Peaceful Nativity Cone

Peaceful Nativity Cone
Originally uploaded by misseskwittys.

Hello Readers. I see time has gotten away from me again! LOL I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Ours was very nice, my hubby cooked up another of his wonderful turkeys with all the trimmings! Yeah!

I have been keeping busy with lots of new and old crafting, the ornaments are selling very well and I have to keep remaking a lot of them--which is great! I also have been working on some new items...pop into my Etsy shop and see what's new. I just listed this paper cone ornament today. The last craft fair that I did had a booth selling vintage stuff and they also were selling little bags of the old-fashion mica flakes! Yeah! I had been looking for that for a long time, so I was thrilled. I did this paper cone and added the vintage Nativity scene and applied the mica all around the image. It looks wonderful in person! I really tried to get a good picture of it, but the mica just shows up like a blur in the pics, bummer! Oh well, this is listed in my Etsy shop, along with a few other new items--Please swing by and get your eyes filled with Christmas goodness! LOL

Flowers and Dots Birdy Needlebook

Flowers and Dots Birdy Needlebook
Originally uploaded by misseskwittys.

Hello Readers! Are we feeling a little gray...feeling winter coming on? Well look at this little gal! If she doesn't cheer you up, I don't know what will! LOL Sometimes, when the drabness of this time of year gets to me, I like to work with colorful, cheerful fabrics and it can really perk me right up. I was down to 1 needlebook in my Etsy shop so I spent some time making a few new ones. These little birds and their bright, vintage colors ! I listed this one in my Etsy shop today and will be adding more over the next few days. I think these would make great gifts for people who sew or embroider...and for only $8!

Retro Cabin Style Car/Truck Trash Bag

Retro Cabin Style Car/Truck Trash Bag
Originally uploaded by misseskwittys.

Hello Readers. A cold, kind of dreary day here....hope things are a little brighter where you are. We can feel winter approaching quickly.

I just finished trying to get on Etsy again...I can log on OK but keep getting the timed out error message when I try to move around on there. It sure is taking them some time to get things running properly...but I would like to encourage any of you that have run into trouble there to keep trying! They will have things figured out very soon, I am sure! I am eager to continue my Christmas shopping, I have found so many beautiful and unique items there and I am very excited!

Here is that deer car/truck trash bag that I was telling you I was designing a long time ago! I finally got a batch of different colors and styles made, they have been doing pretty good at the craft fairs, and now I finally have the pics taken and loaded onto the comp, wheww!! LOL This one was listed in my Etsy shop yesterday, if you are interested. I totally fell in love with this 30's style fabric when I saw it at the quilt shop! and if it wasn't almost $9 a yard, I would be making a whole new set curtains for our cabin with it! But, I did get enough to make a few of these really nice car/truck trash bags. I really like the blue and the birch trees along with the beautiful bucks. I used the deer print for the center and bordered it with a retro looking brown print. A great gift idea for the guys who like hunting or the outdoors.

Big Hugs Santa

Big Hugs Santa
Originally uploaded by misseskwittys.

Hello Readers. Well, it's been a strange few days. Having Etsy down for several days and then there it is, all shiny and new, and then trying to be patient while they iron out all the wrinkles, lol! I have faith in them though, and think that the new Etsy is going to be great.
I went ahead and ordered a couple items today just so I could try out the new shopping cart and to be sure that I know how things work in case a customer has any questions for me. The shopping cart is wonderful! Yeah! It is nice to be able to have all the business part of the shopping all in one place, and the check out was nice too. You still have to pay each artist individually, but they make it nice and easy for you to do.
I just went and tryed to list this loveable, huggy Santa, but things are a little slow right now and I kept timing out. I think I might try again after I pick up the kids from Religous Ed class. But anyhow....you get the first peek at him! C'mon....give Santa a big hug! lol This turned out to be a very labor intensive project, but the end product seems to be worth it. He is actually a stuffed doll, made with felt, which I had to stiffen after the doll was put together. It took several coats of the stiffener with drying time in between, then a couple painting coats, then the gimp was applied, and the gold painting done. Then I had to attach his beard and put on his face, lol. Last, but not least, he got a glittery gold star to hold. If you are interested in having him for your very own, check Etsy either later tonight or tomorrow some time.

Jack on the Box

Jack on the Box
Originally uploaded by misseskwittys.

Hello Readers. I have had an idea in my head for a long time to do a jack-in-the-box type decoration...well, I finally sat down and did one! I am a big fan of the vintage style and really wanted to do one in that white and old tinsel theme. I started with a little star paper mache box, a vintage satin christmas ball, and some antique sheet music...and just started putting it together, really without any specific plan in mind. Well, here is the finished product. I really like it and I put it on my Flickr and was surprised by all the compliments there! Yeah!! It was fun to make, and I really like this style, so don't be surprised if you see more items in this style coming from this gal. I have put this up for sale in my Etsy shop, so if you are so inclined....

I just checked the Etsy site and they are not quite up and running yet, but it should be soon. I am amazed by all that they had to do to transfer all that information from the old Etsy to the new. Wow! It would seem like such an insurmountable task. I am really looking forward to the new site. From what I saw during the sandbox trial and the walk through, it is going to look so good with all the bigger pics and the new layout AND I am really excited that they streamlined the buying process and added the shopping carts!!! Yeah! It should be so much easier for buying. I know that a lot of people were confused by the old method and were turned off. If you were one of those people, please stop back and have another try, I think you will be pleasantly surprised!!

Thanks for stopping in and have a great day.

Old Fashioned Red and White Love Ornaments

Old Fashioned Red and White Love Ornaments
Originally uploaded by misseskwittys.

Hello Readers. I had the cutest thing happen at the craft fair I did today. See the ornament here, the red heart that says LOVE? I made these ornaments as a special order for a customer, and I ended up with one extra red one. Well, I brought it to the fair today and stuck it on my little display tree with all the other ornaments. This darling little boy, about 8 years old, a cute little blondie with a couple teeth missing ( you know how cute that is! LOL ) came to my booth and looked my tree over, very intently...he actually spent quite a bit of time looking at everything. Then his mom came over, he whispered something in her ear, he went over and grabbed the LOVE ornament off the tree, and handed me the money. I put the ornament in a bag and thanked him, and then glanced over at his mom, and she looked like she was about to blow up! Her face was all red and her eyes looked a little watery, which I thought was pretty strange. The little boy got about 15 feet away and the mom all of a sudden just burst out laughing! "He's in love, " she informed me "and he wanted to get the perfect Christmas present for his sweetheart!". OK!!!!!! How sweet is that? It really made my day. :-} That, of course, is my favorite sale of all times!

Vintage Santa Christmas Memories Photo Album

Vintage Santa Christmas Memories Photo Album
Originally uploaded by misseskwittys.

Hello Readers. We are in the midst of a warm up! Yeah! It actually got up to about 50 degrees today and the sun was shining, felt so good! It's a little hard to think about Christmas on a day like this, but I managed to stick to it *lol*. I listed this photo album today. It hold 100 pics (up to 4" x 6"). I used a suede-like upholstery fabric for the main cover and added some decorative machine stitching and a nice vintage Santa image. This matches the Vintage Santa Beaded Ornament (look a couple posts down the line here on my blog) and I was thinking that it would be cool to wrap up this album, maybe with some old Christmas photos in it, and top the package with a big bow and the beaded ornament! Wouldn't that be a great gift? Yeah! This can be found at my Etsy shop...pop in and look around! Thanks.

Sunbonnet Sue with her little Kitty bagkeeper

Close-up
Originally uploaded by misseskwittys.

Hello Readers. Did everyone have a good weekend? I did a craft fair this weekend- by myself! The first time in about 5 or 6 years. I met a gal who owned a little gift/craft shop when I approached her one day to see if she wanted to carry any of my crafts in her shop. She agreed enthusiastically and had me bring stuff in right away! That was the beginning of a beautiful friendship, lol. Eventually, I ended up working in her shop, and we started doing the fairs together during the holiday seasons. This has been going on for a long time now. Well, she and her husband recently closed the gift shop and sold their home in town and moved out to their cabin about an hour from town. She is really a little too busy right now to handle a full fair schedule, so we only booked a couple shows together this year and I am left on my own to do any of the others that I want to do. I have to admit that it felt pretty strange to go and set up my display-just my stuff. I was actually worried that I would have a bare or boring looking table! NOT! lol I had plenty of product and ended up with a very attractive display (sorry Joni, of course I forgot my camera! ). I am going to try real hard to remember it this next weekend. Sales were pretty good, especially since it turned out to be a sale where the church ladies also had a bake sale and white elephant sale going at the same time, which we all know is not condusive to good craft selling. I have a sale this next weekend at one of the local schools...and those are usually really good ones! Yeah!
I have pictured here one of my newest bagkeepers...this one with a darling little Sunbonnet Sue taking her little kitty for a stroll. I did it up in red, white, and blue--so fresh and pretty! I just went to list it in my Etsy shop, but the site is acting up a bit tonight so I will give it a shot in the morning. Pop on in tomorrow and have a look around...there are some new items that I've listed...some new ornaments and stuff. Bye!