Looking Forward to the New Year

Happy New Year, originally uploaded by Homdaum.

I've given up making New Years' resolutions as it seems they are often broken, instead, I'm focusing on what I've accomplished in 2008 and what I'm looking forward to in 2009.
So, in 2008:

• I reached almost 200 sales (196 to be exact) in my Etsy shop. My first sale on Etsy was just about 18 months ago and prior to then, I had never tried to sell any of my handmade creations.
• I made 264 total sales in 2008 in all venues (Etsy, Ravelry, Ebay, and two local craft shows)
• I created my first original knitting pattern, sold it for the first time February 1, 2008 and have sold 176 of my patterns. A local yarn store (Mustard Seed Dreams) carries my pattern.
• In the spring of 2008, I started the Southeast Idaho Etsy team. We are still very much in the formative stages but currently have 28 members.
• I completed 365 consecutive days of Crafting and posting photos of my creations on Flickr.
• I opened a shop on Artfire and also a second "destash" shop on Etsy, called DestashOriginals

And in regard to 2009:I feel cautiously hopeful about our country. I look forward to seeing a new president come into office and hope for a better year in terms of peace and economic prosperity.
I was blessed in 2008 with my first grandchild and I above all I look forward to visiting her and watching her growth in 2009.

• In 2009, I want to explore options for career growth in my full time job, while continuing to develop myself and my products creatively.
• I want to create at least one more knitting pattern for sale.
• I want to stock my destash shop as I work to destash and simplify my life.
• I want to create new products with recycled felted wool.
• I want to find at least one other venue, perhaps another knitting store, to carry my pattern.

Thanks to all my blog visitors and have Happy, Safe New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

I'm a Little Teapot

As I was making this treasury, that childhood nursery rhyme/song kept running through my mind, "I'm a little teapot, short and stout, Here is my handle, here is my spout. When I get all steamed up, hear me shout, just tip me over, pour me out. " A cup of tea does sound warm and wonderful!

Note: another photo deleted by Flickr. I don't believe I have it saved.

The Day After

The sun came out and it is a beautiful today, but it is still cold (about 20 degrees) so the snow isn't melting anytime soon.


Oh, and Happy Boxing Day!

Christmas 2008

It snowed all day long...


Time to enjoy each other's gifts...

Time to enjoy past year creations....


Ho Hum, I just can't be bothered to look interested in the fesitivities...

Twas the Night Before..

the night before Christmas. Not a creature is stirring here, I'm worn out from knitting, making things, shopping, wrapping, decorating, and working at my day job while doing all these things. Tomorrow I'll work a half day at most and then concentrate on cooking up a great Christmas eve dinner of ham with gold sauce*, potato casserole, and maybe some vegetables. From there, I just hope to relax and enjoy Christmas.

The hat above is my most recent knitting creation. I made three of these little gems over the past couple of days, but this is the only one that isn't wrapped up under the tree and it's also the only one out of soft, warm alpaca. It's available in my shop, also available knitted to order in your choice of colors, if you want to treat yourself to something really snugly soft and warm.

*Gold Sauce
To serve with vegetables or ham—we like it with ham.

Ingredients:
½ cup sugar
4 tsp dry mustard
1 t salt
2 eggs
½ cup milk
½ cup vinegar
¼ cup melted butter (optional)

Directions:
Mix sugar, mustard, and salt in top of double boiler (or put saucepan inside fry pan containing water). In a bowl, beat eggs and milk and pour this into the dry mix, then add vinegar and melted butter. Cook gently over boiling water for 15 minutes.

Treasury--FRONT PAGE of Etsy

I love the colors in this treasury collection which includes my "Arizona" striped stocking, made it from thrifted sweaters. click on the picture for a larger view.

Apparently, this collection made it to the front page of Etsy on 12/19!

Help During the Holiday Season

I've been thinking a lot about people in need. There was the wonderful thread on Etsy about Who Needs Help This Holiday Season. The lovely Treasury above, which includes my blue card holder, was created by Reflections, who started the HOST thread. HOST is a team of Etsy sellers established to help others, I hadn't heard of them before reading this thread.

There are signs of people needing help all around. The economic news seems to get bleaker and bleaker and I've begun to hear about my employees whose spouses have been laid off from their jobs. We are being required to take three days of furlough (unpaid time) in the next few months, but that seems like such a small thing compared to situation of many. More than double the "normal" number of people have been coming to our local food stamp office to seek assistance.

I've scaled back on my Christmas giving and plan to give to the local food bank in lieu of more gifts. And giving is what the season is all about.

Manic Monday

Manic Monday #146
By Fleur de Lisa
Have you ever returned an item to a store for a refund after having used it? Only when something was defective, wouldn't it be wrong otherwise?

You are going out for the evening. If your partner objects to what you are wearing, would you change your clothing? Possibly, depending on how much I like what I am wearing and what the objection is. I have to say it would be very unlikely for my partner to object.

What item that you don’t currently possess would you most like to have in your home? I can't think of much, though I was admiring a cute little white flat screen TV for my kitchen....and thinking on a grand scale a sauna or a winning lottery ticket would be nice!

I'm pleased my alpaca cowl seems to have found a good home right here in Pocatello. Visit Jillian over at The Life and Times of the Plume for a description of here adventures while wearing it. She's also having a giveaway on her blog you won't want to miss. And she makes the most gorgeous, one of a kind jewelry.

Feature

Thanks to Roseworks Jewelry, a fellow Etsy Blogger for this feature. I've been home sick several days and feeling really rotten, but this lifted my spirits. I've been having a really good sales month on Etsy, with 26 sales so far...now if I can just shake this cold and cough, I will be very happy.

And now it's my turn to feature someone, the Etsy Blogger of the month, Ms Moo of Spotted Cow Soaps. Please take time to visit her blog and her store. Check out these scrumptious items (not edible, of course, they are soaps and scrubs but don't they look like you could just eat them up?)...

Mary Oliver

I was recently introduced to Mary Oliver, Pulitzer Prize winning poet, when a facilitator in a meeting read one of her poems ( I believe it was "Carrying a Snake into the Garden" though I can't find that poem on line, so here's another of her poems:

Some Things The World Gave

by Mary Oliver

1Times in the morning early

when it rained and the long gray

buildings came forward from darkness

offering their windows for light.

2Evenings out there on the plains

when sunset donated farms

that yearned so far to the west that the world

centered there and bowed down.

3A teacher at a country school

walking home past a great marsh

where ducks came gliding in --

she saw the boy out hunting and waved.

4Silence on a hill where the path ended

and then the forest below

moving in one long whisper

as evening touched the leaves.

5Shelter in winter that day --

a storm coming, but in the lee

of an island in a cover with friends --

oh, little bright cup of sun.

Etsy Bloggers Carnival-December 8

Welcome to the December 8, 2008 edition of etsybloggers.

The bi-monthly blog carnival themes were: December 8 is "National Brownie Day" and "Winter Flowers Day". 1. Post your favorite brownie recipe and or memory about brownies OR 2. Post about winter flowers, flowers in winter.

I'm excited to be the host for the first time and to share all these other great posts.

My memories about brownies take me back to "Grownup Brownies". When I was growing up, my mother had a cookbook titled "Wild in the Kitchen". It had a bright orange cover and funny remarks along with unique recipes.

The recipe I remember best from the cookbook was the one for Grownup Brownies, "not to be confused with the chocolate dogbiscuits commonly made to assuage packs of hungry children." They were moist and chewy and chocolaty. You'll find the recipe on a copy of the page from Wild in the Kitchen here.

Jimena presents Nochebuenas posted at Panoptica.

Terronda Clarke presents Blog Carnival - Winter Flowers posted at ~Unique Commodities~.

storybeader presents Etsybloggers Carnival: December 8th posted at Stroll Through Storyland.

agoodwitchtoo presents Home Made Originals is Out to Get Me... posted at The Copper Cauldron.

Studio Gilead presents Doda's Creative Wanderings: on a cold and frosty afternoon... posted at Doda's Creative Wanderings.

PurrPrints presents Yummy holiday brownies posted at PurrPrints: Art, Cats, and Randomness

Patti presents K.........iller Brownies posted at peacoxcreations.

Lova Revolutionary presents Etsy Bloggers Street Team : Blog Carnival : National Brownie Day! posted at lovarevolutionary.blogspot.com.

Rainy presents Winter Flowers Blog Carnival posted at RainyDayArt.

Devan Brittain presents There's What in My Brownies? posted at Sleepy Mama Times

Jennifer Hugon presents Winter Flowers posted at Jennyfur's Sketchbook and Oddities.

Heather presents Flowers in Winter posted at Heather's Custom Sewing.

Kathy and Carrie presents Etsybloggers Team December Blog Carnival posted at CalKat The Jewelry Junkie

Five O'Clock Somewhere presents Favorite Brownie Recipe posted at Five O'Clock Somewhere.

Ellen Behm presents My Favorite Brownies posted at Down the Street Creations.

Linda Wheelock presents Double Chocolate Brownies posted at Spotted Cow Soaps.

Terry Candee presents Absolutely "Priceless" Brownies posted at Bonding Moms & Daughters To Navigate Our Crazy World ..........Oh Yeah AND Crafts!!!

Erika presents Brownie Yummy Disaster posted at TOTE-N-TOTS.

Heather Lewis presents Random post: Catching up with old friends, Winter flowers, Spotted Cow Soaps posted at Adventures in Vintage.

Kathy Johnston (Cozy) presents Poinsettias of Course! posted at A Cozy Life.

Trina Baker presents December Blog Carnival Post posted at gallery32.

TiLTcreations presents Brownies - Black Russian Style posted at Crafts, kids, home and life.

Melissa Meman presents December 8 is National Brownie Day! What's your favorite? posted at Pink Zinnias - 50 Going on 17!.

joeyandaleethea presents first tooth, first word posted at J o e y & A l e e t h e a

A Keeper's Jackpot presents Death by Chocolate posted at A Keeper's Jackpot.

Lily Wrey presents etsyBloggers December 8-08 Blog Carnival posted at TuLips Talking.

MagdaleneJewels presents Carnival - The Christmas Flower posted at MagdaleneJewels's Blogs.

crazyladybeads presents My favorite brownie recipe posted at Crazy Lady Beads

Myfanwy presents Winter Flowers posted at Sassa's Blog Carnival.

cindy devine presents Devine Designs Jewelry: ETSY Blogger's Team Blog Carnival posted at Devine Designs Jewelry.

maryeb presents Winter Blooms posted at Colorless Green Ideas.

Two Zany Zebras presents Peanut Butter meets Chocolate and makes the world a happier place! posted at Two Zany Zebras.
That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of
etsybloggers
using our
carnival submission form.
Past posts and future hosts can be found on our

blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags:
etsybloggers, blog carnival.

Do you Moo?

Wonderwebby featured my Moo card holder in this post: http://blog.wonderwebby.com/2008/12/03/things-to-do-with-moo/ This particular item has sold from my Etsy shop, but I have one other Moo card holder and I welcome custom orders. So, do you Moo?

Giveaways Galore

Pop over to SewMamaSew here to check out all the goodies for Give a Way Day, today-December 3rd. There are tons of participants from all over Blog-land. I didn't get myself organized enough to particpate this time, but I am going to be checking out and entering all the great giveaways.

A quarter of a century later...

Finished this today, started in 1983 for my son, finished for my grand daughter. Whew! I wanted to have it finished to take with me to California and it is DONE!



Also today, got sale #160 in my Etsy shop. All in all, a banner day!