Half Price Halloween Friday!

Half Price Friday gets interesting this week ...In the spirit of Halloween I've decided to offer two products half price this week. That's right ... two!!!

The first product is a big one! Today and today only I will be offering my Orange Batik Purse for the very low price of $21 plus shipping!! This purse is constructed with 5 coordinating African batik fabrics using interfacing and buckram to give the bag shape and stiffness.

Dimensions: 12" w x 11" h x 5.5" d
Straps: 22" long x 1.25" wide
Three inner pockets, sized to hold cell phone, iPod and keys

This is a one of a kind bag so the first person to send me a note on Etsy telling me that they read my blog and want that bag gets it! If you come in second or third I'll offer you a 20% discount on my two other batik bags.

Also in the spirit of Halloween, today I will also offer my pumpkin baby hat for only $8 plus shipping, what a steal! Please let me know what size hat you'd like in your order.

Happy Halloween everyone!!!!

Until next time,
The girl behind the Lama
~LMM

Adventures in Felting

I'm all about trying new things. I have a very small attention span, especially when it comes to crafting. One week I love scrapbooking ... the next I love sewing ... then I feel the need to quilt ... back to card making. I may not have one thing that I'm an expert in, but I will have many things that i can do fairly well.

Which brings me to my latest adventure ... Adventures in Felting. Felting knitted items was always a mystery to me. Who hasn't accidentally "felted" a sweater or two?? I always had this notion in my head that it was hard to felt something, until I started reading a few books that said you could felt an item just by washing it. Brilliant!


I started with a basic purse ... easy enough right? Knit a rectangle ... it shrinks ... sew it together. Well this week (as the temperatures dropped here in Chicago ...) I decided that I wanted a really nice pair of felted mittens and a hat to match. I love floppy flapper hats. The ones that are usually fuzzy, with a ribbon along the base of the brim ... sold at the Gap by the millions. I had this great pattern to make my very own felted floppy hat.


I have never been so excited to do laundry before, let me tell you. What came out though ... resembled more of a beanie. Doesn't even come close to being my dreamed of hat .. way too small.


I also tried a mitten which was closer to the right size for sure, but I'm going to have to sell it as a girl's size large. I tried again last night, but it's just so had for me to decide how big the item needs to be pre-felting. I tried to count how many rows I had per inch after felting to calculate how many extra rows I needed to make the mitten fit. As demonstrated in the picture ... I now have one mitten that was maybe an inch and half too short to another mitten that is just huge!!



Help!!! I'd love to get some advice from all of you knitters on felting and how to best gauge sizing. Does anyone have any good patterns for felted mittens???

More to come!!
Until next time,
The girl behind the lama
~lmm
P.S. Don't forget to vote for new items in my store!!!

Let's Take a Vote

As mentioned in my previous post, I'm going to be a featured seller offering a giveaway of two sets of my dish cloths. In fact, she has already posted my store in the side bar of the site to advertise my upcoming contest.

I'm hoping that this will bring needed traffic (and hopefully customers) to my store, so I'm trying to get some feedback as to what you all think my store needs more of. I've got a poll posted on the right hand side of my blog. Please vote!! Feel free to vote for more than one item.

Thanks!!
~LMM

Featured Seller Giveaway

How fun! I was just contacted the other day about donating some of my dish cloths as part of a Christmas giveaway!! My contest will start on November 3rd on A Busy Mom on the Go's website. All you have to do is comment on your favorite items in my store to enter. That gives me a big push to have more items in my store by then, hopefully I'll get a few sales out of it!

Here's my question to you ... I have a variety of items in my store ... if you could pick one type of product you'd like to see more of (stationary ... hats ... scarves ... ) what would it be?? I'd love to get some feedback!

Until next time ....
The girl behind the lama
~LMM

Half Price Friday!

It's my favorite day of the week again!

This has been a big week in my crafting world. I've been knitting up a storm. I have to give a big THANK YOU!!!!! to my mom this week. I had a rough week of 6 year olds with serious behavior problems this week ... but when I came home yesterday I had this wonderful package from my mom ... new knitting needles!! Best set ever!



I've just started knitting some adorable scarflettes ... short scarves that button to keep your neck warm and cozy. These are knitted with a ruffled pattern to give them a more elegant look. Today I'd like to feature the Eco Friendly Bamboo Scarflette. I just started using bamboo yarn and it is so silky and soft! This scarflette can be yours in any of the colors in my post for just $10.50 plus shipping!



Send me a comment in etsy that you'd like to purchase today's half price Friday special and let me know what color you'd like. I'll create a custom post for your item!

Happy Friday!
The girl behind the lama
~LMM

What's it worth to you?

I'm a busy woman, and to be honest I like it that way. I always have to be doing something ... be it working or cooking or reading or quilting ... I just have a need to be doing something productive. I frequently tell my husband that I need a purpose in my day. Lazy is rarely a word used to describe any given day.

I was thinking about that today as I logged into PeaPod to do my weekly grocery shopping. PeaPod is an online grocery shopping service. You log in ... type in your grocery list ... make your selection ... pick your delivery time ... and you're done. The next day, the wonderful delivery man brings them right into your kitchen for you. Or even better, leaves them all at my door so they are waiting for me when I get home. All refrigerated items are stored in a cooler with dry ice. How much better does it get?

Every now and then I do have a twinge of guilt, because really ... grocery shopping is one of the easiest chores around. But then I got to thinking, why feel guilty???

It's one nice thing in life that is totally worth it to me. Here's why:
1. I don't have to fight with throngs of people at the store on Saturday morning, instead I can spend an extra hour with my cup of coffee and a book
2. I can still use coupons
3. Most of the time I have a PeaPod coupon code that negates the shipping charge
4. I get to sort every product by unit price so I'm getting the best deal
5. I'm not tempted to buy all of the things that aren't on my list but look so good
6. It forces me to meal plan for the week
7. I can add things to my saved list online throughout the week as I think of things
8. I don't have to fight a blizzard to get my food
9. It just makes me happy

So yes, lazy as it may seem ... my time and effort are so much better spent on other things. I think it's also decreased my stress levels (our grocery store is out of control some days). I've been actually following our grocery spending since June and since we started PeaPod in August, we've spent much less.

What's your time worth to you? What small luxuries in life to you take advantage of just because you can and because it makes you happy?

Until next time ...
The girl behind the lama
~LMM

Ah cheese!

I’m a Wisconsin girl through and through. I never miss a Packer game, with or without Brett (as long as the Chicago stations pick it up), I say “I know, eh?” [insert typical Wisconsin accent here] and I absolutely love cheese and think that fried cheese curds should be served everywhere.

My husband and I were eating dinner last night when it dawned on me that we were once again eating macaroni and cheese. Homemade … non of that boxed stuff. It got me thinking about all of the varieties of mac and cheese that I make, which may fool us into thinking we’re not eating the same meal all the time. Regular mac and cheese, Italian mac and cheese, broccoli mac and cheese, cauliflower and Gouda mac and cheese, and Mexican mac and cheese which is very different from the queso mac and cheese we had yesterday. The list goes on and on … each with different toss ins and varieties of cheese.

There are quite a few people that look at me like I’m a little crazy sometimes when I talk about all of the different meals that we have. I’m not your average 27 year old. I cook. A lot. I hardly ever cook the same meal twice. I make a lot of things from scratch (exhibit A … cheese sauce varieties and again the spaghetti sauce blog).

Anyway, those were just my random thoughts for the day. I’m a huge Rachel Ray fan and make 30 minute meals just about every day. I thought that in the spirit of my cheesy bliss, I’d share last night’s mac and cheese variety with you today. Any other recipes anyone would like me to post??

Queso Mac 'n Cheese
By Rachael Ray (with my own adaptations)

Ingredients:
½ pound short cut pasta of your choosing
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 lb 95% lean ground beef
1 medium onion chopped
2-3 garlic cloves chopped
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 ½ cups skim milk
2 ½ cups shredded smoked cheddar cheese (must be smoked!!)

Cook pasta according to package directions, leaving it a bit short of done (pasta will continue to cook in oven).

Heat a large skillet (big enough to mix pasta into later) over medium heat with olive oil. Add in ground beef. Crumble and cook until no longer pink. Add in onions, garlic, chili powder, cumin, coriander and some salt and pepper to taste. Cook until onions are soft.

In a medium sauce pan melt butter over medium heat. Stir in flour and cook for a minute. Whisk in the milk making sure there are no lumps of flour. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook until thickened slightly, whisking occasionally. Stir in all but a small handful of the smoked cheddar cheese and season with salt and pepper if necessary.

Drain pasta and combine with meat. Stir in cheese sauce. Place pasta into a casserole dish, sprinkle with leftover cheese and place under the broiler for a few minutes until browned and bubbly.

Enjoy!
~LMM

Half Price Friday Again!

As promised, Half Price Friday is back for it's second installment. Today, in honor of Halloween, I am having a half price special on my pumpkin hat!


This hat is made of orange and green acrylic yarn and is available in Newborn, 6 month, 1 year, 2T and Adult sizes. It will be on sale today and today only for $8 (plus shipping) to all who read my blog!!! What a great deal!

Here's the link: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=15075668

Just send me a converstaion on Etsy that you'd like the hat and let me know what size you'd like and I'll create a custom listing for you and have your hat in the mail on Monday!

Happy Half Day Friday!!
LMM

It's the small things in life ...

I would not even hesitate to say that I am one of those people that gets a lot of joy out of the little things in life. The smallest things make me happier than a kid in a candy store. I get all teary when my husband comes home from work with a bouquet of flowers. I'm on cloud nine when I go to the fabric store or the scrapbooking store and I suddenly have millions of ideas for projects.

Over the summer I literally bounced up and down every time a plant my garden had a new fruit on it. Sunday ... game day ... don't even get my started on the Packers. While we're on the topic of Sunday ... I play the flute with our choir and the last few weeks we've been using a mass setting that we used in college and every time we play it I can hardly sit still because it's that music that brings back so many happy memories. Actually, we opened mass this past weekend with the song that we opened our wedding with just a few months ago, and yes ... I got all weepy then too.

And let's not forget the adventures in spaghetti sauce post ...

So what made my day yesterday? Two things. First it was the video of one of our patients from last week. By far the smallest, cutest, sweetest 5 year old I've ever met. She had one of those infectious giggles that just brightens your day. Then I came home from work to find a box with my name on it. What was in said box? Oh yes, it was 50 boxes for me to package my stationary in!!

Nerdy? Yes. So why was I so overjoyed? To me this was kind of the first big step for lama works. It's official packaging. It's not a box I made origami style out of card stock. It's not just a ribbon tied around something. It's an official box that I can decorate with an official logo and sell a product that looks like it belongs on a store shelf.



Now I just need to make 50 sets of stationary :) Check out my new post with the new packaging! http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=16220886

What's next on my list?? Finding labels that I can sew into my knitted products and deciding on my official logo.

Until next time ...
the girl behind the lama
lmm

P.S. 25% off of any stationary set with mention of this post!

New Feature - Happy Half Price Friday!

I may start work at 7 am Monday through Thursday, but it's all worth it when I finally get to Friday and only have to work from 8 until noon. Happy half day Friday indeed :)

In honor of my favorite day of the week, I'm starting a new promotion! Every Friday I will be featuring one item in my store for half price, available only to those of you that read my blog.

Today's featured item:

Set of 15 Daisy Note Cards

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=15300956

Just send me a conversation in Etsy that you saw my blog and would like to take advantage of today's Half Price Friday offer and I'll change the price and reserve the post for you.

Keep an eye out for new posts and features coming up soon! Don't forget to drop your Entrecard in my box for free advertisement of your blog!

Until next time ...

The girl behind the lama

~LMM

Knitting for Charity

I was looking around various forums in Etsy last night and I stumbled upon a great idea that I'm really excited about.

The Special Olympics World Winter Games are asking crafters who knit and crochet to make scarves for the athletes in the official colors of the games. They have a pattern provided, but you can make any pattern you like. They're also encouraging you to leave an encouraging note for your athlete to read when they get their scarf at the opening ceremonies.

Check it out: http://www.coatsandclark.com/Crafts/Crochet/Features/Special+Olympics.htm

It gives me warm fuzzy thoughts. Our disabled community and accessibility to all is something that I'm very passionate about so I love every opportunity I get to make a difference in the world. I think I'm going to go get some yarn today and get knitting!

Until next time ...
the girl behind the lama
LMM

Exploring my options

Being new to the Etsy world has my mind reeling with the possibilities. Could this turn into something big for me? How much would I love to quit my job and be crafty all the time? With not much to do at work these days, trust me ... my mind is always wandering to all of the projects I have at home that I'd love to work on.

For right now, I'm setting what I hope is a realistic goal for myself. Next year at this time, I'd really like to be at a point that I could sell my items at Cornucopia (http://www.wcofe.org/cornucopia/index.htm) , the Woman's Club of Evanston holiday craft fair.

In order to get to that point, I think I need to do a few things. I need to figure out what my store is all about. I have a diverse group of crafting interests and I think if I just made one kind of craft I'd lost interest pretty quickly. So maybe I need to come up with some kind of signature to my store ... color themes ... style themes ... something to make the store cohesive.

I also need to get my name out there and get a steady sale stream coming in. I made 3 sales in my first month, which is more than I thought I would get! I ended up selling one hat, 300 bud vases, and 2 dishcloths.

That brings me to advertising. I'd really like to get my blog out there for people to read. It gives me motivation to keep posting things and hopefully gets a lot of exposure to my store. I'm starting to get in contact with other bloggers to get either my blog or my store featured on their websites. Once I have a steady set of readers (and the time to set it up) I'm hoping to start doing contests on my blog too.

My daydreams are getting progressively bigger with each sale that I make :)

Check out my favorite blogs and stores on the left bar and don't forget to mention my blog if you're purchasing an item to receive free shipping (offer not valid on products shipped outside the United States)!!

Until next time ....
the girl behind the lama