Happy New Year!

Can you believe it's 2014 already? Don't know where the time goes…we've been in our house for six months…So busy painting and getting ready for the first wave of visitors, that I haven't been crafting as much…First, Eldy's daughter, Kristi came, then my daughter, Kelly in October, then Brian, Eldy's son, and his family came for a visit at Thanksgiving, then Eldy's sister came for a week the day after Christmas. They got stranded here in Florida visiting us for an extra four days as their flights out kept getting cancelled due to the mammoth snowstorm and severe cold weather that they had up north in IN.  They felt terrible at calling into work and telling them they were stranded down here in Florida! Tee hee hee……….

Now that the holiday is over, it's back to the drawing board, beading box and knitting needles for ideas for my little Etsy shop, JeanBeanGifts…A headband in the works….

A beaded wrap bracelet in progress….This one is made from African "Christmas" beads. Many of these beads from Africa come from Ghana. They call them Christmas beads because tons of beads are loose in baskets, and the women string them without looking at them, a really random selection at whim. The myth behind the selection is that the women pick them with their eyes closed, sort of like guessing what your Christmas present might be when you were a little kid, or closing your eyes and wishing for Santa to bring you your present. These beads are almost too tiny, and some of the little ones break as you are threading them on, so it's a matter of picking and sorting through the best ones for this bracelet. It's a pattern from Beadshop.com called "All That Jazz".

Knitted wrist warmers in the half linen stitch….But I got stuck on the directions, so heading off to the local yarn shop this week to find out how to complete them!

A pair of wrist warmers from a special request from my Etsy shop, JeanBeanGifts….Bet those are coming in handy now for the gal who lives in South Bend, IN!

A bracelet for Eldy's sister….

A bracelet for my daughter, a special request and a happy new year present….

And now I'm working on little knitted "cardigans"---little knit gift card holders with a cable patterned design from worsted weight yarn…too cute! They are from SimplyNoteable.com on the internet...

Thought I'd make up some of these to put in my shop…

So that's what I've been doing, along with entertaining Eldy's sister and brother-in-law…we've been everywhere in and around Sarasota, revisiting our favorite places once again..Check Where's Eldo? for the latest in that area….On to February, American Heart Month and Valentine's Day stuff in the crafting department, maybe, along with some regular just all around cute things for little gifts…. Got a little girl's tooth fairy pillow in the making...See you later!