New Etsy Shop Open

After some research and a lot of thought I decided that my blog and my website and my Etsy store should all have the same name.

Which meant I needed to create a brand new Etsy store, and I'd been messing around with creating the graphics, etc., etc., for about a week.

Yesterday I finally got it done.

Right now there are three things listed out there, including this pin that I made as a competition piece for the local bead group.

Here's a link if you want go and visit the new shop Esmerldas Studio.

As I add new items (which I'm hoping to do on a very regular basis) I'll be putting up a picture with the link there on the left side of the blog.

So now it's on to updating the website!

New Items in the shop and other finished objects

The yellow bird and his birdhouse are available for sale in my Etsy shop!

You can use this link to go take a look.


and the cardinal and his birdhouse are also out there on the Etsy shop.

You can use this link to see that listing



The bunny and the tulips are done!

I'm very pleased with the way this piece came out --- being the first time for using needle felting on the face and to create the floral accents, it's amazing that there has been so little ranting over this one.

This bunny does not yet have a name, however

We're thinking about it

(perhaps I should name it "resistance is futile" since that is what my sister told me about needle felting!)






There was merry stamping yesterday.

The nice thing about stamping with acrylics is that they dry really quickly, so I was able to to the "layered leaf" look that I wanted to try without waiting forever in between stamping sessions.

Notice how some of the leaves overlap one another

I was afraid using the acrylics would make the fabric too stiff to do much with it, but again I was pleasantly surprised.

The real trick to some of these projects, of course, is knowing when you are "done"

There is always the temptation to keep messing with it until you've done just one thing too many and ruined it

This piece is officially DONE. Now on to making it into the object I had in mind all along.


The giraffe now has four legs!

Finished up the last of the back legs last night

Now it's on to the body --- and solving the puzzle of the knitting that must have a back bone --- makes me wish I could figure out how to build things from the inside out like Lisa Lichtenfels does. (If you aren't familiar with her work, I highly recommend you go look at her work --- you can use this link --- it's amazing what can be made out of pantyhose and pvc pipe!)

Anyway, I'll be working on the "engineering" part of the giraffe next.

time to get rolling

Filing orders

As I said in yesterday's blog, I sold another item from my Etsy store.

It's interesting that I put this particular item out there as a sort of joke, thinking that no one would be interested, but it has been the one thing that has been a slow but steady fund raiser.

The yellow dog toy is the one for the order received -- the other one is for my doctor's new dog (a rescued german shepard) that hangs out in her office. (I figured if I was going to set up the machine, I might as well do both of them at the same time!)

So, that's what I did yesterday --- set up the embroidery machine, do the embroidery, do the standard stitching and the finishing.

The yellow one will be in the mail today, off to Brooklyn.

I did also work on the purple crystals -- the idea of using that twisted herringbone tube as the "cord" to hang the leaf on worked pretty well --- now I'm working on stitching all of the crystals and the leaf together before I start on the right angle weave that will make up the rest of the necklace. I'm pretty sure this one will also be going into that contest that has an April 15 deadline.

Today, being pay day, we will be doing our monthly Costco run and a stop at the grocery store, so not as much will get done in the studio --- but hey, a girl's gotta eat!!

New stuff in the Etsy store

Valentine's Day is coming up fast!

So today I've listed several heart themed pieces of jewelry on my Etsy shop.

If you order in the next couple of days, these pieces can be in your hands for Valentine's day!

Use this link to go see all the new stuff!!

Golden Beach Glass

Finished this piece yesterday.

This is the first piece of the gold glass that I've worked into a piece of jewelry. Notice the texture in the glass? I love the way that looks.

The piece of glass is about 1.25 inches across and 1 inch up and down, and it is slightly curved (since it was a piece of a drinking glass).

The "bezel", bail, chain and clasp are all made of gold colored seed beads, so there is no metal in this entire piece.

Today I'm going to start working on another piece of beach glass -- this one was originally clear glass, and now looks kind of frosted as a result of the tumbling. I'm going to use red beads with it, and try a new technique for the "chain" -- the right angle weave I used on the last few is really nice, but variety is cool too!

Zebra knitting and both quilt projects are progressing too.

Remember Cupcake?

Yesterday I put her out on my Etsy shop, so if you would like her to come and live at your house, use this link to check out how to make that happen.





There is less than a week left to enter my give away for this year's One World One Heart gypsy caravan.

Use this link to go to my announcement post and enter.

EVERYONE is welcome to enter, just make sure I can contact you when I do the drawing next Thursday morning!

Time to get back to those pesky tax forms

New Stuff in Etsy Shop

Yes, I FINALLY got some new stuff listed in my Etsy store.

Two very nice sets of notecards with matching envelopes all ready to ship out!


Use this link to go check them out (and maybe order a set!).

orders filled, more snow flakes and a quilt

see, the order that I got on Etsy yesterday is all ready to be shipped off

I have to say you could have knocked me over with a feather when I got this order, since it is the first one in over a year on Etsy, but I guess I finally posted something someone wanted!

Anyway, this will be off in the mail today






Since I had the machine up and running, I decided to do a few more of the snowflakes.




I really like the way the glittering looks on the blue one, and I think it will be even more awesome on the white

It takes nearly as long to do all the trimming as it does the machine to do the stitching!







So, just to not be simply twiddling my thumbs, I worked on this quilt drawing

I have 5 of these done now, and have one more started, so hopefully when the new printer cartridges arrive on Monday I'll be ready to start printing off the note cards

Yeah!!


Yesterday we put up the family room tree -- that is we rearranged the furniture, put the tree together (unlike the living room tree, this one has to be put up branch by branch) and put the lights on

Today we'll do ornaments

I'm doing the blind stitching on the top side of the quilt binding -- this has got to be the part that seems to take F O R E V E R!!! (maybe it's just because I'm really wanting it to be finished!!)

So, it's off to make merry -- and then get some other projects done

something that is dead

this would be my phone

somehow it got wet

water + electronic anything = getting to play taps as you toss whatever it is into the trash

fortunately, we try to always have a backup plan -- in this case an older model of a cell phone that I could just activate

the tech guy says it may actually come back on after it dries out and if it does he can transfer all of my contacts

I can get an upgrade in January anyway, so I'm thinking I'll just wait until then to get a new phone










These lovelies are Christmas aprons that I will be listing on Etsy this week (there are actually going to be 4 available for sale as I have 2 of the ones with the roses and poinsettias)

I made these back in the late 1970s for a boutique, then put them away. When I was cleaning out some stuff last week, I found them.

They are very nice fabric, so I thought I'd give it a try.


Last night I finished the quilting on the bird quilt. Today I hope to get the sewing machine set up to do the binding and also to whip up a couple of pairs of sweat pants to go with the sweater I'm knitting for the Giving Tree gift.

time to get to it!

Entry in the "oldest project completed" contest

Once upon a time in a land far, far away, I made this sweater for the DH

Actually, I knit this back in the early 1970's. It's wool -- as in the old style wool -- not the new "put them in the washer" wool yarns that are available today -- nope, this one gets hand washed

Anyway, I knit it then, before I got the buttons on it, we moved to a warmer climate and it got put away in a drawer.

And it got moved -- as in from Colorado to California to Utah to Colorado to Utah to California to Colorado -- (ok, we lived like gypsies for a while) -- and somewhere along the way, before it ever got officially "Finished" (as in the buttons sewn on), some damage occurred.

Saturday morning, the DH brought it downstairs and ask if it could have buttons and some mending please, as he has decided he would like to wear it -- OMG!

Now, I am definately a pack rat (ok, about 4th generation on that front!), but let me tell you, the left over yarn from this little vintage classic is long gone, and while I probably bought buttons that were intended for this, who can remember now what they were (or where they actually got used).

And the damage on the shoulder was pretty extensive -- I'm thinking somewhere along the way there was a small group of very hungry moths as the hole was about the size of a half dollar.

Yesterday I darned all three of the holes in the sweater -- I used some yellow yarn from another project -- it doesn't match, but it is wool and did close the hole so the sweater can be worn for warmth (which was the point!) -- oh yes, and those buttons? I bought a bulk package of buttons a while back to use for some other projects (bags, bracelets) and these 6 brushed chrome looking ones were in the group -- and they were just the right size.

Now, as I was saying, this is officially my entry in the "oldest project completed" contest (we won't go into that postage stamp quilt I started once upon a time)


Beach glass necklace number 2 is now complete.

I rather like the black beads (with the occasional blue one thrown in) for the netting around the glass and the chain

I was amazed too when I put the necklace in the scanner how well it actually shows off the lovely blue glass

Today I'll be working on a bracelet that is part of the "use the pieces you have on hand" collection -- I'm hoping to have it done for the show we're doing on Saturday


and one more hotpad complete!

This one is a bit larger than the first one was -- I think variety in hotpad sizes is a good idea -- and these are really intended for setting a warm dish on the table as they are a bit "fussy" for grabbing a pan out of the oven use -- although they could do that too.

I have one more of these to complete, and I'm in the putting on the petals stage of it

Yup, one more Christmas gift project done!

This morning I added the custom dog bones to my Etsy site. I've been trying to figure out something that I could do as a cat toy that could be customized too, but it's been so long since I lived with a cat, and back then we didn't buy them toys, I just have no ideas. Anybody else have one that you wouldn't mind me using?

Have you taken the Handmade pledge? You'll notice a new button on the top right of this blog. I'm all for keeping our gift giving dollars right here with artists and craftsmen in the good ol' U.S.A., so I signed the pledge. In my case it means that just about everything gets actually handmade by me, but I'm always excited to see something handmade by someone else that meets the gift buying need.

Time to go do the laundry (good heavens, it's Monday again!!) and try to get some other projects done