Fun New Cupcake Stuff

I have recently acquired some fun cupcakey things.  Let me share the love with you.  :-)

Fun cupcake thing #1: 

Cupcake "insulBUFF" from Fabulous Fabric Essentials on etsy.

I bought it because I hate when I buy a coffee at Starbucks and the last quarter of it is cold and I end up throwing it out.  Yuck!  I frequently get my coffee double-cupped to provide some additional insulation but I feel bad about the extra waste.  My new cup cozy keeps the contents either warm or cold and gives you a more temperature neutral place to put your hand.

Fun cupcake thing #2: 

"Cupcake dreams key fob" Wristlet Keychain  from Jimmy Pickles on Etsy.

One thing about me that only a few people know is that I loathe to take multiple trips from my car and into the house / work / etc.  I will totally overload myself with 3 trips worth of things just to avoid having to come back.  Beacause I do this, however, I have the unfortunate tendency of dropping my keys just as I'm trying to put them in my lock.  Which is a real bummer when your hands are full of stuff because then you have to put all your stuff down, pick up the keys, open the door, and get all your stuff inside.  This key fob is nice because I can loop the keys around my wrist so I can't drop them.  See?

Fun cupcake thing #3: 

"Buttercream Cupcake" flavored shower smoothie (combo shampoo, shower gel, bubble bath).  I bought it at Ulta yesterday with my sister.  Right now they are having a "buy 2 get 2 free" sale as well, so hurry in for yummy flavored shower stuffs.  If you don't have an Ulta near you, you can buy it online here.

Phat Fiber

I can't believe I didn't blog about this already!  I think I was gushing on Ravelry and so forgot my blog hadn't seen this yet....the April Phat Fiber Box!  The pictue below if just a teaser, to see the rest of the pictures, visit my flickr set dedicated to the April box here.

 

Plans for Global Domination

When I was in college, one of my mentors [half] joked that I had a 5 step plan to take over the world. Determined. Stubbon. Gonna make it happen no matter what. That was me. It still kind of is.

That's why I love love love this journal I found on etsy.

It's only $11 which isn't bad at all. I'm not sure I could justify it to the hubster, though. "But honey. I needed somewhere well labeled to keep all of my plans to take over the world. My standard issue notebook just wasn't cutting it anymore." Probably not. And it's not my birthday anymore, either.

Hmmm. Maybe once I get my shop restocked and do some sales I can justify the expense.

Wheel spun!

My alpaca endeavor has finally turned into a wheel.  A Lendrum folding wheel (single treadle) to be exact.  Just in time for shearing so I can actually do something with alpaca come shearing season in May.

And of course you know I've been playing with my new baby.  So now I have 2 projects (well, 1.5 actually) to share:

Wheel Spun #1:

2 colors of "Crumb" (superwash colonial wool) from The Cupcake Factory...cool blue raspberry and acai berry carded together with tinsel from the craft store and spun on my new wheel (squee!!!):

Wheel Spun #2:

Superwash Cake Batter (superwash merino wool) from The Cupcake Factory in the Neapolitan Colourway.  Split in half lengthwise then split in half again and opened up like a book to make 2 balls.  Spun on the lendrum and andean plied (I've only got pics up to the plying part....but I'm hoping to get some spinning done this weekend in my down time while I'm away at a conference so I'll do the 2nd ball and snap some photos).

Quick! Before It's Gone!

I made it into "A Spindler's Dream" treasury on Etsy. Yay! Check it out here.

EDITED March 6th to Add:

I made it into another one!  Yay!!!  I'm feeling the etsy love.  :-)

I'm Phat, I'm Phat, You Know It: Part 1

Who's phat? I am! Ready?

BAM!

The February 2009 Phat Fiber Box:

Romance & Chocolate

Do you hate me yet? This box is chock full of fabulouso stuff.


Exhibit A:
Left: 8 grams of "Lover" Handspun, hand dyed merino blend yarn from Evergreen Creations. It's a 2 ply. I'm guessing it's worsted weight. I think there might be enough to make a little coin purse. I might try felting with it, too.

Center: Happy Hands Goat's Milk & Shea Butter Hand Creme: "Tea & Roses" from Local Gringos. The rose scent is so faint you can barely smell it....which is how I like it. Plus it's got honey in it. I love milk and honey stuff.


Right: A little 4 gram puff of unlabeled fluff from From Ewe to You. I'm guessing it's wool...but I'm not sure what kind. I don't see it in her shop. I'll probably card this together with something else. edit: I've since learned that it is Dorset/Montadale

Exhibit B:
Background: Pattern: "Under the Rose" Fingerless Mitts from Ganiggle Knits.

Big beautiful puff of fluff: A generous 13 gram chunk of 100% merino superwash roving from Kangaroo Dyer. This is definitely one of my top 5 favorite things I got in this box. I'm excited to see what it turns into.

To the right of the big bright puff: You can see the corner of an envelope. The front of the envelope had standard knitting abbreviations on it. Inside were all kinds of coupons from places like Farmgirl chic, Local Gringos, Moonwood Farm, eXtreme Spinning (I'm really sad I didn't get a sample from here. I will probably have to take advantage of 20% off to make myself feel better about it, though) and My Fair Bag Lady. There was also a cute little stich marker from Pedras (the stitch marker didn't make it in the picture. Go check out her stuff, though. Cute. I also got a sock yarn note card from Knit it Up. (no picture of this, either....but please go see her stuff. Definitely worth the time and bandwidth to click).

That gorgeous little pink and grey poof?: It's a 5 gram sinfully soft mini roving ball in the "snuggly" colourway from Moonwood Farm. Check out this description:

This particular blend consists of alpaca blended with a little satin angora bunny fiber - white first shearing from Mickey [an alpaca, picture on the card] blended with a bit of pink glitzy prepared roving, purple hand dyed (koolaid) from Sergeant Major [another alpaca, picture on the card], grey from Dominic (his fiber is blended with 25% black satin angora from Nero [Nero is a bunny]), as well as a sprinkling of silver angelina.

Holy cow! (or is it holy alpacas and bunnies?) Complex with undertones of "wow!" Aside of feeling like I've been entrusted with a little bit of sacred fiber, I think Moonwood wins for the "best tag" competition among the things in my box. Pictures of alpaca and bunny pr0n, a description like this, another description of how she made my roving ball, and directions about spinning and washing the fiber. Roo...you need a Ravelry group for your farm. I'm totally a fan.

To be continued...

Fun things from Etsy

I'm home sick today with the post-winter camp crud.  All the other youth leaders were sick leading up to camp or sick at camp.  I managed to hold off getting sick until after camp.  Good for camp.  Not as good for me.

So while I'm hanging out on the couch in my jammies, thought I'd share some fun cupcake finds from etsy....

Old English Cupcake Patch from Etsy Seller Liz Miera

Cupcake Wallet from Etsy Seller Majesty Inc

Felt Cupcake Favor bag (wouldn't this make a fun sock project bag, though?) from Etsy Seller Turtle Taylor

If you're doing any Valentines or "Just Because" shopping, be sure to check out etsy.  It supports independent artists.  You can also support your local economy by checking out the "Shop Local" feature, where you enter a location and it shows you all the shops based out of your area.  So go ahead.  Check it out.  You knwo you want to.

Phat Fiber

Check it out:

I was approached back in December about being a part of something called the Phat Fiber Box. It's a box of sample sized fiber arts goodies (with the occaisional tea and balm) from a variety of independant fiber artists. It's a great opportunity to send samples of my stuff to people who are paying to get them. It's a great opportunity for customers to see and feel a yarn before buying online.

A couple nights ago, my very patient husband stayed up way too late with me wrapping sample skeins of Buttercream yarn and braiding samples of Crumb, a new superwash colonial wool top so we could get them in the mail. Want to see?

What's that? Closer in you say?

Here's the Crumb: (or one color of it, anyway.  I sent some blue, too, but the pics aren't so good)


Here's the Buttercream mini skeins in McIntosh Apple and Strawberry Milkshake:

So, if you haven't yet, get thee hence to www.phatfiber.com. The theme for February's box is "Romance and Chocolate."  I'm excited to be in the box this month as well as excited to see what I get!  There's been talk about having delicious chocolately snacks in the boxes.  Come on, chocolate and yarn?  Does it get better?  (okay...you're right.  It would be better if cupcakes were involved somehow....but maybe another month?)

If you're maybe even just interested in getting a box, make sure you get on the e-mail list on the phat fiber site. The boxes go up for sale at a secret time and the e-mail list is notified of when it is. Last month, the boxes all sold out in 20 minutes! So unless you have extraordinary luck, you're going to need to be on the e-mail list in order to snag one.

In the meantime, you can preview goodies and reviews of the samples that are being sent in and enter giveways on the Phat Fiber blog.

More Cool Stuff

Check out this etsy shop: Itty Bitties for You

She takes pictures of your dog and turns them into a super hero.  How freaking cool is that? Price is super reasonable, too.

Check out some of these pictures:

Featured Etsy Shop of the Week: hippofabulous

On of my new favorite Etsy shops if Hippofabulous...purveyor of nifty vinyl wallets and bags with fun images.

Check out some of my favorites:

Sparkle Vinyl Cupcake Wallet




Happy Cloud Vinyl Wallet






Sparkle Vinyl Pirate Wallet




Find her on etsy, or check out her blog: http://hippofabulous.wordpress.com/

I'm so proud

My little sis just started an Etsy shop here.

It's still under construction, but she sure has some cute stuff!

You want a blog post? I'll give you a blog post.

Ravelry. Blame it on Ravelry. I spend allmy would-be-blogging time over there. Plus I keep waiting for something blog worthy to happen and it didn't. So I guess I'll share my latest round of stitch markers for the Cupcake Factory.