A Small Winter Issue

The Winter '08 issue of Small Magazine is up and of course it doesn't disappoint.

Shop Shop til you Drop.

I guess I am jumping the gun a little to get a head start on Cyber Monday tomorrow.
I have been busy trying to find something special to get for my daughter who is having a Birthday in a few weeks. Her B-Day is so close to Christmas it always seems as if it is almost eaten up by the excitement of the holiday season so this year I want to do something extra special for her.

I think I have it all worked out but seeing as I want it to be a big surprise I won't give away too many clues to the mystery here. I did settle on a few things from another vintage seller on Etsy.
The Eclectic Curio has a great selection of goodies and I picked out a few good reads that the lovely shop owner has agreed to gift wrap and address to my daughter. You can read more about the shop and such on the Eclectic Curio blog.

What Money?...I've Got Art

My actual job has been keeping me quite busy despite the fact that I feel as if I am never ahead after all is said and done.

I suppose if I were ever that desperate I could get creative and try what this fellow did.

For the record, I liked the seven legged version myself.

Oh Balls! 40 Days to GO!

Remember this post?
I have this idea to make some ornaments for my very neglected project in the feeble attempt to get ready for the holiday season in due time. When I checked back with the lovely and very industrious Jennifer's One Hundred Days blog I was reminded that there is now only 40 days left until the big day sooooooo
I HAD BETTER GET MY BUTT IN GEAR!

To that end I have ordered some lovely felted balls as pictured above so that I can make some cute danglies for our tree. I am going to embroider some white snowflakes onto each one and maybe add some jingle bells and ribbons. I looked on Etsy of course to find these felted balls from HandBEHG and would have loved some in green too. Unfortunately she has no green but I was happy to find her shop as many of the felters were located overseas. With only 40 days to go time is of the essence. I can't wait until they get here!

Lest We Forget

Lest We Forget by Rascallion
They died for our freedom.

The Perfect Pet

My kids are always bugging me to get a pet. A dog, a cat, a hedgehog, anything. They just want a little love bug to cuddle. Well I found the perfect pet for our household in these PermaPets from Noadi's Art. They are made of polymer clay and they are so realistic looking I had to look twice. Check out her Etsy shop or the Ecrater store for more info and to see the other cool things that on there. So cool! And the best part is you don't have to feed, walk or water them!

A Feast for the Eyes

And then some. The lovely Cakespy commented on this blog while back and I have to admit to being drawn back to visit her delectable blog a few times. There are some fab pics with some yummy looking treats fit to eat along with tips and recipes as well. If you like a sweet treat to eat you should definitely stop by for a good read. As her tag line states, "seeking sweetness in everyday life (literally!)" is easy with Cakespy at the ready. You can even visit the shop to get some cake related merchandise. Sweet!!!
The treat above is an awesome substitute for the caloric kind; IT'S SOAP!!!
I could not believe my eyes when I saw these beauties. Awesome treats that don't end up on the hips via the lips, these are Dreamsicle Snickerdoodle Icecream Sandwich soapy treats for the tub. I bet they smell DELISH! Visit Anita's Crafty Creations on Etsy for a huge selection of yummy goods that will make your mouth water. (Don't drool on your keyboard!!!)

Rocked The Vote

Yes You Did!!! Want to see more fab Obama inspired works from fellow Etsians?

The Obama Win has Inspired Me

Yes, for a while there my faith in humanity was getting pretty weak. Being able to look forward to better days when President-Elect Obama moves to his new digs has allowed me to shelve my fleeting urge to move to an eco-island in Northern Europe. At least for a little while anyways.

Thinking Ahead

Now that Hallowe'en is well behind us we can focus on the next sugar-coated excuse for a holiday. Most everyone I know is usually very busy from pretty much now right through until oh, about January 2nd. That's two months of crazed holiday madness.

I still try to keep the focus on handmade gifts and the "Less is More" mantra is always in place for me. Luckily, there are many helpful hideaways on the internet where we can all find some crafty goodness when we don't have the time to whip something up ourselves.

Inspire Handmade, Craftster, and BuyHandmade are just a few places to get going with a helping hand to handmade help this festive season. Really, there are so many options that there is little excuse to NOT give the gift of handmade goodies this year.

Not to mention the many venues where you can buy online direct from seasoned artisans. I think you know where this is going so I will leave you to it.......

100 Days to Christmas

OK we are well into it with just over 50 days left to get ready for Christmas so get on over there and sign up. Looks like fun and I'll try to keep you posted. Who knows, I might even make some progress with this project.

woohoo!

And as the man himself said, America, "This is your victory."

TO THE POLES!

I really do hope everyone in is out voting today. I myself cannot wait to find out who will be the next prez of our fair neighborhood to the south. The race has been interesting to say the least.

(About the title, yes, I am aware that the word is actually POLLS! lol!)

May the best person win. And I DO mean that.

Is this just TOO CUTE?

My photos of my products in my Etsy shops usually resemble the dog's breakfast even on a good day. Somehow this past week I ended up with this very successful pic of my little fawn and I had to share it with all my readers here. Goodness knows it will pretty much go unseen over at the Etsy location seeing as their numbers and views are all messed up (again.)

For more, check out the EllaCinders vintage shop (ye olde etsy shoppe as it is more commonly know at my house.) Is there such a thing as too cute?

Can I just post :$18 Million per Second.

YES, you read it right. ExxonMobil has posted an ENORMOUS profit in the last quarter. They make clear profits of roughly EIGHTEEN MILLION DOLLARS every second.

Normally, I would have no problem with a legit company making such a hefty profit but according to this article (thanks again Treehugger) ExxonMobil has yet to make good on any reparation costs associated with the colossal blunder we all know as the Exxon-Valdez oil tanker spill of March 24, 1989. All you have to do is Google some and there is a huge amount of info available on the subject.

The company, assuming it will actually buck up for the $500 M in reparation payments in the first place, now owes about another $500 Million in interest payments on the original judgment value for the past 12 years since the judgment was delivered back in 1996. In June this year the company was let off the hook for the original reparation sum of $2.5 Billion (yes that is a B!) by the Supreme Court. The company was deemed "worse than negligent but less than malicious" by the judge. Whatever that means.

Folks, $500 Million adds up to about 3 days worth of profits for ExxonMobil.
THREE DAYS of profits would pay off their debt to society that has been looming for how long now? It's been almost two decades since the oil spill. That is just disgusting. Corporate greed at it's finest.

I for one will NOT be going anywhere near any filling station that has that stain of a name on the sign out front. Not even to use the bathroom. (Photo from Wikipedia)

NaNoMoBloPo or something....And World Vegan Day

So it is National Month of Blog Posting day (or NaMoBloPo for short) and the start of (hopefully) a month of blogging. One post every day for thirty days. I think I can do it but only time will tell.

My first post this month also happens to be on World Vegan Day so I have something interesting to blog on about. I was tipped off to World Vegan Day with this great Treehugger post about the subject and a great smelling cosmetics company that has gone Vegan for the day. I also learned through the WV Day site that November just happens to also be World Vegan Month so I will have lots to write about for the month of posts.

I am going to try out some Vegan recipes also and post them here. Since I am certainly no whiz in the kitchen I will be doing some research on how to go about this in the most simplistic way possible. Once upon a time I was a vegetarian and I'll have to dig out those old recipe books I have hidden away somewhere. I think I could manage a vegetarian day each week since we don't really even eat that much meat around this house anyhow.