Christmas Blog Candy Etsy Style!

If you follow my blog, you know I like to give stuff away. You also know that I am crafty. And that I get behind stuff and people I like 100,000%! I am a fan of Etsy, not just because it gives artisans a way to sell their goods, but because it encourages us all to support hand-crafted goods. I feel like 100 years, women prided themselves in their hand-made goods. Quilts, ebroidery, needlecrafts, and garment making. But since the era of 2 income families, that has very much gone by the wayside. Scrapbooking as an industry has encouraged women (and men, I know there are a few of you out there!) to craft, and to be proud of it. Now Etsy is doing that AND making it a viable way to make money!

So this is the part where I get behind soemthing and RUN! A few days ago, I posted a few things I loved that I found on Etsy. And a few of those vendors were kind enough to either donate products for me to giveaway or offer a limited number of discounts. You ready? Cause these goodies are VERY Christmas giftable!



This is SOOOOO awesome! Nicole over at Naussica Distribution on Etsy MADE these special for me to give away to you! 2 sets! So 2 people will win one magnet and one pin. So awesome! Did I mention that? If you never took statistics in college, you may not be familiar with this guy, but it's the normal distribution curve. This version is MUCH more pleasant than the version in my books! You can't buy these in the store, they are just for you here!


And Judith over at Wild Fiber Knits is offering a $5 coupon to the first 5 people who convo her through her Etsy shop. Her prices are very reasonable and she makes very cute things! I am in love with her scarflettes and this green purse! Friends and nieces and the like can be difficult to shop for, but her scarflettes would make anyone happy to open a pressie from you! I know I would be! So check out their shop right here, make sure you let them know I sent you!

So leave me a comment and you will be entered for the normal distribution magnet/pin sets! and keep your eyes pealed as I am working on some more stuff in the near future! and go to Wild Knit Fibers and order something fabulous for someone you love (maybe that's yourself!)

Oh, if you link my via facebook or twitter and let me know, I will give you an extra entry! You have until November 7th to enter.

Daily Dose of Fabulous!

I am all about supporting small businesses. This year for Christmas an Channukah, I would like to encourage you to join me. And to entice you, I spent a little time looking around Etsy or some super fab finds!

OMG. Seriously. I found this today on Etsy. I love Etsy. And I HATE statistics. I hate it I hate it I hate it. It about gave me a nervous breakdown. So imagine my surprise when I saw this today! My first reaction was "Where the hell was this when I needed something to cry into?" My second reaction was I really hope someone else besides the person who made this shares my opinion. So all of you current or former college students, please RUN to this etsy store and buy one of these! They also carry log distribution, which I never did understand, simply dumped the formulas into my calculator like a freaking monkey! Log what/who? Here is the store, go check them out!

Next is this little gem. I saw this in the recently listed section of Etsy and I swooned. I am a huge fan of steampunk, but find a lot of the pieces to be too big or loud for my jeans and t-shirts style. But not this. Or about 20 other pieces I found in this store! And so reasonably priced. They are going on my kaboodle list for sure. Go look, I am sure you will find something you will fall in love with too!

2 more to go! Here is the most amazingly hilarious wall art. I have a puppy who at this point is doing his fair share of pissing, mostly on the floor thank heavens. (as I was typing this, he actually just peed on the carpet right by the window. DOH!) But this is just too funny! I am looking at a few designs for my craft room! She has so much stuff! Another of my favorites is a piece of flying paper that turns into an oragami bird! You can find her Etsy store here. How awesome would this be for a Christmas gift!

Last but certainly NOT least is this incredibly cute scarflette. I love scarfs but the extra bulk on my already ample chest is enough to disuade me. This little guy is perfect! Extremely stylish, just quaint enough to be trendy but not look like you are trying too hard. If someone got me one of these, it would be a happy Christmas indeed! Go here and buy me one, I'd be happy with this blue one! But i did just get a dark mossy green peacoat, so a white, cream, or tan would be great!

Check back later in the week for some pretty sweet blog candy. Be sure and tell a friend!

Sad Times

I just realized it has been a full week since I blogged! No No Bad Rachael! Things have been kinda hectic around here. I have been running crazy with my friend, running around with the kids, and working on my craft room.

I also have a bit of bad news. Our amazing old kitty Dragon has left us. He is a VERY indoor kitty. He is 13 years old and over the past year has lost over half his body weight. So we knew it was coming. Sunday, he wanted outside. He NEVER leaves the house, EVER. So he ran out and we tried to put him back in, but he ran off again. And that's the last we saw of him. We think he probably went off to die. Very sad. Luke took it hard. Dragon was his main man. Luke decided he wanted a new kitten, that he missed the kitty snuggles too much. He has been wanting one for a few months now, but kicked it into high gear. So Ana and I went to the shelter today and found a black kitty, just like Luke requested. While there, the man offered to give us one free if we wanted! So of course I got a second one! She is sooo beautiful. Of course I will post pictures. right now we are calling them black and tan (guinness and bass!) but I don't know if that will stick.

I will leave you with a picture of my fat Dragon and a promise you will hear from me sooner. I will be posting again on TES Friday, so come check us out. and look for us on facebook too! I would LOVE you to add us!

Giveaway coming soon... keep your eyes pealed!

Happy Pig Day!

I bought some paper mache pigs a week or so ago with the intention of sending them out to friends and having them create something with them. well I changed my mind, so there! I LOVE polka dots. I don't know why, but especially vintage style polka dot patterns. Like this one from 7 Gypsies. I searched for almost an hour in my wreck of a scrap room for it!

I tore it into a million little pieces, then used some modge podge to stick the pieces down. Luke thought I was crazy! I also used a piece of SEI paper lace, kind like a little skirt. Then this morning when it was dry, I used some old Basic Grey rubons for the black flowers. Lots of little trims, some black Kaiser bling, and my very favorite My Little Scrapbox alpha stickers. (Just let me know when you all get tired of seeing them!)

The result is something that will go fabulously with the new colors I have chosen for my scrap room. My walls are tan and I have a zebra rug, so I will be using a buttery yellow a bit lighter than this pig for my other accent color. Fabulous!

Spilling the beans...

As you may have noticed, I have a new blinkie over on the side of my blog. And that means I have been selected for the design team over at The Everday Scrapper! I am really excited! Just like the blinkie says, we will be giving some inspiration, showing you some new ideas, and even a challenge or two! The team is mostly new, so it's exciting to see where the new girls will take us!

We do have a forum, which I hope you guys will participate in! No store, no pressure, just a cool place to hang out! The official announcement should be coming soon, but I was told it was OK to spill! I will be on the blog a couple times a month, so keep your eyes pealed! If there's something you would like to see, let me know and I will do my best!

Frog Prints

I guess this week is back to basics for me. Back to making pictures. I have been scrapping but nothing I can share yet! I have something new in the works... I'll spill soon! But I will tell you it's something I am very excited about! So as soon as I can, you'll all know!

Tonight when we got home from Julia's program, there was a super cute tree frog crawling across our window! I am talking about the window over my kitchen sink! I have no idea how he got up there, but the humidity is so horrid outside that he left really cool tracks all across! By the time I got my camera, he was already up on the top sill. So I went out and took a picture for the kids to see. But here they are, frog prints

My light filled evening

Even though I am not the best, my first love is photography. This evening, we had a pretty significant thunderstorm. we're talking thousands of strikes an hour significant. Everyone else went to bed but I was working on putting all my ribbon onto my new ribbon ring (yeah!) We missed half of CSI for the tornado warnings just north of here, so I was looking forward to a doozy of a storm. We, of course, caught the thinnest band of it. But it was impressive nontheless.

Here is one of the 204 frames I took this evening. Do you know how hard it is to capture a thunderstorm with a 3 year old point and shoot digital camera? Argh. Frustrating. I missed all the best shots cause the lag time was so slow! Grrrr. But anyway, here is my favorite shot of the night. Bear in mind, that this frame was shot at about 9:45 pm, not in the early evening. It was pitch black out. Hope you enjoy your friday/weekend!

Loving Amplified

Anyone who has seen my blog more than once knows how enamoured I am with Sassafras Lass. Maybe enamoured isn't a strong enough word. Anyway, semantics. Over at the Gal, we got the new Marmalade, Amplify, and Monstrosity. So at first, I wasnt really sure about any of it, to be honest. I saw the CHA booth stuff and wasnt impressed. Then the stuff got in the store. I looked at it and thought "What the heck, it's only a few bucks right?"

Last Saturday while I was locked in my craft room, it arrived! I almost attacked my poor postal lady! It's amazing! Seriously amazing. The photos online do NOT do it justice. I am so in love. I bought some of the Monstrosity and Amplify both. I passed on the Marmalade for now just because I have SOOOOOOOOOO much girly stuff right now I need to get through. I may pick some up down the road.

This is one of the layouts I did with the Amplify and one of the felites from the Monstrosity line. I really with that Sass would have put out some rad felties for the Amp line. Oh well, maybe I will just have to make my own. Heaven knows I have enough felt laying around my craft room. Hmmmmm. Maybe while Luke is hiding from poor defenseless deer in the woods I could do that!