Mr. Pretties Forgot To Obtain Batteries...

I make one request, please pick me up some camera-food so I can take some pictures for my list-a-thon I've scheduled for today. No problem. Hey Mr. Pretties, where for art my batteries? Ahh... still at the store... I see... I can see how they wouldn't be a priority. Oh wait, no I can't. Now, hypothetical situation, say The Little Boy Person had made his appearance this afternoon (By the way, don't count on him making his appearance anytime in the near, or not-so-near future, we're in it for the long haul now!) how many of his first moments would I have missed because of this error in judgement? Fortunate LBP is sitting tight or Mr. Pretties really could have been in for it. Honestly. Who forgets batteries that are written on the list in your hand, on the last day of the BOGO sale for batteries? I digress...

I read my own blog, everyday after I post in it. I have a horrible habit of things making sense in my head while I'm typing them, but when I go back and read it it makes zero sense at all or the words are all wrong or something. So if you read a post and end up shaking your head and thinking I must be into the Black Ice a little early, come back and read it again in an hour, it just may make more sense then ;) So because I have no pictures to share I would personally skip my own post today. Some how it's just not the same, but I can't just not post today... that wouldn't feel right either and we all know how I feel about 'right'. So maybe I'll dig out some links instead.

I got my new no-slip grips this morning, woohoo! They feel really great (Yeah, I took them out of their envi and rubbed them, very, very nice) and I bet they work marvelously. I'm going to test them out on the Little Pretties tonight and hopefully they're not only compareable to the old ones, but are much, much better. I like things that're better. Not only that, but the seller who sells them (How lazy am I, I had my no-slip grips cut for me... sue me, it takes forever to cut those suckers!) is super duper nice and she lives in Canada so shipping is speedy fast which I also love! Speaking of speedy shipping, or not, my flat plate bobby pins are still not here. I took my envi out of the mail this morning and couldn't figure out why the package was so bendy and non-bobby pin feeling. Then I discovered they weren't bobby pins. They better be here tomorrow, I'm getting annoyed. In addition, I just received an email from USPS that the premade corkers I ordered on the 16th were shipped. Yesterday. Yeah... so they sat around for two weeks before even hitting the mail for another two. I'm not really happy about that. At all. That almost deserves negative feedback. Not only did they not ship until yesterday, but the seller did not take the time to see my name in the payment info and instead took the last name from my PayPal info (Mr. Pretties) and Meaghan from the shop's name. Wait, I believe it was Meghan (not spelled right) at that. So, if this package should for some reason end up at the post office I wont be able to pick it up. I am not Meghan ******, and with the spelling that person does not even exist. In all my time buying on Etsy (I have another 'buyers' account not related to Meaghan-Marie) I have never encountered this problem. I hate leaving negative things, especially since she made an effort to ship it to Canada (Although it did take her a week to make a listing reflecting this... and it's totally not that hard to do, like it would take 30 seconds) but I'm just annoyed. I treat my $3 sales as well as my $30 sales and others should too. Not saying I'm the perfect seller or anything like that, in the past two weeks I've had my fair share of postal issues and supply issues that've needed some patching up but I'm hoping that's something we'll avoid with time. So, we wont be seeing fun corkers in the shop anytime soon. Sorry about that. Really sorry be cause that means I'll have to make them now, and that requires using the oven and heating my house far warmer than I like.

While I was opening my envi from the slip-grip lady I found she had this really adorable 'mini card' tucked in there with her logo, name, tagline, and email. Sounds pretty boring, but it is so sweet! It's really high quality and something I'll totally hang onto because it's so cute and fun, way cooler than a business card! She even gave me the website she bought them on. It's www.Moo.Com they've got some great designs premade or you can upload your own (Or not, as i my case where my files are not working correctly...). I think I'll have a super cute logo created and then have some printed up. These put business cards to shame, these are just so perfect, and tiny and kind of feel like a little present even though they're clearly an advertisement. Moo even lets you print several different prints in one order, and the prices are pretty reasonable. 100 mini cards for $20 + shipping. Not bad! I love ordering from Etsy just to see what neat things sellers tuck into their packages, and I never cease to be amazed! Must be that over flowing creativity they (not me) possess.

I did felt some balls lastnight, but only four. I'm going to try to make some more tonight. I think not having the pins to put them on, combined with the fact that they aren't big sellers on Etsy has kind of dampened my motivation. Not that I couldn't sell them as felt beads too. I just don't want to make all these fuzzy cuties and then have them sitting around the house feeling all bad because no one wants them. Then I'll either have to package them for the mom sales or use them, and I'm more likely to use them because I feel bad for them. Poor babies. Maybe they're happier as roving? They actually look really sweet sitting in little glass containers in the kitchen too, so I could use them as decor too ;) I'll think of something.

I'm going to go do something blog worthy now, and then come back and blog about it when my camera is working. I really dislike this camera. Alot.

It's Wednesday and I Have No Pictures To Share...

Today was another excellent mail day :) Remember that really cute picture of different coloured roving with the bunny? That arrived this morning. As did my Ikea catalog. No bills accompanied either. These things all together make me very happy! I was really hoping the roving would arrive with the flat plate bobby pins I ordered on the same day though... that would have put me right off the chart of happiness because I could have started making and listing my felt ball pins today. Technically I could felt the balls today and then adhere them tomorrow, but it's just not the same. It's probably better actually, since the felty balls need atleast 24 hours to dry... genius, glad I thought of it! This afternoon along with boiling bottles, washing my bedding, and complaining about my back which feels like it may be dislocated, I will felt some rainbow balls. I'd love to promise pictures will follow but I'm out of food for the camera (Read: Batteries) until tomorrow when Mr. Pretties goes out to obtain some for me.

This has been a super slow Etsy week and I can't say I'm sorry for it. I've got orders done, I've ordered new supplies, I have one more order to do, and I've got a fat stack of mail to take out in the morning, and I'm done. Hopefully until after The Little Boy Person gets here. That's a funny think to wish, eh? 'Gee I hope I don't make any sales this week!' I'd obviously be stoked if I did, but for right now I'm just going to list things I've got made already and take no customs because I can't promise they'll be out in a timely fashion for atleast the next few weeks. Clippies that I just need to package I can promise will be out and on time. I also have three sets of freebies to send out and once I get 15 replies to my Facebook group I'll have to send out another 30. If I don't hear back from more than, say, two people I'm not sending any out, it really defeats the purpose. I also have to start stocking up for the fall Mom2Mom sales I attend as well as for Little Sprouts Turnabouts. I'm still patiently waiting for my clip cards too... I'm also regretting getting them in pink and brown. I know, I can't believe I just said that either. But it occurred to me during my 3am bathroom break that when I make my clip cards I use cardstock and paper that match or accent the clips and makes them look purdy. Pink and brown is no going to accent, or match most colour combos I sell. This could make them look ugly, and then I wont use them and I'll be back to making my own. Damn it. Well, we'll give it a try, but I can really see myself purchasing new solid coloured cards in a light, light green and light, light pink which are Meaghan-Marie's other colours and tend to match most of what's going on.

I've added a 'vintage' section to Etsy as well. I'm going to see how it goes but I'll probably end up opening a shop especially for fun housy stuff and vintage items. Some how they don't seem to 'flow' with little girl pretties... But I've got so many vintage goodies that could really use some loving elsewhere that it only seems to be the humane thing to do. I may keep some of my housy funs on MMPretties, but only ones that can be used in a baby nursery, or kiddie room. Don't really need a big 'beard' garland in grown up colours cluttering up the rainbow of hair clippies. Just doesn't make sense or look all that cute. I'd love to list my vintage haves today, but again, need to get me some batteries. Or find one of the Little Pretties toys that doesn't need them... Hmm... that's a good idea too, although it may not be profitable because I try to limit the amount of annoying noisy things that require batteries coming into the house... Crap, I actually don't think there is anything that already has batteries that work. Well, tomorrow and Friday we'll be having a list-a-thon, even if I have to take the pictures from my hospital bed ;) That should be fun!

Mr. Pretties promised that if I hadn't had The Little Boy Person by tomorrow I could go to the cheap-o nail place (Not the love-me-some-pink-and-brown spa from my birthday events) and have them remove and reapply my nail polish. I was very excited about this prospect as my toes now look like someone took extra special care to only paint the top halves of them. They aren't chipped or anything, just super grown out. And I spilled white paint on two of them when I was painting my mantel thingies white. I can't get it off. But it appears that Mr. Pretties has now decided he's going on a grocery shopping spree instead. Like we need groceries! Apparently he doesn't understand that I'm on a time line here... he can still go grocery shopping after The Little Boy Person gets here, I on the other hand could go to the toe place, but wont because the amount of complaining and whining I would receive from Mr. Pretties when I got home would undo any good the toe painting would have done for me. Plus, it would pretty well defeat the purpose, I need nice toes so the nice nurses at the hospital have something interesting to look at during delivery ;) I'm sure they've seen more hoo-haws than they'd like to discuss, but how many fun toe nail paintings have they seen? Probably not nearly as many! I was planning on having fun flowers painted on them and everything just for added effect. I think I'll have to rediscuss this situation with Mr. Pretties this evening. He must've over looked these important details when he thought he needed to grocery shop.

PS. If anyone out there loves me, I could really use the Creative Homes magazine, as well as that one that's about prettying flea market finds, and things of that nature. They'd be fab for easy hospital reads, but, I'm not about to spend $7 on a 1.5mm magazine. Sorry. I'm stingy like that... so if anyone has them laying around just let me know. Unless you're in the US or the likes, then don't let me know because it'll make me cry that you have them and I can't come get them. Thanks. I remember when magazines were $3.50 and that was expensive. $7, that's just ridiculous!

Off to felt some balls and find a chiropractor (or hot bathtub) to do something about this back situation.

Sweet, Sweet Garland...

Okay, prepare your eyes for the worst pictures known to humanity. Seriously. My livingroom seems to have the worst lighting situation. Ever. We have a veranda in the front that blocks out most of the light, there's only one window, and the paint is dark. It's very cave like and with no ceiling light it's very hard to get a decent picture in there. Even with all four lamps sans shades, and the diningroom light on. Combine that with the severe suckingness of my camera and you've got yourself some pretty horrific pictures, almost to the point of being pointless.

But I promised there would be pictures, and there shall. This is the mantel before:

I'm actually really embarassed I let it sit this way for so long. Notice the black paint on the mirror, it used to be covered in black and white scrapbooking paper when it was in the then black and white hallway. I tried to use paint to make the paper stick because I didn't want to haul out my blue gun... yeah it didn't work.


-->Please insert blushing and horribly embarrassed smiley here<-- That's even a water wing on the mantel there, and my outdoor bunnies awaiting their paint job. Could it be any uglier? This was taken lastnight after the majority was done, again, really crappy pictures/lighting but you get the idea.
Now this is without the garland. I like the new whiteness of all of it. Since I couldn't get a close-up without it being black I'll describe for you ;) To the left is my outdoor cement bunnies, now white. They have chocolate brown and light green neckties. In the center is an antique tin that used to have horrible ugly vintage fruits on it. I painted it white and added the same chocolate brown satin ribbon and light green swiss dot ribbon around it and added some flowers. To the right is a full place setting of solid white dishes with the same ribbon spilling out. It sounds stupid but IRL it looks really cute.




This is this afternoon after I tied my little hands off making this garland. The green isn't the right colour, but when you're shopping WalMart's remnants section (Ps. WalMart in Canada has all of it's fabric 50% off currently as it's doing away with the fabric section FYI) so it's comprised of green sheer, chocolate brown sheer, chocolate brown minky, white linen, white flannel, white satin ribbon, green swiss dot ribbon, black and white ribbon, and moss green roving (Have you noticed this roving is working into WAY too many projects now? Me too... but I just love it...)


This is the best picture I could get, this with four lamps shadeless, the hall light on, the dining room light on, and my camera set to night mode. It's also still daylight here... All I can say is, wow. How crappy can one camera be?! So you can't even really appreciate how sweet i looks since you can't see that the paper in the white frames is the same coloured stripes as the garland and everything else. It's really sharp IRL. This garland ways a freakin' ton too. The cement bunnies and place setting full of rocks and roving are barely doing the job, I have to figure out a way to keep it up there safely. It's also easily 5' long, oh how I love ragamuffins!

These are the colours up close:
Considering the green isn't what I wanted and I ran out of brown half way through I think it turned out pretty good. You also can't see that the pukey green chair and black telephone table are beside the fireplace and the chair is the exact colour of the green fabric so it does look fab. I don't usually do garlands that's all solid fabrics so this is different than my other ones. Mr. Pretties even encouraged the garland for the fireplace after the first bit was done. He thought the transformation, even though small, looked nice and cute and he may now consider sitting in the living room. I'll sit in the living room simply to admire the garland because I love them. I'm going to make one for the Little Boy Person's area in our room too. That will require a stop at the thrift store though because I want to use some old blue and green plaid shirts and possibly some denim as well, and those are things we do not have in this house. Especially not to rip up. This garland cost me two king sized flannel pillow cases (That had that really yummy flannel smell), one vintage linen crib sheet (Really shouldn't have ripped that one up...), 1.25 yards of brown, and 2.5 yards of green. Then several rolls of ribbon. This is by far the biggest garland I own now. I even found some more black and white patterned material as well as another small piece of toile that I can stuff into the little one in the kitchen since I still think it needs something. I might also use the rest of the left overs from the garlands in the Little Pretties' room and make another one for Etsy. We'll see how this whole Little Boy Person exiting situation goes. Then again, maybe I'm the only person goofy enough to love these little cuties. I'm glad I don't have loads of money because I'd buy every single ragamuffin garland that The Nester makes, and then I'd be out of space for sure.



I had my *LAST* (Do you hear me Little Boy Person?!) obstetrics appointment this morning. I really hate these appointments. With the Big Little Pretty they were so exciting and made the time go by so much quicker! With the Little Little Pretty they were exciting to begin with, but after going 12 days late they quickly got old.

Dr: 'Have you had any contractions?'
Me: 'No'
Dr: 'Any weird discharge?'
Me: 'No'
Dr: 'Any questions?'
Me: 'No'
Dr: 'Wow, you're having a boring pregnancy!'
Me: 'Thanks'

You can only have that conversation so many times before it loses the hilarity. This time we even have a new Dr and are using a different hospital, so they should be exciting again, right? Wrong. Accept this time the waiting chairs are always full (Not always by pregnant people either... jerks...) and you have to stand in the cement hall. Usually for an hour before being seen for your 30 second appointment. There is one bathroom in this area where patients from three different OBs need to pee in a cup, as well as anyone else in the hospital who also needs to pee. This causes a fair bit of chaos. And annoyance. Then I proceed to have the same conversation as above. I'm not even due for another three days and there's already talk of induction. No thanks. Also if I don't deliver by this weekend I'll have to have a completely different Dr. Essentially that is fine, accept that we chose this hospital and this Dr for the purpose of seeing the same person and knowing who was going to deliver, versus with the other two having no idea. So it's not that we haven't gone this route before, we just didn't plan to this time. I even researched this Dr. to make sure it would be a good match, and for what? So someone else can deliver anyway? What was the point?! I suppose I'm being hormonal and overreacting, but still. Aunt Pretty is also moving this weekend making The Little Boy Person's arrival on the weekend a little inconvenient for most as the Little Pretties need to go to Aunt Pretties so Mr. Pretties can come with me. Although I could really go myself, Mr. Pretties almost missed it the last two times anyway... So I asked the Dr. if The Little Boy Person was in position and ready to make his way out and he said... 'Who can really tell?' Great. Who knows. I stood in a non- air conditioned hallway for an hour, listening to a newborn scream because the mom is 'putting her on a schedule' (That is the worst sound to hear, breaks my heart!), to hear 'Who knows!'. He could have lied. He could have said 'Any minute now! Watch for signs because I can just tell he's practically knocking at the door!' and that would have made me happy. Even if it wasn't true and wasn't going to happen. Saying 'Who knows' and discussing induction dates with me is not conducive to a happy person. Having to book an appointment with a different Dr. for next week also does not make me a happy person. The prospect of still being pregnant in two weeks having an induction makes me really unhappy. I think I'll just skip next weeks appointment and save myself the swollen legs and disappointment.

Mr. Pretties came home from work and I was stoked to show him the ragamuffin sweetie, even though I may not keep her (If she doesn't sell she's always welcome here ;) ) I still think she's darling and full of whimsy and character. He looked at it, put on his serious face and barely croaked out 'Yeah that looks nice' before falling into hysterical laughter. Which only became worse the more angry I got. Apparently, the garland is too 'bushy' and makes the fireplace look like it has a beard. I should take half of the fabric out and make a second one since this one is so full. Right. Like he's a knowledgeable source about whether or not my garland is too fluffy or bushy or whatever. I think I'm a better source of trendy info. How rude. Does he not understand that I will be suffering from severe arthritis or something from ripping all that fabric and tying all those knots? Probably not...

Okay So Updates Will Have to Wait Until Tomorrow...

... Sorry about that. The mantel is mostly done, I just need to find some white/sage/brown fabric/ribbon to make another garland for the mantel. It absolutely needs one and I just don't have the white/sage to do it. Frig I hate that. It would be SO done other wise. Also, my house is now a disaster. The laundry is still wet. And there is a sink full of dishes... some how crafting puts everything else on the back burner. In addition to this I'm getting the icky bloated/crampy/achy feeling that I'm hoping is not The Little Boy Person planning to make his arrival because I still have stuff to do!

Mr. Pretties will be home from work in approximately six minutes to clean up this disaster. He wont be happy. I don't even think the beauty of the mantel will erase the images of spilled paint in the kitchen courtesy of The Little Pretty. Nope, I really don't think so.

Off to put the wet curtains in the dryer since I'm not really a huge fan of people outside my house watching me sleep... Mr. Pretties likely wouldn't be thrilled either... Can't someone else be doing this?!

I Should Be Painting Outdoor Rabbits...

I have about 5001 things to be doing right now... so what am I doing? I'm blogging about doing them... perhaps that will motivate me to get them done. Or not. I am suffering from an exhaustion unlike no other right now, I don't know if The Little Boy Person is thinking about making his way out or what but even typing this blog is requiring copious quantities of energy that weren't restored during my nap this afternoon. Yes, that's right, I took a nap. I have a secret love affair with napping and it will be a sad, sad day when I can no longer convince the Little Pretties that they do too.

So on this evenings agenda (I have a love/hate affair with procrastination too...) I need to break out the paint and paint five mirrors for over my mantel because my mantel is butt ugly right now, probably has been for the last two years... and I need to do something about it. I tried just avoiding the living room altogether but it's not as easy as it sounds. So after I paint these mirrors, I need to hang them. I have zero patience for hanging things, we'll see how that plays out. Then I need to shop my basement for several accenty type things that can have a coat of white paint slapped on them and stuck on the mantel and pretend they belong there and were always white. So far I have out door rabbits. White rabbits can be sort of shabby chic/country/elegant, right? We'll see. I keep imagining these great white bottles with puke green candles in them for one side, but I don't have the bottles, or the candles, or puke green paint, and I don't think simply imagining them will make them appear. Crap. I'll see what I can dig up. I have to do laundry too... like I do five times a day, every. single. day. But I figure if the living room stops looking like garbage Mr. Pretties wont even notice the laundry that he'll have to take care of tomorrow before *hopefully* my last obstetrics appt. Mr. Pretties also has a hate-on for the living room, but doesn't have the ability to make it not ugly so that falls into my lap. I put it off for, oh, about six months now, telling him that I need a piece of baseboard to re frame the big mirror with to make it bigger, as well as some crackle medium, cream paint, antiquing medium, and a mitre saw. These supplies have yet to arrive... now I have no choice but to do a half rear ended job just with what I have. Trust me, it will not look even in the same realm of goodness that it would have if I'd had these very important supplies. I'll still take some after pictures, provided the camera hasn't already eaten the batteries I found for it yesterday.

I also have a really cool idea for new clippies involving candy wrappers (Trust me, it's cute) that I'll be working as soon as Mr. Pretties brings me some candy... I'll post about it. Then I'll put it on Etsy. I swear with all the stuff I'm giving away lately I'll have nothing on Etsy soon. That's actually okay though, I enjoy giving stuff away. Most of the time.

I purchased new clip-gripper yesterday, I had it custom cut and everything so it'll save me loads of time. Maybe now I'll be able to go to bed at 3:45 instead of 4am! Yessss! But I'm excited to try it out and see how it compares to the old gripper. I'm hoping this stuff is atleast comparable if not better so I can switch over. It just looks nicer and easier to work with. I hate working with the gripper I have now, it's a nightmare. This will be added to my magnet experiment as well. I may just have both of them be an option on Etsy since different things will work for different people ;) I also purchased custom clip cards. Woohoo! For those who have never received a package from me you wont know that I make all my shipping envelopes as well as my clip cards, thank you cards, and sometimes the tissue paper. This means that each order takes me a long time to assemble. These clip cards are ofcourse pink and brown ;) And will match my business cards whenever I order them (Did I already order them? Who knows!) and they'll be super cute and all I'll have to do is slice them down the sides for the clips to go in. I can even do this with my pink and brown paper cutter. I'm very excited about that. I was going to post a picture of them, but, I'm an idiot and I deleted it already. I hate it when I'm all efficient like that, it usually bites me in the rear end.

This post is crappy, but I'll be back in a couple hours (Hopefully) with pictures and fun stories of all the dumb things I did while I was trying to make my living room non-craptastic!

I Think We Passed Family Time 101...

Well we gave that whole 'family thing' a try again today when Mr. Pretties woke up from night shift. I think we actually passed as an average family enjoying eachother's company this time! That's progress people! We took The Pretties to Port Dover:

It was super packed because of summer holidays and parking was brutal (The only time ever I've considered paying $10 to park anywhere) but eventually we made it to the beach. The water was nice, albeit quite sea weedy and gross... We escaped with only two complete melt downs courtesy of The Big Little Pretty. It was the perfect day to go, there could not be a more perfect day ever. I wish we could have stayed all day/evening. We may actually go back tomorrow... no doubt it wont work out as well as today did. Who knows, maybe we'll meet The Little Boy Person tonight instead. Or not.

I hit the hay at 4am this morning. I think I have a problem... fortunately I didn't attempt anything too creative so I have no barf-esque items to share with you today (Big sigh of relief). I did finish 28 clippies, 12 clip cards, and 3 envelopes. I also decided it would be smart to put my glue gun down on my bare leg. I believe it was at this point I decided I needed to go to bed for my own safety. I got to take all that pretty mail to the post office this morning and impress the mail clerk again ;) She was so thrilled with my envis last time that when one of them has still yet to show up over a week later, I'm thinking I know where it went... I hate the postal service. Unless it's bringing me something I ordered, then it's okay.

A really nice person suggested I start a Facebook group for Meaghan-Marie. I hadn't thought of that... so for anyone interested the new group is called Meaghan-Marie Pretties in the search thing. Anyone can join. I think I'll be posting clippie parties on it as soon as we move. I've had quite a few requests for one of these, I simply don't have the room right now. What will happen is I'll have both a rear-end load of clippies already made, ready to take. As well as a promo book with clippies that can be available, and custom order forms. We'll have decadent snacks, drinks, and pick out clippies. I may incorporate some other items at this time too... we'll see how it goes after the move. I usually not a 'selling party' type of person, but it might be fun and there's been a demand. I'll list events like that in this group. It's also got current pictures of what's available in Etsy, just incase typing http://www.meaghanmariepretties.etsy.com/ is too much work ;) I know how that can be. Even though you should have it book marked... Kidding. Sort of.

Have you guys been over to Nester's Nesting Place Blog? I think you should. I love this blog. I've linked it before too, but I think I need to do it again. I love the ideas she has for super cheap/simple/great looking home decor. Honestly, it should be illegal for one person to have all these great ideas, it doesn't leave much for the rest of us (Read: Me). Her blog is down the side or if you don't feel like scrolling down it's http://www.nestingplacenc.blogspot.com/ and she's got a really great Etsy shop at http://www.nestingplace.etsy.com/ check out how adorable those ragamuffin garlands are! She's totally into using her ideas so I have two pink/white/cream ones in The Little Pretty's bedroom made of their old baby blankets, clothes, etc... and a black/white/toile/scarlet one in my kitchen from a kit I actually bought from The Nester. I really love them, they're just so cute and foofy and great. There's like a million and one uses for one! Mine aren't nearly as nice as the Nester's but this is the one in my kitchen (I'd planned to have pics from the Pretties room but my camera ate three sets of batteries to get one picture... Yeah it's crap)

I really love it. I could be bigger. Way bigger. But it's the right size to hang on that little shelf in the kitchen. No that's not a string going across the top of the shelf rungs, it's a dried up rose that looks a lot more appealing in person ;)

Cupcakes, Roving, and Sales - Oh My!

We should all be so proud. My cupcakes arrived as I said, and I made them into clips ;) Only two though. We'll see how they go on Etsy because I spruce up the other two. I think they're cute... but I'm not buying them so my opinion is neither here nor there. While I was in create mode at 3am this morning (Mr. Pretties is working nights and I cannot make myself go to bed at night, it's becoming a problem) I thought I'd try to felt an alligator clip. Why you ask? Who knows. It was one of those random thoughts like 'Hey... if I felted this here alligator clip I bet it'd look all cute and felty like! We could pretend it's 'earthy''. So I break out the hot water and dish soap and I try to cover this thing in moss green roving. Do you know what it looked like when it was 'done' (Read: When I was tired of trying to make it look cute and earthy)? This: No. That is not a hair ball regurgitated by Wilma (aka 'The Boss'). She's too good for things like that, didn't you know? No, it's actually a funky/earthy hair clip, can't you tell?! Yeah, just looking at the picture is making me feel a little nauseous. Both because it's a really bad picture (Have you come to the conclusion my camera sucks yet?!) and because it's super ugly. It does however smell like lavender dish soap... possibly the only thing going for it at this point. Note to self: No more 'creative' thinking past, say, 1am. The results are not pretty. I sort of feel bad for it, and kind of responsible for it's grotesque appearance so I can't seem to throw it away...



I have this old window/mirror frame (Not really sure... if anyone knows drop me a line)

and again, if anyone knows how to fix this sideways picture issue, other than expecting me to remember not take pictures this way, let me know. So, I have this old mirror/window frame. It had no glass or mirror. It's only about 2'x2.5' and was $5.00 at a flea market a few months ago. I had no use for it and nowhere to hang it, but I just couldn't leave it behind. It's been moved around my house numerous times since then, never finding a spot that felt 'right', several places that felt 'mildly acceptable until further notice' but just not 'right'. 'Right' is important.




I was discussing this piece on the Etsy chat lastnight and there's a shop owner there who sells really cute vintage/antique stuff like this at http://www.mountainvintage.etsy.com/ :

Honestly, how cute is that?! I could marry it! Anywho... she had this great idea to use it has a bulletin board! Did you hear that?! What a great idea, why didn't I think of it?! It'll be so easy too and very unspendy. I just need some cardboard, foam/batting, staples, some black satin ribbon, and some black and cream toile. It will be stunning and then it will go in my kitchen and serve a purpose. I haven't done it yet, I need to obtain myself some black and cream toile first, but I just know it will look 'right' and I'll be able to sigh a sigh of relief. I really hate it when I have cute things that don't seem to work anywhere. I tried to explain this bulletin board concept to Mr. Pretties. You can pretty much imagine how that went. Something to this effect. I love it because you can really feel the love.

Me: 'A girl on Etsy gave me this fantastic idea about what to do with that old frame on the mantel'

Mr. Pretties: 'Throw it out?'

Me: 'Uh... No. Don't be rude. She said I should make it into a bulletin board! I could cover it with black and cream toile!'

Mr. Pretties: 'What's toile?'

Me: 'It's fabric don't worry about it. but-'

Mr. Pretties: '- I don't have time to go to the fabric store today! I have to sleep you know, I have to work tonight!'

Me: 'Did I say we were going to the fabric store today?! At what point did I say that?! And you have to work? Do you know how much work Etsy is?! Do you!? Pshh... never mind, when you wonder why I stop telling you things this is why!'

Mr. Pretties: 'You're going to stop telling me? Why didn't I think of this before! I'm a genius!'

Uh huh. Whatever, that's what I was thinking. As I said, it's all about the love. Some how Mr. Pretties has a brain wire malfunction that we're working on that makes him think when I say something it means we need to be doing it immediately this second or the world will come to an end. It's a little bit annoyingish. But we're working on it. But, my bulletin board will be fabbity fab, I can tell because I can see it in my head ;)

I added more new clips to Etsy lastnight and this morning and out of that came 15 sales! FIFTEEN. I'm so glad it's for clippies I already had made and just have to make the packaging and cards (Have I told you I really wish my clip cards were here already?!) tonight and send them out in the morning which is awesome! I'm so glad customers liked my new clips as much as I did. I have to say I'm a little bit sad about the pink and brown scrapbook series going. I sort of had a personal attachment to them. I'm sure their new owner will love them as much as I did. She bought all of my pink and brown clips in fact, atleast I know she appreciates the whole pink and brown thing as much as I do :) That's sort of important. I personally like these new shiny ones:

I still have to make clippies tonight, I was wrong. I bought a whole whack of new stuff to incorporate into some OOAK clippies. I tried to get some really fun pictures but my camera is having major attitude and didn't want to. That's okay, it'll look cuter when I'm done. As a preview I have tiny pink glass tiles with initials (think monogrammed clippies), silver tiles with initials that look really fancy, bees, flowers, blue rhinestones, and some new ribbon. I have a vision for the pink tiles (Both for a furniture project as well as a clippie!) and I'm anxious to get on it. That wont be happening until Mr. Pretties is off to work and The Little Pretties are off to bed. So, let's say sometime tomorrow. Or never. I'll work something out. I'll try to stop crafting before 1am though. No one should have to suffer like that again...