Favourite Etsy Shop Friday

This weeks Favourite Etsy Shop Feature will have to be a little more tamed down compared to other features. I tried to get a hold of this Etsy shop and wasnt able to so I will just have to put a link so you can check it out.

I love nature photography. I love to take pictures of flowers and all the pretty things that I see. This shop has wonderful flower and landscape photos. The colours are beautiful and I just love the point of view that they give. I just want to favourite every picture. This shop is called Urban Design Photography. Take a look and see which is your favourite photograph.
www.urbandesign.etsy.com

I have another favourite Etsy shop all lined up for next week so you will be able to read a bigger feature with pictures and all.

The Felted Tree Bag Gives Inspiration

I just found out yesterday that my green felted tree bag was the included in another feature on the MadeByHand.ByMe blog. The etsy shop Wintergarden send me a message saying my tree bag was inspiration for her latest spotlight. Thank you Wintergarden for including one of my favourite bags.
You can check out this spotlight by clicking on this link.
MadeByHand.ByMe
There are some other great items included in this spotlight.

Tasty Tuesday And An Afternoon Of Playdoh

Well its Tasty Tuesday again, time for me to share another recipe. This recipe I found in a book and it has all the things that my girls just love, its easy and it looked good. Today we are talking about TWO-STEP CRUNCHY CHICKEN STRIPS
You will need
Nonstick cooking spray
2 1/2 cups of crushed cheddar goldfish crackers
2/3 cup bottled buttermilk ranch dressing or regular ranch dressing works as well
1 lb chicken breast tenderloins

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line a 15x10x1 baking pan with foil and spray foil with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
2. Place crushed crackers in a shallow dish. In another shallow dish place ranch dressing. Dip chicken tenderloins into the ranch dressing, allow excess to drip off, drip into crushed cracker crumbs to coat. (see picture below) Yes this part can be kinda messy. Arrange chicken in prepared pan.
3. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. If you want you can serve with additional ranch dressing for dipping.
Makes 4 to 6 servings.

There is an even quicker version of using 10 oz package of cooked refrigerated chicken breast strips instead of chicken breast tenderloins. Prepare as above, except bake only 5 to 8 minutes or until heated through.


My girls are always asking me to make this chicken. The chicken comes out nice and moist and the crunchy goldfish are a fun addition. We try to get the cheesiest goldfish flavour to enhance the flavour. You could try other goldfish cracker flavours and see how they turn out.

I'd love to hear if anyone tried this and what they thought. Did anyone try the Mango Smoothie from last week? If so, how was it?



Last week while Megan was away Victoria and I spent the afternoon playing with Playdoh. That is a kid activity that adults can never resist saying no to. Doesnt that Playdoh smell just take you back? We got out all our Playdoh and all the little tools we have collected for such an activity. We are always looking for things that could be useful tools for Playdoh. We find alot in second hand stores. We also like to use cookie cutters because you can make all sorts of fun shapes. Victoria spent her time on one big project. It has all types of things she likes, pumpkins, bats, Guitar Hero, she loves to write her name and she was missing her big sister so there is a little message to Megan there as well. We had lots of fun.


I made lots of little things that got scrumpled up and created into other thngs but these are the things that I took pictures of. My monster face and my bears. Sorry about the bear picture being sideways. It just wouldnt cooperate with me today.

Maddox The Monster Is Feeling The Love

I just got a message that Maddox The Monster is featured on a blog with all sorts of other cool lime green Etsy items. I think he's with a good crowd.
Thank you to fellow Etsian Soapdeli for picking him.
To check out Maddox in all his glory just click on the link and scroll down the page a bit until you come across all the lime green, you cant miss it.
http://shopbyhand.blogspot.com

Knitted For Ewe & This Blog On Other Blogs

Yesterday I featured the wonderful Etsy shop, The Craggy Moor Store. Well they have a blog of their own and they then spoke about my blog and Knitted For Ewe. Thank you so much for the compliments. Its a mutual appreciation of talents. If you would like to read what they said click on this link The Craggy Moor Store Blog

It was a popular day for Knitted For Ewe yesterday. I also got a message from another fellow Etsian Wintergarden that she featured Maddox the monster on her blog. If you would like to see Maddox being shown off with lots of other cool lime green Etsy things click on this link Made By Hand. By Me

Its very exciting when other crafters like what you do. It makes you feel like your on the right path. A big thank you to both these Etsy shops for showing the love.

Favourite Etsy Shop Friday!!!

Favourite Etsy Shop Feature

The Craggy Moor Store
www.thecraggymoorstore.etsy.com

1. Tell us a bit about yourself.

We are a christian family of 10. We homeschool and try to be the best stewards we can of the things we have. Rob and I have been married for 14 1/2 years. We live in Ohio, USA out in the country. We love the life God's blessed us with, and the children he's given. Children bring such a spot of sunlight to life! We've learned and laughed so much over the years.

2. What made you decide to open your shop and why Etsy?

We have 8 children and we found our house becoming full of cheap plastic toys that were broken. We also learned what went into those toys to make them. We decided we wanted fewer, and more natural toys that were beautiful and durable. On a search one day we found Etsy and were so excited that there were so many handmade, wholesome things out there and a whole site devoted to these stores!


3. How did you choose your shop name?

"The Craggy Moor" means "the rocky field". Its a loving tribute to our little homestead here :0) We bought this beautiful field to put our house on. When we went to put our lawn in, we discovered this beautiful field was full of ROCKS!! We spent an entire summer picking. up. rocks. Endless hours of rocks. We look back on it now and laugh but it was a lot of hard work! Very worth it though.

4. What are your other favourite things to do?

We are God and family centered folks. We love getting together with family, friends, and our church fam. We also love gourmet cooking, and make a pretty awesome stone baked pizza. We also love sci fi and you can often find us eating said pizza and watching something sci fi on Friday nights.



5. What inspires you?

Art is all about perspective. A child's sweet smiling face and their joy as they hug something dear to them is definitely our inspiration. When a child truly loves a stuffed friend, they just glow.

6. Of all the items you make for your shop, what do you enjoy making the most?

I have to say I enjoy making the lambs the most, though I dearly love each thing we make. My grandmother made me a lamb when I was little which became my best friend for many years. The lambs hold a special place in my heart, but every animal we make is a very close second.

7. What are your most popular items?

I have to say our most popular items right now are our Waldorf animals and our collectible sweater bears.



8. You use alot of repurposed natural materials in your items, what made you decide to use these types of materials?

We try to make the best use of the beautiful resources God gives us. We aren't immersed in the "green" movement per se, but we do believe God wants us to be the best stewards we can be. We started to notice all these lovely "forgotten" wool, angora, cashmere etc. clothes at thrift stores that were hardly used. These beautiful fibers would make lovely animals that would be too expensive for us to buy for our children if we bought the material brand new. Carefully chosen, these repurposed natural materials can be reused responsibly, and they are just as high in quality as they were brand new.

9. What handmade possession do you cherish?

We love the handmade blankets our mothers make for each new baby. Its so heartwarming to see the love put into the blankets, as well as the love each child has for them. And of course we love the old lamb that got my own personal love for handmade animals started.

10. Name 3 other Etsy shops you love to visit?

We have a hard time choosing just three! There are so many beautiful shops. If we had to choose however we'd have to say we love Forest Blue Factory (Katarzyna's Misio Bears captured our heart!!), Woolies (we love their adorable sheep softies!), and Bamboletta Dolls (her beautiful Waldorf style dolls inspired us to give doll making a try!).



I would like to thank The Craggy Moor Store for taking part in my Favourite Etsy Shop Feature. This Etsy shop has been a favourite for a while now and every time they add new items I just love it more and more. I have collected handmade bears on and off for many years now. I love how they use repurposed materials as that is something that I like to do in my crafts as well. It makes your items totally unique and extra lovable. I hope to own at least one of their bears, bunnies and lambs some day.

I hope you enjoyed this weeks feature and you hop on over to The Craggy Moor Store and look at their wonderful shop. Check out the sold items as well to get a good idea of each unique critter, Im sure you'll find one that you'll fall in love with.

Tasty Tuesday And Some Random Stuff

So on Fridays I have been featuring some of my favourite Etsy shops. Well I was thinking I'd like to add another little something to this blog. I have been told that I make some pretty good tasty treats so I thought every Tuesday should be Tasty Tuesday. Tuesday isnt usually know for having a whole lot going on so why not pep it up with a yummy recipe every week. So today this will be my first Tasty Tuesday.


Now you may have notice Miss Victoria Rose guzzling down a tasty looking drink in these photos. Anything that makes her do the aaaahhhh face is good hehe. This drink is our first Tasty Tuesday recipe.


I just whipped this up last week and it was an instant hit with Victoria and I. If Megan were here I think she would like it too.
This is my Mango Smoothie.
You take one mango and slice it up. You could use canned mango as well as long as you drain the juice. Place the mango in a zip lock bag and place it in the freezer. We kept ours in there over night but Im sure after about 4 hours you should be ready.
In a blender you put approximately a tablespoon of honey, your frozen mango and 2 cups of milk. We use 1% milk but Im sure any milk will do. I would have added yoghurt if we had it at the time. I bet that would be yummy too. We will have to try that and see. Put the lid on the blender (very important thing to remember) and blend away until all smooth and delicious looking. This is very simple, healthy and oh so tasty. Its comes out pretty thick which makes for hilarious smoothie mustaches.
Try it and let me know what you think.


Here come the other random stuff that was mentioned in the title. The picture above is part of my laundry that I have been painting. I took the photo from this angle because it looks all nice and finished from this spot. It makes me feel like Im getting somewhere. I love the colour which is called Cocoa Rose. My husband on the other hand just keeps saying he wouldnt have picked that colour so I think he pretty much hates it. I guess he's just happy that a room is getting finished. He installed the shelves a couple of weeks ago. I kind of wished they were longer but they didnt have any other that would fit in the spot that I liked. These will work though because I havent even figured out what Im going to put on them yet. I just have the baseboards and the ceiling to go. I think I may have that done by the weekend. That would be exciting. Then comes the organizing part where I get to feel like I finally accomplished something.


This next picture is the present that Megan made for her little brother Liam to take to Tennessee. He just turned 2 and apparently likes Curious George. It started out with Megan wanting to sew him a pillowcase. She found she had alot of material left over after that. On the top right hand corner is the folded up pillowcase that Megan did all by herself. I painted his name on it because she was a little nervous about stuffing that up. With the left over material she made the 3 bean toss things for him to play with. Also made by Meggy. We still had material left over so we brainstormed and she decided to make the bag that is in the top left hand corner. The bag fits the pillowcase and bean bags. I embroidered the L on the bag but she did the rest. I have heard word that he liked his present. The only mishap was he threw the bean bags in the toilet which Megan thought was pretty funny and didnt care because they are washable hehe, little brothers.

Lastly this is the Kimono Cardigan that I knitted to send to my niece a long time ago and it never got sent. She is too big for it now so its going into my Etsy shop. It will probably be listed tomorrow as its getting kind of late.

I hope you enjoy the recipe and the random stuff.

Favourite Etsy Shop Friday!!!

Favourite Etsy Shop Feature

Miss Bumbles
www.MissBumbles.etsy.com

1. Tell us a bit about yourself.
Well I'm an illustrator by trade, have been for many years and I live and work in London UK. Last year while idly trawling the internet I discovered needle felting ..wow.. my hands just itched to have a go but I was pretty busy at the time so I had to wait until I got some wool and needles for Christmas and then proceeded do nothing else for two whole weeks!

2. What made you decide to open your shop and why Etsy?
I thought Etsy was a great way to reach millions of people, wonderfully eclectic and had zero start up costs!
My husband thought I was just a crazed woman making new things to fill an already stuffed house ( I am a bit of a hoarder)



3. How did you choose your shop name?
I came up with the name in a brain storming session with my sister while sitting in a local greasy spoon cafe. Miss Bumbles is sort of old fashioned and friendly and reminds me of a kindly hairy legged spinster, which as a girl I thought was to be my future.
I also drew the labels and logo for Miss Bumbles. I had fun doing that.

4. How long have you been crafting/creating?
All my life.



5. What are your other favourite things to do?
I love to paint and grow things, I can't resist rescuing plants from skips. I also enjoy reading and watching movies, going to see Art and daydreaming.

6. What inspires you?
Lots of things, my work room has been de cluttered but for years it was like a grotto full of things that made me laugh or had great colour combinations. I also love folk art and Halloween merchandising, textiles, old package design animals and the sea side.



7. Of all the items you make for your shop, what do you enjoy making the most?
I think possibly the guinea pigs and the squirrels ( its the orange wool ) I enjoy the embroidery its also a way of adding more colour and pattern.

8. What are your most popular items?
Errm well the Guinea pigs do well if wearing a frock, and I made some chicks around Easter; they really flew.



9. What handmade possession do you cherish?
A patchwork quilt my Granny made with lots of old dress fabric from the 50's and 60's and a shaker box my dad made which I keep all my sewing threads in.

10. Name 3 other Etsy shops you love to visit?

Milkrun

British Cream Tea

Mimi Kirchner


I would like to thank Miss Bumbles for taking part in my blog feature. Great name for a shop by the way. I have been a fan for a while now. I got interested in needle felting a couple of years ago but havent been brave enough to try it yet. I would love to use it on my felted bags. I think Miss Bumbles has the best needle felting I have ever seen in all my research into this wonderful craft. The little attentions to detail and her oh so cute characters are just breathtaking. I think my favourites have to be the giraffe and the bunnies. Hopefully after reading this feature you will jump on over to her shop and check it out. She has some beautiful art in her shop as well.

Knitted For Ewe Is Featured On A Blog!

This was a pleasant surprise when I logged into Etsy today. A message that Knitted For Ewe is being featured today on a blog.
This is the site to go to to check it out.

http://bjohnsonjewelry.blogspot.com/

My mini Maddox Monster was the item that there are pictures of and she used my Etsy profile to tell about me. I had forgotten what I even wrote in that hehe.

Its strange to be the featured one instead of the featurer but very exciting.

I think I am going to have to add some new items this week.

Favourite Etsy Shop Friday!!!!

Favourite Etsy Shop Feature

Uzura
www.Uzura.etsy.com

1. Tell us a bit about yourself.
I am a Japanese graphic designer based in Seattle who loves nature and sewing, and I have combined my interests to create products. I especially love birds, so you often see birds on my products. I actually live with nine pet quails and a lovely husband.

2. What made you decide to open your shop and why Etsy?
I always love making things, but I had never thought about selling them. When I went to my favorite local store with a purse I had made, they really liked it and asked if they could sell my purses there. Then I started to make things to sell. Around that time, my friend told me about Etsy and I thought it would be easy enough to start my own shop online.

3. How did you choose your shop name?
"Uzura" is Japanese for quail. As I mentioned at the beginning, I have nine pet quails. I wanted to name my shop with something related to quails.

4. How long have you been crafting/creating?
I grew up with things handmade by my parents, so I've enjoyed making things since I was a kid. I especially enjoyed sewing when I was a teen, but I hadn't sewn for a long time until a few years ago when a friend of mine was looking for someone to sew for her trunk show. I decided to join in even though I didn't have any professional experience and that brought back memories of when I used to enjoy sewing. So I've gotten more into it again now.



5. What are your other favorite things to do?
Watching quails, being in the woods, picking morels, growing vegetables, doing qi gong, being creative...

6. What inspires you?
Nature. The colors and shapes of nature always inspire me. I often get new design ideas when I go for a walk.

7. Of all the items you make for your shop, what do you enjoy making the most?
For any of the items, I really enjoy the moment when I finish making them into finished products. I love to see the blank fabric become a finished handbag, for example.



8. What are your most popular items?
The Eco-friendly Hemp Messenger Bag with Songbird on Flower has been my best seller, and lately people seem to like my new gathered bag design.

9. Your products are very eco-friendly, what made you decide to use these types of materials?
I used to make things with cotton, but after I found out that cotton requires huge amounts of pesticides and water to be grown and processed, I started thinking it wasn't something I could feel good about selling. So, I decided to use hemp, which doesn't require pesticides and uses 1/20th as much water as cotton to grow and process. I also wanted to make something with a different look than you usually see at hemp stores so that more people will come to know about hemp products and realize the benefits they offer.

10. Name 3 other Etsy shops you love to visit.
sugarloop.etsy.com
hadleyhutton.etsy.com

geninne.etsy.com

I would like to thank Uzura for taking part in my Favourite Etsy Shop Feature. I loved finding out about you and your process. I just love Uzura's bags and the screen printing designs. The natural colours that are used work so well together. The fact that everything in her store is eco-friendly is the icing on the cake. I hope you all check out this wonderful shop and maybe it will end up in your favourites list as well.

Its Been A Rainy Summer So Far

What do you do when your on Summer holidays and it rains alot? That is the question we have been trying to answer since the girls started their Summer holidays. There has been alot of reading going on as you can see here. One day we had two huge storms and had decided to turn the computer and tv off in case the power went out. We all got out some books, Megan and I had some tea and we snuggled in for a quiet afternoon.


I had to sneak these photos so as not to disturb the reading and the cause Megan to start hiding her face from the camera.


Victoria decided to read her book to Mr Bear who is her constant companion. He use to be mine, a Christmas Bear given to me by my husband before Victoria was born. One day we were playing and I made him talk which made her giggle and they have been best buds since. Mr Bear has helped with many things such as its time to go to bed because Mr Bear is tired too or Mr Bear needs medicine just like you will you take it together. Yep he is a pretty handy bear to have around.


What else do you do when its raining outside? Why you make chocolate chip cookies of course. They make the house smell good and they make a tasty snack. These ones are a special recipe and we have made them quite a few times these holidays. I think Megan is getting pretty good and making them.

Here is Victoria and Mr Bear. She insisted they get their picture taken together. He is wearing his new knitted jumper. Not made by me but sent by grandma who had found it at a garage sale. Mr Bear is looking pretty fancy these days in his knitted jumper and doesnt even care that he's wearing it in the Summer time.

Speaking of knitting. I have been kind of waffling in the knitting department. I have picked up an old project that has been going on for 3 years. Yep you read that right, 3 years. It is a surprise for my sister so I cant really say what it is. Maybe I could take a picture of a small section of it so just to tease my sister who reads this blog hehe. We are all super excited because she and her family will be coming to visit in August which will be a perfect time to give her this gift which is taking me so long to finish. Its pretty close to being done. I think in about a week or so it should be ready. I havent seen my sister in 6 years and will be meeting my 3 year old niece for the first time. I hope she likes me because I love her already. My brother in law is coming also, he's always fun to have around. I dont know who is more excited about them coming Me or Megan. She just loooooves her aunt.

Speaking of Megan, my baby is leaving me for 2 weeks on Sunday on a big adventure. She is off to Tennessee to see her Dad. She is flying on an airplane by herself. Even though she is 14 and a big girl its always freaky just waving goodbye and keeping your fingers crossed. She is excited to be going. She will be meeting her new step mum and her 2 year old little brother for the first time which is really cool. She has only spent about 4 days with her dad in the last 8 years so its long over due for them to get some quality time together. This is probably just the first of many trips so we just have to get use to it. I will miss my little Meggy. Even though she is always off staying at a friends house she isnt usually gone for this long of a stretch and it will be weird without her.

Well I better go and get some sleep. The first Summer Reading Program is in the morning and I have to be nice and rested for out Preschool group. They will be keeping us on our toes. Wish us luck hehe.

Favourite Etsy Shop Friday!!!!

Favourite Etsy Shop Feature

Manic Muffin Totes
www.ManicMuffinTotes.etsy.com

1. Tell us a bit about yourself.

I am 36 years old, happily married for almost 19 years and have two wonderful daughters.
I feel very lucky that my husband and daughters were totally behind me when I decided to turn my Etsy shop into my full time job. I love what I do.

2. What made you decide to open your shop and why Etsy?

I had already been selling my items for years to the public, through craft shows.
I also hand quilt, so I had been making/selling/and repairing antique quilts for years and I kept getting told I needed to sell online. It was my daughter who introduced me to Etsy, she had seen other shops advertised on Myspace. I checked Etsy out, thought I would give it a try, and I am so glad I did.

3. How did you choose your shop name?

Seriously it was just a random name my daughter and I came up with. I thought I would make totes when I first started my shop. I got tired of sewing zippers in bags and purses. I hate fighting with zippers. So I just went back to the basics of what I love to do, and sew by hand, applique and quilt. I personally love pillows, I have tons of them. I just really love making pillows and quilts.

4. How long have you been creating/crafting?

My grandmother was a seamstress. My mother worked, I stayed with my grandmother for most of the summer, and every single weekend until I became a teenager. If you ever said you were bored, that was it, she put you to work. Your choices were help her, or twiddle your thumbs. Twiddling your thumbs for hours is not fun, so after a few times of doing that I started helping her. She still has the first pin cushion I made when I was about six. I really have been doing this for what seems like forever. I taught myself how to quilt. That was when I really fell in love with sewing. Before quilting I just knew how to sew, but didn’t really love it. Now, I don’t want to do anything else.

5. What are your other favourite things to do?

My favorite thing to do is quilt. It is relaxing and helps keep me centered. I also like to paint. I use to paint murals, and I have a huge weeping willow tree painted on my wall, in my living room. I also collect antique furniture and love to restore each piece back to it's former glory.


6. What inspires you?

Colors,texture,vintage fabrics, and my sketches. I am a compulsive sketcher. I have sketch books all over my house. I love the process of turning one of my sketches into a workable template.

7. Of all the items you make for you shop, what do you enjoy making the most?

My pip Squeaks and my Mushroom plushies.

8. What are you most popular items?

Both my lil Hoots and my Big Hoots.



9. You have wonderful colour combinations in your products. What is your favourite colour combination?

Butter cream yellow and pink. I love those two colors.

10. Name 3 other Etsy shops you love to visit.

Jenniesheirlooms.etsy.com

crankycats.etsy.com

MysteryPetz.etsy.com

I would like to thank Manic Muffin Totes for taking part in my Favourite Etsy Blog Feature. I just love all your sewing. I think my favourites have to be the Big and Lil Hoots. The fabrics are beautiful. The fact that all your items are hand stitched makes them even more special, Im sure there is love in every stitch.
I hope you have enjoyed reading this interview and check out this wonderful shop.