all my other projects, I also need to be ready to sell at market in .. gulp .. 3 weeks!! I'm going to be one busy Bejeweled!

I've still got a few more weeks of working hard, and then I can go outside to the patio to smell the flowers and have a well deserved slice of decadent cheesecake with a pot of fancy tea!

Taking a Spring Break

2009-03-24T11:48:00.000-07:00

It's Spring Break here! The kids and I are spending the week having some fabulous adventures! We've been playing games, reading books, and hanging out here:Is this park not fabulous? Look at the tree on the right. It's one of several that has got these weird, twisty roots all above ground. The kids are loving climbing these and imagining their fantastical root structures populated by Tolkienesque goblins and faeries! :)

See you next week when school resumes!

Vintagey Lucite Flower Goodness

2009-03-10T10:21:00.000-07:00

I just love custom orders! One of my lovely customers brought me a vintage necklace from around the 50's or 60's and asked if I could re-make it into some long, dangley earrings featuring the gorgeous vintage flower beads in the necklace. I'm no expert on vintage jewels, but they looked like Lucite to me! Vintage Lucite Flower Beads .... Yum!!

Here's pair number one:

And pair number two:

They are both so gorgeous, I don't know how she will ever choose. I know I'd take both!!!

***Update: She picked pair #1! Pair #2 is looking gorgeous and seeking a new home. To be the proud new owner of these lovelies click here. ***

The necklace was pretty long, so I had tons of extras left over. I'm going to post pics of them here and add them to Etsy too (here and here and here), in case anyone wants to make their own pairs.
So... you may ask what happened to the great Spring cleaning I was in the midst of. Grade school is so wonderful for the sharing of germs, esp. in Spring. Let's just say this has been "The House of Flu" for the past few weeks. Me hit the hardest since I exhausted myself nursing my sick little guys and husband. Life is bouncing back around here though and with one custom order done and packaged, I think I hear that coat closet begging to be cleaned out today! :)

Oh, and if you haven't seen this very cool Flu Trend Tracker from Google you should take a look. The tech behind it is quite novel and yet, extremely commonsense too. Google found that certain search terms were indicative of flu activity. They used the Google aggregated (combined) data to estimate flu activity in a given region. Neat, huh? Currently, Oregon rates as "high" .. no surprise there :)

La volupté du goût: French Painting in the Age of Madame de Pompadour

2009-03-09T11:48:00.000-07:00

How exciting! I just found out that my local musuem, the Portland Art Museum, in conjunction with the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Tours is hosting an exhibition of some of the most sumptuous paintings ever created. "La Volupté du Gout" ("Voluptuous Taste") is comprised of paintings created by 24 of the era’s most important artists patronized by Madame de Pompadour. Madame de Pompdour was an intelligent, talented and beautiful woman who exerted strong cultural, intellectual and political influence at the French court, and was installed as one of the official mistresses of Louis XV from 1745 to 1750. She favored Rococo, so if that is your style, you'll be a happy camper. If you are in the neighborhood and want to go see it, the exhibit runs from Feb. 7, 2009 – May 17, 2009.

Posh Fingerless Gloves

2009-02-24T10:47:00.000-08:00

I think it's finally safe to post the pictures of the handcrafted gifts I gave to my family members this Christmas. I was super late mailing things out, but they should all have their packages by now (even going erroneously to a different continent and back). This year, it was all about the functionality. Useful, you-will-use-them gifts. Everyone got a sweet multi-colored caplet or a pair of durable, washable, crocheted fingerless gloves! For the girls, I used this oh-so-soft pink organic cotton. This stuff was so soft I kept wanting to stoke my cheek with it while working. Each glove is embellished with pearlized, washable buttons. One, because then you always know which glove is for the right hand and which is for the left. Two, because buttons are just so cool being little works of art themselves. Three, because embellishments that make clothing and accessories unwashable/uncleanable are not cool.Yes, that's me modeling a pair of pink ones :) And who is that modeling one of the guy pairs? It's my DH! Who was such a good sport about playing model for the morning.For the guys, it was a rugged grey wool blend. All the warmth of wool, but you can wash them in the machine .. no felting is going to happen to this wool! And buttons here too, but plain, black or grey masculine ones. Don't want them thinking the buttons are too girly :) I've given my family a variety of handcrafted gifts over the years because to me handcrafted gifts are true expressions of love since you customize each gift just for the recipient and then spend many hours of your life meticulously crafting them. Love is crafted into them at every step. But I know some people would rather just receive gift certificates or, and this is especially true for guys, the latest electronics. What do you think?

Also, while I was working on all these pairs of fingerless gloves, I had 6 or 7 people come up to me and ask for the pattern! I do use other people's patterns occasionally, but this was one of my own designs and I was just thrilled to get this ultimate compliment! I've been trying to think of creative ways to add a few more dollars to our income during these oh-so-fun economic times, so what do you think of me starting to sell crochet PDF patterns. Good idea? Bad idea? And then of course ... I have to figure out *how* to make a downloadable PDF pattern. If anyone wants to help me get the ball rolling on this, please contact me .. I would so appreciate it!

Also .. my next blog post won't be for two weeks. I have some custom orders to do ASAP and Quickbooks stuff for taxes (joy!). Until then, feel free to visit some of my archived posts and ....... cheers!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Other posts you might enjoy:
Beauty on the Blog Countdown: Day 1 of 3
Who Can Never Remember to Photograph Their Swaps? Me!
Yarn Addiction
Indie Spotlight: Mohop Shoes

Twilight Quiz: Which Twilight Female Are You?

2009-02-22T10:29:00.000-08:00

Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

"You are thoughtful and care very deeply for your family. A loving home is of great importance to you and you always try to make people feel welcome. Although you have a great capacity to love, you also have a great capacity to hurt, so at times you can be sensitive. You're firm when you need to be, but people trust your judgment and appreciate the kind way you always handle things."

Who doesn't like a bit of online fun now and then? If you take the quiz, please share who you would be!

Spring Cleaning

2009-02-17T05:49:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a lovely Valentine's Day! We gorged on sugary baked goodies on the couch and watched the romantic fairy-tale movie "Ever After". Just love the winged, beaded crystal dress Drew Barrymore wears to the ball. Ethereal wings, beaded crystal shoes ... what's not to love?

"Ever After" ballroom dress
Image from Pretty Geeky from the "Fashion in Film: Period Costumes for the Screen" exhibit

I want to gush a bit about an exhibit I learned about while looking for this dress picture. "Fashion in Film: Period Costumes for the Screen" is a traveling exhibit features thirty-six exquisite period costumes worn by movie stars in major motion pictures, from critically acclaimed films Dangerous Liaisons and Sense and Sensibility to blockbusters Indiana Jones and Titanic. It looks like an absolutely dreamy exhibit! You can learn more about it here and here and here. Regretfully, it's not traveling anywhere near me. If anyone knows where I can get a hold of a beautifully illustrated exhibit guide with killer photos, I would be most grateful!

In other news ... this week the weather has finally warmed up and Spring is on the way! How do I know? Well, there are the tulips coming up .....But I've also been seized with the sudden urge to begin Spring cleaning. The great thing about doing a thorough deep cleaning is that you find all sorts of forgotten treasures deep in back closets. Look at this cute Japanese brush box I rediscovered! I think it makes a very nice tool caddy.And what's in that cute little drawer at the bottom?? Antique chandelier crystals!I think this repurposed box makes a gorgeous and utilitarian addition to my jewelry desk.

What treasures do you have around the house that can be repurposed and given a second life?

OWOH Winner Announced!

2009-02-12T09:10:00.000-08:00

Looking into my treasure box here and pulling out a name .......the winner of my handbeaded vintage-style cross pendant is .... Valerie! Congrats!!! Valerie, I will be contacting you shortly for your mailing address so I can get your prize out to you!

Thank you everyone who visiting me during the One World One Heart 2009 blogger event! And what an event it was... over 900 participants this year...whoa!! I had such fun visiting, discovering new blogs and making new friends. I did really try to visit everyone on that mammoth list, but I'm not the dash and run comment kind of girl. I like to stay a while, look around and really enjoy the blogs I visit. Plus which .. I do have to sleep occasionally :) Until next year everyone!!

Love is in the Air

2009-02-10T10:46:00.000-08:00

"Meeting on the Turret Stairs" by Frederick William Burton

Valentine's Day: the day when people, esp. lovers, express their love by sending romantic cards, presenting flowers, engaging in intimate dining, or offering confectionery. But around here ... it's watching gooshy, romantic movies on TV while eating the aforementioned confectionary (usually something pink and frosted or dark chocolate, but cheesecake would not go unappreciated!) and smelling the lovely flowers :)

There are so many flavors of romantic movie: bittersweet ("Moulin Rouge"), classic ("Casablanca"), epic ("Titanic"), comic ("Bridget Jones’s Diary"), happily-ever-after ("While You Were Sleeping"), and so many, many more.

Our house leans heavily in the sci-fi/fantasy direction, so our current line-up for curling up on the couch with confectionery on our "date night" this week are: "Ever After" (great costumes too!), "50 First Dates"(this is sweet, cute and different), and "Groundhog Day" (classic Bill Murray).

What is **your** favorite romantic movie??

Valentine's Day Sale!!!

2009-02-02T06:07:00.000-08:00

In celebration of the upcoming Valentine's Day I'm having a sale!!

EVERYTHING at both my Etsy store and my Jeweled Elegance Web Boutique will be 10% off!

Usually I do a little free gift with every order or something else special, but this is the first all-store, across-the-board discount I have ever done in five years of business, so if there is a special piece you've had your eye on, this is the time!

~~~For Etsy: check out the item(s), but DO NOT PAY. Please wait for me to email you a revised invoice with the sale price. Or .. you are welcome to pay in full and I will happily refund you the difference.

~~~For the Web Boutique, email me at enquiry@jeweledonline.com with the item(s) you would like and I will email you a revised invoice with the sale price. Or .. you are welcome to pay in full and I will happily refund you the difference.

This is also somewhat of a triple celebration for me. Not only is it going to be Valentine's Day, the most romantic day of the year, but it's also my wedding anniversary!! ... and .. a celebration that all my hospital visits and specialist tests are finally done and it looks like I am going to be A-OK!!

Now ... I have to go grab a hot cup of Earl Grey tea and spend a few hours visiting all the wonderful blogs participating in the One Heart One World Giveaway! Soooo heart-warming to see so many people in blogland joining together for this wonderful event!

The Valentine's Day Sale is ongoing until February 14th, and as always, all purchases come either gift boxed or wrapped prettily in tissue paper, so happy shopping! :)

One World One Heart 2009 is here!

2009-01-19T08:24:00.000-08:00

It's time for the One World One Heart blogger event!! Started by Lisa Swifka, this worldwide giveaway event is a way for the blogging community around the world to meet and has grown and grown each and every year into a wonderful expression of togetherness and community.

If this is your first time to my blog .. Welcome! You can take a look at the rest of my blog here. I love visitors and new bloggy friends! Please click on "follow this blog" up at the top left under "lovely followers" to be a new bloggy friend.

This is my third year participating in OWOH and I am so proud to participate again. Please leave a comment on this post by Feb. 12 to be entered to win my giveaway prize this year .... a handbeaded vintage-style cross pendant!Hand woven out of Swarovski crystals, old-fashioned silver-lined beads, and seed beads, this delicate pendant is sure to garner many compliments.The drawing ends promptly at midnight (Pacific time) on February 11 and I will draw the name of the lucky winner on Feb. 12. Please make sure I have a way of contacting you when you leave your comment, either through your blog or email.

Okay... let me hear from you! And once you're finished leaving a comment here, go back up to the top of this post and click on the One World One Heart link and you will be taken to the blog with a list of all participants. Go find some cool new blogs and meet new friends!!