Facebook

For those of you who LOVE Facebook, I have created a facebook page for Thumbelina Creations. Go check it out. You can become a fan as well.

Gearing up for Christmas

There is so much to do and so little time left. There is only just over a month left before Christmas, and I usually am done my Christmas shopping by now. I have decided to make some of the gifts this year, to ease the financial strain. I wasn't taking into account how much extra time it would take. So, here I am wondering if I will get it all done in time. Here it goes...

Long time, No talk.

Sorry, it has been a while since I have posted.
September is a busy month. I have a son in grade 2 and a son starting kindergarten. So, they were excited to get ready for school. We had to do a lot of shopping for clothes, shoes and school supplies. This takes a lot of time and money. Whew!
So, hopefully, now that school is on its way, I will have a little more time for myself.

I made it to the cover!

I am extremely happy to announce that my jewelry is on the front cover of "The Handbook to the Handmade", volume 7! I also have a 2-page spread inside.
You can preorder a copy at a discounted price here. The book will be coming out soon.
You can also preregister for volume 8 here, or visit TimothyAdamDesigns.

Wrist Again

My wrist has not hurt at all for a while now. I did not give in to the craving for crafting. Now I plan on going to see the doctor again to get the okay. So, wish me luck...

Twitter

I have given in and joined Twitter. You can follow me here.

Wrist or Rest?

Well, it has been 2 weeks since I have had wrist pain. I have been craving crafting again. I know that if I did any crafting right now, I will most likely injure it again. I figured that if I did a little blogging, it might curb that craving a little bit. And I could "chat" a little with my fellow crafters. So... I still am longing for something creative. Oh, well. Maybe I'll go read a book.

Contest time!

Craft Junkie is having a CONTEST! Go check it out!

Here are the rules:
1. Post comments on her blog (anonymous comments will not count and will be deleted) with one entry per comment beginning now through the end of the contest at 11:59pm CST July, 23, 2008.
2. Post about this contest on your blog and share the link back in your comment.
3. Subscribe to her blog feed. RSS/Atom
All entries must be received by Tuesday 7/24/2008 12:00am CST to be eligible. The winner will be randomly chosen. Open to US and Canada residents only, sorry.

Finished

I have completed some new items with an incredible product, Shrink Plastic. You can see the items in my store; thumbelinacreations.etsy.com

I also blogged about them on my store blog.
thumbelinabeadedcreations.blogspot.com

Featured in a Book!

I came across a really neat idea. Have your store (Etsy) featured in a book that gets promoted worldwide! With 210 Etsy artists featured in 6 volumes, the handbook to handmade is a small cut of very talented artists from around the world.

"The Handbook to Handmade" is a 80 page monthly volume of 35 Etsy artists and their shops. This is a promotional tool that is used to help promote artists and Etsy. Timothy Adam is the creator. And it is now time for Volume 7.

Now I have become a part of it all. My store is to be one of the shops featured in Volume 7.

If you would also like to be featured, visit TimothyAdamDesign.

I guess it's been a while...

Sorry that I haven't been blogging for a while. My family and I have been on holidays. Ahhh, it was quite relaxing. I only took a couple of books along to really give my wrist a rest. Unfortunately, the activities we planned took their toll, and now my tendinitis is in full force. I have a lump in my wrist now, so I will have to go back to the doctor. I will update.

Crafting Injury

A few months ago, I developed tendinitis in my right wrist. Do you realize how frustrating this is for a crafter?!
It makes it hard to do any kind of crafting; knitting, crochet, scrapbooking, jewelry, even typing can be painful at times.
I finally had to put all my supplies away, so that they wouldn't be a temptation. On Monday, I got out a little bit of knitting, just to test out my wrist. It HAD been 2 months since I put the supplies away. But, after 5 minutes, I knew that I would be regretting my decision. So, it is back to nothing. I have been doing a lot of reading lately. Oh, well.
I am a little worried that this might mean the end of crafting as I know it. But the doctor keeps reassuring me that I need to give it 3-6 months. Okay.

Knitty.com's New Issue

One of my favorite knitting websites is Knitty.com. There are always great patterns and articles to read and try. Their site is easy to read and navigate. The patterns are created by the knitty community, so even you or I could contribute. I just love it.

Knitty just put out their new summer issue. There are some great patterns that will inspire you to get into the summer spirit. Happy Knitting!

Mighty Life: Things to Do Before I Go:

I recently read Maggie Mason's blog, Mighty Girl. On her blog, she has a list of things she wants to do yet in her life. It has inspired me to write my own list. My list is still in the beginning stages, but you can see what I wrote on the bottom right-hand side of my blog.

Maggie would love to read yours too. Make your own Mighty Life List, and send your URL to maggie@mightygirl.net with the subject "Mighty Life".

How to Knit

There are many resources on the internet on how to... I myself spent many hours searching and learned to knit and crochet from these. I thought that it would be a good idea to share my knowledge with all of you.

The first site I went to was Knitting.About.com. It gives detailed, but easy-to-understand instructions. They also have a wealth of free patterns to learn from.

Another one that was really helpful was FreePatterns.com. This one was great for all different types of crafts; like sewing, quilting, crochet, cross-stitch and tatting. Also, if you are looking for conversion charts or how to substitute yarn; this site is great, too.

Now, for learning the terms and abbreviations, go to knitting-crochet.com. What a lifesaver this one was for me.

So, now you know the techniques and terms and you want to start on your very first "real" project. Not just another scarf or potholder. Here is my list of favorite sites for free (but still quite trendy) patterns:

FreePatterns.com
Knitting.About.com
Berrocco.com
Lionbrand.com
Knitty.com
Bernat.com
Craftown.com
Michaels.com

I hope this information is helpful to you on your journey to learn how to knit. Knitting is definitely one of my favorite forms of crafting. Good luck.

BlogHer.com

I have joined a group of bloggers called BlogHer.com. BlogHer is the blogging community for women! We invite you to join us to gain additional exposure for your blogs and your ideas, (that's our mission). With more than 13,000 members and 10,000 blogs on our blog list, we're all working together to create a community that is fun, informative and supportive.

New Changes

I have been updating my blog. Thanks to Bloggrrl for all the great tips. I should have my blog updated in the next day or two. She posted about several different ways to drive traffic to your blog and update it.

http://bloggrrl.com/blog141/a-very-long-list-of-ways-to-get-blog-traffic/
http://bloggrrl.com/blog141/5-things-to-do-for-your-blog-in-5-minutes/

My family and I are trying to get the process started to build a house. OMGoodness! What a frustrating process. And we haven't really started yet. I can see that if this is the way we decide to go, that it will test my faith and my marriage.

I think I have been taking on too much pertaining to leadership. I don't think of myself as a leader, but here I am... president of the playschool association as well as leading a ladies' bible study. The teacher of the playschool quit, so now I have the responsibility of finding a new teacher. I have never hired anyone before. It all just makes me a little nervous. So, here I go...

Get Paid for your Opinion!

Have you ever wondered... how some people can appear to do far less than you do in a day and yet they have more money and more free time than you? It's time to change that. Start getting paid to take online surveys. Earn up to $150/hr. Start Right Now.
OnlineBestSurveys

Welcome

I have started a new venture. I have entered the world of online marketing. This blog was created to help create traffic to sites for advertising. Thank you for joining me in this venture. We will see in the future how it goes.