Break time

I thought I'd take a short break from sewing and crocheting, so I made some new keychains/phone straps and earrings! Remember those beads I bought at the bead show a few months back? Well, I finally got a chance to make things out of them! This little strawberry keychain is made with glass strawberry beads from the bead show, and so are the pearls in this earring set. I must say, the strawberry looks positively delicious!

The little pink flower bead on this keychain is pretty special too; I got them at our local Ben Franklin and the girl who rang me up said that they are the only store in Hawai`i that imports the beads from Japan. They are pretty expensive, but sooo cute! They come in a rainbow of colors, and in star and flower (I think maybe heart too) shapes. I'm thinking about using them on my clutches...

It's good I got a chance to take a break, because I am now swamped with orders yet again :)

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope everyone is having a nice holiday filled with yummy food and family and friends! I actually went to my grandma's house where we had a roast (I don't like ham at all) and my dad made a lot of cookies for Christmas gifts to family members, which made me extreeemely happy. Usually, he makes thumbrint cookies and fills the print with chocolate, only I prefer "naked" cookies with no chocolate! I know, it sounds crazy that I like them without chocolate, but they actually have chocolate chips already in them, so it's kinda too much for me. Anyway, he usually only leaves me a few with no chocolate on them, but this time he forgot to put enough flour in them so they were kinda spoiled- no thumbprint was on them after he baked them, and they are flat and hard like cookie crackers. So now, I have 80 naked cookies all to myself... Well actually 76 naked cookies because I already ate some. Hee hee!

I've been hard at work crafting and crafting, so I seriously needed the cookie nourishment. Although I have a lot of items ready to list (photographed and everything!) I'm trying to do it in little spurts. That leads me to a little side note- if anyone sees anything on my blog that they are interested in, just convo or email me... I'd be happy to reserve it for you special people you. Anyway, here are some new plushies that I am so happy with! They went from the drawing board (actually a scrap piece of paper I found lying on the floor) to cutie mcgees! I especially like the little touches, like the lily pad for the frogs and the flower on the bunny! I'm so happy to finally have the time to work on my plushies... I've been thinking about how to make them for a while! I am also working on a new drawstring pouch design which I LOOOVE! Plus, buttons, clutches, pins and some earrings. Ahh Christmas break... :)

Back from Kauai

Well, I'm back from Kaua`i and my computer is finally back up and running... we had to buy a whole new monitor! I had a blast on my little vacation within a vacation; my family (mom, dad, two sisters and grandma) went to Kauai for two days and one night to take advantage of the fact that everyone was home from college and also the $19 airfares on Aloha. When I first found out about it, I was kinda disappointed because it was such a small amount of time and Kaua`i is a really beautiful island, but after spending all that time with my mom and grandma (they feed off of each other's hyper kinetic energy) I think one night was just fine! I also ended up driving the ENTIRE trip because I had just gone to Kaua`i last year and was the most familiar with where things were; I think that may have freaked out mom and grandma because I like to drive really fast and accelerate on corners and turns :P (Kaua`i has a lot of wiggly roads, which made me happy). We went all around the island, saw the sights, etc. I didn't really buy anything; now I really only covet crafty items... so this was mostly a sightseeing trip for me. Luckily, I brought my camera this time! This first picture is of Kalalau Valley; we were really lucky because the day we went it wasn't raining very heavily, only misting so there were rainbows EVERYWHERE we stopped... quite nice actually. I was so happy I brought my trusty camera, because my pictures turned out really nice (like postcards I think :).

Here is Lumaha`i Beach, really nice; there are several songs about it and I think my Grandma was saying it was where South Pacific was filmed...(i dunno, I never watched it).

Here is Waimea Canyon, the "Grand Canyon" of the Pacific.

Here is a vista of Hanalei, which is known for its lush taro farms. Taro=Kalo= POI, yummy.

What I love about Kaua`i is it is still relatively undeveloped, not like O`ahu with all the high-rises and buildings. It is also so lush and green... the kinda place that makes my Hawaiian soul happy :) In one part of the island, the road was actually built under a stream, and to get to the other side you have to drive across a little under-water roadway.

It was actually great that I got to go to Kaua`i again, because as you guys know I am currently working with a publishing company on a manuscript. Well, the manuscript I am dealing with is ALL about Kaua`i, and so I actually go to visit a lot of the places I have been researching and writing about for the past half a year. This is the Ka Pa`ula `o Hipo, which became the Russian Fort, which plays an important role in the manuscript (I finally got to see it). It was actually really nice, the sun was setting and there was no one there, so I got to reflect in peace.

Now that I'm back I can work on my crafting again... my shop has been woefully empty for a loooong time!

Christmas Break!

Wow it's almost already Christmas, and not a single post from me for the month of December... shock! I have truly had a busy semester and I just finished grading all of my students' exams and calculating their final grades. Many of them did so much better than I expected, and some of them told me I was a better teacher than the proff *I am smiling inside*. I even got cookies from one of my students (in case you were wondering, she was already getting the highest grade out of all of my three sections; there was no bribery involved :) I will miss them.

You guys can see the fruit of my labor, and the reason my blog and my shop have not been updated (and also because I'm so proud)! Here is my 29 page paper on the sandalwood trade in Hawai`i... A+! Hee hee!

Aaaaand, because I'm playing post catch up- here are some very lovely items that sweet Nia sent me... I ADORE them. The necklace came with earrings and they both look like candy: you know, the kind that you get at the sweets store and the ones that come around Christmas (I think they're called sugar plum candies). I at first didn't see the strawberry; I was too busy trying to open the tissue paper wrapping nicely... and when I saw it I had a spaz attack! I love it so much; Nia's embroidery is so neat and tidy. You can see more of her lovely work here.

Anyway, all this came about in part because I sent Nia a little horse! Hopefully I'll be able to make more over the holidays for by store. I'm planning on blue, pink, white and black.