Black Friday Sale

Let's face it, as soon as you are done gorging yourself on turkey and mashed potatoes tomorrow, you're going to start thinking about the big after-Thanksgiving sales, right? Well, rather than torturing yourself by heading out to the local mall and department stores at the crack of dawn, why not plop down in front of the computer in your pj's and find some great on-line deals! Go over the The Little Black Box for a list of online handmade sellers who are hosting some fabulous Black Friday sales. You'll get a start on your holiday shopping, support indie artists and buy handmade! Does it get better than that?

I have been busily preparing for my own Black Friday Sale this weekend. My shop is fully stocked and I'll be adding a few more things tonight and tomorrow. The deals will run from Friday, November 28 through Monday, December 1.

I'm sure you're wondering what the deals are, right? Here it is - FREE shipping on every order! I don't care where you're located, the shipping will be FREE! And, every order over $15 will receive a FREE Itsy Bitsy Bag (my choice of fabric)!

So, stop on by my shop this weekend and buy a bag or two or three!

A story by Lil Kay

There is a neatly colored picture of a shark and some trees to go with this story. Not for the faint of heart! ;)

There are no houses in this picture, because there were no houses at this time. But there was something that was real in the deep blue sea. The waters of the ocean began to blow. Suddenly the world saw something it had never seen before. Suddenly it popped out of the ocean. It was a dog shark. It swam the vast ocean looking for people to eat. Suddenly the water made a big wave and banged into houses. The cars were driving on water and needed big boats to be protected from the shark, but the shark kept following them. They used arrows to kill the shark. They had to keep trying to kill the shark over and over. The shark followed them for infinity days, for three hundred days. The animals let everything go and went off everywhere. People found big wood to build house and they found infinity hay.

Christmas Ornaments

Christmas tree ornaments are one of my most favorite things. I have a huge collection and a big nine foot Christmas tree to display them on! (You should have seen us trying to get that 9 foot tree home from Hobby Lobby in the back of my car several years ago!)

Anyway, due to my affinity for ornaments, I was thrilled to sign up for the ornament exchange hosted by Beki of PamperingBeki. I send out an ornament; I get an ornament. Lovely! I received my exchange ornament in the mail yesterday. Isn't it gorgeous? I love the fact that it is two-sided. Right now, I have it hanging on my cabinet door. I'm hoping we will get the tree put up later on this week. I have quite the collection of ornaments piling up on my kitchen counter!

I had big plans to make a lovely needle felted ornament modeled after those gorgeous blown glass ornaments you sometimes see. I started on that ornament about a month ago. Maybe longer.

Well, I was supposed to have mailed out my ornament no later than yesterday. That didn't happen. The time totally snuck up on me. So, I was absolutely determined that I would finish my ornament this weekend, so I can mail it on Monday. I even finished the needle felted ornament, but decided that while it was good enough for my tree, I wasn't happy enough with it to mail it off to someone I'd never met. Instead, I started going through my stacks of craft books and magazines. In the Winter 2008 edition of Better Homes & Gardens' Quilts and More, I found a pattern for a cute little stocking ornament. I whipped that baby up and am so excited about how it turned out. I might even make more. I was especially proud of myself for actually completing a project from one of the dozens of craft magazines I purchase every year. And yes, it is already packed up and ready to ship to its intended recipient tomorrow! I'm only a couple days late on this! (I'm usually much better than this when it comes to swap deadlines!)

Happy Mail Day!

As kids, every year my mom would buy each of us a new ornament to add to our Christmas tree. When we left home, each of us had a big collection to take with us to decorate our own trees. I'm continuing the tradition with Lil' Kay. I try very hard to find an ornament that reflects his current interests. The last few years have been all about dinosaurs and sea life. When I found this ornament from bunny X productions, I was soooo excited! The little legs dangle and move, and it's done in Christmas colors! Holly arrived yesterday, and Lil' Kay was thrilled. I had to "encourage" him to be careful, as I was afraid he would break the ornament in his enthusiasm. The detail is amazing! I cannot wait to put this on the tree!
This crochet hook case from Good Karma came in the mail yesterday, too! This is actually a birthday gift for my mom. Shhhhh! I'm counting on the fact that she probably doesn't even know what a blog is, let alone that I have one! :) Besides, I kind of gave it away the other day when we were shopping and she was looking at a crochet hook case. I said, "Don't buy that!" Yeah, I'm pretty subtle sometimes...

Anyway, I love the case. Makes me wish I crochet so I could have one, too. I'm a bit of a sucker for organizers and I love the different fabric textures on this one. Can't wait to give it to Mom!
And, because Bren is a good person and sweet friend, she also sent me a couple of handmade reuseable produce bags. Actually, she's trying to convert me from my wasteful un-environmentally conscious ways. Sending me cute stuff to use is certainly a good tactic! I actually can't wait until the next time I need to buy fruit or vegetables so I can use them! You can get your own set in her shop.

Wii

So, we finally broke down and bought a Wii on Monday. I found them in stock at our local GameStop. (That place is actually pretty cool!) Let me admit, that this is my first video game system since the original Nintendo! Not much of a gamer.

Last night, I finally got Mr. Kay to set up the system, but not before we had gone out and spent another wad of cash on extra controllers and a couple games. Once it was all set up, Mr. Kay and Lil' Kay set about beating the crap out of each other using our new (used) Godzilla game. It's pretty funny to watch your 34 year old husband jumping up and down, flapping his arms trying to make a virtual monster fly! And, there's nothing more precious than hearing your five year old scream, "Stop trying to kill me!"

(And, I still haven't gotten to play with it...)

The Little Black Box

Maybe you can't tell, but that box up there is absolutely bursting with handmade goodness! Yesterday, I received my November Little Black Box in the mail. It was like Christmas when I opened it up! The Box included items from over 20 different handmade retailers. I spent a good chunk of time oohing and ahhing over each individual thing. These are some of my absolute favorites!

This little cup of Spoonfudge from Glutenada was right on top when I opened the box. Let me tell you, the fudge is gone. I ate it. For breakfast this morning. (I didn't share it with anyone!) Absolutely to die for! Soft and sweet and smooth! And for those of you who are gluten-free, so is this fudge!


My other most favorite item? This adorable floral zipper pouch from Midnight Creations. Now, zipper pouches are great and all, but this one is fabulous, because it has a key ring attached. I can put my keys on this and have a place to keep my ID and cash and whatever else I need in a pinch. (And, there was a coupon code included for a 20% discount on one item! In fact, most of the samples in The Little Black Box come with some kind of discount.)

Christmas is coming soon, and I am absolutely nuts about Christmas tree ornaments. I have a HUGE collection that I love to add to and display on our 9 foot tree each year. So, I couldn't have been happier to find this pretty wooden bell ornament in my box. It came all wrapped up in pretty paper from Wood N Goods.

Now, how gorgeous is this dainty little bracelet from Debbie Gootter Designs? It is made from sterling silver, Swarovski crystals and vintage lucite frame beads. Nice, right? It came neatly packaged in a paper jewelry box. I could do the responsible thing and use it as a Christmas gift for someone special. Or keep it for myself. We'll see...

This beautifully packaged handmade soap is from Gabriella's Closet. It's a full-sized 4 oz bar of handmilled Butterbell soap made from olive oil and goat's milk. The scent is very fresh and clean. Again, another of those items that I could add to a gift basket. Or keep. Decisions, decisions!

I've been buying The Little Black Box for three or four months, and everytime I get at least one pair of earrings that fit perfectly with my wardrobe. This month, those earrings came from Jaimie B Designs. Cute little aqua earrings that I can't wait to wear!

I love smelly stuff. Especially when it is spice or food scented. Kreations by Kathie sent in this tin filled with cute little star shaped Harvest Delight mini tarts. They smell just like pumpkin pie, and I can't wait for my kitchen to smell like I actually know how to make a pumpkin pie!

I know lots of people love soap! (And, I mean more than just the whole personal hygiene aspect of it.) Soap in fun colors and shapes is a great thing to have sitting in your bathroom for guests to use. Soap Sushi included a Visions of SugarPlum soap favor in my Little Black Box. Purple and blue soap with pink soap shavings on top. So cute! And, of course, it smells wonderful, too!

And, my final favorite from this month, a special treat for the feline members of my family, a catnip toy from Colorado Catnip Toys. I left my pile of loot unattended on the couch for a couple minutes. I came back and found Cheeto in the middle of the pile. He had managed to isolate the plastic bag containing the catnip toy! I turned it over to him, and he and his sisters spent the rest of the evening taking turns with their new treasure! They couldn't get enough of it!

This is by no means an exhaustive list of everything that came in The Little Black Box this month. Like I said, over 20 items! There were also a magnet, greeting cards, ACEOs (love these), coffee and tea samples (they smell awesome), mini notebooks, a cellphone charm, a button ring. You can see a picture of everything on my flickr account here.

I highly encourage you to check out The Little Black Box. There are still November boxes available. I have never been disappointed in my package. They contain high quality samples from great companies!

If you are a handmade seller, I strongly recommend that you consider including your own quality samples in the Little Black Box. The main thing is to make sure that what you send is truly representative of your company, and something that you would be thrilled to receive if you purchased a box. High quality samples are what keep buyers returning for more! And a good sample makes it that much more likely that they will check out your store.

Mass Production

You probably don't recognize it, but let me assure you that this mass of fabric is a pile of Itsy Bitsy Bag handles. I spent yesterday sewing together the three main parts of an Itsy Bitsy or any of my bags for that matter - the bag, the handle and the lining. Now, I've just got to combine the three components, and I will have over 20 Itsy Bitsy Bags to contribute to the December Little Black Box. I'm actually thinking about making another batch of them in a different pattern. We'll see if I have time before the deadline.

I had actually hoped to finish them today, but the wind died down, so it was a good day to take some photos. I managed to get a few things listed in both the BeckyKay Designs and the She Made It! shops.

It's back to my job tomorrow, but Tuesday is Veterans' Day, and that means no work for me! I'll be working at home though. Probably finishing those Itsy Bitsy Bags.

Kindergarten Homework

The assignment was to take a turkey and disguise him so that he won't become this year's Thanksgiving dinner. Lil' Kay and I discussed at some length how we should hide our Tom Turkey. We talked about turning him into a shark and an owl. A dinosaur and a robot. Lil' Kay finally settled on turning him into a spider.

So, this afternoon, we set out to do just that. We got out the cardstock, pipecleaners and, of course, wiggly eyes. Fortunately, our turkey's body was already shaped similarly to a spider's, so we just covered it up with some black cardstock and added the identifying red hourglass to his back.

We camouflaged his tail by drawing a web design onto it. After attaching some pipecleaner legs and multiple wiggly eyes, the only problem was that his big turkey feet were still showing. We decided to go the easy route and simply cover them with some colorful fall leaves.

Fun kindergarten homework! I love getting the chance to work with Lil' Kay to make his ideas come to life. And it means I get to use up some of my supply stash!

In Search of Dinette Chairs

I had some extra time on my lunch break today, so I headed out to a couple local antique stores to see if I could track down some chairs for my new table. No luck on the chairs, but I do wish I'd had my camera with me to show you some of the treasures I found but didn't buy.

At the second shop I went to, I told them what I was looking for and the shopkeeper gave me the key to their warehouse behind the store. I went back there and poked around a bit, but didn't find exactly what I was looking for. I did find a set of super bright turquoise floral print chairs that looked straight out of 1976, but I knew Mr. Kay would kill me if I brought those home. I loved them, but he'd think they were the ugliest thing he'd ever seen.

Someday, I'm going to have my own house that I can decorate any way I want. I'm not planning to ditch the husband, but wouldn't it be cool to have my own crafting house?

Anyway, back to the chair search. I found a great set, but they came with a table. I hoping that somewhere, I'll be able to find a set without a table. Or even several different individual chairs. I have a feeling that I won't be getting the chairs this winter. Most likely, I'll have to stalk the auctions next spring and summer to find just the right thing.

Dear Santa

Halloween is over and the stores are starting to put out their Christmas decorations. Even though I feel like it's rushing it, it appears that Christmas will be here before we know it! Therefore, it's time to start making lists and work on my holiday shopping.

Last night, Lil' Kay was going through a toy catalog marking all of his "must have" Christmas items. (I know, totally materialistic, but he's 5.) I came across the perfect thing to add to my Christmas Wish List, too. Isn't it fabulous?

So, Santa, if you're reading this, you can get the Hello Kitty sewing machine here.

Today's the day! Be sure to get out and vote for your candidate! I actually voted on Friday. That early voting thing is so convenient! Even so, I saved my "I Voted" sticker so I could wear it again today. Yeah, I'm a dork...

I'm thinking supper tonight will be cake. We're either going to celebrate or drown our political sorrows. Either way, cake is a total necessity.

My new-to-me crafting table

My new-to-me crafting table, originally uploaded by BeckyKay Designs.

A few weeks ago, my cousin Kelly called me in the middle of the day to tell me she was at an estate sale and had found a table with my name written all over it. Did I want it?

She gave me a quick description, and I figured for $25, why not? She brought my table down to our family reunion yesterday, and Mr. Kay assembled it for me last night.

I am so stinkin' excited about this thing. I love its curvy legs and rounded ends. I love the bright yellow marbled top. I'm totally turning this into my new craft table. This is probably the last time that it will ever be completely cleared off!