Black Friday Cyber Monday Sale

Its that time of the year!

SAVE 25.00 % On
All Items

Use Coupon Code:

BLACKFRIDAY25

during checkout.

Green Products

For the occasion I am offering coupon code in Maylee's Garden Artfire shop ONLY!!

This coupon is good Friday 11-27 thru 12-01 for the late night cyber Monday shoppers


The coupon will take off the percentage at checkout once you enter the code in the appropriate box, no waiting on a revised invoice from paypal! YAY!

This coupon is good on my WHOLE shop. Clothing, laundry detergent, soap, dreadlocks shampoo bars, destash, base soap for your own soapmaking..the whole 9 yards!

Thanks so much for your business, my family and I appreciate each and every one of you. I have had 308 sales in my Artfire shop and 809 in my Etsy shop as of today. I thank each and every one of you who have helped make my shop a HUGE success! Over 1,000 sales total and counting!

Why Buy Handmade?

I dont like to talk about political type subjects here but this is one near and dear to my heart, Handmade. I am very proud to be a part of the Handmade Movement that seems to be growing so much lately, I feel like America can be changed back to the way it used to be thru handmade. So you say that a bar of soap, or a tissue cozy cant change America...oh I beg to differ! Let me explain.

Say you neeeed something, be it a special outfit, more clothing to replace old clothing for a changing season, a gadget holder for your newest gadget, some dishes in your newly renovated kitchen, or anything else you can imagine. Instead of going to the nearest big box store, how bout making that purchase from a local craftsperson?? If none can be found to make what you need, then hit up Etsy, Artfire,1000Markets, or even (gulp) EBay to find what you need that is handcrafted rather than mass produced. Your money will be going to that individual for that item. its not going to China, or to a multimillion dollar corporations that dont need any more money, your helping out an individual, a family in most cases. Your helping them grow a small business, and helping them care for their family financially

If every person in America would vow to buy ONLY from handmade artisans rather than from big box stores, we could easily take this country back and start putting our money where it belongs, right here at home.We could change the economy, guys. We could bring this country back and not only that we could empower our own people to quit jobs they hate and work from home where they can be with their children. It feels great to buy from someone local, or someone who is just a stay at home mom trying to help make ends meet but cant afford daycare, or chooses not to put her child in daycare for whatever reason. Darnit, it just feels good to buy from ANYONE who is taking the time to sell their art or crafts to us. Whether its a single guy working out of his moms basement or a work at home mom, it just feels good knowing I helped a neighbor.


I wont buy anything that I know I can get handmade. I am very poor myself, but I don't mind paying the price for top quality handmade items, and I have to say I have never in my lifetime purchased a handmade item that was inferior but i have brought home lots of junk made in China that fell apart within hours or months of purchase. Because of my financial standing I do a lot of trading to get things we need or want, and when I have money I am all too willing to buy! My motto is: "If I cant make it or buy it handmade or second hand then I dont need it"

I wont buy anything new. I do shop at thrift stores for electronics or kitchen gadgets we cant buy handmade, or I check the local freecycle or craigslist for things just so I dont patronize a big box store. I also buy from individuals rather than stores when it comes to electronics that the kids want. I plan on building my next computer with parts I buy from a local small business shop. I wont be going to Best Buy for my next one thats for sure!

I do make all of our soaps, and cleaners here at home. And the last time I bought commercial made soaps and cleaners was about 4 years ago...been a while! I make my own clothing, or trade for clothing others have made. Sometimes I get surprises of large boxes of beautiful handmade clothing in the mail! I am so blessed! I am proud to say that about 90% of my closet is handmade. Only my underclothing, socks, and a few t shirts are mass produced and I am working on changing this number to 100%

I make a lot of Maylee's clothing, and her other clothing is from second hand sources. Her shoes are even handmade! I have purchased a few things new for her but I try to keep the new clothing purchases to a minimum. Almost all her toys are handmade as well except for a few her father got for her that make noise.

Tyler is not so easy...I buy ALL of his clothing from thrift stores or from generous gifts from friends. Same with hubs. We dont buy anything new here. Its just feeding the machine to do so.

Whenever I need anything my first thought is," Do I know anyone who makes it on my team" I go to my Street Team first for stuff I need, then second if we dont have a member who makes what I need, I think about my other friends online. If they dont make it then I hit Etsy or Artfire and do a search. I buy Local first if I can. Supporting Kentucky is my goal, and if I can find someone here in Louisville that sells what I need then all the better!





I encourage you all, especially with this holiday coming up, to Buy handmade. A handmade gift means so much more usually, and is so treasured and appreciated. There is no better way to say,"Love you man!" than with a handmade gift, and a handmade card!

Live a Handmade life.











Photo notes: Maylee's friend Kitty is our newest family member. He was located in a thrift store about a month or two ago, and Maylee grabbed him and hasnt put him down since. She takes him everywhere she goes and even rocks him to sleep at night. He also gets a small portion of all her meals....

The shirt with the pink hood on it in the 2nd to last photo was made by *ME* this is my newest love. T SHIRTS! I love chopping them up and making other stuff from them!

The outfit Maylee is wearing in the bottom photo was hand batiked by Justine of PotomacRiverGoods She has finally outgrown it I think! It lasted us about a year! Its ready for the next baby who wants it. Its in great shape and the colors are still vibrant and beautiful!

Our day at Wilmoth Farms

My good friend and soapmaking buddy Rachel invites us over yesterday for a fun filled evening of horse riding and smores making by a bonfire. I was excited to actually take a day off and do something FUN! but first we had to go see my mommy....the trip was exciting as usual.

First Tyler took Maylee for rides on his new lawn tractor. He paid for over half of it with his own money he has made from his new venture mowing grass. Go Tyler! we paid for the rest cause we need it too...I guess it was a 50/50 thing but he will use it the most I am sure as he is our designated lawn cutter now LOL. I am so proud of Tyler. His lil business is growing by leaps and bounds as he has the market cornered in our neighborhood. He is the only one offering this service...he has his first monopoly! How sweet! LOL


We stopped at the usual gas station to get gas cause its cheaper there than anywhere else we know of, and Maylee had to ride the chicken...again

**By the way her top was bought from SweetCandiedYams on Artfire. I purchased this when I won that Artfire Facebook Contest in August YAY! I LOVE this top its just perfect and TOP quality too!

Her shoes are made by Kaboogie. She makes the best shoes in the universe, just ask Maylee she will tell ya!


It was all cute till Tyler wanted in on the action too...The next series of photo's is the process of him trying to mount the chicken and the horror that ensued....








In the end Chicken bites Tyler's hand and steals his lawnmower keys to wear around his neck. Chicken arises victorious!




So we head on down toward moms house and when we get there the house smells like Pizza...Mmmm...and my brother got some baby ice creams for Maylee. They was so cute in her hand! Just her size. Maylee loves ice cream!





Mommy puts Noor to work cleaning out gutters and Tyler mows grass while I try to keep on top of Maylee who turns super wild at moms house for some reason...weird.

I gave mommy her ring I mentioned in my last post about sucking up to mommy I think mommy is quite thrilled with it...mom wont say how much she likes something but she looked at it for an awfully long time after she put it on her hand...SCORE one for me! YEAH ED take that Biotch! (Ed's my brother....)

Anyhoo we get done at mom's house (we have to go back Tuesday for more!) and we head out to Rachel's farm....I was amazed at the beauty of this place. I automatically knew I was not gonna want to leave here EVER! And I wish I could go pitch a tent or set up shop in one of her bedrooms or something. I am quiet, she will never know I am there...until her chocolate starts disappearing for no reason...then she may know something is up hehehehe

This is my oldest son Justin on Rachel's very kind horsey named Chicory. Justin hopped up on the horse like he knew what to do! He did good! Now it was Tyler's turn....


Tyler got on the horse better than he got on the chicken and the horse didn't bite him and steal his lawn mower keys LOL!

I even got on the horse myself. Cant believe I made the legs work well enough to do it but I did it!










We had a nice little fire out back after it got dark, We had hot dogs and macaroni salad...then we had campfire smores by the fire. I didn't get pictures cause I was too busy eating...

Our good friend Mari showed up too! I love Mari she is a sweetheart just like Rachel and I always enjoy her company a lot. We had so much fun yesterday I cannot wait to do it again! I loved riding that horse, and he walks so nice and easy he don't bump you around or anything. It was a smoother ride to ride him than riding in my hippie van to get to Rachel's house! LOL

I would really like to get a horse for us when we get moved to our land. Riding the horsey was the most natural thing I have ever done besides giving birth in the comfort Of my home...it felt like it was something I was supposed to be doing...if that makes sense.

Thanks Rachel for having us! You guys were so kind and so thoughtful of Noor's religious eating issues and stuff. Your awesome! Many blessings to you guys for being so loving to us!

MoMosBows New blog contest

I love contests, I am hooked on them since I won the Artfire Facebook Contest LOL

MomosBows, whom I adore, is having the awesomest contest!

She is giving away a free one year subscription to her bow of the month club where you can get a free bow every month and two in your daughters birth month! WOW!

Its easy to enter, so go for it you may just beat me and win...good luck...you will need it, sucka!

Random Post

I dont get to update my blog like i would like to do, I have been so busy lately with other things my poor blog gets pushed to the back a lot. Here is what has been up with us lately

Larry got just over 5,000 bucks from the 48 for Larry event, and a local organization has stepped in to pay for the rest of what he needs for his surgery. Larry will be just fine now! YAY! I pray he gets thru the surgery OK and he lives a long healthy life to see his grandkids someday. If I hear anything more I will keep you updated. Thanks so much to my street team members who helped out. You made me proud! Thanks also to everyone else who bid or donated items, we came together out of love for this man and made something beautiful happen. I am proud I could be a part of it.

My street team got a grant from Etsy, yeah they gave US a grant WOW! We got it for advertising, my right hand woman, Kim is on top of it due to me being so busy with other things at the moment. I have NO idea what I would do without her!

My steet team is gonna be opening up a team shop very soon, I am hoping we can get some team logo shirts made up as soon as we can get a logo made to be silkscreened or digitized to an embroidery design. Big plans here! All the money from the team shop will go toward team expenses like a meeting in the bahamas...how I WISH! LOL We want to do tons of advertising. The team has the potential to do big stuff here. I am excited. Thanks a million times over to Sara who is gonna be running the team shop. She is invaluable! She also has a cool shop with bunches of Reusable Coffee Sleeves She has a HUGE job in the team and that is taking care of the members and all that is involved with that. Sara, you rock!

I have a wholesaler buying from me who is local now, so I will be making soap and perfumes in mass. YAY! I have another lined up for August, we will see how that works out.

I have been taking a lot of customs lately for clothing and have been busy busy taking care of those, I have made some really awesome pieces lately. I have had lots of fun projects and I thank you guys for letting me make your clothing dreams a reality!

My job over at HMN is going great, I have a couple of features coming up over there, and I really enjoy writing a lot. I am proud to be on the ground floor of such a great source of information. HMN has some changes coming up soon to the design and look, so keep checking back often. Bookmark us and check out all the Departments, there is something for everyone whether your looking for Fun Stuff to do or your wanting to market your business better, we got ya covered! My profile has listings of all the articles I have wrote on Marketing. I been at this for quite a while and picked up some things along the way and I enjoy being able to pass the info along to businesses starting out.



Maylee is growing so big! In case you dont follow me on facebook where I post tons of pictures of her, here are some! I havent posted cute baby pictures in a while LOL

Her shirt was a gift from the super talented FacesAreFunny who does AMAZING silkscreen work. Thanks again Robin, Maylee loves her shirt!





Tyler goes into 6th grade this year and Justin goes into 10th. I cant believe they are so big! I will be 35 soon in August! Justin will be 16 two days before I am 35! AHHHH! My babies are becoming men! Where does the time go??

Maylee is awake now so my moment of spare time is over, I just wanted to post "About me" so you know whats up and why I havent been here much. I miss blogging and hope to have more time soon!

One of my Favorite Artfire Shops: HarmonArt

HarmonArt is the work of husband/wife team, Brian and Emily Harmon.

I first seen their amazing work when they joined my Bluegrass Etsy Street Team a while back. Then I was excited one night to see one of their beautiful items pop up on the front page of Artfire, I was so happy to see their shop on Artfire...I knew they would do great there!

The ceramic work is so beautiful and so natural looking, I have not had the good fortune yet to be able to purchase a piece but trust me its on my "to do" list. Emily's Gourdaments are BEAUTIFUL! She has such talent with taking a plain ol gourd and turning it into a
true work of art. I ADORE the ceramic pendants, they bring out the tree hugger in me, and the lelaf shaped ceramic bowls look so true to life...I could look at them for ages! My favorite item they have has to be the leaf bowls. I am just astounded by how realistic they are. I wouldnt mind having a bunch of these all over the house...up where Maylee cant break them of course

HarmonArt shop is very nice looking as well, crisp bright photos capture their art so well and really show detail. Their photos are VERY treasury friendly They also have a shop on Etsy as well so all you treasury freaks may wanna consider this shop?? I would! Thie photos would look great in any nature or earthtone themed treasury for sure!

I think any one of their works of art would make a FABULOUS gift for anyone you would wish to give a gift to. This would be perfect for the hard to buy for nature lover in your life for sure!

When your buying gifts, please consider buying handmade. Convince your friends to buy handmade. When you buy handmade you support the very fiber of America. You strengthen communities and buying handmade gives you a unique and long lasting high quality gift that is sure to score you brownie points with the recipient. I am not asking you to buy from me or even the uber-talented HarmonArt...just buy handmade from SOMEONE. There are so many great places to shop Artfire is my all time fave, and Etsy is a close second. there is also 1000Markets too, they are an awesome site but dont get much love even though they have tons of shops!

Thanks for reading all about the amazing talent of HarmonArt! Till next time!

Vote for Tabmade

Tabmade is one of my team members and she is an AMAZING polymer clay artist as well as an amazing photographer of tiny things. She has an item that needs YOUR vote...of course if you WANT to vote for her item....Here is the link to her blog post where she tells you ALLLL about it
Tabmade Art and Craft

The contest she speaks of is pretty cool. I thought about entering myself if I could get some time. Tim Adams rocks he always has something cool on the blog so go check it out!

A sweet trade with momosbows

This trade was awesome just like the last one. Presentation is everything especially when you have a fancy shop like MoMosBows has. I was feeling like a rich lady when I opened up my box....well I kinda TORE it open cause I was so excited! This is what I find inside. Nice neat ADORABLY wrapped flip flops!






Are these cute or what! Maylee was MORE than happy to put these on for me, she seen me wearing mine and sat down and stuck her foot out with no problem whatsoever. She is used to the soft shoes made by the wondrous Kaboogie, so I didnt know how she would take to flip flops. She adores them!

MoMosbows makes the CUTEST Flip flops hands down. She also has some really cute hairbows too. Maylee is now the proud owner of some and she loves them. I havent got a picture of her wearing one yet but I will. I can hardly catch her with this slow camera I got! I like big fluffy bows and thats what MoMosbows has, and they are VERY well made. Top quality as is most everything handmade.

Momosbows is also a member of my street team. I am proud to know her, and so happy we could trade soap for some pretty stuff!. Thanks so much Stephanie!

Sarabeedesigns yarn...in love.

Sara is just the sweetest thing. We did a trade...she has a soap addiction, I have a yarn addiction. We were meant to trade. She adores her soaps, and well...I am insanely crazy over the yarn I love it so much I have kept whats left of a skein of handpainted boucle in my purse with a hook at all times in case I get stuck someplace I have to wait...then I can make waiting WAY more enjoyable by working with her beaurtifully colored all cotton yarn. YUM!

She also has t shirt yarn and I made this cool recycled t shirt yarn dishcloth which is a lil extra scrubby. I like it. I am not able to do dishes the old fashioned way anymore due to my disabilities but when I do need to scrub out a pan quick this baby does a GREAT job and I am not leaning over the sink for ages cause it cleans so darn good. Check out Saras recycled t shirt yarn and save the planet !

She also makes the prettiest handpainted spindles on the planet. No doubt! Check out her spindles if your into spinning. This one is handpainted lilies....LOVE IT!

But wait this started out with me telling you about her making a blog post about me! Yeah she made a blog post...I get to thinking about her and that yarn and you see what happens I forget about everything and just want you guys to see it! LOL

So if ya got a minute swing by her shop and see whatcha like. Sara is super sweet, and also a proud member of my street team. So if your in Kentucky PLEASE buy goods local and check out my street team to start your shopping off right by helping your neighbors here in Kentucky. The economy can be strengthened by buying handmade, and even more b y buying local. Ok off my soap box (not intended as a pun but it sure is funny aint it?)

Celebrating Life Thru Art Fine Art and Craft Fair

I had a really super great time at the show yesterday. There was so many vendors, and so much talent at this show it was awesome! I cant thank Kim Ries enough for semi-twisting my arm to get me to go!

Many thanks to Donna Williams for being so awesome. She knew who I was as soon as I pulled up to the lot (imagine that!) She had a huge smile and a big hug waiting for me, that made my morning. So thanks a bunch for that Donna!

This was my table at the show before customers hit it LOL. I had a decent day. I cant complain. I made a little money and had a load of fun meeting so
many new people on the team and meeting future team members too!

I met Dawn who is an amazing photographer. She was so kind to bring me a gift of the most beautiful picture I ever seen of some redbud trees...My dad loved redbuds, and I always had a soft spot for them too. I cant thank you enough Dawn! This is going with my fine art collection!

And of course my old buddy (wink wink) Kim Ries was there with her awesome Jewelry. I had to trade her out of some earrings cause I been looking at them in her shop and couldnt resist no more! The ones the link points to is yellow but the ones I got are gorgeous blue..same style just blue. It was hard to pick one pair. It really was! Thanks for the trade Kim! Hubs liked them too he was impressed, and he dont impress easy LOL

And my booth partner was the ever sweet Jessica. Her shop is called ThePinkNeedle and her hair bows and things are on the coolest cards ever! They are so pretty! She uses this hole punch thingy to make the edges look like lace. It was awesome and I was super impressed cause everything looked so classy and so totally shabby chic! Totally my style. Jessica makes some really adorable purses and the sweetest cutest thumbtacks you ever seen! Jessica if you read this it was awesome to be your booth partner and we need to do it again sometime!!!

And on down from our two spots was the amazing IrisInBloom with her gorgeous embroidered shirts and things. I embroider too and the quality of her embroidery is amazing. No hoop burn, no wrinkling either to the fabric around the embroidery. Her stuff is really incredible in person and I highly recommend her if your in the market for something gorgeous and embroidered. She was a pleasure to talk to as well.

And just a step away from IrisInBloom was the ever lovely and lively Carolyn. I love Carolyn, she has such a sweet country way about her. Carolyn owns CowgirlRosie and makes the prettiest stuff you ever seen. This lady can sew like nobodies business for real! This tote is incredible in person as is her amazing fabric bowls.

Carolyn was in on the very beginning of the Bluegrass Etsy Street Team which I am proud leader of right now. I also got to meet Robin who was the very first leader of the team. I was so proud to finally meet her! I feel like I got to see a little piece of the history of the team and meet the people who had a vision in the beginning.I just get all warm and fuzzy inside over this kind of stuff..... I hope to make them proud by taking this team even farther than they could have dreamed possible. Thanks guys for having a vision, I hope I can do you proud too!

So that was my big day at the Celebrating Life thru Art show.

Donna, I would LOVE to do it again next year and I will make Kim come with me I promise hehehehe

I was featured on a blog! YAY!

Go check out this awesome collection of stuff.

Kellibeans was kind enough to include my art collage skirt in the mix with all this talent, I am so proud!

Need your help with scents!

Ok I have a craft show to do saturday. I am making lotions like mad HOPING they will sell, and I am also planning a batch of soap for thursday. Now help me out guys, I dont know what to make everything smell like!!!!

I know what sells on etsy and artfire, but I am not sure about this show cause I never did it before. I have NO idea what people in Kentucky like...yes I lived here all my life....I know, I know....

So please vote in the poll to your right and let me know what YOU think may sell, and I will choose scents from that category plus a few others and we will see how well it sells! My heart says go with the sweet candy scents...but judging by the sales at my last show a month ago I think the fruity scents may win out...but I dunno! I may make a few of each and hope for the best but honestly I dont want to be bringing any lotion home with me LOL Its so good I want everybody to have some!

Oh yeah, and I decided on flip top bottles for the lotion packaging for summertime. Now when winter comes around i will go back to the baby food jars cause I dont have to worry about product melting and leaking out when its freezing outside. The votes were a tie between baby food jars and the squeezy bottles, so I went with squeezy bottles. I dont have to worry about them leaking. Thanks for your help on that one too!

Oh yeah and my team has a new giveaway for June. If I was you I would totally get in on this one too. The prize was donated by the mega talented Jama Watts...she let me TOUCH her necklaces she makes!!!!!....she has made a gorgeous pair of earrings for the lucky winner of our blog contest, so head over there and enter!

Matchbook Notebook how to tutorial

One of our newest members, kellibeans was so kind to make this AWESOME slideshow tutorial for us with pictures! Its on how to make a matchbook notebook, which would be awesome for marketing your shop.

All you would have to do is use a sticky address label to affix your shops important info to the front cover, or if your really skilled in Microsoft Word or any of the photo editor programs you could print a sheet of coverstock with your shops name, info and colors! Talk about making an appearance! You can get a package of coverstock for about 12 bucks at staples, enough to make a bazillion of these notebooks, this would be an awesome way to market your etsy or artfire shop.

I find handing out business cards is nice but if you hand out something USEFUL like a notebook people are more likely to check out your shop cause they will be USING your "Business card". I keep all the magnet business cards I get on my fridge and those are a great idea too.

Guerrilla marketing tips

This article was published by Pam Hawk who is amazing with this stuff. I subscribe to her blog thru email and got this post and I just HAVE to repost it here

151 Guerrilla Marketing Tips

I have a few tips of my own I got from our new team member Kelli of Kellibeans fame

Make small items and leave them places, like sample sizes of your product, something small that cost little time and effort to make with your business info attached

Make something useful that has your business info on it...a pen, a magnet, a calender,SOMETHING that a person could use often and be less likely to throw away or ignore.

Have fun with guerrilla marketing it sounds like something I would like to get into myself as I am ALLL about marketing! Just make sure your marketing ends up being cost effective and you dont go ovr your budget you set aside for advertising expenses. it can be so easy to go over budget, I have done it before! LOL

Polymer Clay Smooshers Guild

I love polymer clay work, it is so amazing to me that someone can take a ball of clay and make it into something amazing. I tried polymer clay once and I can appreciate the talent and skill that goes into a piece.

So when I seen a post on Artfire forums about a voting thingy on their guild blog I was excited! I had to vote! But the problem is...I have to pick ONE to vote for !!AHHHHH!

So if ya got a minute go view the talent and try your best to pick just ONE!
Polymer Clay Smooshers May Challenge,

Also if ya got another minute drop by my Street Team's blog and vote in our monthly contest! This months prize is made by Vernon Ave who makes AMAZING clutches and bags

TeamBluegrass May Giveaway

hey guys a quick post tonight.

My street team is still having our giveaway contest for May! All you have to do to win a kickass mini pouch from VernonAve is check out her shop, and go back to the Team Blog and post a comment to enter!

Her stuff is to die for,seriously. She is MAJORLY talented with the handbags!

Also check out my teams featured seller for the week! SewCuteByKatie!

I love my street team!

I have been updating the team blog more than my own. I will be back soon I promise! I have pretty stuff to show you! I hope to get pictures posted here tomorrow...well wait its 1:30 AM...today later I will post! LOL

February giveaway on Bluegrass Etsy Street Team Blog

Hey guys just wanted to pop in and let you know we have another giveaway for this month and you have a chance to win a handmade basket/bag chock full of my soap and laundry soap!

Just go to my shop and pick out the item you like the best then go to the blog and leave a comment. Winner will be chosen at random on March 1st!

Have fun and good luck to all!

Bag Crocheted from recycled grocery bags tutorial

I was picked to be the provider of stuff for February's Contest on behalf of my Street Team. So I put together this super cool bag of soapy goodness.

the bag is one I made from plastic grocery bags. I crocheted them all with a big fat "Q" hook. The bottom of the basket is tighter. I spun those plastic strips and then crocheted it. I wish I had got a picture of it, darn!








I have filled the basket with all kinds of wonderful things. 6 oz of laundry soap, and 4 bars of soap. 3 soaps are designer scents, and one Rose scent. Rose is a good one lots of people like it so I figured it would be a good pick.


You can still get in on this months contest featuring a gorgeous pair of earrings made by Kim Ries of Creative Eye Studios
Check her out! her work is incredible! The contest ends on January 31 so you better get your butt over there and enter to win now!


I wanted to tell you guys how I made this bag in hopes that you too can keep some of these things from getting on the sides of the street and stuff...they are everywhere like a plague! They can be so useful its really a shame to see them hit the trash. So now your gonna learn how to make them into reusable bags that will last ages to carry groceries in or just to put anything in!

First get you about 25 or 30 plastic grocery bags...lay them flat, this is the hard part. you have to fold in that side crease so that the bottom part lays flat, the handle part dont really matter its the body we are after, so get it as flat as you can.

You can pile 3 or 4 bags on top of each other just to cut your time down.

Cut the very bottoms off the bags, try real hard to not cut too high into the bag cause this is the part we want to preserve.

Once you get the ends cut off then you can cut your strips. Cut them 2 or 3 inches wide, try to stay the same width but its not necessary. you get a more interesting finished product if its not perfect.

Once you have processed all your bags like this you can start putting them together like in this tutorial here I am giving basically the same directions as in this tutorial just with no pictures cause I was too lazy to take any LOL She shows how to loop the pieces together better than I can ddescribe it.

Once you get a long striong of looped pieces you can get out your spindle and spin it to make a chunky yarn you can use with an "N" hook or you can leave it as is in the rough and get out your "Q" hook and go to town!

I made this bag by crocheting a circle using single crochets as big as I wanted the bottom and then I started making big triple crochets...I would chain 3 then count over 2 stitches and make a triple crochet..that gives this bag that netted look.

For making the handle I just did a chain as long as I wanted the handle to be and put in a row of single crochets in each chain space. you may have a different way you want to do the handle and thats great!

You can use this yarn to make more than bags too. i am thinking a whole line of "trash couture" fashion here. Skirts, headbands, hats, baby booties. All you would have to do is cut your yarn strips thinner to make a thinner plarn and you could even do a baby weight plarn!

So get out the crochet hook and make you some plarn! Have fun!

Squidoo Lens for the Team

I finally got around to using my superb marketing skillz to make my street team a Squidoo page YAY! I feel so proud and like I really did somethin' LOL If you have a moment please go check it out and leave a comment, or clicky click the 5 stars at the top of the page to rank us, or lensroll it, or make it a favorite! This is great promotion for my team and we appreciate it bunches.

I been super duper busy lately cleaning house of all things. I started taking some B12 vitamins and they have made me feel human again so now I am cleaning...and Maylee is messing up the house as fast as I can pick it all up! I do have all my fabric stash organized by color scheme and tone. Thats nice and helps me a lot when I sew..

A longer blog post is coming I promise. Just wanted to pop in and say I am still alive just working my butt off here!

Oh and I have new designer fragrance scented soaps listed in my shop! And I have all my plus size legwarmers and bloomers posted in my clothing store too!

Felted soap and more

Ahhh the bamboo....I spin on it when I get time and this is what I got so far. After it falling off my spindle and spending over an hour to get it would into this ball I am gonna spin up some wool for a more realxing spin then ply these two together and see what I get. I dont know how many yards is here I know its not much though...oh its so shiny and soft....yum.







Tyler has been wanting to felt soap ever since Minde sent me hers. So i led Tyler step by step last night thru the dying process with kool aid so he could make a soap as a special request from Beautifulsoaps who has some really exotic scents you should check her out for real. But the Lovely miss Heather wanted a nice bar of felted Basil And Lime soap so Tyler hooked her up right!







This is the finished soap after its dried and stuff. Tyler is here swinging the soap in a piece of pantyhose LOL He liked that part a little too much...please note the sweet baby in the backgroun hard at work on hacking into NASA computers from our laptop....




In other exciting news, I have been named the Marketing Committee leader of my street team YAY! So I am gonna have to market the crap out of us and I think I am pretty good at pimping art LOL So please dont forget about the contest going on right now all you have to do to win is leave a comment, and next month the prize will be something from me, I am still trying to figure out what to offer...I may offer some legwarmers and soap I am not quite sure yet...So wish me luck in my new job, I have never been the leader of anything except my own imagination so this should be fun...I am already demanding people email me coffee and donuts and assigning slave jobs hehehehe