My friend Rose

Have I told you about my internet friend Rose? She is finishing up her school year. She has taught High School science for years (AP chemistry, if I remember right). She is getting ready to start organic farming, interested in bee keeping, and has two boys and a husband. She also has two Etsy shops and is co-owner of another. She keep busy all of the time.  What caught my eye today are her wonderful hair clips and ties. The colors are intense, bright, and summery. Well, pictures are worth a thousand words so here are a few shots of her beautiful work.

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Rose seems to be working all the time.

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Her Etsy shops are http://www.etsy.com/shop/Rotifera and http://www.etsy.com/shop/sewecological. The paper shop that she shares with Cris is http://www.etsy.com/shop/TwoPaperAddicts. Rose sews the most amazing rick rack roses that she puts on hair clips.

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Rose is also a team leader for the Easl team or Etsy Artisans Success League team (http://www.etsy.com/teams/9712/etsy-artisans-success-league-easl) on Etsy.  Rose works really hard to help everyone around her be successful and I just wanted to say thank you. Thanks, Rose for all that you do!

Karen

 

 

 

Woohoo!

A new blanket for the Chocolate Dog Studio shop! This is toddler/child sized. It is pearl grey, purple and red.

 

Photo Feature! Wild Applause

 





This is the Etsy shop Wild Applause. You can find them here http://www.wildapplause.etsy.com. This is a great Etsy shop run by two sisters.  Their items are beautiful and as individual as they are. They have been open since Sept. of 2011. They have fingerless gloves and bracelets in a wide variety of colors to suit any taste.

Talk to you later!

Karen

Tools from PhotosPast

The tools of the trade in these pictures remind me of my Grandparents and the tools that they used everyday. Well, maybe not everyday. Grandma certainly used an egg beater like this one. I am sure that they had lanterns like this. I remember my Dad having a drill like the one pictured. I tried using it once. He also had an oilcan. It is amazing what a few years can do to give everyday tools nostalgia.



 



 



Just a few tools of the trade. These items are from the Etsy shop PhotosPast. This is just a drop in the bucket of the wonderful vintage finds available at PhotosPast. You may see the rest of them here: http://www.photospast.etsy.com.

Talk to you later,

Karen

 

All Soap IS Not created Equal!

We are zooming back in time to the point when shower gels started to come on the market. In fact they were so new that manufacturers were sending samples out to the shower gel poor. I received one of these wondrous samples. I had just had child number two and income was at an all time low. Free was wonderful and any showering I did was super quick and any new soap invention that added pampering to my day was magnificent. I felt re-created, a new being, a Mom able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.....or at least able to fix lunch for the three of us still at home. Flash forward to about seven years ago when I was given a wonderful shower gel set by a well known soap shop. It was a relaxing scented set and I loved it, I loved the lather, the scent, the whole shower experience.  I stepped out of the shower relaxed and ready to get four children into the van with everything they needed and off to school. I would teach art to classrooms of children and get up the next day and do it again. THEN I was introduced to handmade soaps....and...it revolutionized the whole shower thing all over again. It totally changed the whole shower thing all over again. I am seeing why bathrooms have easily become the largest room in the whole house, with such lovely bath products; HOW can you not spend hours in there every day. This past Christmas I treated two of the men in my house to these wonderful hand made soaps and I think that I have created a monster. :0)

This is their favorite. It is called Zinger and is scented with citrus, fresh peppermint, eucalyptus and jasmine petals.



It is a pleasant scented soap that my teenage boy and 20 something son loved.



This one would be the one I buy next for them.  It is scented with the cinnamon, clove, vanilla musk and mulberry and hints of cassia root, eucalyptus, amber, fir balsam, pine and cedar. These wonderful handmade soaps are from Delicate by Nature at Etsy. They create bath and body products that are dye free and made without artificial fragrances. The shop is run by two sisters and each product is made and tested by their friends and family. Check out their shop on Etsy at http://www.delicatebynature.etsy.com.

Talk to you later,
Karen

NHQuiltarts!

It is no secret that I love fabric. I come from a long line of fabric lovers. My Mom knows where fabric stores are in towns she hasn't lived in for 20+ years. She might not know her way around the town, but she knows where the fabric stores are. It is all in your priorities.  My Aunts are the same; very creative people with fabric and needles.  Our girls had no chance of not loving fabric. since both of their Grandma's love to sew. They have given the girls countless bits of fabric, taught them to sew and spent time investing in their sewing future.

Ok, now that you know that we are staunch fabric a holics. The one path that I haven't really travelled is that of quilting. I would love to quilt, in fact I am cutting one out right now. I have been cutting it out for a couple of months......The problem is that I want to quilt like this:



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Reality always hits me when I look at Nancy's quilts at NHQuiltarts. She has been sewing quilts and teaching quilting for 27 years.  She also creates the most beautiful wall hangings. I love this pink hydrangea.



As you browse through Nancy's etsy shop you will be stunned at the variety of styles, colors and items. There is a wide variety and truly something for everyone. She uses quality fabrics and creates a one of a kind use-able artwork that will last several lifetimes. Stop by her etsy shop  http://www.nhquiltarts.etsy.com and let her know that I sent you by. I am going to keep plugging along and finish my quilt but I will never compete with Nancy. What I sew will simply be for family!

Talk to you later,

Karen

 

 

Etsian Feature: Two Paper Addicts

The Etsy shop:TwoPaperAddicts is the brainchild of Rose and Cris, two etsy friends who became cross country best friends, and who both have a serious addiction to anything paper. Rose lives in Michigan and teaches high school literature, chemistry and biology full time. She has two young boys who keep her busy, and a husband. Cris lives in Colorado. She retired from Corporate America where she taught time management among other things and has forgotten everything she knew!! She has a husband and two yellow labs who try to tell her she is on Etsy too much.

Much of the above I borrowed directly from their shop profile on Etsy! :0) They are teammates of mine on the EASL team  which stands for Etsy Artisans Success League. They both have separate shops of their own. They sell such lovely paper goodies.

Like these:



 





These are just a few of their lovely items. Stop by and say hi and that you saw their wonderful paper goodies on Chocolate Dog Studio.

Thanks,

Karen