Kirsten Loves Dinner

And... I'm back!

2008-09-21T17:05:00.000-07:00

With new things that is. I've been oh so distracted over the summer, and now that I'm in school I've reverted back into worker bee mode.

I have a new custom offering in my shop that I'm completely in love with: Build your own Cowl/Scarflette ($30 and $26, respectively).

Step 1: Choose your yarn.

Step 2: Choose your buttons.

Step 3: Admire your totally awesome scarflette/cowl.

Neat, huh?
It feels great to be back.

So... this is what procrastination looks like.

2008-02-29T10:58:00.000-08:00

It's been FOREVER, I know. But when school starts, my crochetin' hands are focused on note taking. Not to mention, insomnia coupled with afternoon naps.

But, I'm very pleased with my new undertaking: Custom Kitty Beds! Completely personalized, you can choose the color of the main section of the bed, in addition to the edge. I add your kitty's name on a wee piece of canvas (which the color of course, is your choice as well). I already have some examples completed from what I've made for my own kitties (Minger & Perdita), along with what I've custom made for ones outside my family of pets (Binoo & Rocky). Hopefully the bed I made Perdita will distract her long enough to stop SCRATCHING THE HELL OUT OF ME! I was considering getting her those little nail covers, but the process of putting them on the little girl terrifies me more than dealing with her mood swings as of now. Whatever, that's for another post.

Anyway, I offer them in two sizes, Small and Large, $22 & $26 respectively.

Since this post deals with Kittehs, I thought I'd compile a list of my domesticated fans.

The Peach Tree's Kitty (ps: check out her awesome shop!)

Peter's fanciful cat

Tanya's Pup

Greytlife's Annie

and last but not least,
Jennifer's Rocky & Binoo

♥ Kirsten

It's Scarflette Season!

2007-12-03T09:18:00.000-08:00

Ok... am I the only one who thinks 60 degree weather is freezing? Well... it is. (actually... 32 degrees is freezing, but whatever).

I made a ton o' scarflettes to keep you warm without having to splurge on a giant scarf. Laying these under a sweater or coat accomplishes almost the same thing as a monster-sized scarf.

Just to name a few:

Large meadow Scarflette

Purple & White Scarflette

Royal Cameo Scarflette

Also, I made some mini-arm warmers, which I shall now call wrist warmers. They're perfect for layering and unbelievably soft.

First up, I have some grey (or gray--whatever suits your fancy) ones that are fluffy and even topped off with a wee bunny! I lined the outside with a white yarn, and overall I think these are awesome.

Next, I made some bamboo wrist warmers. How on earth do they make that yarn? I think I ask this question to myself every time I look at that yarn, though I don't google it. Which would probably take a whole 3 minutes to satisfy my curiosity... I still don't do it. I'm even discussing it with myself right now and I'm still not going to do it. Well, nevermind.

Until next time,
♥ Kirsten

It's finally cooling off!

2007-10-13T13:49:00.000-07:00

And since I've had my first break from school work this year, I've been working on creating some new scarves! Last winter, I worked on a few basic ones, and a few spiffy ones. But this season, they'll all by one of a kind! Just a quick preview:

Strawberry Fields Scarf

First off, zomg two of me! Secondly, this scarf rocks! It's long, stretchy, soft, breathable, chunky, and finished off with canvas tips! This baby can be worn tons of ways!

I find it strange that such a huge percentage of the things I make resemble food. Maybe it's because 90% of the time I'm an insatiable beast who needs her food.

Blue Cupcake Scarf

This here beauty has a cutout to hold her in place however you choose to wear it. I used a thick and super fluffy sky blue/navy alternating yarn. It's almost as delicious as the wee felt cupcake - which actually probably wouldn't be all that good to eat, so don't get any ideas. If you click that link up there, you'll see I've modeled a few ways to wear it.

Anyway, that's all for now. Hopefully I'll have more time in the future to look after my blog and even start featured different awesome Etsy-ers!

♥ Kirsten

Being a Busy Bee once again

2007-09-12T12:59:00.001-07:00

School is eating my time up alive. At the end of the day I end up an emotionally soggy mess from being spit back out of a monster's mouth. Crafting time as well as business time is lessening. I'm glad I worked so hard in the summer to build up my stock for the holiday season, because I don't seem to have all that much time as of now.

As for a recently finished project, I set up a Build Your Own Bag - Canvas edition.

I also completely a few larger canvas bags.

sigh

2007-08-17T15:49:00.001-07:00

I'm back after a loooooong break from blogging. I've been such a busy bee since I've had some free time this summer. I'm about ready to get back to school, so I thought I'd devote all my time to crafting.

I'm working on the canvas bottomed bags because I really like them. They may even be my favorite thing I've done on Etsy thus far.

I just finished three the other week, and one already sold.

I apologize for this monotone post.

♥ Kirsten

Makin' goodies!

2007-07-01T13:20:00.000-07:00

I thought it'd be nice to make some freebies for my customers who buy a medium to large amount of goods from me.

So far, that's all I've got, but I spent some extra care on them, so much care I couldn't love my pets as much as usual because I used all my kindness for the day on the goodies.

Obligatory Summer Sale

2007-06-29T22:25:00.000-07:00

Well since my shop keeps getting fuller and fuller, I'm having a huge sale to try to make room for my new recycle-themed collection that I'm about half way done with.

Sale prices are such:

• 10% off an order of $5 or more.
• 15% off $15+.
• 20% off $25+.
• 25% off $30+.

Check it.

Custom Orders

2007-06-24T03:35:00.001-07:00

...Make my world go 'round. I LOVE them. Tonight, whilst being restless and bored (Zombi 2 was on in the background and it didn't seem to captivate me as much as my BFF, Steve, thought it would).

So I made a collective image of all the custom orders I've done (16 out of my 61 sales).

Behold it's gloriousness.

Those amazingly lovely Etsy-ers included are: SadCinderella, quaintcandy, fmossthree, scottoandersen, karencat, muppetmusic22, telaine, pyralis, ueno, remarvin, Brights, prabbit22m, greytlife, and alacyt.

Thanks for keeping me busy guys.

ah hah!

2007-06-18T15:20:00.001-07:00

I have it! My new collection is going to be about recycling. I have to find my monster appliques (I seem to have misplaced them) so I can get on with listing those with the monster bags. Then I can start my new collection.

Though I need to think of a name for it. So far I can choose between...
Recycle or puppies die.
Recycle so old monkeys can live.
or
The anteaters wish for you to Recycle.

I don't know yet.
Any suggestions?

Monster Series

2007-06-17T17:46:00.000-07:00

My long project is finally coming to a close. Well, unless someone taps me for a custom order anytime soon.

But I started with cases, had worked on some monster patches, now am finishing up my bags. I still have to list the appliques (which I may do tonight), and the bags probably on Monday or Tuesday. I have spent many many hours on these, and I feel like they're my children (probably because I locked myself in a room in front of a television and watched programs that frighten me). Here are some of the bags (one still is a WIP).

07 - Me Julie
One of the more feminine bags I've worked on, has a sweet heart print lining the inside. Aside from the wonky face, I got the inspiration for the name from the brilliant Ali G. Can't forget me Julie. It's aight, innit? Cuz dat's no prozzie, dat's me ho!

Somewhat of a small bag, still gets the job done, and yeah know what? I'm certainly proud of it.

08 - Sgt Rowe and Little Herbert
What can I say, Mike Rowe is a babe. My many hours of watching the Discovery Channel has me thinking I'm going to track down Mike Rowe and marry him. Sadly, I even got excited when I saw on Dirty Jobs he visited a town about 30 minutes away from me. So of course I'm going to dedicate something to him.

Anywho, someone along the lines decided Herbert would be a fitting name for a monster bag, and I concur. Since it'd taken me many hours to crochet a large messenger bag, I thought I'd spiff it up a bit. Well when you open the flap to get into your bag, it's revealed that sir Rowe has an itty bitty monster inside him--two monsters in one!

Since the bag is so long, I'm sure it's much more handy to be able to reach your cell phone by opening the flap, versus digging in the belly of the beast. Hence, where little Herbert comes in handy.

09 - Charlie
Charlie is a worrisome little monster. He kind of looks scared, and maybe that he needs a good home. It was my first time working with wooden handles (which I'm in love with by the way), and I decided to give him giant blunt teeth instead of jagged ones. I also stuffed them with some yarn scraps so they have an extra fluff to them.

This project was very rewarding in the way that my BFF and roommate Steve & I had a dashing time of sticking those little green eyes in his glasses before they were sewn onto the bag. It was quite amusing, I even have some photographic evidence of it.

10 - as of now? not named.
All I can tell you is that I'm working with some grey yarn, and plan on making a wider version of Sgt Rowe, though not as tall. Oh the joys of discovery!

Ok, back to watching programs about the dinosaurs, space, and serial killers.

And I wonder why I have nightmares...

Minger is the best crafting buddy

2007-06-13T14:59:00.000-07:00

'Nuff said.

She helped me craft today, and inspired me to keep all yarn and string away from her so there won't be a $1200 vet bill. Noooooo Ming Ming, noooooo!

Not one, but two.

2007-06-11T19:25:00.000-07:00

This blog is about two things. First topic: Amazing boucle yarn. I think I would marry boucle yarn if I could. I wish it had a name, a really tough, manly man’s name… something like… Frank. Though I suppose it’d still be pink. Either way, I’m smitten. I started making these awesome fingerless gloves out of it, and added a sweet strawberry patch onto it. I’m definitely making one of these for myself come winter.

Next item of discussion, an awesome cupcake bag. I don't know what my obsession with cupcakes has been lately, but I could probably devour an entire pan (don't worry, I haven't let myself near any cupcakes because of that very reason). Anywho, the bag itself is very pretty, and I'm extremely fond of the color scheme. I still have to work on it tonight and line the strap along with the bag. That purple flower pattern you see for the top of the cupcake is what I think I'll be using to line it. I'm not exactly sure about the strap, I might mix it up and use the base of the cupcake fabric (oh heavens to Betsy, how exciting!).

Other than that, things are still moving along slow. I had my first sale in 12 days, and I'm hoping not to fall into another drought.

• Strawberry
• Cupcake

Bein' a Busy Bee

2007-06-08T14:18:00.000-07:00

After deciding I need to keep a record of EVERYTHING dealing with Etsy, I've started using Excel. I've even been tracking my hours. Since I've started the monster pouches, it was at 11 hours for the month of June, now it's at 22. How sad.

I have quite a few finished so far. The ones I planned to make after these, I think I may change my plan and make them into bags. Because--let's face it, I think there's already enough monster pouches.

Anywho, I'm in the process of coming up with names for them. The green is Alistair (I imagine him a British gentleman--or possibly a cunning sleuth!), the orange is Tiny, and the white is Curly. And I think with that, I've gone completely mad.

I've also been protoming the hell out of Etsy lately, and still haven't had a sale for 8 days and counting. I've fallen victim to the summer decrease of sales.

• Curly 01
• Tiny 02
• Muffy 03
• Alistair 04
• Erxy 05

First post

2007-06-06T15:00:00.000-07:00

Well just when I thought I couldn't be on one more internet community (Myspace, Etsy, Threadless, Facebook, Flickr, etc--half of which I loathe) here comes Blogspot!

I might as well let you know of the first project that I'll be posting about.
They're monster pouches!
I know what you're thinking, how could you store things in them without having sir monster consumer them... well... my nice little fabric lining does a swell job of that.

I currently have a berry-colored and off-white one completed, and am considering doing a purple one.

I've been working on my Etsy furisouly over the past few weeks. I heard that loads of sellers have slumps in sales over summer. I hope I'm not one of them. Hence, opening this bloggerdoodle.

♥ Kirsten