Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Tuesday's Toot - I didn't expect much and I got...

This past weekend I participated in the Shepherd's Harvest Wool and Sheep Festival's Alpaca Fleece Show sponsored by Alpacas of MN DBA: Upper Midwest Alpacas. I went into the show with little expectation of winning anything since it was my first fleece show and I am relatively new to raising alpacas. I didn't have any idea of how to prepare my fleeces for show. I called a couple fellow members of UMA and got a little bit of advice. I even contacted my online friend on Twitter, @AlpacaFarmGirl for advice. She gave me a link to a website showing how to skirt a fleece to go to a mill. Of course, without a hands on demonstration, it is easy to miss things and advice isn't always as thorough as we would like it to be. I did the best I could and entered the fleeces anyway. On Sunday I picked up my fleeces from the show and was pleasantly surprised to receive a ribbon on each one! The best part, I designed the logo that was on the ribbons and now I can proudly desplay the ribbons and I get to admire my handiwork too :) Toot Toot

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Fiber Friday - Handmade Felted Journals



Last fall I appeared on the morning television show Showcase Minnesota to help promote the fifth annual Alpaca Farm Tour hosted by Alpacas of Minnesota. On this show my handmade felted alpaca journals appeared briefly but were not left unnoticed. I have received requests for the instructions on how to make these handmade felted journals. I ment to get this tutorial put together sooner but real life got in the way. It took a simple request from my online twitter friend @AlpacaFarmGirl to get my behind in gear and get pictures taken and the tutorial compiled. Click here to download this FREE tutorial to start creating your handmade felted journals today! I hope you enjoy my Fiber Arts Friday Blog Carnival Entry!

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

I've been bad...

at blogging that is. Just terrible. I've been micro blogging on twitter so you know I am around. I haven't been busier than usual so that isn't my excuse for not blogging here. I have things to do, of course, but busier days have found me blogging (here). I even joined a 31 day blogging challenge and still I am not blogging. I've been creating things so it isn't for lack of things to share :). Let's face it, I've just been bad to my blog. Then, yesterday I get this email from my friend Brenda. She gave my blog this neat little award:



The PROXIMITY Award is defined as follows:
“This blog invests and believes in PROXIMITY-nearness in space, time and relationships. These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement! Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers!”

This award has given me good reason to write! I thought about myself and the nature of what I tend to write on my blog and realized, Brenda is right on. I love to help out. I am an improver. I see a lot of that in Brenda too :)

With all of this in mind, I want to share some blogs with you that I think deserve this award too.

1. Helen at My Heart Exposed. Helen is deserving of this award because she shares freely of her creative designs and owns and operates a successful loom knitting group on yahoo dedicating to helping out fellow loom knitters all over the world!

2. Maria at Loom Knitting and Something Else. Maria is my friend from Mexico. She is a kind and gentle spirit. She is always ready to give a shoulder to cry on. She freely gives out compliments and lifts artists and crafters up all over the world as a Moderator on the DAlooms yahoo group!

3. Dusty from Dusty's Doings is my third nominee. Dusty is the co-ower of the yahoo group Loom Knitting Newbie Beginnings. Dusty has been very busy caring for her 14 yr old grandson Tyler who is Autistic, but she still has had time to offer a shoulder during my own personal crises and she organized and executed a huge Chemo Cap drive for Bev at Bev's Country Cottage.

Please check out these wonderful bloggers and make friends with them. They will offer friendship and lots of help if and when you need it!

Monday, March 23, 2009

Raining cats and dogs...and ducks and geese and every other kind of animal you can think of...

And my 3 year old wanted to go outside. I told her I didn't want to go outside because it was soaking wet out. A few minutes later I told her I was getting in the shower and she said, "Well, it is soaking wet in the shower too!" LOL, LOL, LOL!

Saturday, March 21, 2009

My new Etsy name is...

Since I've gotten some emails lately about my Etsy name, I think I better post what name I picked! I don't want to keep you wondering and voting...

I added my new banner to my Etsy shop and that is about it! I looked at my banner so long I am not sure it reads the way I want it to. What do you think it says?