Friday, July 30, 2010

Crochet Mania!!!

I'm not really sure how many of my readers crochet, but... because I get a little excited 


(Think Flo from Progressive...) 
I have doubles of 2 different Crochet Today magazines!  I subscribe to the magazine, but jumped the gun and bought 2 issues that promptly came in the mail to me... of course!
So, I'm going to do a giveaway with my extra mags!
This is the May/June 2010 issue

it's full of all kinds of Baby and Wedding items


and SUPER cute amigurumi by Ana Paula Rimoli


There are also cute sweaters (like the one on the cover), a large tote, and an article on "double trouble".  Double Trouble is the crochet duo of identical twins named:
Monika and Erika.
I found these girls on youtube
(cause i'm a craft geek that types in "crochet" on youtube!)
and they do some things with crochet your Grandma never even though about!
Want to win this magazine??
All you need to do:
leave a comment on this post, THIS post ONLY!
want an extra entry?
become a FOLLOWER (new follower only) of this blog
become a fan of chinamommy on facebook
follow: TheCHinaMOmmy on twitter
refer a friend to this blog (make sure they tell me YOU sent them!)
send me a 2011 Range Rover in white (camel leather with black trim interior)
IF you send the RR- you just GET the magazine no matter whose name I draw!
 Make sure you make a Separate comment for each entry!!
(makes it easier for me to count, I got a D- in math every time I took it!)

Example: 
twitter: your name
facebook fan: your name
I'll keep this open till August 6 (a week from Friday).
Get your craft on!!!

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Are you gettin' all flirty on me?

Do you notice every few years we gotta have something BIG?
Something SUPER SIZED?
the "Queen of BIG", Pam Anderson!
Melanie, can you eat with those lips?
and...
Ginormous diamond rings!
Now girls, you know this giant diamond thing is right up my alley!
The boobs?  No thanks, not interested.  The lips? I've been known to hoard lip plumping glosses!
The giant diamonds?  YES, please!!
Have you noticed the newest GIANT fad?
LASHES!!
(all images from http://www.sephora.com/ )
Right up there with the giant diamond (in my book) are the giant lashes!
I ❤❤❤ them!
Perhaps you heard the rumor that I've paid $30 for lash building serum...
Let me put the rumor to rest...
GUILTY!
As a SAHM (stay-at-home-Mom) I don't find a lot of opportunities to wear giant lashes, but believe me, I'm looking!
Just look what Sephora has to offer:

 I use to babysit this little girl that had lashes like this, she also had a moustache like...
Guess when you are blessed with lashes like that, you gotta take the good with the bad?!

and then check these out...
Oh, to be 21 and "clubbing"

and my ALL time favorites!!!!
PINK!!

I do own several pairs of false lashes... but nothing as full and fancy as these!  

because as much as I want to wear those pink feathers, it's like metallic leggings...
the end result is NEVER as good as it sounds!
What do you girls think?
Like the falsies?
I like not having flakes of mascara in my eyes, the glue on my lids is the trade-off, I guess!

Check back tomorrow for a Crochet Today magazine GIVE-AWAY!!!!
and...

a little plug about my BABY HAT DRIVE 
As most of you know, my daughter was adopted from China and I left a little piece of my heart there.  I'm collecting hats to keep the children and babies warm in the winter.  Many live in orphanages that are without heat.
1. make a baby hat, toddler hat, or kid sized hat (you can take the non-crafty way out and buy one if you must)
2. email me at: chinamommy_04@yahoo.com for my address.
3. I'll take care of shipping them to CHINA next fall.
any questions- please feel free to email me!!



Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Pretty, Pretty easy that is!

I was talking about this with someone lately and they had no idea what I was talking about (it's happened before) so I'm here to share!
This is an easy, fun, and pretty little summer craft:
Dying Queen Anne's Lace!

If you've never done this, give it a try!
It's easy for kids and will keep them entertained for a while.
1. find an assortment of jars and vases.
2. get some food coloring
3. fill the jars with cold water and add the food coloring
We added about 12-16 drops in each jar, darker does work better!
4. Go cut yourself some Queen Anne's lace, you DO have it where you live don't you?
It's everywhere around us, just watch out for it's pal, poison ivy!
5. Trim your stems and stick them in the water, the magic happens pretty quickly...
by the next day you SHOULD see some of the color, remember to trim the ends right before they go into the water even though you just cut them in the yard!
We found we had the best luck with blue!
Try to get the freshest blooms you can, I waited a bit late this year and for some reason, the dead blooms don't suck up the water very well, duh!


Oh yeah, check your flowers OUTSIDE for bugs and spiders!  I found a wormy looking thing and a spider on a stem of mine AFTER they'd been in the house overnight.  I'm not really afraid of bugs but for some reason they startled me and when I pulled that stem out of the vase I did this weird dance/freak-out move that hurt my neck!  It was kind of like Elaine from Seinfeld dancing....
I'm going down to my studio today!!!
Oh, we had a great time with our friends yesterday, didn't get to the beach 'cause we were too busy looking at cute shops!
Darling ALMOST made it home....

Happy Thursday!

Elaine´s Dance


I can't get this to play.... the play arrow only shows up for me when I'm in "edit".... I thought it was suppose to be easy to put a youtube video on a blog... perhaps it's just me!?!  Anyway, you've seen the dance, right?

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Lake Michigan, you aren't the ocean, but i still love you....

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the water!
I love the sound, I love the sand, I love the people watching, I LOVE the beach!!
Many of you know that once the temperature drops below 72, I start whining.  I hate the cold, I detest the cold, I abhor the cold!!
BUT...
right now it is NOT cold, and I am oh so happy!!
My darling girl and I are going to meet a couple of our gal pals over by the lake in the cutest little town called Saugatuck.
Saugatuck is where we go to the film festival every year.  It's full of fun shops, vintage shopping, great food and tons of boats to watch.
Hope you have something fun to do today! 
I'll be back tomorrow!!
My head is BURSTING with fun ideas to work on in my art room.  It seems like the more I have to do and the less time I have in my studio the more I have ideas.  I'm storing them away in my head until I get down there!!
lator tators!

Monday, July 26, 2010

Share the ❤love❤

So, I just saw this blog on GMA,
 (Good Morning America- a television morning news show, for those of you readers not in the USA)
they were talking about people who made successful businesses from home- so you KNOW I was ALL over that story!
This blog is BIG time, I mean, she made it on GMA for cryin' out loud.  She's a stay-at-home mama and now she has people paying to advertise on her blog and has some internet business site where she promotes other peoples stuff and she MADE IT ON GMA!!!
chinamommy wants to be big time TOO! (put pouty baby face on) So, in an effort to make it on a national morning television news show, I now have a share button at the bottom of each post!  That means YOU can share me with your friends... now that's an offer you probably (I hope) don't get everyday!!!
To be big time, I'm thinking chinamommy better STEP IT UP and I don't know that I even know what that means... but I'm going to....
WOW, I wonder if that means I'll have to do more "DIY projects", you know I suck at that.  I have no follow through, well, I've HAD no follow through, but I REALLY am trying to change that!
I bought this WONDERFUL book for my mental twin (An Unusual girl Named Christine) and myself called:
Taking Flight: Inspiration and Techniques to Give Your Creative Spirit Wings.
by Kelly Rae Roberts

 go to Kelly's blog to see inside her book...
I'm working my way through the book... I'm on the 1st project right now.  I'll post some of my pictures tomorrow, and that my friends, is me having a little bit of follow through!
Happy Monday friends!!

Friday, July 23, 2010

I'm on a jelly roll....

Well, don't ya know... I'm on a roll photographing all my artwork and jewelry and then, the sun crawls behind a rain cloud and I'm stuck!  I went back and looked at some of my old pictures and boy oh boy, the inside shots are REALLY bad!!  I didn't even have green tomatoes back then...boo!
Here's what I listed on etsy today:





My Button stacker pendants and rings are UNDER $10 and that INCLUDES 
S&H!!
They're a deal, tell a friend!!
To get right to my shop(chinamommy), just click on my etsy link above... easy-peasy!
My papercutsarecute store is running way low... but I did just realist this:

My darling girl and I are off to see the new movie
Ramona and Beezus.
I loved these books as a kid!!

I hope to pass on my love for all things Beverly Cleary to my daughter.  Now that she's reading I'm finding it so fun to re-read the books I loved as a child with her!
Have a FABULOUS weekend!!

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Yes, I have green tomatoes!

So, I spent the day doing a photo shoot with some easy goodies that need to get OUT of my cabinet and INTO my etsy store: chinamommy
You may see a common theme in my pictures...
Perhaps, it's the green tomatoes!  
What can I say?- the color was awesome and I'm no photographer.  Spending hours setting up "shoots" is NOT my idea of fun.  If Darling was willing to run and get props, set them up and then put them away, I might find it more fun...

Button Stacker ring

Button Stacker Pendants

but don't worry I didn't use the tomatoes in EVERY shot...
I also used my ratty rattan table!

and, my flower pots!
I've been a busy girl listing on easy!!  You do know "chinamommy" is on Facebook, right?
If not do a search and become a FAN!!  All the cool kids are doin' it!
and...
this little guy, Sonny, is going strong!

We have to be gone overnight coming up... I hope he'll be ok outside with his sister and brothers.  He tries to nurse from the mother, but the others are 3X's his size so he has a hard time getting his turn and "mother" doesn't give a hoot about this little guy.  Anyone want to babysit?
Have a great day and enjoy the HEAT! (and construction works in your case Mel!)
and...
a little plug about my BABY HAT DRIVE 
(I guess I shouldn't say BABY as it can be baby to teen sized!!)
As most of you know, my daughter was adopted from China and I left a little piece of my heart there.  I'm collecting hats to keep the children and babies warm in the winter.  Many live in orphanages that are without heat.
1. make a baby hat, toddler hat, or kid sized hat (you can take the non-crafty way out and buy one if you must)
2. email me at: chinamommy_04@yahoo.com for my address.
3. I'll take care of shipping them to CHINA next fall.
any questions- please feel free to email me!!

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Summer Lovin'

Is anyone even reading blogs this summer? 
I know I haven't been very much at all and am way behind on everyones going ons!  If you've been a reader for a while, you know I live in the North and I HATE the cold, so I'm soaking up every bit of this heat while I can!!
Yesterday was my BABY's birthday...
Her 7th birthday!
I told her I was going to make her wear a diaper all day and feed her by bottle, she said she'd take a bottle but the diaper was OUT!
When I adopted my sweetie she was 11 months old and kinda POTTY TRAINED! I kid you not!  In China they hold the kids over the potty, so she didn't really "like" to poop in her pants- LUCKY ME!
At 18 months she was in undies full time!
Have I mentioned she is an awesome kid and was, right from the start!!!
She's a rock star!
Well, believe it or not, my etsy shops have been busy... busy for me, that is.
I've been downstairs working on some new goods...
New Cutie Cupcakes,
New magnets, New jewelry 
 and some other goodies!
I'll be back tomorrow with some peeks!
Happy SUN Day!!

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Oh my gosh... is this cute, or what?

I'm trying to flood my brain with inspiration and for me, it's by looking at CUTE stuff!!
So check out this CUTE stuff!
glitzy octo earrings by anthropology 
this ADORABLE bicycle built for two by Jenni Horne
I'm in love with bike prints, you can find tons of cute examples on etsy too!
Helen Dardik... always love everything she does! Is this sweet treat picture the cutest ever?
I swear everything she does is magical to me.  Can you imagine your mom making invites to your birthday that look like this?
and this is from Urban Outfitters:
I would love this for my desk, so me!!

These stamps are from Stampin' Up.  Stamps.... so addictive!!
and this... 
I guess because it's PINK it gets to go in the "cute" category (and the sparkly and the glitzy and the EXPEN$IVE category... at $32,999.99, I'll take 2!).
and then this... this gets my #1 Cute vote for today-
Eeeek, I seriously screamed when I saw it!  I've been begging the Mister on a daily basis to build one in the back yard!!  He didn't say "no"... so I'm going to start hand cutting wood shingles for the roof!  I wonder if I can use my cricut?!
Have a GREAT day!!
ok, before I forget: I DO read all your comments (and LOVE them) and I always respond to them, the problem: I respond in my head!  I always wonder if people come back to see if I've responded to their comments- which I sometimes do... but I'm curious: IF you comment, do you come back to see if I said anything?  Just curious... 
and:
a little plug about my BABY HAT DRIVE 
As most of you know, my daughter was adopted from China and I left a little piece of my heart there.  I'm collecting hats to keep the children and babies warm in the winter.  Many live in orphanages that are without heat.
1. make a baby hat, toddler hat, or kid sized hat (you can take the non-crafty way out and buy one if you must)
2. email me at: chinamommy_04@yahoo.com for my address.
3. I'll take care of shipping them to CHINA next fall (I'm shooting for a Sept deadline).
any questions- please feel free to email me!!


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