Gearing UP for the Holiday Season....

making key chains

Whew! It's tough when you have ADHD with project deadlines looming. I have been really really busy making all kinds of things for a craft show that was just held last weekend. I did ok, but you never know what's going to sell, or the age range of your sellers and what will appeal to them. My shop on Etsy, JeanBeanGifts, is designed to have a lot of different things that make cute little gifts. Most are towards the inexpensive end, but some are priced into the moderate range, depending on the materials being used. I don't have a good enough attention span or the patience to make a lot of any one thing. In the past year, I have knitted, crocheted, done punch needle embroidery, and focused on making lots of ornaments that are mini knitted items.....I'm probably hurting my shop's success by being so random, but it's fun, and I am making some sales there. Just recently, I got an order for 150 key chains inspired by the movie, "Up." I just thought it would make a cute key chain, so I posted one and they continue to sell here and there besides the big order I got.

So when people started coming through the door at the craft show and stopping by, I waited to see what they were looking for....presents for grandchildren? Something for themselves? (A lot of older ladies stopped by)....Some were looking for both. I sold a beaded leather wrap bracelet, and a shawlette within a matter of just a few minutes. I was happy as the day had just started! And my 25.00 table was paid for. A little of everything sold....

A couple of ornaments....some are stamped, (Peace, Love, Hope, Joy) and some are wood burned...tree and snowflakes...I didn't tell my better half that I laid my wood burning tool down on my portable ironing "blanket"...unplugged no less, and it was so hot, it caught the portable ironing pad on fire! What a smell! He didn't see me rush the pad into the kitchen and run it under the water, nor did he smell the burned foam and pad cover. Yikes!

A cork key chain.....

Two mini sweater ornaments....

A mini sock......

A lady next to my table was selling fabric purses...she had a TON of interest in her purses, made with novelty fabrics, and there were totes for the beach as well as medium sized shoulder bags, or just regular sized fabric purses. Lots of time and fabric goes into the making of those. I've contemplated making some, but just don't have a ton of time and room to store the fabric in my little craft room. She said she had brought over 140 purses to the show! Wow! What an inventory! On the other side of me, was a jewelry person, selling beaded jewelry. I sold two bracelets as well....Here's my favorite one that went, a pattern adapted from Beadshop.com.

The day passed by quickly. I really enjoy talking to other crafters....They are just the nicest people, I have found. There is just something nice about people who like to make things with their hands and appreciate the work that goes into other's creations, that makes them usually patient, caring and enjoyable to talk to. I have found RVers to be the same way. People who love to travel and "camp" and love nature are wonderful to be around and get to know....

After the show was over, I headed home, tired but happy. I had a little extra "pin" money to fund my next crafting endeavor---metal stamping! That is going to take a whole lot more than pin money. Metal stamps are quite expensive. So I will have to be careful about investing in the supplies. Need to see what might be selling out there and do a little research. Usually, I jump in, gung ho with a new craft and start gathering LOTS of supplies to do the craft. When I was doing punch needle embroidery, of course I had to have the wonderful variegated Valdani threads to do it, lots of patterns and weaver's cloth. When I tole painted, I had to have MOST of the colors in the acrylics so I wouldn't have to run out and buy a certain shade. That was years ago, so I am now in the process of collecting yarn, beads, leather, and now metal stamps. It's a good thing my better half doesn't read my craft blog, he might get alarmed! :-) Not really, he's very supportive. I am lucky that he doesn't ever complain about the messy craft room that is overflowing or what I spend. He knows it makes me very happy.

So what am I making now? For the upcoming holiday season? Fabric gift bags that hold cookie mix....I'm going to stick a little bamboo wooden spoon in the tie on part to add a little charm...

Bought some Krusteaz cookie mixes and thought these would make a really cute hostess gift--invested in peanut butter, Meyer Lemon Cookie mix, oatmeal raisin and triple chocolate chunk. Mmmmmm, I might save one of those for myself if they don't sell. But I have to watch my sugar, so I hope they DO sell! 

Making little metal stamped charms for gifts....AHA! Here comes the stamping craze I've entered....got lots of ideas....shoe tags, wedding gift tags, stay tuned...I'll catch up with my blog one of these days and get a few more entries going! But I will leave with this necklace I made today....Made with Impress Art's alkeme alloy....a nice substitute and less expensive than silver. It's wonderful to stamp on! More about stamping on metal later.....

Bye for now......

It's the Season….

For cooler temperatures…YAY! I thought they'd NEVER get here!!!!!  It's the season for Thanksgiving…we've got Eldy's son and his wife and children coming for the holiday…wish my girls could be here, but for various reasons they can't fly in….

It's the season for snowbirds to return…The traffic is heavy now, wherever you go around town….That's ok, that means people are returning to our neighborhood after avoiding the summer's heat. It's nice to see some people coming back on our street. It's been kinda lonely since June when we first moved in.

It's the season…for Christmas music already…geesh! Earlier and earlier every year…They used to wait till AFTER Thanksgiving before starting all the Christmas/holiday hoopla…Now it's on you before HALLOWEEN is over…geesh!

That's a good thing for me, in a way…it makes me work harder to get gifts made and mailed for my family…Working on a number of things as always….Made another cowl..it's for sale in my Etsy shop, JeanBeanGifts….

My little Christmas sweater ornaments are selling on Etsy…well, two, anyway.   :-)  I love making them!  Sally, if you are reading this, I have one set aside for you! They are knitted from sock yarn and I made little wire coat hangers (free formed) so they are ready to hang on the tree.

I'm busy making little mini stocking ornaments, some from the same yarn as the sweaters.

As a matter of fact, making BUNCHES of little stockings, sweaters, and tiny hats….not only to sell in my shop, http://etsy.com/shop/JeanBeanGifts but to decorate our first tree, our first regular sized tree since our little one in the motorhome, which was three feet high. We've relegated that one to the guest bedroom. Time to decide REAL or ARTIFICIAL?

Down here in Florida, the trees seem to be coming from farther distances and have been sitting on the trucks for awhile. We were told today that the ones that they are currently stocking at one store were cut about two weeks ago. I want to get a tree and set it up the day after Thanksgiving but we are wondering if they've been cut that long if they'll last until Christmas?  So we keep looking at the real ones, and the artificial ones, back and forth, back and forth….We both love real ones, but just aren't sure at this point which way we'll go. There are definitely some great deals, those "50% off" ones at Hobby Lobby and Michaels. Yuck…says Eldy. He really wants a real one. I think I do, too. But we're gonna need LOTS of ornaments, and I have this thing that many of the ornaments need to be handmade that go on a tree. It's just something I've done year after year, to add lots and lots of homemade ornaments of all different kinds---felt, sewn, knitted, etc. to my tree each year. Eldy says, "You better get going, you're going to need a lot of ornaments!" I'm going, I'm going! I'm on a roll, actually...  He wants a nine foot high tree…I might be getting fewer nights of sleep to get enough done, but it will be fun! And extra pretty, and possibly some heirlooms for my girls down the road…….

Bye for now…Have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday wherever you are….Hope you get to have some wonderful family time and that you can be together with loved ones….

Christmas Presents?

It's only a few weeks till Christmas as I write this blog...My kids are coming to visit us for about a week. Their present is a place to stay with us in Florida...But I still want to give them something, so I've been working on little knitted gifts. At least I was for awhile, but the whole month of October got by me with very little getting done...We were visiting family and friends, getting appointments out of the way, and indulging ourselves in our favorite things to do...ride our bikes and eat at our favorite hometown restaurants.

I hurt my wrist when I fell off my bike. I don't think I broke anything, because I have very good range of motion with no pain in the wrist part. But I do have pain on the side of the wrist that shoots up my arm in doing certain activities, and knitting has been one of them...sigh! So I bought myself a wrist guard, and it's helping. I know I should go to the doctor, but have such a high deductible, I have been putting it off. I figure immobilizing the wrist would be what they would do if I have fractured a tiny bone somewhere. It's been hurting too long for it to be just a tendon. 

I have been knitting little sweaters for ornaments for a Christmas tree in the past and got back into making them again....They are quick and easy. The pattern comes from an amusing blog title by the name of Chewy Spaghetti. It's a free pattern she posted for an ornamental mini sweater. Here are two done from leftover sock yarn..They take very little yardage to make---she doesn't say how much in the pattern. I used size 2 circulars for the body, then switched over to DPN's for the sleeves...The blue one is a lot smaller because I was afraid of running out of yarn so I made the body and sleeves shorter and used size 1 needles.

I'm going to make little handmade mini hangers for the sweaters and give them as gifts to my kids or they'd make cute package tag ties....I love making minis!    Happy knitting!