Happy Thanksgiving!

First of all - Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you all have an absolutely wonderful day full of family and friends and great food. Just don't eat too much ok?

Yesterday was my birthday and we had a fantastic time! Mommy made a home made cake and it was quite yummy. Yes, I'm 27, yes, I still call her Mommy. Got a problem with that? No? Good.

My sweater is finished!

Didn't she do an incredible job?

If there was any lingering doubt about where I get my creative talent, I hope that just laid it to rest :P Because my Mommy ROCKS :D

Crafty ADD Update #16

Lots to show off this week - so lets dive right in!

Knitting

Goal - 72 inches. As of last week - 35 1/2 inches. As of this week - 48 1/2 inches! I knitted over a foot this week :D And I'm going to have to knit over a foot to have it done this week like I want so I can start the next one. I'm currently imating the little engine that could, "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can."

Cross Stitch

I finally completed the piece of fabric!

I'm quite proud of how this book mark turned out :) Since it's entirely my own design. *take a bow* I'm definitely not planning on picking up a cross stitch hoop again until Christmas is over though... unless by some random happenstance I get a custom order. Mom has them all now and she's putting the backing on for me. For some reason I can't seem to handle the simple act of ironing on the backing. Go figure :P

Jewelry

My evil twins Christmas present is finished!

Her necklace was actually really challenging. The band is made from peyote stitch and I've never done a strip that long before! Plus it has two size beads, which always makes things more interesting. Adding on the drops at the end was easy though. Kind of like a nice little treat at the end. I can't wait to see it on her! She helped me plan it all out so this is one Christmas present I can blog about :D

I've also spent a lot of time putting together earrings to restock my main consignment store. I sold a bunch of stuff over Sept/October and I got the bracelets restocked but I didn't manage to get the earrings restocked right away. Things have just been crazy. Hoping to get them all priced and take them in tomorrow :D

Catching Up :)

This has been a crazy week. I started out on a roll, listing, blogging, promoting, and even some sales! Then I had what felt like a million doctors appointments, and then I got attacked by the migraine monster and it nearly ate me alive! I don't like the migraine monster...

The good news is so far today the migraine monster is staying away and I can start catching up on life! Woohoo! So I've been checking in with my teams, responding to e-mails, and of course promoting like crazy :D

I do plan on getting my Crafty ADD post up later but I need to clean my kitchen and get my laundry started... So for now I just want to show some of the listings of either relisted or listed for the first time before I crashed last week :D Tell me which one is your favorite and get an extra entry into the Top Commentators contest!

Featuring the Fab Miss B!!!

I know - I'm a day late on my Friday Featured Artist - but yesterday was a bad day - and I didn't want to risk completely skipping such a fabulous artist! Becky is also our Featured Etsy Blogger of the Month :D

1. What type of art work do you do?

I create Pipettes! They were inspired by vintage ornaments I've collected for ages. They are made with humble chenille pipe cleaners, but I add lots of luxe embellishments like silk ribbons, antique lace, mother of pearl buttons, feathers, sequins and vintage costume jewelery. Their heads are all carefully hand painted too.

I also love to paint and am constantly making new illustrations, which I sell as prints and greeting cards. The originals are watercolor and ink and they are always whimsical and even a bit silly!

2. How did you get started doing art work?

Ever since I was little, I loved to draw and make things with my hands. The Pipettes originated when I decided to make a pipe cleaner bride and groom for our wedding cake three years ago. I've been making them ever since and they've gone through lots of changes! They've become more elaborate and sophisticated.

3. Do you do any other crafts?

I was trained as a florist while I lived in Chicago, so here and there I dabble in making floral corsages and crowns. I just outfitted an entire wedding party for a dear friend! I also like to cook and take photographs.

4. Is there a story behind your shop name?

My husband and I love to travel and are lucky to have lived all over the world- Kenya, Uganda, China, Chicago, Las Vegas, and now we're trying out life on an island- The Big Island of Hawaii!

We adopted our funny last name- Kazana- while traveling in Africa just after getting married. It's a Swahili word that means "To make a home" and it reminds us that our home is where the other is.

5. What's your favorite piece in your shop right now?

I'm madly in love with Daschshunds- someday I'd love to have a whole gaggle of them running around a farm. But for now, hanging Daisy on my Christmas tree is as close as I can get!

6. Where do you sell your work?

I have two shops on etsy. One for my original Chenille Pipette Dolls and artwork:

http://beckykazana.etsy.com

and one for Vintage and One of a Kind Finds:

http://thefabmissb.etsy.com

7. Do you blog?

I blog about the inspiration I find around me every day on The Fab Miss B:

http://www.thefabmissb.blogspot.com

Swing by and say hello! I love to meet new folks!

8. Are you on any social networks you'd like to share?

Let's be friends! Here is my Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/people/Becky-Larson/1047722678

and my Tweets too! https://twitter.com/BeckyKazana

9. Do you watch or listen to anything while you work? If so, what?

I love listening to music while I work. I often use Pandora radio (http://www.pandora.com), where you can create stations based on your musical preferences. Right now I'm listening to Julie London Radio non-stop. I can't help but create glamorous Pipettes when listening to all those amazing chanteuses from the 40's, 50's and 60's.

10. Tell us one random fact about your self *wink*

I adore champagne and never save it for special occasions. It's far too wonderful for that!

Here and Gone Again

No pictures in this post because blogger isn't behaving and I don't have time to fight with it today! I'm having a busy week, somehow all my doctors appointments for the month seemed to end up this week! So I spent the morning at the doctors office today getting my bi-weekly shot (fell asleep too!) then came home and instead of having a productive after noon... I fell asleep again! LOL The shot tends to make me sleepy but this was ridiculous! Oh well. The good news is I also came home find there had been two sales in my BNR treasury (including one for my shop, thanks Spirit Mama!)!!!!

I'm having a friend over to join me and Mo for dinner tonight - then going over to check out her apartment and have some girl time tonight. So I just did a few quick things in the shops this afternoon :) My Artfire shop now has a Clearance section! There are only two items in it right now (lol) but there will be more added in the days to come! I also added more to the clearance section in my etsy shop, so stop by there and see what's new!

Now I'm off to tidy up my apartment and make some hamburger stroganoff :) What should I listen too? I think I'm the mood for more Elvis...

Lots Going On!

So much going on! I've been promoting like crazy - both for myself - and passing on the fantastic finds I see out there! Plus I have some ideas... Working to develop them but I can't let the cat out of the bag yet! Anyway, here's some of my latest items :) You know the drill, let me know your favorite and get an extra entry into the Top Commentator Contest!

Oh - and I also added some new items to my clearance section - so go check it out!

Crafty ADD Update #15

Well - I missed a week of doing my Crafty ADD updates :( It made me sad because I was ON TRACK with everything after my bazaar...until I sprained my ankle and had to ride in the elevator that had just been painted and got a HUGE whiff of paint and was dealing with both the ankle pain and massive migraines. Yah. Lots of things got missed the first half of last week :P So here's where I'm at THIS week :P

Knitting

I was so excited cuz it looks like it's getting pretty long! 35 1/2 inches! And only one small mistake that I know the recipient won't mind right? Um, until I started thinking about what that translates too. Based on who the recipient is Mom said I should make this 6 ft long...which means that I'm only half done! Oy vey! I can dooo it! My goal is to be done by the time Thanksgiving is over so I can start on my last scarf Christmas present. Who thinks I can do it? I do! And here I was soooo proud of myself for knitting my way through the entirety of the "The Corpse Bride" the other night...

Cross Stitch

Almost done! Working on the border, should have that done in the next day or two, then I'll hand it off to Mom to let her put the backing on it. I'd do it, but I don't want to ruin it :P Don't worry, I'll take one last shot before I pass it off! And then no more cross stitch until my Thanksgiving Weekend bazaar is over :) Maybe not till after Christmas. Because my next project is for a wedding next summer and I have plenty of Christmas presents to work on....

Jewelry

My Mother in Law ordered some charms at the bazaar last weekend and this is what I came up with for her :) She smiled pretty big when I delivered them so I'll take that as a good sign!

While I was at it I whipped up three more charms to (eventually) restock my store with because they were pretty good sellers for me at the bazaar :) At the very least I'll get them tagged before my next bazaar, but it would be nice to get them on-line too. We'll see...

I've found myself getting caught up the last few days in a mad frenzy of "promote, write, promote, promote, network, promote!" and while all that has it's place, I wasn't creating anything! NOT GOOD! So I'm trying to come back to a healthy balance by working at the computer for awhile and then doing crafty stuff for awhile and then switching again. Seems to be working well so far :) I'm feeling much less stressed for one thing! Creating relaxes me :D Although technically it's still work... Anyway, I was looking around trying to decide which project I wanted to work on when I took my first break this morning and these purple chips caught my eye, I bought them last week and hadn't got them put away yet, so I whipped up a bracelet!

This is the detail to the neckband on my evil twin's Christmas present. Don't worry, this is one Christmas present I can blog about, I let her help me design it! The band is almost done...hoping to have this finished in the next day or two. I'll take more pictures, don't worry!