A lovely weekend

Happy Monday folks! I am enjoying the postal holiday because although I am working today I did not have to get any packages ready to ship. On one hand I am VERY happy to have orders to ship, but it is sure nice to get a little break!

If you have not entered to win a tee shirt of your choice from my shop, you can enter here:

http://christiecottage.blogspot.com/2010/10/win-it-wednesday-new-giveaway.html

Saturday we woke to an unfamiliar noise. It was the last day of the international balloon fiesta and there were hot air balloons flying right over our house! Autumn was so excited watching them fly right over us!

(autumn with daddy's keys)

my Dad babysat Autumn on Saturday and Adam and I both did something very unusual. Other than packaging and a trip to the post office, We didn't work. We spent the WHOLE day together. It was really fun. I actually felt a little guilty about not working with all of the deadlines I have coming up.

(autumn and adam looking at a lizard the cats brought in)

We biked around town and went to the Rio Grande arts and crafts fair. Part of the reason we went was because we wanted to scope out the scene and see if it would be a good fit for us, and obviously the other reason we went was to see some awesome artisans. I didn't feel like my items fit in there at all, although because my tees are SO different from anything at the fair they may do well, you just never know. The fair seemed geared towards an older crowd. I think Adams knives would be a good fit but I don't know if he really has the inventory for it. we bought some really yummy honey comb and also some homemade pasta, and almost bought a print from one of the artists. Later that evening we went out to dinner with or friends bill and rocketpants.

(a new screen I burned, this is a scan of the drawing on photocopy mode)

Sunday I made up for not working on Saturday by seriously busting ass. I Got 4 more damas dresses from just being cut out to being almost ready for fitting and I plan to contact my former co- worker to tell her she can bring the girls over this weekend. I sure hope there are no major issues with fit! I also got to sewing the wedding dress I am making for my good friend Missl Command as a wedding preasent. It is going to look really awesome, I can tell already. I will share pictures of these projects and talk about them in greater detail later this week. I also got a ton of printing done, and this morning I have been printing like a madwoman.

(one of the "presents" the cats brought in)

It is finally becoming noticeable that it is fall, and the evenings are starting to get very cool like they should in the dessert. I really love fall in New Mexico, the crisp air perfumed by roasting green chili is something that I look forward to every year, but this year I am really excited, because I know pretty soon our cats wont be bringing in lizards, birds, katydids, and mice any more.

Giveaway!

I am sponsoring a giveaway on http://www.christiecottage.blogspot.com/! to enter follow this link to her blog: Win it Wednesday



I am giving away this bones red roller skate bearing necklace. It is reversible. I used these bearings in my roller derby skates.

We can also make custom versions of these. I have two of them and I wear one or the other almost every day! I love them!

Please visit www.christiecottage.blogspot.com to enter her giveaway and win this awesome item!

Please also visit her store http://christiecottage.etsy.com


Also, I finally went to the DR to talk about my stomach. I have been in a lot of pain every time I eat and throwing up about once a day. I thought it was ulcers because I have had problems with them in the past and it feels very similar. The Dr. I saw yesterday is leaning towards gall bladder stones. I will have an ultrasound tomorrow morning to look for those. He also gave me a prescription for Prilosec for the ulcers and another one for if it is my gall bladder. The one for the gall stones I take with every meal to prevent pain, and so far it has really worked! I have been on a very low fat diet, but I have to cut back even more until we find out if it is gall stones.

Other than that I am doing very well, Autumn is adorable, as always and Adam is wonderful, as always!

Have a good day!

Xoxo
-Erica

And the winner is....

Hi! I picked the winner op my whale hand warmers at random ( from a hat to be precise, since it seemed to be the least original and easiest way to do it.)

And the winner is.... LAURA! I will be sending you an email to get your address :) I hope you love your new hand warmers.

Laura has her own blog as well, so please pay her a visit at theforgottenbrush.blogspot.com. She is also an artist, like me :)

Her etsy store is www.etsy.com/shop/laurart


This piece is "Speckles 'n Shapes" by Laura and you can get to her listing of it by clicking on the picture.



I love prints, and I really love this print "Brushes" by Laura. It is made from a wood block. You can go to this listing by clicking on the picture as well :)

Laura is also an animal enthusiast and 10% of her profits go to charity.

I hope everyone's holidays were as wonderful as mine, i will tell you more about them soon, I don't want to make this post to lengthy to be interesting :)

Also, I added the hamster widget. Isn't he cute? you can feed him.

I will Start a new next Monday.

Where is my Christmas Cheer?

PLEASE ENTER MY GIVEAWAY! ---pretty please--- with a cherry on top, and whipped cream, and sprinkles... It is my very first one, and if I feel like this one is worthwhile I will have more.

you can find it here




So I am not sure why, but I just am not as excited and thrilled by Christmas this year as I am most years. I LOVE Christmas! I love Christmas music, and lights, and trees... and I love buying presents for people, and I don't even mind braving the mall this time of year- even though THIS year I was able to buy ALL of our presents from etsy, and some things for myself as well. Partially I wonder if I am just to busy between Etsy, Autumn, Roller Derby, Working for my dad...

Usually I play Christmas music constantly as soon as it seems reasonable- I think usually Thanksgiving is acceptably the beginning of Christmas festivities- but this year we STILL have not put up our tree! We haven't even decided on a theme (last year it was "new baby" and the year before that was "pirate"). It will go up tomorrow because I need to start wrapping presents and if the tree isn't up I will not have any place to put them.

I also love snow.

And I love the peppermint brownies from Starbucks (but I am on a diet right now that does not allow them). I love Turkey.

I love the traditions of Christmas.

I love the false joy that comes from pretty packages, excellent marketing, and obscene commercialism. I mean, I am a true hypocrite as I am not a religious or even spiritual person and I celebrate this holiday so voraciously.

But, for everyone, whichever religion you follow-or don't- HAPPY HOLIDAYS.

Enjoy the season, it only comes once a year, and pretty soon we all have to turn that Christmas music off.

My First GIVE AWAY and also a TUTORIAL: How to Make Hand Warmers

So, arm warmers are a pretty big seller in my store. I use old wool sweaters and I felt them by washing them and drying them. This creates a dense fabric with edges that do not fray, even when unfinished.



There is a limited amount of sweater that is usable for arm warmers, so I also like making purses, pouches, wallets, baby hats, baby shoes, and anything else I can think of with the remaining felt scraps.

I have a HUGE collection now, though many of the sweaters I have in my stash still have parts that are good for making arm warmers.

I also received a custom order for a pair of hand warmers this weekend, which seemed like an excellent opportunity to use some of the smaller scraps that I have.

So, to start out you will need some felt scraps from a wool sweater. If you need to make them, wash and dry a sweater on high heat a few times.



Trace your hand on a piece of paper to make the pattern, then add seam allowance. I used 1/4 of an inch. Draw a straight line with a 90 degree angle on either side across where your knuckles will be and also where your wrist will be. Draw a curve from the top of the thumb to the bottom. Then cut out your pattern.


Then pin your pattern to your fabric. You will need a total of 4 pieces. if your fabric is doubled just cut the pattern out twice. If it is not- for example I did not have enough of this black sweater to double it- then cut 2 with your pattern face up and then cut 2 with your pattern face down.


It is not necessary to put an applique on your hand warmers, but I think it looks way more awesome :). If you ARE going to put the applique on the easiest time to sew it on is BEFORE you sew up the sides of your hand warmers, but I usually do it after wards because I think that placement of the applique is easier after the hand warmers are sewn. I often wish I had done it BEFORE sewing up the sides when I am working on ARM warmers and my hands are cramping up, but since there is better access into the hand warmers it makes little difference when the applique is sewn on. This applique was made from my own original drawing of a heart, Iron-On transfer paper and recycled poly felt.


Sew up the sides with a regular stitch. Try them on and make sure you like how they fit. I made these smaller because they are really stretchy and they felt better that way. When you are happy with the fit zigzag stitch over your original stitches (make sure that you back stitch at the beginning and end of your seams so that they do not unravel) and cut off the excess fabric.




This is what the custom pair looked like when I was finished. Pretty awesome.

I shipped them out this morning. :)


SOOOO... I am pretty sure I said GIVEAWAY:

I have been meaning to have one of these for a while now, and have actually created my own arsenal of great AcrylicandSteel.etsy.com Items to give away. In Lu of the tutorial just given I decided to make a pair of hand warmers to give away.

one reader will receive these cute blue whale arm warmers . The felt on these is VERY dense making them a little tighter than the other pair I made using the same pattern, but they will stretch as far as you make them. I think a young girl... or even a teenage girl would just love these. I am 26 and I love them!




To enter:

1 entry- Follow my blog
3 entries- Go to AcrylicandSteel.etsy.com and post a link in the comments to your favorite item
10 entries- purchase ANYTHING from my store during the duration of this giveaway or ANYTHING from any of my friends at the christie cottage's buy and sell thread (There is a new one daily today's is http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6377432&page=26), the Booty buy and Sell Thread http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6363199or The Crazy buy and replace thread http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6377598&page=29. (12/14/09-12/28/09)

Please post a comment for each of the above ways to enter and provide your etsy shop url in the comment as well, or some other way to contact you if you win. If you make a purchase from any of these stores please also leave the transaction ID in the post.

A winner will be picked December 28, 2009. I will also Feature the winner's store on my blog, unless the winner does not have an etsy store or requests that I do not feature their store.