Finger Puppet Success

So the finger puppets have really been a success. I really wasn't expecting to have this many orders so far. It has been really exciting!

I have had several orders of the Disney's Frozen inspired finger puppets. They are my biggest sellers. So you better order yours soon! :)

They are really cut and they are sold for only $10!! Plus, part of the proceeds benefit Tupelo's Children Mansion which houses orphaned and disadvantaged children.

Here is one of my happy customers singing with her Frozen puppets!

New in Shop!

Hello everybody I just wanted to give all my faithful blog readers a quick sneak peek at what is going to be new in the shop soon!

I recently learned about how some people are creating purses from old burlap sacks. My sister has one and I think that they are super cute. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to make one myself but I did acquire a couple of boxes of vintage burlap sacks and they are going to be on sale in theEtsy shop.

I am going to have a couple of cuff links and tie tacks. Plus a new finger puppet set!

Keep checking the store they should be for sale within the next week or so!

Here are a few peeks!

I hope that was enough to whet your appetite! ;)

Things You Should Know About: Starbucks App

I am a coffee addict. I love coffee. Me and Garfield are much agreed about the necessity of coffee in the morning. So in saying that in want to introduce you to the Starbucks app.

It has a lot of nice features if you enjoy coffee or not. First off you can earn free coffee from each purchase. Another great feature is that you can upload your cards so that you can pay for your coffee via your smartphone.

But here is the best part: you can get a FREE book, song, or app every week! 

So even if you aren't a coffee lover or at least drinker you should get this app for the awesome free stuff!

App purchase is FREE!

Ultimate Nerdy Book

While doing check-in this morning at work I found a really awesome book. It combines two awesome themes: Shakespeare and Star Wars. I know you are probably wondering how the two could be combined. 

Well... It's a Star Wars story written like a Shakespeare play. Pretty awesome. In fact, it's so good that there is a sequel. So I thought that all of you should relish the awesome nerdyness with me!

First Tomato of the Season!

Last week my family was gone so I was all alone. I don't really like being alone. I am more of a people person. So it's really boring when I don't have anyone to talk to all day. But there are a few perks to being by yourself. Not many but a few.

For instance, I can stay up late, eat whatever I want, and watch the movies that are my favorite. On the downside I don't have anyone to talk to so it's pretty boring around the house. But but I did get quite a bit of sewing done. Plus I also got to eat all the raspberries that I picked. Also I got the first tomato of the season! It wasn't very big but it sure was tasty! Pretty soon it's going to be canning season! My favorite part of the year!

Awesome People you should know: Laura Cereta

So I am reading my text book for Western Civilization because I have a 5-7 page paper to write and I come across this document: "A Woman's Defense of Learning". It is written by Laura Cereta in the age of the Renaissance. She is writing a letter to one of her male critics who argued that "because her work was so good it could not have been written by a woman". Well...he was dead wrong!

I wanted to include this because it is so awesome!

"My ears are wearied by your carping. You brashly and publicly not merely wonder by indeed lament that I am said to possess a fine a mind as nature ever bestowed upon the most learned man. You seem to think that so learned a woman has scarcely before been seen in the world. You are wrong on both counts...

I would have been silent...but I cannot tolerate your having attacked my entire sex. For this reason my thirsty soul seeks revenge, my sleeping pen is aroused to literary struggle, raging anger stirs mental passions long chained by silence. With just cause I am moved to demonstrate how great a reputation for learning and virtue women have won by their inborn excellence, manifested in every age as knowledge...

Only the question of rarity of outstanding women remains to be addressed. The explanation is clear: women have been able by nature to be exceptional, but have chosen lesser goals. For some women are concerned with (I paraphrase here:) [looks, parties, and] "standing at mirrors, to smear their lovely faces. But those in whom a deeper integrity yearns for virtue, restrain from the start their youthful souls, reflect on higher things, harden the body with sobriety and trials, and curb their tongues, open their ears, compose their thoughts in wakeful hours, their minds in contemplation, to letters bounded to righteousness. For knowledge is not given as a gift, but is gained with diligence. The free mind, not shirking effort, always soars zealously toward the good, and the desires to know grows ever more wide and deep...

I have been praised too much; showing your contempt for women, you pretend that I alone am admirable because of the good fortune of my intellect...Do you suppose, O most contemptible man on earth, that I think myself sprung [like Athena] from the head of Jove? I am a school girl, possessed of the sleeping embers of an ordinary mind. Indeed I am too hurt, and my mind, offended, too swayed by passions, sighs, tormenting itself, conscious of the obligation to defend my sex. For absolutely everything-that which is within us and that which is without-is made weak by association with my sex."

I found this text to be very inspiring and that anyone can achieve success if they work hard at it. It never says that one gender is better than another but that both can better themselves by choosing to apply themselves to learning. I also found it inspiring in the fact that this is the first time that a women ever makes a stand for equality. I hope that you are as inspired as I am!

Things you should know: Pizza organization

I went to an "I love to sew" club meeting and I heard an awesome tip that I want to share.

The lady who was giving the talk was discussing organization. She said that to keep her quilt squares pressed and neat she keeps them in an unused pizza box. She did mention that sometimes the pizza place will charge you about 30 cents for a box but that it was a very cheap organizing box. I thought it was a fabulous idea!

So I had an excuse to go out for pizza (I guess you do too now! Ha-ha). In honesty, I didn't make a special trip but my sister and I decided to eat Pizza Hut one afternoon. We both had their lunch special (which is an awesome deal by the way!) so we ended up with enough left-overs that the waitress brought us two small boxes. We didn't really need two so we combined them into one and saved the other box. I would still like a larger one for bigger quilt squares but the one I have now work very well. I really like it and it does help to keep things organized. Plus, a pizza box fits just about anywhere.

Frozen inspired Finger Puppets and Concert

On Thursday my family and I went to hear the city band concert in the park. The theme of the night was Disney and they sounded awesome!

Unfortunately, I have to work the night that they practice so I don't get to play this summer. But the good news is the my sister and grandpa play in the band so I at least get to go and hear the awesome music.

Anyway, sine the theme was Disney and since I had recently opened my Etsy shop I decided to give away some finger puppets (the Frozen Disney movie inspired ones) for the "mystery melody". "Mystery Melody" is when the band randomly selects a piece of music and plays it without revealing the name and you have to guess what the title is (as it appears in the director's score). The announcers bring around a hat that you put a piece of paper into with your name and what you think the song title is on it. The first few people they pick out of the hat win a prize. The prizes are whatever people or businesses donate so they can be anything from band paraphernalia to local shop gift cards to event tickets. It is a lot of fun!

Well before the concert even started my mom saw a family we know and gave them a heads-up about what the prize was going to be. The lady decided to buy a couple of sets from me for her kids to play with while they listened to the concert. Which made me really happy because I didn't expect any selling to happen that night. I did being my finger puppets with me to finish while I was listening and I'm very glad I did. The really funny thing is that one of her kids won the finger puppets that they gave away! The kids were really happy and they really enjoyed playing with them!

Happy Machine!

So today has been a lot more productive than the other day. It probably went much better because I prayed before I started that today would be more productive, I wouldn't have any issues, and that the machine would work better. So it did.

I got quite a bit done and I decided that after every two or three puppets that I would wind a few bobbins while I cleaned the machine out. It worked like a dream and I got several puppets done. These are the ones I finished. Obviously I wasn't thinking to clearly when I made Aladdin in a white fabric but other than that nothing went wrong!

Tangled threads

My little Etsy shop has been up for a few days. So I have been trying hard to get some more finger puppets done because I have ideas for some other sets.

Since I needed to get some more done I set down at the machine to get to work. Well.....I kept having issues. It seemed like on every other puppet I had to rip the machine apart, clean it, pull out nested threads, or yank out a piece of fabric that decided to get caught in the machine. All in all it made for a very long day. Ugh! As you might be able to tell from the photos, I was a little more than frustrated.

Stopping for Flowers

This morning I went for a walk with my sister. It was a little warm but somebody needed to walk the dog. While we were on our walk I saw some really nice flowers that a neighbor had planted.

Now, I know that your thinking that I probably stopped and smelled the flowers. But you would be wrong. I have really bad allergies. Doing something like that is the equivalent of the cartoon were the character gets hit on the head with a hammer. But I did take a moment to thoroughly enjoy them. Plus, I decided to take a few pictures so that you could enjoy them as well.

Grand Opening!! Etsy Shop!

Drum roll please! I would like to announce the Grand Opening of my Etsy shop!

I am super excited! I have dreamed about having an Etsy shop for quite a while now!

I have listings for a few things, but more to come! Take a look and buy something fantastic!