New Market Bags and a New Look

I recently added new market bags to my Etsy shop:

One of my goals this summer is to finish some of my UFOs and restock the shop. I have at least 3 more market bags that just need finishing and photographing.

I also plan on finishing this chevron scarf (true confession - I started it in 2011 - yikes!):

And I'm still working on the secret project. And I haven't touched my tunic project in weeks. Sigh.

The shop also had a new look, courtesy of my son's friend who is a talented digital graphic artist. She created a new shop banner and avatar for me. I figured a change was due after 7 years! I have also commissioned a portrait of my sons -- cannot wait to share that with you!

Where Does the Time Go?

I just realized today that it has been a month since my last blog post. Where did the time go? Well, I stay busy with 3 boys at 2 schools plus the baby at home. (Okay, so the baby is 3 now and talks up a storm, but he is forever and always "the baby".) I serve on a PTA board and a Council of PTAs board and now a Bond Committee board. Then there's my part-time, mostly weekends job and oh yeah, I just got re-hired at a previous job. So to an extent, the things that have suffered the most from my "busy-ness" have been my Etsy shops and obviously, this blog.

I have found time to crochet, though, in the midst of this madness. I am working on a large wholesale order for The Lavender Lizard. Here's a sneak peek:

I'll have more information on these later, so stay tuned!

Plus I've just finished a custom request for silver metallic stars in 3 sizes at The Lavender Ladybug. They will be sewn onto a sweater for a Halloween costume. I can't wait to see how that turns out!

And I did finish both the market bag for my friend's daughter (no pics, though) and the one for my sister:

Sadly, DS3's bookbag is on the backburner. More than likely, it will be a Christmas gift now. After all, Christmas is less than 3 months away, so I do have some time to finish it.

(Proof that time really flies: Happy 12th Birthday, DS2!)

Happy 4th of July!

To celebrate the 4th of July weekend, I have extended my $5 sale at The Lavender Lizard! There are some really great buys -- some items have been marked down 50%!!



Also another selection of items have free shipping (either USPS First Class or First Class International). Those items (some are new listings!) can be found my searching for "julyfreeship" in my shop.



Oh, and check out this super-lovely blog -- oh hello, friend! The Lavender Lizard is featured along with 5 other terrific shops, all of whom are having holiday weekend sales. You'll notice that one of the other shops featured is none other than my good friend Connie/ReFabulous! Her shop is full of recycled/reclaimed goodies. Let's see....I have her pincushions, her rose and lavender sachets, and my latest find -- a gorgeous tote!! (No surprise here, I keep it full of yarn! I've been planning on photographing it, so be sure to check back.) I'm sure you will love Connie's shop as much as I do!

Both the $5 sale and free shipping offer will expire on Sunday, July 5, just in time to get ready for ETC's First Monday Sale!

Have a terrific holiday weekend!

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??

Etsy Front Page and a New Product!

A couple of days ago, I received a message from Jennifer of JenniferABoston and The Crafty Dragonfly. She wanted to tell me that one of my items was on the Front Page of Etsy! Of course, I clicked over there as quickly as possible, but sadly, I missed it. (Thanks, Jennifer!)

Here's the featured item, a silk/bamboo wave patterned scarf (chosen because of its "eco" tag by Etsy Admin):

Great news -- the scarf received 9 new hearts and The Lavender Lizard received 6 new hearts! (Hearts are a way to mark favorite items or sellers.)

Over at The Lavender Ladybug, I received a request to crochet a tooth/molar motif. Here's what I came up with:

Marnie of AdornWithAAndM used the motifs to create a new product -- the Tooth Fairy Pillow Clip. I think they are adorable!

Marnie had previously requested chili peppers from me for her kitchen. The chili peppers inspired me to create paisley motifs (my favorite design element, ever), which I paired with small round dots:

I'm currently adding these in several colors at The Lavender Ladybug. As always, if you different idea for a motif or color, please contact me. I ♥ special orders!

Coming up next, crocheted borders for embellishing scrapbook pages! Stay tuned!

Fabulous Friday Finds -- Orange!

Today's Fabulous Friday Finds are made possible by the color orange! (Sounds like a PBS/Sesame Street tagline, right?)

Thankfully, orange is one of my fave colors! A glance at previous blog posts will attest to that! I had fun searching for bright and cheerful items on Etsy. Here's just a few...

Show her how much you love her with this stunning glass heart necklace from ccvalenzo -- gorgeous!!

This print of an original painting from oladesign is beautiful. I love the contrast of the two black birds and bare branches against the deep orange background.

This bag from mahandbags will add color to your spring and summer outfits!

And for your favorite crafter (or yourself, because it is super-cute!) a handmade wool needlebook from JennMaruskaDesign. The button flowers are just adorable!

Tune in next Friday for a bunch more Fabulous Finds!

Fabulous Friday Finds -- Fish!

Welcome to this edition of Fabulous Friday Finds! If this is your first visit, here is our premise: My boys chose a bunch of nouns, I select one from my little cup, and I'm off to Etsy to find handmade items by searching for the chosen word.

This week's word -- Fish!

For your baby, this cute little hair clip from shopmayapapaya. Looks good enough to eat (like the Pepperidge Farm crackers), but please don't.

For your teenager, these great fish hoop earrings from sstargell! 3 sizes are available.

For your mom or sister or BFF, this gorgeous fish brooch from Sonseeahray. I love the movement in the fins!

For you dad or DH, a set of 3 handmade handkerchiefs from TheHoneyPress. The hankies are silkscreened with fish and other images on soft 100% cotton plaid fabric. Great for those allergy sufferers out there!



And finally for your crafty friend, a crochet goldfish kit from AmyGaines, packaged in a take-out box! Really, so cute! And if your friend already has a huge stash of yarn, the fish pattern is available by itself.

Thanks for checking out the latest edition of Fabulous Friday Finds. To see past editions, check my blog archive.

Fabulous Friday Finds -- Pizza!

Today's Finds are inspired by the word "pizza"! Yum!

This kitty pizza chef from annya127 just makes me smile! He obviously loves to make pizza! (Check out the companion piece where kitty chef serves the pizza, too!)

These pepperoni pizza charms from fornever are sooooo adorable! They are tiny perfection! I love the way you can see the layer of sauce under the cheese. Also available from fornever are pizza hairclips and a pizza cellphone charm. Soooo cute!

This pizza necklace from shayaaron looks so real! I love the way the cheese oozed out when the slice was taken -- authentic! Plus it has green olives -- DH's favorite topping! And the way it is photographed with the miniature pizza board, pizza cutter, rolling pin, jar of pepper flakes and jar of grated cheese! Wow!!!



And speaking of pizza cutters, how cool are these pizza cutter earrings from celiefago! They are beautifully crafted of sterling and copper, and both disks spin. These are definitely on my wish list!


Well, now I'm craving pizza! My fave is pepperoni, mushroom, and black olive! Be sure and come back next Friday for more Fabulous Finds!

A Brand-New Design!

I've been working on new designs for The Lavender Lizard and I want to share one of them now.

These might look like fields of flowers, but they are actually skinny scarves, almost like a vine with eight flower stations with three small leaves in between the flowers. I designed this to be all-season. I have made this in two different colorways of the same wool/soy yarn. The lighter one ranges from ivory to pale pink to rose pink to sage green to soft light brown.



The darker one ranges from light plum to charcoal grey to brick red to red violet to deep purple. Both are simply soft and gorgeous!

I will be listing these as soon as I take decent photos. They really need to be photographed on a "live" model to show them off in their best light -- that's what I hope to accomplish tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Fabulous Friday Finds -- Island!

Today's edition of Fabulous Friday Finds is perhaps inspired by Spring Break -- the word today is "island." (If you're new to FFF, I choose a word every Friday with the help of my three oldest sons and feature items from Etsy that match the word.)

Etsy is chock-full of original photographs of islands! It was difficult to choose favorites. Here's a very small sample of what you can find by searching for "island".

How gorgeous are the clear waters in this photograph by travelographer of one of the San Blas Islands:

Islands are gorgeous in black-and-white as well, as seen in this photograph by DAJPhoto of Ruby Beach in Washington (Destruction Island is visible in the horizon):

The Hawaiian Islands are naturally subject to the photographer's lens. This photograph by PuaArts captures the lava flow from Kilauea:

This photograph of palm trees and blue skies was taken in Tonga by worldloop. I can just picture spending a lazy afternoon on a hammock beneath these gorgeous trees:

From the skies to the sand -- this photograph of the changing tides on Pawley's Island by joytannerphotography is stunning:

I love the graphic element of this photograph taken under the pier at Tybee Island by fotojo:

3lovely captured this unique shot of the steps leading down to Cupecoy Beach, St. Maarten:

I hope you will take the opportunity to check out these wonderful photographers. (For your convenience, I have also linked each photograph to its Etsy listing.)

Tune in next Friday for more Fabulous Friday Finds and have a happy and safe Spring Break!

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!!

Fabulous Friday Finds -- Tank!

Nouns can be funny things in that they have wildly different meanings. This edition of Fabulous Friday Finds is a perfect example:

I asked my boys for a list of 20 or so nouns from which I would randomly draw one in order to choose the Finds from Etsy. (This is our new method of selecting the Finds, which eliminates me waiting for them to get home from school on Friday because I had forgotten to ask for the word at breakfast.) So what's the first word I pull from my little cup?? Tank. Yep, tank.

I'm pretty sure this is what the boys had in mind (wooden military vehicle patterns from JandDWoodcrafts):

Or maybe this tank (in the form of soap from saltsmansoap -- hey, that's a great boy gift!):

But to me, a tank is an article of clothing, something for a sweltering summer day in South Texas. This gorgeous silk tank from LotusLuxuries fits the bill in a dressy, date-with-your-sweetie, kind of way:

Or this lovely tank dress from louderthanwords (honestly, it could not look more comfy -- this is sooooo on my wish list!):

And if I had a daughter (or for that matter, could knit) I would certainly make this sweet little tank (knitted pattern from pixiepurls):

(Be sure to check out all of the photos on this knitted tank pattern -- the variations are adorable!)

Since daughters are not in my future, maybe I can learn to knit for the granddaughters I hope to have some day (a long, long, loooooong time from now.) Then their daddies can think of tanks in a new way.

Fabulous Friday Finds -- Sandstorm!

Today's edition of the Fabulous Friday Finds is brought to you by my 7yo, who thought up the word "sandstorm". Actually, that was his second choice -- his first choice of word was "hail" as in icy precipitation, but waaaay too many listings at Etsy were called "hail to the ___", and there were very few precipitation-related "hail" listings.

So "sandstorm" it is!

My first find is this hauntingly beautiful photo from LarryNicosiaPhoto. He's a new seller to Etsy, and many of his photographs have a desolate quality. And since I love being at the beach when it's cloudy and grey and a storm is coming in, this particular photo really spoke to me.

This original abstract piece from kellyvanhook is appropriately titled "Sandstorm." The color and texture recall the blinding nature of a sandstorm.

I just love the swirly colors of this handmade lampwork bead from blackriverbeads. It almost looks atmospheric, like the planet Jupiter. Gorgeous!

What happens when yarn gets lost in the desert? According to WhirligigYarns (from Boulder, Colorado -- where I was born!), this is the result -- a delightful mix of yellow, pink, taupe, and brown:

On a personal note, I once found myself in a sandstorm. We were on a chartered bus heading from Dallas to Colorado for a ski trip. It was raining in Dallas when we left. We hit the sandstorm in the panhandle (the bus had to stop on the side of the highway because the driver couldn't see anything), and it was snowing in Durango, Colorado when we arrived. That was the weirdest precipitation day ever!

Fabulous Friday Finds -- Computer!

Today's finds are brought to you by the word "computer," chosen by DS2, who is no doubt a child of the computer age.

The first item I chose from Etsy is a laptop sleeve, because in this day and age, travelling with your laptop is often a necessity. And how sad would it be if your laptop was damaged. This laptop sleeve was made by annyandme:

And when you pull your laptop out of its handmade sleeve, it makes an impact with this gorgeous graphic decal from michellechristina:

But let's not forget about the lowly desktop computer you leave at home, the one you depend on day after day. How about a set of lavender and flaxseed pillows to both decorate your space and keep your wrists from fatigue through the hours of blogging, posting, commenting, Etsy shopping, etc. The pillows are found at HomeGrownPillows:

Also your desktop deserves a special mousepad from billoneil. What a great way to brighten up your desk!


And how cute is this memory stick from 123smile, made from real Legos! (And I loooooove legos!)

Without a doubt, my favorite find this week is this sweet baby bib from colbylanedesigns:

I predict the child who wears this is a computer whiz in the making! Remember, it's the geeks who rule the world!

Tune in next Friday for more fabulous finds!