Miscellaneous crafting and surfing

Have you found Pinterest yet? OMG! It's amazing and highly addictive. So, here's the low down: once you have an invite and set up your account, you can set up a series of 'boards' where you can 'pin' items that you find online and what to be able to get back to. How often have you seen a craft idea or a new blog or a cool new product and want to remember where to find it. But, if you bookmarked everything you bookmark list would be a mile long. Just think of it as a series of virtual bulletin boards where you can post all the information. Plus, you can organize all your pins by boards; a recipe board, craft board, tutorial board, blog board, etc., etc. . . . It's AWESOME. Then, not only do you get to organize and get to all these pages you wanted to remember, but, you can see other people's board and their pins and they can see yours. So, it's a great place to get more leads to find cool stuff online and to promote yourself, your blog, friends shops, etc.....

Be careful though. It's a world of it's own and HIGHLY addictive!!! So, what kind of things can you find? All sorts of craft ideas and tutorials. Here's an example for you all.


What happens when you take this:

and this:

along with a little glass cement???

You get THIS:


Cute huh? I think it's a lovely little cupcake, tea sandwiches or pastry stand. It's not big enough to be a full cake but, how many times have you wanted to set out a "little" something and a cake stand is just too big? Like if you are having tea with your bestie. The two of you don't need a full cake but a few treats would look great on this stand.

I can't wait to try it out. . . . .

I also have been posting all sorts of vintage goodies and some of my photographs for sale in my Etsy shop. Wanna see? Go ahead and go take a look, why don't you? Let me know what you all think. . .I'd be really interested in hearing what you all think.

What's up nurse?

Here at Chez Knittingnurse, March madness is in swing, the birds are singing and the crafts are slowly starting to re-emerge.

I made an egg Temari today that is meant for my niece. She is just about 18 months old now. Last year, I made matching egg Temari for her and myself. So, I have completed her egg for this year and tomorrow I will have to make the same egg again, this time for me. I think it will be pretty cool for us to having matching collections of Easter egg temari. Don't you.

I have had a set of felted clogs on the needles since last Fall. They are to replace the well worn (through) clog slippers I made a few years ago for DH. DS wants a pair to but he's growing out of shoes so fast that making a pair now would be an exercise in futility.

All that not withstanding, the most important thing going on here is that I have opened an Etsy shop! Something from the Heart "Handmade gifts and vintage treasures" opened about a month ago. I will be selling vintage items as well as handmade (by me) items and photographs. Right now, I only have vintage items and photographs for sale but I am pretty excited about it.

Here are a few of the items that I currently have up for sale ;

The tin salt and pepper shakers are absolutely adorable and much cuter in person. They very retro, kitschy and nostalgic. Love them! The tea bowl and saucer are Royal Staffordshire china. Who knew that find China was available in tea bowls? Regardless this is a charming set that will make a great addition to someone's tea cup collection.








So, here are a couple of examples of the photographs that I am selling. Red Geraniums in my window was taking last summer during our trip to Paris. I took this shot from the balcony of our hotel room. I just loved the rustic feel and the contrast of the red from the flowers against all the neutrals surrounding them. In the Arms of the Angel is a statue that can be found at the Louvre. I don't remember who the sculptor was but while admiring it, I got to this angle and loved the play of light and shadows to the statue. Isn't it wonderful?

What do you all think of these so far? The photographs that I have posted and will post are all going to be my own original shots taken during the KnittingNurse family adventures.

I appreciate any comments you have regarding the shop, items, listing and such. So, excited!

It's official

I am now an Etsy shop owner. My Etsy user name is 'somethinfromtheheart' (I had to drop the 'g' b/c the name was too long).

Funny thing is that I've always wanted to own a shop. A, coffee/tea house, gift, needlework, yarn shop. Y'know? The kind of shop where you go in and there are comfy couches and yarn and cutesy gifts (cards, stationary, simple knick knacks) and you can get a lovely cup of coffee or tea and a scone? Aaaaaaah!

Unfortunately, that brick and mortar store has yet to become a reality BUT I now have an online shop where I can sell some handmade things and some vintage items I've found along the way. Fun, eh?

Right now, I only have vintage items. Well, 4 vintage items. I had 6 but I've sold 2 (awesome right?). I've got a huge boxful of items to photograph and list but I haven't quite gotten them on their as of yet. Hopefully at the end of this week they will all be up and available.

My first handmade items to list will be some facecloths knit/crochet made out of cotton. I want to post knitted items, some temari, some stamped items and some jewelry along with my vintage treasures but, I need to get to making some stuff.

So, when thinking of a store name I was talking it over with the fam and we kept coming up with different ideas and then I said, "no, no, it needs to be something from the heart". Well, DUH! So, the shop is named "Something from the Heart" with the tagline "handmade gifts and vintage treasures". Cute huh?

Go take a gander for a moment. Go ahead. It won't take long and I will still be here waiting for ya.

Something from the Heart shop on Etsy.com

Kind of cute stuff so far, I think. BTW, go back if you have a minute and check out my friend's shop as well Back home vintage.

That's my 'picking' partner. Flea markets, thrift stores, garage sales, our ATTICS! We bounce pieces off of each other and help each other decide on purchases and prices to set as well as photographing, etc.

So, cross your fingers and wish me luck.

Why Migraines SUCK!

I woke up at 2 am with one of the worst migraines I have ever had. I contemplated cutting off my head a variety of times but then decided that it would make a huge mess either 1) on our relatively new bathroom floor, 2) on our freshly cleaned carpet or 3) on our new set of sheets (let alone on the hubster). So, that idea wasn't going to work.

I then thought of shooting myself in the head but, because of the same reason as well as the fact that we do not own a gun, that wasn't going to work either.

In the end, I took migraine medicine (for all the good it did me), threw up a variety of times (gross I know but if you have migraines, you'll understand. If not, deal), used my trusty migraine relief set (LOVE IT), and suffered through it. I woke with a milder form of the migraine and took, yet again, more migraine medicine.

I have spent the day in bed with icepacks and trying to keep my mind on the nuclear holocaust that is my head. UGH.

Anyhow, I thought I would post because I have the time and I've been a slacker. I wanted to review a new knit shop that opened nearby, Downtown Knits. Michelle has opened an absolutely gorgeous shop in downtown Apex, NC which my friends and I have seen and love. It is a very open and well organized shop. The selection of yarns is still limited but vast enough to suit any knitters needs. Michelle is working on increasing her inventory and is very good about asking knitters in the shop their opinions on what yarns to carry next and in what colors. One thing that I loved about the shop is that she carries many unique yarns from local yarn vendors. For those of us who love to buy "souvenir yarn" this is EXACTLY what we look for when visiting yarn shops while on vacation.

Michelle is lovely, friendly, quirky and a great hostess. She holds a weekly knit night on Fridays and welcomes knitters to BYOB (yeah). I've yet to attend one but once the craziness that is my summer simmers down, you can bet that I will be making the trek out there. If you are in the area, you should definitely give it a shot. I don't think you will be dissapointed.

What else is going on in Chez Knittingnurse you might ask? Well, we are on the final countdown to the BIG TRIP! Paris is t-9 days away and I can't wait. DH has diligently been working on looking up everything that DS and I have asked for and has written things down for our information while we are there. We aren't an "itinerary" vacation kind of family but DH is very good about researching things in the areas we visit so that when the mood strikes us, we can look over his notes and know where to head. He has found a myriad of shops for me to do some souvenir shopping at and I've looked them over to decide which will be the best to visit while we are there. Do any of you have any fave shops that you have been to in Paris? Any suggestions?

We will also be visiting Bruges, Belgium and Normandy while there. I am planning on bringing home some sand from Normandy's beaches. Although I do not have any direct family that fought at those battles, it is an amazing part of American history and I am expecting to get emotional when I am there.

I also am planning on visiting the memorial at the Velodrome d'Hiver since, ironically, we are arriving on the anniversary of the roundup. I had no idea about this dark page in French history until my bookclub read Sarah's Key a few months ago. I really liked the book despite it's dark topic and I was amazed that the trip we had booked last year had us landing in Paris on the morning of the anniversary of this horrible event. Needless to say, I felt compelled to pay my respects at the modest plaque left to remember this tragedy.

What other things are we planning for the trip? Eating, drinking, walking, Fat Tire Bike Tour of Versailles (highly recommended by a coworker) and just 'being'. We recently found out that our hotel for the first leg of our trip recently started providing wireless internet service to guests so, hopefully, I will be able to make some quick posts during our stay.

Lastly, have I told you all that I am now taking my love of photography a bit more seriously? No? Well, I am. After photographing a friend of mine and her boys last year as a Father's day surprise for her husband, I got an amazing response from friends in the neighborhood and recently did an engagement shoot for a coworker. I am actually going to be shooting her wedding as well! AACK!

Here are a couple of shots from the engagement shoot. Let me know what you all think.......