There's What in My Brownies?

For this etsy blog carnival, i am going to write about my favorite brownie recipe. I try not to bake from scratch because it never turns out tasting good. I can cook, but i can't bake. So i take a box of low fat brownie mix and add to it a box of chopped spinach. Before you gag or stop reading, let me just say that you CANNOT taste the spinach! I have gotten my son to eat spinach this way several times and he has never noticed! Try it and you will see that they are delicious and moist and only taste chocolaty! I promise!

Want a story with that necklace?

I am terribly late with my blog post for the etsybloggers team. But here it is!

This month I am writing about Storybeader's etsy shop (http://storybeader.etsy.com/).

Storybeader sells beautiful jewelry and every one of her necklaces comes with a haiku written by Storybeader herself! Check out this Lampwork Messenger Necklace and the lovely haiku Storybeader wrote to go along with it! Beautiful!!!

I've Been Tagged!

I've been tagged by Down The Street Creations (http://downthestreetcreations.blogspot.com/). This means i must tell six secrets about myself so here it goes!

1. I used to live in Hilton Head, SC - it was when i was in 7th grade but it still counts, right?
2. I got married in Hilton Head, SC - this wasn't when i was in 7th grade!!! Many moons later!!!
3. I absolutely love books - mysteries, chick lit, some romance, but mostly mysteries!
4. I could live off of chocolate - does this one really need any explanation?
5. I secretely wish i could shave my head - seriously! I just wanna know what it looks like under there!
6. I am an insomniac - did i spell that right? Who knows, but what i do know is that i probably should be sleeping right now but can't!


I am supposed to tag five other people but i will come back and edit the post to do that! Right now my brain is not working!!!

Not Sew Simple

I love to sew. When i was a little girl, my grandmother taught me how to sew by hand with me sitting on her lap. I loved having her show me what to do, so i would pretend that i didn't get it so she would show me again and again. I believe she finally caught on because she told me to just do it and left the room! Well when it came time for me to sew with a sewing machine, she was no longer with us. But with her watching in heaven, i threaded my machine, pinned my pattern to my fabric, made my first stitches, took out my first stitches, untangled the thread from my machine, threaded my machine again, replaced a broken needle....well, you can see where this is going. But i pretended that she was there, showing me what to do and i could almost hear her soothing voice calmly telling me the next step.

I finally felt ready follow a pattern, so i bought Amy Butler's, In Stitches. I decided to try the cat tunnel first. Well let me just say it only LOOKED easy! The written directions and the drawings did not match up and i don't think either were right. I followed both the printed and written and ended up with something no cat would enter into if it valued any of it's 9 lives. So i put the pattern away and made up my own little version: This is my cat tunnel! ...que music...

I used Amy Butler fabric (maybe so i wouldn't feel so bad for not using the pattern in the book) and fake fur fabric. I wanted the tunnel to remain open, so i took wire and put it in between the two fabric pieces so you can't feel it in there, but it does its job of keeping it open. Now, the cats did enjoy this for a little while, but as you can see in the pictures of the cat casually walking past the cat tunnel, they are over it. But i have hope! I keep spraying it with cat nip spray so hopefully they will venture back into it! AND i did see some cat hair in the tunnel so i KNOW they have been in there! So maybe the cat nip spray is working!

So if you try the cat tunnel pattern in Amy Butler's book, In Stitches, just know that the directions are not correct and she does have corrections on her web site that i didn't find out about until i made my version. Good luck!

Next week: My attempt of Amy Butler's lounge pants

Tulips Treasure Box

I am a brand new member of the Etsybloggers Street Team and every month the team chooses a member for us to feature on our blogs. This month is Tulips Treasure Box at http://tulipstreasurebox.etsy.com/.

Tulip creates beautiful beaded jewelry, clothing and purses and totes. Her jewelry is absolutely georgous! She works with seed beads, swarovski crystals and polymer clay to create stunning pieces such as the one i have pictured. The names of the pieces are as unique as the pieces themselves. Visit her shop and you will see what i mean!

Watching them Grow

I have two beautiful children, Chase, who is 4 years old, and Lily, who is 8 months.  I am constantly amazed how they change and grow.  Lily is already crawling and standing, and is trying really hard to walk.  I was surprised to learn tonight that she understood something i said to her. She has a new toy.  It is a zebra that she can ride on like a rocking horse.  Tonight i said to her, "do you want to ride on your zebra?" And she crawled right over to it and tried to get on it!  I couldn't believe she knew what i meant!  

And my son!  Wow is all i can say about him.  He has grown 4 inches in the past year.  He is so tall.  He loves preschool, which is something i never thought i would say.  

I used to be a very depressed person, never finding happiness in anything.  But now, now i look at my children and i feel instantly blessed and instantly happy.  They are my reason for breathing.  

Now on to the business end of things.  I have a new item in shop.  My memo cubes.  You can keep bills, the checkbook, pens, stamps and envelopes in there and have everything ready to roll!  I also like to think of it used on a desk at work.  You can pin up a picture on the cork side, and write a meeting reminder on the chalkboard side.  In the cube you can keep all your business essentials!  Find these new cubes in my shop at http://devancarol.etsy.com.

Things I Love

I am an Etsy shopaholic. I shop there a little too much but I enjoy it all the same. One of my favorite purchases was from The Dreamy Giraffe (http://thedreamygiraffe.etsy.com/). I have been looking at this shop for a while now and just now bought because I couldn't decide which print I wanted. I finally decided on the one you see above. I love it. It matches my daughters room and I suspect that I will hear those very words coming out of her mouth one day.

Please check out The Dreamy Giraffe's shop and pick out your own favorite. Her shop is worth a look! It's positively dreamy!

On a side note, I have a few new listings in my shop. One is the Coffee name plate made out of Scrabble tiles, and the other is my new CD clock. This is a fully functional clock that runs on a AA battery. This is my favorite one out of all I have made.

Thank you for reading and I look forward to sleep tonight...if my kids agree to let me.

I've been featured!

I am really tickled and proud. I have been featured on http://www.cuteable.com/ AND http://www.neatostuff.com/

I am featured on these sites this week. Cuteable.com has my scrabble board listed and neatostuff has my Strawberry Fields bracelet listed. My views have gone up so hopefully sales will too!

Me and My Blog

I decided i needed to blog. I have an etsy shop and need to promote it so I figured a blog couldn't hurt, right? My shop is at http://devancarol.etsy.com/

Please check it out and hey, buy something!

I will be blogging about things I find there that I like and things that I buy and my new items that I post. I will also be blogging about life. I have a 6 month old little girl and a 3 year old son. They just now went to bed and it is 1:43 am. I do not know how our sleep schedule got so off but it is and it is awful. We all need sleep in this house. No one is productive and everyone is in a bad mood. So send me tips on how to get them back on schedule, please!

The items you see are new in my shop. Please check them out and tell me what you think.

I am going to go to bed now. Maybe tomorrow will be a better sleep day!

Thank you for reading!