Old World Charm, New World Feel

Lately, I've been getting the itch to make a quilt. I've never even made a simple felt throw before and now I want to make a quilt. Oooh, let's freak Jim out and tell him it's a sign of nesting, tee hee!

But seriously, quilts seem to be all over the place:

1. Loosetooth (ooooh, look at the iddle baby!)
2. Craftster's talkin' about it
3. A newsletter sent me this wonderful link!

And for all you other lovely Indie Business owners out there:
Have you heard about the Checkout zine that Gracie Sparkles (glitter) is putting out? It's going to be a zine devoted to shopping...how fun is that! She's offering ads at a really reasonable rate, I think they start at 10 bucks. Only thing is that they have to be in by March 1. Even if the ads don't pan out, at least you're supporting an Indie Zine!

Wow, have you guys heard about the All Consuming website? It's great since it keeps track of all the books you're currently reading and the one's you've finished. It also tracksback what other people are saying about the book on other blogs. I've added a new "Currently Reading" section to the bottom left side of my blog. I love adding new things to Indie Shopper!

My mother and I flew into Lubbock this weekend to help my sister pick out a wedding dress. It was great, the second bridal shop we went to and we hit gold. She picked out a beautiful silk organza wedding dress and even with no makeup, hair pulled back and glasses...looked stunning!

Weddings are great, something about them get my creative juices going and all I can think about are creative centerpieces and pretty flowers. Adriana mentioned using Gerbera Daisies in the wedding...a perfect reason to make custom Gerbera Designs purses for all the bridesmaids!

Yana, if you're reading...I'm going to play around with some favors/centerpieces this week...if you want me to, of course!

Don't you just love weddings?!

This is how I spent last night:


Good thing "Must See TV" kept me entertained. Boy is this embroidery thing addictive! I think I'm going to keep this bag. What's the point in making bags if you don't get to wear them, right?!

Hope everyone has a fan-stinkin'-tastic weekend!

Does anyone know of any cute Indie Stuffed Animal sites? And I mean normal cute stuffed things. I love the ugly stuffed creature trend going on right now but I was looking for something a bit more...traditional?

I was looking at Mudpuddles and Pudding today and it got me wondering if there were other stuffed animal creators out there. Aren't those teddy bears adorable, though?!

Thanks to Alex, I found another way to put off cleaning the kitchen:

Sometimes too much of a good thing *can* be bad! I've visited The Carrotbox a number of times and each visit ends with me throwing my hands up in the air because I just can't decide on which ring to buy. They're all so cute! I think I've narrowed it down to one of the Lucite Candy Bands, Painted Dome Ring, or Painted Chunky Ring. Damn, I'm getting stessed out just trying to pick!

Looking for something fun? Here you go: Your own barcode! (thanks Boing Boing)

Edited to add: Ok, after my quick Carrotbox breakdown, I was able to chose the Painted Dome Ring Pink with Purple Concentric Circles. Whew.

Vagina Warriors

How was everyone's Valentine's Day? Jim and I are pretty lovey all year round but none-the-less enjoy being even more sappy on V Day. Nobody ever died from receiving too many kisses, right? We're trying to save up for a few trips so we decided to make our Valentine's gifts for each other. I crafted a frame for him and he drew me a comic strip on "Why I love my Nessa." Does it get any better than that?

For a couple weeks we had been thinking about what to do on Valentine's Day. We had initially agreed upon a picnic at Hueco Tanks (rock formation right outside of El Paso) when I found out there was going to be a V Day march in protest of the hundreds of women slain in Juarez, Mexico (right across the border from El Paso). I mentioned it to Jim and without a hint of hesitation, he insisted we participate.

The V Day march was a fantastic experience. There was an energy that seemed to sweep everyone in a unified direction. The organizers passed out images of the women who were murdered while other groups held protest posters stating "Ni Una Mas (Not One More)" or "V-Day: Until the Violence Stops." We walked from downtown El Paso to the Benito Juarez park in Juarez, where the was a ecumenical service. We sat down with a group of musicians and ate Jicama with lime and salt.

All the protestors were then bussed to a club where Sally Field, Jane Fonda, Christine Lahti and three other novela stars put on special performance of The Vagina Monologues. When the performance ended (around 7:30) we were then bussed to the Mexican side of the bridge, walked back to El Paso, drove back home...and passed out. It was such a long, emotional 8 hours but I can't remember having had a better Valentine's Day.

Sometimes, I think crafts make me crazy!!! It seems as if my mind is running 120 MPH trying to remember all the different ideas I want to try out. I used to write the ideas down and stuff them in my purse but your purse can only hold so many craft ideas written on napkins, receipts, and envelopes. Things have been much more orderly since I got my ipaq but some part of me still gets the urge to have ideas down on paper. Maybe if I talk about some of the projects I want to work on here, my mind will slow down a bit!

Crafty ideas that are making me crazy:
1. Want to try out Crafty Chica's microscope slide necklaces.
2. Plant projects for next month's Gerbera DIY (some ideas: Oil Dipped Pots, "Don't Bug Me" candle holders, and Medicinal Plant Kit...not *that* medicinal plant, silly!)
3. Ribbon Belts
4. Cute little lingerie bags with printed images. Smashing Mirrors has a great tutorial on how to print on fabric! (Alex, thought you might find this interesting!)
5. Work out tees...here are a few of my prototypes. What do you think?

Whew, I better get busy!

I had such a wonderful weekend, why do they have to end? On Sat. I got my hair cut (a little bob that falls right below my ears), we took a behind-the-scenes tour of the zoo, and we concluded the day with seats at the dinner theatre. After being emotionally moved by the zoo (it's one of my favorite places in El Paso) I began to think of donating a portion of all sales from my Animal Love purses to an animal charity. Any ideas?

Speaking of animal charities, has anyone sent in your Lekkner donation? I'm about half-way done with the bag.

Tee hee, Very Big Blog talked about Parasite Pals yesterday. The line probably makes people go "WTF?" but I think they're cute! I would love to carry the Tickles the Tapeworm Tape Measure on my keychain! YaYa's carries the Accoutrements line so maybe I can convince her to buy some Parasite Pals' stuff.

What would happen if Sesame Street met Hello Kitty in real life? I know most of the Street gang are bigger then the Hell-o crew but cats are pretty agile. I think Big Bird would kick Hello Kitty's fluffy little arse. Cookie Monster alone could probably gobble them right up. I'm not too sure about the fighting force of Ernie but we all remember how pissed Bert was when his pigeons were messed with. Yeah, definitely Sesame Street.

Jim got me the Hello Kitty and Sesame Street Pez.

By the way, it's been brought to my attention (thanks Alex) that my comments section doesn't work...again. I'm just going to wait it out for the rest of today and hope it fixes itself...maybe I should hold my breath, too.

My Birthday Week Monday was fabulous. I spent the entire day enjoying the company of my mother. We went thrift shopping, had lunch, and visited a few other cute shops in town. It was quite enjoyable.

For my Monday gift, Jim and I closed shop for the night, rented movies and fell asleep cuddling on the pull out sofa. I am constantly reminded of how lucky I am every time I see him (I know, gag).

Yesterday, Jim gave me a set of 5 lb. dumbbells for my Tuesday gift. I'm on this exercise kick right now, hence all the workout gifts for my birthday. I promise, Jim isn't trying to hint anything...I hope! I didn't have to use the weights yesterday since I helped a friend of mine move into her new apartment. Lifting all those boxes of books was enough for me. I love my smart friends but dang...books get really heavy!

I'm a bit behind (stressed) with all the orders I have to fill but this little video brightened my day (Thank you Pthbbbt). I loved the original Fat Boy Slim video with Christopher Walken!

Well, yesterday was the first day of my birthday week. Sounds silly but Jim and I celebrate the entire week of our birthday. Every day is marked with a little gift. Yesterday, I got the Pilates Arms (see Wishing in the About Me section to the left) and wheweee, those big rubber circles were flying everywhere this morning. I don't not look nearly as peaceful as the stupid lady on the TV. It wasn't too hard, maybe because I spent half the time running across the room after the catapulted circles!

I added 11 new links to my website. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I love to trade links with other creative websites. And it's not just trading, I love to make little banners for websites when they don't have any available...they're like little works of art to me. Here are some highlights from the new links:

- sock dogs from Megan Lee Designs
- cute vintage floral pins from Kilometer and Totinette
- change and curse purses at Down By Vinyl
- Cambria Earrings at Bead Bijou
- crocheted turtles at Turtle Kisses
- Square Dropped Necklaceat Midnight Firefly
- Dreamland and Amaranth from Laura Kim Jewelry Design
- Retro Comic Book Pin Set from She Loves Stars
- Fringed Poncho from Croshay Design
- Pearl Lily Brooch from Autumn Gallery (check out their sale section...great discounts!)
- everything at Kraft!

Whew! That took longer than I though!