Random Thoughts

I just caught a whiff of a strong garlicy weird smell. I live in a duplex and I've come home to that smell. I just assumed my duplex neighbors were cooking. Who would be making something like that at this time of night? Hmmm...

It snowed again today. Not much stuck around, it kind of melted as it was coming down once it warmed up. It's supposed to be in the 50s later in the week. We shall see....

I have a lot of finished projects and non-finished projects sitting around. I should try to think of a way to organize and put the finished projects away until they are given new homes anyway. Good thing I live by myself since I probably won't organize them. Hehe. Nevermind, I just put those projects in a container that I was using for my yarn, which I grew out of. Sometimes I even surprise myself. I did leave out Bikini and Commando Duckies because they're so darn cute.

I'm currently reading Shopaholic and Baby. It's really good so far. It's hard to put down!

The Yellow Duckie Pattern is now Available!

I just listed the pattern for this Yellow Duckie on my Etsy Shop. I decided just to go for it and see what happens. The pattern is in a PDF file, so I can email it to you and no shipping costs! I'm pretty excited to be offering this pattern.

The pattern is easy to read and follow. I've included color pictures as aids as well as the pattern for the feet. I can be emailed with any questions.

As far as the Poultry Party goes, I didn't win anything. My brother got a Bingo, but 2 other people did too and he drew a low card. I did get very close on quite a few games. They played blackout and I was 1 away from getting it! Oh well, it was fun and the money went to a good cause. Have a good week everyone!

Are you pondering what I'm pondering?

I've started to toy with the idea of selling some of my patterns on my Etsy store. I've had requests to sell the Duckie pattern at least. I'm starting to think this might be a good idea for the following reasons:

1) No shipping fees/costs or hurrying to the post office on my lunch break or after work
2) Fast to re-list if someone buys it
3) No delays in listing due to making new item

However, I'm hesitant because:

1) Can I write the pattern so other people can understand it?
2) Can I make the pattern look pretty?
3) Will people still buy the duckies I'm so addicted to making?

Hmm... I guess I'm not especially worried someone will sell the duckies from my pattern. And I've been making specialized duckies lately that will still be completely unique to me.

Anyone have any thoughts?

On an unrelated note, my hometown is having a Poultry Party the local fire station is putting on. For those not familiar, a Poultry Party is where you play Bingo for turkeys and sometimes hams and the proceeds go to a local organization. I love going to them. The ones here only cost $.25 a game. I normally lose, but it's still fun! Wish me luck!

Are you ready for Summer?

I'm ready for summer! Even though it doesn't feel like it outside yet. I'll spare you the details of our wonderful weather. (Maybe denial will keep the snow away.) I was in such a summer mood I decided to put a string bikini on a duckie. I'm really excited to make these all summer long.

I love movies and was going to watch a movie tonight. The only thing is, I wasn't sure what I was in the mood for. I have quite a few movies here. But of course I was in the mood for a movie that is in my sister's and my joint collection at my parent's house. My mom calls it our in-house movie store. I can never figure out what I'm in the mood for and it's not unusual for me to start a movie, then stop it because I didn't feel like watching it. Maybe it's hereditary since my sister suffers from the same problem. I finally decided not to watch a movie. Unfortunately, I haven't accomplished much since deciding not to watch a movie. I guess this is just going to be an unproductive week. Oh well, could be worse things! Here's a quick rundown of some of the movies I currently enjoy watching:

The Fifth Element

Dick

The Devil Wears Prada

Hoodwinked

Over the Hedge

Shrek Trilogy

Sydney White

Enchanted

Clueless

Nanny Diaries

Zoolander

Marie Antoinette

Bridget Jones

Legally Blonde

And tons more I've decided not to list because they would take up this whole page.

Enjoy the rest of your week!

Purses, Purses, Purses!!

I hope everyone had a good Easter weekend! Back to reality unfortunately. I don't really have any new projects to show off at the present moment. So I thought I'd show off my purse collection. I realize it's much smaller than a lot of other women's, but I still love it. A lot of the purses to the right, I don't really use. I consider them more museum pieces. I'm actually kind of a priss when it comes to purses. I like them to stay nice looking and pristine. So I don't use the chihuahua purses. I got the head coin purse for Christmas from my mom. Then she told me about the full chihuahua purse, which I had to get of course! I have used the pink purse to the far left. I was extremely anal when using it though. I think it's a Tokidoki knock-off, but I love it! It's currently retired while I use a gnome bag I got for Christmas also.

The purses to the left are two crafter's mall steals. The purse on the top is a book purse. I bought it at this little shop that sells handmade "artist" items. I can't remember what the shop is called now, but it's in an elementary school that was converted in Madison, South Dakota. My mom tried to make another one, but they're harder then they look.

The purse on the bottom is made from Pepsi cans. Yes, that is David Beckham on them. The only purses they had were a beer can purse, 7 up or Squirt, and then this one. I think the cans are actually from an Asian country. Any way, this purse was only $5! I couldn't believe it! I bought this purse at a crafter's mall in Mitchell, South Dakota. I obviously don't use because I don't want the cans to get crushed. My mom is the one who spotted it actually. (There's a recurring theme here.)

The purse below is another unique purse I own. This is made out of men's neck ties. Mom made it for me. She did an awesome job too! This is a durable purse that I'm not too afraid to use. I don't want to snag the ties though. Anyway, she put in a durable lining with pockets and everything. It's the perfect size for a little messanger bag. I love it, but haven't used it in a bit due to the other purses I've acquired. It (and the other purses) decorate my room quite nicely!

Funky Fingers

I'm currently typing with funkily colored fingers. My younger sister, Mom, and I just got done dyeing eggs. I'm of the opinion that you're never too old to dye eggs. This year I tried finger painting an egg using the water that we dyed the eggs in. Not surprisingly, it didn't turn out exactly as intended, but that's ok. Those eggs will eventually be peeled and turned into potato salad, deviled eggs, or just eaten. But it wouldn't be Easter without dyeing eggs and they look so pretty!

A quick update on the guitar learning. I feel like I might actually be getting a teenie, tiny bit better. I had problems changing between chords when I was trying to learn to play before. And that's probably why I would get discouraged and move on to something I was better at. However, I feel like I'm a bit better at changing chords! Atleast I feel like there's hope anyway.

Have a good weekend!

Happy Spring??

This is the scene outside my apartment. It doesn't look too Spring-y to me! It wasn't supposed to snow until tonight. However, it started here around 2 or 3 this afternoon. So much for it missing us! Now the town I live in is in a winter storm warning until 6pm tomorrow. Yuck! Apparently, we're supposed to get up to 6 inches before this is over. I have to say, today looks more wintery than it has most of this winter here. Crazy.

Tonight, I'm staying in, working on another special duckie, and pretending there's no snow outside.

Cuteable!

I feel so honored! Commando Duckie was in Cuteable today! If you have never been to Cuteable, go there now. The site is filled with the cutest items, from crafts to artwork. I visit it everyday.

Happy Little Bluebird

Happy Little Bluebird
Originally uploaded by Home Hooked Creations

Spring is coming, yeah! Too bad no one told the weather that. I'm in a winter storm watch tomorrow night. Yuck. It's raining nicely here tonight, but I guess we're supposed to get a few inches of snow tomorrow. Hopefully it'll miss us completely.

In celebration of Spring, and because I wanted to use some blue yarn, I made this Happy Little Bluebird. This picture was also taken with my new photo set-up. I used to use a bright green hand towel and take pictures on my futon. Last weekend, my parents found me this scrap astro-turf (outdoor carpeting?) they used in their screen house. I think it looks so much better! I also decided to set up the scene on my card table. I used a clip on desk lamp and hooked it to my entertainment center. I think it worked pretty well. Not sure I like the shadow that's on the body though. I'll have to experiment.

Commando Duckie

Commando Duckie
Originally uploaded by Home Hooked Creations

Meet my newest duckie edition, Commando Duckie! He saves the world from evil, fights behind enemy lines. He's a wannabe action movie star. And he's coming into your home.....at your request, of course.

On an unrelated note, I went to a movie tonight . The first trailer was played in reverse, upside down, and in mirror image. It was the funniest thing I have ever seen. The sound was even in reverse. I'm not sure what happened, but it made my night.

Newest Etsy Purchase and Garden Gnomes!

Is this not the cutest shirt ever? This is my latest Etsy purchase. I am such a sucker for sweets that I thought this was just perfect for me! Like my mom says, a diet is a cookie in each hand, preferably chocolate chip. I have been eyeing this shirt for a long time. My duckies have been selling pretty well, so I decided I had to have the shirt! In case you want one like it, check out Applenoggin's Etsy shop. This shirt is called Sweets Gone Wild. She also has the cutest earrings and necklaces, such as the one in this picture.

It's been like Christmas for me this week. First I got my Crafts, Etc. purchase with the black eyes and that mystery chain mail bracelet (I now know what it'll look like, but I'll post it for you all when I'm done.). The next day I received my shirt. Yeah!

On a very unrelated note, I love gnomes. I'm kind of like a crazy flamingo, garden gnome lady. (I'm not big on cats.) My parents even got me a purse with a gnome on it for Christmas. Have you seen this video of a gnome "terrorizing" a village in Argentina? A co-worker showed this to me at work a couple evenings ago. She got freaked out, but I thought it was so funny! Watch it and let me know what you think.

My "Studio"

I always like looking at other people's work areas. Mine pretty much consists of the futon in my living room. It's a prime location, nice view of the tv, in close proximity to my ipod dock radio, close to the kitchen. I don't have any other rooms in my apartment that would work though either. And, in all honesty, I do most of my crocheting when I'm watching a movie or tv. I do have a card table set up in my living room now to put my work in progress on instead of having it take up half the futon. I also have some of my finished amigurumi on the card table as well. I'm starting to run out of room where I had been putting them.

Well, that about does it for my work space!

Mama, I'm Going Fast!

It's Sunday again, which means Nascar! The car to the left is the Reverse Pit Cap Kasey Kahne car my sister made. Trust me, the picture does not do it justice. It looks fast in person, even though it's 1/24 scale. She does a really good job on these making them as realistic as possible. Normally, she makes Jeff Gordon cars (she's a huge fan). She recently made his seat (for the models) from scratch. It looks quite impressive to my untrained plastic model eye anyway.

Mystery Kit

Happy Saturday!

The above picture is a kit I ordered on Crafts Etc. this morning in an effort to have a large enough purchase so I wouldn't have to pay shipping on some solid black eyes that I ordered. It's kind of a mystery kit because I'm not really sure what the bracelet will end up looking like. This is the only picture they had of the kit. It is labeled as "Japanese Bracelet" on the site. I really like chain mail accessories and I like Japanese, so I figure there's a pretty good chance this will be a neat bracelet. I'm always up for surprises. I'll have to post the finished product once I have it together.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Floppy Eared Doggie

Floppy Eared Doggie
Originally uploaded by Home Hooked Creations

He's not a duckie! I'm taking baby steps to get over my duckie making addiction. It's kind of gotten almost a necessity at the moment. I can't find any more of the eyes for the duckies. I have enough to make 4 more and then they're gone. I even drove to a bigger town an hour and a half from me to look for some and came up empty. Hobby Lobby was all out of the size I needed! Of course it started snowing heavily while I was in town. Thank goodness my sister came with me. She was my navigator and kept letting me know when I was getting close to the shoulder on the interstate on the drive back. With the snow coming down and the darkness, it was hard to tell.

My mom did find some cute brown eyes though. I thought they would look better on furry animals as opposed to my feather friend, the duckie. This doggie was orginally going to be a squirrel, but I had some issues making the tail, plus the eyes just screamed "Make me into a doggie!". Apparently, I have a 6th sense and can hear crocheted animals talking to me. Moving on......

3 Amigos

The craft show at work was a bust. Mom sold 3 things she made, I didn't sell anything. No one really sold much, though, so I don't feel so bad.

However, this is good news for my Etsy store. You'll be seeing the merchandise fill up my shop. Some examples are seen above. My mom worked like a mad woman to make up these bunny candy jar toppers in time for the craft show. The white bunny is currently in my shop (just listed) and the other ones will join him. You can never have too many bunnies!

Guitar Rising

I can't wait! Last night on Yahoo, I read about this new computer program (game?) that is like real-life guitar hero. You hook up your electric guitar to your computer and it helps teach you how to play guitar! This may be the closest thing to a knowledge download I'll be able to find. It's not out yet though... I'm not really sure when it's supposed to be coming out. I am definitely looking forward to it though!

What I've Been Up To

This blog has been quiet (even for me) because I've been crocheting like a mad woman to make duckies for a craft show at work. We were told about it two weeks ago. That's not much time to make things for Easter! I thought I had plenty of stock, but then things started selling in my Etsy shop. I'm not complaining at all, it just meant more work for me. The craft show is also the reason there hasn't been much new merchandise in the shop. However, anything that doesn't sell at the show will be in my shop. Start looking Wednesday night!