New Woolies Sheepie

There is a wonderful knitting designer called fuzzymitten. She gave me permission to sell stuffed animals made from her patterns, long ago. Which is awesome, cause her patterns are the best. She just came out with a new one, that is just too adorable. Meet Annabelle! She's available in my shop. (just had to share)

We have a winner!!!

the winner is ........ snitterdog!

Snitterdog is the winner of TWO fairies made by Unwavering Faith. Thank you to all who participated in the giveaway. And thank you to Unwavering Faith for providing the awesome prize!
Check back soon, as I plan to do giveaway's as a regular feature.

Happy Friday!

Ginormous Spider

I have a little tiny office. It has a nice sized window, looks out on the front of my property, nice and shady.

I was sitting here working yesterday (I have a 'day' job, in addition to my Etsy shops, and I get to work from my home, quite awesome) when something caught my eye. It was crawling up the screen, outside my CLOSED window. EEEK

I think it is a juvenile tarantula.

I'm not sure I'll ever get used to living in the wild west.

:0)

Giveaway !!

YAY! Another giveaway! This one is from a wonderful shop at Etsy called Unwavering Faith. Once you visit this shop, you just might be glued there, she has some beautiful things. You could win BOTH of these fairies.

The one with yellow/green hair has needle-felted hair! :0) and she has a leaf skirt.The other one has a rose skirt and her hair is black boucle (wool)She also has a silver "crown" on the back of her head. They both have wooden bead shirts and stand about 4" tall.

Jenn's shop banner states "Nature's Enchantment", and I'm sure you will agree with me that her work is really enchanting.

How do you win?

1.Please visit Unwavering Faith.

2. come back here and leave a comment with your favorite item from her shop

3. make sure you leave your email address so I can contact you if you are the winner!
4. And while you're there, think about why you love natural toys for children!

Contest will end on Thursday, May 29th, at midnight. Winner will be announced on Friday, May 30th.

Thank you and good luck!

Dog Play

Why bother to make the bed? These silly dogs are just going to jump all over it and roll around and root under the covers. These two are Buster and Boo, for which I named my newest shop.

Boo loves to climb all over Buster, and he doesn't care at all. She's a girl, and he's a boy, so it's not what you may think.....

Boo is a peekapoo (pekinese/poodle mix, still a puppy, bought from a neighbor). Buster came from a rescue when he was a puppy, he is half springer spaniel, half we don't know what.

Silly dogs.

:0)

Teenagers

I have two teenage boys.

My 15 year old used my computer last night, and left his 'livejournal' open, along with about 5 other windows (myspace friends, etc). I was closing each one, when I came to the livejournal one. This site is like a diary, that your friends can read (only the friends that you choose). I read it, I'm sorry. I only glanced at the first post...but then it was like a train wreck that I couldn't walk away from.
He's lied to us. About a lot of things.
I'm going to have to confront him.
I understand the 'moving away' from your family thing. It's part of growing up. But does it have to be? I have always tried to be the non-judgemental kind of parent. The "you can talk to me about anything" type of parent. The only time I ever punish him (by taking away the computer) is when he is SO totally disrespectful to us that I can't take it anymore.
He's not talking to me, about the things that matter.

My other son, who will be 13 next week, is also having problems. School is out, and he's decided to not leave his room. He won't call friends.....and he only really has one friend. 7th grade was a difficult time for him.

Not sure what to do. With either one.
Is this blog all of a sudden becoming my 'livejournal'?
Has anybody been through this? Feel free to comment....

Found on Etsy

I love primitive art. I have an original done a long time ago,

bought a long time ago, it is one of my most favorite

possessions. Today I found a primitive style artist

on Etsy. His name is Walt Curlee. You can visit his

shop here. His work is amazing, and speaks for

itself, so I will just let you enjoy.

Uh Oh, Tagged!

I have been tagged by Mare of Moon and Stars Studio - http://moonstarsstudio.blogspot.com/

The rules of the game are as follows:
1. Link back to the person that tagged you
2. Post these rules on your blog.
3. Share six unimportant things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your entry.

Ok, here goes....

(I've done this a couple of times before, and now I'm having a really hard time coming up with information that I didn't already share.....hmmmmm.....thinking hard)

1. I really like to be alone. As much as I love people, I desperately need my time by myself. I was told by a psychic that it is because I can read people's minds, and all that information is too overwhelming.
2. Along those same lines, I hate noise. Beyond hate, I can't tolerate it, my heart races and I practically have a panic attack. This happens when a neighbor has left their dog outside and it's been barking for longer than 10 minutes, or when a neighbor is blasting their stereo outside while they wash their car, or if the TV is too loud......
3. I love the woods; forests. Trees have always been a big part of my life. As a kid, I spent a LOT of time climbing trees. I used to ride my horse in the woods - it was like church to me.
4. Same thing with the ocean. Except I've never ridden a horse by the ocean. So where can I live that has both forest and ocean?
5. I'm a published poet.
6. I am the most loyal friend you will ever have. I will forgive your faults. I will be your friend forever.

OK now who shall I tag?

Mosey at http://moseyhandmade.blogspot.com/
Rebecca at http://FaerieRebecca.blogspot.com
Susan at http://mvfiberfarm.blogspot.com/
Bee at http://beedazzles.typepad.com/
Jenn at http://barefoot-in-tennessee.blogspot.com/

and I still need one more...I'll be back

Trees in the desert

This is the property I've always wanted to own. We have about 1 1/2 acres. We're allowed to have four horses on our property, but content ourselves with just two. Personally, I'd like donkeys and little ponies, but how many horses can you afford to feed?

One of the greatest things about this property is that there are trees here - big ones - mesquite trees. We have 3 huge ones in the front of our property. The shade is extraordinary, although in summer - really - nothing suffices but air conditioning. You cannot live without that around here. Our land is in the foothills of a mountain range, the Tortolitas. Not a tall mountain range, but pretty nonetheless. In the very front of our house is a little courtyard, very cool and shady. It's been sadly neglected lately, but my dogs enjoy it. It's a safe place to let them out, especially little Boo, due to the predators that would be very happy to steal a little dog for dinner. It happens all the time out here. I refuse to let it happen to Boo.

Anyway, here's some pictures for your Saturday viewing enjoyment.

View from our road - this is the Catalina mountains, to our East. The tallest peak is Mt Lemmon, which is over 9000 feet. You can drive up there - it is a vast wilderness. We've played in the snow up there in the winter, collected pine cones in the fall. This summer I want to explore Rose Lake, where you can fish. It's an amazing retreat when it's 110 degrees in the summer.

Hand knit stuffed animals, and their pictures

Once again, it's been proven what an incredibly lousy photographer I am. It's the lighting.

I made these mice as part of a Woolies wholesale order. I took pics, sent them to my buyer, then she took pics and put them up on her site.

Wow what a difference!! Can you guess which are her pics??

The real thing?

A little story for you:

I received a request for a custom item in my Woolies shop. The customer told me that their beloved doggie was ill, and dying. She wanted a similar doggie made for her daughter, in remembrance of the adored dog. Since we have four dogs, this concept was just wonderful to me, and so so sad. So, what do you think?

Artist!

I love 'discovering' new artists on Etsy. I'm not sure how I found hide n seek, but here she is. I pretty much want everything in her shop. She offers buttons, stationary, stickers and of course prints.
Her characters, themes, style - all just grab me.


This one is called "He says he can hear the forest whisper"

This one is "Mom, this is the friend I told you about" and the last one is "Dad, this is the friend I told you about".

WOW

Crafty!

Look at what alluringbeaddesigns did with one of my pendants! The colors are georgeous and it just looks so pretty!

Wouldn't you love to wear this set?

:0)

Happy Mother's Day!

To celebrate Mother's Day, enjoy these beautiful pieces of art from some of my friends on Etsy.

The artists featured are haddy2dogs, woolcomesalive, germandolls and oritdotandolls.

Happy Mother's Day!

Ponies

Just had to share all these ponies! They look so cute all lined up together. They are made in the Waldorf tradition - no facial features. It is up to the child to decide if their pony is happy or sad, playful or wants to nuzzle. There are six of them - being shipped off today! Next up - 5 black sheepies!

:0)

And the WINNER is..........

drumroll.........
(waiting for my husband to pick the name out of the bowl - doing it the old fashioned way - all the names are written on slips of paper, folded, and put into a bowl)

Curlyknitter!!!!!!!

:0)

Curlyknitter, please contact me or faerierebecca for details, as I cannot reach you through your blog post!!!

FABULOUS GIVEAWAY!!! Toys From Nature!

Wouldn't you love to have this fairy? Isn't she just too beautiful?

Totally unique, special, fabulous. A little bit about the fairy -

She is made from wool roving and is about 9" long. She's tied with a pink ribbon edged in gold and is perfect to hang over a nature table, on a door knob, etc.

You can WIN her! Here's what you have to do -

1. Visit FAERIEREBECCA's Toys From Nature shop on Etsy.

2. Pick out your most favorite item from her glorious shop.

3. Come back here and leave a comment with your most favorite item.

4. Winner will be chosen at random on May 8th - that is one week from today.

For a peek at Faerie Rebecca's work - see my earlier post from April 14th.

Her shop has been a favorite of mine for a long time.....

Can I win??? Ah no, that would be cheating...

:0)

New pendants!

I've been working on all kinds of new pendants;

I'll be listing them in my shop over the next few days.

I was waiting for a shipment of Scrabble tiles, rather

impatiently, and when they finally arrived I made a

LOT! Vintage sheet music, vintage pages from foreign

language novels, and of course Japanese Chiyogami papers

- and I'm always on the look-out for new ideas.

Let me know if you think of any!

What do you think?

Meecie Mice

Just wanted to share these little guys; they are part of a wholesale order, my very first.

They are Edward and Tessa, brother and sister. Edward is very protective of his little mousie sister, and sometimes even agrees to come to her tea parties. (It might be the little salad sandwiches that she serves..). Tessa adores her big brother, and has been known to follow him around the neighborhood. Which does not always make their Mommy mouse happy, as following Edward around usually requires climbing through holes and dusty garages, resulting in a not very clean dress!

But Mommy mouse smiles as she does the laundry, knowing that her mousie children are happy and together.

These little mice are adapted from a pattern by fuzzymitten, with quite a few liberties taken. Used with permission.

Horse Racing, a rant

Horse racing is big business. Millions of dollars at stake, not just depending on who wins the races, but who sires who, and who foals who might win big races one day. It sickens me.

Because it's all about the people, not about the horses. Now, I do not doubt that the trainers and jockeys and grooms and owners CARE about their horses, I'm quite sure they do. These horses are pampered and very well cared for, after all, they are worth millions.

Today, as the Kentucky Derby ended, the horse who came in second collapsed right after the race. She was a filly (girl horse, unusual in the Derby). She broke both her front ankles. I saw her lying on the track, and I just knew she was done. Heartbreaking.

And Barbaro--- don't get me started on Barbaro. I cried and cried when they finally decided to end his suffering. And he had the very very best of care - the best vets, the best medicine.

I'm just going to say this once:

Horses are not made for this human sport. It is cruel.

Yes, I know it's been going on since the days of the Romans. That does not make it right.

Go ahead, disagree with me. I'd like to hear other points of views.

So after I got done crying for Eight Belles, I took apples out to my horses. I told them about the sadness. They loved their apples.