Waiting for the Super Bowl

May as well go shopping!!

Munchies!  Super Bowl football cookies by Lizzie Jeans Cookies and a Who Dat Cozy to house your favorite brew or soda by Savara Gifts.  These will keep you from starving while you watch all the pre-game stuff! 

Now to accessorize in style - I love this Fleur de Lis Charm Bracelet from kariO Designs.  She's got lots of pretty jewelry, including lots more Fleur de Lis / Saints designs.

And what Saints fan good-puppy wouldn't love to be wearing this! WHO DAT barking for the Saints!  Saints Dog Collar from Gone Doggie.

Ok, ok I guess you can tell I'm a Saints fan!  Well, I'll throw in a couple of Colts items I ran across during my shopping trip... along with a Saints twin.  : )

For your very posh baby:

These are just too sweet!  From Jacquie's Boutique - Saints and Colts Bloomers!

Mustn't leave out the little guys! How about these cutie-patootie Football Cleat Booties from Curious Workmanship. Love the Saints ones! And, I must admit, the Colts ones are just as sweet!

And lest you think that all I'm doing today is Super Bowl shopping, here's a little pincushion I found while using Etsy's Pounce feature.

It's a Birthday Cake Pincushion from a new shop called Funny Little Things.  She just opened her shop in mid-January and is awaiting her first sale -- maybe that first sale will be YOU!!

This sweet pincushion would be equally cute as a special favor for the Birthday girl, young or not-quite-so-young : )  She did say that it might be too cute to stick pins in!

Well, that's it for now -- gotta go get ready for the BIG GAME!! 

GEAUX SAINTS!!!

Do You Click?

I click on each of these sites every day -- one click is all you need to do and it only takes seconds.  I have a link to the Animal Rescue Site on my toolbar -- that page has tabs across the top which take me to each of the other sites.  Click click and I'm on to the next tab.  You will see small ads for their site sponsors who are billed according to the number of clicks on the site and 100% of the advertising fees goes to their charitable partners. 

The more clicks, the more dollars raised!!

Please consider doing this daily to help out -- easy, easy, easy!  (Scroll down and click on the purple paw print.  That will take you to the Animal Rescue Site and all the other tabs.)  Of course, you can link to whichever one is your personal interest; I just start with the kitties and puppies.

Thanks for helping!

My Creative Space

I enjoy participating in My Creative Space on Thursdays -- the problem is, Thursday to almost all who show their wonderful spaces (being mostly in Australia) is actually Wednesday to me!!  (being in the US)And I would post mine and be about number 800 :-) on the list and it would actually be on Friday to all the others.  (Does this make any sense at all?)  Anyway, I decided to try it on Wednesday to me and it would show up as Thursday to all the others!

Oh, this is too confusing -- I think I'll just go look at the other creative spaces and have a lovely, relaxing time.

So, no matter where you are, please go and check out all the neat creative spaces hosted by Kirsty at kootoyoo.

And, now, here's mine!

The makings of a pillow for the team challenge for the Create Crochet Team on Etsy.  The challenge is to make something that is looking toward spring.  Spring always brings images to mind of flowers blooming and I've always wanted to make a pillow, so there we are.  A blooming pillow, full of bright posies growing in a garden! 

Here's a link to the team's blog  -- hop over and see the other entries so far.  Lots of really lovely crochet.

I'm playing with colors right now and just making flowers in various color combinations.  I just want them to be bright!!  I've been wanting to put flowers for embellishments in my Etsy shop, so whichever ones don't go on the pillow, will go there.

Have a glorious day, whichever it is and wherever you are!!

Six More Weeks of Winter!!

Personally, I was hoping for Spring!

Here are some fun Punxsutawney Phil facts from the official website. Apparently Phil has been making predictions for 120 years (the same Phil) so he's pretty experienced in weather forecasting. We can count on Phil!!

While browsing Etsy, I found these cute groundhog goodies and had to share! There's a link to each shop, plus if you click on the photos, you will go straight to that listing.



Isn't this just the cutest groundhog you've ever seen? He's so chubby and adorable! (Punxsutawney Phil is so jealous) He is designed and crocheted by the artist. Check out the moonscreations shop and see the other wonderful amigurumi animals -- and particularly Moon Bun (just the sweetest bunny ever!) who apparently likes to play dress-up on occasion.



Since I love to embroider (but haven't in forever) this little groundhog caught my eye. Sara of The Split Stitch sells her patterns which are made from her own artwork -- and let me tell you, she is very talented! I really love one called "Bird Lullaby" with the mama bird singing to her babes; so sweet. And she's got a design for all you football fans .........

(insert GO SAINTS here -- that's me saying that...)

........that would be really cute embroidered on a little boy's overalls. Well, maybe not the spilled beer or the mug, but you get what I mean!



And this one from Laura at ClayCreationsbyLaura just kills me! I guess since Phil saw his shadow and there's 6 more weeks of winter, he'll be hitch-hiking to Florida. If you see him, give the little guy a ride -- his little legs are pretty short and he's really not too used to the highway!

Laura's shop is full of the cutest clay figures -- families, birthdays, all kinds of animals (love the elephants!) and dogs -- I told myself, "self, must remember the pug for a certain granddaughter!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ So, please check out these fabulous shops for some terrific handmade goodies! ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

By the way, this is the kickoff of a weekly feature I'm starting called "Wednesday Wanderings, and the Shops Found Along the Way". OK, I know this is not Wednesday, but I didn't think Phil would wait that long to appear! I thought it would be fun to blog about whatever pops into my head and then find Etsy shops to tie in with the theme. Sort of a themed maze, puzzle, shopping trip. Should be fun -- so please plan to join me on Wednesdays!!

Meet Lily!

While spending some time at Silke's lovely blog Metamorphosis, I came across a link she had posted about Lily the Black Bear who is being followed in her den by the North American Bear Center. They have set up a "Lily Den Cam" to chronicle her time in the den with her newborn cub and they post updates to give info on Lily.

Photo courtesy of North American Bear Center


Watch the Lily Den Cam here! You'll have to be patient -- she does a lot of sleeping. But when the cub wakes and is demanding food, you'll see quite a bit of activity. The cub cries, mom shifts around and gets pretty animated, the cub nurses and makes these really sweet coos. I saw Lily's head once! She turned and looked right at the camera!

I showed the site to Noli and she was so excited when Lily started moving around and scratching. This began a whole bear discussion:

She's hard to see 'cause it's all black.
If she were white, she would be a polar bear.
Maybe she could be PINK or PURPLE and I could see her better. (much giggling)
Why is the baby crying? Is she hungry? (everything is a girl or "queel" in Noliease)
Is she cold in all that snow?

Fortunately, I had read up on my black bear facts on the site and we had a pretty good conversation. Bear (ha!) in mind that Noli is a month shy of 4 so our best talk was about the colors a bear should be. Pink and purple won out over any other color! After all, Lily IS a "queel" bear.

♥♥♥♥♥ Hearts for Haiti ♥♥♥♥♥

Do you know about the Etsy collective shop HeartsforHaiti ? It's made up of Etsy sellers who are donating their handmade, vintage and supply items to raise funds for the relief effort in Haiti. One hundred percent of the sales (minus fees) is being donated to Doctors Without Borders. So far, as of Tuesday the 26th, they had raised over $19,000! WOW!!

No telling how much it is now... the amount gets updated regularly so be sure to check in the shop announcement or on the blog.

Want to know a bit about the volunteers? Here's a link to the HeartsforHaiti blog.

I made a little crocheted card holder as my first donation. It would be perfect to enclose a Valentine gift card for your honey! Go see it here in the shop.


And here's something really fantastic: within just a few hours of listing it, it sold! So I've relisted and am now working on something else to donate.

It would be so wonderful if you could donate an item, or buy an item, to help support this great cause.

Etsy Treasuries!! CreateCrochet Team!!

I must do a little patting on the back :) I'm in two treasuries right now!! I am most honored to be included along with such great talent.

"Etsy Love" has some wonderful Valentine selections - mine is the Valentine Kid's Hat. Don't you just love all the red and pink?!! The treasury was created by CowlickCutie who has the sweetest bows and headbands for your little one. Really adorable -- please go check out her shop.

This is the link to go to the treasury -- spread a little love by commenting!

This lovely treasury was made by Bumblestore and it features yarny goodness from the CreateCrochet Team. You can see my Soup 'n Salad on the 3rd row. Again, I'm really pleased to be included.

Here's the link for this treasury -- please visit, comment and check out the Team's talent!

And be sure to go to Bumblestore's shop -- she has some wonderful swirly scarves and the most precious baby dragon hat!!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

By the way, the CreateCrochet Team has a blog -- some good reads there. Have a nice visit, and if you crochet or have crochet supplies/yarn, then you might want to consider joining the team! It's a great bunch of people -- I've only been a member for about a week and already I feel a part of the family.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Valentine's Cutie

Say "I Heart You" on Valentine's Day!
I just listed this cute little hat in my Etsy shop and just had to show it off!

You gotta admit, this is the cutest model ever! She's put in her order for a purple one with pink hearts...

Beautiful Flowers Quilt

Handmade quilts are beautiful and carry so many stories within each block and stitch. I have several that have been handed down or were gifts from family members. I would love to share these creations with you and so will post about them from time to time.

This particular quilt actually belongs to my daughter but I love it and it reminds me of some that a favorite aunt of mine quilted. She created beautiful quilts out of double knit polyester fabrics that came from family and friends.

But that's another story...
This quilt was made by my son-in-law's grandmother. It is made of double-knit polyester so it's washable and dryable. All the quilting is done by hand and it's big enough to cover the top of a king-sized bed. I love all the colors -- so bright and cheery!I don't know how the flowers were done, but they kind of pouf up which makes them look three dimentional.

I can't imagine how much time was spent in making this quilt, but I'm sure it was pieced with love. I'm so glad my daughter has it.

So, I'm pleased to share it with you and I'll be back with more another day!

Brand New Etsy Shop!

Have a peek at this brand new Etsy shop! It's MaisonMagpie and the lovely Ginie is the owner. She resides in a small village on the edge of the Pennines, in the UK. Her shop has the sweetest things, they just make me smile...

This brooch is called "Warm Heart" and you've gotta love it's fuzzy sweetness! It's just the cutest! I love the way she includes a heart shaped box, so sweetly decorated.


And this one is perfect for Valentines Day with its cute red heart on top. And again the decorated box.

I absolutely adore this pincushion. It's so beautiful with its rosebud on top that I'm not sure I could stick a pin in it! I'd just have to sit there and admire it.

Can you tell I really love this shop? And you will, too. Trust me, go see for yourself.