Handmade Gift Exchange Linky Party!

It's that time!!  The time where all the handmade gifts are finally in their new owners hands.  Now we all want to share our new items so we've been busy taking pictures and uploading them in a linky party!   It is so exciting to rummage through all the links and see what people have come up with.  You can browse too just visit this this link to Craftaholics Anonymous.

First I want to show you what I gave to my partner.  She loves lots of colors just like I do so I thought it would be fun to put a little spring in her kitchen during these short winter days.

A lime green Wash Blossom (dish cloth), a bright pink ChrysanthePad (hot pad or trivet) and a bright blue Scrub Bud (pot scrubber).  The wash cloth and hot pad are both made with 100% cotton.  The pot scrubber is 100% nylon and works GREAT on pots, rough feet and getting the grim off your precious tire rims!

Now for my gift! :)  My partner did great at reading between the lines of our email conversations and picked up on the fact that I teach yoga.  So she gave me a yoga mat carrier, with POCKETS!!  I think the pockets are so cool because you can fit your yoga belt, keys, lip gloss, drivers license; all together in one and head to class.  How AWESOME is that??  Check it out!

Ready for class!

Check out the pockets...ALL THE WAY AROUND!
And you can see the pretty green material on the inside...super classy.

It was a hit!

I love the colors and just the idea that it's handmade.  I mean really...who would have thought to make a yoga mat bag??  MY PARTNER, THAT'S WHO!  Kudo's to my partner Jody...best handmade, surprise gift EVER!

Have you ever participated in a gift exchange for someone you didn't know?  If not I suggest you do!

Commission Work Meanderings...

So I was reading through some of my favorite blogs the other day and I came across a post from Handmade Crafts Done While RVing about doing commission work and how it really can be a way of life.  I have never thought I could maintain a living (although secretly wanted to) based on my crafts and talents.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not fishing for compliments here, but who would want my stuff?  My crafts?  My talents?  Thankfully I have had some very satisfied customers and I feel sooo blessed when I can share my God given talents. 

I sat at a farmers market nearly every Wednesday afternoon this summer in a small mid-Kansas town.  I would say that over all I had minimal success.  I sat in the heat of the sun, chatting and crocheting.  But when I sold something my heart lept!  I was so thrilled and I almost felt guilty that I was getting money for something that made me so happy.  But no matter how happy I am, it doesn't feed the belly...ya know? 

Christmas is coming and there is a lull in sales....like zero in over a month.  I keep telling myself that it's the economy...but maybe it's not?!  Maybe my fear of no one wanting my stuff is coming true?  So I make more stuff, out of nervousness...and if any of you have ever been in an RV you know there is very little storage space....SO BUY MY STUFF!!  LOL 

I enjoy crochet so much that it consumes many hours in a day.  I probably give away more than I sell, but it all gives me joy.  I love to watch someone's eyes light up when they see their creations I made just for them.  I love the smell of a new skein of quality yarn.  I love the feel of the fibers sliding through my fingers.  I love creating and learning.  I love that God trusted me with this very special ability and no matter what I make, sell, or give away I hope that I never take it for granted.

When you shop this Christmas, think about shopping handmade.  Items made with love and passion reflect in handmade work.  Get a true one of a kind item instead of something that everyone on the block has.  Buy from your friends, from their friends, make a connection, feed a belly. I will do everything possible to make a customer happy, can you say that about the local chain store?

Some favorites I've made....

Child's Pom-Pom Hat

I love the soft colors of this shawl.

I can stay warm AND keep working!



Wash Blossom and Chrysanthepad



Child's Vest

Car Seat Star Cuddle - small enough to cover but not too bulky

Hair flowers

Ballerina Bear

Scrub Buds...yes I'm working on a flower theme for the kitchen!

Driving, Crocheting and the "Yart"!



New Gloves!



Initially you will wonder what this post has to do with crochet but keep reading...it's a funny story!

Joe and I have been "kinda" looking at getting a new vehicle.  My Jeep Liberty has been a great vehicle but the gas mileage is not the best.  Miss Liberty peaked over 100K miles on our last trip to Kansas.  As if by clockwork things started going wrong.  A/C not all that great...a few hail dings here and there....2 windows wouldn't roll down anymore with out a heck of a lot of duct tape...and then the clutch went out.  After a couple of months of sitting in the driveway Miss Liberty went "under the knife" and got a new clutch...yeah!  But that still didn't help with the 15mpg and we really didn't know if we could fix, rig or ignore the next problem.  "Bulldog" Joseph spent hours online looking for just the right car.  Spaceous enough for just the two of us and our cleaning gear...high mpg...economical...manual transmission.  It's the last one that seemed to get us.  Saturday we got on the motorcycle with the plan to make this huge circle through KC, Lawrence and Topeka looking at some cars we found online.  Only one of those were manual....the first one we went to.  We already knew we wanted a manual transmission so why we went there first is beyond me but by the end of the day that's the only place we went to and came away with an appointment for Monday to bring in the Jeep for a trade-in estimate.  Then the craziness began.  "Bulldog" got back on the internet and found the almost exact same car in Omaha for $3,500 less...seriously how can we not jump on that?!  We called, they offered to hold it if we'd put some money down.  This was at closing time on Saturday night, they were closed on Sunday, if we played our cards right we could be there when they opened the doors on Monday morning...so we declined to put money down.  4:30 am Monday morning we are up, do our rounds and get on the road for a 4 hour drive.  We were within an hour of arriving and Joe thought he would call and let them know, leave a message, whatever.  Surprisingly it was answered and that's when we were told the car was already being sold.  WHAT??  Well apparently someone called after hours, got ahold of a salesman that was more then willing to take their deposit to hold it until Monday.  Well CRAP!!  On to plan B...we turn around and head to KC....but if any of your live near the Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa border you know there is some river flooding going on.  Needless to say we had to go out of our way a little to get the road we needed.  We called the KC dealer and said we could be there around noon...he was busy til 3.  We decided to keep cool in the movie theater.  FINALLY we make it to the dealer, wait, go through all the appraisal stuff, wait, sign papers, wait, and GET THE KEYS!  Ya wanna know how much we got for the Jeep???  $3,500  God sure has a sense of humor!  So we are the proud owners of a Toyota Yaris.  My husband thinks we could fit in inside our F350....and it looks like a go-cart so it has been tagged as the Yart.

On to the crochet portion!!  Since we were doing all this driving (we finally got home about 7:30 pm) I had time to crochet.  I've made these gloves on a a commission project for a friend and I really like how they turned out.  When I got this tiedyed, rainbow colored yarn I thought it would be a GREAT time to make another pair.  They are available on my Etsy.com store so get them while they're hot!



The last picture of me and Miss Liberty...crocheting away!



I'm guessing they took about 7 hours to complete these~

ECU (extreme close-up) purdy colors!



Available at my Etsy shop!



Got the keys and heading out!

Yart nose...

Yart butt...

Don'tcha think it would fit inside the truck??

SEE YA!!