A Quick Update and a BOGO Sale!

Well, the sock monkey hat is complete and just about ready to ship to a sweet girl for her Halloween costume:

And I've started a hat for DS4's costume. He'll be Pikachu, the ubiquitous yellow pokemon mouse. Somewhere around here, we have a face mask for the costume, but I know he won't wear it (plus, it's a safety issue .) So I'm making him a Pikachu hat! Hope it turns out as well as the sock monkey hat!

DS1 had his first high school performances this past weekend. He did a super job! And he was invited to attend the Texas Thespian Festival in Corpus Christi in November!! He's beyond excited!

Today is First Monday, and I'm having a BOGO 50% off sale at The Lavender Lizard and at The Lavender Ladybug! Please stop by! Other ETC shops and their sales info are listed in this Etsy forum thread.

Happy First Monday!

First Monday is Back!

After a six month hiatus, the First Monday sale from Etsy Texas Crafters is back, just in time for Back to School!

I have taken over as coordinator for First Monday, and I'm so excited to do this for such a great team! Join us here to see the complete listing of shops and specials.

Today you can save 25% at both The Lavender Lizard and at The Lavender Ladybug! Please wait for a revised PayPal or RME invoice, or I can refund the difference as soon as possible.

Happy First Monday!

ETC Design Challenge -- Summer Magic!

Etsy Texas Crafters is having their monthly Design Challenge right now! The theme is Summer Magic! So what magic does Summer hold for you?

I entered three items in the Design Challenge. My Neapolitan Stripe Scarf:

Market Bag in Marshmallow (a brand-new design!):

Partly Sunny Motif Scarf (another brand-new design!):

All of my entries are available for sale at The Lavender Lizard! And there are tons of other great entries! Please stop by the challenge page and vote for your favorite! (The link to the poll is at the bottom of the challenge page.)

Oh, and the top vote-getters will win prizes, one of which I'm donating -- their choice of my 3pack lip balm holders! So please help us decide the winners by voting and look for the August Design Challenge -- Elements! Thanks!

New ETC Monday Event!

In honor of the fifth Monday of June, Etsy Texas Crafters is having a $5 Monday Sale! Now that's a bargain!

At The Lavender Lizard, I have marked down many items, some as much as 50% off! To find out which items are marked down to $5, please check out my ETC $5 Monday Sale section. Also there are plenty of items that are always $5 or less, including lip balm holders, anything cups and eco-friendly scrubbies.



At The Lavender Ladybug, there is nothing priced higher than $5, so feel free to shop, shop, shop!

As an added bonus, if you purchase 3 or more items (whether on sale or not), I'll ship those to you FREE! (USPS First Class or First Class International only.) The listings can be from either of my shops to qualify.

To see the other $5 items, click on the photo of Armadillo Tex!

(Above and on the right side.)

Americana Gift Swap!

Etsy Texas Crafters, the best street team on Etsy, recently held a gift swap with an americana theme. I love gift swaps, so I signed up and was paired with Alyssa of simplysparkles. I looked at her profile and noticed she liked the color red and purses and bags. So I made a tote with a solid red bottom, a red-white-blue body, and red straps. It's perfect for the beach or library or even for the grocery store (no need for plastic bags here!)

I used one of the free patterns from Lily Sugar n Cream yarn, but changed the dimensions slightly, made the solid part of the bottom larger, and used a variegated yarn for the body with a solid bottom and straps. (The pattern called for either variegated or solid yarn, but not both together.) I hope she enjoys using it as much as I enjoyed making it! (I'm thinking of making more bags for The Lavender Lizard; please share your thoughts by leaving a comment! Thx!)

Alyssa, in turn, sent me these adorable earrings! One reason I really like them is that they are long and dangly, and super comfortable! Thanks, Alyssa!

Plus, they look great with my latest Tuesday Morning find, a nautical-inspired, americana-striped Sak bag:

Can you guess what I'll be wearing for the 4th of July??

ETC First Monday -- March 2!

March 2 marks the day that Texas declared its independence from Mexico in 1836. Today it also marks Etsy Texas Crafters First Monday Sale!

I'm continuing to feature 2 participating ETC shops for First Monday. First up is locobead, who is offering 15% off any item priced $15 or higher. And this little baby is perfect for Texas Independence Day:

My other featured shop is rhradcliffedesigns, who is offering free shipping. She's a terrific artist who has been fortunate enough to travel the world with her camera and paintbrushes. This photo captures Texas in the spring:

She is also offering free shipping in her two other shops: elephantdreams and earwingsandthings.

As usual, I have a BOGO sale at The Lavender Lizard (buy one, get one 50% off *OR* buy two, get one FREE!), and 20% off everything at The Lavender Ladybug.




For a complete list of participating ETC shops, join us in the Etsy forums!

Happy Texas Independence Day!!

ETC First Monday -- February 2nd!

It's unbelievable how quickly January went! But that just means we have another Etsy Texas Crafters First Monday to look forward to.

I decided to start featuring participating sellers so you would have an idea of the types of shops that belong to ETC. Plus, it's not all about me! (Well, it is sometimes...)

I have chosen two shops to feature -- a newbie and an oldie, plus the ETC Team Shop. The newbie (to me) is SayItOnASign. These 2 signs are among my favorites, mostly because they so apply to me and my family:

SayItOnASign's special today is free domestic shipping (US) on all signs!

The "oldie" is Thistlecraft, but she's not really old -- she's just the first person I met through ETC because she is our intrepid leader. And leading a team of over 700 is quite a task! Plus, she makes all kinds of items. This is my favorite scarf in her shop:

And she creates one-of-a-kind collage cards out of CDs! What a great way to "go green"! Here's an example (which would make a terrific gift for a teacher!):

And Thistlecraft's First Monday sale is 25% off all items!

Let's not forget about the ETC Team Shop! Here you can find pieces donated by ETC shops, like this unique necklace made by StaceyDawn:

The sale at the Team Shop is 50% off all items! The necklace won't last long at that price! So shop early and shop often, because these specials expire at midnight Central time!

ETC Design Challenge -- Chinese New Year

This month's ETC Design Challenge was a real stumper for me. Chinese New Year? How will I translate that into a crochet design??? My head was swimming.

Luckily, Christine of pinuppixie, the Design Challenge Coordinator, sent along a link to inspire us.

Reading the info, I found out that the Lantern Festival parades often include huge dragons made of silk and bamboo. Well, that cleared my head -- I had just bought some silk and bamboo yarn and had not made anything with it yet. Perfect! Unfortunately there is no red in this brand of yarn (red is very symbolic for Chinese New Year.) So I got a couple of bright colors and decided to make a long scarf in a wave pattern to symbolize the color and movement of the dragons.

Here's my entry:

Also I quickly created a prize to donate to one of the top 4 winners -- it is a strand scarf with the same yarn and a little bamboo/cotton/acrylic for texture:

Come check out all of the entries and vote for your favorite. (The poll will close on January 27.)

Happy Chinese New Year!

Happy 2009!

Wow! It's January 5th already! 2008 flew by and 2009 is trending the same way already!

Time for Etsy Texas Crafters First Monday Sale! I'm doing a little something different this year at The Lavender Lizard -- Buy One, Get One 50% Off -OR- Buy Two, Get One Free! Come in and see what's currently available! (Think about Valentines gifts....it's not too early!)

At The Lavender Ladybug, the sale is 20% Off All Items!

Here's to a wonderful, fulfilling, prosperous 2009!

The 12 Days of Christmas Begins...

Hard to believe that it is already December 1.... The first eleven months of 2008 flew by much too quickly.

The good news, though, is that today is Day One of my 12 Days of Christmas Specials at The Lavender Lizard!

Today's special coincides with Etsy Texas Crafters First Monday Sale -- Buy One, Get One 50% Off plus Free Shipping (USPS First Class or First Class International). Please wait for revised PayPal or RME invoice to pay, or I will refund the difference as quickly as possible.

Curious about the next eleven days?? Check back here or visit my shop daily because each day's special is different but all are awesome!

Etsy Texas Crafters October Design Challenge

The theme for this month's ETC Design Challenge is War of the Worlds -- not an easy theme when your mode of expression is crochet, it turns out. Well, maybe that's why they call it a "challenge".

I had a tough time with this theme and pretty much had decided to skip it. Then I remembered my latest yarn store find -- glow-in-the-dark yarn in several colors! The first thing I did was make sure it really did glow in the dark, and it does!! It has a fiber that is blended with acrylic yarn that, when exposed to light for 5 minutes, will glow for 5 minutes. I wish I could photograph it, because it really is cool.

So with g-i-t-d yarn in hand, I set to work on crocheting aliens for the War of the Worlds theme. They evolved as I created the pattern (originally the top was the bottom, and the tentacles were antenna). They could sit either way, but I prefer the tentacle look.

Then the aliens needed a ship (I mean, the whole point of WOTW was aliens landing on Earth, right?). So I made a spaceship in grey and added g-i-t-d "landing lights". The spaceship turned out a little chubbier than I had planned, but the aliens are not picky.

To vote for my entry or any of the other cool designs :) please visit this entry in the ETC Team Blog. (The poll is listed on the top right side.) Thanks!

UPDATE: Apparently there have been issues with the ETC Team Blog, so please use this link to vote in the ETC Design Challenge.

ETC Gift Swap

We just wrapped up the 3rd Q Gift Swap with Etsy Texas Crafters. Shop owners filled out a short questionnaire and were randomly matched up with another shop.

My partner was Cheri from itsmecheri2098. She's a crafter who makes jewelry and clay creations. She likes the color purple (hey, who doesn't??) So this is what I made:

It's a tape measure cozy in purple, of course, plus an Anything Cup, also done in purple (but with a twist!) Cheri wrote me that she was very happy with her gifts! Yay!

The person who had me was May from mayzbeadz. She creates lampwork beads, and she made a gorgeous (purple!!!) bracelet for me. (Check out the cute heart-and-arrow toggle clasp!) Thanks, May!!!

ETC First Monday -- Sept 1!

Today, Sept 1, I'm celebrating the ETC First Monday of September with sales in both of my Etsy shops!


At The Lavender Lizard -- Buy One, Get One 50% Off!



At The Lavender Ladybug -- 20% Off all items!

Please stop by and take advantage of this one day sale!

Happy Labor Day!

ETC First Monday

Today is ETC's First Monday sale! Stop by my original Etsy shop, The Lavender Lizard, for a Buy One, Get One 50% Off Sale. Or if you are in the mood for supplies, check out my new supplies shop, The Lavender Ladybug, where everything is 25% off today!

More than 60 shops are participating this month! Join us in the forums for chatting and shopping!

A sneak peek at what I'm working on now...

It's a kitchen scrubby set with a dish towel. Other colors are coming and custom orders are always welcome!

In the Beginning...

I've finally taken the blogging leap. I figure now is a good time. Summer's here, the boys are out of school, and in theory, I have a little extra time. Also, I love the date (06-07-08), so I find that to be a good sign. (You'll soon realize I'm a number freak.)

A little intro -- I'm married to a wonderful man, and we have 4 boys together. The boys are 12, 10, 7, and almost-2. I've been lucky enough to stay home and raise my boys. On the side, I run The Lavender Lizard my Etsy shop where I sell crocheted accessories and headbands, apparel, cozies, scrubbies, handmade supplies and occassionally, something my boys have made.

I'm also a yarn freak, ummm, collector, and I rarely travel anywhere without my latest project.

I've just realized that yesterday (June 6) is my one year Etsyversary, although I didn't list anything until July 11. In that time, I have sold over 200 items, which amazes me. I've shipped orders to Canada on several occasions, one just this week! And I've shipped two orders to the UK -- very exciting! Last month I created a special order of tape measure cozies, shown below, for a sweet woman in California, who is taking them as gifts to 6 women in Vietnam and Bangladesh, who sew to support their families. How awesome is that!

I belong to Etsy Texas Crafters , a superior Street Team numbering over 300 members that focuses on supporting Texans and Etsy. My team job is creating Spotlight Treasuries every week to showcase other ETCers. I really enjoy checking out the new shops!

I also belong to the Military Brats at Etsy Street Team. (I really should do more to support the Brats!) They are a great group of folks, and it's fun to discover what places (and bases) we have in common.

I'll surely post more later -- new projects and features and what goes on in general when you have a house full of boys and yarn. Thanks for visiting!