My eyes were SO tired after work last night, but not too tired to see that Bill had been working on rounding the corners to the wood cuts for our leather venture.  Isn't he the best?  I sure hope I can pull this idea off for him because #1) he truly thinks he'd use it and #2) he's one of the best salesmen in the world and he's not shy about promoting the handmade things around here.

Pretty bad when the Home Depot chick sees me walk in, and you can almost feel her mood change.  And not for the better either!  LOL  How many women walk into Home Depot in heels and head towards the lumber aisle and NOT be a problem customer?  And just getting across the store in heels brought many male employees towards me with questions on how they could help.  And not because I'm some hot chick either!  You remember the Sesame Street song "One of These Things Just Doesn't Belong Here"?  Yeah, like that.  HA  They are getting to know me there, and know that I'll want LOTS of cuts.  Both of the cutter guys rock and never fear each time they honestly do mess up a few boards.  But why get bent out of shape about it, it makes for some great laughter and good conversation.  And as I was leaving and listening to the HD chick tell me about her flower bushes she needs to dig up out of her boyfriends' yard, I just had to smile and say, "I'll be seeing you in a couple of weeks for a flower update and more boards, so be ready!"  LOL

Check it out!  I've joined the Unique Indie Shops and am advertising over on their website!  Take a look - there are some AWESOME artisans over there and the creativity is over the top.  I feel honored to be accepted into the group and able to put my web store ad right on their front page of rotating artisans.

OK, it was a long day and the old gal is exhausted.  But I did just have to share this exciting news.

Blessings and GET CREATIVE!

Got notification that one of the mini's made it into an Etsy Treasury called "Blue Monday".  Now THAT's cool and I had to post so I don't forget all these blessings later on....

Check it out..... "Blue Monday"

Four items are listed, which means now they can get business cards put in them and bagged up in plastic for safe keeping.  The listings are the hardest part to do and takes me forever!!!  UGHHHH  I'm not a writer by a long shot and could sure use some help in that area, but that's the way it goes, right?  Four items and two hours later, I'm ready to get off the computer and get back to actually making something worthwhile!  :)  Here's the listings......

There is one more thing to list, but it just may not get done today.  But that's okay!  

Thanks for looking and happy creating, everyone!

After having a very enjoyable morning at work (and I mean that) I needed to stop at Walmart (ick) for some essentials.  While there, thought I'd pick up some iron-on batting as theirs is the least expensive, even with a coupon at Joann's.  They had some great bargains in the main aisle, and yes, I fell for it.  Hook, line, and sinker.  Actually did not get a whole lot accomplished for the my on-line stores today, but tomorrow is another day.  So here's the non-eventful events of the afternoon......

This last photo is me determined to fix every demo to perfection and add something to its package so I can list each on Etsy tomorrow.  So each of the mini folder/binder thingy's are now fixed, getting a bonus item done, and yes..... I need more decoupage stuff.  crap

The case you see at the top left hand side of the photo is Bill's grandpa's special collection that he has nowhere to hang at his office.  Yet.  His office here in town has not been completed yet so he figures hanging it in the hallway where his desk is probably isn't the right thing to do.  And his office in Omaha is just too far away to put this treasure.  So here it lays, on our dining room table - but it's safe and sound.  But should I be using a paint brush around it?  Hmmmmm

As the hub has a gig, me and Mark Harmon will keep up with each other this evening, keeping busy doing something.  I really do wish he'd get a different haircut in that show, though.  tee hee  

Get creative - and have a blessed weekend!  I'll update something tomorrow, hopefully.  :)

As many know, shopping and I do not get along.  But I was in the part of town for a meeting this morning that also included Joann's and Staples on the way back home.  AND I had a 50% off coupon, which I always save to use on the outrageously expensive Peltex that's used on just about every sewn item that's done in this house.  How do people buy it without a coupon?  Anyway..... here's the mother load from my shopping trip this morning.  

My Staples trip was well worth it as they had a 3-Ring Binder sale going on.  Buy 3 and get one free!  Well, Katie bar the door and sign me up!  The little books weren't on sale, but that's okay as they are a great price to begin with.

BUT....  the Staples customer service was over the top wonderful!  And I told them that while I was there.  Since I'm sort of in that same line of work, I truly appreciate GOOD customer service - and they have it rocking and rolling at our local store.  Oh, to be able to run into that kind of service more often.... it would make shopping so much easier for those of us who hate it!  Thank you, Harrison, for your greeting, your smile, your helpfulness AND conversation!!!  You totally made my day.

After a night of no sleep, I decided to just get up and do something, anything!  It's better than laying in bed fighting it.  So I got up at dark o'clock (yeah, maybe minus-dark-o'clock) and tried doing another mini receipt holder, only this time making it a little bit bigger to accommodate some of the cutting dies I have for envelopes and mini pocket folders.  Well, as it turned out, I was about 3/8" off the new style - too SMALL!  I could have dealt with too big.  Not sure how to fix this one, and I'm not even going to show you a picture it came out that awful.  But that's what the drawing board is for - to fix and re-calculate.

Let's just hope that this isn't going to start a new trend around here, so we won't even go there, right?

Need the mojo back!  And like Scarlet always says - EVERY time I see that movie  - "For tomorrow is another day!"  Yep, there I go quoting from movies again.  

Happy creating, everyone!  Don't ever give up, you never know what you might just end up with.  

So the picture in my head IS quite doable.  After messing around with this most of the morning I can see that this is something that is very achievable to place in my store.  

Bill comes home for lunch and I'm so excited to show him this, and do you know what he said?  "Now THAT'S really neat!  Would be a good tool for keeping mileage and gas receipts."  Yep, that's my man.  Isn't he something?

This little guy has been in my head for over a week.  Figured that I'd start on a good prototype while I did the ironing this morning (since I'm not scheduled to work until later).

Here is the outside and I'm pretty happy with the way this part turned out.  The fabric is adorable and hopefully it has been embellished just the right way.  As prototypes go, it really is going well!  So the next one will be better, I hope, as there are extensive notes on paper and in my head for improvements (hopefully).

It's not finished yet because there is one more element to this whole project that I still need to figure out how to do.  But I will!  Maybe in this picture of the inside, you can tell how small it is.  I accidentally left the tape measure off to the side.  It's only 6" tall and is made to hold the mini legal pads.  And that pen is a short stubby thing so it's perfect.

So keep an eye out for the extra little ZING this puppy is going to get on the left side of the interior.  Fun stuff!

On the way to the wrestling meet (of which our grandson took 2nd Place Trophy) today, I had to stop at Michael's and Bill wanted to visit Trader Joe's.  Nice way to get things done fast is to split up and run.  :)  Needed iron on letters for a project and what do I find but a SALE in the iron-on aisle!  And before we even left for the meet, I'd sold a pattern to one of my knitted handbags on Etsy, so I knew there were a couple extra dollars to have fun with at the craft store.  

I have a couple of medium sized notebooks in line to make that have a MARTINI theme to them, and what do you think I found?  YEP!  You got it - the perfect little extra for the binders, and on sale to boot.  

So now it's time to go sit with Bill and watch the movie he's rented:  "Apocalypse Now".  We've seen it a gazillion times, but it's been awhile.   And you all know me enough by now that I won't really watch it, but I'll be doing something else and enjoying the music in the movie.  Yeah, I think I can handle The Doors tonight.  :)