Things to make with animal eyes and zippers

So I just bought a bunch of cute fabric from beautifulwork.etsy.com and I couldn't wait for it to arrive...finally it did and I was so excited! I am obsessed with matryoshk nesting dolls. My mom had a bunch of different sets on her bookshelf while we were growing up and my sister and I loved them! Even though they really weren't supposed to be played with- we always did and always put them back without our mom seeing us. Ever since then I have loved them- but it wasn't until I went to China with my dad and sister (while I was in college) that I always wanted to have some of my own. I bought (of course) some panda nesting dolls to bring home with me. They lasted many years until my daughter was old enough to play with them and they have all been missing. So recently I started buying things with matryoshk dolls on it. Like a tshirt, and apron, stamps, and now fabric.. anyway here is a picture of something I made yesterday with the new fabric and some of my 4 mm black safety eyes. I cut off the posts on the back of the eyes and glued them on with special fabric glue. Trust me when I say- they will not come off! I made a t-shirt 2 years ago with rhinestones and this glue and they have not fallen off yet. I have worn the shirt a million times.

Notice the wizard of oz book? I will write about it later...

2 YEAR anniversary on ETSY and the beginning of Art Fire

So I just realized while looking at my past ETSY.com "Fees" that I have been selling on Etsy for over 2 years now! Thank you thank you thank you to everyone who has purchased anything from me- either supplies or handmade cute guys. Thank you! Though I haven't really made a profit after paying Etsy fees and paypal fees, shipping fees, and packaging fees..then paying for health insurance, it is still all worth it! I enjoy being creative and I am SO happy that other people enjoy the things I make- or get to create things of their own from the supplies I sell.

I am also happy to say that I joined ArtFire.com about a month ago. I have to say I think it will take over Etsy in a matter of time. To it's advantage they do not take fees like Etsy. You can sell up to 10 things at a time for FREE!!!!! I tried that until a day or so ago and then just upgraded my account to take advantage of their limited (first 5,000 accounts- hurry they are almost gone!))seller slots for 7$ a month fee for unlimited listings, and up to 10..yes 10 photos per item!! and they are constantly changing and improving the site since right now they are in Beta mode. anyway my first sale the other day was a custom made little monster, I am so excited! I can't wait to watch it grow & blossom.

I figured I will leave you today with this pretty simple photo of a zipper..art directed by my hubby..at least my photography degree is being used in some way :)

Internet Buy- Hoodie

I spend alot of time online, between selling, buying and just plain being bored. I buy ALOT of stuff online. Almost all my gifts for people I buy online. The one thing I never buy online is clothes. They never fit right or once I get them they are not at all what I though I was buying. So years ago, I gave up trying to buy clothes. But the other day I decided to reorganize my closet since my husbands clothes were piled on top of mine. Being a stay at home mom, I pretty much end up wearing sweatpants and my favorite thing of all time- hoodies! So I looked at my 15 tshirts hanging in my closet- all black of course, except 1 or 2 gray ones- my attempt at color in my wardrobe, and it looked pathetic. I have probably twice as many hoodies- almost all black with a few pink ones and some cute summer ones....but the cute ones don't fit me anymore since having my son. So when I saw the picture of this hoodie- I HAD to have it, and it was a size large! anything cute I find online is always an xtra small :( Even stuff on ETSY- mostly smalls or mediums, and for the record I usually wear a medium but American Apparel size mediums are like an xtra small in reality- I can't even get the mediums over my chest- which isn't that big. ANYWAY I had to buy this- I got it the next day in the mail and I flipped out when I put it on, and it fit- comfortably! Of course I had to find the creators website and emailed her about how happy I was. http://hollyhue.com/
Thank you Holly- You ROCK! OH i forgot to mention, houndstooth is my favorite print of all time- that and Plaid! & my favorite colors- pink and teal... and look at this hoodie- it was made for me! I swear.

OH I don't want to forget- I bought it from Art Star.... http://www.artstarphilly.com/
I like them but 250 dollars for a table to sell at a craft fair is a little crazy don't you think? Maybe I am just sad because I don't have that much money :( Oh well.

New supplies on Etsy......ZIPPERS

I recently became obsessed with zippers. So I decided to really get into it, and sell them online. I love all these bright colors and the possibilities to create things with them are endless. I have been making some zippered pouches, and pencil cases, they are so fun to make! I can't wait to sell them at my next craft fair. Here are some pics to get you excited.

Pics

Here are some pictures from yesterday- (click on them to make them bigger) I figured I would take a new pick of my crafting area since I had to clean it. (Half of the room is the kids playroom...I have slowly been taking over the room. In our old house we had alot more room for my "junk". We also didn't have so many toys back then either. oh well. I really hate clutter so at times I freak out and want to throw all my belongings in the trash...which I actually use to do. But then I realized I would rebuy all the things that I threw away! So I stopped throwing things away. Now I sell them on craigslist...haha. Anyway here is a pic of my clean work area, and a picture of my daughter with the dogs. She just adores them even though they drive me nuts! They are more high maintance then having kids. and poor Lucky (black dog) is getting real old. Can you tell from his beard? Meanwhile Vegas (little guy) is a year younger then Lucky and still acts like he is a puppy! He is so crazy- at least in the summer Regan will play with him in the backyard for hours, but in this cold weather no one wants to go outside :( I can't wait for the spring! please hurry!!

Free patterns for crochet testers

HI! I have a few new patterns- well kinda old but I finally made them in photoshop. Anyway I need some crocheters who would want to test them for me. I can email you the pattern- and you make them and let me know if there are wrong items or if they are confusing etc. I need help :) Let me know if your interested!

I have the following patterns-
Halloween teddy bears ( super easy, actually this is the first pattern i ever made)
Family of Octopi (need to know the bobble stitch)
and soon to come- the SQUID and Jellyfish patterns!
email me Jen@trulyoutrageous.com

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME

Yesterday was my birthday...I am now 31. oh well. I still feel like a kid. anyway here are some things I got....

Sick Sick Sick

I was sick last week, and so was my daughter and the little guy :( We all got some stomach virus, it was so gross! anyway it made me late on some orders since I couldn't get out of bed let alone drag my puking kids to the post office. I couldn't even go on the computer. anyway I just saw on the news last night that the health officials actually shut down a local school because over 100 students were out from school with the stomach intestinal virus thing too! So it is going around our area and they said they are trying to figure out what it is....scary isn't it? I always try to figure out where I get sick from but I went to 3 different places so I could have gotton sick from any of those...including the dentist, grocery store and post office....I am thinking it's from the grocery store because it is kinda dirty and we used the bathrooms there that were really gross...:( Thank goodness we are all better now and feeling normal. Being sick sucks. Anyway here are some things that were ordered this week from my ETSY shop which kind of display the way I felt..

snow day!

i love snow, it makes me very happy :)