Blog Renovations

Ta-da! My blog has a new look!

I've changed my background color and my banner to match my website. The background was a nice pale sage green which I always thought was easy on the eye, but it didn't coordinate with my new banner.

How do you all like the new look? I think it's a lot cleaner and hopefully just as easy to navigate.

Etsy Blogger Of the Month

Is MadeByMelissa!

Melissa says, "I make jewelry and crocheted items. All of my items are one of a kind! Although things I make may look similar - no two items are identical. Therefore - you will become the proud owner of a 100% unique item!"

Check out her store for a variety of items. There are some great things in there for the little ones in your life. My favorite is this one -- a little crocheted turtle! So cute!

Blog Carnival: Halloween

This month's blog carnival theme for the Etsy Bloggers theme is to share your favorite Halloween memory from your childhood.

I loved going trick or treating with my neighborhood friends. We'd all go together in a group, with the moms in tow chatting and having as good a time as we were having.


Here I am at 5 years old with my little sister, ready for the big night! My costume was handmade by mom and she had me wear it every year for Halloween until I was 12. By then it was almost a mini skirt it came so far up my legs! I suppose she figured she spent all that time making the costume that I may as well get as much use out of it as I could. Besides, she didn't want to make another the next year!

To be honest, I was so sick of that costume after a couple of years and it took all the fun out of choosing what I wanted to be for Halloween.

My friends: "What are you going to be for Halloween this year?"
Me: "A princess." **big sigh**
My friends: "Again?! Haven't you been a princess for the last 10 years in a row?"

A Log Cabin

I must start off apologizing for ducking in and out of the blogosphere (mostly out!). We've been traveling a lot over the past month, taking care of my family's vacation home. It's a log cabin built back in the 1970's and in desperate need of some attention.

A bit of advice...don't buy a log cabin! Especially as a second home if you won't be around to take care of it regularly. My grandfather, who built the cabin, thought it was going to be maintenence free. HA! I think it's been more demanding than a traditional brick/vinyl siding home.

The log cabin in the 1980's with original finish

The biggest problem initially was insect damage. At the time the cabin was built, it was common practice to leave the logs in the lumberyard with the bark on, which encouraged beetle infestation. Once the logs reached the building site, they were already contaminated with beetle larvae.

After 10 years or so insect holes started appearing in the logs. My grandfather was (poorly)advised to paint the logs to keep the insects out. However, the insects were already in so painting it wasn't going to prevent anything. Additionally, the paint has inhibited the logs' ability to "breathe" and has contributed to moisture problems inside the house.

Insect damage to the logs

My grandfather has since passed on and my parents now own the cabin, but my husband and I are the primary caretakers. Recently I noticed it seemed the insect damage was getting worse and I called out a log repair specialist. He found several rotten logs and told us the paint really needed to come off, which was fine by me since I always disliked the paint and wished the cabin could have stayed its natural wood color.

The red house with new replacement logs

So, all that to say, much money later...the cabin is back to its true color, the rotten logs have been replaced, and the holes are sealed up. Now all we have to do is apply clearcoat to the entire cabin every 3-4 years! Geesh! What a job that will be!

Tah-dah! The paint is almost all gone! Yippee!

A Day In The Studio

I thought it would be fun to walk you step by step through one of my more unusual custom orders. A customer was browsing through my work and was inspired to request a guest book with a decorative polymer clay tile ornament on the cover.

1. I start my tile with a lump of polymer clay, conditioned and ready to run through the pasta machine to get it to a uniform thickness.

2. Here I've gotten the clay rolled out to the thickness I desired and impressed a design into it with a rubber stamp. I have my mica powders out and I have been filling color into the patterns on the tile.

**Very important to note when working with mica powder--less is more! I've learned that lesson the hard way, overloading my brush with powder and making the most garish mess.

3. Cooking in my dedicated polymer clay toaster over. This is an older Black & Decker that has a short in it and randomly cuts itself on when no one's looking. Scary, eh? That's why it's been relegated to polymer clay and isn't used routinely in the kitchen without supervision!

4. Cooling the tile under weight to keep it flat. My Pyrex baking dishes were the nearest thing I could find in a pinch. I put them slightly off center because they're stamped with some wording on the bottom and I was concerned the words might impress upon the tile.

5. The finished tile attached to the front cover of the book.

Variations on a Tangerine Theme

Have you ever had one of those days when you weren't satisfied with anything you accomplished? Well, this was one of those days!

The first variation

I was finishing up this book and selecting a ribbon to coordinate with the cover. The problem was the ribbon kept changing color depending upon the lighting! In daylight it was more green and at night it was more blue. This presented a huge issue when I was trying to photograph the book to list it on Etsy. I adjusted the color until my background started getting too red, finally gave up and decided to just change the ribbon.


Second attempt

I really changed it up here, using a band instead of a bow. However, I still had issues with the green-blue ribbon changing colors on me. As you can see from the above photograph, I tried to tweak the color to get the ribbon to appear more natural and ended up with a greenish cast to the entire photo.

Additionally, I was attempting to multi-task, talking on the phone, when I discovered I attached the band to the BACK cover instead of the front. Aaaarrrgh!

As if that wasn't enough, the white ribbon didn't want to stay attached to the blue ribbon. I tried every type of adhesive I could find. Nothing seems to glue one grosgrain ribbon to another grosgrain ribbon. Anyone know of any tricks? I really like this look, maybe not on this book, but I might want to try it on another book.

The final product

I completely ditched the blue-green ribbon and went with a simple creamy white grosgrain ribbon, tied in a square knot. Sometimes less is more--I think this combination shows off the book to the best advantage. Do you agree?