Therapeutic Threads by Original Cyn Studios

2012

2012-01-23T13:58:00.000-08:00

Goodness where has the time gone? 2011 was a year filled with lots of changes, not all good but not all bad. The new year promises hope and more changes that will be very positive.

Therapeutic Threads has been quite busy this year getting a studio set up, designing new "cool" looking products - including the new weighted hoodies and weighted lap pets. Remember as each of your children, clients, and you are individual, so are each of my products. No two are exactly the same and your ideas are very welcome. Let Therapeutic Threads design something to fit your needs.

Here's hoping you have a wonderful 2012.

Another school year

2011-09-16T08:53:00.000-07:00

So another school year is upon us and I was going through reviewing what I accomplished last school year - let me tell you it had a lot to do with packing and sorting (multiple times).

As I was reviewing this, I realized that I left you hanging with the carpool crochet series. I actually accomplished quite a few projects sitting in the carpool lane (which thankfully I don't have to do this year). For example I started this project.. and it turned into this lovely box that I have on my work shelf holding various items (or I will again when I get my studio unpacked again). I also made several sets of the doilys/washcloths I showed here. They really turned out pretty in several colors.

My last project of the carpool lane was this lovely green, which turned into a great 60's inspired swimsuit sheath.

Now that the new school year has started and I'm not sitting in carpool lanes anymore (I walk up to his classroom and "hang" with some other parents again), I will need to change my project time. Wonder what will manifest this year?

Welcome to a new school year.

MIA but new stuff :)

2011-06-28T12:54:00.000-07:00

Wow, I have been MIA for quite awhile. The move and settling has really taken over every aspect of our life.

It's a bit big for my model but he loved it too.

sweatshirt and weights

However, I have been doing custom orders all along for my Therapeutic Threads store. Most recently I was asked to make a "cool-looking" weighted hoodie for a pre-teenage boy. I loved this idea. So many of the weighted vests looked exactly like a weighted vest or a typical denim or fleece vest with weights sewn in. I make 2 types of those but they don't really cut into the fashion industry with much "cool" style. So I tackled this like I do most of my custom orders....get to know the kiddo. I needed his measurements to ensure proper fit but also needed to know what he likes. Then I started working on this.
Originally I made several sweatshirts and put a liner in them for the weights - those worked just fine but they didn't have the teenage look I was going for. My husband saw my frustration and asked why I was "trying to reinvent the wheel - just adapt a premade hoodie." He had a great point. While I made some lovely sweatshirt hoodie vests, I could have just found a hoodie the kiddo would like and start there. So I did that. Found a cool looking sweatshirt and created a weighted liner inside. The inside liner vest is adjustable on the sides and the front to adapt to the needs of the child. It has 8 pockets around the waist and 2 higher up on the back/shoulders. Perfect for adding the weight needed. 2 or 3 weights of 4 oz fit great in each pocket providing an opportunity for changing as the child needs change. The sweatshirt zips up in front and no one has any idea it is a weighted vest. Remove the weights and it washes just as any other hoodie washes. Have a sweatshirt your child absolutely loves? Send it to me and I'll add the weighted interior or allow me to find and create a sweatshirt to work for your child.

inside the vest - 10 pockets for weights

This weighted hoodie is off for its new home today but contact me for one of your own (and watch for some coming to my store later this summer).

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T07:14:00.000-08:00

Now that we are finally moved and together and done dealing with most of the boxes (notice I said most of the boxes) we are taking some time to do more family things. We have a great San Antonio trip planned for next week that will include Sea World and the Alamo. We are also trying to get in more date nights. The move and chaos has put a strain on our marriage so it's been really nice getting to have some date nights (we've lucked out with a great babysitter in our apartment complex too). So for Valentine's Day I thought I'd share a few of the great places in the area that would be great for your future Austin date night too. As we venture out, I'll share some more Austin area places.

Saturday night we went to the restaurant La Traviata. Such a sweet quaint place with great food. We've walked by it several times in the past few months and I'm so glad we went. It's downtown Austin so check it out. After a fabulous dinner we decided to head to a lounge before going out dancing. We headed over to the swanky (not sure that's a cool word anymore but it felt swanky to me) W restaurant/bar/lounge which was really cool. Then off to another club for dancing and meeting up with some co-workers of my husband. Apparently this particular night was "wig night" for the "bar crawl" crowd so we ended up at Dogwood's bar with a lot of wig bearing people. Made me wish I had one too. It's an outdoor/indoor bar which seemed unfathomable to me after living in the Pacific Northwest for so long - guess it's perfect for the 100 degree evenings in the summer. It certainly was fun people watching while doing a little dancing before heading back to the car and home to the babysitter. Such a lovely evening. So treat your loved one to a great Valentine's Day and let them know how much you love and appreciate them.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Custom work - weighted snakes

2011-02-05T11:43:00.000-08:00

I've had a number of custom items in the works. The latest is an order for multiple snake weighted lap pads. These are made in various weights as well as adjustable weighted snakes. This particular order is for 5 pound snakes to be used in a school district. Here is one of my favorite ones.

Working on Wednesday - more carpool crochet

2011-02-03T10:40:00.000-08:00

Got any ideas as to what this will be?

She needs a name

2011-01-29T08:32:00.000-08:00

I recently finished a custom order for a 6 year old girl who loves pink. Her mom picked out the fabric from my choices and made a few other requests - definitely a custom order. The order evolved into this adorable weighted lap pad. The body is weighted with flaxseed to allow for hot/cold therapy as well as light weighting. It is covered in a removable fleece cover in a pink with hot pink floral print (yes, pink and more pink). This cute guy has "sensory" ears - that is they crinkle. Top this off with pink ribbon fidgets and this is my favorite lap pet so far. Any ideas what to call it? My son thinks it should be a "cat"erpillar lap pet. What do you think?

******Update****** This cute guy has been named "Chum Chum" by her new owner. So cute!

Workin on Wednesday - carpool lane crochet

2011-01-26T09:25:00.000-08:00

As we have moved to a new community, new school, new state, we are discovering a lot of things we miss about our old community. I could begin to list them all but won't at this point. The one major thing we are missing right now is our son's school. There are so many reasons why we are missing his school (academics being part of it) but one major change for me is the afternoon pick up. At his old school, parents were encouraged to park, come into the school, mingle with other parents, discuss difficulties and successes, talk about up coming community events, pick up fliers for community activities, meet and greet your child and their friends, and sometimes get a chance to talk briefly with the teacher. At this school, parents are told (at least we were & it appears it's schoolwide) that they are to stay in their cars and drive through and pick up the kids - like a conveyor belt or drive-through restaurant. Very different and quite isolating to a new family. I also must arrive about 10-15 minutes early or I have to sit in my car out on a busy highway waiting for all the cars to pull forward so it can be my turn in the parking lot drive-up lane - yikes! So as we've been adjusting to it, I've been fidgeting in the car waiting for my turn in line to pull up and summon my kid. I didn't do that for more than one day. Boring. So now I bring along my crochet bag. I didn't have a lot of yarn out of boxes since we are still in move-in mode but I did have a couple skeins so I went to work making something to brighten my day. I expect as the school year goes on, I'll be sharing several "carpool lane crochet" items. These are fun sunny doilies or washcloths. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them yet as my son does not want to use them in his shower. :) Happy Wednesday!

Lights! Camera! Action!

2011-01-22T11:00:00.000-08:00

I was trying to catch up on my blog reading as well as catch up with friends from the Seattle area recently. I discovered a product I am so jealous about (not to mention how she has it stored). I'll hold that thought and give you the backstory.

I struggle with getting good photos - I think that is one of the hardest things about having an online store. The lighting, the background, the camera, the size of the object, etc all factor in to making a great product look even better online. Yes, I have Photoshop and know how to use it well. I even have a husband who spends all day every day making things look good on the computer (he's an art director and artist for a game company) who is willing to assist me. However, to coordinate all these items and get the product listed in a timely manner just doesn't happen. Most retail professionals have full studios for photographing items - not realistic for me as we are living in a much smaller place now than we were a few months ago - there is barely room for me to sew, let alone have a photography studio. Many people make their own by following the multitude of tutorials out there with directions. Others hire photographers (or barter with them) to take the photos. There are also great resources for taking photographs such as Marlo at small object photography. Great for small items - I'm struggling with both small items and big items. I'm envious because a friend found the coolest light studio that is also compact. It's from BestLight Studio and folds up nicely. You can read on her blog all about how Heidi at Haute Goat uses it and stores it. For now, I'm using my plethora of boxes as my studio until I can afford to get this awesome light tent. Snap!

Workin on Wednesday -pink millipede

2011-01-19T10:21:00.000-08:00

So the New Year has renewed my desire for accomplishing something other than dealing with boxes and I'm ready to get back at it with Workin on Wednesday. This week I am trying to trudge through my custom order list that piled on with the move. Today I'm finishing up the custom order for a little girl who loves pink and purple and was caught between my millipede lap pad and my bunny lap pad. They chose a pink millipede with pink and purple fidget legs. It's 1 1/2 pounds for light weight for her lap or around her neck. I will be working on better pictures this afternoon but here he is:

Have you missed me?

2010-12-18T10:38:00.000-08:00

Hi all, I have felt so out of the loop lately with the whole move and transitions happening in our life. I finally have a few hours alone while the boys are off to see Tron so I decided to use the time to reconnect with my old life rather than continue tackling the mega-box-thon I've been dealing with since September. We are here in our new apartment thousands of miles away from friends and family buried in boxes -

Son's bedroom when the mover's left

as you can see from the pictures. It has been difficult assembling a 4 bedroom house into a 2 bedroom apartment but my first goal was getting my son's room together so he could occupy his time there while I tackled the rest of the apartment. Unfortunately it's slow going. My original plan was to have all the boxes in the area they were designated for (yes they were color coded with regions in the house - orange for master bedroom, blue for son's bedroom, pink for my studio, green for long term storage, etc) however on moving day we quickly discovered that all the boxes would not fit into the space so that plan was abandoned. Blue and orange still made it up the2 flights of stairs to the bedrooms - for the most part but all the studio and kitchen items did not make it up the stairs to inhabit the living/dining/kitchen area as that was filled with furniture and boxes quickly. So I have been slowly and gradually tackling each box in the area determining if we have room to have it in the house or if it needs to go to the garage or eventually to an off-site storage facility (that is if I can find a reasonable one out here - they are pricey compared to WA and CO). With the holiday rapidly approaching I felt it most important to put up our Christmas decorations or I would completely feel void of the holiday spirit this year and that would not be good for the entire family. Now that the tree is up I'm really itching to get started on the multiple orders I have pending.

This was early in the day after the first of 3 loads arrived.

Unfortunately the fabric, sewing supplies, etc are scattered all over. Some boxes made it to the dining room but others are downstairs and I am not able to carry the heavy stuff upstairs - yes I'm having lots of pain in the back and neck with the change (so many stairs are not helping). So my goal before Christmas is to find my sewing machine and begin the custom orders so I can get them mailed. Naturally all that has to wait for Christmas shopping to be completed. I hope family understands receiving gifts late this year - it's been that kind of year. As for holiday letters and cards, I'm thinking those will go out in the New Year - I hope. For now, I'm just glad to have a few hours of quiet solitude (and perhaps sewing machine searching) before the crazy boys return and life returns to chaos. I wish for you all a wonderful holiday season with lots of quiet wonderfuls in the midst of chaotic life.

See you in the New Year!

Exhausted!

2010-11-09T14:22:00.000-08:00

So I have resigned myself to this move and now want it to be over with. I am exhausted, tired, beat, whipped, overwhelmed, and over it. This last week my husband and I got tons done - we got a storage POD parked in our front lawn to make it possible to see where we have and haven't packed, sold some of the furniture we don't have room for there, sold hubby's truck, we got all the library, art studio, and storage room packed up and even managed to throw our little guy an early birthday party with his friends (he'll turn 8 right after we arrive in our new apartment and new state). We had several days of wonderful weather so we also got the roof cleaned off, gutters cleaned and some yard work done. I guess the rest will be up to me so let's hope the weather holds. I'm just ready to be done with this. Another huge reason I'm ready to get settled again is that I have been getting tons of emails about custom work that I am having to postpone until I arrive in the South. I just hope they will all wait a month or so. I would love to crank out some custom work right now - the creativity would aid my mind but it's won't happen since my sewing machine and all my fabric is packed, sealed tight and awaiting transportation. Won't be much longer - the end of this month and we're headed to warm land - (boo hiss & zzzzzzzs ).

Wordless Wednesday - Fall is wonderful!

2010-11-03T20:21:00.000-07:00

Fall Harvest festival at Camp Corey - gorgeous!

pumpkin carving party

Trick or treating with son's best friends (aka Luke & Anakin)

Halloween quickly approaches

2010-10-20T11:18:00.000-07:00

Wow, I can't believe we are nearing Halloween. Just a short time after that we'll (I'll) be all packed up and moving to a new place, a new state, a new chaos. As we approach Halloween I am saddened though. Every year I pride myself on taking the costume desires of my son and creating them for him. This year he opted for a store purchased costume rather than me making one. I'm sad. While it is a cool costume (and befits him greatly) I am sad that I didn't have the time to create this for him. Each year has been so special with him drawing out his design, discussions about how we can make it, shopping for the fabric, designing it and sewing it. This year all that fun has slipped away. Yes we had fun searching all the Halloween shops for something that fit his idea but it just wasn't the same. As you can see from the pictures surrounding, each year has been a challenge. This year not so. Unfortunately my challenge right now is packing, planning an early birthday celebration (here with his friends as his birthday will be shortly after we move), finishing our remodel, and packing. Not the creative bliss I was hoping for as Halloween approaches but there's always next year. Happy Costume making!

Excitement builds

2010-10-13T08:39:00.000-07:00

I'm excited about today. Why? Because today is the day I get to set up my display for the Vasa Park Fall Craft show. It's not that I look forward to lugging heavy boxes to my car, out of my car and then set up the grid walls, tables, etc. I'm looking forward to getting all that big stuff out of my house. As we are packing up to move to
Texas, I am finding that I have little room to sort, sift and pack with grid walls, tables, and tons of boxes of product sitting around the area. I am excited about taking them to a new place and setting them up and selling tons. Let's put it this way... I am a motivated seller. I'm excited that for the next few days I will have a bit more space to tackle the areas that need to be packed up quickly. One such area is my sewing room. I already packed the fabric but after visiting Texas this past weekend and seeing how small the apartment is, I am needing to repack the fabric to be in "project" boxes. That way I get out a box, work on a "project" and then return it to the box. I think this is going to be the only way I can do it for now....especially since there isn't even an area for me to sew in (guess I'll be using the dining room table that won't be in the dining room because the computer will be in that small area). So I'm off today to move out some boxes, see the other great vendors, set up my area, and enjoy the gorgeous place where the show is set. Come on by and see me. The show runs tomorrow (Thursday October 14) and Friday from 10 AM- 7 PM and Saturday October 16 from 10 AM-5 PM at Vasa Park and Resort in Bellevue, Washington.

Vasa Park Fall Craft show

2010-10-07T14:55:00.000-07:00

Next week I will be showing at the Vasa Park Fall Craft show. This is a great group of vendors (about 95) with wonderful gifts, home decor, food, and personal products. Therapeutic Threads will be there with my therapeutic eye, back and neck pillows. These are perfect for Holiday presents. The eye pillows are filled with lavender (from my garden) and flax seed and feel wonderful warm or cold. I have 2 sizes of back pillows: small (which is perfect for cramps, muscle aches or cold on small injuries) and large (which is great wrapped around your back or over the legs - perfect warmed up at the end of the bed). My neck pillows conform perfectly around the neck and rest comfortably there. These are great warmed up and worn while reading or straight out of the freezer to cool down on a hot summer day. My family uses our therapeutic pillows daily. They come with a removable cover that can be washed.

Original Cyn Studios will also be there with aprons, children's smocks, purses, and cup covers. Come get these great gifts now and you are finished with your holiday shopping.

The Vasa Park Fall Craft show runs October 14 & 15th from 10 AM - 7 PM and October 16th from 10AM-5PM. Come check it out.

I'm still here....barely.

2010-10-04T14:52:00.000-07:00

This past year has been extremely difficult for my family for a number of reasons. We've had illnesses, injuries, and financial woes - much like many others have. We have managed to stay on top of these difficulties and tried to work through them the best we could. However, with the financial blow the injuries & surgeries have taken on our life this year, we had to search for an alternative that would get us back on our feet (or so we hope). This means that my husband has taken a job out of state and we will be moving to Texas. It has taken me several months to deal with the blow of this as it has been very difficult to think of leaving the love, stability, and comfort I have found here in the Seattle area. My friends have been the strength that has held me together over the past year and continue to support me through this move. I am ever so grateful!

For the next few months I will be in the process of sorting and packing (as well as finishing our remodel) as I prepare our family for the move. My husband is already in Texas and so it will be up to me but I won't be doing it alone, many friends have offered to help with this task and I intend to take them up on this offer. More laughs, more memories to treasure during the future days of missing them.

As far as my stores, they will stay open until we move. I have one show coming up (I will have to bow out of another I was accepted into) which I will share information for shortly. So life goes on.

I'll share more about my future as the months come by and I intend to take some much needed time to revamp my websites and this blog. Thanks for bearing with me this year - it's nice to be back.

Back soon

2010-07-22T15:04:00.000-07:00

Hello friends,

I have been MIA for so long & wanted to quickly let you know I'm still here. We were on vacation for a few weeks where I was cleaning out each room of my Aunt's house so that it can get ready for sale and then we went for a few days to Lake Chelan to just relax. Several days after returning home I awoke to another chapter in our crappy 2010 year. I thought I was having back pain, then it turned to constant vomiting and my husband thought I had food poisoning. It progressed quickly to a need to visit our wonderful ER. The following maybe TMI so at this point you can drop down to the next paragraph if you want :) They thought I had kidney stones and said it could take 2 days to 2 weeks for them to pass -UGH. So then they did blood tests, xrays, CT scans......well to make a long story short it turned out to be a large cyst torquing my ovary and cutting the circulation off. Yes extremely painful. I gave birth to my son naturally with minimal drug intervention and this was a hugely worse pain - I was extremely drugged in order to lie still for the scans. I ended up in emergency surgery where they originally started doing a laparoscopy to remove the cyst but then had to do a mini c-section in addition to remove the cyst and ovary together.

So I have been trying to recover from this fun event - the lap incisions are doing okay, the c-section (as all you moms out there with c-section scars know) is making it slow going. I am finally able to sit up for longer periods but haven't been able to sew, craft, type, or do anything too much around the house or garden. (& the yard shows it - tall tall grass). So I'm hoping in the next few weeks to get back into the groove of summer fun and back into business. For now I want to thank my wonderful friends who have been great about entertaining my bored, missing-out-on-summer kiddo for me. I really appreciate it! You're the best!

See you in a few!

FAMtabulous Summer

2010-06-28T10:56:00.000-07:00

Summer inspired things from Fabulous Artistic Moms!

Summertime

2010-06-23T10:44:00.000-07:00

Etsyrain style summer

It's my birthday

2010-06-18T09:31:00.000-07:00

Today is my birthday so I'm going to promote...myself. Most of these items can be found in my stores (which happen to be in vacation mode this week as I'm taking some time off) but others are custom orders that I've done and am happy to make for others. Thanks for checking them out. And here's to another year older and another year wiser (I hope).

Summertime, summertime, sum, sum

2010-06-16T09:18:00.000-07:00

summertime from the Etsy for Autism team!

End of School year blues - Part two

2010-06-03T13:33:00.000-07:00

As a speech-language pathologist who has worked in a number of different schools, I feel I can say with certainty how lucky we are at our school to have the great staff and parents we do. I'm sure lots of people feel that way about their school too. The teachers are great, the assistants are great, the front office staff is great and the parents on a whole are great.

For that great music teacher who managed to bring a song out of your child this would be perfect.

A Note of Thanks by Argyle apple

For that great PE teacher who encouraged your child to become involved and taught them some great exercises or who so patiently included a kiddo with a broken leg who could only watch everyone play for 2 1/2 months, this would be great.

Personalized Water Bottle by Sew Blessed Stitches

For that librarian who pointed out the perfect chapter book section that inspired a lengthy followup writing session, this is ideal.

Librarian Scrabble tile by dollmaker30721

End of School year blues - Part one

2010-06-01T18:11:00.000-07:00

Yes I have the end of school year blues. It's not because I don't love having my son around all summer. I do. In fact I miss him greatly during the school year. However, he loves school sooo much that days he doesn't have school are a bummer to him. He is beginning to show signs of the end of school year blues. I have them too because I have really enjoyed being part of his class and helping the school this year. I am branching out there now and becoming an important part of the parent groups so now that the year is coming to an end, I'm feeling the loss coming too. It has been a very difficult year for both of us with injuries, illnesses, mishaps, and just general home chaos so the consistency of school & school friends (his and mine) have made this year bearable.

In honor of these blues I found some fun things to share with those important "school" people at this time of year.

For that thoughtful, caring recess teacher or teacher assistant who so carefully watched your child so that he or she would not be pummeled into the dirt by the school bully or who intervened when that did happen, this magnet would be perfect.

Retro Magnet by On The Cards

This would be ideal for that great bus driver who so carefully brought your child to and from school each day & even though it was a noisy, chaotic job it was done with a smile.

End of Summer by Alex Wijnen

For that lunch lady who served up a nearly healthy lunch for hundreds of picky eaters every day, these reusable bags would be perfect with a special offering of your favorite homemade granola.

Dogwood blooms reusable snack bag by bells and unicorns

Tell about Tuesday - EtsyRain Spring Show

2010-05-04T09:40:00.000-07:00

Today's tell about Tuesday is the EtsyRAIN's 2nd Annual Spring Craft show at the fabulous Intiman Theater at the Seattle Center from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on this Saturday, May 8, 2010.

This is a great event with over 60 local artists. Truely something to be shopped. Perfect timing for Mother's Day or Graduations or early Father's Day. Although I won't be vending it this year, I plan to be shopping it. - Who wants to go with me? Bring your friends! Bring your family! Be sure to Shop EARLY! First 50 customers receive FREE swag bags full of goodies from local artists! Remember from earlier shows how fabulous the swag bags are.

As is typical of all EtsyRain events, a charity has been chosen to support. The featured charity for this year’s spring event is Lifelong Aids Alliance. A suggested donation of $1 that will go directly to Lifelong Aids Alliance or a canned or non-perishable food donation for their meal delivery program is asked for admission to this show. In addition to the canned food drive, Lifelong Aids Alliance will be selling raffle tickets for gift baskets filled with handmade full-sized donations from EtsyRAIN artists.

EtsyRain is a great group of artists from all over the Puget Sound area - we are the official Etsy.com Seattle Street team. For more info, please visit our website at http://etsyrain.com/shows/2010-spring-show and become a fan at http://www.facebook.com/EtsyRAIN

Saturday, May 8th, 2010

11:00 am - 5:00 pm

Intiman Theater

Finally on Friday - Last thoughts

2010-04-16T13:36:00.000-07:00

This week I have been remembering my wonderful Aunt and sharing her with you. I'd like to finish this week with something she had on her refrigerator to read every morning. I now have the same piece of paper hanging on my refrigerator and I often read it. I love it, it makes me laugh and it makes me think of her.

Dear Lord,
So far today, I've done all right
I haven't gossiped, haven't lost my temper...
haven't been greedy, grumpy, nasty,
selfish, or over-indulgent.

I'm really glad about that.
But in a few minutes, God,
I'm going to get out of bed,
and from then on I'm
probably going to need a lot more help.

Thank you, Lord!

RIP Joycee

Thoughtful Thursday

2010-04-15T09:30:00.000-07:00

This poem is one given to me by my Aunt while I was in graduate school. I have no idea where she got it but I've carried it around with me since then. It now hangs on my refrigerator.

You are climbing a majestic mountain.
This is a strenuous excursion.
The trail is steep and rough in places.
But you will manage if you just remember what is important:
You don't turn loose of your focus.
You don't get sidetracked.
You don't worry about keeping score.
You don't let a bad line call throw you.
You don't think about how darling you look in your little outfit.
You don't worry about who gets to play on center court.

In other words, what you need to do here is:
KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE BALL!

Carolyn Lee

Wordless Wednesday - Our last visit

2010-04-14T11:27:00.000-07:00

Tell About Tuesday - In Memory

2010-04-13T12:56:00.000-07:00

Several weeks ago my Aunt passed away. She was a remarkable woman and touched so many lives. This week I am traveling back to where she lived for her memorial. I feel compelled to take this week to tell you about this amazing woman.

Joyce was born out in the middle of nowhere (as we liked to call it growing up) on a farm that was homesteaded by my Great Grandfather. She was the only girl with her older brother being my father. Much to my grandmother's dismay, Joyce preferred doing things outside and with her brother and father. She didn't like learning what typical girls in her era were supposed to be learning. She didn't want to cook, clean, or make the home; she wanted to be out riding the horses, slopping around in the fields, and generally being a "tom boy". She went to school in a one room school house with mostly her cousins. She and my father loved to tell stories about how they went to school with the horse and buggy and my Aunt would tease my dad about making her walk there while he rode. We'd laugh with them about it being "uphill in snow - both ways". After high school she went to college to be a dietitian. She worked in the local hospital as a dietitian before continuing on at Kansas State University.

After graduating with her degree in Physical Education she began teaching. She taught for 30 years at the same school - which is unheard of now. She was a pioneer in women's sports. She coached so many teams to the State Championships and has many awards for all she did in promoting Girls sports.

She never had any children of her own but always treated my siblings and me as her own. She was such a kind, compassionate, helping person - always willing to help someone out. She was always there to help us too. We spent most summers with her traveling with our family around the country by vehicle - camping everywhere. Truely great memories - especially how we made her drive over the high bridges because our father's driving scared us. As we got older, we often spent more individual time with her. One year when I was in my teens, I rode the Greyhound bus (something that in current times would never happen) across states to stay with her for part of the summer. It was quite the experience and I can tell you I was so relieved to see her smiling face standing in the "interesting" bus depot. When we graduated from High School we spent summers with her working different jobs so that we could pay for college. Those were some great summers! I also lived with her through graduate school and again a few years ago when my husband and I were rebuilding our careers after a move. She was always there to help us get ahead in life.

I could go on and on about the many ways she has touched so many people from her teaching, coaching, involvement in Girl's sports organizations, founding and involvement in her church, involvement in many Christian organizations, and helping others in countless ways. Her legacy, her stories, her generosity, her compassion will remain with me and many others forever.

Tell about Tuesday - Rovegno Designs

2010-04-06T10:43:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I was part of a great craft show and found some amazing artists too. Today I am telling about Cindy Rovegno of Rovegno Designs. As one of the cashiers for the show on Saturday, I found many of her designs selling out the door. You can see why. She does the most amazing wire and beadwork on tableware. Ordinary table utensils are turn extraordinary after she touches them. She has the most beautiful pie servers and serving spoons that are the perfect gift for anyone who loves to entertain - and even those you wish would entertain more. I loved it. She will be showing at many different events around the area all summer. Be sure to seek her out and buy some of the fabulous designs for your kitchen. You will smile every time you use one of her utensils.

not just one but 3!

2010-04-03T10:32:00.000-07:00

This has been an extremely difficult year for me. There have been many illnesses, injuries, sadness and troubling instances happening since 2010 began just a few months ago. I must say I was hoping there would be a chance at some point where I could just stop and say "Re-do 2010" Of course that isn't possible but a wish. So this morning I am finally feeling a sense of hope for this new year. I woke to find many emails. Conversations that told me that I am in their treasury or that they liked my item. Treasuries are a way of displaying items on Etsy that feature a theme, color, or idea. They are a way for others to see one of the million items available for sale on Etsy. I'm in one rarely (maybe 2 or 3 in the past year) and I've only been able to snag one to create once. So you can imagine my excitement in getting these emails this morning saying I was in the treasury. This morning I'm in 3 treasuries - not just one. I am so excited and hopeful that this is a positive turn for this year. You can view these treasuries here, and here, and here. They are all in honor of Autism Awareness month.
I'll be posting an announcement about how I am participating in Autism Awareness month later this week. For now, I'm going to enjoy seeing my products with many others in the treasury.

Tell About Tuesday - Craft Fair round up

2010-03-30T11:26:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I spent at the Pickering Barn Spring Craft and Garden Show. It was really fun and I met so many great people. I'm really glad I was part of it. I didn't sell as much as I had hoped but it was still fun. The other vendors said that they didn't sell as much as usual either because the weather was so fabulous and people weren't coming by to a craft show. Regardless, I still sold and still had fun. It was also a great show to shop. Over 75 vendors in the most beautiful setting with creative and quality items. I even found a few local Etsy shops I hadn't seen before. Over the course of the next few weeks I'll highlight those shops and other vendors I enjoyed.

Workin on Wednesday - Craft fair prep

2010-03-17T10:25:00.000-07:00

Today's working on Wednesday is a bit different. This week I am not starting any new crafty projects (not that I don't have some in mind but I'm writing them down for another week). This week I am going through my inventory and preparing for a craft show next week. I am also working on a new display idea to better display my therapeutic back, neck and eye pillows. They tend to lie flat on a table which isn't the best looking display so I'm trying to develop an effective tiered display that allows for the weight of these products. That's what I'm working on.

This is a new craft show for me. I haven't even been to this venue but I have been told it gets a huge attendance (well over 2500 people last year). I'm thrilled to be part of such an established show. Pickering Barn Spring Craft and Garden Show March 25th-27th. It runs Thursday & Friday 10 AM - 7 PM and Saturday 10 AM-5PM. My product will be there everyday and I'll be there all day Saturday so come on by and see me.

Tell about Tuesday - unanimous craft

2010-03-16T18:00:00.001-07:00

Today's tell about Tuesday is dedicated to a great new resource for crafters, buyers, parents, teachers, and otherwise fun loving people. It's Unanimous Craft. There is a huge amount of information on this site already and it's new so you know that information will only multiply. Stop by and become a member and you too can add to that wealth of ideas, locations, references, and more.

Friday Round up

2010-03-05T17:14:00.000-08:00

This week my focus was on getting my family healthy and surviving another week with the chaos of crutches, scooters and comings and goings. I did manage to get a few projects started and some completed. I picked up a Pack and Play this week so that my little charge has a safe place to sleep while she is at my house. So this week I made sheets for it. I used Kymy's pattern from here to make them. Thanks Kymy, they work great! It was a great way to use up some of the fabric I originally set aside to get rid of but it is perfect for sheets in this play pen.

I also made a custom order for my friend Trina of Woven Chains. She saw my flower headband I made recently for the baby and requested one for her. I can't wait to see it on her. Here's how it looked before I sent it to her. I'll be adding more of them to my store this weekend (I hope).

Next week's projects will include another custom Therapeutic Thread order as well as preparing for my son's school annual fundraiser. The event is in need of flags/banners so I will be making those in the upcoming weeks as well as prepping for my first show of the new year. More on that later.

Have a great weekend.

Friday round up -this week's project

2010-02-26T12:39:00.000-08:00

This week was definitely better than the previous few weeks (although I didn't get my Workin on Wednesday post up) - we are all finally feeling better in this house (knock on wood). I am finally kicking the crud and the kiddo is finally feeling well enough to become much more mobile on his crutches and scooter. The doctor warned us that by the 7th week we'll be freaking out about the potential for more breaks due to the kid's speed on crutches. He has several newly made items to make his week go a little more smoothly. The first project was a slipper cover to go over his cast to keep his toes warm. I made it much like slippers I've made for him before over the years and just expanded it to make it fit over the cast. The trick was to make it tight enough to stay on without crowding his toes. It seems to work well as he asks for it every day and wears it all day at school.

The second project came out of necessity for him at school. He isn't allowed to go out to recessso he is hanging out in the library and writing stories or drawing during recess. He found that it was difficult to take his favorite pencil along to lunch and then to recess while on crutches or on the scooter. He had been tucking it into the cast (ew) or the scooter which we discouraged so I quickly designed this pouch for him to carry on the scooter or the crutches. It is big enough to carry a book, some paper and his pencils but small enough to not be in the way when traveling around school. The straps adjust with velcro so he can take it off his crutches to put on his scooter and vise versa. Works great!

We'll see what next week demands. Hope you had a good one!

Thoughtful Thursday

2010-02-25T09:43:00.000-08:00

"Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish."
John Quincy Adams

Tell about Tuesday - Cuddles 'n Yarn

2010-02-23T13:07:00.000-08:00

I have loved Mary Jane shoes for a long time. I think they are adorable on little feet. Unfortunately my feet are not little. They do make them in my size but I think they are cuter on little feet. I like them even more when they have cute white socks with black shoes. So cute! I always thought they would be adorable on my little girl.....but I never had a little girl and they aren't so cute on little boys. Then all my friends started having girls. So several years ago when my friend was about to have her little girl, I began searching for a pattern that would combine my love of Mary Janes with my love of crocheting. I came across this pattern and did make an attempt and transposing the knit to crocheting (not easy but doable). The booties became more of a nightmare than a loving act so I abandoned them and just made a simple "Mary Jane without the socks" slipper. Imagine my thrill to find the above cute booties at a craft show I appeared at before Christmas. Not only did she have these Mary Janes but she also had the most adorable high tops and other great items. She is Cuddles 'n Yarn and she has lots of great items including hats, sweaters, blankets, and she does custom orders too. I'll remember her the next time I am looking for those perfect Mary Janes for that darling little girl on my gift list.

Thoughtful Thursday

2010-02-18T10:08:00.000-08:00

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
Theodore Roosevelt

Workin on Wednesday - cast protector

2010-02-17T11:10:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned yesterday, my son broke his leg recently. We are still managing pain and mobility in addition to many other factors. One huge one is the need to be around water with a cast that can't get wet. There are 2 reasons we need to be around water: 1 being that the child does need a bath on occasion and the other being that we live in the pacific northwest where it rains regularly. We have been quite fortunate this winter that we have had it very mild - I'm not gloating for those of you who are still buried in snow - we have hardly had a winter. However we do get regular rain here and I could envision his cast getting wet as part of this normality. So to tackle both issues, I set to work on a protector for his cast. I had some clear vinyl as I like to make curtains for the bathrooms out of this. I fashioned a nice clear boot with a velcro fastener that slips over his cast with some crossover to keep the water out and an elastic top to keep it close to the leg. It's not watertight and would not keep all the water out if the cast was submerged but it does the job. He can easily get this on when going out in the rain or we put it on him before helping him in the bath. I don't worry about splashes getting on his cast and we can relax about something. The pictures don't show it well as it is clear over an "alien" green cast but it is cool - if I do say so myself.

Tackle it Tuesday - crutch covers

2010-02-16T12:55:00.000-08:00

This week has been quite the adventure for my family. During martial arts my son broke his leg. He had to wear a splint and keep it immobilized and elevated for a week before they would put a cast on it. Luckily keeping him home and keeping it elevated allowed the swelling time to go down and he was able to get a cast on. Thankfully during this time (and to this day) we were loaned a wheelchair from my friend Kayce which has been a life saver (and back saver). Thanks Kayce! Now that he has a cast he is able to use crutches some. We all know how much fun those are. When my sister was here and broke her ankle (don't ask) I crocheted her covers with padding to go over the tops of the crutches. She loved them and sent them back afterwards to have me make more for my store - that didn't happen but still could. So when my son started using crutches, my sis asked if I was going to crochet toppers for his. I thought about it but thought that a 7 year old boy probably doesn't want crocheted tops to his crutches - he probably wants something cool and evil or something. So I asked my son - this is what he chose. I used flannel skull fabric with tons of batting and a drawstring to cover his crutch tops. They are perfect for him. I can add more padding as needed and remove the cover for washing. I'm quite pleased with them actually....and he thinks they are cool.

Tomorrow my Workin Wednesday will share another of my creations designed for cast wearing! See you then.

Happy Valentine's Day

2010-02-14T08:17:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day! In honor of this special day I'm sharing some of my favorite Valentine gifts and items handmade and found on Etsy.

Heart Rattle by Oregon Potter

Felt book mark from ISA Creations

Purple Heart Magnets by Butterfly Mosaics

Red Heart Candileria Luminary by Blue Room Pottery

So many ways to show someone you love them. They don't have to be only for Valentine's Day. Get them now and celebrate with the one you love....any day.

Thoughtful Thursday

2010-02-11T11:36:00.000-08:00

"What force is more potent than love."
Igor Stravinsky

Happy Valentine's Day my loves!

Workin on Wednesday - slippers

2010-02-10T11:14:00.000-08:00

This week I've been working on making new slippers/booties for the baby. She often loses her socks or doesn't arrive with socks and that can be chilly especially if we are headed out to the park or other places. I found some old (old meaning too small) socks of my son's and have been using these but thought perhaps some tie up booties would work better. I will be making some fleece slippers like I made for my son last year later for her but wanted something that would lace up and be easier to hold on her (or so I hope).

I started with a basic oval and worked my way up for these cute but easy to slip off slippers. I then found this great site with these adorable high top booties on it. They were easy to make too. I chose not to add the embellished star though. Super easy. They look adorable on her too. So now there is no excuse for having cold tootsies - as long as these stay at my house :) I might have to figure out how to make bigger ones of these for my son.

Tell about Tuesday - Cartooniversity

2010-02-09T13:00:00.000-08:00

Do you love doodling? Do you love cartoons? Comics? the little editorial cartoons in the newspaper? So do we....and we found another person who does too and has made it his career. Jeff Johnson is an award winning editorial cartoonist who appears regularly in 20 newspapers all over the state of Washington. He began teaching children (and adults) the art of cartoons and soon Cartooniversity was launched. He now teaches at camps, classes, birthday parties, and as an Artist-in-Residence for school districts around Washington state.

My son loves these classes and Jeff has a great knack for teaching kids a unique and inspiring art form. What kid doesn't love doodling something and having it turn into a cool cartoon? I don't think I've met one yet. You can find Jeff through his Cartooniversity website or check out his schedule an sign up for a workshop. Your kids will be happy you did. This is one camp they won't complain about attending!

Thoughtful Thursday

2010-02-04T11:44:00.000-08:00

"Life without love is like a tree without blossom and fruit."

Kahlil Gibran

Workin on Wednesday - baby headband

2010-02-03T09:58:00.000-08:00

This week I have taken my love of fleece roses and added a beautiful touch to any sweet girl's look. As you know I love fleece roses. I make brooches and hair clips out of them and have even attached them to clothing (watch for that in my store). So when I was out at storytime the other day with the baby I saw so many other babies wearing giant ribbons on their heads - definitely knew they were girls. That got me thinking....and here is how it turned out. I have this in maroon and in white.

tell about Tuesday - Magali Lenarczak

2010-02-02T10:59:00.000-08:00

I am surrounded by talented artists both fiber and paint. Everyday has art in my world. My husband is an artist, my son is an artist and many of my friends are artists. Today I am featuring another fabulous watercolorist who is also a dear friend: Magali Lenarczak. One look at Magali's beautiful paintings and you know that she is inspired by life... no boring fruit bowls here. Everything she paints looks so alive. Her love and passion goes into each piece of work.

One of my favorite things to do this summer was go to the beach with Magali and her boys. While our boys were off in the sand and surf, Magali captured their (or some of the surrounding groups) excitement right before my eyes. (I love her little travel watercolor set too) You can find her work on her website or for sale at Fine Art America. Contact her and have a piece commissioned for that special place in your house.

Thoughtful Thursday

2010-01-28T11:11:00.000-08:00

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Workin on Wednesday - mittens

2010-01-27T10:00:00.000-08:00

This week I am starting a new feature for Wednesdays "Workin on Wednesday". This will be a time where I will focus on something new I'm working on or something I recently made. As I have recently begun taking care of a 6 month old, this week's entry is about something for her. With the winter upon us (but not really affecting us much thank goodness) I found that most of my mitten and outer wear was not only used - a lot but mostly too big for her. With a 7 year old I had weeded out most of the baby and toddler things out of the coat closet in recent years so I found myself deciding to make mittens. I made a pair of these easy mittens earlier in the Fall to send to my niece (that never happened though as they are still sitting in my crochet bag). I decided to copy that pair but make them smaller to fit a 6 month old. These are what I came up with. I added a little elastic in the cuff area to potentially keep them on (theoretically that would work but in reality kids can be determined at any age). I like the multicolored yarn and actually have used that yarn to make a wine bottle cozy. I also decided she has enough pink and hot pink (never really was my favorite colors). So this is what I've been working on. Check out next week for the next project.

Tell about Tuesday - Cozy O Baby Pillow

2010-01-26T11:00:00.000-08:00

Today's Tell About is Kelley of Cozy O Baby Pillows. It seems I am always running into Kelley and had no idea she was part of Etsy and EtsyRain. Her children go to the same preschool my son went to and I met her through friends from the preschool. I found her website and I immediately loved her concepts. I had no idea until later that the same person I was always running into - at the grocery, or the bank, or somewhere - was the person with this great company. Strange how that all happens.

Kelley makes these great pillows that are like donuts but padded in the middle. They are raised nicely around the sides to keep baby perfectly nestled. But Kelley's pillows don't have to be just for baby. They are also perfect to be used in any nook as a reading pillow or snuggle into them in front of a movie. Each pillow has a slip cover for ease of cleaning too. In addition to these fabulous pillows, Kelley also makes unique waterproof quilts and totes perfect for any child. Stop by and check out her great ideas today.

Thoughtful Thursday

2010-01-21T09:07:00.000-08:00

"Patience and time do more than strength or passion."
Jean De La Fontaine

Tell about Tuesday

2010-01-19T10:39:00.000-08:00

I have been blessed in so many ways. I have a wonderful supportive family, a great husband and the best son. I have so many fabulous friends. I also am blessed to have met so many talented people. On "Tell about Tuesday"s I'm going to share some of these talented artists. Some of them will be from my various street teams I belong to on Etsy but some will just be artists I have met over the last few years in my area. It's amazing where you can run into great people.

Today's artist is a fabulous watercolorist who also happens to be my neighbor: Kerry Wilkinson of Artistic Impressions by Kerry Wilkinson. Her work can be seen and purchased here or here. She has a beautiful sense of nature and really shows how gorgeous our surroundings are here in the Pacific Northwest. I just love looking at her work. I love her note cards and especially her botanical alphabet. So many great items, it's hard to narrow done. Send some monogramed cards to your mother-in-law for Valentine's Day or send your Thank you's out on the snowflake cards. You will be thanked for sending these beautiful pieces of art.

Thoughtful Thursday

2010-01-14T10:05:00.000-08:00

"First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do."
Epictetus

Resolutions?

2010-01-08T10:04:00.000-08:00

Now that we are full steam into 2010, I'm finally taking a time to think about what I accomplished in 2009 and what I want to accomplish for 2010. I call this my resolution for the year. It's not necessarily how others view resolutions but I am thinking it may be more stable than vowing to follow a resolution for the New Year. In the past I too vowed to lose weight or exercise more or eat healthier or blog more or a number of other resolutions that seem empty and therefore never happened longer than a week into the New Year. This year I have decided to instead do something that will last longer into the new year (at least until the end of this month). I will make a list of all the things I want to accomplish over the next year and start checking them off. So as I get into the routine of my New Year with a new job, new commitments, new adventures, I also want to look back at the things that worked for last year and build on those for next year.

I feel I had a lot of accomplishments last year. I took a huge step for my health by starting acupuncture and Chinese herbal therapy and I feel so much better for it. I volunteer in my son's classroom and school and feel more connected with his friends and teachers and him and I feel valued as a professional (Speech Language Pathologist) and as a parent. I learned a new skill and implement it regularly. I opened a new store designed to help people. I participated in several craft shows - including a 4 day show - and learned greatly from each one. There are more accomplishments but these are the top ones for now.

My goal this weekend is to sit down and write out a list of all the things I intend to accomplish by next year and set forth on making it happen.

May you all have the goal of something in your mind and the satisfaction of having accomplished something in your heart. Happy New Year!

Pardon the interruption!

2009-12-29T20:53:00.000-08:00

I can't begin to tell you what a busy month I've had. First with the Hilltop Holiday show, then with planning and implementing a birthday party, then with several custom orders as well as items for people who found me through the holiday show, then with preparing for Christmas and rearranging our entire house to accommodate 2 more bedrooms, finally with all the shopping, wrapping, shipping, and celebrating of Christmas. All in all a hectic, fun, crazy end to 2009.

I intend to get back to this blog shortly - I'm still cleaning up from Christmas guests and gifts (as well as figuring out how to use some of my new toys) so hang in there. 2010 will be a better blogging year (I hope).

Back in the swing

2009-12-07T13:18:00.000-08:00

Thanks to all who made it out to the show - I appreciate all the kind feedback and sales. For the next few weeks I am hoping to highlight some of the great vendors I met last week at the Bellevue Hilltop Holiday Craft Show. It was a fun event for me although quite stressful in getting stocked up for it. It was a great learning experience to see how much product I really need for a multiple day show - by the way, I had plenty there and plenty at home. I'll be listing it gradually in my stores over the next few weeks. This week I am focusing on my son's birthday. He'll be having a party this weekend. Normally I would be stressing about getting everything done for the party but I'm not. My wonderful husband saw how much work I was putting into the Craft show and took over all the planning and implementing of the birthday party. It probably won't be exactly how I was thinking it should be but I don't care. Everyone will have a good time. Thankfully all I have to do is clean the house, make cupcakes for school and make the birthday cake - the boy even requested an easy cake (unlike previous years). Since I don't have that much to do for the party, I will focus most of the week on preparing for the holidays (but not decorating as my son loves to do that AFTER his birthday). I have my sewing room to clean out entirely so a bed will fit in there again (not an easy task and I promise I won't break my finger doing it) . Many of the boxes of fabric will need to go out to the shed so the shed will also need to be cleaned (not fun in 20 degree weather-brrrr) but it's nice to not be fretting over another show for the rest of this year. That will come soon enough next year.

Stop by!!!

2009-12-02T09:32:00.000-08:00

So it's here. I'm set up, I've walked through the whole event and wow! so many items. Perfect for your holiday shopping. Yes there are some nick nacks, holiday ware, and lots of ornaments for Christmas decor but there are also tons of gift ideas. Fabulous artisans from all over the area. I'm told some of the artisans are from Moses Lake and Portland as well as around the greater Puget Sound region. I am thrilled to be part of it. I have a great location right in the main building - you weave through the smaller buildings to get to me but you do anyway to get to the cashier. Stop just past the archway and check out my wares. Fabulous therapeutic neck wraps, back pillows and organic lavendar scented eye pillows are just the beginning of what you will find there. I'll be checking out the other vendors today and hope to find some that I will feature in the next week or so. Be sure to come by and shop!

Bellevue Hilltop Holiday Craft Show
Northwest Arts Center
9825 NE 24th St
Bellevue WA

December 2, 3, and 4, 2009 - 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
December 5, 2009 - 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Gearing up for a big show

2009-11-30T13:10:00.000-08:00

For the past month I have been gearing up for the holiday season. Right now that doesn't mean doing Christmas shopping, hitting all the Black Friday-CyberMonday sales, or even thinking about Christmas gifts. Right now that means preparing for my first really big show. I wasn't even sure how to gear up for this show but have questioned friends, read emails, followed blog posts, and thought this out thoroughly and feel pretty prepared for it. You might be wondering how big a show I'm planning toward. Well it is a 4 day event (when I applied I originally thought it was a 3 days event with short days - wrong) with quite long days - 10 AM to 8 PM. Thankfully I won't need to be there every day for the entire time but will be circulating through the event daily. I'm excited. I attended this show last year and found some great gifts for family and myself. I applied early this Fall hoping but not counting on getting in - it is a juried show with tons of applicants from all over the Pacific Northwest area and only 75 spots and I had just begun getting orders with Therapeutic Threads. I was thrilled to be chosen to be a part of the 4 day event but really only had enough product for a 2 day event and also had a Holiday open house show 2 weeks prior to this event. So product making has kept me overwhelmingly busy for the past month. Thankfully my mom has been helping out with sewing the liners for the eye pillows and neck pillows so I can focus on getting the removable covers made and the pillows filled with flax and wheatberries. Thanks Mom. This week we get to pull all this product out and display it at this great event so if you are in the area be sure to check it out. I will have items from both stores. Therapeutic eye, neck and back pillows from Therapeutic Threads. Tiaras, dresses, aprons, smocks, purses, cup covers and more from Original Cyn Studios. So many items that are perfect for gift giving or stocking stuffers.

Come check it all out at the Hilltop Holiday Craft show - December 2-5 at the Northwest Arts Center in Bellevue. Over 75 different vendors from the Pacific Northwest with a huge variety of products.

Halloween: post mortem

2009-11-06T08:54:00.000-08:00

Every year I look forward to Halloween. I love the creativity, the costumes, the imaginations, the spooky houses (not haunted houses), the decorations, the joy in children's faces. This year was no different. I looked forward to seeing how people decorate their houses, the costumes that were created and all the fun that surrounded it. My son loves Halloween too. He loves to be unique and creative and loves going to Halloween stores. This year he decided he wanted to be Mola Ram from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. He had a definite direction for how he wanted it to look: See here . This clearly was not going to be a costume from the Halloween store. In fact they never made a Mola Ram costume...at least not that I could find...and believe me I looked. So naturally I tackled it. I love handmade costumes. I put it off for quite a while in hopes that he might change to match the theme "Star Wars" that many of his friends were going with but no such action happened. He was set on Mola Ram. The tunic and shawl were the easy part. The ultimate costume needed the perfect headdress. Mola Ram wears a ram's skull headdress with a shrunken head and spikes. So here is how ours turned out. I'm quite pleased with the whole thing. It was soft and comfortable (so much so he wore it to bed that night - see the last picture) and warm. Under it, he wore a scullcap with the "paint"markings that Mola Ram had on his head. Made for an even warmer headdress....perfect for a scantily clad evil sorcerer. He did ultimately put on a flesh colored fleece top under the tunic but insisted on having his posed photos without. He also added a spiky tooth necklace (forgot to wear it in all the other pictures and it really added the final tou - we'll update the pictures at some point) All in all a success. So what's next? Who knows where that little mind will go next year. I'm sure it will be a new challenge for me.

Hope you all had a great Halloween.

It's coming along!

2009-10-27T09:40:00.000-07:00

So I have been frantically trying to get my sewing room back to some assemblage of order - not an easy task when nothing in the rest of the house has moved to allow for some of this stuff to leave my room. I have made some progress with Freecycling and CraigsList but that too can be time consuming. So it goes. As long as I keep the sewing machine area cleaned out, I'm able to keep after the custom orders and preparing for 2 holiday shows (more about those later). I am trying to make peace with the fact that it may take a whole year to get it all cleaned out, arranged, and reallocated. That will be the only way I can do it. It will be in upheaval again anyway when the holidays come and it has to be made into a guest room but we're still deciding on that. For now, I'm still plugging along, tackling tasks as I can while still working on keeping my stores going and thriving. The picture above shows that I have sorted through much of the fabric that had begun the crash/disaster and have reduced the amount of fabric I have out (the rest I have in a multitude of plastic boxes waiting to cycle in). Next up is working on a cycling plan that easily pulls in fabric from the boxes without it stuffed on the shelf. More to come.

One of my favorite new things

2009-10-14T10:58:00.000-07:00

Ahhhhhhhh Halloween

2009-10-10T13:52:00.000-07:00

I have been loving the Halloween posts from around blogs ville. So many people share in the love of Halloween. What a fun time to feel like a kid again and revel in imaginations. Once again, I am in the throes of costume making. Each year is getting harder and harder. Last year I recapped the many costumes I have made over the years and how much fun I have with making costumes. This year I am struggling. I keep putting it off hoping that my little one will change his mind but that isn't happening. He is dead set on his idea and has been for several months. There was no waffling this time. So what am I struggling with? Mola Ram. Mola Ram? you say. What/who's that? Okay some of you probably do know who Mola Ram is but for those of you who don't....Mola Ram (MR) is a character in Indiana Jones: Temple of Doom. He is the high priest of whatever who likes to rip hearts out of those he doesn't like. Charming, huh? So why does that make this costume hard? Well, it's not because he wears an obscure looking hat that looks impossible to make (he does but we think we have that figured out). It's because this costume has to look like a cross between the movie MR and the Lego MR and match our son's drawing (as seen above). Fun huh? I have begun this costume by making a lovely skin toned fleece shirt to wear under this lovely costume so that dear boy doesn't freeze on the traditional subfreezing/pouring down rain/inclimate weather Halloween night. That was immediately nixed by said boy due to the fact that MR does not wear skin colored shirts and besides the skin colored shirt does not match his skin exactly (tell me where you find fleece that will match anyone's skin exactly).
So think of me as you are making a lovely princess dress or cape or Star Wars cloak or Indiana Jones outfit or for that matter buying a lovely costume at the party store. I'll need your mental support.

Over achievers and those who will never make it

2009-10-07T20:28:00.000-07:00

I suppose with that title you were wondering what this post would be about - probably not what you are thinking.

This is an update on my garden. While I never seemed to get the bark on it or the flagstone set, I did get plants in and it took off. This has been a great year for our gardens. Our watermelon (my son's experiment this year) has done fair. We have harvested one watermelon (not ripe enough - but still sweet) and have 2 more we hope to get to fruition before the winter. My peppers did fabulously and have been producing and producing. They are the over achievers in my garden. I have a serious amount of roasting that needs to happen but have been putting that off too. These are the plants and this is just one of the harvests from these plants. I have four times that amount picked and need to harvest one more time before the first hard freeze (coming soon I'm afraid). It has been a wonderful feeling harvesting the peppers from my labor. The rest of the gardens have done well too. We've had lots of herbs, berries, tomatoes, and peppers. So why do I have these zucchini plant pictures added in with all the peppers? Those are the ones who will never make it. We planted zucchini seeds last year with only one plant popping up and never flowering. We dug up the area last winter and then this spring I dumped all the old soil/sod from the new garden on top of the "zucchini" area and neglected it. It has summered with rotting sod and weeds. I wasn't planning on doing anything with it until later this fall (another project). However, about 3 weeks ago 2 zucchini plants popped up and began flowering like crazy. No new seeds, no water, no new soil, nothing. Very strange. If this had been more like 2 months ago, we'd have zucchini coming out of our ears but as it is getting cold, these flowers are not going to become zucchini (but they are trying). Nope, those seeds will never make it. So for now, I'm picking the last of the tomatoes, herbs and peppers and planning for the next garden, next summer. Boy did it seem to go fast.

Happy Fall.

CPSIA What have they done for you lately?

2009-09-26T10:54:00.000-07:00

With all the chaos in the last year created by CPSIA, it has made so many artists band together. The latest requirement by the CPSIA is for tracking labels. Naturally as a small manufacturer (I can't even call myself that without laughing - I'm just a person who likes to make handcrafted items and sell them) I too must follow this ruling. So in search of what is needed on the labels and trying to determine what mine should look like, I have found people who have consolodated the information in an easy to understand manor. I found many forums on Etsy dedicated to this information but trudging through the bantering or discussing or self promoting was getting cumbersome. Of course the Fashion-Incubator also fully covered it with their forums too and the Domestic Diva did too. Even the Federal trade commission tries to give us the complete information. Luckily I found a few blogs that spelled it out nicely and sucinctly for those of us who don't want to trudge through millions of pages of legal jargon to get to the reality. Organic Baby Farm did a great job summing this all up in her blog. Great! A jumping off point.

From this I have begun creating the right labels for me-ones that work in my products and are easy for me to adapt in size (but not for the really little things) and for materials. I haven't figured out the batch stuff or things like that because each item is so unique and individual - I don't work in "batch"es. Regardless, I'll soon be doing a tutorial on the labels as well as sharing ideas from others who have found/created their labels to comply. If you have ideas you would like to share, please let me know. I'd be glad to include them as a resource for others trying to figure it all out.

Wordless Wednesday - where we live

2009-09-23T11:56:00.000-07:00

Just when I thought...

2009-09-14T13:29:00.000-07:00

Just when I thought I would have tons of time to devote to cleaning and sorting the house, making tons of fun new things, and meeting all my mom friends for coffee, life changes things up. Isn't that always the case? Just when you have great plans made, something always comes up or happens.

Well here's what happened....

pretty huh? What is it?...you say. Looks messy. Yes it looks messy....in fact a real disaster! A few days before school started, my whole sewing room crumbled. This started with my shelving system with all my tons of fabric (guess I didn't factor the weight properly) completely collapsed. That would have been enough for me but instead it not only collapsed, it started a domino effect. The shelves fell down, the fabric flew out, the hanging racks and tables got pushed over, and so on and so forth. Loud and scary to say the least. Luckily my sewing machine wasn't touched - of course it had so many fabric projects on top it would have been cushioned. Now let me clarify this whole thing by saying that my sewing room was not terribly neat and tidy before. It has become the drop off point for all boxes containing items that needed to go to the thrift store, toys that needed to be sold, and outgrown clothes that needed to be handed off to those they will fit. Yes, my sewing room/guest room/drop off room/office/storage room/kids craft room/game & puzzle storage room was in need of a clean up - but not this intense! Everything fell in that room but gave me incentive to make some changes.

So I am taking this time to thoroughly go through everything...sorting fabric (who really needs purple striped velour anyway), rearranging, reallocating, removing, and starting anew. I've decided I don't need 10 years worth of Martha Stewart Living magazines anymore - I've moved those all over this country - time for them to move on. I've also decided that I don't need all the craft supplies I have accumulated - I'm not going to be a jewelry maker or a scrapbooker or a cardmaker or a soapmaker. Time for all those supplies to go. This process is taking forever it seems but it will be so worth it for my family and for my businesses. Just wait until you see it next.

Starting again

2009-09-06T16:33:00.000-07:00

Well, here we are at the beginning of another school year. The kids are all headed back to school (or have already been there for several weeks), the teachers are trying to figure out how to take a mass of different abilities and backgrounds and teach them the curriculum and social skills for their age group, and the parents are all figuring out their schedules. Ahhh another school year. I must say that I am thrilled to be on the parents' end rather than the teachers' end. After many years of being on the teacher's side, it is nice to be the parent that listens to their information, reads all the newsletters, and basically does what teachers want parents to do (be involved). So here we are starting again.

A new thing I am starting with the beginning of this new school year is a new blog. This one is for my Therapeutic Threads store and will focus on the educational aspects that inspired that store. It will be a location for articles, information, celebrations, and a little self promotion. I have to do that. I'm very excited to start this for this new school year.

Happy back to school!

Wordless Wednesday - last days of summer

2009-08-26T09:43:00.001-07:00

Mmmm fresh blueberries!

Wordless Wednesday - Pacific Northwest nights

2009-08-19T08:30:00.000-07:00

Wordless Wednesday - 4 gone in 2 weeks!

2009-08-12T08:36:00.000-07:00

Compression - hugs all day!

2009-08-04T15:07:00.000-07:00

New to my Therapeutic Threads store are my compression tops and belts. The tops look like any other ordinary tank top but they are so much more to the many kids out there with sensory needs. They are soft, tagless and hugging. They are a hug without any personal contact with anyone. Many kids and adults need the input of tight fitting clothing but it is difficult to find these tops in kid sizes. After a special request from a friend, I searched for the best fabric that would be both soft and provide a constant input. After trying on my prototype, her daughter requested to wear it to school. She usually wants to wear her swimsuit so I was thrilled that she liked this top and wants to wear it all the time. These tops are available in various sizes - please take a chest measurement to ensure proper fit. While we want these tops to be compressing, we do still want breathing to occur.

The compression belts come in two different styles: adjustable or fixed. The fixed belt is a tube of soft compression fabric that varies in width. Get a wider thickness to spread from chest to waist or a thinner to just cover over the waist and hips. You and your OT can decide where the pressure is needed most and this can accomodate that need. Every day is different for a kid with sensory needs - some days require so much more compression than other days. The adjustable belts are a solution. They have 2 strips of velcro that increase or decrease the waist measurement. Perfect for the every growing needs of our kids.

These are just 2 of the latest products I have (or will soon have) in my store. Keep watching - there is more to come.

Gardens abloom

2009-07-29T12:54:00.000-07:00

I haven't updated you on my garden for quite some time. I stopped! Actually after all the hard work of preparing the garden, I planted it and then didn't finish it. No top coating over the landscape fabric, no stone walkway, no border fence. It isn't that I gave up. No the plants are growing well. The watermelon is taking over as I knew and expected it would. The peppers are loving this spot and have multiple fruit growing. I even have had flowers blooming. It just isn't finished looking. So instead of showing you that garden, I will share a garden I mentioned another time. I love this garden in July - so full of bloom and goodness! Unfortunately the weather has been too hot for the peas and beans so they are in stunted growth right now but normally at this time they are overgrowing the 2 copper obelisks in the garden. Regardless, I still love this garden with all the lilies in bloom, the hydrangea blooming, red raspberries ripe for picking, and the front border of the most fragrant lavender (I cut this and dry it and put it in my weighted neck wraps - smells fabulous). I'll share another of my gardens in a few weeks.

To the beach - with yarn???

2009-07-23T15:36:00.000-07:00

This has been an incredible summer! We have spent so much time at parks, at pools and at the beach. Through it all I have been crocheting like crazy. In order to keep the yarn from getting sand in it I have found a great strategy. Typically I carry my crocheting in a sling backpack - it's waterproof, durable and holds multiple projects, snacks, and my wallet all in one bag. To keep the sand out of my yarn and project I began carrying the yarn in zipper plastic bags. This evolved into using the bags as my containers to keep the yarn from tangling too. I place a ball of yarn into a small sandwich sized bag (or larger if needed to accommodate a bigger ball). I then seal it off until that color is needed. When I am beginning to use a color I only open the bag large enough to pull out a strand and then I seal the rest. The strand slides through the opening and nothing else enters the bag. Keeps the whole ball clean. When I need to pack up or go play in the water, I simply open the bag, drop in my project, and reseal it.

It has worked great and I no longer worry that sand will get in my project.

Now off to the beach!

~Happy Summer~

Wordless Wednesday - Hard day at the beach

2009-07-22T16:22:00.001-07:00

Fidgets - they're always on my mind!

2009-07-14T10:25:00.000-07:00

Fidgets, fiddles, stress relief thingys, squishers...whatever you want to call them they are occupying my mind. I can't stop thinking about them. What is a fidget you might ask?

Do you find yourself chewing on a pencil top, tapping a pencil, rubbing the texture on your jeans, squeezing a stress ball, twirling your hair? These are all different ways of helping you focus. Fidgets are just that. Like so many of you, I too need a fidget. My fidget is sewing/crocheting/crafting/cooking.

I have been focusing on opening my new store, Therapeutic Threads and have so many ideas of fidgets. They have been taking a lot of my attention lately but they are so fun to do and I know they will be so helpful to so many people. As a friend says, I'm just combining 2 of my talents (speech-language pathologist and crafter).

Here are a few of the fidgets I am putting in my store:

My take-along fidgets are perfect for hanging on a keychain, clip or belt loop. Filled with poly pellets, they are the right size to fit in most hands to allow for fidget behaviour. In addition they are fairly inconspicuous for those who don't want to carry large fidgets.

My next fidgets are the perfect sensory experience. The black and white vivid fabric on one side provides a great visual stimulation. The opposite side has a texture - soft, bumpy, or smooth. Each one is unique and the patterns and colors and textures vary by each group. Inside each is filled with varying weights of poly pellets so each bag feels slightly different to play with.

My larger alphabet fidgets (each one is about 5") are great for the classroom. The top fabric matches the letter (A=airplane, B=boots, C=construction/crane or cat) or they can be made with the initials of the person. They too have poly pellets and have a marble inside to push around the bag. They will come as whole alphabet, as individual letters or as a set (initials, school letters, ABC). They will be in my store soon.

My "shapes" fidgets have been designed to accommodate the need for texture and flexibility in hand fidget toys. I crocheted them in various shapes (sphere, cylinder, cube, and pyramid) and stuffed them with polyfil. They provide a great texture and squish when held. They are currently found in bright primary colors but pastels are on their way. Want a specific color and shape? Just ask. I'd be happy to accomodate.

Fidgets are ideal for those who need something on their desk, in their pocket, or in their hands with which to fidget. So go ahead, fidget!

For more information on sensory processing disorders or on managing it, this is a great article.

Therapeutic Threads featured

2009-07-09T09:03:00.000-07:00

As you know I just opened my new store Therapeutic Threads less than a month ago and the response has been quite favorable. I have received emails from so many people expressing their interest and commending me on creating a store for these items. I have also received requests not only for product but for fliers to put up at their therapists' clinics. All of this (with a vacation thrown in there too) has kept me quite busy recently. In all of this it was great to hear from a fellow Speech-Language Pathologist. She featured my store in her blog today. I am hoping that my items can make a difference in so many more lives.

Wordless Wednesday -

2009-07-08T09:05:00.001-07:00

Vacation is over...for now

2009-07-06T09:45:00.001-07:00

Well our summer routine is now starting. My husband had the past 2 weeks off and we made great use of every day. We started the summer off with the end of school party. Our son was honored at the all school assembly for Perfect Attendance - he was the only one in the Kg-3rd grade so it was quite a special thing. He was very proud to go up with the older kids to get his award. Then the class had a little "graduation" ceremony with the kids singing the school song and the PeaceBuilder song. Very cute. Then we were off....as you know we started the time off with a trip to Lake Chelan. What a gorgeous time! We stayed at a fabulous house overlooking the lake and mountains and enjoyed the weekend immensely. On our way back from Lake Chelan we stopped by the Reptile Zoo in Monroe, WA. What a cool (and creepy) place. The boys loved it and we got try to match a snake skin we found at Lake Chelan. Very cool except we couldn't figure out what kind of snake it was - one of the zookeepers thinks it is either a gophersnake or a Western Rattlesnake (not what I wanted to hear after spending time in the area where we found it barefoot). When we arrived home we began work on quite a few remodeling projects. I've mentioned before how we are slowly but surely remodeling our home. This round of remodeling focused on the family room. We started working on this area when we remodeled the laundry room last fall. After many attempts with getting the paint right to match the rest of the house (don't ask) we painted the ceiling and removed the old ceiling fan (that we couldn't use anyway as it wasn't installed properly by previous owners). While hubby painted the walls of the room, I went to work on painting all the trim boards to frame all the doors and windows. The room looks great now. The new ceiling fan will go up next weekend - we hope - as we just ran out of time.

The rest of his time off we spent playing. We went to the Muppet exhibit (Jim Henson's Fantastic World) at the EMP, rode the monorail downtown Seattle, went to the aquarium, went to the zoo, went to the beach and finished it all off with going to a great fireworks show. Through it all we also had playdates for our son. What a great way to start off our summer. It seems that our summer is not going to be a lazy one. We seem to be already booking up with set playdates, camps, and events. We'll also be having another vacation later this month too. It won't be long before school will be starting. - augh let's not go there now - Happy Summer!!!!

Well it was a great surprise

2009-06-22T19:20:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned last week, it was my birthday and yes my boys did spoil me. First a spa trip and then a weekend trip. It was great. We haven't done much traveling around our state of Washington and this was a perfect trip to a place so many people have told us about but we hadn't been yet....Lake Chelan. We had a great time - lots of swimming, some sunning, great vistas, and lots of relaxing. It was great. The second part of my surprise was that my wonderful hubby (who has been putting in tons of hours on the new Dark Void game) is finally getting 2 weeks off. We are planning to do some work around the house (including painting the computer room) and hopefully he will be able to do some relaxing. I am looking forward to having my hubby around after so many late nights and weekends away for the past almost year. In the meantime while the paint is going up and around the computer room, I'll be off the computer - at least until it is hooked up again. So until then, have a great week!

Happy Birthday to me!

2009-06-18T08:54:00.000-07:00

Well today is my birthday and I am feeling very positive about reaching this big milestone. I had planned on offering specials in each of my stores (Original Cyn Studios and Therapeutic Threads) but have decided to do that later. For today I am taking the whole day off - my hubby made me breakfast in bed, is sending me to the spa, is picking up our son from the bus and making lunch for me. I feel pampered. I think he may have more up his sleeve because I keep hearing the 2 boys whispering about stuff so we'll see what else might happen today. For now, I am going to relax and prepare for my pampered day and enjoy all the fabulous memories I have from the past xx years.

Have a great day!

GRAND OPENING!!! Therapeutic Threads by Original Cyn Studios

2009-06-16T09:19:00.000-07:00

Today I want to share something that has been in the works for a while: Therapeutic Threads.

As a speech-language pathologist, I have worked with so many different kids. I have also worked in so many kinds of settings and locations. Through it all, I found that most schools and families cannot afford the kinds of "therapeutic supplies" that are offered through the catalogs. Everyone has a budget and pricey items that will be used only for certain students are hard to justify to the large audience of whom the school reports. In order to provide the students with what was needed, I found myself making most of my therapy materials (games, activities, picture cards etc) and making many of their sensory accessories (weighted vests and lap pads, switch toys). I have decided to offer some of these items in my new store, Therapeutic Threads. Here are some of the great items available in my store: lap pads, lap pets, weighted shoulder wraps, fidgets, and compression belts. (As I get them listed I'll update with more links). More will be coming including the weighted vests and some of my therapy games but this is where I am starting.

Come by and check out this new adventure and be sure to watch for specials coming later in the week.

Fabulous Friday

2009-06-12T10:55:00.000-07:00

This is a fabulous Friday. We had a crazy and busy week but have survived it with great flair. We made homemade pizzas last night and pumpkin doughnuts this morning. Today we are tackling strawberry ice cream after school. This week will all be topped off with a school variety show tonight. Actors, singers, puppeteers, and who knows what else will be presenting their talents tonight. We are looking forward to seeing what it has to offer.

Another reason it is a Fabulous Friday is that I am ready to announce the date of my Grand Opening of Therapeutic Threads. I've been hinting about it but haven't really announced the official start date. GRAND OPENING - JUNE 16 (TUESDAY)

I'm spending the weekend taking pictures of all the items I have ready and intend to have them listed and the shop open on Tuesday. Yay! Perhaps not the best time of year as school is just getting out - but as my best teacher friend says "anytime is the best time to help a child in need". Ditto!

Have a fabulous Friday!!!

Work in progress Wednesday

2009-06-10T09:28:00.000-07:00

Here is a sneak peak of what I've been working on - more coming soon. :)

Busy but fun week ahead

2009-06-08T17:42:00.000-07:00

This week is turning out to be quite busy and it has only just begun. We have playdates nearly everyday this week, birthday presents to make and wrap (and the party to attend), jujitsu class, a variety show, airport runs and, of course, school to attend. And that's just for our son. For me it is a very exciting time. I will be having the grand opening of my new store, Therapeutic Threads, this week. Watch for that announcement soon.

Have a great week!

Fabulous Friday - FAM blog

2009-06-05T09:34:00.001-07:00

I am part of a great group of talented moms called FAM (Fabulous Artistic Moms). Each one has an Etsy shop or two and make great stuff. They also have a wonderful blog. Today my Star spangled cup cover is part of the feature on the blog. It is Fourth of July FAM style. Check out all the wonderful items available to celebrate Independence Day.

Wordless Wednesday - Alien & pet

2009-06-03T11:24:00.001-07:00

Garden update!

2009-06-01T10:08:00.000-07:00

Yes, there is progress. It has been excruciating but it is finally coming together. Remember how you last saw it. Sod being removed. Double digging through concrete clay - okay not concrete but it felt that way at times. Well now the compost is in -lots and lots of compost and the landscape fabric is laid out. I have a few plants in but more that need to be transplanted. That will come for now the main thing was to get the watermelon and cantaloupe in. After that, I will re-sculpt the previous garden area and put the landscape fabric over that. Finally for all the plantings and mulch. It is coming together. Let's hope the summer isn't over before I can really appreciate it.

Teacher appreciation - raffle

2009-05-30T09:52:00.000-07:00

As part of the week long celebration of teachers, our PTSA hosted a celebration luncheon for all the teachers and staff (over 70 people). The meal was provided by volunteers and parents from the school. In addition to the luncheon, awards were given to various teachers and staff for their service to the kids and a raffle was done with items donated by members of the PTSA. A friend donated a painting and I donated 30 of my cup covers. I chose many to be "teacher" related but not all. I included a variety to appeal to many different interests. I was very pleased to hear that they were well received. In the weekly newletter sent out by the principal she commented on them, "Staff appreciation week was this week and it was so fun. Thanks for all the thank yous and gifts. I especially love my “coffee” cozy for keeping my hands from burning when holding a hot drink." Made me feel so great that I could be a part of thanking them for all their work. Thanks to all the great teachers and staff out there at ............ Elementary!

Have you thanked your teacher?

Teacher appreciation - magnets

2009-05-29T09:30:00.000-07:00

So all week I have been featuring items we made for our teacher/staff appreciation week. My son's teacher is awesome and really deserved everything. I'm in the classroom weekly and noticed that she uses magnets on her dry erase board a lot. She also seems to always need a few more than what she had so this gift was an easy one to come up with. We created 2 different kinds of magnets. The first were based on an idea from Kacey at On A Whimm. She stacks buttons to make these tacks. We did the same kind of thing but added a magnet. My son picked out the buttons he wanted and stacked them up. I did the gluing for him. They turned out great and now I have some on my refrigerator too. I love them.

The second kind were based on an idea I found on Not Martha. We adapted it to be painted rather than paper cut outs. My son painted the back of flat marbles and we let them dry. We used various colors and included some metallics (they looked great!-sorry no pic). After they dried I glued the magnet to the back.

We took all the magnets we made and he picked which ones he wanted for each teacher (we included his reading teacher and the aides for this gift). Then we made small origami boxes from old wildlife magazines I've been hauling around the country (I used these with my students as great story starters, language builders, and high interest reading items). My son was a great helper with folding these and I think they turned out great. They probably could have been a bit crisper but they held together great and looked adorable.

Unfortunately I didn't get pictures of each of the magnets before they were distributed. I did however get a picture of one of the boxes he gave (it didn't have any of the marble magnets in it though). I know they were appreciated because the teacher immediately pulled them out and began using them. I think we will make more for family and friends too. I know I want more on my fridge.

Flowers for teacher

2009-05-28T10:29:00.000-07:00

My son wanted to give his teacher flowers but not ones "that die fast". So he decided he would give her a plant. We started with a basic terracotta pot (he wanted a huge one but we negotiated and settled on this size). After washing and drying the pot, he began painting. We used a special outdoor paint so it doesn't fade too fast. It is easily available at any craft supply place - we happened to get it at Michaels. He spent a week painting this pot - factoring in dry time. He did a layer with it standing upright and a layer upside down. He painted the inside and the outside. He also painted the saucer. It was so beautiful when it was complete. We planted it with sweet william, marigold, and verbena. His teacher loved it and told him she'll place it on her front porch.

Wordless Wednesday - Yummies for Teacher

2009-05-27T09:00:00.001-07:00

Teacher appreciation!

2009-05-26T10:20:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, I am a speech-language pathologist. My primary place of employment in the past was in schools. I have worked in private schools, state schools and public schools. I have worked with so many teachers. While some of them really needed to find a different profession, most were wonderful. Not just anyone can be a teacher. It takes a compassion, a drive, a motivation to teach children to become our leaders of tomorrow. While I am currently not employed by a school district, I am still connected to teachers in many ways. It is so great to have the opportunity to tell a teacher how much you appreciate them. Last week was a week long celebration of the teachers and staff at my son's school. The PTSA sent home suggestions of how one could celebrate their teacher (card, picture, flowers) but after sharing this with my son, he had other ideas. This week we'll be sharing these homemade gifts that brought great joy to the teachers in our life.

Fabulous Friday - Memories

2009-05-22T12:12:00.000-07:00

As we embark on a Memorial Day weekend, I am taking this time to feature some fabulous finds from Etsy that remind me of special memories.

My Grandpa: My grandpa raised hens and everyday would go out and collect the eggs. There were always a lot of them. I can't imagine he would ever think to do this with the eggs. This beautifuly carved egg from 1 eggman isn't from a chicken but it features chickens on it and is quite exquisite. I remember so well the many times I collected eggs with Grandpa and then would sit with him in the basement while he cleaned each and every one.

My Grandma: This angel food cake soap from AJ sweet soap reminds me of all the wonderful angel food cakes my grandma would make for my birthday out of the eggs that Grandpa collected. None of the cake mixes or store bought cakes can even come close to the amazing Angel Food Grandma would make. MMMMMMMMmmmmmm

My dad loved chocolate covered candy. Every year for his birthday and for Father's Day we would get him bags of chocolate covered peanuts and cherries. It wasn't as easy to find them as it is currently (in fact now we can buy them bulk) which made it even more special. I'm sure he would love this chocolate covered peanut brittle from Georgia Treats. Mmmm, it looks so good.

Memorial Day: Every year when we were kids, we always took a trip over Memorial Day to meet up with relatives, go to the cemetary, and then meet at a town center and have a family reunion. What I remember most from these gatherings are the multitude of American Flags that were flying everywhere. This pendant by Happy Haven reminded me so much of those flags. Perfect for this weekend or Independence Day.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Work in progress Wednesday

2009-05-20T10:55:00.000-07:00

The garden has been coming along nicely as I have shared recently. We decided through all our digging that the dirt in the new garden area had the making of the perfect volcano. So that is what we decided to do (before adding the compost and making it a beautiful area).

First we loaded an empty water bottle with baking soda and red food coloring (my dear son wanted the "lava" to be as accurate as possible in color).

We then took it outside and buried the bottle - making sure the lid was on the whole time. He was very careful about making the dome around the bottle and prepping the area for the lava flow.

Finally we opened the bottle and added vinegar. What a fun explosion! Certainly sparked a lot of fun scientific ideas and questions. What a great use of an empty, not yet refurbished garden!

Garden progress

2009-05-18T10:38:00.000-07:00

Well it helps to have sun.

We are making progress in our garden. The top layer of sod has been removed (and relocated to the back of the shed) and I have double dug 90% of the new garden. This was a huge job as there really was only 2 inches of soil left after the sod was removed and the rest was hard clay and huge rocks. My rock collector gave up after the first 100 and decided he enjoyed playing with his Legos more than picking up rocks I dug up. I couldn't blame him, I didn't enjoy picking up the rocks either. He also didn't like that I ended up covering up his huge hole he dug (I had to as I kept falling in it - better to not have any broken ankles). I left the area around the gate as that needs to be accessible for trash can removal and bike throughs. As you can see I left the small garden I made when we first moved in as there are many base plants I want to use from there. The next step is massive amounts of compost and lots of digging again. I have most of the plants sitting on my potting bench waiting for this step to be accomplished. Let's hope the weather continues to cooperate - and that my stamina can hold up to this labor.

Fabulous Friday - Fabulous Garden Finds

2009-05-15T09:05:00.000-07:00

With gardening on my mind, I went to Etsy in search of some great inspiration for my new garden. Naturally, I found a load of beautiful things. This gorgeous dragonfly pot by Leah Reynolds just glows with vibrant colors. I wasn't planning on putting more pots out in that area but now I might.

This stunning glass hummingbird feeder is only one of her extraordinary pieces! The colors and the copper are so fabulous. It would look glorious in a garden. Glorious Glass Garden is the perfect place to find these creations. Check out this store for so many beautiful things.

Knowing how infested with aphids my new garden area has been in the past, I think I might need to install one of these Aphid-eating Bee houses from Krueger Lampwork. It seems they mostly make beautiful lampwork beads but they have raised my curiousity about these bee houses. They are from our area too. hmmmmmmmmmm

Perhaps if I just wear these adorable bug eyed lady bug earrings while gardening, the aphids will run off to another neighbors' garden. These whimsical earrings from Boutique Jewels made me laugh and wonder if they could work.

For now, I'm off to continue working on this garden. I promise an update soon. I've enjoyed this little venture through the gardens of Etsy.

Wordless Wednesday - The Fort

2009-05-13T08:59:00.000-07:00

New Garden

2009-05-11T13:41:00.000-07:00

I love Spring - all the flowers popping up, gardens greening up. This is a great time to live here. Although it is green nearly all year here, new greens show up at this time of year. I never really noticed all the variations in color growing up - the trees were green, the nights black, the days blue. It wasn't until I met my husband that I really saw the colors. On many a walk while dating, he pointed out the world from an artist's perspective. The greens were really a variety of greens and yellows, the nights were blue and purple and gray and black. Suddenly my love of gardening (something my parents passed on to me) became enriched with a whole new palette of information. My love of gardening just grew and grew over the years with this new view on the world. It was stifled slightly during years of living in apartments and condos - I was the only one with tulips popping up in a one foot corner of soil near our garage. Naturally after obtaining our house I "bloomed" and "spread my roots". The whole backyard was a mess. The previous owners had 2 rottweilers that must have just grabbed everything from the house and buried it and continued piling. There were valleys and hills where there shouldn't have been. Upon leveling this I found so many "treasures" that have made the final product so rewarding - I can't believe the yuck I've been through with these gardens. Over the course of the next few years I carved out several gardens and now am very pleased with the backyard. It naturally continues to progress with dividing plants, moving things around and adding annuals but for the most part it is finished. July is the best time for viewing it so I'll have to take pictures then.

Therefore, I have moved on to tackle other parts of the landscape that are less than pleasing. I have set my sights on an area that the previous owners used as their "car fixing" area - otherwise known as where the broken car sat under repair for years at a time - really pretty I'm sure. Over the past few years I have attempted to pull out weeds, mow the "grass", plant a few bushes and temporary plants, work on the fence between properties, and work on layout for this area. The area is swampy when it rains and dies during the summer (full sun - poor drainage). This is going to be a fun challenge, redoing the slopes, amending the soil, and planting. Thankfully the weather has begun to cooperate with these plans. I will be chronicling this garden here. These pictures show how it looks now at the beginning. Not so nice. I'll keep you posted.

Swag

2009-05-08T10:03:00.000-07:00

Coming this Saturday to Seattle is the next Etsy Rain craft show. I'd love to be doing it but will be unavailable. Instead I have contributed to the swag bags. Remember how wonderful those bags are? You will definitely want one this time too - and there will only be 30 this time.

I crocheted all these bookmarks to put in the bag. I'm very pleased with them and will be offering them in my store too. I'm not sure of all the swag that will be included but you know it will be great - no paper only in these bags. So come on out to the EtsyRain Spring Craft show at Sodopop on Saturday (that's tomorrow!) from 10-4. Arrive early and you can get one of the 30 bags full of goodies....not to mention be first to see all the great vendors.