Caffeinated Crafts

New Beginnings

2010-02-22T17:30:00.003-07:00

Well, hello stranger! It's me. I know I have been away for awhile, a lot has gone on in my life in the last year, but I will save that for another time.
Right now, I would like to share with you that I have relisted some things on Etsy. It is a start. I am working on some other ideas besides my coffee condoms. If you are curious, have a look at my shop. It is nice to see everyone again!!!

New Lights

2009-01-14T19:21:00.005-07:00

Yeah! I finally got some new lights so I can take pictures of my Coffee Condoms inside during the winter. It has been so dark inside and so cold outside that I haven't listed anything in a while. But that has all changed now! Each light is 500 watts! I can even take pictures in the evening!

So check out my shoppe to see the new Coffee Condom. There will be more going up in the next few days.

New Look

2008-12-17T20:26:00.000-07:00

Playing around with the look of my blog!
Let me know if you like it.

Back on the Horse

2008-12-03T20:57:00.002-07:00

Just a quick note to let you know that I have started listing again on my Etsy site. For now it is just my Coffee Condoms, but there will be some new items coming soon.
Thanks for sticking with me!!!

Changes

2008-09-16T23:04:00.002-06:00

Hello! Are you still there?? :)

Well, obviously I haven't posted for a while. I haven't been working too much on my Etsy site. My interest started to wane a bit which meant that interest in my items waned as well. Etsy is a great site! You do have to be willing to put in the work to get your name out though. If you do, you will be rewarded with lots of business!

Anyways, I have decided to move the parts of this blog that don't have to do with my business to a new blog. You can now find me at Kathy Braun. Come on over and take a look!!

See you there! Thanks for reading this blog.

What a Week!!

2008-03-26T08:17:00.004-06:00

Hi!!
It has been a whirlwind of a week around here. It started going crazy a few days after DD#2 got back from climbing in Banff. She got sick with what I think was food poisoning and was in need of a lot of attention and cuddles. With that she then had some friend issues, which of course have resolved themselves like they do at that age, but these issues also required attention and more cuddles. With that resolved, and the weather nice, we started doing a lot of spring cleaning. The kids got their bikes out and all serviced up after the winter and I got jealous LOL!!! I bought a new bike 8 or 9 years ago with the hopes of getting more active, but always put it off. I finally realized that the bike was too big for my 5'2" frame. I was never comfortable riding it and figured it was because I forgot how LOL!! So I decided that it was time for me to get a bike that fits me!! I spent the rest of last week on a wonderful message board researching the different bikes out there and what would be good for my size.
On Saturday, I finally went and purchased this!

Isn't she beautiful!!!! She is a Trek 3700 WSD. The "WSD" means Womens Specific Design. These bikes are made for the different ways women are designed. Things like seats that sit a bit straighter and handle bars that are not as much of a reach. You can read more about WSD here

On Sunday, after easter eggs, DD#2 went and bought herself a new bike too!! Her hand-me-down bike was just getting to small for her. She chose a Raleigh Tora Mountain Bike from Canadian Tire. She loves it!! It was on sale for half price so she got a great deal. We then came back to the house and got my and dh's bikes and went to a quiet parking lot so that I could see if I actually did remember how to ride a bike LOL!!! I guess the saying is right - you never forget! It was great to ride a bike that actually fits me!!

As you can see by the picture of my bike, it was taken inside. We woke up Monday to snow! Ugh! Most of it was gone by the end of the day though, thank goodness!! Tuesday was all about grocery shopping another ugh! LOL!! And today, Wednesday, it is supposed to snow again this evening. So, we have to clean out the shed today so that we can get the new bikes out of the house and into the shed. It would be really nice for our friends coming into town if they don't have to trip over our bikes to get to the bathroom LOL!!!

Well, off to tidy!!
Have a beautiful day!!!

Flash Drive

2008-03-18T21:16:00.005-06:00

Hello! Gadget Girl here!!

I love my flash drive!

It is a 4gig Flash Voyager by corsair. I still haven't found all the great uses for it, but it does get used alot. One of the things we use it most for here is to transfer files between operating systems. We do have all the computers networked, but sometimes my Mac is hard to find. So it is quicker to just load the files to the flash drive and take them to the PC and download them. We use this mostly for movies and music and sometimes for pictures.

There are a lot less portable apps for the Mac, but I do have Portable Firefox and Portable Abiword on it. Portable Firefox has all my favourite settings and bookmarks on it, so if I am away from my computer, I can still see things as I like them! Portable AbiWord is a very good open source word processor. It is quick and doesn't take up a huge footprint. I use it for quick word processing over Neo Office which is a much bigger and more involved program.

I also have some pictures on it to show off to friends and family with computers. Then if they would like copies of the pictures, they can just copy them from the flash drive!

I am looking forward to finding more uses for my wonderful flash drive!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

2008-03-17T22:55:00.003-06:00

Happy St. Patty's Day!!

Did you see any Leprechauns?

Last night I found out about iCraft.ca! What a great site!! I have opened a shoppe there. You should go take a look at the site. If you open a shop before March 31st, you can list for a year for free! It is just starting out, but it looks like it is going to be big! By the way, you don't have to be Canadian to join. I listed a simple light blue Coffee Condom on iCraft.ca. I can hardly wait to list some more.

I think it is really important to not put all you eggs in one basket and to diversify a bit.

Enjoy your business!!

Knitting and Gardening

2008-03-16T21:16:00.006-06:00

Ok, I am combining posts here. Weekends, apparently, can be very busy with little time to sit down and write!

I am currently knitting Clapotis. It is coming along quite nicely. I am really enjoying this pattern. I did one extra repeat on the increase section to hopefully make it a little wider. I have to admit, I was a little frightened of dropping the stitches in the beginning, but now I am looking forward to that part. I am using the Lorna's Laces that I got at Value Village. I love thrift stores!!

Well, there wasn't a lot of gardening today as I woke up to this!

We were supposed to drive up to Banff this weekend for DD#2's climbing competition, but at 6am there was still too much ice on the roads to get out of the city. Good thing she had gone up yesterday with another family so she still got to climb.

We did get to Seedy Saturday yesterday though. It is a place to buy or trade heritage seeds. What fun!! We got a few different kinds of tomato seeds, beans, cucumbers and spaghetti squash seeds. It is a good start to this year's garden!!

Hope you had a good weekend!!

Photo Friday

2008-03-14T20:57:00.003-06:00

Hey!
Sorry I missed Thrifty Thursday! I got into knitting my Clapotis shawl last night and then all of a sudden it was midnight!!! I only stopped when I finished the ball of yarn I was using. I will do a Thrifty Thursday next week for sure!

Now for Photo Friday!

I notice this sconce while stopped at a red light in the Kennsington area of Calgary. I have driven by here many times without ever noticing it.

Have a beautiful weekend!

Greening our Lives

2008-03-12T22:47:00.002-06:00

Wednesdays I will be sharing the green things we already do and the things we are trying to do.

One thing that came up today was cloth bags. We have been using cloth bags for many years. My wonderful, crafty Mother made me a bunch just after Hans and I got married. Since then, we have aquired a lot more. We use them almost everywhere we go. Some of my favourites come from Save-On-Foods. We don't have one here in Calgary, but I got some when we were in Edmonton. They are great because they stand up nicely and they are a good size. Today while we were at Mountain Equipment Coop, I used the small fold up bag that I carry in my purse. I love having one with me for those spur of the moment purchases and it is sooooo small that it takes up no room at all.

This is just one way we try to be green. The bags we do end up with are either recycled or are put on backyard dog duty.

Do you have a favourite cloth bag??

My Other Identity

2008-03-11T23:36:00.000-06:00

Yes, I am otherwise known as Gadget Girl! I admit it freely! I love a good gadget and have acquired quite a few. So I thought I would use Tuesdays to share a few of my favourite gadgets with you.

Today we have a newly acquired gadget... my new Mukka!!!!

I have been wanting one of these forever!! You put water in the bottom, espresso in the middle and milk in the top. Put it on the stove and 5 minutes later you have an amazing, creamy cup of Italian style cappuccino. Yum!!! I am quite the coffee geek, so this is a wonderful addition to all my other coffee paraphernalia! I will describe some of those in future posts!!

I hope you are all having a good week! The weather has been so nice here that it has been hard to find time to sit and do any knitting. Hopefully I will get to some in the next few days.

Cashmere

2008-03-10T22:45:00.004-06:00

I have put up a new Coffee Condom in the shoppe. It is a mix of nylon and acrylic for durability, but has a touch of cashmere that makes it oh so soft!

I have been giving the business a lot of thought lately and have started working on an actual business plan. I figure if I want this to be a "real" business and move away from it being just a hobby, then I need a "real" business plan. It is a bit of a process to try to see where I really want to go with this, but it is such a learning experience. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is trying to get their business off the ground. Just google small business plan and you will come up with a ton of resources.

Well, off to knit and get a good nights sleep!!

Promise

2008-03-09T23:04:00.002-06:00

The promise of spring! I am so happy!

We got out into the garden today and cleaned up some of the plants. It was so nice to get my fingers dirty. I was hoping to see some bulbs poking out, but hadn't found any until I was about to go in. Then I noticed 3 little purple buds poking themselves out of the ground. I almost missed them because of their colour. I was so excited!! The poppies are also starting to show a bit of green. We also saw a bunch of ladybugs! I am so glad they survived the winter. Yeah! Spring is on its way.

Next weekend we are heading to a heritage plant sale. Hans can hardly wait to get his hands on some tomatoes.

Commitment

2008-03-07T17:25:00.007-07:00

Hi All!
I don't think it's a lack of commitment to my blog, though I am sure that it seems that way at times LOL!! I think that it is I just don't always have an inspiration on what to write about so I just don't write. I really want to keep up on my blog. I think it is a great way to document what is going on in my life even if it is just me who is reading it. So, I have made a list. You can see it on the left hand side of the page at the top. I figure if I have a topic to write about, then it will be easier to get into a rhythm of writing.
So I will be back on Sunday to share what is happening in my garden.

Have a wonderful day!!!

Happy New Year cough cough

2008-02-12T18:49:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know I am a bit late at wishing you all a Happy New Year. It has been an eventful start to the new year. I took December and most of January off from making anything for my shop. Instead I focused on xmas presents and then making a few things for myself and my family. It was a nice break, but now I am knitting again for the shop and am feeling all pumped up about some new things that I will be adding soon! A little while ago, I added Mug Whimzies.

They are used to identify your mug from other similar ones. They would be great for a coffee or tea party or for an office that has similar mugs. They also work on styrofoam cups if that is what you have at work. I hope you like them!!

On the thrifting front, I was at Value Village the other day and decided to go look at the craft section even though I wasn't planning on buying anything. Well, I turn my head and see some nice yarn in skeins. I go over and pull it off the rack and see that it is Misti Alpaca!! I scan again and see 3 more bags of nice yarn. I grab it all and then take a look. There was another bag of Misti Alpaca, 9 skeins of Koigu and 4 skeins of Lorna's Laces!!! So, basically I got $470 worth of yarn for $70!! They were all complete skeins and they smelled new still!!! I was so excited that I was vibrating! Oh I love the thrift store!!!!!

Well, off to pick up DD#2 from climbing and then back to knitting!

It's November

2007-11-02T08:15:00.000-06:00

Hi!
I'm still around. Thanks for sticking with me. It was unplanned, but I took the last couple of months off from blogging. I just didn't feel inspired enough to write anything. But I'm back and hopefully can keep up on this blog.

We've been doing a lot of things around the home. I have been feeling the need to eliminate a lot of "stuff" from our lives. I don't know how we accumulate all of this junk. I swear that it multiplies at night LOL!! In the last month or so, I must have donated at least a dozen boxes, a few bags and a futon. It feels good to have less stuff and there is still more to do. I have yet to tackle the storage under the stairs. We have changed around the living room for the first time in 6 years. The change has been really nice. I can see more changes coming....

We have been also working on reducing our footprint on this earth. We have been trying to eat more local food and buy more local products. With winter coming here in Calgary, it is going to get more difficult to eat local food. But we will keep going to the market to see what is available and try to plan better for next winter so we have so more preserve produce. We are trying to buy less packaging and less plastic. We already use our own bags when shopping, even though we still get funny looks sometimes. We compost and recycle as well. It really frustrates me though that Calgary is soooo behind in recycling! We don't have curbside recycling and there is no where to recycle plastics besides plastic milk jugs. I don't see how any major city can be so backwards.

Anyways, I have been working on xmas presents and hopefully will be done these by the end of the month. So I have been busy knitting. I have also become hooked on Ravelry. What a great site!!

Well, that is it for now. Off to knit.... I'll leave you with a picture of DD#2 up high.

Bits and Pieces

2007-09-05T09:00:00.000-06:00

What is it??

It is my 3 1/2 year old LG dryer that isn't under warranty anymore! DD#2's clothes weren't drying and I had my sheets in the wash when we realized it. So we called where we bought it and apparently we didn't get an extended warranty on the dryer ( I do believe the sales guy said that dryers rarely break down LOL!!). So without a warranty, my electrician hubby took it apart to see what was wrong. It turns out it was just a fuse, but of course we figured this out late Saturday afternoon on a long weekend. We couldn't get the part until Tuesday!! Oh, by the way, Sears is a great place to find parts for appliances! We didn't even buy it there! So DH and DD#2 took the wet laundry and travel Yahtzee to the laundry mat to dry. DH put the new fuse and a sensor in yesterday and all is well!! It was only $50 in parts. The place where we bought the dryer from wanted $100 just to come look at it!! My DH is definitely my hero!

In other breaking news.....the world is being taken over by aphids! Who knew!! There are millions of them out there!!! AAAAHHHHH!!!!!!

The good news from this weekend is that Michael's had a 50% off coupon!! I know, I don't really need more craft supplies, but I just had to feed my addiction! I got this...

It is a Xyron 510!!! It makes anything into a sticker!!!!!!! This one is 5" wide. You can also get refils for laminating and for making magnets!! This is going to be so much fun!

I put a new Coffee Condom up in the shoppe.

I finally got outside to take pictures yesterday morning. The aphids lightened up a bit so I rushed out and got some done... just before my camera battery died!! LOL!! I feel like a comedy of errors lately LOL!! But I did get some done, so check out the shoppe for some new stuff. I really love this new soy/wool yarn from Patons! The colourways are just so nice and the yarn is really soft!

Off to do laundry! Have a creative, bug free day!!

Butterflies

2007-08-31T21:30:00.001-06:00

Just popping in quick to say that I caught a butterfly!!

Oh... I mean I bought a butterfly!! LOL!! It is actually a Cutterfly by Cutter Bee. Here it is open:

It is a multi-tool for crafters!! It has a rotary blade, needle nose pliers, a distress tool (a file) that can be used as a screwdriver and a Rub-On tool as well, tweezers, a paper piercer, an embossing stylus, scissors and a 13" tape measure. They are all attached to a handy keychain! I was humming and hawing about it and DH looked at it and said "hey, it's a tool, you have to have it!" LOL!! I will let you know how it works!

Well, off to read my new book! I haven't been posting the last couple of days because I am lost in Diana Gabaldon's newest book! It is called Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade. I get so absorbed in her books!!

Have a great evening!

Cold Lake

2007-08-28T08:45:00.000-06:00

Good COLD Morning!

It got down to 1C this morning! Isn't it still summer?!?

I took a bit of a blogging break to go up to Cold Lake to visit our friends. We were supposed to go camping, but events of the weekend put that idea off. It is ok though, because it was cold and raining. We did spend one morning visiting other campers and having a wonderful camping breakfast! There is nothing like espresso while camping!

I got a bit of knitting done, but not as much as planned. That always happens when I am visiting. I have great plans to knit all the time, but I end up chatting too much to remember LOL!!

Daisy had a wonderful time being out in nature! She met a new friend, Shadow, and ran around the campground chasing squirrels. The dogs had a squirrel stuck up a tree for at least an hour!

Can you see the poor squirrel?

I have been relisting some of my Coffee Condoms in the shoppe and today I hope to get some pictures taken of some new items. Hopefully the sunshine will hold out!

Thank you for all the wonderful comments!! I love receiving every single one of them!!

Have a creative day!!!

All Decked Out

2007-08-21T08:11:00.000-06:00

The deck is done!!

The last board was screwed on this Saturday and then on Sunday, under the threat of rain, we stained the deck! It is so wonderful to see it finally done! DH has worked so hard on the deck, doing it all himself (I helped where I could). He had to fit it in between work, overtime, the weather and time with the kids (which is very important to him). But it is finally done! I am so happy! The backyard seems so much bigger now. Yesterday we washed down the table and chairs and BBQ and put them up on the new deck. Today DH is going to build some stairs from the sliding door to the deck. We have 2 back doors (odd eh?) and we haven't used the sliding one because it hasn't ever had stairs. So this is really exciting for us LOL! Anyway here is a picture of the beautiful deck!

And this is the patio DH built a few years ago.

The backyard has so much useful space now!

Thank you to everyone for the recent comments!! It is great to know that I am not just talking to myself LOL!!!! I have been tagged by LoraKelly Designs. I will get to that asap. It is funny because you mention not liking to be "IT" as a kid and that was me as well!! I will do my best at tagging others though! Thanks for the tag!!

Have a beautiful day!

Don't Cry over Broken Casein

2007-08-17T14:21:00.000-06:00

Ok, I'm trying not to :( I love my casein knitting needles! They are so smooth and warm up in your hands while you are knitting. The yarn moves so nicely on these needles. But they are getting harder to find. I heard that they may stop making them! I broke my 3.25mm one yesterday, they come in sets of 5, but this is the second one that I have broken. Now I don't have enough to knit with. :( Next time I am at my lys, I will see if she has more, but I know her stock was getting slim. I think I will try to find some online. I had to get some new 3.25mm needles so that I can knit my Coffee Condoms. I found these at The Store Upstairs in Airdrie. They are so cute and look like drinking straws.

They are nice, but the yarn doesn't move as smoothly as on my casein needles.

I did cheer up a bit after my visit to VV Boutique! They have been moving things around and sections are a bit mixed up right now. I happened to go down the sheets and blankets aisle and found some more craft supplies. I opened up the black binder on the shelf and found this!!

A binder full of wrapped DMC floss!! I was so excited, I quickly put the binder in my basket. As I moved down the shelf a bit I saw some more black under some towels. I move them out of my way to find another binder!! Full as well!! I was just so excited. There are 360 different colours all wrapped on these very cute teddy bears! And there was only one "naked" (as DD#2 put it) bear in the lot!! This makes me itch to get back to my stitching!!!

Thrifting is so much fun!!!

Gocco

2007-08-15T09:28:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was a good thrifting day. We took DD#2 to the naturopath who happens to be right beside Good Will. (Lucky, I know!) I was wandering around and picked up a couple of coffee mugs. Then I turned down one aisle and there it was!!!!

I was so excited! It was open, but it looks like it wasn't used. Two of the light bulbs are missing, but all of the inks are still sealed. The pen is missing though, but that is alright! There were also 3 tubes of pearl ink! All of this for only $35!! I was just beside myself. When I got it to the car and showed DS the original price of $139 he looked at me and said "Start the car! Start the car!!" LOL!! That is exactly how I felt!!

I love thrifting!!

We Have Cukes and Zukes!

2007-08-14T07:44:00.001-06:00

Good morning!

I wanted to share some exciting pictures this morning. Ok, exciting for me LOL!!! Out in the garden, the cucumbers and zucchinis are finally showing their faces!! This year the garden didn't get nearly enough attention, so we have just had radishes and lettuces mostly. We did have a whopping 5 carrots and 3 beets though LOL!! But now the cucumbers and zucchinis are out!! I have to remember to pick the zukes before the get as big as DD#2's head this year! Here are some gratuitous garden shots!

Speaking of DD#2, she has been drawing a lot lately. Her newest thing is to just use black markers. She has drawn some amazing things in the last few days and has been really experimenting with this new medium. What do you think? She made this for a friend of hers.

I have actually been making new things for the shoppe!! They are almost ready to put up. I have to just work out the logistics for them and have a sunny day to take some pictures and then I will add them. I am hoping to do a few craft fairs in November and I think I need more on my table than just my Coffee Condoms. I also need some variety in my shoppe. I have realized that the block that is bothering me so much is that I feel that even when I am just trying something out, it has to be perfect because it will go up for sale. I have finally convinced myself that I can just try new things - just for me! They don't have to go into the shoppe until I am pleased with the result. For some reason that was a hard thing for me to get past, but now I am finally having fun making new things again!! Yay me!!

Thank you to everyone who is reading my blog and for all the great comments! Even if you are just passing through, please feel free to say "Hi!"

Have a beautiful and creative day!

July

2007-08-09T08:08:00.000-06:00

So....I am finally getting around to catching you up on our July.

Almost every day in July DD#2 and DS spent the 6 hours at the mobile skatepark. They had such a great time!! They both learned some amazing new tricks and each only ended up with a few scrapes and bruises.

So that meant that there was a lot of driving and a lot of Booster Juice in July.

Amongst all the driving, DH started working on the deck. It has been a slow process between the skatepark, work, overtime, weather, a quick trip, and other stuff that needed to be done. I have been helping where I can, but he has done most of the work himself. It is almost done now, but the last 2 days have been raining, so all we get to do is look at it right now.

On July 3rd, by baby turned 12!! We had a great day at the water park and then came home for some homemade-gluten-free-cookie-crumb-based-better-than-DQ ice cream cake! DD#2 and I made it from scratch. It was her idea since she is eating gluten-free now. And, if I do say so myself, it turned out darn good!!! She wanted to make the ice cream as well, but for this time I talked her into store bought ice cream. Next time, we will definitely make our own! The base was a mix of gf chocolate cookie crumbs and some gf peanut butter cookies that DD#2 made. Yum!!!

Then on July 9th DD#1, my oldest turned 18! We spent the weekend up in Edmonton and met up with our friends from Cold Lake. We had a wonderful time! We stayed in hotel. We don't do that very often as usually when we travel we either camp or stay with friends or family. The master bedroom in the hotel suite was bigger than our own bedroom! We went to the Old Strathcona Market on the Saturday when we were there and came upon this!

It was the perfect time to be there! There was so much to see! What fun!

Then at the end of the month it was my turn for a birthday. I turned 38. When did that happen?? LOL!!! DH took me out for dinner and got me a new compact digital camera! I now own a Canon Power Shot SD800. It takes great pictures and is way more compact than my DSLR. It fits easily in my purse so I can take more quick shots for blogging!!! Now I just have to remember that I have it with me LOL!!!

Well, those were the highlights of our July. Now hopefully I can keep up with my blog in August. So far I am not off to the best start, but I am working on it!! LOL!!

No Excuses

2007-07-31T09:12:00.001-06:00

Yes, I am still here.
It has been a busy month, but that is no excuse for not keeping up on the blog.

I have sat down to write a few times, but seem to just come up blank. Then I go off to some of my favourite blogs and think that I can never blog that well, so I just don't.
Silly, huh? I know. Everyone has their own style of blogging and I think I just need to find my own instead of thinking I should be like everyone else. Not that every blog out there is the same! They are all so different and so wonderful. I just need to find my own way. So I hope you can bear with me while I figure out my blogging path!

I got a couple of books out from the library on blogging. One is The Weblog Handbook: Practical Advice on Creating and Maintaining Your Blog by Rebecca Blood and the other is No One Cares What You Had for Lunch: 100 Ideas for Your Blog by Margaret Mason. Hopefully these books will give me some wonderful insight into how I want to blog.

July has seen my youngest daughter turn 12, my oldest daughter turn 18! and myself turn 38. It has been an interesting month. I can feel some big changes coming. Do you ever get that feeling that there is something big just waiting in the wings? I think I am in need of some change right now. I think it will be exciting and I can hardly wait to see what is in store!!

I am going to end this post here, but I will be back later with some pictures and some tales of the month of July!

Thanks for reading!!!!

We're Home!

2007-06-13T15:36:00.000-06:00

Hi all!!
We are back safely from BC. We have actually been back for a bit, but I have been so busy catching up on yard work and house work. Our trip was great! It was too short as usual, but it was just awesome to catch up with everyone! We stayed with our friends Rhonda and Bev! Thanks so much for opening your home to us!! We all miss you!! It was so nice to wake up and chat up a storm with my friend Rhonda, the creativity that flows out of her is so contagious!

We got to visit our new neice while out there!

She is so beautiful and just so precious! Ron and Debbie are going to be the best parents!!

All the visits went by just too quickly. And then it was time to turn around and come home. BC is just so beautiful! I miss the trees and the ocean and the mountains. I do think the roads are narrower there though LOL!!

I have been knitting for enjoyment lately and haven't knit up too many Coffee Condoms for the shop. I do have a few to put up though that I made with some soy/wool blend yarn that I found. On the way too BC, I knit a cute baby hat and on the way back, I started a baby sweater that is just about done. I will put up a picture when it is finished. I have been really enjoying just knitting for pleasure again. I think this is a sign that I have to get my rear in gear and make some other things for the shop. Now if my garden would stop begging for my attention!! LOL!!

I am going to put up a few pictures from our trip, but if you want to see more, you can go to my flickr site.

Have a beautiful day!!

Fast Week

2007-05-14T07:33:00.000-06:00

I swear time moves faster as we get older!!
This week was spent doing some stuff to get ready for our road trip to BC.

Daisy is now dosed up so that she doesn't get fleas or heartworm in BC. We don't have those here in Alberta. I think it's because it gets so cold here in the winter. She really liked this vet she saw because the vet got down on the ground to her level. I think that is just awesome!!!

I sold a Coffee Condom!! It has been a month since I sold the last one and I was getting a bit disheartened. I am still working on a few ideas for new items for the shop, but planning and packing seem to be taking over. Oh and I am a new aunty again!! So there are a few baby presents to be made to!!!!!

The weather was so beautiful this week, that we had our first impromptu picnic! We keep a picnic basket full of plates and other necessities in the back of our van for just such wonderful moments. It is so good to just stop the day for a while and have a picnic and enjoy each other's company!

We took a quick road trip to Red Deer to see our friends who were in town there for the weekend. It was such a great visit. The kids all really needed to see each other and it was great catching up. I do miss our friends from Cold Lake. Hopefully we will have some good visits over the summer.

I had a wonderful Mother's Day! I lazed around trying not to think of everything that needed to be done. I got some beautiful tulips and we had a wonderful dinner of Pho (actually we had bun, but it came from the Pho restaurant!) Yum!!!!!!

Well, I'm off to see what trouble I can get into!!!

To Market

2007-05-07T07:16:00.000-06:00

We had a beautiful weekend! The weather here was gorgeous! On Friday we went down the the market at the Currie Barracks and picked up some beautiful organic fruits and veggies, lovely artisan breads and some tasty nuts and dried fruits. Then a quick trip into the wine shop on site to oogle all the different wines. We tasted a few and purchased a couple wines we have never tasted before. I can't believe how crowded the market already is on Fridays! I have heard there is a new market that is open more days now so we are going to try to find that one this week.

Saturday and Sunday were spent outside! Besides a quick trip to the Balzac garden shop (taking the long way to take in some site seeing) we were out in gardens.

They don't call Alberta "Big Sky Country" for nothing!!

We added a few plants to the front garden, a new clematis and a blueberry bush and did some cleaning up especially in DD#1's herb garden. Hans got down in the grass and got up most of the dandelions. We like to do them by hand and not add chemicals to the world. We are slowly eliminating the grass in our front yard and replacing it with plants that need less water. I think this year we are going to find a bench for the front garden so we can sit and enjoy all the beautiful plants. One of my tulips finally decided to bloom! All the others are going to follow suit now.

Then it was into the backyard, which needed a big clean up. I got the table and chairs all scrubbed down while Hans reinforced our gazebo. It almost took off a few times in last years winds! With that done, it was on to the job of yard clean up. It is amazing how messy it can get with just the dog using it! It is all tidy now though and ready for barbeque season! Yesterday it was sausages, sweet potatoes and salad!! Yum!!

Today it is supposed to get up to 20C! So I think we finish turning over the back garden and get some lettuces and peas going! Have a mentioned how much I love this time of year!!!

Sleepy

2007-05-01T21:08:00.000-06:00

Do you ever have one of those days that when you wake up you are more sleepy than when you went to bed the night before?? Well, that's the type of day I have been having. I feel like I stayed up all night partying, but was actually in bed by 11:30pm! I knit a little this morning when I got up at 7:00am, but quickly put it aside and just listened to a couple of Craftcast podcasts. When I got DH up at 10:00am (he works night shift), I laid down and took a bit of a cat nap. That didn't help either. So, I've been slogging around the house all day, not getting around to much. I did take a few pictures in the garden of the first bee I have seen this year. He was enjoying one of the few flowers he could find.

I am heading to bed early tonight in hopes that I can be more productive tomorrow! NCIS and then lights out!

Night!!!

Purple Haze

2007-04-30T18:40:00.000-06:00

DD#1 is now living in a purple haze! The drywall and mudding and sanding and priming are finally done! Today she is painting her room purple. It is a sort of dusty lilac. She is quite pleased with the colour.

While avoiding being creative today, I have tidied the house and planted some new plants in the garden. DD#2 and I planted a Bleeding Heart bush. We also planted some garlic here and there in the garden to try to keep away the aphids and the bunnies! I hope that works!

I also played around with my camera some more. I am trying to learn all the millions of settings that it comes with! I have and Olympus Evolt-330. It is a digital SLR. This is a huge upgrade from my HP digital point and shoot and quite the learning curve from my non-digital Olympus SLR.

I took a few pictures of my studio cupboards. I am trying to organize most of my supplies in photo boxes from Michaels to try to keep everything uniform. So far, so good. Now if only I could find my desk amongst all of DD#1's stuff from her room!!!

Ok, no more excuses! I am off to create! LOL!!

Dirt Under My Fingernails

2007-04-29T18:33:00.000-06:00

I love spring!

Now that the snow is gone, this is my favourite time of year! I love the promise of the future that spring brings to us.

I was outside turning over the dirt in my vegetable garden this weekend! The soil seems really good this year. We will add a bit of our compost to it, but all in all it doesn't need much. I found a family of ladybugs in one of the boxes!! That makes me so excited. Hopefully that will mean less aphids this year!

The tulips out front are getting bigger! My checkered lilies are now showing their colours!

And my rhubarb is going nuts!!! I need to plant more this year.

It is so nice to be out in the garden!

My light box is working out well, though I have found out that Karma really likes it. He does like his boxes. All was fine until he decided to chase his tail!

Oh well, the pictures of my Coffee Condoms still turned out well. I may add another light source next time I do some shots. For now though I have put two more Coffee Condoms up in my shop!

Now I just have to find a place to store my lightbox so the cat doesn't destroy it again LOL!!!!

This week, since I have got ahead on my Coffee Condoms, I am going to focus on making some other things for my shop. I have been avoiding this for too long and have come up with too many excuses for not being creative. But this week I am committing myself to new ideas! Wish me luck!!!!

18 Years!!

2007-04-24T19:55:00.000-06:00

This past Sunday, DH and I celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary!! Happy Anniversary Hans! It is funny because in one way, I can't believe it has been 18 years already! Time sure flies! But in another way, I can't believe that it has only been 18 years. It seems like we have known each other forever and I can't remember a time when didn't love him! Every day I find something new to love about him. He is really an amazing man! He is very loving and caring and spoils me rotten and he is such a wonderful father too!
We had a wonderful day. We went downtown to the Bird store and got a new feeder to give the birds some peanuts and some suet refills. Then we had lunch at our favourite hot dog place - Le Chien Chaud. Yum!!! Next we hit Starbucks and got a free coffee for bringing our own mugs on Earth Day. Then home for some relaxing time. The kids were making sushi for dinner, so we decided to go out for sushi ourselves!! We tried out the new Sumo restaurant in our area. The sushi was delicious and the girls working there were so sweet! After a tea at Second Cup we came home and watched a movie and had a good discussion about it before bed. It was a wonderful day and I can hardly wait to see where this year takes us!!
We had what I hope is our last major snowfall this past Friday. It is already gone as we have had temperatures in the teens this past week. There was enough snow that Hans had to go out and shovel. Daisy LOVES when Hans has to shovel and just has to go out with him! Here is the one member of our family who can't get enough snow!

Take a close look at this picture! I don't know how she does this! Snow catching should be a winter Olympic sport!!! LOL!!!

I have been still knitting more Coffee Condoms and avoiding experimenting with other ideas that I have floating around my head. Hans built me a light box with some instructions that we found on the net.

I have a bunch of Coffee Condoms waiting to have their picture taken and I am going to retake the pictures of the ones already listed in my shop. I am quite excited to see how this works! I will post some pictures when they are done.

Is it Spring?

2007-04-11T20:45:00.000-06:00

So, what have I been up to??
I keep asking myself that too!
I have been knitting away, making up a bunch of Coffee Condoms that I will be putting up in my shop soon. I have also been hibernating quite a bit with all the snow we have been having on and off. I find it a bit depressing when we have 12C to 16C for a few days and then the next we wake up to snow and -10C. But alas, that is spring in Calgary. You would think that I would be used to it by now. This next week is supposed to be nice, though so hopefully that will bring my spirits back up!!!!

Michael's had a coupon for 50%off this past weekend! We picked up a starter kit for screen printing! I have succeeded in getting DH interested in it!! He is soooo creative and I hope this will give him an outlet for his creativity! I think it would be so great to put some of his art up in my shop or maybe one day for him to open his own Etsy shop!!! He is also a bit of a techie! We always say he is hardware and I am software. He likes to take the computers apart and add things and I enjoy the programming and such. You can find a link to the blog he is trying to get going up at the top right of my page. Say "hey" to him if you go take a look. He doesn't think anyone is looking at it. Of course, if he had more time, I am sure there would be more on his blog. It is a work in progress though!!!!

I am going to leave you today with some spring life from my garden! This makes me feel so good and gives me hope that the beautiful weather is on its way!!!

Happy Spring!!!!

2007-03-20T21:34:00.000-06:00

Spring is finally here!! I am so happy!!! I love spring. The morning started off with winter giving us a brief snowfall. Then it warmed up to a beautiful day this afternoon when spring officially began. What a wonderful sign that it is going to be a beautiful season.

Even my Coffee Condoms are looking bright and colourful!

I sold 2 yesterday at my Etsy shop! Yeah!! It makes me so happy that more people are finding these and are saving a small bit of the environment! I think I have knitted about a hundred by now. I love using mine and dh uses his all the time. We always get great comments when we take them out at the coffee shops.

We have been organizing like crazy here (yet another sign of spring!). DH organized his work room and put up some shelves to organize his tools. He actually got rid of some old hard drives!! That is a big step LOL!! My craft area is almost done! I will take some pictures of it in a couple of days! It is going to be so nice to be able to leave my projects out until they are done!!

Well, back to knitting!!

Oh no another craft...

2007-03-16T18:05:00.000-06:00

Yesterday we were at "The Store Upstairs" in Airdrie, I went just to get some more fluffy trim yarn. Well, they had a few things on sale that I just couldn't pass up.

I got the 2007 Knitting and Crochet Pattern-a-Day calendars for just $9.99 each!! Wow there are a lot of patterns in these calendars! I was really good and passed the Beading and Cross-stitch versions. The store also had their Klutz Press books on for half-price!! I have a weakness for Klutz Press! I picked up the Simple Embroidery book!!

Now I am hooked! I have been thinking of trying some embroidery and had picked up Classic Inspirations magazine the other day. Wow what an amazing magazine! This book by Klutz really did a great job explaining the basic stitches. DD#2 and I each picked out a design from the book and ironed them on to hankies and away we went. I picked this cute cupcake.

What do you think? I knew most of the stitches, but this is the first time I have done a chain stitch. Loads of fun!!! I am going to do a bit more practicing and then it is on to big and better things!!

Mother Nature has a sense of humor

2007-03-14T17:39:00.000-06:00

I do believe that Mother Nature has a sense of humor! We had almost a week of beautiful weather. It got up to 16C and the snow had just all melted. We even had rain the other night! The following evening, it started snowing an overnight we got over 12cm of snow!! That's almost 5 inches-- overnight!! By the next afternoon, at least the roads had melted, but there is still snow on the ground and it may snow again tonight. By Saturday, we are going to be into a Chinook again and it is supposed to be up to 16C again!!! She is such a tease!! I was out an about without a coat a couple of days ago in short sleeves!!

I had a sale this week!! Yes, it was my dear sis-in-law, but it was still a sale!! LOL! She purchased 3 of my bookmarks. I would love to find some coffee/tea related charms to make more of these bookmarks so that I could keep in that theme for my Etsy shop. I finally got a car wash today and put on my Etsy shop address decal that I got from HardcoreBaby . It is really cool! I put it on the back window of the van in hopes that people behind me will notice it.

The Coffee Condoms are all knitted up, now I am just adding the trim on them. They will be done and on their way by this weekend!! It has taken me a lot longer to make them than I thought they would. I think I have been doing too many other things at the same time. The basement/craft room is looking great though and DD#1 has a door on her room finally!! I will leave you today with a few pictures of the new additions.

2007-03-06T20:23:00.000-07:00

Chinook....more snow...chinook.....

Today was beautiful. I think it got up to 10C today. The snow of the last few weeks is melting quickly. There are puddles everywhere! It is supposed to be a warm week!

The craft room is basically done.

It has now been primed and the cupboards are up!! It is really great to finally see it get to this point. Now we have to go get our work tables and maybe a few more shelves. I was thinking of putting up a book shelf underneath the whole set of cabinets. It would be great to have my craft books all right where I do my crafts!! DS was happy to have his own cupboard for his art and claymation stuff. We went through all our games and puzzles and really thinned them out. We do love our board games!! It was hard to do, but we all agreed that we had outgrown some. I still have a bunch of stuff that I have to find a place for though. Where did all this stuff come from?? LOL!!! I am thinking of destashing some of my yarn (big step for me) and may list it on my Etsy site. With all this beautiful sun, I should get some great pictures of my stuff. I am really enjoying my new camera. Still figuring it all out, but it is getting easier!!

I have almost finished my Coffee Condom order. It has taken me a bit longer than I thought because of the work in the basement and having caught my daughter's cold. But I am back on track and they are almost done! I have been trying to put a couple in my shop as well. It sure has been a slow start to the year, but I am confident that things will pick up!

Lots of Coffee Condoms

2007-02-16T18:28:00.000-07:00

The snow has finally stopped here and we are having a chinook! I love chinooks even though they are making the roads really sloppy. Just make sure you have lots of washer fluid and you are fine!

I have been asked to make 20 Coffee Condoms!! So, that means I have been knitting up a storm. I took most of yesterday off though because my hands were aching. I have about 8 done so far and will probably finish at least one more tonight! Hopefully they will be all done by early next week. Now if only my Etsy shop would pick up some speed. Here is a picture of what I am using as my knitting bag. It works really well for small projects and I can take a lot of colours with me as well as some extra stuff.

The craft area in the basement is almost ready to be primed!! DH should be finished sanding this weekend and may even get around to the priming!!! Next step is to get the cabinets- maybe from IKEA - and then paint! Then we will put in the work tables and tada!! Then it will be on to DD#1's bedroom. That should probably only take a weekend to mud and prime. There are not nearly as many seams and DH knows what he is doing now!! DD#1 can hardly wait to paint her room. It has been a long time coming.

I've joined a tea swap over on Swap-bot. I haven't done a swap in a while and never on swap-bot. I thought a tea swap would be a great way to get back into swaps. I've sent out my swaps and now just have to wait to get mine!! This is so much fun!!!

Well, off to knit!!

New Ideas

2007-02-06T17:24:00.000-07:00

I have been playing around with some new ideas for Caffeinated Crafts. I have been researching ideas and trying to give them a caffeinated theme. Today I was playing with paper!! I made my first ever single signature book!

It is in the shape of a tea bag! I need to work at getting the pages neater, but I am very pleased with how it turned out.
The other thing I made today was a set of tea cards with envelopes.

The envelopes seal up in a way that you have to tear into them like you would when you tear open a tea bag. I still have to add something to the card and get some good sized stickers for the front of the envelopes so that you can write the address and such. I am pleased with these as well!!

Otherwise, I have been doodling and oranizing my craft supplies. I have also still been knitting up Coffee Condoms. I sold one this week after having a dry spell since christmas. Hopefully by adding some other products to my etsy site, sales will pick up. I would really like to make this more of a business, but it will really only improve if I shake off my shyness and promote myself more!

Well, off to see what else I can come up with!
Bye for now!

Black and Red

2007-01-25T22:32:00.000-07:00

Hi all!
I put a new Coffee Condom up on Etsy today. Go check it out!

I knit up a bunch to send to Outsider Art in a Box. Now I am making a few more to add to my shop. I am also working on a few different caffeine related items to add to my shop. I am going through a bit of a creative slump though and have to pick just one or two ideas to focus on.

I bought a new Fiskars rotary trimmer today at Michael's. I was getting frustrated with my little one because I couldn't get a straight line. So when I saw this on on sale, I jumped on it. It is really cool because you can add different blades to it to cut in different patterns! The cat is sleeping on it right now because it is still in it's box and the cat LOVES to sleep in boxes. I will have to play with it tomorrow!! LOL!!

I went to Office Depot tonight to pick up some boxes that I like to use, but they were sold out of quite a few of them. DD#2 picked up one to mail off a package and then I noticed that the Post-It notes were on sale!! Since I do love my post-it notes, I had to pick up a couple. I got ones shaped like arrows and ones shaped like hearts!! So much fun!!

Well, off to knit a bit more before bed!

Happy New Year

2007-01-17T16:59:00.000-07:00

Hi!
Yes I know it's the middle of January already, but I am still going to wish everyone a happy new year!
I have been spending the last couple of weeks trying to figure out the direction in which I want Caffeinated Crafts to head.
I still love my Coffee Condoms, but since I love to do all kinds of crafts I was getting a little bored with them. I have decided that I since my name is Caffeinated Crafts, that I am going to all things themed with Caffeine. Coffee will be my main focus with my love for tea being second. I have been brainstorming with a bunch of ideas and now have to sit down and try to create some of them. So watch this space and my Etsy shop for some new things.
Another new thing is that this is my first blog entry written on my new MacBook!!! I haven't used an Apple since I was doing some programming in high school! That was 20 years ago!!! They sure have changed LOL!! It has been pretty easy to get used to it, now I just want to figure out how to get the most of it. I've used pc's for the last 10 years and am very comfortable with them and getting them back to the way I want them if I experiment with a program or setting. Now I just need to get as comfortable with this Mac! One of the things you will notice is missing in this blog post is pictures! I have yet to figure out how to see the network and the pc that has all my pictures! I will figure that out soon I am sure and then it will be back to the pictures!
Well, that's it for now! If you haven't checked out my friend Rhonda lately, go visit her blog and see all the new things going on with Outsider Art in a Box!!
Bye!

About Me

2006-12-21T18:59:00.004-07:00

I am a creative spirit with a lot of interests. I love photography, crafts, cooking, gardening and so much more! I am owner and designer of Caffeinated Crafts.
I live in Calgary, Alberta with my best friend and husband. We have homeschooled our 3 children since birth.

More Thrifting!!

2006-12-14T18:03:00.000-07:00

Hello! My name is Kathy and I am addicted to Thrift Stores!!
LOL!!

Yes I was thrifting again ! Last night we stopped into VV boutique. We found a few good things. I got Drawing on the Right Side of Your Brain. I've been meaning to buy this book for a while.
I also spotted this black case. When I opened it, it turned out to be a liquor case! It will be perfect for something! Then today when I was at Goodwill, I found another one!! This one is brown. They will be perfect for organizing something. If anyone has any ideas of what to use them for, please let me know!

The best thing though was when we were at Goodwill today. You see, we have a regular sized tree this year. For the past 4 or 5 years, we have just had a small mantel top tree with miniature decorations. This year we bought an artificial tree that is pre-light. Yes, I know it is cheating, but it is just easier for us. Well, after putting on the decorations, I needed to find something for the top of the tree. I have a crocheted angel that my aunt made for me, but I just didn't feel like that was what I wanted this year. So I have been looking for a star or something. I told DH that I would only get something when I found just the right thing. Today at Goodwill, I found this:

Isn't she beautiful!!! To me, she is Winter. That is what this time of year is about to me. It is more about the changing of the seasons than the whole commercial, crowded mall thing. I put her on top of our tree and she fit perfectly!! I am just so happy!!!

Now to try to get some crafting done!!

Blogging Break

2006-12-13T16:22:00.000-07:00

Christmas presents are done and in the mail!!!!! Yeah!! Now back to our regular scheduled life! LOL!!!! Thanks for being patient with me during that blogging break!

I have put up a few new Coffee Condoms on my Etsy shop if you want to go take a look. I have also put up a mini "instructions not included" kit. It is still stuffed full of goodies, but in a smaller box to save on postage.

I have made a few cool thrifting finds! I have been looking for a kitchen witch for some time and hadn't yet found the perfect one. Well, I was in MCC and look who found me!! It's my fairy godmother! She is perfect and hanging beautifully in my kitchen.

I found these 2 mugs, this cute piggie fabric and these great scarves all on the same day at Goodwill. DH also picked up a Danier Leather jacket for $11 at the same time. I love days like that!!

The best find though was this wonderful sewing box at VV boutique!! It was still full of stuff and not priced yet. When we asked the price, the guy was going to bring it into the back to take all the stuff out, but DH wouldn't let him. LOL!! We got the whole thing for $20 + 25% off! Perfect!!!

I am trying to come up with some different crafts to try. I was thinking of trying my hand at needle felting. I love all the needle felted toys I see on the net and would love to be able to make some myself. Of course, that means finding the supplies. I think my local knitting store should have them.

I got out my sewing machine and whipped up a little purse and a pair of pj pants for DD#2.

After everything settles down around here, I am going to sew up a few more things. I would love to make a laptop bag for myself and have the perfect pattern for one. It is just difficult to sew here since my sewing table is also the kitchen table. Can you imagine that family actually want to use the kitchen table for eating!!! LOL!! Jeez!!!

Well, talking about eating, it is about dinner time, so I am off to find some food!!

Thrifting Fun

2006-11-05T16:15:00.000-07:00

Look at these wonderful fabrics that I found at the thrift stores!! All the rolled up ones were found at MCC ( I love that they put the sizes on the fabric) and the other was found at Value Village. The pink one is 3 yards and it was $3.99. I was thinking of maybe making a laptop sleeve with the pink fabric. My hands are getting a little bored of knitting at the moment and are itching for something else, so I thought I would pull out my new sewing machine and actually give it some work. I will keep you updated on my progress!

Happy Crafting!

Autumn Arrives

2006-10-18T08:25:00.000-06:00

Well, autumn has really hit here. Some days it feels like winter, but it is only a tease of the cold weather yet to come.

We spent Thanksgiving with our friends up in Cold Lake. There was good friends, good food and a lot of great fun! Dinner was a neighbourhood potluck! There was so much food and it was all so delicious! Thanks everyone for including us in the fun! The driving time to and from Cold Lake was great for knitting and I got a bunch of coffee condoms knit up. Go check the shop to see what is new. Nena took me to her local quilting shop. What beautiful colours there are when you come in the door! I saw so many wonderful quilts, but again had to put my hands in my pockets and not start a new craft -yet.

I have one new thing listed on Etsy. It is called "instructions not included" and it is what I call and ispiration kit. An inspiration kit is a starting point for those times when you need new ideas. It consists of all types of mixed media to help trigger the creative process. Pick just one piece or a mixture of items to help spark a new idea. You could even use the box! It’s up to you! Instructions are not included! There is a ton of stuff in there like bottle caps, glass slides, cut out words, tags, fabric and soooo much more! They weigh about 300g including the box. My friend Rhonda is having a draw on her site Outsider Art in a Box for her new project of subscriptions to Outsider Art in a Box. You can win on of my boxes in her draw along with some other wonderful things! Go check it out!!!

I have taken this past week off from knitting as my wrist was upset with all the work it has had to do, but it has stopped complaining so I am back to knitting. Now that it is getting cold, I have to finish up the Darth scarf for DH to wear to work. What a great pattern!
Well, off to knit!

Catch the Flying Time

2006-10-03T08:41:00.000-06:00

Where does the time go?? Has anyone ever figured this out? It seems like the older I get, the shorter the days seem. I swear I used to get more done in a day than I do now and my kids are older and need me less?? It is a mystery to me!!

I have made up a bunch more Coffee Condoms and will be putting them up on my Etsy site, Caffeinated Crafts, daily. I have had a few requests for custom colour combinations and I love that! It is great to see other peoples' ideas. I also just finished a cozy for my French press. I am going to try it out on mine today and then I may make up a few to sell.

DD#1 and I were thinking about doing a craft fair this year, but all the craft fairs in our area were only 1 day. When did that happen? When I used to do them years ago with my sister, they were 2 or 3 days even if it was a long weekend. Now they are asking for $40 for just 6 hours! I can't imagine doing all that planning and setting up for only 6 hours of sale time. It just doesn't seem worth it.

I love all of the crafty podcasts out in cyberspace. Have you listened to them? I really enjoy turning on my ipod, putting on my earphones and listening to all those creative people while knitting away. There are some amazing people out there and they are all so inspiring!! I have even got an FM receiver for my car so I can listen to them when I am driving or waiting to pick up DD#1 from work.
Here is a list of my favourite podcasts:

Cast-On
CraftSanity
Crafty Chica
Crafty Girls
CraftyPod
Cut Out + Keep
Knit with Cat Hair
KnitCast
Lime & Violet
SCRAPcast
The Mosh Knit

If you know of any others that I am missing, I would love to hear about them!

Have a beautiful day!

Visits and Crafting

2006-09-26T17:53:00.000-06:00

I had a wonderful visit from my friend Nena and her kids this past weekend. It was sooo nice to see them. We miss them so much since they moved up north. We did a lot of chatting, a lot of crafting and ok-- some drinking :) Nena is working on Eris for her mom. It is so beautiful and what a wonderful pattern! We went down to Fabricland for Nena to pick up some quilting supplies. I had to close my eyes and put my hands in my pockets and repeat "I do not need another hobby... I do not need another hobby!" LOL!!! Boy was that hard!!

I knit up some more Coffee Condoms this weekend and finished some for a wholesale order as well. Check out my Etsy site to see the new ones. Caffeinated Crafts. I also have some bookmarks and some stitch markers on there.

Autumn has arrived. The leaves are turning beautiful colours and there is a slight nip in air. I love this time of year. The feeling of change is so exciting and I love preparing for the colder days of winter. We are going to try a lot of new soups this autumn and winter. Our current favourite is "Scrumptious Spanish Chickpea and Chorizo Soup" from Jamie Oliver's cookbook "jamie's dinners". It is so good!! You will have to give it a try!
Well, off to the library!

Busy Brain

2006-09-17T15:12:00.000-06:00

Have you ever had so many things running through your brain that you find it hard to stop and focus on just one thing? My brain has been running that way for the past month and it still hasn't stopped!! My friend Rhonda from Outsider Art in a Box and her partner Bev came for a visit last month. Being around Rhonda or even chatting with her gets my creativity revved up! She has so many great ideas and her passion for art is contagious. I have been mulling over quite a few ideas and I hope to bring some here and on Etsy soon. I just need to stop and focus a bit more to get the things that are bouncing around in my brain out of there and into something concrete!! Wish me luck!! And if anyone has any useful ideas to help focus, I would be glad to hear them!

In other areas in my life, the garden is slowly coming to a close for the year. We have had our first light snow even though it is technically still summer. We have cut back all the peas and lettuces and put them in the compost. We got some wonderful salads from our garden this year and the best part was to see my DD#2 go out with a colander to the garden to pick lettuce, peas, radishes and carrots and come in with a big grin to make a salad for us for dinner! I still have some carrots, zucchinis and beets growing and am waiting for the rest of the beans to dry out a bit to save to plant next year.

Well, I'm off to try to focus!

OK.....

2006-07-31T17:37:00.000-06:00

Ok, here I am. I've been busy as a bee working on different things and planning things.
First of all, my garden is doing beautifully!! We have more lettuce and peas than we know what to do with. LOL!!
We made our front garden a bit bigger and now have a bit less grass! Yeah!!

On the crafting front, I have been busy making up a bunch of Coffee Condoms for the project - Outsider Art in a Box - that my friend Rhonda has been doing. I sent her off 20 the other day. I call them Coffee Condoms not coffee sleeves, because a friend of mine gave those cardboard coffee sleeves that name years ago and I can't think of them as anything else. My dh came up with a slogan for them: "Use a Coffee Condom, don't get burned!" I know, LOL, funny guy, but it really works for them. I have also been working on my Celtic Knot sweater and have finally got it going again. I really want to finish this one before I start knitting another big project.

As I mentioned in my last quick post, I have finally opened and Etsy shop. You can find me at Caffeinated Crafts

I have added some of my bookmarks and stitch markers so far and have more to add. There is also one of my Coffee Condoms and there will be more as I make them. Please come on over and have a look and tell me what you think!

I am going to fix up this blog a bit and then go knit some more!
Happy Crafting!

Etsy shop

2006-07-31T13:56:00.000-06:00

Just a quick post to let you know that I have opened an Etsy shop to sell some of my crafts and maybe pay for my addiction of buying craft supplies LOL!!
You can find it at Caffeinated Crafts
I will be back with more details and pictures soon!!

Blog slap

2006-06-19T20:34:00.000-06:00

Really good........
Start a new blog and then run away! Sorry about that! It is amazing how life can take you away from things so quickly.
Here I am though. I have been doing very little crafting as of late. My mom bought me a new sewing machine and all I have had time to do is try it out! I did cut out a pattern, but have yet to get around to sewing it. I have been working on a project for my friend Rhonda. You can check her out at Outsider Art In A Box
She is one of my inspirations when it comes to creativity! I can only hope to be half as creative as she is!
Otherwise, I have been out in my garden! It is coming along fairly well. Hopefully next year I will get some more plants started! Here is a couple of pictures of the vegetable garden. Hubby did a great job building what was in my head!

Intro!!

2006-05-16T14:00:00.001-06:00

I find myself bouncing from one craft to another quite often. I thought I would put together a blog about the different crafts I like to do or new ones I am trying. I had a previous blog called Evolved Yarn, but my knitting slowed down so I didn't post for a while. I thought it funny to post my sewing or beading or such on my knitting blog so just neglected the whole thing.
So here I am to keep myself and anyone else interested posted on what crazy things I am up to!

Welcome!!

2006-01-01T16:08:00.000-07:00