Some Pretty Blues to Share

Well, I thought it might be time for a new post.... after all, it's been a mere 8 months since my last one! I promise.... hope.... that I'll do better in the future!

So I thought I would start back with some blue to share on Blue Monday from Backyard Neighbor....

First up is my little blue bird from my shop (you may remember him from prior posts) -- he has flown in and out a number of times and just recently flew back in!

He loves his butterfly friends and always asks them to fly with him!

Next I want to share this beauty of an Etsy treasury from my BBA teammate Margaret. It just happens to be my personal favorite shade of blue! She has included my tea and cookies set -- and in fact included it a second treasury she made the same day -- oh, my heart is aflutter!

She has titled the treasury "Summer Daydreams"

Perfect!

If you'd like to check out any of the lovelies she selected just click here or on the treasury itself.

And a bit of a pay it forward....

Newborn baby socks with bugs!

Margaret has hand painted and hand dyed these cuties!

I hope you enjoyed my blues today -- be sure to go over to Blue Monday to see more!

♥♥
Sarah Beth

Summertime = Snow Cones and Popsicles

The beginning of summer always brings to mind two things....

Snow Cones and Popsicles!

And the thought of those two yummy delights make me go backward in time for some special memories...

Snow Cones....
When Noli was about four, I took her to a local snow cone stand for her first taste.... and she decided that we should go to all the snow cone stands so she could sample all the different flavors. I, of course (being a lover of snow cones) agreed. I think we hit three or four places over that summer (I didn't want her to go crazy or I'd be in mucho trouble with the mama LOL!)

Noli ~ My favorite is the blue one!

Me ~ Why is that?

Noli ~ 'Cause it turns my lips and tongue blue!

Popsicles...

Now we go waaay back in time to when I was about four or five or so (waaaay back....)

When summer arrived the ice cream man started his rounds, but he didn't have a truck.... he had a bicycle contraption that was part bicycle and part freezer. He'd peddle down the street and ring his bell and all the kids would run out to get frozen goodies from him.

I always got red popsicles or sometimes fudgsicles. 

The popsicles were the double kind and, because I loved him soooo much :) I'd break it in two and only eat half of that popsicle.... and leave the other half for my big brother. 

I never did know if he actually ate his half, but somebody must have because I would check and it was always gone!

Sometimes I got a fudgsicle but big brother didn't get any of that.... hehe.

These two will eventually wind up in my shop, of course ....

The memories of  these two frozen goodies prompted me to make these crochet versions, and that fit right into the Blogging Business Artisans June challenge -- to create something that celebrates the start of summer. This challenge was brought to us by Natasha of Stalking the Wild Snark. 

Now, don't you think it's time to stock up on snow cones and popsicles?!!

♥♥

Nearly Time for School!

And it's definitely time for another BBArtisans challenge!! This month's challenge is all about getting ready for school, whether it's a teacher gift, a memory of your first day of school or what you're gonna do now that the kids are out of the house! This challenge was dreamed up by yours truly!

It's funny, I can remember all of my elementary school teachers, but only a few of my Junior High and High School teachers. Maybe that's typical since the teachers in the younger grades usually make a greater impression on you since it's such a new experience for a little kid.

So, here we are at Walnut Hills Elementary and it's the first day of school and I'm in the 6th grade. A list of the kids in each class was posted on the classroom doors. There were two teachers for each of the grades and I was hoping, praying, crossing my fingers for Mrs. Holly. NOT Coach Sauls. (Yup, we had a football team -- I don't remember the name of the team but our colors were green and white.)

Anyway, Coach Sauls had quite the reputation. He was said to be quick with a paddle and that the paddle was ELECTRIC and it had holes in it, the better to pop your bottom with. I looked at Mrs. Holly's door.... all my best buds were in there.... but not me! I cried that I was in Coach Sauls' class with not one good friend to protect me. I would only see them at recess.... unless I was getting licks from Coach.

Maybe I should bring him an apple to get in his good graces....

Well, you know what? Coach Sauls turned out to be a big teddy bear, and that electric paddle.... well it wasn't electric, had no holes and stayed in Coach's desk drawer. He showed it to us and it was some little old silly thing -- just one of the many pranks played on the younger kids by the sixth graders -- and I was one of them that year!!

I ran across this idea on Little Birdie Secrets blog -- the apple slice is from Lion Brand and I paired it up with my own wash/dish cloth pattern that I use when I crochet them for my Etsy shop.  I thought it would be a cute teacher gift, whether for Christmas or the end of school.... 

or to bribe them on the first day of school!!

We wouldn't want that electric paddle to pop out of its drawer, now would we... Ha!

I  had this cute fabric on  hand and made up a little gift bag. 

Don't you love the fun fruit design?!!!

and this is something I dreamed up for the preschooler left at home! 

Fun colored pencils to play with...

no writing on the walls -- mom will love these!!

This was a free pattern from Crochet N Play Designs -- I've bought several of her patterns for my shop and for Noli gifts, and I just love them!

I'm going to offer them in my Etsy shop as pick-your-colors in a set of three. They are chubby little pencils, almost 5 inches long. 

I'm debating about doing a pen and pencil set -- a black pen and the typical yellow no. 2's we all know and love -- I've got the perfect golden orange color yarn. What do you think?

PS... The scrubbie set and the colored pencils will be in my Etsy shop sometime today and the apple is already there : )

~ sharing on AlphabeThursday where we are studying the letter N

~ if you have an Etsy shop and a blog, check out the Blogging Business Artisans team!

♥♥

Getting Ready for Christmas

It's still July isn't it?? Oh well, let's just pretend it's still July so I will be posting a JULY team challenge at least in the right month. I won't tell if you won't....heh heh heh!

This challenge for the BBA Team was suggested by LeAnn of Pasque Flower Creations who challenged us to start preparing earlier for Christmas so as not to get caught off guard when December craziness is upon us.

Back at the beginning of the year I told myself..... "Self" I said, "get some Christmas done early this year" but did I? Noooo. Self wasn't listening so well, it seems  :p

So, with this challenge looking me in the face I finally got off my duff and made something for Christmas!!

It's a Milk and Cookies for Santa play set with a glass of milk, three cookies with sprinkles, and a bag to store it all in. I've made and sold several of them but never seem to get more than one ready at a time, and there's usually some time in between a sale and getting another made. So this year I'll at least have one ready to go!! Woot! Woot!

I have also made sets of just the three cookies so I will get that done pretty soon. Then I'd like to do some other Christmas somethings that I haven't made before.... I'm thinking Christmas tree coasters, ornaments for the tree, maybe snowflakes.

I've made some star ornaments but never really did anything with them. I think I'll pull them out of my yarn closet, make some more, and get them listed. They don't take very long so I should be able to get some sets together pretty easily! There is some wait time 'cause they look nicer if they are blocked and lightly starched!

I think that's just a plain white one, but I have sparkley cotton yarn that would make a very pretty star! The red and white one is actually one strand of white cotton yarn and one strand of red crochet thread held together.

Now, if I can just find those poinsettias to rest the stars on, I'll be in business!!



♥♥

Blue Skies and Fluffy White Clouds

I'm being greedy and sharing two posts on Blue Monday today!

My first one, That's a Lot of Bull! has lots of blue to see, but I think you'll agree that this post has a whole lot more!! It's a treasury that I made for one of the Etsy teams I'm on -- BBArtisans (aka Blogging Business Artisans). Just wanted to share -- I think you'll enjoy it whether you're on Etsy or not :)

If you'd like to see any of the items up close and personal, just click anywhere on the treasury and you'll be whisked away! If you're an Etsy seller and would like to leave a comment, that would be awesome!

See. What did I tell you? A mega amount of blue!

Oh, and you know what else? I know that you blog, but if you blog and are on Etsy, you might like to join up with the BBA Team -- we're small but mighty! Go here to check us out!

~ sharing on Blue Monday


♥♥

The Tale of Little Tommy Turkey

Yikes, yikes and yikes!! I totally forgot to write about my November challenge for the Blogging Business Artisans team! So I'm posting it anyway, even though it's now December and my project was a.... 

turkey!!

Edi of Memories for Life challenged us to create something with the beautiful colors of fall and to take our inspiration from nature. To me, those colors come from leaves as they turn colors from the green of summer to the yellows, oranges and reds of fall. A turkey has those beautiful colors in its feathers, and of course we all think about turkeys at Thanksgiving time!

This is Little Tommy Turkey and he's awfully glad he didn't wind up at part of somebody's Thanksgiving dinner -- he would much rather be part of the Thanksgiving decorations instead!

He's a little cutie, all round and chubby and with feathers of those beautiful fall colors. He says he's just a tiny little guy so no good for Thanksgiving dinner anyway.... 

To see some more November challenge projects, Turkey Trot over to the BBA Blog!

♥♥

Holiday Sales with A Pop of Red

Did you know that today is Small Business Saturday, and Monday is Cyber Monday? You probably did unless you live in a cave with no TV... LOL!!

Some of the BBA team members are offering special discounts for those special shopping days, some for more holiday sales lasting later into December. To see what is offered, just give a click on this cute badge and it will take you to the list...

Last night I made this Pop of Red treasury featuring the Blogging Business Artisans team and other Etsy friends, and wanted to share it today. Each month the members of the BBA team make at least one treasury -- and I almost missed the deadline!!

This collection has an eclectic assortment of handmade goodies that would be perfect for your favorite guy or gal on Christmas Day!

'A Pop of Red' by magnoliasurprise

Black and white with a pop of red from the BBArtisans team and friends

You can click on the title to go to Etsy for the actual treasury if you'd like to leave a comment or share, and clicking on the photos will take you to that shop. Hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it!

So, if you will be out shopping today, I hope you can find just the right thing for that special someone -- or you can avoid the crazed shoppers and long lines and just shop right here with the Blogging Business Artisans!!

Have an awesome weekend!

♥♥

Milk and Cookies for Santa

Do you, or your kids, leave milk and cookies for Santa? Is it too early to be thinking about that??  Um, probably :p

We, of course, did and the kids left notes for the old guy.... he always left them a thank you, and a lot of crumbs! It's no wonder his belly shakes like a bowl full of jelly! 

So, when the Blogging Business Artisans October challenge was "Prelude to the Holidays" (brought to us by LeAnn of Pasque Flower Creations) I knew what I would do! LeAnn challenged us to create a holiday themed item -- something for our Etsy shop, an ornament or decoration for our home, a costume, or perhaps a gift for a friend or loved one. The item could be for any of the upcoming holidays, from Halloween through New Year's. 

I decided on a crocheted milk and cookies set for the kids to pretend with or for a fun Christmas decoration for the table, or under the tree. I had made this set a couple of years ago but never replaced it after it sold so I thought this challenge would be a good time to make another set, and kick-start Christmas in my shop.

This time I made a cute storage bag so everything will stay in one place!

I think Santa will like those cookies!

But do you think he might be getting tired of milk?? 

Check out what some of the other BBA team members made for this challenge!


♥♥

Falling for Teal

Teal is a medium blue-green color and apparently there is some debate over whether it is a blue, or a green. 

I say it's in the middle!

It's actually named after the Teal duck, a small freshwater duck that has teal colored feathers around its eyes.

Source 

Aren't they pretty? My very first summer job was at the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries (they were good about giving teenagers summer jobs and I had a friend whose uncle worked there). Anyway my job was to stuff envelopes mailing out Teal Certificates for hunting purposes. There were a bunch of us working there so it was pretty fun!

Source

Mr and Mrs 

Source

Here's another bit of teal trivia... Crayola's crayon called "Teal Blue" was first introduced in 1990 as part of a box of 64. (from Crayola's Color Corner) It was retired in 2003.

Did you know that "sophisticated, self assured and stable" are the personality traits of the color Teal? So when you wear teal, feel very good about yourself because you'll be showing those attributes!

So, all this teal trivia brings me to the Etsy treasury I just made..... you did know I wasn't going to ONLY talk about ducks and crayons didn't you?!!

When Ayla of Eyelah posted this gorgeous cowl scarf in one of the discussion threads for the BBArtisans team, I knew I was going to make a treasury using it as my inspiration! I love the color teal, from the light summer aqua hues to the deeper teals of winter -- I love them all!

'Falling for Teal' by magnoliasurprise

This treasury was inspired by Ayla's fabulous scarf and features more beautiful teals from the BBArtisans team, as well as from other talented Etsians. Hope you enjoy it! You can click on the title to go to the original treasury on Etsy, and on each item to go directly to that shop. 

Maybe you'll find some beautiful teal to make you feel sophisticated, self assured and stable!!

Sharing on Blue Monday over at Smiling Sally's

♥♥