I got some new hotness fabric from an online retailer and made a FABULOUS Euro sham for our bed. I'm going to post a picture later because I'm pretty proud of how it turned out. Not like pillows or pillowcases are super-hard to make, but it has been a long time since I busted out the old Pfaff and started getting crazy. I also made some sweet little birds for my cousin's in-utero baby (we're calling him/her Baby Pickle at this point). I think I'm going to turn them into a mobile or something. I'll be posting pictures later this week.
Nick and I are leaving tomorrow to go to Charleston with his family for his uncle's annual New Year's Eve oyster roast. I don't like oysters, and I've never been to an oyster roast, but I've heard there will be beer there, so I am definitely into that. I think there will also be some ice skating going on, and I feel certain I will be grievously injured if I partake. So I might sit out on that, although Nick I'm sure would be really excited if I actually skated with him. I'll have to weigh the options--bodily harm vs. making Nick grin....I'm still thinking.
Christmas was lovely--this is the first time in a few years that I haven't been sick on Christmas Eve, and I made it through all of Midnight Mass. This was the first Christmas with our new choir director, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Kevin brought in some amazing musicians, and we learned the Charpentier mass (parts of it, anyway). It was lovely, and not nearly as exhausting as the past few years have been. Nick and I had a great time with our families, and spent a happy first Christmas together! I also got some VERY exciting Christmas presents this year, and I'm INLOVE with everything I got, but there were a few standouts: a new easel and some fabulous art supplies from my sweet Dad (aka, Santa Claus); a HOT purse from Nick's parents, and of course the obligatory "Our First Christmas" ornaments, which I actually really like.
It's a slow news day. We're leaving for Charleston with the fam tomorrow morning, and I'm sure the ride down will be filled with Barbie movies, our nieces arguing (they're 7 and almost 4), and some interesting catchphrases. The latest from Delaney was during the younger kids' nightly tubby. A toy fell and she said, "Whoa, that was close! It almost hit my penis!" She just heard the word for the first time the other day, and apparently was itching to use it! I love the things that kids say. I'm taking my journal, so hopefully I'll have tons more exciting news to report when I return.
Au revoir!
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Sunday, December 28, 2008
The new hotness
Two things: 1. I successfully (by myself and with no help from anyone) managed to create not one, but TEW (that's how it sounds when I say it, according to my sweet husband) new Etsy banners and avatars! That's right, people. Using only my meager Photoshop skills, Microsoft Word (for crap's sake), and Mac's Pixelmator, I created two tres chic (I think they are, anyway) banners and avatars. 2. I created a new Etsy identity, an alterego, if you will. Since hawleywood is my jewelry store, and the whole tagline is "handcrafted jewelry fabulosity," I didn't feel right about listing non-jewelry items, so I created a whole new shop for my fabricrafts, as I like to call them. I have probably painted myself into a corner, but I will probably only sell like three things anyway, so it shouldn't be too time-consuming. So anyway, my new store is called Sew Sharp! (my new last name is Sharp....clearly I'm not that creative when it comes to naming things), and it will feature lovely knitted and sewn creations by yours truly. Look for that to start up in January.
I've been thinking more and more lately about quitting my job and making things full-time. I'm not actually going to do it, because God knows I certainly can't afford that, but it's my dream. I would love nothing more than to make jewelry and sew lovely things and sell them on Etsy for a modest profit. As long as I can pay the bills and have a little extra to put toward our dream of owning a home, then I'll be happy. I don't need a bajillion dollar salary or a title. Quite frankly, I'm really not all that happy in my current job, and I really wish that I could resign and concentrate on school and crafting full-time, but again, those pesky bills get in the way of that dream.
If I could quit my job right now, I would be done with classes in one term, and I could student-teach next fall, then I would be done with my master's! How exciting! Unfortunately, unless we win the lottery or discover the cure for cancer I just don't see that happening. Ideally, I'd like for Nick to be able to quit his job and finish school first, and by then I would *hopefully* be done with school and could be a full-time craft diva. Ah, daydreaming....
In any case, I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday (just in case anyone actually reads this and I'm not just talking to myself here), and please check both Etsy stores in mid-January for new fabulosity!
I've been thinking more and more lately about quitting my job and making things full-time. I'm not actually going to do it, because God knows I certainly can't afford that, but it's my dream. I would love nothing more than to make jewelry and sew lovely things and sell them on Etsy for a modest profit. As long as I can pay the bills and have a little extra to put toward our dream of owning a home, then I'll be happy. I don't need a bajillion dollar salary or a title. Quite frankly, I'm really not all that happy in my current job, and I really wish that I could resign and concentrate on school and crafting full-time, but again, those pesky bills get in the way of that dream.
If I could quit my job right now, I would be done with classes in one term, and I could student-teach next fall, then I would be done with my master's! How exciting! Unfortunately, unless we win the lottery or discover the cure for cancer I just don't see that happening. Ideally, I'd like for Nick to be able to quit his job and finish school first, and by then I would *hopefully* be done with school and could be a full-time craft diva. Ah, daydreaming....
In any case, I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday (just in case anyone actually reads this and I'm not just talking to myself here), and please check both Etsy stores in mid-January for new fabulosity!
Monday, December 22, 2008
Nothing says "Christmas Cheer" like chasing down a shoplifter
First of all, Merry Christmas!
Second of all, I have a funny story, which ends with me getting a free bike! So, Nick works at a pharmacy, and shoplifting is rampant there any time of the year--baby formula and cosmetics are the usual items of choice. However, as it gets closer to Christmas, people either get more desperate or dumber (you decide), and go for things that are harder to conceal under a jacket. Tonight, the store manager happened to notice an awful lot of rustling on the "haircare" aisle, and walked over to see what was going on.
Apparently, the (rather large) man in the aisle was making so much noise because he was stuffing a boxed Conair trimmer up his shirt. The manager picked up the phone to call the police, and the shoplifter started running. He managed to make it outside the store, where he jumped on his bike and sped off into the night. A vigilante customer ran to his truck and began chasing the thief. (Yes, I live in the South, where people do things like that.)
After a few minutes, the man driving the truck caught up to the shoplifter. The driver pulled a "COPS" move and killed his headlights, then swung his truck around in front of the shoplifter, whereupon said shoplifter slammed into the truck and tumbled over the hood. After he regained his balance, the shoplifter ran off into the night, leaving his bike behind. The customer, apparently satisfied with his citizen's arrest-of sorts, brought the bike back to the pharmacy and wheeled it inside.
When they arrived on the scene, the police told the store manager they didn't want the bike, because they had enough stolen bikes at the station, and not enough room for another. The store manager offered me the bike, and of course I'm not going to refuse a free bike, not even a stolen one. Lucky for me, the bike is in pretty good condition, and is only a little rusted in some places. It just so happened to be a girl's bike, and a lovely shade of purple, to boot! After a lot of maneuvering, and only a little cussing, I got the bike loaded into my car and home safely! FYI, I haven't been on a bicycle since I broke my arm by falling off of one in the fifth grade. This should be interesting.
I'm hoping to get a lot of crafting done in the next few days. I plan to take on these storage boxes designed by JCaroline Creative, some baby accessories for my cousin who is expecting her first child, and I hope to finish some scarves that I started knitting, oh, about a year ago!
Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, have a safe and wonderful holiday season!
Jess
Second of all, I have a funny story, which ends with me getting a free bike! So, Nick works at a pharmacy, and shoplifting is rampant there any time of the year--baby formula and cosmetics are the usual items of choice. However, as it gets closer to Christmas, people either get more desperate or dumber (you decide), and go for things that are harder to conceal under a jacket. Tonight, the store manager happened to notice an awful lot of rustling on the "haircare" aisle, and walked over to see what was going on.
Apparently, the (rather large) man in the aisle was making so much noise because he was stuffing a boxed Conair trimmer up his shirt. The manager picked up the phone to call the police, and the shoplifter started running. He managed to make it outside the store, where he jumped on his bike and sped off into the night. A vigilante customer ran to his truck and began chasing the thief. (Yes, I live in the South, where people do things like that.)
After a few minutes, the man driving the truck caught up to the shoplifter. The driver pulled a "COPS" move and killed his headlights, then swung his truck around in front of the shoplifter, whereupon said shoplifter slammed into the truck and tumbled over the hood. After he regained his balance, the shoplifter ran off into the night, leaving his bike behind. The customer, apparently satisfied with his citizen's arrest-of sorts, brought the bike back to the pharmacy and wheeled it inside.
When they arrived on the scene, the police told the store manager they didn't want the bike, because they had enough stolen bikes at the station, and not enough room for another. The store manager offered me the bike, and of course I'm not going to refuse a free bike, not even a stolen one. Lucky for me, the bike is in pretty good condition, and is only a little rusted in some places. It just so happened to be a girl's bike, and a lovely shade of purple, to boot! After a lot of maneuvering, and only a little cussing, I got the bike loaded into my car and home safely! FYI, I haven't been on a bicycle since I broke my arm by falling off of one in the fifth grade. This should be interesting.
I'm hoping to get a lot of crafting done in the next few days. I plan to take on these storage boxes designed by JCaroline Creative, some baby accessories for my cousin who is expecting her first child, and I hope to finish some scarves that I started knitting, oh, about a year ago!
Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, have a safe and wonderful holiday season!
Jess
Friday, December 19, 2008
WOW
I can't believe it's been so long since I blogged!! Well, I am now an old married lady! We celebrated our two-month anniversary yesterday! The wedding was everything I hoped it would be and more. It was the best day of my life, and I'm so glad that we are married! The honeymoon wasn't quite as wonderful, seeing as it ended after two days with a trip to the emergency room in Highlands, NC. Apparently, Nick had been walking around with a broken tailbone and a pilonidal cyst, the combination of which apparently resulted in a clusterf**k of intense pain. Nick is all healed up now, and back to playing hockey. We are as busy as can be, with work and school for both of us, but I don't know what we would do with ourselves if we suddenly had time on our hands. Life has been crazy hectic as usual, but I'm hoping things will simmer down after Christmas.
Speaking of Christmas, my cousins, my sister, and I have decided to give each other homemade gifts this year, which is awesome. The only bad part is I haven't actually started making anything yet. I do have some jewelry that was listed in my Etsy shop that I can give (that is, if I'm willing to part with it...I'm still kind of stingy about my creations, sadly). I've taken down the shop for now--there's just been too much going on between work, grad school, getting married, and everything else! I'm hoping to have it back up by Valentine's day, with oodles of new and exciting stuff, so between now and then I'll be crafting away!
In my "free time," I have been exploring several FABULOUS and wonderful blogs...forgive me if I am a little slow on the uptake. I'm sure everyone else in the world has heard of them, but I am clearly behind the times. I've been spending an inordinate amount of time on design*sponge, which is amazing for many reasons, mostly because there are just so many great ideas and artists featured! I'm also hooked on knack, for her unbelievably gorgeous furniture facelifts and design aesthetic. As if that isn't cool enough already, the artiste behind knack lives and works in Greenville, SC, where I was born, raised, and have never left! How cool is that? I can actually see her work in real life. Pretty cool, I think.
I'm currently obsessed with several things from IKEA, but as we are poorer even than church mice, I can only look and wish and dream and hope about all the lovely, inexpensive, needing-assembly furniture we could have in our house. I'm going to undertake several projects while on the Christmas break, the first of which being to recover my ugly old office chair that I use in my sewing/art/craft room. I'll post a before and after (if I can figure out how to do that...sad I know, but I am Blogger-illiterate). I will also be crafting some new crafty craftiness, but more on that later. Craft.
Hopefully now that school is out until January (ugh) I'll be able to post more frequently and figure out how to upload pictures. I'm not sure if my problems are due to using Firefox or what. Hmmm...I shall have to think about that.
Until later, much love and other indoor sports (thank you, Judy Blume, for that, my most favorite phrase).
Jess
Speaking of Christmas, my cousins, my sister, and I have decided to give each other homemade gifts this year, which is awesome. The only bad part is I haven't actually started making anything yet. I do have some jewelry that was listed in my Etsy shop that I can give (that is, if I'm willing to part with it...I'm still kind of stingy about my creations, sadly). I've taken down the shop for now--there's just been too much going on between work, grad school, getting married, and everything else! I'm hoping to have it back up by Valentine's day, with oodles of new and exciting stuff, so between now and then I'll be crafting away!
In my "free time," I have been exploring several FABULOUS and wonderful blogs...forgive me if I am a little slow on the uptake. I'm sure everyone else in the world has heard of them, but I am clearly behind the times. I've been spending an inordinate amount of time on design*sponge, which is amazing for many reasons, mostly because there are just so many great ideas and artists featured! I'm also hooked on knack, for her unbelievably gorgeous furniture facelifts and design aesthetic. As if that isn't cool enough already, the artiste behind knack lives and works in Greenville, SC, where I was born, raised, and have never left! How cool is that? I can actually see her work in real life. Pretty cool, I think.
I'm currently obsessed with several things from IKEA, but as we are poorer even than church mice, I can only look and wish and dream and hope about all the lovely, inexpensive, needing-assembly furniture we could have in our house. I'm going to undertake several projects while on the Christmas break, the first of which being to recover my ugly old office chair that I use in my sewing/art/craft room. I'll post a before and after (if I can figure out how to do that...sad I know, but I am Blogger-illiterate). I will also be crafting some new crafty craftiness, but more on that later. Craft.
Hopefully now that school is out until January (ugh) I'll be able to post more frequently and figure out how to upload pictures. I'm not sure if my problems are due to using Firefox or what. Hmmm...I shall have to think about that.
Until later, much love and other indoor sports (thank you, Judy Blume, for that, my most favorite phrase).
Jess
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