Yay... One of my designs is featured on one of the winning posters for the "Etsy Poster Contest". The posters were created by Etsy users. There were Total Number of Entries: 901, Winning Entries: 60 , Honorable Mentions: 160. Thanks to all those etsyans who submitted poster entries and special thank you to "greenweenie" who created this winning poster with my "Winter's Branch" earrings (3rd row, 3rd from left).Here is one of my other top favorite posters as well. Very hard to chose as they are all great!
Quentin and I like to create things. We saw this simple yet modern bassinet that was too expensive (or so we thought until we made our own). Quentin said that he wanted to make it before the baby arrived. I knew that on Quentin's time line this would no easy feat. He spends way to much time over-engineering things in the concept/planning phase then never gets the projects done.
Well this project was no different. He started on it about 4 month's ago and it just kept taking longer and longer to get it done as he would go back to the plans and update/improve them.
My part in this project was to make a hammock for this bassinet with no pattern to go by. I also had to wait until Quentin got the whole frame completed before I could start as I had to measure it and design the pattern on the frame. I am not the best at that type of thing as it requires precise measurements and calculations and I'm much better at guestimation and making things do.
Last weekend Quentin finally finished the frame. Tuesday I completed the pattern and cutting the pieces out. Then Wednesday a.m. at 4 in the morning (can't sleep so I might as well be productive) I started sewing. I finished it at about 8 p.m. Even though it looks simple, it was not the easiest project but it turned out quite nice. Quentin still has to sand and finish the frame and then it is all ready to go.
I am 39 weeks pregnant and I do not recognize my own feet! Some days they are slightly swollen and some days they are out of control swollen. Yesterday it was hot and they were out of control. I could hardly put flip flops on. I have been told all is fine as my BP is fine and everything else is fine but I keep swelling. I am looking forward to seeing my own feet again soon but as of right now I am afflicted with "ankle envy" towards anyone who has visible ankle bones.
When I was a grad student at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan taking my Physical Therapy training I found a little stray 3 month old sick but cute dog. My friend Kim and I tried to find out if he had an owner and were unsuccessful at finding who he belonged to. We finally figured he had been abandoned as he was in such bad shape. He was so sick he could hardly swallow food and created such gurgling sounds trying to drink or swallow food that we called him "Gurgles" for the first few days. I was taking a Cardio Pulmonary class at the time and one of my classmates joked that he had "Rales" in his lungs and the name stuck. So now he is my little 11 y/o Rales. He has seen many specialist in his early years trying to find out what the source of his breathing and noise problems are and they are still there and no one seems to know. For a free stray he has not ended up being very cheap! He is my expensive and naughty boy. He used to have severe separation anxiety and would seek and destroy things. He once shredded sheets pillows and tore a huge hole in our mattress. How does something that is 24 lbs shred a mattress? He also would eat buttons off clothes giving him the nickname "Button Boy" for the duration of that phase (several years). Then there's the incident where he randomly ate keys off a computer keyboard and the funny thing is we couldn't even get the keys off when we wanted to to clean them, but he manages to pick them off individually and eat one here and one there. The desirable keys weren't even all in a row!We got Hastings, the Airedale when Rales was about 2 y/o. We though it might help his separation anxiety. What we did not realize at the time was that Rales thought he was human and not canine and that another dog companion was not what he wanted. We realize now that all he wanted was to be an "only dog" with more human companions. It has taken us 8 more years to finally provide him with more human companionship and now he's almost too old to appreciate it. In the meantime he has had to put up with the dog of all dogs Mr. Hastings.Hastings is a crazy high anxiety, high energy, silly purebred. He is ALL DOG. He is undignified, barks at everything, farts, burps, belches and is always patrolling human interference that walks by either the front or back of the house. He is by no means considered "smart" but is the silliest and sweetest dog and just wants to goof off. He has a nervous tremble in his back legs when he is excited or on patrol. He loves to chase but not relinquish balls, as he wants you to try to pry the ball from his cavernous mouth (what's wrong with a little slobber right?). He has the incredible extending neck that can strike or head butt you when you swear you are out of reach. He never moves slow as he has two speeds; full throttle (awake) or off (sleep). Curiously his name more correctly signifies one who hurries, presses, drives; vehemency or quickness of motion. Hastings plays hard all day but always puts himself to bed around 7-8 pm at the latest. He is miserable if he is kept up. He is a boy that needs his sleep.These two are very loved and cherished dogs for their unique but vastly different characters. For those of you that enjoy dog stories I am sure I will post more as they occur to me latter.
I have had the same cell phone for 3 years or more (an old Nokia) and I HATE changing phones. I get used to the shortcut keys on one and how to get messages, delete messages, fast forward messages etc... and I do not want to have to re learn it on a new phone. I also have an old Palm that is quite archaic that I have been lugging around and I have one of the oldest iPod that locks up on me at times. I have waited and waited to combine these items. I looked at the blackberry a year or so back and just haven't been convinced that it was what I wanted or needed.
Finally the iPhone came out and I have been trying to decide if it was worth investing in. I needed something to combine my phone and Palm for sure and I also wanted access to the net to manage my Etsy business. SO I BOUGHT ONE!It is so cool. The only problem at this point is that it doesn't support flash, so some features of the Etsy site don't work via the phone. I can manage everything I need to though but I can't view the Treasury or the Time Machine from the phone.
So far it has great speed to look things up. I have managed to learn to use it very easily despite my lack of technical ability. Here's my favorite picture of Rales taken with my phone.
Well it has been a long process getting it ready. I would strongly suggest that most people get the room ready before getting pregnant. Once your pregnant it limits how much you can help with. I have a hard time sitting around and waiting for someone else to complete the work especially when I like to help remodel.We riped up the carpet and put in dark wood floors. Replaced all the small baseboard with 5 1/2" base boards (old mop board style). They had to be painted with oil based paint to match the other existing woodwork so I could not help. The walls have now been painted "Vanilla" or a light cream.We ordered DeLuca's crib online and it finally arrived. It has walnut stained Zebra wood headboards and white railings. I got a distressed blue/aqua armoire and dresser set from Pottery Barn and they are now in the room as well. She has a cream rug from Ikea and we have a brown leather chair (eventually meant for the study) ordered for us to hang out in during our long nights ahead. It has not arrived yet but should be here by next week.I framed her ultrasound photo and am going to set it on a crown molding shelf above her crib. Her little profile on the ultrasound looks like her daddy's. He doesn't see it but he's and engineer and her doesn't see things in abstract form. Even my friends have noticed it when they see the ultrasound. We will have to see who she really looks like when she arrives.She also got a red moose rocker from Ikea. Her Daddy thought every good Canadian girl needs a toy moose!Well unless she's in a rush she should be here by Sept 7th.
My brother Lakin (the red head on the left of the groom) lives in Calgary with his wife Anita (in the navy top and white skirt). Their friends Mike and Jen got married a few months ago. Jen bought her jewelry from me on Etsy. She is one of the sweetest customers I have ever had. Check out the beautiful necklace and earrings she ordered. Thanks again Jen if you see this Blog. You are abeautiful glowing bride.
I even made matching necklace and earring sets for her bridesmaids.
I started out making my own bridal jewelry for my wedding party and I love getting back to the feminine designs of bridal jewelry. It makes me feel like I'm a "Girlie Girl" instead of the "Practical Girl" I really am.
Well yesterday my friends Liz and Shane tied the knot. They had a great party at their reception that was hosted at Molly's Loft. Great music wonderful food and most of all we were finally able to meet all the friends and family that are so special to each of them.Brian (on right of picture) was kind enough to prepare a plate of food for Liz as she had been too busy having fun to eat. Ren was looking amazing in a pin striped suit. Quentin was busy running around taking photos of of everyone but at the end of the night Xander snapped a photo of us.I have been a little worried lately that I would not make it to the wedding if I went into labor early, but I MADE IT. I even managed to wear some heels instead of the Birkenstock's that I have lived in for the past few months. Those are my swollen feet on the left of the picture. Liz's cute shoes are the ones at the top center. Her bracelet and earrings were great with the dress.Laughter flowed freely the entire night and I am sure that the bride and groom were exhausted by the end of the day but they were the happiest I have ever seen them.So much fun!!!!
My friend Liz is getting married this weekend. Yay! She is marrying my husbands friend Shane and we are so happy for them. Liz got a beautiful raw silk dress in a Paprika S551 color from SimpleSilhouettes. It is such a fun dress and color. She got some great metalic bronze shoes by Lundi Bleu (shoes at top of photo) and I got the honor of making her jewelry.
Her bracelet turned out better than I could have envisioned and I will post more pictures if I get some good ones at the wedding/reception this weekend.
