New Spring Designs

I've been working hard at some new spring designs for my Etsy store. I also have been chipping away at remodeling my son's room, I'm very nearly done, just finishing up some sewing projects and then I'll have lots of pictures to share. For now here is a picture of one of my new designs.

Little Bird Necklace, wire wrapped cherry quartz briolette with a silver birdie charm on silver plated chain.

The Winner is Cindy!

So the winner of the earrings is Cindy because I never knew about an Etsy mini before and as you can see I already utilized her tip. Thanks for the great info!

My New Jewelry Making Venture

In the last few months I have had less time, more frustrations, a few victories and a little peace of mind. All of this pretty much revolves around the start up of my little jewelry business. About six months ago I had the thought while shopping for earrings and finding none I liked, that 'Hey, I can do this myself'. So I started out small with a few supplies and crafted some for myself. Then I got the bug and started making more and more and added necklaces and bracelets to the mix and eventually some hair accessories too. Then the Holiday craft circuit started up and my friend Julee and I started setting up at some to sell our stuff, we share a booth she sells cute handmade kids accessories. Well surprisingly amongst the sea of other jewelry makers out there I have been doing pretty well and I kind of love it. So last week I started my big push on Etsy trying to break into that market since craft shows aren't really an all year business. Well I am frustrated to say the least, I have no idea how to market myself in this way. I have read countless articles but when it comes down to it there is just so much great stuff on Etsy it's hard to get your product seen. So that's why I need your help! Leave me a comment telling me your best Etsy selling tip and what your favorite item from my Etsy shop is and you will be entered to win these really cute Iris Earrings. These feature really pretty glass beads in shades of lavender and amethyst and an aqua blue faceted glass bead. they are on Sterling Silver ear wires.









I'll pick my favorite tip on Thursday Dec. 10th, so you have until 12 noon on the 10th to enter!

Fudge Cupcakes With Peanut butter Cream Cheese Icing

I've made these cupcakes twice in the last week, once for Sweet's Cake walk at school and once for my sister-in-law's birthday. They are with out a doubt my new favorite cupcake. They are also super easy peasy! I saw something like this on Rachael Ray but of course was too lazy to actually copy down the recipe or search for it, so I just made it up as I went along. There really isn't much to making these and best of all they use a store bought brownie mix as the base! So here you go:

Fudge Brownies with Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Icing:

1 box Ghiradelli Double Chocolate Brownie mix (this is the best store bought brownie mix I have tried) prepared according to box instructions, baked in 12 regular size cupcake liners lightly sprayed with cooking spray.

Bake until a knife inserted comes out not wet, some brownie will stick to it but its shouldn't be liquidy.

Let cool, prepare frosting.

In the bowl of your mixer add one block cream cheese softened and mix until smooth. Add 1 cup all natural smooth peanut butter, mix until combined. Add 1 tsp. vanilla, stir well. Add 4 cups confectioners sugar, one cup at a time until well combined. Add apprx. 3 tbs milk, or enough to make a smooth pipeable icing, beat well. Transfer the icing to a piping bag or as I did in this case a plastic ziplock bag, seal and cut off one corner. Pipe a big swirl on top and add some cute sprinkles and your done! One of the best parts about these is you can be totally done with them in about an hour and I also love that it only makes 12 cupcakes a lot of times recipes make a huge batch and your stuck with way too many cuppie cakes!


Kim

Hello Kitty Yoga Bag

So I think I posted earlier about the sweet Japanese fabric that I got from my cousin living in Okinawa, but in case I didn't I got 6 yrds of this awesome HK fabric, 6 yrds of Pokemon fabric, and a yard each of 3 different Ed Emberly prints. I've been searching for the right projects to use this cute HK fabric with since I love it so much. I used a tiny bit in my recent swap package, and after seeing how cute it was made into something I knew what I needed to do. I started taking Yoga classes this past week and my pretty pink yoga mat had nothing to ride in on its way to class, so one Amy Butler free pattern, some HK and coordinating red polka dot fabric and an hour later we have my awesome new yoga bag. I love being able to have things that are totally different from everyone else, I'm sure that is one of the reasons I took up sewing. Oh and by the way while you are checking out Amy Butlers Nigella Yoga Bag pattern look at all the other amazing free patterns she offers!

- Kim

Cakes

Well most of the crafting that I have been doing lately has come in the form of birthday decoration sof some sort or the other. In my house the months of May and June seem packed with nothing but birthdays. Bug turned two on May 28, my husband turned 30 on June 13, and Sweets will be 5 June 20, not to mention all of the friends and relatives with birthdays or events during these months. This past Saturday we had two parties, Sweets birthday for her friends at the Louisville Nature Center and my husbands 3oth, which his brother threw. So Friday I found myself knee-deep in cake making. I literally spent all day making cupakes, cake and other snacks for the parties. But they turned out good and everyone was happy, which is what really counts for me. This year for the cake making I tried out a new technique using cake mix. I basically just added dry pudding mix to the cake batter and an extra egg. It gives the cake great texture and it stays really moist. It's a really nice cake to decorate. Sweets got all rainbow themed food for her party and unfortunatley there aren't any really great pictures of the food but it turned out really pretty, we had rainbow cupcakes (vanilla cupcakes dyed different shades and layered in the cupcake liners), rainbow jello cups ( different jello flavors layered in small clear plastic cups, rainbow trail mix (pretzels, popcorn, raisins, cookies, m&ms), rainbow goldfish, rainbow sherbert, and rainbow rice krispy treats (regular rice krispy treat recipe, but added a scoop of Trix cereal). My husband got a Nightmare Before Christmas cake and Halloween cupcakes since his party was Halloween themed. So without further ado here are the not so great pictures taken at the parties. If you have any questions about the decorating process let me know. Oh and the husbands cake was mocha, I just used a store bought dark chocolate cake mix and substituted strong brewed coffee for the water, added chocolate pudding mix and extra eggs. The icing was chocolate buttercream with instant coffee powder mixed into the milk and between the layers I added store bought caramel sauce. Oh and check out the cool cupcake stand, I got two of them at a yardsale the day before the parties for fifty-cents each.

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Wonderful Wednesday

So I'm back.  School is over finally and things are starting to get back into a livable rhythm.  I've been trying to take sometime to get caught up on some neglected things this week and trying to get caught up on some enjoyable things as well.  So this week my suggestion to you for Wonderful Wednesday is to do something you enjoy.  Today I signed up for my first craft swap over on Craftster, it is something I have wanted to do forever and I'm so glad I finally did.  It's a Sanrio/Kawaii swap and I am super excited to get started, especially since I received 15 yrds of Japanese fabric from my cousin this past week.  I also finally made a Wist list.  I always see amazing stuff that I love online but then just bookmark and forget about, so hopefully now I can remember some of it when it comes time to buy or get presents (hint, hint).  Last but not least I am on my way to my first farmer's market of the season to enjoy some time outside with the kids.  So whatever little thing it may be, take a few minutes to breathe this week and just enjoy.

Kim