News from my Etsy shop

I am now including a free necklace with all of my pendants! Plus, I lowered the price of everything. All of my oval pendants (white tin plated silver) are $16 and all of my sterling silver pendants are $18. That's quite a deal on the sterling silver pendants! Link to my shop: here.

An update on Lydia's braces (tip toe walking)

***If you've landed on my blog from searching the 'net for info on tip toe walking or serial casting or AFO braces, hello. This particular post here is one in a number I wrote about my daughter's tip toe walking. I encourage you to start with this post instead. It encapsulates our journey more succinctly.***

I have been in contact with other moms who have found this blog by googling "toe walker". I'm glad this is a way to connect. I am in no way an expert on this issue, but I can share our experiences and maybe that would help someone else. So, I wanted to give an update on how Lydia is doing with her braces. She has been wearing them for almost two weeks now. (Catch up with Lydia's toe-walking story here.) I have seen a great improvement in her muscles since wearing the braces, but, she's still walking on her toes.

When we first got the braces, our physical therapist said that Lydia's degree of movement was at a 10. She needed to be at a 15 to be able to walk heel-to-toe comfortably. The purpose of the braces is to slowly stretch out her tendons and muscles, so that she can gain that range of motion. The braces can be positioned so she's either at a perfect 45 degree angle (her foot and leg) or it can stretch her so that her foot is stretching upward. We were instructed to have Lydia wear the braces at night in the 45 degree angle position, but then have her wear them for half an hour during the day at the stretched or "aggressive" position. We also have exercises that we do with her after. After two weeks of doing that (and Lydia doesn't' complain at all - she LOVES her braces!) she has gained two degrees! We are very pleased.

I can tell that her muscles and tendons are getting stretched, because I can put her braces on her and tighten them to the aggressive stretch position, and it feels like she's not being stretched at all. For the past two nights, I've positioned the braces in the aggressive stretch position and she's had a continuous stretch for 9 or more hours. Wonderful! She's tolerating it all very well and only once has she asked to have a break from wearing her braces at night. Arlene is jealous of the braces - the other day she started walking on her tip toes and told me she needs braces too. Ha!

Our next physical therapy appointment is July 7. I am interested to see how her range of motion is at that appointment. Once she achieves the 15 then we'll have to start working with her to get her out of the habit of walking on her toes. I think that will be the hardest part.

Half of a Marketplace!

The Marketplace got rained out! Bummer! We were able to be there from 3-6:30 though, and I did make two sales (two square pendants) and two people were very interested in my custom photo pendants. Plus, I sold two pendants on Etsy overnight, so all in all in 24 hours, I sold four pendants. Not too bad. The canopy that I bought at the last Marketplace was a saving grace. It was hellishly hot today with the sun blazing down. Check out my little set up! My loving husband came with me and helped out- thanks sweetie!

Isn't that felt banner just too cute for words?! Thanks mom for helping!

I made new display boards for my pendants and chains. I LOVE them. I want to hang them on my wall I love them so much! I actually just might do that as a storage method.

I also reduced the price of my pendants - the sterling silver ones went for $18 with a free chain or cord, and the other ones went for $16 with a free chain. The two people that bought pendants had fun picking out which chain they wanted.

At 6:15 tonight the sky got black and we just got my pendants in the car in time for big fat raindrops to start coming down. We got wet putting away the canopy, and Mike helped some other people take down their tents (is he a good guy or what?!) so he got totally to the bone soaked. I was actually sort of glad that it rained because that gave us a chance to leave early. The Marketplace was dead after about 5:30 and I really didn't want to sit there until 8.

I had signed up for two Marketplace days, and now that I've fullfilled those two days, I won't go back this year. Although it was fun and it was great exposure, it's too hot to set up and sit there for five hours for only two sales. The bulk of the vendors at the Marketplace are farmers, plant growers and bakers. The people that shop there go there for the plants and the food. Tonight the only crafters were me and another girl selling aprons.

My plan now for selling my goods is to keep up with my Etsy site, but also to look for more shows, shows that are specifically craft shows. I think I'd had better luck selling if people came to the event looking to buy crafts. Also, I want to make up some dolls to sell. Dolls and pendants. Yay!

Arrrr!

Make your own Mizer here. What fun. Thanks A.

Etsy Favorites Wednesday

Is it Wednesday again already and time for Etsy Favorites Wednesday? Whew, how time flies.

I was in Hobby Lobby on Monday and I was indeed delighted to see that they had their fall and Halloween merchandise out. I didn't buy anything, but I was tempted! I love fall and Halloween, but even I think it is just a wee bit early to be putting out fall stuff when we're just getting summer. I decorate for fall/Halloween on September 1. In the meantime, in the coming months I'll be picking up some great finds and storing them in the closet in hiding until September. I have been eyeing some fall-ish type of stuff on Etsy the past few days.

Wooly Bobble Bracelet - $21 by Ollies Woolies

How funky! They come in different colors. I like the orange.

Blossom Reach Print - $20 by Olda Design

I really think I need to get into painting flowers or doing something with flowers .... I am so drawn to flowers. Big flowers on skinny stems. Same thing with trees, which I had in my Etsy Favorites Wednesday post a few weeks back.

Pillowcase Dress - $16.50 by Cozy Cabin Mom

It would be to-die-for cute to put these dresses on the girls for their birthday!

Under the Wind of October Painting Print - $20 by Sandrine M
Love this. Love it.

Gourds of Goth Gift Set - $5 by AnthroPoMorphCo
You can a note card, a magnet, a page-keeper and a button for $5. What a deal. And they are darling to boot.

Not all state parks are the same

This pretty much sums up our weekend:














The girls were wiped out after camping. It was exhausting. But not in a good way.

We decided to go camping this weekend at a campground that we'd never been to. Big mistake. It was a state park, so we thought it would be fine. Well it wasn't! It was probably the WORSE camping experience we have EVER HAD, and we've been camping a lot. The park was full of hills, and our campsite was on a hill. It took us three times as long to set up our pop-up because we couldn't find a level spot. Once we finally got all set up, we were still leaning. There were divets and holes all over our camp site - the girls kept falling and I almost broke my ankle. The worst part is that our camping neighbors were literally five feet away from our front door. Mike and I are the type of people that like to camp and like to be left alone so that we can just sit and relax and play with the girls. We don't want to have to be social unless we want to. Our camper neighbors kept staring at us, so we felt like we couldn't fully relax or just be. We felt like we couldn't even talk because we were so close to everyone.

Friday night was okay ... the girls slept with me and it was cozy and cute, but, we could hear our camper neighbors SNORING really loud. And there were hillbilly's across the way that were playing music until 3 a.m. and telling colorful stories about their drunken adventures. We woke up Saturday and conteplated leaving. But, we stuck it out. We had breakfast and hung out (with the neighbors watching our every move) and then had lunch. And then! Lydia poo'd her pants TWICE. And it was messy poo. Yuck. That was lovely to clean up. We were close to the bathrooms, but she couldn't make it in time. Then at about 4 p.m. it started getting dark and stormed horribly. So we decided, that was it! After it stopped raining we packed it up (in record time, I might add!) and left. We have NEVER left a campground early, it was weird, but we just couldn't take it anymore! We couldn't imagine trying to be comfortable in the evening, eating dinner with our neighbors staring at us, and, since it was raining we wouldn't be able to have a campfire. And then! Arlene poo'd her pants as we were leaving! We finally figured out that the culprite was juice ... they rarely drink juice, and that's all they had drank all weekend. So, it just cleaned them out. Not fun.

We were soooo happy to be home on Saturday night. We're never going back to that campground! We kept thinking that it would be better, that maybe our neighbor campers would leave (they didn't) or maybe we'd discover something cool about the park (we didn't). We even walked around the park to see if there were other - better - sites that we could come back to, but everything was close together and on a slope.

So we'll just chalk this weekend up to an "experience!" We can say that we tried a new campground. We're going camping over the Fourth of July weekend at our favorite campground - Caesar Creek State Park - and we're very much looking forward to it! Caesar Creek is flat, and your neighbors are 200 feet away!

Etsy Favorites Wednesday

This week's list is about GLASS. I would love to be able to do this type of craft. I admire those than can!

Bug-A-Boo garden creature - $85
I love the expression on this little guy! From Serenity Glass

Shoots Garden Sculpture - $48
Since I can't seem to maintain my living plants in my garden, I may have to buy a bunch of handmade creations to fill the soil. From the shop of Feral Glass.

Sun Glass Sculpture - $22

Love love love this. I want it. From Daisy Flores.

Computer Mobi - Red - $25

These are interesting. This gal claims that they lessen eye strain. From Leah Pellegrini.

Very Old Horizontal Oak Leaf - $40

I think these are beautiful. I have been eyeing them on Etsy for awhile now. They are from the "Western Art Glass." The descriptions on each of his pieces are delightful to read.

Dollies

I finally finished the Arlene & Lydia dollies. I had started these awhile ago but just didn't have the time to sit down and stitch them. They are entirely hand-stitched. The one on the far left is a "Mommy Dollie" that I had made awhile ago as I was experimenting with Emily Martin's doll pattern. The middle dollie is Lydia, the far right dollie is Arlene. The girls love the dollies - they play "ring around the rosie" with them - it is just too cute. I have drawn up a new dollie pattern to use to make my own dollies. If they turn out cute I'm going to sell them. I'll post a picture when I get one finished.

Fun, fun and more fun!

We bought the girls a blow-up pool and it's just darn F-U-N! We were in it most of Sunday. It's big enough to fit one adult and both of the girls. They have a blast! This is how we'll be keeping cool this summer!

Lydia's braces

***If you've landed on my blog from searching the 'net for info on tip toe walking or serial casting or AFO braces, hello. This particular post here is one in a number I wrote about my daughter's tip toe walking. I encourage you to start with this post instead. It encapsulates our journey more succinctly.***

Lydia got her braces last Wednesday and she has been doing so exceptionally great with them. The braces are supposed to be worn overnight, but she has to "practice" with them before she can wear them that long. (I have written about her tip-toe walking and braces here, here, here, and here.) So, on Thursday she wore them for half hour, on Friday for an hour, and she's wearing them for another hour tonight (Saturday). We have to phase her into the braces to make sure she doesn't get any bruising or red spots or blisters or anything. After tonight, she can wear them for four hours in bed. We'll put them on her when she goes to bed, then take them off of her before we got to bed. If she still doesn't have any marks on her legs or feet, then she can wear them the entire night overnight.

There are two ways for the braces to work: they'll work overnight be keeping her foot and ankle at a 90 degree angle. That will help to strengthen her tendons. Then, she'll wear them for half hour a day, at what is called an "aggressive" stretch. The straps on the braces allow them to be pulled up to stretch her muscles. We'll keep doing her exercises with her to keep the tendon flexible, and we'll keep encouraging her to walk on her flat feet during the day.

The hope is that when we go back to physical therapy in a week and a half, that she has gained some range of motion. She needs to gain motion to be able to actually walk on her flat feet. Because her tendon is so tight, it really is hard for her to walk heel-to-toe. The process will probably take six weeks to see any real difference.

So far, Lydia LOVES the braces. She is excited to wear them and loves that they are yellow. She picked out the colors herself. She is being so brave about it. We are so proud of her!

Here are some pictures:

Watching TV with Arlene.

The Marketplace Part Deux

So I have some ideas for my next Marketplace. I'd love to have your advice. Since I'll have a canopy next time, I thought I'd draw some attention to myself by making a little banner. Something along the lines of this (click here). I'd make it out of felt and bright colors. Also, a lot of people didn't seem to know that my stuff was handmade, so perhaps a sign saying "handmade jewelry" is in order? Here's some other ideas that I had:

1.) I had made and displayed all of the pendants on cords or wires. It was a little awkward to display them all together without getting tangled. I had an idea: I could separate the pendants by price and put them together in a bowl or a box, then offer the cords or wires separately. Do you think that would work? I have five different prices levels of my pendants, based on the metals I used.

2.) I was also thinking about making a few plush dolls and seeing how those would sell. It seemed like from the crowd we had yesterday that people might be interested in them. I had made dolls for some friends based off of the BlackApple pattern. Pics of those dolls here. I can't technically sell dolls just like those because they are copyright of the BlackApple. But I could alter the pattern and make up my own dollies. What do you think?

The Marketplace

Well, I did it, my first craft show is under my belt. I'm proud of myself and my wares! The Marketplace was on the rough side of the town of Hamilton ... I don't really know why the organizers decided to hold it there. It was set up in the parking lot of a park. There were nine vendors selling farm goods - produce, honey, baked pies, etc. And there were four artisans, including myself. We were set up along the perimeter of the farmers. There was a woman there selling artwork, a potter selling coffee mugs, and a gal selling plush items and coffee cozies. She was super swell - check her out on Etsy here. She was so nice.

It was really super hot setting up my table and A., you'll be happy to note that I did, indeed, get fried. My shoulders and arms were quite red. I'll have to put sunscreen on my list next time. Anyway, the atmosphere of the Marketplace was fun and festive, but also a little creepy. Because it's in a rough part of the neighborhood, there were some questionable people there. Lots of partially clothed men. Gross, greasy men. They'd come up to my table, stink me out with their wretched body odor, grunt at my stuff, then walk away. There were also a bunch of super sweet people though. I got a lot of compliments on my stuff, and a lot of people asked me if I were coming back to the Marketplace next week so they could bring money next time. I'll be back there June 26. So maybe next time I'll have even more sales. Speaking of sales, I sold four items: two pendants and two pairs of earrings. That isn't a lot, but, it's more than I have ever sold in a day on Etsy, so I consider it a success.

I bought a canopy too! The woman selling artwork had her canopy for sale for $10, so I snatched it up. So next time I'll be in the shade, thank goodness. More than a few times I was worried that I was going to pass out. The heat index was 96!

I have some pictures:

This is the canopy that I bought:

At the very end of the evening this was our entertainment: senior citizens dancing the hula. I hope that when I'm 85 I'm so confident in myself that I can wear the ugliest dress known to man and dance in front of complete strangers, not caring that my flabby arms and liver spots are out there for all to see. Don't get me wrong, it was sweet, and I admire their enthusiasm, but it was also a bit embarrassing to watch.

Etsy Favorites Wednesday

Time for Etsy Favorites Wednesday! Enjoy this week's list.

Cotton Tea Towel - $12

I am lovin' tea towels on Etsy. I need to buy one. Or better yet, I need to make myself one. I was thinking about embroidering the girls' drawings onto a towel. This towel is screenprinted from Alison Tauber's shop.

Extra Large Mason Ball Jar - $15

When we were at a flea market over Memorial Day I saw some Ball jars like this and I really liked them. A set of jars filled with buttons or marbles would be cute sitting on a counter or a shelf. I am featuring this item even though it's not handmade ... Etsy has a large selection of antiques on the site too, or as they call them, "vintage items." This one is from Domestikate's shop.

Owl Ash Tray - $9.99

More with the vintage items! I think this owl is cool. He'd look cool sitting on a counter collecting your loose change. From Gibby Goo's shop.

You Park Like a Jerk cards - $5

Those just crack me up.

Wendy Wonderland painting - $20

I have had this artist (Sophia Sweet Spot) listed as one of my favorites for awhile. This painting is called "Wendy Wonderland" - that means that I need to buy it for myself, no? I think so.

My first craft show!

I have been accepted as a vendor for my first ever CRAFT SHOW! HOOOOORAY! I am going to be a vendor at the City of Hamilton Main Street Marketplace. It's a farmers and crafters market happening every Thursday until October. I was given space this coming Thursday, June 12, and also June 26 and July 10. It runs from 3-8 p.m. I am so excited! I am going to take all of the items that are in my Etsy shop to see how they do!

Welcome back!

My hubby's blog, "Cuts Happening" had taken a brief hiatus. Now it's back! He took the blog offline because he felt like he wasn't updating it enough and that no one was reading it. Well, after the discovery of an event this coming weekend, he's now on a mission to inform the world of all things horror-movie related. Read more about it on his blog, here.

Pendant supplies

I just purchased supplies to make new pendants! I've decided that I'm going to do a "recycled" collection - I'm going to make pendants out of old images, things I have around the house, old cards, old papers, etc. I might also make a trip to my local antique store to see if I can find anything pendant-worthy. Check out this smattering of bezels that I purchased:

These are old watch backs - I've never worked with them before, it'll be interesting to see how they turn out.

Bye bye white hair

A couple weeks ago I was taking pictures of some of my Etsy items. As I was reviewing them I noticed a horrible WHITE hair on the side of my head. Upon closer inspection, I have three WHITE hairs on the other side too! What the heck! Look at this:


So, on Thursday night I went to my salon and got a hair cut and some BLOND highlights. Bye bye white hair! Covered them right up. My hairstylist saw the white hairs and was all, "Oh, what's that?! Those weren't there your last hair cut!" I'm all like, I know, they're growing like weeds, get them outta there!



That picture cracks me up.

Etsy Favorites Wednesday

It's time again (I almost forgot!) for Etsy Favorites Wednesday. Since I have HOUSE on the brain, I've got five house-related items to share with you.

Yellow House Bobby Pins - $5

From Cream Rose's shop. She calls them "hair grips" - haha that's the first time I've heard that term used to describe bobby pins.

Swiss Chalet Card Set - $11.95
Gocco-printed card set with sweet little houses. I love prints and screen prints. These are from The Wildwood Flower's shop.

House of Love Necklace - $35

This is so pretty. Perhaps I'll buy it and wear it for good luck on the sale of our house? It's from The Pudding Store's shop.

Petit Maison Pendant - $14.99

I think that Scrabble tile pendants are waaaay overdone on Etsy, but I do love this one for it's collage style. From the shop called "deciduoussoul." The listing says it would be perfect for someone as a housewarming gift. So if we ever do sell our house and get to move into our new one, can someone please gift this to me?

A House is Not a Home Painting - $47.77

This image sort of sums up all of my thoughts on this whole

house-selling/building business. Dark and drab and just damn depressing. From BellatrixArt.

There is no greater maddness than trying to sell your home

I just might lose my mind. I might. We got a call Monday night that someone wanted to see our house from 5:30-6:30 on Tuesday. Yay, that's the first showing we've had in almost a month. So we picked up and cleaned the house a bit and left Tuesday at 5 p.m. and went out to dinner and wasted some time at a store. We get home at 7 p.m. and there is no indication that anyone had been here. Usually after a showing we can tell that someone walked through our house - the rugs are askew or the shower curtain is pulled back. I got ahold of our realtor today and she said that because of the weather (it was raining) the other realtor cancelled the showing. Would have been nice if they let us know that! We got a call today, Wednesday, telling us that we had a showing tonight from 5-6 p.m., that it was the same person wanting to reschedule. Fine, come on out. Mike spent his first afternoon off of school for the summer doing some deeper more thorough cleaning while I was at work and he even made chocolate chip cookies so the house would smell good. We left promptly before 5, went out to eat again, and then went to the mall to walk around to waste time. Got home: same story - no one had been here. I called our realtor all peeved off, telling her it's not exactly fun picking up the house and packing up the girls and going out to eat when they're tired and alls they want to do is stay at home and play with their toys but we don't let them because we don't want them to make a mess, and she tells me that the showing is tomorrow. Tomorrow. Really. Hm, because when Mike got the call today, they said today. Tonight. As in this day. SO, that means that we'll have to clean again and leave the house again so that this buyer and their realtor can maybe come over to see the house tomorrow, if it's not raining. I'm so sick of this I'm about to throw up. Our realtor is being all chipper and saying, "This could be the one!" YEAH RIGHT! This could also just be a colossal waste of our time and our family's well being.

What a cute idea!

I subscribe to the Twitter posts of CRAFT: magazine. Every day they post links to some amazing craft projects that people are doing. I got a free pattern for a little plush bird from them (my bird is in progress, will post a picture when he's done!) and then today, I saw this:

What is it, you ask? It's a bracelet made out of a recycled Starbucks gift card!

What fun and it would be soooo easy to do! I wish I had a dead Starbucks gift card that I could make into a bracelet. Really any card would work though. I will have to look into my wallet. Target has some cool looking cards - those would be fun to use. Got any dead gift cards you want to give to me? Lemme know!