Warm and Cozy

I am not sure if I have ever welcomed the month of January so warmly. 2008 is off to a nice, slow start so far. I've been crocheting, knitting, sewing and planning some new projects. I've even got some Valentine's day projects in mind. It's nice to feel prepared for a holiday rather than panicking at the mere thought (ahem, Christmas 2007 for example).

The craft room project is now underway after being abandoned for coaster making and order processing way back in September. We're back to choosing paint colors. I'm still liking grey it's just a matter of finding the right grey. Who knew there were so many shades of grey?

I've been making these coffee cup sleeves from sweaters. Super fun to make and totally addictive.



There's all sorts of new stuff in the Little Acorn Vintage Shop. Stop by and take a look. I've listed some vintage and Japanese fabrics, trims and housewares. I'm trying to add new stuff daily.

Ambitious

I don't like to set New Year's goals, because I generally like to avoid
the feeling of failure. I do find myself thinking about things I'd like to do
or do differently in the new year.
A few of those things are:
Use my cookbooks more and eat out less (this is a hard one for me, it's so great to have someone else cook)
Clean out the garage and basement for the love of god
Get my shit together in time to design and print a calendar
Make a quilt

On another note, I LOVE online shopping, don't you? Is there anything greater than buying something online and having it delivered? I've spent so much less time and gas driving around trying to find things that I can literally find in 2 clicks on the wonderful internet. Where would we be without it? I often find myself wondering how the hell we got on without it. I did so much online shopping this year for gifts that it got to the point where I was expecting something to be delivered every day. And that's great.

On that note, there are a couple of penguins in the shop right now. This might be it for the penguins until next year but we'll see. They are the perfect movie watching hand sewing project.

2008

I hope you had a relaxed and merry holiday season. I have been enjoying the post holiday calm immensely. The new year was quietly rung in while watching movies, in bed with some new yarn and fabrics. Perfect.

I've added the first batch of new goodies to the shop. There is much more to come as I sort through the craft sale leftovers and work on new projects, like hand sewn wool and linen mushrooms.



Today was spent deconstructing our Christmas wonderland. I'm sad to see it go but I know that it will hardly seem like a year has gone by when we bring it all out again. The house looks so magical and festive with the decorations up. It takes me a few days to adjust to the "plainness" of our everyday decor.

The Finish Line

Craft Wonderland is today!
I'll be there so stop by and say hello if you're in the neighborhood.
111 NE 11th

After today, I'm all yours. I'll try to post regularly and get those
house photos up and I'll even do another shop update. Yippee!

Oh and the winning commenter numbers are 3 and 8. Kim and Jessica send me your addresses and I'll get your treats off in the mail this week.

Happy 9 days until Christmas!

Shop Update

Nearing the Finish

Of the insane work season, that is. We have been utterly consumed with the filling of wholesale orders for Robot Candy. I haven't had any time for the crafting that I love, the sewing, knitting and crochet. I am very much looking forward to January and the relaxed creative time it holds. I did find time to get these little penguin friends sewn up. They are made with the 100% wool felt I love so much. I've got a shop update planned for Monday at 12 noon, it will be small but there will be some penguins for sure.

We did manage to get a tree and all the decorations up. There has been non stop Christmas music playing and we even put together two volumes of a Christmas music mix for our friends and family. It's a good one, too. In fact, I think it's time for and definitely the season for another fun giveaway...leave me a comment with your most and least favorite thing about the holidays. My favorite thing is decorating and my least favorite is probably the god forsaken traffic. I'll include a Christmas cd and some other holiday lovelies for two lucky winners.

I was tagged by Jessica for 10 weird or little known things about me. Here goes:
1:: I love hippos and always have. I really like that they will eat people who venture too close.
2:: I grew up in a cult-like church called the World Wide Church of God, we didn't celebrate Christmas, Halloween or celebrate birthdays. Pretty. Awesome.
3:: I will not mix types of pasta. Which makes it inconvenient for using up those last bits
4:: I have never seen Star Wars and dislike all things sci-fi
5:: I don't like any of the Peanuts holiday specials, I know, it's very unAmerican
6:: I think Justin Timberlake is super cute
7:: I hate Sushi and most seafood. The cult-church also forbade the eating of pork and shellfish but I do like pork
8:: I'm 1/4 Mexican
9:: I have a scar on my chin from where I hit it on the edge of the counter trying to get to the cookie jar when I was 3
10:: I hate to fly, and don't really like to travel in general.

I'm going to sprint to the coaster finish line, we've got 7 orders to go, I think I can do it.
Next post will be a tour of the Christmas decor, hooray!

Happy Holidays!

I can't believe I haven't posted since the 9th. I started the month out strong, but it's so busy this time of year. I think we'll try the daily posts again post holidays.
Here's a little preview of some holiday goodies coming soon. I'm going to try to do 2 shop updates this holiday season.

Are you all ready for Thanksgiving? We're leaving town so I'm frantically trying to get orders shipped and on their way. I do not like traveling during the holidays. In fact, I hate it. We're driving which means possibly treacherous road conditions. But it also means getting to see family and friends and eat turkey. Mmmm...turkey.

Have a safe and yummy Thanksgiving.

A New Toy

I now own one of these. I love it, it's amazing and so very thin.

I am a Sewing Nerd

Tonight, I waited in line with lots of other crafty Portlanders to have Amy sign my book! It was very nice to meet her, she is super sweet in person.

I've never gotten a book signed by the author before. Is that weird?

Good Things Indeed

Three more reasons to continue following our fearless leader...

a string of lights made from bouquet holders

mini. gingerbread. houses. yes, please.

And the best idea ever! I am making these. Cupcakes baked in sugar cones
then removed from cones and piped with frosting and sprinkled with sanding
sugar. Brilliant.

47

These are some pot holders for an order going to a cute little gourmet food and kitchen store called Plenty in Canada.

Wow November 6th. Just 47 days until Christmas. Are you ready? I'm not.

Go. Now.

And buy some of this.

This is absolutely the smoothest, creamiest, most delicious ice cream. ever.

Fleece

I've become quite the fabric snob. I find myself recoiling, often in disgust, at the feel of synthetic fabrics while out shopping. I know many of you can relate. I feel like I can spot an acrylic sweater from a mile away and am always drawn to natural fibers. Wool and linen are my favorites, but I make an exception for super soft fleece. It's great for hand sewing sweet little softies perfect for snuggling.

On that note, this is Miss Snowy Chloe. She's ready for a wintry day of snow and frost.

Michael's Blows

Here's a little story about why I hate Michael's and yet continue to shop there. I purchased one of the new Martha Stewart rotary cutting rulers about a week ago because I broke my old one and liked the colors of the MS one. The tag says it's easily visible on either light or dark fabric, a claim that I strongly dispute, I found it was barely visible on any fabric. So...with receipt in hand, I head to Michael's to return said ruler. To my utter dismay, the bastards refused to return it EVEN WITH A RECEIPT because I didn't have the label EVEN THOUGH I HAD A RECEIPT. So...after making a moderately large scene and asking for the manager and then ultimately his boss, I left sans refund but with a great deal of rage. Of all the places that I regularly shop, Michael's has some of the worst customer service. The employees are rude, argumentative and reluctant to help, which leads me to believe that Michael's isn't the greatest company to work for. I shouldn't be surprised really that my refund was refused. Lucky for me I came home and after some ransacking, found the label and now plan to march back in for my refund. Aholes. So, Jenn, why do you continue to shop at Michael's if the customer service is as awful as you claim, you ask. Well I'll tell you why, better yet, I'll show you...

Because the Leader has put out a line of craft supplies that beats all other craft supplies. Because there are scallops and wood grain and ribbons and glitter and red with aqua packaging and polka dots and cupcake papers and wrapping paper and picture frames and twill tape and so so much more. This is possibly my favorite of all...a kit to make divided treat boxes with scallops and polka dotted parchment!!!

Oh how I love Christmas. I love love love it. I love the sparkles and the colors the lights and the real feeling of magic and sweetness. Christmas makes even Michael's less horrible.

A Special Friend

Every now and then I make a softie that is very hard to part with.
This is one. I hope she goes to a special home...

There have been a few times when I have wanted to refuse adoption of certain stuffies to certain people. I was doing a craft fair some time ago and a very bratty, very spoiled little girl snottily pointed to one of my favorite softies and whined "I want that one". Luckily her mother said "ok, well let's look around some more and then come back" they never did. :)

Weather Friends

Happy November! Sheesh, can you believe it? I've got to get working on my Christmas gifts, merchandise and cards. I always start to feel the Holiday panic setting in around this time.

These little friends will join the shop very soon...
Happy sad weather friends, each one is reversible:


I'm going to try to post more regularly, both here and in the shop.

Happy Halloween

I didn't mean to be gone for so long there. I wish I had more crafting to report but alas, not much crafting has been going on, at least not the Chet and Dot kind. I've made 3.8 million coasters though for Robot Candy. Ok maybe it's not in the millions but it sure feels like it. This time of year is so hard because Robot Candy demands so much of my time, but I really just want to sew.

We did have our annual cupcake decorating party last weekend, which was loads of fun. We kept it to a rather small group due to last year's complete lack of space and huge mess, but it was fun nonetheless. It's great to see what people come up with when seating in front of a tray of candies and frosting. I'm always impressed! Look at Kevin's Gene Simmons Kiss cupcake. This is about as much as I get into Halloween. I didn't celebrate it as a kid so it's never been a big deal, now Christmas, that's a big deal.

I did find a lovely melon colored wool blanket while thrifting last weekend which is what this little sweetie was made from.
So soft and melon-y!

Have a fun and safe Halloween and don't eat too much candy!

Autumn Happenings

My ghostly boo garland was featured on the Decor8 blog last week and I've been selling one after another since. They're fun and relaxing to make and it gives me a chance to do some hand sewing, which is always nice.

I'm working on a some trick or treat bags for the little ones. I hope to have them in the shop this weekend.

I'm still working my way through all of the apples and pears from the farms two weeks ago. So far, I've made apple butter, pear butter, and a dutch apple pie. There are still several pounds left and I'm really not sure what to make next. I thought about canning some apple pie filling, but I don't think I can can (ha!) one more jar. I might make apple dumplings, but that won't use up very many apples. Any ideas? I may need to turn to the leader for help.

Uh Oh

This morning I was contacted by a reader and loyal customer who let me know that someone seems to be copying my sweater softies. I always tend to give people the benefit of the doubt but when I saw this, my heart sank. I do appreciate that people like my creatures and in some cases believe that imitation is flattery, but not when the items are being sold on etsy nonetheless, the same venue I use to sell my own softies.

Imitation Owl Softie
The thing that really gets me with this is that the face is almost identical to my owls, right down to how I make the beak. Not to mention the use of ribbon. It's all so very frustrating as someone who makes their living from selling hand made goods. This is how I support my family. I have spoken to my lawyer friend who agrees that there is enough similarity to pursue some legal action. All of my work is under copyright and is therefore protected against blatant copying.

Genuine Owl Softie
For future reference, in case anyone is wondering, all of my items are original designs and are protected by all applicable copyrights.

On a more positive note, I made a couple more not so spooky ghosts for the shop.

Woolen Love Affair

I didn't think it was possible for me to love wool anymore than I already did but this past week I've fallen for it all over again. I picked up needle felting. I've been sick, and needle felting is the perfect craft for laying around in bed, watching tv. A couple of years ago I bought the supplies for it but didn't really get into it, until now.

I rely greatly upon subtlety in my creations. I prefer to use small bits of Japanese fabrics and pair them with rich, classic fabrics like linen and wool. I think it highlights the cuteness of the fabrics in a way that you don't get when you use them on their own. I feel that I do the same with my animals. I'm often amazed that it's possible to take a rectangle, tweak it a little bit and have it become an owl. It's the same with the needle felting. It's also surprising how quick needle felting is even though you are just poking wool with a small needle.