Handmade Boutique

The Halloween boutique starts tomorrow! Search etsy for "handmadeboutique" and you can find all the stores participating. Put "halloweenboutique2009" in the message to sellers and get 20% off in all the participating stores and be entered for a drawing in each store that you buy from!

And yes, I am participating! www.midnghtdolphin.etsy.com

New Car, New Items

I bought a new car two weeks ago. My old one needed a completely new brake system. So, I got a brand new 2010 Toyota Corolla. It's blue. I mean, it's really blue, as you can see in the pics. But it's mine and I love it.

In other news, I finally finished a custom sweater. It took 2 1/2 weeks, but it's done.



I also made a few of these headbands in various colors.

And this slouch hat in black and cream.


And these leg warmers, which are perfect for the cold weather.

This scarf was a custom order that I made on Saturday.

And lastly, another scarf. Every time I wear this scarf people stop me to tell me they love it.

Want any of these items? Head over to my Etsy store and you can get them. They're all made to order, so just tell me what color you want!

Enjoy!

Venting

Know what I can't stand? When people way underbid things. You want me to spend $3.50 on a skein of yarn and spend hours making you something, but you only want to pay $10? Are you kidding me? Is my time worth nothing? I understand that some people don't realize how much time goes into knitting or crocheting. But the people who bid on these items do! You're hurting all of us when you bid on items for such low sums. Now, I'm not saying to overbid either, but there is a happy medium. But when you bid for such low amounts, you're hurting us all. I can't afford to spend hours making something to make less than $7 in profit on it after all the fees that I get charged via Etsy and PayPal. I'm sorry. Do us all a favor, when they're that ridiculously low, ignore them. Maybe people will get the clue. If you want something that cheap, go to Walmart. If you want quality, handmade items, you need to be willing to pay a little more. No one wins when you sell your handmade items at store prices. The stores sell so many that they can get supplies cheaper and offer them lower. We can't. So please, think about what you're really doing before you bid on those insanely low ads.

Book Contest

If you love books, check this out!

Weekend Work

I had a relatively productive weekend. I finished another pair of arm warmers

and this Halloween wreath.I really like how the wreath turned out. I saw the crow and just knew exactly what I wanted to do... but my favorite part has to be the spiders crawling up it.

The arm warmers and the wreath are for sale at www.midnghtdolphin.etsy.com

Vampire Diaries

I watched the first episode of The Vampire Diaries yesterday. It was... ok. Now, don't get me wrong, i LOVE vampire stuff. I read The Vampire Diaries way back in the early 90s when they were still 4 separate books. Actually, I read ALL of L. J. Smiths books then. So, what really struck me was according to the books... Elena doesn't have a brother... she has a sister who's a toddler. She's blonde (I'm 90% sure anyway), not brunette. Bonnie is Irish with the pale skin and red hair that goes with it. And seriously? Stephan and Damon are supposed to be equally hot. Ian Somerhalder (Damon) is soooo much more attractive than Stephan in this.

I know that they always take liberties when changing books to movies... but it always bugs me. Anyway, rant over. I'll probably continue to watch it (even though, like True Blood, I know the plot from reading the novels).

Busy busy busy

It's been a while since I've blogged. Sorry. I've been busy between work, school, and crafting! I have a month and a half left of esthetician school... then I can get my license! Yay!

As for crafting, I've got lots of new items up. I made some bath salts over the weekend, that are for sale in my shop.

These are some new earrings that I made and love. They remind me of the sea. I also added a pair of wrist warmers that will be perfect for keeping warm in the winter.

See? I told you I've been busy. That's it for now, but everything's available in my shop, so make sure to check it out! Also, if you haven't yet, please fan me on facebook... I need 41 more people to get a shorter link! http://www.facebook.com/pages/Miami-FL/Midnghtdolphins-Masterpieces/119694569366?ref=ts

It was a dark and stormy night...

...No, not really, but I did get some writing done last night. I wrote 500 words, roughly 2 pages. It's not much, but it's more then I've written in a very long time. And, I figured out the scene that I was having issues with, which is why I hadn't written in so long. It felt good to write. I've been wanting to, and lately I either didn't have an up to date version of it so that I could continue, or I just didn't have time. But I took some advice and emailed myself my story so that I could work on it when I have a few minutes. That really helped. Just knowing it's there and available as long as I have an internet connection is good.

In other news, I have my A&P test tonight, and then that's done, so that's good. Tomorrow's Friday! Whoo! The week's almost done... that's always cause for celebration!

And now, I must get to work. Have a good day everyone!

Light Box

So this weekend, I made a light box. It was relatively simple. I got some tissue paper, a cardboard box that I already had, and a sheet of poster board. I cut the box and taped on the tissue paper, and viola... much better pics. Go check some of them out in my shop and tell me what you think. they're the ones that are white and glowy!

I also finished my Christmas napkin rings and a new pair of earrings.

That's been the extent of my productivity for the week. Have an A&P test Thursday. Much studying needs to be done, so projects will have to wait for next week.

Halway to the weekend! Yay!

vacation and sick

Went on vacation last week. It was ok. My aunt got sick the second day of it, so we made the best of it, but it wasn't the relaxing vacation that we had hoped for. And then I got sick as soon as we got back. Wonderful. Still fighting off this cold, hopefully I'll be back to normal tomorrow or Wednesday.

I made some Halloween earrings this weekend. I'm also working on a few other projects, including the last of the baby blankets that I have to finish. And I had to order more wire for the napkin rings. I used all the green that I had, so as soon as I get that, I can finish those. Three of the four are done, so it's really just a matter of waiting for the supplies.

My day's half over already. Had to make an early morning airport run. Can't wait til Friday. The weekends are never long enough.

Middle of the Week

It's been a couple of days since I posted. I'm still working on the afghan, but I only have a skein and a half to go (and then the border, but that shouldn't take long). I'll post pics of the afghan as soon as it's done.


I finally got some help taking pictures of my jewelry that's not blurry. So, here are some of my newest postings in my store (pics above!).

I can't wait for Friday. Vacation next week. Yay!

Patterns and the weekend

So, the blanket pattern is finally making sense. In fact, I managed to finish the first skein, so I'm 1/6 of the way there (hopefully, we'll see if I need to get more yarn once I get closer to being done).

It's Friday! The countdown to the weekend is on. Not that I'm going to have a very relaxing weekend, but whatever. I have to go to clinic tomorrow (for school, to practice) and then spend the rest of the weekend working on the blanket. Fun. Oh well, it's much better than work. :)

Afghan

I started the afghan that was ordered. The pattern sucks. Well, to me anyway. It's not making any sense in my opinion. Luckily, my mom crochets as well and made this particular afghan, so the pattern makes sense to her. So she's showing me row by row (it's only 6 rows and then it repeats). This has happened before when a pattern won't make sense to one of us but it will to the other. It's a pretty afghan, but I think the pattern is poorly written. But whatever, what's done looks right, and that's what matters.

This is my big project for the weekend. I'll get some pics up as soon as it's finished (or well on the way to being finished anyway).

Tomorrow's Friday. Finally!

New Yarn

So I'm making a special order blanket, and I just bought the yarn (literally, I just got back from the store). And now I want to start on it. It's on a really tight deadline, so this weekend is going to be school on Saturday, and making the blanket the rest of the time. But hopefully, it goes by fast, I mean, it's on a decent sized crochet hook (k), so I should be able to manage. And, it's new yarn to play with, which is always fun.

I have to finish (and start) my project for class that's due tomorrow. Yeah, I know, I'm a procrastinator. Oh well. Everything will get done. It always does.

Long day

It was a long day today. I woke up this morning and my mom immediately came into my room and said she needed to go to the hospital. This from the woman who NEVER wants to go to the hospital. So, off to the hospital we went. She was having chest pains, but they thing it's muscular instead of cardiac, which is good. Nevertheless, they're keeping her overnight, so in the AM it's back to the hospital I go (hopefully only for a short time). But, I managed to read about half of my book and get some knitting done, so that's good. She actually got some crocheting and reading done as well once she started to feel better (about 2 hours after we got there), so we were both pretty much bored out of our minds for most of the day.

But, I had my first Etsy sale today. I got home and saw that, so that was nice. It was a pair of beaded bobby pins, so I wrapped that pair up and made another pair to relist in my store. Have to go to the post office before the hospital.

And on that note, I'm going to bed. It was a long day and I'm tired.

The purse is done!

The purse is done! I had to add extra rows like I said, but it's finally finished. I even added it to my Etsy shop already (www.midnghtdolphin.etsy.com).

Now I have to go to Michael's and get some beads for those napkin holders. I'm just glad I already have another project in mind.

And to make things even better, I finished Nothing to Lose by Lee Child. Now I can finally start City of Souls. All that's left is to put together my facial steamer and magnifying lamp. But so far, it's been a pretty productive day.

It's FRIDAY!

Whoo! The week is over and now I have time to do what I want (after work is over, of course).

I worked on the purse again last night and decided that I need to add at least 24 rows to the pattern. This is the never ending project that I didn't think would take that long.

I was going to start making beaded bobby pins and got out all my beads... and then realized that I must have lost the colored wire that I had at some point. I have some on the way for the napkin rings that I want to make, so I'll just have to wait for that to get here before I can make bobby pins too. Hopefully it gets here today or tomorrow so that I can work on it this weekend. Otherwise I see a trip to Michael's in my future.

And, just because so many people thought it was a kid's hat, here's a picture of the Bella hat on a person.

Bella Swan's hat

I made Bella Swan's hat from the La Push scenes in Twilight last night. I was up til 1 finishing it, but it's done. And it's cute.

The purse is 2/3 done, according to the directions, but I think I'm going to have to do more rows. It's too small. Right now it's a good length for one side of the purse, but it's supposed to be folded in half, so that means adding a lot more rows to it. Oh well. Hopefully I'll have it done this weekend.

Ang the best news of the day... it's almost Friday! Yay! The weekend can't get here soon enough!

The purse and books

So, the purse is now 2 rows shy of being half done. Hopefully I get some time to work on it tonight. Ideally I'll get it 2/3 done and can finish it tomorrow or Friday.

I ordered a book from Amazon that has awesome knit wire and bead napkin holders. I can't wait to get the book and give those a try. I'm sensing a trip to Michael's in my future for some beading wire and 4mm beads for it.

I really need to start making jewelry again. It's so much faster then knitting or crocheting. I just need some inspiration. I think the problem is that when I made jewelry a lot, it wasn't just me making it. My roommates did it too, so it would be all of us working on stuff, which is just way more fun than one person doing it by themselves. Oh well, maybe I'll buckle down and do it this weekend.

And finally, all of this crafting is seriously cutting into my reading time. I've been reading the same book for over a week (which is really unheard of for me!). I really need to finish it, I have so many books on my bookshelf that I want to read, but I just don't have enough hours in the day!

That's all for now. Hope everyone has a great day!

New Blog

I started this blog with Live Journal (http://midnghtdolphin.livejournal.com), but have decided to move over here to chronicle my crafting successes and mishaps.

I had my first sale yesterday. I sold a cute pair of crocheted slippers (picture above). I also finished two baby blankets in the last couple of weeks. My newest project is a cute purse. It's blue with bamboo handles, and I'll be putting a picture up (as well as listing it on Etsy) as soon as it's finished.

That said, I really need to get back to making jewelry. I have so many beads, and I really haven't done much with them in forever. The last thing that I made was a pair of earrings that I love, but I just can't seem to find the time to sit down and bead. Part of the problem is that my favorite necklace broke, and I don't have the heart to fix it (it's all oxidized stirling silver and swarovski crystals), because it'll pretty much be redoing the whole thing, and I have no idea where the chemical to oxidize the silver is at the moment.

Oh well. Class later. Then home to work on the purse.

And just for fun, here are my websites: www.designsbylexa.com www.midnghtdolphin.etsy.com