It's Summer

Summer in Tucson. It's going to be 105 this weekend. Dry, Hot, Windy, Hot, Dry, did I mention Hot? I may have mentioned in previous posts, we are from Philadelphia. Where it can be hot and nasty humid, but where it's so different than here.

Four years ago, when we first moved here (in JULY), our first house was in a really beautiful development. Lots of houses. Lots of kids. Right? I sent my kids out on their bikes - to the school playgound nearby. They were 9 and 11 at the time. They came back kind of soon. NO kids anywhere. And absurdly hot. Back home, no matter how hot and icky, you could ride your bikes around the neighborhood and meet up with tons of kids. There were kids everywhere. Not here, not outside. Know why? It's too HOT. Isn't that insane? So we were here for a month or so, that first summer, and my kids never saw another kid. Back in Philly, you could ride your bikes all over the place. Then stop at Joe's market (neighborhood market) for ice cream, or penny candy. Yep, even today. Then ride your bike to the township pool, which everybody joined for the summer. Not here, most people have their own pools. If you want to take swimming lessons, you can sign up at the township pool, but nobody goes there just to hang out.

It's weird to me. Strange. Even after four years here. I don't even know most of my neighbors. I think we all feel sort of ... isolated? Lonely. And Hot.

Featured!

YAY! Do you ever read Cuteable?

"I seem to be liking scrabble tile pendants at the moment and this one by Buster and Boo is lovely."

My shop, Buster and boo, was featured today! Thank you, Cuteable!! (and smart lady chose one of my better pictures).

:0)

And the winner is......drumroll........

yyeres !!

Number chosen randomly by one of my children - there were too many respondents (yay!) for me to write down all the names and pull one out of the hat, so I had my youngest child (age 13) choose a number between 1-133 (# of respondents).

Yyeres, please contact me with your address so your bunny can be mailed to you!

Thank you all for participating - more great giveaways to come. I'm preparing the next one to start in a few days.

Have a great day, everyone!!

Totally different and new

Once in a while, I think it is good to step outside of your comfort zone. Challenge yourself. do something totally different. No, I'm not talking about sky diving, I'd be way too terrified !!

I made earrings. I made wet-felted beads (nothing too new or different there). I bought head-pins (who knew what a head-pin was??), and sterling silver earwires. Then I picked out freshwater pearls. (OK, I knew what they were). Then I put them together. My sister in law was in town this past weekend, and she makes jewelry, so she sort of showed me how. Then had the audacity to leave it up to me! So I did it.

They are not perfect - the beads are not identical, nor are they perfectly round. The pearls are also not identical.

And THEN I had the hutzpah (is that how you spell it? Have to ask my mother in law) to LIST them in my shop. Right there with the stuffed animals.

GASP!

Creatures from the west

There's a lizard living in my little courtyard. There's lots of lizards here, it is the southwest. But it always gives me a little thrill to see these critters.

I'm not sure what kind he is, if anybody knows,

let me know! Is he a desert iguana? He's big -

over 12 inches, is my guess.

Can you see him??

Little Elf's Toyshop - Giveaway!!

When I first joined Etsy over a year ago, Little Elf's Toyshop was one of the first shops I 'discovered'. And one of the first shops that I purchased something from - an adorable polymer clay pony. Little Elf continues to astound me with her work.

Elfie has graciously offered one of her needle felted sculptures as a giveaway. If you are not familiar with needle felting, it is the art of stabbing wool roving (wool before it has been spun into yarn) with a barbed needle, thereby 'felting' the wool fibers. You have to be VERY careful to NOT stab yourself, it hurts (I know from experience). But it's very fun, and if you're very talented, you can create work like this:

So, if you would like to win this beautiful little bunny -

1. visit Little Elf's Toyshop

2. pick your favorite item for her shop

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

4. Contest will end Monday, June 9th, 2008 at midnight.

Thank you!!!

NOTE: some of you that have been wonderful enough to enter this contest have not left me a way to reach you. I will post the winner Tuesday morning, and here's hoping it's somebody that I can contact! Next time I promise to leave a reminder. Or feel free to come back and leave another comment with your contact information!!!
thanks!!

Kit!

I've been dying to make my own felt - I promise to post a tutorial on how to wet felt your own felt to use for crafts. Anyway, I finally did this past weekend.


OK< so now what? Just use it to make my own little felt creatures? Patterns, tutorials, kits - all sell really well on Etsy. So I put a kit together. Included is my hand-made 100% wool felt and everything else you need to make a little mousie.

It's available in my Woolies shop, so come on over and visit! Get Crafty!