Friday, January 30, 2009

Drilling Success!

That right I drilled holes in metal folks! And my goodness the dremel is beyond amazing it drilled through the items like a hot knife through butter. I don't know why I've waited so long to get one (well it was actually mainly due to finances) but now I can't live without this little friend =D one necklace is done, two more items are in their final stages (a pair of earrings and a pendant), and one is awaiting drillage (another pair of earrings)because I forgot about it.
In other news I may end up adding more items earlier then I had planned because sales have been pretty fair lately and the gift fair on Feb 12 is quite some time away yet. I make no promises in that though so we shall have to wait and see.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Thwarted!

Yesterday my playing with the dremel to drill metal was halted due to the jury duty run around and today I was determined to get my drill on. Much to my dismay that will, yet again, be put off. My drilling has been thwarted by a little fella called Collet! Now Mr. Collet is very useful if not crucial for use with Mr. Dremel unless he's the wrong size. Which is my big D'oh moment of the day/week of drilling attempts. As you see in the pic above my triumph in getting my metal drill bits and the 2, too large, collets that came with my dremel. So many things to learn about my new friend Mr. Dremel, and metals within my household are spared for yet another day V_V.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Eh

Today three things occurred yesterday! I had my visit with the back up doctor Jason Rothbart who was a very nice and jovial fellow. I pray that I don't have to see him again...dealing with the birth of my child, not that I have anything against him but I want to have my baby at home without complications if you catch what I mean ;).
Number 2 I gots Flor Samples! I will do a whole post on this later today.
Number 3 I've got a thrillen for drillen and I got my bits for Mr. Dremel to drill metal!

Oh and the day before that I contacted HiTree who is an LA local and young mother as well, to make something for my baby! I'm so excited and we're going to save a tree in the process!

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Babbelings

My shop will be closed for the afternoon on Feb 12th because I will be vending at the EALA V-tines Gift Fair. So I won't be adding any brand new items (unless I get a custom order) till after that, cuz' my EA peeps get first dibs.

In other personal news my mother wants to be present for the birth of my child, however I've come to the realization that I really don't want her to be there. Her showing up afterwords is fine. However I have a feeling if she is present I would make her miserable and on top of that I don't want to deal with her. Through out my life I have felt a lack of care or support with my aspirations and abilities from her, although lately she has been better with showing support by purchasing items from my shop and buying me maternity clothes which I appreciate greatly and I understand how she is trying to do better. Its just when it comes to major things like this I can't make a full amends for the past, and on top of that finally telling her about our plan for home birth was met with uneducated opposition from her rather then an openness which is something that annoys me greatly, coming from someone who I wish were more supportive. I know she wants to be there and I feel bad for this realization I've come but I really don't want to tell her up front how I feel because it may hurt her feelings. So I'm kind of torn with to tell or not tell birth and then have her come over.

Anyways to end this post on a lighter note here's some random useless knowledge:
Mineral Oil and Pertoleum Jelly are byproducts of processing crude oil (There be black gold in them there beauty products)

Lanolin which is commonly used for soothing cracked nipples from breast feeding comes from a fatty/waxy substance that sheep secret from glands on to their wool. (sorry not vegan friendly)

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

A day in the life

Today was the second official appointment with the midwives of Beach Cities Birth Service Mary Lou and her backup midwife Ashley, who works out of Mary Lou's home as well. I really wanted Jason to meet Ashley so this was my second appointment mainly with her and the next one is with Mary Lou. The appointments are extremely relaxed and generally the same routine with a lot more care and respect. The general routine is pee in a cup and insert a strip that checks for protein (preeclampsia) and sugar (gestational diabetes) which showed up negative for both! Checked my weight which is 170.5 I gained a whole half a pound from the last visit. Next was getting the blood pressure checked which turned up good as usual. Then Ashley checked the positioning of the baby which it seems that she has turned already (meaning she's upside down which is a good thing) but it won't be really noticeable or an issue till the next visit. Things are progressing really well and I pray they continue to!
Also this past weekend Jason and I found out two of our friends gave birth, another two are pregnant and the wife of a new business contact of his is pregnant as well! So ladies if in California beware the water unless you want to get pregnant ;)

On with my creative ambitious eco friendly side, I have completed phase one of operation Christmas Tree Demise which was using a little hand saw on out little four foot christmas tree to remove the branches from the trunk. Phase two is set to begin shortly and is the removal/collection of the needles (for candles and perhaps potpourri} and the drying/sectioning of the trunk (for a variety of items one of which I just thought of ...I may carve a section, with my new dremel 300 =D, to make my own candle mold which is classified as crazy ambitious but I love me power tools) So I've got a lot of work ahead of me.

Monday, January 19, 2009

My New Most Favorite Aunt

Well a non-biological Most Favorite Aunt. This etsy seller has an adorable and clever name which pairs well with the beautiful hand knit items she has to offer. Lately I have been breezing through etsy in search of adorable handmade goodies to add to my wishlist.com baby shower registry for my baby due in April and I had not yet come across this seller. Actually she found me and offered a trade, which happens quite frequently on etsy, however I tend to be picky so less frequent with your truly. In this case the cute little baby cap, shown above, came to my attention. Then my picky nature got the best of me and I had to ask for a custom inception of it and in black with a purple flower, as finding items with this color combo is tough! Much to my delight she said she could do it and even going beyond that promptly created it that very evening! A, very, few days later it arrives in the mail and is stunning in its crafting, comfort, and cuteness!

I can't wait to see it on my little girl! Check out Most Favorite Aunt's shop and the other items she has to offer at MostFavoriteAunt.etsy.com
Currently in Most Favorite Aunt's shop there is a "CPSIA CLEARANCE" section. Which is a really sad but soon to be resolved issue with the passing of a great but ill though out and implemented bill that at the moment will make handmade baby goods no more due to the stringent and extravagant costs imposed on these handmade sellers. For more info about this daunting issue check out The Handmade Toy Alliance at www.handmadetoyalliance.org.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

The Spiked Hairsticks Are Back!


They are back alright but in very limited supply as at the moment I can only make four pairs and one pair has already been sold! These will most likely only be plain ones for now and in the future I will be making some with spike dangles which I have on my own pair. Click the image of them on the right to purchase them from my shop!

Thursday, January 15, 2009

ShaNickers ShaTastic!

Much to my delight this very afternoon I received my shanon1972 ShaNickers Wall Decals! They arrived well protected in a poster tube shown here with one rolled out and the other to the side


I've been really antsy waiting for these I ordered them on Dec 23 and received them today Jan 15th. Word to the unwise, expect orders that take 2 weeks to take longer over the holiday season ;)
The wall decals I purchased were for the living room
Circles Intersected


and for the "impending baby" Butterflies In Flight


In my over eagerness and sheer excitement at getting these (which I have been waiting to purchase since I saw her as a featured seller) I neglected the instructions for Circles Intersected of which I basically ended up following anyways because the I found the overall packaged design very intuitive.Also it mentions an included squeegee which I didn't get but it would have been an unnecessary waste to begin with, in addition to that I ended up doing it by myself, although the instructions say it should be done with two people, which was still really easy to do. However I will have to follow instructions and enlist the aid of my husband to place the Butterflies In Flight decal because it does not have the clear transfer paper.

On to the Installation of Circles Intersected
The first thing I did was decide to change the way I wanted the design to go up as I wanted to have Circles Intersected to be intersected by to be finished yet unfinished painting, and I also decided to use the bottom section upside down. So the first thing I did was cut the sheet in half separating the top portion from the bottom. Next I whipped out my level and straightened out the the picture to use as a reference as it is exactly centered. Then I placed the whole sheet against the wall and peeled the corners getting the sticky clear transfer paper, with the decals firmly adhered to it, on the wall. Holding it firm I then peeled or slipped out the white backing.

After that was complete I ran my hand over the clear transfer paper and decals which were securely on the wall. Next I slowly and gently removed the clear transfer paper making sure the decals stay stuck to the wall.

After the clear sticky transfer paper was removed I smoothed out the decals and much to my delight smoothing out the bubbles was easy. Then I repeated the process for the top section the whole process took me about 30 minutes and this is how it turned out! =D


These decals as well as many other designs can be purchased at http://Shanon1972.Etsy.com

I'm a bad blogger

The holiday season was wonderful and I promptly became sick when the in-laws left. Anyways I've made my first purchases (well one is a trade) from Etsy for the baby! I'm really super excited as I'm getting wall decals from shanon1972 aka ShaNickers and a lovely hand knit cap from MostFavoriteAunt.

Other then that my laptop is dead until I get a new power cable or strip and reconnect the broken section. =( so my overall writing and new additions to the shop have dwindled because I'm tied to a desk top and I don't have my notes ect. So that makes things a bit harder to deal with. On top of that my car is being poopy I had to get the brakes replaced and now there's a leak with the transmission. There is also other havoc afoot but that is quick and easy to with. However with all of this crap going on I'm not in bad spirits. I'm still creating and I've got some fantastic things to reveal that takes my steampunk work into another direction and on top of that I've found a use for nearly all of my parts which means no waste! Not that I waste things anyways because I initially know that everything has its use it's just a matter of finding it ;)
Other shop news is that the spiked hair sticks will be making a comeback! I've finally got my hands on more hair stick bases for those guys and I'm in the process of making them.
I'm also planning on getting a dremel soon for drilling holes in metal which will up the bar on my creations =D
So i closing lots of craziness but I look forward to updating the Wenchie's Sacred Relics shop soon as well as updating the banners in both of my shops and making this blog look like something.