Apologies

I'm so sorry for the hiatus. Unfortunately, it's going to have to go a bit longer.

At the moment, I'm swamped with other responsibilities and I'm getting absolutely no crafting done. Additionally, we're discussing some administrative items amongst the group, so there may be some changes in the near future. My hope is that everything will calm down by next week and we can get back to crafting.

Thanks for your patience. Sorry about the radio silence. We'll be back late next week.

-Amanda

Mini Rat Cage

The cage is miniature, not the rats. Yes, those exist.

So, I'm getting a new rat in about a month, and I needed a separate cage for her to live in for the first few weeks, before I start socializing her with my other two. There is a common method people use for making a spare cage (often referred to as a hospital tank, because it's also used when a rat is sick and needs to be separated from the colony.) It's also a great travel cage, because it's so light, has built-in handles, and it's spill-proof.

It's fairly simple. You start with a plastic bin. Cut out the top, and insert an appropriately-sized piece of chicken wire.


The chicken wire is kept in place with wire tied through holes I drilled in the top.



I drilled some small holes in the side for the water bottle. Two small holes for its wire hanger and one large one for the nozzle to go through. This part was a little trickier because the tub is made of a sturdier plastic than the lid, so there was a danger of it cracking. I did get one small crack, but it didn't go very far, so I'm not too concerned about it.


That's it! Now I have a spare cage for my new rat when she arrives in February. I'm very excited. I'll post pictures when I have the new rat and the cage is furnished.

More crafting news later in the week.

Han Solo Belt: research & materials

I finally borrowed someone's camera, and so it's here! The first Han Solo Belt entry, as promised!

As I think I mentioned before, Alex is helping me with this project. More than just a little, it's pretty much a joint project at this point.

The first step in the process was research. I stared at photos of Han Solo Belts for hours before I even called Alex up. He sat with me while I fast-forwarded through A New Hope, trying to get screenshots of Han facing away, so we could see the back of the belt. Yeah, it was pretty intense.

I finally found a few informative source photos that I decided to go with.

This is one of my favorites.

The strength of this photo is that you get to see the whole layout of the main belt section, and it's continuous. It's a replica, but I'm finding more and more that the replicas out there are very trustworthy. As it turns out, most crafters are as obsessed with accuracy as I am!

I also have some photos of the actual prop from the films:



I found these at the amazing Original Prop Blog, which is a phenomenal resource that I've barely begun to use yet. There's so much material to read, and I have so little time!

Okay so down to the materials. Alex had me drive way out to the leather-working shop where he gets all his supplies. It's called Russell Farms (it would appear they don't have a website). The hilarious thing about this place is that they're a farm. They process people's deer meat. They sell leather and leather-working supplies, but their usual clientele is hunters. Alex loves this place. But he is not their usual clientele. Observe:

You would be forgiven for thinking he only dresses this way SOME of the time. But you would also be wrong.

So, with the help of the very friendly lady who works there, we were able to buy the leather we need for the belt.

A strap for the main belt, a large piece of scrap leather for the holster, and some medium-brown leather dye.

Here is the scrap leather, with my foot for size reference.

There was some controversy as to whether the holster is one piece or two. If it's one continuous piece, this scrap leather - despite being the largest piece they had - wouldn't be big enough. But, Val brought a few photos of various replicas to my attention. Here's a good one:

(projecthro.com)

See the rivets across the top of the part where the blaster sits? It's a separate piece of leather. It's still large, though, so it's going to be a squeeze. I think we need to go back and get another piece of scrap for the pockets on the main belt, so that this large piece can be used entirely for the holster.

So, there you have it! Of course, all of my crafting is on hold over the holiday. I don't anticipate having anything new for you next week. I'll be far too busy this weekend catching up with family, and spending every spare moment getting my January applications together and ready to submit.

Everyone have a lovely holiday, and we'll be back late next week!

British Scarves

Ok, so my thinly veiled hint earlier turned out to be a boldfaced lie. I need to find a decent camera and/or a person to take photos before I can do my Shman Shmolo Shmelt entry. Luckily, I have some other crafting news to hold you over until then!

I have two projects coming up that have 2 things in common: they're both scarves, and they're both about series' that were started in England. I guess the British just know what they're doing when it comes to sci fi/fantasy knitting projects.

I'm speaking, of course, about Harry Potter and Doctor Who.

Really my Harry Potter announcement is more of a quick note. I'm going to get the ol' crimson-and-yellow yarn out again and try to fill the shop with the ever popular Harry Potter scarves. What I would like to know from you is, what do you want to see? Which house colors do you prefer? Are there other knitted items you'd like to have in the house colors? Perhaps some Slytherin Socks?

I have to say, I absolutely love Gini's hats. I love that the colors are quieter than my scarves. It's like her hats are for the more reserved HP fan, whereas my scarves are more the shout-it-from-rooftops variety.


So, leave a comment on this entry and tell us what HP gear you'd like us to make for you!

In other iconic-scarves-inspired-by-British-fiction news, I recently happened upon a couple of wonderful websites dedicated to the accurate recreation of the Doctor Who scarf, worn by Tom Baker.

As it turns out, there are a few different versions of the scarf (essentially one for each season of the show when Tom Baker was on), and various patterns floating around the internet for each one. The lovely ladies at the websites I found have done some phenomenal research and provide resources for making your own Doctor Who scarf, including color matching for selecting good yarns, several patterns, and tutorials to help with the knitting techniques used in the patterns.

I'm going to keep digging, familiarize myself with the patterns, and then go on the epic search for yarn. I hope to make myself a Doctor Who scarf, so I can wear it to conventions and post it as a commissionable item in the Etsy shop. This is no small project, it should take some time. But It's exciting because knitting is a craft I'm already familiar with, so I feel I can tackle something of this scale with confidence.

Guys, this scarf is enormous. This is going to be awesome. I'll definitely keep you updated on the progress of this project.

In the meantime, check out those websites, and as long as I've got you commenting on this entry, vote on your favorite scarf. Which season do you like best? I haven't picked which one I'm going to knit yet.

In The Meantime

Hi guys! I've got a few great entries lined up for you, but first I just wanted to call your attention to an amazing giveaway on one of my favorite blogs, Daddy Likey.

I mentioned Winona in an entry a while back, and I just want to re-iterate how awesome this woman is. She's hilarious, her blog is fantastically fun, informative and down-to-earth, and of course she's putting on this ridiculously awesome giveaway to promote her new book.

If you're a sneaky, clever reader, you'll realize that one of the ways to get an extra entry into the drawing is to blog about it. So yes, I am totally pimping out NT for a hot minute here. But I promise you, I have wonderful news later today pertaining to an exciting craft that may rhyme with Shman Shmolo Shmelt...

Stay tuned for that. But in the meantime, head over to Daddy Likey to check out the giveaway!

Bento Boxes

I haven't had much time lately for official crafting, but I did take a minute this weekend to treat myself to a hobby I haven't indulged in in a while: making bento boxes.

Brandon was in town for the weekend, and I like to pack him a lunch for Monday at work when he's in town. I decided to throw together some traditional bento recipes, with a bit of a twist.

You may remember my spicy carrot salad recipe from back at my old craft blog (the imported entry is here.) It's one of my favorite bento staples. It's very salty and spicy, so it adds a bit of zing to a mostly-white-rice bento.

I was out of sesame seeds this time, so I didn't add any. But it was still yummy.

Then I tried a couple new things. Firstly, I have some homemade cole slaw in the house, which is new. Brandon showed me how to make it, it's way easier than I thought. In any case, I usually use yogurt as a creamy balance to all the salty soy sauce-based dressings I make. But I found this time that cole slaw works wonderfully!

Lastly, I wanted something with a bit of tang. Brandon doesn't like plain hard boiled eggs, so I knew I had to marinate them in something, so I used red wine vinegar. It gave the egg a lovely pink color, which contrasted beautifully with the yolk once the egg was cracked open. However, I don't think I marinated them long enough. Lessons for next time.

Here is the completed bento!

So, there's green peas for nutrition and color. And that's rice seasoning on the rice for flavor and color. And some chocolate gold coins for Channukah in the corner.

It turned out really well. I loved the balance of colors and flavors. I just need to do it again, fix my mistakes from this time, and make it PRETTY! I'll post a photo when I have a more professional version of this bento.

Back to crafting soon, I promise!

Apologies

Hey guys! I know it's been a while. It's been busy around here with the holidays and preparing for Gini to move in, and honestly I haven't gotten ANY crafting done for a while.

I just wanted to pop in and let you know that we're not dead, we will have new projects for you soon, and also, Happy Channukah!

Bundle up, it's cold out there! We'll be back in a bit with more geeky crafts. ^_^

Personal News and a bit of Crafting

Hello again! I'm sorry I didn't do the Wednesday update last week. I'm glad to see Alex had plenty of crafting news to make up for it. The explanation for my hectic week is pretty simple, Brandon got a job in Ann Arbor and we moved him into an apartment out there. Also, my brother Max passed the bar and I drove home to attend his court ceremony! Everyone is moving forward, it's an exciting time all around.

After Brandon moved out, I wasn't quite sure if he brought his camera with him or left it behind, and now I can't find it. So, this week's photos were taken with my cell phone. I apologize for the poor quality.

My next big project is Gini's graduation announcement cards. She asked for a big "W" for Western Michigan, and something to show that she's a biology major. She's into plants, botany is kind of her thing. So I chose vines.

This is the sketch I did on trace paper

Wow. These photos are worse than I thought. I need to find that camera. Sorry guys.

Here is the linoleum all inked up, ready to be carved.

I may change the placement and size of the leaves as I go, some of them are a bit off. But other than that, I just gotta chug away and get it done. I'm really happy with how it has turned out so far.

Another big project I've got going right now is cleaning out the spare bedroom in my apartment, because there is a possibility that after graduation next month, Gini might be moving in with me! It will be nice to have someone else around, now that Brandon is gone. It's pretty quiet around here.

The first step in cleaning the house was getting my vintage hats up on the wall, and out of the way. Every time I moved stuff, they were getting crushed. Plus I just love how they look on the wall all together.

Again, sorry for the photo quality.

After I get Gini's graduation announcements printed and my apartment cleaned, I can focus on the next big step for Nimble Toad, which is Marmalade Dog 15 here at WMU. We had a company meeting a while back, and we all agreed that this is a big milestone for us, so we're each trying to move our crafts and inventories more in the direction of cosplay and gaming genres.

My big decision on this front is how much I'm going to continue with block prints and knitting, and how much time I want to dedicate to learning other, more useful crafts. By more useful, I mean more relevant to - what else? - my favorite geeky genre, Star Wars. After giving a small pep talk to the group about finding a genre, a product, or a craft that they can do constantly and never tire of, I had an epiphany. That genre for me is Star Wars.

So I've decided to take a crack at prop replicas. My first project is Han Solo's belt. Alex is just lately getting into leather working, so he said he would help me with this project. We met for a while yesterday to look at source photos and come up with a game plan.

It's a surprisingly complex item, but essential to any Han Solo costume.

I think this is a great item to offer, because the rest of the costume (excluding the blaster, of course) is relatively easy to make yourself, but not everyone can just whip up a leather belt, and serious cosplayers will want to avoid pleather or other less realistic alternatives.

I really hope this project works out. It's opened up a whole new world for me in crafting. I'm very excited to dive into star wars props, and I'm definitely glad to have Alex by my side while I'm doing this. He is just as obsessed with accuracy and durability as I am, which I think are qualities any cosplayer can appreciate.

I'll be sure to take 'in-progress' photos once we have materials. This is a big project for me, and I definitely want to document the process.

That's all for this week! I'll take photos once I start printing Gini's graduation announcements.

Quick Note

Hi! Yes, I know. Yesterday was Wednesday, and still no update. I'm sorry. This week is particularly hectic. I won't bore you with the details, but rest assured that I literally haven't been near my computer in over 48 hours.

I need to start working on sketches for Gini's graduation announcements, so I will post about that as soon as I have photos.

That is all! Bedtime!

Company Meeting

Hello! I hope everyone is having a lovely Wednesday.

Today I have a few announcements. Unfortunately, this will be a text-heavy post, but I've asked the other members to do some photo-dump entries soon to make up for it. Alex and Kittie kindly volunteered.

Last week we had a meeting to discuss the company's future and to set some goals for the shop, and for our individual crafts. It was very successful, I think we set some exciting goals for Nimble Toad.

Firstly, I have a small announcement. Kelli is now a part-time member. She has a very hectic schedule at the moment, so this arrangement should be a much better fit. All this really means for you is that Kelli may not be as available for commission items, so be sure to leave lots of time and always message us ahead of time to find out when we are available to take commissions. This way there will be less pressure on Kelli, and she can craft on her own schedule.

So, the main purpose of our meeting - as I said - was to set goals. As we chatted about conventions, advertising, and merchandise, I put together a quick list.

I know, not a wonderful photo. Sorry.

First of all, know that this is by no means an exhaustive list. Secondly, notice how much blank space there is! That's room for more goals. ^_^

So, the first big company-wide goal is to have a booth at Marmalade Dog 2010, which is a small gaming convention here in Kalamazoo, at WMU. It's in late March.
Then, we hope to attend JFax and Youmacon, possibly the following year. We also discussed business cards, fliers, and advertising on other blogs.

These goals certainly set up a busy timetable for us, since we need to have a good inventory of geeky merchandise in order to attend these conventions. And of course, merchandise goals took up the rest of the conversation, as we each have goals for our individual portions of the shop. I won't bore you with the details right now, but you will definitely see more of this later.

The overall goal here is to change the shop's direction. At first we were just gaining our bearings, so we posted whatever crafts we had. But now we want to start focusing more heavily on cosplay and gaming-related items. Hopefully you'll notice the difference over the coming months!

Well, that's all for now. You've got some photo-dump entries to look forward to over the next few days!

Val's First Sale!

This is Amanda. I'd like to send out a hearty congratulations to Val for selling her adorable winter cowl in the Etsy shop!

Congratulations, Val! Isn't that cowl so cute?

Women I Admire

I want to go a bit off topic this week. I know I did a 'blog love' entry a while back, but it was so hastily thrown together, I don't think it really did them justice.

Every now and then, when I'm sitting back and daydreaming about all my various goals in life and current projects, I go to some of my favorite blogs and I whine at Brandon about how badly I want to be just like the women who write them. All of them! It would take a lot of energy, I don't know if anyone could be all these women at once, they all work so hard at what they do. And they're all so accomplished. In short, these are the blogs that make me drool!

Of course I have to start with the famous Megan Hunt of Princess Lasertron. She was one of the first bloggers I discovered back when Val had me browsing Weddingbee.com for wedding ideas. She makes these amazing, funky bouquets out of felt and vintage buttons. The cool selling point is that they're unique, but they're not 'weird,' so they won't freak out your grandma, but you can still have a wedding that's all you. What's amazing is that her style keeps evolving, she's really refining her product and expanding her brand. She's fantastically business-savvy, and has the same quirky style as I have. I'll admit, I've modeled more than a bit of the business side of Nimble Toad after Princess Lasertron's example.

Did I mention I'm in love with her wedding gown? She's releasing an original line next year. I'm SO excited.

But of course original crafts aren't my only love. You guys have seen a bit of my vintage fetish here on the blog. And one of my favorite Etsy vintage sellers is Solanah of Vixen Vintage. She LIVES the lifestyle. I mean, it's unbelievable, she absolutely surrounds herself in vintage wares. And she has the figure for it, too. Which comes in handy, I'm sure, because she's the model for her shop as well. Her photographs are so professional and polished, but very informative about the piece she's showing, and a little artsy and a little sexy as well. She really strikes the right balance. Solanah's photos embody exactly what I strive for with my product photos in our Etsy shop. And good lord she has a fantastic selection.

This is a little embarassing, but I also strive to get my hair to curl just like hers. We have very similar hair, and she does some truly fantastic things with hers.

Next up is Ki Nassauer of Junk Camp. She refers to herself as a 'junker,' and she's started a whole new trend, both in style and in crafting. She goes to flea markets, junk shows (I never knew there was such a thing!) and antique shows to find old throw-away junk that she can transform into new and wonderful things. Her mantra is "forget what it was, think what it could be!" and she has some truly inspired, creative and hilarious crafts. She's inspired me to shop cheap, and make it myself whenever possible, and it's because of her blog that I find myself looking at junk in a totally different way.

Of course there's always the wonderful Maki of JustBento! As you guys have seen before, I love bento boxes. It's a healthy way to eat, and a fun little way to be creative with my food. And of course, I love Japanese food! Maki shares recipes, special diet advice, bento gear and kyaraben decorating tricks on her blog. I got all my favorite bento recipes from JustBento.

Check out her adorable logo!

Aaah yes, Winona of Daddy Likey. Guys, this chick is hilarious. I'm serious, she absolutely kills me. I don't generally read fashion blogs, but Daddy Likey doesn't read like a fashion blog. Winona writes her blog like her readers are actually her closest friends, and she often treats them like they are. She's full of silly anecdotes from her life, sometimes totally unrelated to fashion - but always worth it. What's fantastic is that her brand of humor is really similar to mine. She's goofy, and knows how to play it up just right. I only hope I could be half as funny as her. I seriously want to hang out with her some day, she just sounds like an absolute blast.

And she has a book out!

Lastly, but definitely not least is my good friend Leslie from The Curious Adventures of Inkhat. Leslie is one of Val's best friends from college. She's a poet - no, seriously, she's studying poetry in grad school. And she's quite the wordsmith. Her blog follows her adventures in grad school, and it's full of wonderful, creative anecdotes and thoughts about her classes, her friends, and her pets, as well as products, movies and albums that she likes. Her writing is clever, inspired, poetic and entertaining. And she reads our blog, too!

I wasn't sure if she'd be embarassed, so I grabbed one of her famous wallpapers instead.

So, when I'm lazing around in front of my computer, I often pull up entries from these blogs and complain to Brandon about how I want to be just like all these women... all at the same time. Sounds exhausting. I'd be pretty darn cool, though.

What are some of your favorite blogs?

Hectic Week

They say you shouldn't spend too much time on your blog apologizing for not posting, but I still think that every once in a while, it's necessary. I'm really sorry, but I haven't done anything even remotely crafty this week. I'm very tied up in grad school applications. But soon I hope to get back to knitting and linoleum carving, so I can have lots of lovely crafts to share with you!

I do have one small bit of news. Since I posted my commission piece in the Etsy shop - the batch of 50 personalized cards - I got 2 internal orders. One from Gini and one from Kittie. Gini wants me to make invitation cards for her graduation party. And Kittie tells me that next year she will be needing thank-you cards for her wedding! So, while we still only have 2 sales on the Etsy shop itself, our members are making external sales as well.

Perhaps I'll ask Alex to give us an update on how his Ren Faire adventure went.

Ancient History

Brandon and I went to visit my family a few weekends ago, and while at my mom's house, I picked up some of my old linoleum block prints. I thought I'd share them with you.

I first learned to carve linoleum about 2 1/2 years ago, in an art class in college. The final assignment for the class was to make a book (I hope to get more seriously into bookbinding as Nimble Toad grows) and fill it with some of our favorite techniques from the class. The book had to be cohesive somehow, not just a random collection of drawings. So, I decided to tell a story with pictures. The book included four block prints.

I tried to use the background texture to punctuate the actual picture.

The book tells the story of a girl falling asleep in class and dreaming about various things, including ninjas and Jedis.

This is one of my favorite charcoal drawings.

I used the theme of writing words related to the dream being illustrated across the page. It fulfilled the requirement of demonstrating my pen-and-ink skills. I know, it's kind of a cop-out to just write with the pen instead of draw, but I really disliked pen-and-ink.

Hilariously enough, I posed for a photo so I had something to go off of when doing that charcoal drawing:

Yes, I own Jedi robes.

Here are some of the block prints on the page:

Here she is, after waking up with a start at the end of class. She's a bit embarrassed.

The really exciting thing about finding these old prints was being reminded that there is a third type of linoleum! I've been struggling with beginners linoleum, which is too soft and too flexible, but can be cut into small pieces (which is great for the kind of work I do) and regular linoleum which has the right firmness, but is mounted on a wooden backing, which makes it impossible to cut (except with a band saw, which I do not want to bother with).

Check out the backing on the linoleum from my art class:

It's woven!

This is perfect! It's firm and sturdy, but it can still be cut down into smaller pieces. I need to find out where I can buy this. Does anybody have any advice for me? I'm going to send my old art professor an email right away. ^_^

Have a good week. Happy crafting.

The Materials I Use

Amanda Here. I would like to start off by making a small announcement. I have finally decided that Wednesdays will be our blog update day. You can now expect a new entry every week, every Wednesday! This is something I really should have done a long time ago. I'm sorry it took us so long to get our act together.

This doesn't mean we will ONLY update once a week. There will be occasional bonus posts, but you can expect one post every Wednesday at the very least.

We're currently in the middle of a big push to get the shop cleaned up and full of new merchandise. Our next big project is designing our business cards. After we all have a nice stash of business cards ready, we're going to be tackling advertising in a big, new way. I'm very excited for it. So, hopefully you'll be seeing lots of little changes around here, and things should start running more smoothly! Starting with weekly blog updates.

Since I don't have any big projects going at the moment, I thought I'd take this week to give you a sort of walking tour of some of the materials I use on a regular basis. First is a new product that I'm very excited about: Padding Compound.

Padding compound is painted on the top of a stack of paper, then allowed to dry. It turns into the rubbery top of the notepad. It's strong and durable, but the individual pages can tear away easily. It can also be used for bookbinding. You just paint it on the spine of the signatures, then apply a piece of cheese cloth between the layers for extra strength.

I have only just recently started using Padding Compound, so I can't provide any product reviews yet. Lithco seemed to be a common brand when I was shopping around. So far, I'm still getting my bearings. I'll let you know how things are going when I've had some more experience with it.

Something I've been using for a number of years, however, are my Speedball linoleum cutters.

I actually have two. The one pictured has 'safety blades' that curl back in on themselves to prevent injury. The other set (which are MIA at the moment) are straight. It's easier on your wrists, but there is a potential for accidents to happen.

Speedball is sort of the standard brand for linoleum-related crafts. I buy my cutters, ink, ink rollers and linoleum from them. I've been keeping my eye on other fancy tools sold by Speedball. The issue is that most of the tools that aid in the printing process are large compared to the size of prints I make. My prints are mainly small and decorative, so I do all my printing by hand. It's easier to handle the prints that way, and it leaves less margin for error.

And then there's knitting! My grandmother gave up knitting a few years ago, because her artheritis was really starting to bother her. She sent me up to her craft room with a plastic bag, and I came back with a whole mess of knitting needles:

Some of them are from Indonesia, some from Canada, and some I bought myself here in Michigan. So, that needle sizer is a necessity, not a luxury.

The collection is sort of haphazard. My grandma didn't keep them very organized. But they do the trick. I just have to make sure and compulsively size my needles before starting any new project. It is nice to have variety, though. I certainly thank my grandma for my ability to knit diverse patterns, without running back to the craft store constantly!

That's all I've got for this week. You can look forward to a post from Val next Wednesday!

Shop Item: Personalized Note Cards

Amanda here. I'm really excited about posting my first paper craft item in the Etsy shop. I decided to take a previous craft I did for Val's wedding and post it as a commission item. I'm especially excited to have used some of the best photos I've taken for this blog.

Remember this?

You can view the Etsy posting by clicking here.

I'm excited to be getting back into paper crafts. I hope to continue to post more of them in the future. Next on my list: personalized notepads!

Final Logo Design

I got the final version of the Nimble Toad logo and banner from Melissa a while back, but life has been so hectic lately, I didn't get around to opening the file until today. You've already seen the banner, now it's time to unveil the Logo. I am very excited to present to you the Nimble Toad official logo:

There he is! In all his nimbe-toed glory.

I'm so excited about this logo. It's perfect. It's simple and clean, but still playful and fun. And it has a solid, recognizable silhouette so I can make block prints of it, or we could stitch it into our products, or make Nimble Toad tote bags! I've got a million ideas for this little guy.

But none of them would be possible without the lovely Miss Melissa VanVaerenbergh, who designed him. I want you to hop on over and check out her blog right now, she is a wonderfully talented illustrator and graphic designer. Thank you Melissa, for your hard work on this beautiful design.

I'm so pumped to get started designing our business cards!

Logo Announcement!

Amanda here.

Sorry I've been so absent. I've been busy moving and starting my new job. I'm glad to see the rest of the team is picking up the slack for me while I'm gone. There are a bunch of new blog posts, and the Etsy shop is filling up fast! There is lots of exciting crafting going on around here, and I have exciting news to commemorate it!

The last missing piece we've been waiting on to make Nimble Toad a legitimate company is its logo. We commissioned illustrator and dear friend Melissa VanVaerenbergh of Two For Joy Studios to design our logo and site banner. She sent me an almost-final-draft yesterday and as you can see, it is at the top of the blog as well as the Etsy shop! When she's all done polishing it and fiddling with details, I'll post the final version. But I just couldn't wait that long.

As you can see, I've also been fiddling with the site layout. I'm afraid this isn't my forte, so I will probably ask the other members to give it a try until we find something we like. So, expect a lot of change around here for a while.

And while you're at it, check out the shop! There's new merchandise every day. In case I haven't linked it enough, here it is again.

Happy crafting. ^_^

Announcements from Amanda's personal life

I've got a few announcements for you guys, starting with one big one:

I'M AN AUNT! My stepsister had a beautiful baby girl last Sunday! She's adorable and has a TON of deep brown hair. I can't wait to see her. I live three hours away, so I haven't had a chance to come see her yet. All I get are photos, for now.


Ok, now for the small stuff: I got a job! Moreover, it's the job I wanted! I've been trying to get a job at the local hospital for a long time.

This won't be the first time I've worked there. I did my Psychology Practicum there a year ago. It was a really fun and enlightening experience, I learned a lot, and I found out that I love working in a hospital setting. And - as you saw in the above picture - I got to wear scrubs, check it out:

I was so excited to wear scrubs. I got to carry a clipboard, too!

I even went out and bought a long-sleeve dark blue top to wear under my scrubs, so I could look like Elliot Reid from Scrubs.

Or, you know. A huge nerd. Whichever.

But this time around, I'll be working in the Food Services department, delivering trays to patients in their rooms. And I think it would be a little unsettling to have your food delivered by someone wearing scrubs. So instead, I get to wear this classy ensemble:

Ta-da! Has a bit of a stewardess look to it, don't you think?

I know, I know. The uniform is dorky. But it's okay, because it's an important job and I'm really excited to start.

So, the other bit of 'small stuff' personal news is related: Since I have a job, and can stay in Kalamazoo, Brandon and I have decided to move in together! We're moving into an apartment next week. Once we're all moved in, I'll post some pictures for you guys. ^_^


That's all for now! I've got some great crafting updates coming soon. I just have to find time to take photos. My house is full of boxes, it's a mess...

Personal Bios

Okay, Here's something a little more substantial than my curly hair to keep you amused while we're away. I went to the Etsy shop and FINALLY added our personal bios in the shop announcement!

Check it out and let us know what you think. Sitting back and reading the bios, I'm really impressed with the diversity of talent in our group. I hope these little paragraphs help people to feel inspired to commission us for a variety of personalized items!

Things sure are getting exciting around here...