http://www.coastchimes.com/

I came across this website while trolling on Craigslist and I absolutely love these wind chimes! Tim Kline is one very talented artist.

There's something about beach glass that fascinates me and I love the way that he has combined it with wood and metal. The glass is so vibrant and alive.

I am slowly saving my pennies for one of these and have the perfect spot for it all picked out at the front of our house.

(Oh and my birthday is coming up soon -- hint hint :)

Visit Tim's site and see for yourself . . .

So I am seriously trying to get organized to submit some entries to juried competitions. I have a real problem committing to just one type of craft and am scared that what i make now won't be what i want to make tons of in the future.

I am so envious of those of you who have one crafting passion. How did you whittle down the possibilities? Or did you always know that this was what you would make and sell.

In the past I have done craft shows with mosaics, jewellery, fabric origami boxes etc. But several years have gone by since I have done a show and I have pre jury jitters.

And profit -- there's always the profit aspect. For example I make lunch bags and small totes out of recycled shopping bags. But how much is someone going to pay for one of those? Considering how long it takes to make them I'd have to sell them for around $20. At Circle Craft that might fly -- but at a local craft show -- I'm just not sure.

If you've been in a juried show latley how did it go? Any tips?

I have been playing with my new Cricut Expression and the fact that I can cut vinyl has got me really excited. And SCAL makes the possibilities endless!!!

I made these 2 light boxes for friends and am trying to source a supply for the lights to make more.

Who would have thought that it would be next to impossible to find a strand of mini-lights in clear or white with a white cord and a plug at only one end? Simple right? Wrong!!!! I have found a source for green wired ones but am holding out for the white -- somewhere, someone will sell them . . . Let me know if you find any!

With Kai sick this weekend, I decided to have a craft day with Ashton. On Saturday we had been at Granville Island and he had seen some backgrounds for puppet theatres at the puppet store. He was dying to make some backgrounds for his own puppet theatre, so we broke out the fabric scraps and started designing.

Here are the results:

To make this I used a large piece of white fabric and let Ashton cut out the other shapes from my stash. I then used "stich witchery" (an interfacing that has heat activated glue on both sides) to attach the pieces to the background. This method was borrowed from quilting and is so easy and looks so nice once done. Ashton is thrilled and is cuurently working on his next "production".

The calendar isn't looking so sparse anymore!

Its funny, I seem to stumble on stashes of information online, or someone will recommend a site a it leads to another site, that leads to another site.

Anyways I found an awesome site that had tons of listings of smaller crafty events throughout BC so I have added them to the calendar . The best part is that some of them are on the smaller Islands -- I feel a day trip coming on!

The whole family (including me) has been sick this past week which has resulted in some unexpected at-home-time for me. Those that know me know this can only have one outcome -- new projects.

Puppy sweaters:

Here's Aja -- our newest addition to the family wearing one of her new sweaters. I'm not generally a fan of doggie clothes but she was just so darn cold outside during our numerous house-breaking expeditions to the back yard that something had to be done.

Once I had started making sweaters I got a little carried away ;)

As you can imagine -- she is no longer cold . . .

These sweaters are amazingly easy to make. They are upcycled human sweaters. In their former lives, these were the sleeves of sweaters. I chopped off the sleeve, salvaged some yarn from the same sweater and whipstiched around the bottom. I cut two slits for leg holes and whip stitched around those as well and voila -- doggie sweaters!

First of all I want to say thanks for all the e-mails that you guys send -- I would never have gotten word of so many of the smaller shows last fall without your help!

I have been searching high and low for spring crafting events but the pickings are few and far between. There were definitely a few more this time last year -- maybe people aren't as optimistic this year. . .

My friend and I are debating the One of a Kind Show this fall -- early registration is just about up I think (how crazy is that!). I was so impressed with the setup, organization and the general atmosphere. This is one of the first big shows that I could picture myself selling at.

I even treated myself to a couple of items:

A really cool pendant from Black Drop Designs

and beautiful pair of earrings from

The Rave 'n' Iron

Oh the choices I have to make!

Ok -- now I really want to customize this so I'm off to seek fun things and read about my options . . .

Got it up -- now time to get it pretty . . .