Month: February 2016

Manda was rustling around in the cabinets last night and said, “I’M GONNA BAKE A CAKE.” We had all the cake fixin’s from when I was GOING to bake her a cake for her birthday in January, but she ended up staying up really late the night before or something, and I didn’t have a chance to surprise her. I guess we ended up surprising ourselves with this frosting beast we ended up with! I was responsible for the extra artistic pink blobs all around the edge. Then we wondered what to do with the rest of the pink frosting. I told her to draw something in the middle, like a heart, or write a word. She ended up writing RAD. So I hope y’all have a RAD WEEKEND. I’m taking Manda to her first ballet (Swan Lake) on Saturday night, which is her birthday present from me. What should we wear?!

Sometimes I forget that not all of you guys follow my Instagram. I do sometimes show WIPs that I’m working on that I don’t blog here, and sometimes I talk about stuff that I don’t blog here. It’s not a choice that I make on purpose, but sometimes I feel it’s redundant to use the same photos and talk about the same stuff everywhere. But this means some of you guys miss out! So, unless you guys leave me a bunch of comments that tell me you follow me on Instagram and there’s no need to double up on info… I will try to make more of an effort to do Instagram round-ups here, or to at least take one of my IG photos and expand on it a little more here. I did notice that some of you wanted to see more about my crochet/design process on the blog, so I’ll try to work on that more! But today’s blog is not about crocheting. It’s about Bibi. I wanted to talk about what’s happening with Bibi in case any other doggiemamas out there end up going through the same thing. Bibi is half Shar Pei and half Basset Hound, so she is prone to all sorts of skin/ear/eye/yeast issues which we have dealt with throughout the years. She was basically not meant to be on this Earth, but we are glad she is here! She will sometimes get a random lump or bump under the skin, which the vets usually feel is a fatty deposit. However, a few months ago, I noticed a lump on her skin, near one of her ….  uhh, mammaries… teets …doggyboobies… I don’t know what I should call it! It was just on top of the skin, looking like a clump of lumps, and it seemed to be itchy, and would get irritated when she licked it. After watching it for a month, I took her to the vet. Because it seemed itchy, she gave me a spray and said to spray it regularly to see if it helped. Yes, it did help take down the redness, but the lump still remained. So we scheduled her to get it removed and tested, and at the same time, we removed one of her under-the-skin lumps which was probably fat. Bibi spent the next 2 weeks in a cone, which she is a trooper about, but really changes my daily schedule because she can’t fit through the dog door and shouldn’t be left on her own to run around the yard like a maniac. I knew the news was not good when I called in for results, and the person answering the phone said, “Yes, the results are in… and… I’ll have the doctor call you back.” I was in the car at the time, driving myself home from a dental appointment. When the vet called me back, she told me it was not good news and that Bibi had a stage 3 mast cell tumor (which […]

TGIF!!!!! Were any of y’all TGIF fans back in the day on TV… Full House… Just the 10 of Us… Perfect Strangers … Family Matters. I was SOOOO all over all of that! I had no social life and just had Friday night TV and homework. THE BEST, RIGHT?! Well in case you missed it… Netflix is bringing you FULLER HOUSE!!! And grown-up Kimmy Gibbler is totally sporting a bacon and egg scarf in the trailer! I wasn’t contacted specifically for the show, so at first I didn’t want to say it was one of mine. It could have been one of the “inspired by Twinkie Chan” items on Etsy. But the costume designer let me know on Facebook that it was indeed a scarf from my Etsy shop, and I was super duper thrilled! I can’t wait to see the episodes go live on Netflix next Friday, Feb. 26th!

Hi, all! I hope you had a relaxing long weekend! Thanks for your patience with the giveaway launch. I was already late on a deadline and was doing my best to finish some crochet patterns before a phone meeting I had! Thank you so much to my lovely sponsors for their generous prizes!

Soooooo I know Valentine’s Day is only 2 days away, and you probably have all your projects and presents sorted, but I figured I would blog a quick round-up of my patterns for people like me who are super last-minute on the gift-giving (my Mom’s birthday dinner is Monday and I still have no idea what I’m doing for her..!). Heart-Shaped Pillow (which I also turned into Ricardio the Heart Guy) – includes video tutorial Conversation Heart Garland – the video post is here Sparkly Heart Lollipop Necklace – can also be stuffed and turned into tiny pastel plush hearts This set of Valentine’s Day sugar cookies is for sale in my Etsy shop, but the heart cookie is free at Michaels.com. I had really wanted to prep a heart-shaped donut for you guys, but I have a deadline I’m writing for, and I don’t think I’ll make it!!! Heart-shaped donuts are great for any occasion, though, so it’s still high on my list :).

I’ll be taking over Creativebug’s Instagram tomorrow, Friday February 12! Follow along and see some of my snaps throughout the day. You can also ask me questions about crocheting or running a shop or staying motivated or my favorite snacks or whatever you might be wondering! See you there!

I am a huge fan of Valentine’s Day decor. If every article of my clothing could have conversation hearts all over it, I would be a happy gal. I was super excited when Treetopia asked if I wanted to join their #xoTreetopia Valentine’s Day Blog Hop and Giveaway. On Monday the blog hop started with Jennifer Perkins, then Tuesday with Jaderbomb (looks like we both did glue gun hearts with different materials!), then Wednesday with Cathie Filian, then ME today, and then Flamingo Toes on Friday! Visit everyone to check out their super cool Valentine’s Day decoration ideas and don’t forget to enter the giveaway to win some Treetopia decorations of your own. You can also hop over to the Treetopia blog to check out some Q&A’s with all of us regarding the importance of the little things in decorating and the little things in relationships. Here’s mine!

I’m so excited to let you guys know that my first Critter of the Month crochet class is now live on Creativebug.com!! Holy heck!! This was an intense 4 days of filming, and you will see the other 3 projects we filmed throughout 2016. When they asked me to think of a fun critter for February, I chose a sloth, because it’s Valentine’s month, and he has long arms to hug you :). You can check out some short previews for free, and you can also sign up for a free trial. Here’s a link to my instructor profile where they made a lil trailer with me and my dogs! If you decide to subscribe, it’s a really great deal at only $4.95 per month for access too all the classes on the entire site. And they just keep adding more! (I’m in the process of working on a new batch of Creativebug classes…!). If you use my link, I also get a small percentage of the sale (just letting you know that it’s an affiliate link upfront). To be honest, I’m super proud of myself (pats self on back). I have a lot of anxiety associated with other people taking my photo or shooting video of me, and it was definitely an exercise in letting go and just being me and being okay with being me. I’m not going to get into it too much here, but let’s just say, I was sweating a lot, and I think you can hear the yarn squeaking in my hands…..(doh!). I haven’t watched my class yet… so you guys tell me how it is :). I can’t wait to start seeing our cute sloth army!