Monster Baby Hats

I first got the idea to make monster hats when I asked Jessica what kind of hat I should make for Ella (via text) and she responded by saying Matt wanted me to make her a monster hat.  So the first monster I made with Ella in mind...that same monster ended up being too big for her petite little head and actually sold at the craft fair.  The monsters are one of the most extensive hat designs having protruding eyes, nostrils, spine spikes, and some have teeth.  I've made 5 monsters thus far, this first one is the sold one...

 

 

 

Frog Baby Hats

 I've made these nine frog hats thus far.

This black/googly-eyed frog was the first of its kind and a gift to my model and nephew Zidane.  The green-eyed frog is very similar in construction and is the only frog so far to sell.  Actually Terri bought it at the craft fair on Saturday...she's gonna give it to Ella for Christmas to match her little frog sheet that's like Z's.  That way they'll have matching frog sheets and hats.  :-P

The Six that Sold

These are the first six of my baby hats to sell and this they did yesterday at the craft fair.  Whoop whoop.
Watermelon

 Piggy

 Boy bear

 Girl Bear

 

Monster

 Frog

I just realized now that all but one had a face...oh watermelon...

Winterfest Madness Complete

So I sorta fell off the map a little this past week in my mad rush preparations for Winterfest yesterday.  I wouldn't say that I was all that successful but I did sell 6 baby hats and Mom sold a few of her items as well.  We made enough money back to pay for the booth and Mom got to do some fun shopping.  It was a good time although I feel like I stressed my ass off for a whopping 6 sales.  Whatever, I took lots of pictures of the hats in preparation for sales so now I'm pretty much set for posting on Etsy.  I also took some shots of my booth.  I'll post pics of the hats that sold later.

And then there were two...

I woke up this morning to find two of my guppies survived the night in the big tank (though they probably won't make it the rest of the day).  I'm quite surprised to see even one, much less two of the ten I put in there alive.  As if the giant fish hunting them weren't bad enough, I keep a heater in the small tank so the large tank is much colder.  Sorry fishies...either adapt quickly or become lunch.

Mixed Thoughts

I just put about ten of my midsized guppies in the 55 gallon tank with my 2 monster koi and 3 large goldfish.  It's mostly population control because my 10 gallon tank is way too crowded and I just noticed new small babies.  I feel kinda bad making them chow for my others but I also kinda like giving the big guys something to play with.  The guppies have been in there for almost an hour and the large ones have mostly stuck to the small amount of regular food I put in there shortly after the guppies.  It was actually quite amazing watching my goldfish slurp up the food but not a guppy (which is the same size and shape).  It's like they and the koi don't want to eat the little guppies with the light on.  But I guarantee they'll be gone by morning...midnight snacks to my bigass porkers.  I do feel a little guilty about the guppies but I just don't care about them as much...they are a much more impersonal fish than the others.  And now the babies have a little more room to grow.  At least until the next time I have to trim the numbers in that tiny tank...

Black Friday Game Plan

I had a pretty great holiday today despite having to work for a few hours.  Now that I'm all relaxed and settling into bed for the night I want to make a game plan for tomorrow, Black Friday.  I have no intention of shopping, but I do think I'm more productive when I make a plan.  So here goes...

I keep putting off taking photos of the baby hats I've finished so far.  Tomorrow I WILL photograph the finished ones in the morning.  Z and I can hang out in the basement while I do it.  I just need to get it done.  And put the new ones in my inventory list.  I've just been concentrating constantly on making, crocheting, sewing more, more, more baby hats.  Once I get the pics taken, we're going down to Mom and Dad's.  I don't think Dad's got the day off but Mom sure does.  I'm hoping for some tasty turkey and gravy leftovers for lunch.  Also if I can I'm going to get Jessica's birthday gift to her.  Her birthday was today but she, Matt and baby Ella celebrated with his family.  Plus if she comes by the house when we're there, Z and Ella can play...and that's always totally hilarious and awesome to watch.  Then later evening I work again.  Tomorrow is going to be productive because I'll be busting out hats in every spare minute as well.

Before I start to nod off, be safe you crazy Black Friday holiday shoppers...

Mmmmusic

I found this song a few days ago in my quest for new music but it got overshadowed by that Vampire Weekend song "Horchata" that I found that night.  I've been playing this one a ton though...check it:

More Time by Needtobreathe

Turkeylurkey-do

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!  I did the bulk of my celebrating last Sunday at our Wingert family Thanksgiving gathering.  There was close to 70 people there...tons of tasty food and good company (mostly).  Of course there's always a few folks I'd rather not see, but you can't choose your family right?

Anyways, we did our annual cookie exchange, fifteen people involved (ie I walked away with 15 different plates of cookies or treats).  As per usual, my aunt Ann made peanut brittle, which reminds me I should bring it over to my dad...cuz I hate it with the fiery passion of hell.  It gets all stuck in my teeth and it doesn't even taste good.  Her daughter Michelle (who was one of my closest childhood friends, but now has 2 illegitimate kids and completely ignores me at every family get together) took the seriously LAZY route and made chex-mix.  It was like she just mixed 3 different kinds of chex, cheerios, chees-its and cashews together and called it good.  No seasonings or baking...and a horrible picture of her brats taped to the top of the container.  And my nasty cousin Angela and her teenage trouble-making daughter Dara both contributed as well.  I think one made what we call 'bacon and eggs', which is 2 small stick pretzels, a dollop of white almond bark and a yellow m&m...BORING!!! And not a cookie either...  The other had a plate of mismatched crappy cookies.  Can you tell I don't think much of any of them these days?  Whatever...  Grandma made her famous and most excellent peanut butter balls.  My sister-in-law Marcy made regular chocolate chip cookies, tasty ones though.  Aunt Janet, the cookie lady, made her super cute (but rather boring) decorated sugar cookies.  My sister Jessica made mint chocolate chip cookies (that I ended up eating all six of them on Monday afternoon, lol).  My aunt Sharon and her daughter Nicole made some tasty chocolate chip coconut and peanut butter chip m&m cookies.  Terri made her tasty cookie bars.  I don't know who made the chocolate crinkles but those are definitely a favorite.  There was a handful of different cookies that I couldn't figure out who made.  I know my aunt Sue and my cousin Kate made some but the rest are a big question mark.  I made a new recipe I found.  They were Cinnamon Chocolate Orange Almond Spice Pretzels with drizzled chocolate and powdered sugar on top...more of a biscuit consistency but delicious nonetheless.   All-in-all the cookie exchange was a success as usual.  And the overall meal was fantastic.

My grandparents ended up leaving for Texas on Monday morning.  That's part of the reason we always celebrate early.  They're snowbirds that go south for the winter.  Unfortunately I will miss them more than usual since I've gotten quite used to coffee at their house on Saturday morning with mom.  When they get back in the Spring, we'll start back up again.

So now, I'm fixing to head to Hyvee to get some whipped cream and snickers bars to make a fruit salad for lunch.  Then I'll be going to Jon and Marcy's house for a small Thanksgiving lunch with just them and my folks.  I have to work at 5 tonight so I will celebrate while I can.  Again, Happy Thanksgiving all!  Enjoy yourselves and be safe!

Winterfest

So I've been working my fingers and wrists to the bone since I got the official confirmation that I have a booth at Luverne, MN's craft fair portion of Winterfest 2010.  I've been making baby hats like a crazy person...partially because they're super adorable, partially because everyone who sees them says they'll sell like hotcakes at the craft fair.  The fair is on Saturday December 4th from 9 am to 3 pm.

I've almost doubled my inventory of baby hats in the past few days.  Though I don't have images of the more recent ones.  Here's a few of the first ones, most of them are the first of their kind and I've made more and/or variations of them.  Since I took these pics I've made the following baby hats: 3 apples, 2 watermelons, 1 strawberry, 3 frogs, 2 monsters, 2 mice, 1 hippo, 2 pigs, 2 ducks, and 2 bears.  GO ME!  And of course, more to come...

Frogs

  Monster

  Candy Corn

  Cherry

Tweek and Craig

Tweek and Craig are two bettas that I acquired in Spring 2008.  They were the last in a rather long string of fish I named after Southpark characters (though the only bettas).  I had Tweek for a little over a year and Craig for almost two years.

Tweek was a crowntail betta.  I always enjoyed watching him: though the tips of his crowntail fins were actually more a transparent white color, you could see the royal blue of the curtain behind him and it amplified the intensity of his aggression when he flared at his neighbor bettas.

The necessity to keep male bettas in separate bowls was obvious almost constantly during the time I had Craig (right) and Tweek especially.  I also had two other older bettas I'd had already awhile.  Close together they were always flaring at each other...They were really beautiful and graceful to watch as they were perched on the window sill adjacent to my bed.

Craig was one of my longer-lived bettas.  He barely didn't make it back to South Dakota; he died a week before I moved home last Christmas.

This is AMAZING.

I am just hearing this for the very first time...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkUQ-OBazbc

Um. I. Love. This. Song.

Random Survey

I found this time-wasting survey on Facebook this morning and decided to fill it out here sans the tagging bs...just a few tidbits about me:
1. What time did you get up this morning?
-7am, but I got out of bed about 15 min later
2. How do you like your steak?
-medium to medium rare
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema?
-Whip It...last year a week before it came out
4. What is your favorite TV show?
-Law and Order: SVU
5. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be?
-Florence or Amsterdam
6. What did you have for breakfast?
-a sesame bagel with cream cheese
7. What is your favorite cuisine?
-the all-inclusive and vague: Asian...especially sushi, Mongolian beef, crab rangoon, etc
8. What foods do you dislike?
-raw onions and tomatoes
9. Favorite Place to Eat?
-Zoni Kitchen
10. Favorite dressing?
-balsamic vinaigrette
11.What kind of vehicle do you drive?
-a blue 1995 Chevy Corsica...I call it Dimples the Chevy Storm due to the hail damaged hood
12. What are your favorite clothes?
-pajamas
13. Where would you visit if you had the chance?
-wherever Holly is
14. Cup 1/2 empty or 1/2 full?
-full most of the time
15. Where would you want to retire?
-the beach
16. Favorite time of day?
-morning
17. What is your favorite sport to watch?
-I don't like to watch sports, but if I had to choose I'd say basketball
18. Who do you think will not tag you back?
-this is dumb cuz I found this random survey on fb and have no intention of tagging anyone or posting it on there
19. Person you expect to tag you back first???
-see #18
20. Who are you most curious about their responses to this?
-seriously?
21. Bird watcher?
-sure, if I see one I like
22. Do you consider yourself attractive?
-most of the time
23. Pets?
-fish: 3 goldfish, 2 koi, 3 bettas, and a whole mob of guppies...oh and I live with 3 cats too
24. Any new and exciting news that you'd like to share?
-I just changed 2 poopy diapers within a half an hour...gross.
25. What did you want to be when you were little?
-an astronaut, a veterinarian, and a cake decorator...simultaneously
26. What is your best childhood memory?

-basking in the dining room patches of sun with my dog Baxter as my pillow and a good book in hand
27. Are you a cat or dog person?
-I'd say dogs, since I'm allergic to cats but I live with cats and most of my friends have cats...HOLY CATS!
28. Are you married?
-no
29. Always wear your seat belt?
-yep (except usually not in taxis)
30. Been in a car accident?
-a few actually...nothing too serious though
31. Any pet peeves?
-annoying customers at work and being nagged about housework
32. Favorite pizza topping?
-Hi, I am Plain Jane.  I like pepperoni and extra cheese.
33. Favorite Flower?
-irises
34. Favorite ice cream?
-anything with heath bites or chocolate covered peanut butter in it
35. Favorite fast food?
-The BK Lounge...but I love me some Culvers cheese curds
36. How many times did you fail your driver's test?
-I passed on the first try
37. From whom did you get your last email?
-Michaels...go figure, though I will be going in on Sunday afternoon with my coupon for 20% off my whole purchase including sale items...
38. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card?
-either Blick or Utrecht
39. Do anything spontaneous lately?
-I spontaneously went to Jon's last night with Matt and Angela and Jessica (from work)
40. Like your job?
-mostly, just not getting enough money or hours
41. What was your favorite vacation?
-my road trip in May 2009 from LA to Chi with my Holly
42. How about who's your favorite actor/actress?
-Johnny Depp/Angelica Huston
43. Last person you went out to dinner with?
-the whole Wingert clan at HyVee for grandpa's birthday last week
44. What are you listening to right now?
-The Wedding Singer is on FX
45. What is your favorite color?
-yellow
46. How many tattoos do you have?
-5, and I've got the next 2 designs already
47. Coffee drinker?
-an avid one, in fact, I'm having another cup right now
48. How many children do you have?
-none (though I should) but I do have 's child in my care right now...

Fondant and Harry Potter

So the new Harry Potter movie came out like an hour ago...whoopdeedo.   I started reading the books when I was in high school when just 1-4 were out.  And I'll admit, I went to the book release parties at Barnes and Noble for books 5-7.  The books are blow-your-ass-off good.  But I haven't been completely impressed by the movies since the first.  I do want to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1.  But not tonight, and probably not in the theaters...I don't really see the point in spending as much money as it costs these days to see a movie.  Especially when there's 2 fairly large tvs here in my home and we have Direct TV.  I'll catch it eventually...  Anyways the only Harry Potter movie I saw in the theaters was 5...and that was with Jerry (bleeeeeeechypoopoopoo) back in the summer of 2007 when I was in Champaign, IL for corporate training for Jimmy John's.  Jeeeeeeeeebus.  I guess the reason I post this is cuz I was just checking my facebook a few minutes ago, killing time while the fishies feed, and I saw at least 10 posts from different people about seeing the new movie...yowsa!  Normally, I'd be sound asleep by now since I gotta get up and watch Z tomorrow.  However, I had to work till 9:30 tonight and got invited over to my pal Jon's place.  He and Angela are making a cake for our friend Sarah's birthday.  Jessica, Matt, and I just watched and drank wine, but they were using something I've been wondering about for ages...fondant.  To be more specific, red fondant from the Duff collection of baking items we carry at work.  It actually tastes pretty good, and it looks relatively easy to work with (even for baking dummies like me).  At any rate, the cake was still in beginning stages when I left to come home to bed...but now I'm wired and can't get to sleep.  I gotta get up in 4 1/2 hours so I'm gonna try to hit it...good night world (wide web)...enjoy the fondant and Harry Potter in life cuz you never know when you'll turn into a pumpkin.

Buttons

I finally uploaded the pics of my new buttons....I will be using most of them for my Etsy.com shop: HatsonLamps.Etsy.com

 A lot of these are brightly colored singles which I will use on some of my my brightly colored headwraps and headbands.

Most of the buttons along the top are what I would deem as fancy buttons or decorative rather.  Along the bottom right are more neutral colored singles which will be used most likely on neutral headwraps and bands.

The pairs of buttons are specifically paired to become eyes for my children's animal hats.  My absolute favorite button is the wooden fish-shaped button in the bottom right.

I cleared my embroidery floss out of this case and stowed it in an old cardboard box to make room for this wonderful separation of buttons.

They are organized as follows (and this is for me, not you):
Upper left: big pairs
Lower left: color pairs
Center 1: neutral pairs
Center 2: color singles
Center 3: dark neutral singles
Center 4: light neutral singles
Upper right: wood/bone/fancy-finished singles
Lower right: metal singles

Sometimes it's good to have OCD... :D

Short-lived

When I first got Nathan Explosion, Truly Scrumptious, and Caracticus Potts, I also got two beautiful betta fish.  One was bright yellow and I named him Sunshine.  The other was white with little hints of red and Holly named him Bloodmoon.  I had these two for exactly one week before they both died on the same day.  It was bizarre.  Had I known that would happen, I would have taken pics the day I got them.  They were, however, part of my Life-Long Project (details later).

Here's the only pic I have related to these two fish.


They are two of six bettas that compose my fifth and most recent tattoo, a band located on my left upper arm.  Sunshine and Bloodmoon are on my inner arm.

Nathan Explosion

I got my first koi at the same time as I got the last two goldfish, in January 2009.  He's a standard koi...which are really just fancy domestic carp.  They can grow pretty much as big as their environment allows.  I decided to name my first after the lead band member of Dethklok from the show Metalocalypse.

Nathan Explosion was only about two and a half to three inches long when I got him.














He was the baby of the big tank at the time...

But he grew and grew...The pic above and below are from October 2009

And here he is a few days ago, now at a WHOPPING 13 inches (approx)...