Happy October Eve!

One more day and it is officially October! The leaves are falling, the temperature is dropping, and Pumpkin Spice Lattes are back at Starbucks! It is truly a magical time of year. Here are some of my favorite oh-so-orange-for-October Etsy finds!

Hand Embroidery Jack o Lantern by The Merriweather Council

Orange Felted Acorns by Fairyfolk

Sugary Pumpkin Leaf Necklace by Ordinary Mommy

"These are a few of my favorite things..."

"Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens"...oh Julie Andrews, you sing it so well.

Anyway...here is a list of some of my favorite things, in no particular order:

- Frank Sinatra

- Michael Bublé

- Dean Martin

- "Rocky II"

- Rafael Nadal

- listening to music when I walk to class

- making new friends

- Indiana Jones

- Ray Bans

- Pride and Prejudice

- gnocchi

- cardigans

- Huskies

- New York City

- Anthropologie

- "The Golden Girls"

- "Die Hard"

- goat cheese

- "The West Wing"

- Collin Firth

- chocolate covered espresso beans

- red velvet cake

- singing in the car

- Chanel

- writing in my journal

- London

- "that's what she said" jokes

Exhibition on Paper n' Stitch

Happy Monday!

Today begins my exhibition on the lovely site Paper n' Stitch! I just love everything I find on this site and I am so honored that they accepted my humble little shop to be featured!

Come take a look around at my shop and all of the other lovely shops in the exhibition this month!

Sheepish Knitting & Crochet on Paper n' Stitch

Friday Etsy Feature - MaddyAnne Handmade Jewelry

Happy Friday! This beautiful Etsy shop is the perfect way to end the week! Everyone meet Madeline from MaddyAnne Handmade Jewelry!

Japanese Garden Earrings

Hi Madeline! You have such a lovely shop! Tell us a little bit about how you got started on Etsy!
My mom was the one who actually told me about Etsy. I've created things my whole life, and she told me I should try selling them on here. I soon opened a shop called earthtrendsjewelry. After a while, my style shifted from being 'earthy' to more dainty, and I felt that my shop needed a makeover/clean slate. So I opened up MaddyAnne (which is my name - Madeline Anne).

Rosette Necklace - Coral and Aqua

What inspired you to create such beautiful jewelry? I see you also make some adorable paper goods. Is that something new for you?

A lot of my inspiration comes from the colors I see around me. I know that sounds strange, but if, for example, I see two things next to each other that are opposite in color but it somehow works, I get online and begin to hunt for beads similar in color to turn into a new creation. As far as the paper goods and clothespins, I started making them to salvage some things I had laying around in my home. I ended up falling in love with the simplicity of them and listed them.

Aqua Blue Clothespins

Tiny Pink Flag Bunting


What are your favorite materials to work with?

I love working with all kinds of materials. Recently, I've been playing around more with cabochons, but I'm sure my brass stamping phase will return soon. I've also been working with a lot of gold. I remember not liking gold a few years ago, and now it's funny that that's all I think about using.

Swooping Silver Swallow Necklace

Tell us something about your non-crafting life! What are some of your favorite things? (food, music, movies...)

Well, I've been writing a young adult book for a while now and am excited to be finishing that up. It's been a challenging process but well worth it. I'm also a wife and mother of a three-year-old and an infant, and I work at a credit union during the week. As far as favorite things, I like pretty much all food and am a sucker for the Twilight books. I'm also a huge, nerdy fan of Avatar: The Last Airbender (the series, not the movie). Pretty much my life is hectic and always kept interesting.

Thanks a lot Madeline! Go check her out on the web!

Etsy

Blog

Wordless Wednesday - Finding a Balance.

Moody Monday

What a stereotypically horrible Monday! But thankfully my bottle cap from lunch gave me some words of wisdom...."Don't Sweat the Small Stuff". So wise. :-) I definitely need to remember to do that more often. But instead I constantly let the littlest things turn my world upside down. I should work on that...

Anyway, I finally finished my crochet-rose afghan! Isn't it pretty? It took me forever!! There are 28 total squares that I seamed together and then I added a wavy border around the edge.

I would have included more close up pictures of the afghan but....I still have to weave in all of the ends. UGH! There are at least 10 little strings hanging off of each square...so this could take awhile. I just couldn't wait to put it on my couch. Little by little I will finish this baby up! Oh, I love it.

To brighten up my day (and yours) I got some sunflowers from Whole Foods this morning. So cheerful!

Hopefully this week will get better...and I will try to remember my wise little bottle cap.

Front Page and Bloglovin!!!

Follow my blog with bloglovin

I just joined Bloglovin this morning! Have any of you guys used this site? What do you think? I was told it would be good to get more traffic, so we'll see how it goes!

Also....I was on the FRONT PAGE of Etsy this morning!!! Yay! Front Page number two!! Take a look!

Thank you Withaflourish for including me in this beautiful treasury!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Friday Etsy Feature - bug MISCELLANY

Due to stress, homework, and a sinus attack, blogging was not my top priority this week...I'm sure you missed me desperately, right?? ;-) However, I am pleased to say that I am continuing my Friday Etsy Feature interviews with Kelli from the lovely shop "bug MISCELLANY"!! Go and check out her cute items for fall, like plushy mountains, cute magnets, and birdie brooches!

Lumberjack Mountain

How did you become interested in crafting? As far back as I can remember, I've always loved making things. My grandma sewed and my grandpa was a design engineer, so there were always fun things like Prismacolor pencils and endless spools of thread in every color, lying about. My mom definitely encouraged my brothers and I in any of our creative endeavors. I even studied Photography and Filmmaking in college. But I first revisted the idea of "crafting" as an "adult" (I always use that term loosely) when I taught myself how to knit. My (then) fiance was on his way to Iraq, and I desperately needed something to distract myself. I just never really stopped after that, even though I have hopped around to different mediums.

Seattle Tree Branch Magnet

Where does your inspiration come from? I am a huge color junky. I can't understand homes painted in neutral palettes. It's like another language to me. Color definitely drives me. I'm also very inspired by our new (permanent) habitat: the Pacific Northwest. We've lived here about a year and a half now, and I am still in love with discovering new things about this wild, natural, beautiful place. Also, having wonderfully crafty friends has motivated me beyond words. Friends will help kick yer toosh into gear like no one else can.

Bird's Nest Brooches

What is your favorite piece you've made and why? Ack! So hard to choose... Right now, I'd have to say the big cashmere cowl I knitted myself last year (because it's so cozy!) and my plaid mountains (because they capture two of my current PNW fascinations). I also painted a pictutre of this old building a few years back. I still love it because it was the first painting I ever did that really looked like what it was supposed to. It was like awful painting, awful painting, "oh wait..." It's always nice when you can surprise yourself. (See? I couldn't REALLY choose. :P)

Bird Lover's Brooch

Thank you so much Kelli for sharing your inspirations and your beautiful shop!

Here are her links:

Etsy

Blog

The Dallas Flea

Tip of the day: Read your local newspapers. Thanks to The Dallas Morning News, I discovered that "The Dallas Flea" was happening on Saturday and I just had to check it out! I was able to meet some fun, crafty people, and browse some amazing goodies!

When I first stepped into the building I spotted this gorgeous vintage chair. It is hard to see in my picture, but it is covered in a ribbed knit and is super soft!

Chair from Junk Exchange. Visit their Etsy shop here.

Then I came across Mad Hatter Mercantile. Their booth had some amazing French pillows and my favorite, a beautifully framed "Keep Calm and Carry On" poster.

Next up: The Soap Addict

The second I stepped up to their booth I was immediately hit with so many wonderful smells! Their soaps are all natural and come in a variety of scents!

This next booth really pulled out all of the stops! Blue Eye Brown Eye's booth looked like a vintage lovers wonderland, with handmade letterpress cards and unique vintage items.

Check out her website and Etsy.

Booth after booth was completely impressive. Curious Buttons' booth was filled with cute coin purses and handmade pillows.

Visit her on Etsy.

Last, but certainly not least, I ended my day at Rope - Vintage Fabric Supply. From cute little plushy hamsters to stacks and stacks of vintage fabric, this booth was a feast for the eyes.

Visit Rope on Etsy.

I had such a great time at The Dallas Flea! Thank you to all of the wonderful sellers for allowing me to photograph and blog about your lovely items!

Only Two More Days to Enter to Win!

Don't forget that there are only two more days to enter win a pair of my Sock Monkey Wrist Warmers from The Frosted Button Blog! Check out the post and enter to win!

The contest closes Monday September, 13.

Friday Etsy Feature - The Merriweather Council

I am so excited for you to meet Danielle from The Merriweather Council for my first Friday Etsy Feature!!! She is such a nice person and an amazing artist! Enjoy!

She sells a variety of hoops featuring hand embroidery like this one with multicolored wishbone stitches.

This patchwork hoop is made of a beautiful combination of vintage fabrics!

She also sells several versions of fabric bunting that are extremely popular at the moment. They are a great way to dress up a room.

Visit Danielle's Etsy shop and blog to see more beautiful creations!

How did you become interested in crafting?

I think I am genetically predisposed to crafting. My grandmother was a seamstress and many of my great aunts were quilters and sewers. Most of my early crafting experiences revolved around providing for my family of 5 american girl dolls. I would cut up my old clothes to make clothes for them, and I learned to crochet and made blankets and scarves for them. All my life I was into “art” but no one ever used the word “craft” around me. My family knew I was creative and in school I was an “art kid” but when I went to college I discovered this magical place on the third floor called the Fibers Dept and the rest is history!

Where does your inspiration come from?

I feel most inspired by colors and color combinations. I love to experiment with different colors and mix things up. I often refer to my photographs for color inspiration. I also like to just take little walks around my neighborhood and Boston, that usually gets my mind thinking. Much of my motivation comes from looking at what I have and seeing what I can come up with. I am not a planner, I do not buy materials with a set plan for them, having my stash of fabrics is an inspiration to me! My approach is to just jump in and see how it goes and work off of that!

What is your favorite piece you've made and why?

I think my favorite piece I’ve made is my Light Box quilt, which is not for sale in my shop but that I made a year ago as a conceptual piece for my studio class in college. It is a basic block quilt but the colors were eyedropped out of a photograph of the front porch of my parents house at night with the lights on inside. The photo is one of my favorites and it truly reminds me of home. I made this quilt as part of a series of objects translated from memories. You can read more about the conceptual details of it on my website.http://www.daniellespurge.com and even though I made this as a conceptual piece I love it for it’s craft and color qualities, the things about it that are not conceptual at all.

Now, everyone go visit Danielle's beautiful shop! It is not to be missed!

Visit Danielle's Etsy shop and blog.

Let the Rain Come Down

(Post title inspired by a song on the new Sara Bareilles album, Kaleidoscope Heart. It's amazing!)

Anyway! Man oh man is it raining here...big fat droplets that keep smacking me in the face. I have been out in the rain, sloshing through the puddles to get to my classes today. The water has completely soaked through my shoes and my socks! When I walk it sounds like *squelch* *squelch* *squelch*...

This is the view from my window. It's hard to tell in the picture, but it is POURING!

Now, usually I love rainy days..but this is no ordinary, picturesque, stare wistfully out the window rainy day. No sir. This is a Noah's Ark, sidewalks turned to rivers, grab your canoe, rainy day. Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating a little bit....but you know what I mean. :-)

Well before I head back out into the elements I thought I would share a cute rainy day find I discovered on Etsy.

This is adorable, crochet grey cloud with rain drops is sold in Sabahnur's Petit and Cute Design shop on Etsy! Go and visit!

I know this happy cloud will get me through the rest of my day in the rain! :-)

Your Shop HERE!

KNIT Pillow from SewEnglish

Do you want to be featured on my blog??

This Friday I will begin my weekly Etsy shop feature and seller interview. I already have a shop in mind for this week, but I will definitely need more shops for the coming weeks! If you would like to be featured on my blog leave a comment on this post with your shop url and if you are selected, I will send you a message!

Show me your shops!