Nice Surprise!

I discovered a great blog, For the Love of Cute the other day that devotes it's site "to handmade cuteness". Every day Anna "posts a new selection of cute handmade items found from all over the web".

And this morning I woke up to an Etsy convo from Anna saying that she included my Shu Shu Panda in with some other great panda bears on her blog!

What a wonderful surprise! Then I discovered that Anna is in fact the creator of House of Mouse on Etsy! If you haven't seen her little mice you have to check them out! Fantastic!

Rain, Rain, Rain and More Rain

It's been raining again all weekend! Now I like the rain, but it rained all of June and now July is not looking much better! Sigh... at least I'm getting lots of work done inside and on my new McBride House site. Look on the bright side Bella, look on the bright side.


I added Mr Mouse and his Flower Pot House to McBride House yesterday. As you can see Mr Mouse is peaking out his Flower Pot House to see if the coast is clear before he heads out for some food for his little flower pot family!


I also added my little Gnome Home which is a set of three red and white mushrooms. They are going to be featured in a great blog on Friday! I'll let you know how it goes!


This morning a added a set of three evergreen Christmas trees. The yarn I used as garland is an old yarn that was donated to me by that wonderful Auntie. The label says 70% wool and 30% goathair, made in Sweden. Isn't that cute? I don't know why, but I laugh every time I look at the label!

The trees also come decorated with little bits of red, yellow and maroon roving. I haven't listed the decorated trees yet, but they are coming!

McBride House is Now Open

I've done it! McBride House is officially open for business! I only have a few listed so far, but over the next few days I should have a lot more! Keep watching!

New Venue

I've just spent part of the day setting up my new Artfire store! I've been finding both views and sales on my Etsy site are waaaayyy down and it was suggested to me to try ArtFire.


This is my Artfire homepage. Nothing too special, but it has potential and that's what I'm looking for right now. Apparently if I sign up 12 different friends to ArtFire then I get a lifetime free membership! So if any of you bloggers out there are interested, use this link and don't forget to mention where you heard it from!


On the kitty front, Frosty is getting much more accepting to the two new babies. He's not thrilled about the bigger kitten (that we discovered, after a kitty bath, is in fact a boy!), but he seems to like the little one that is the runt. It's hard to see, but BB (temporary name) is laying right on top of him! Soooo cute!

McBride House is coming along. This is Gallagher, another felted wheeled animal.

Side Tracked!

I've been working diligently on my new store McBride House but I got a little distracted! We have two new additions to our home!

We were suppose to only get one kitten to keep Frosty company, but when we got to the place with the kittens I couldn't leave the poor little guy on the right there. He is definitely the runt of the litter and has an eye infection, but I fell in love with him right away.


And this little girl was suppose to be a boy! Again, we fell in love with her and couldn't leave her there! For the first time in all the years that I've picked out kittens I felt as if these two picked us. It was like they were waiting for us to come and take them home!


On the store front, I decided I needed new pictures. The previous ones were just too dark. This is the first of my "wheeled" animals I made and what started me down the path to making more wheeled animals.


You gotta have a bear on wheels! This bear took me weeks to finish! I just couldn't seem to get his body shape right. However, I'm very pleased with the way he turned out. He's what I call a great "chunk" of a bear.


This lion will be a hard one to let go, but as Maggie asked in my last postings comments "Have you bonded long enough with them to let them go??!!". Almost! Give me a few more days and I think I can let them go! Of course if nobody buys them it won't be a problem! I'm hoping to open the new store sometime this week...hopefully?

Should I, or Shouldn't I?

I've been thinking long and hard whether or not to open a new Etsy store to sell some of my felted creations. Should I integrate them in to my already existing store that has lots and lots of feedback? Or should I open a new store so that my patterns won't get overlooked by people tired of searching through too many pages? I've signed up on Etsy with a new shop name, McBride House, but I have yet to list any of my new creatures. I am aiming for an opening date of mid July... if I decide to open it!


These are some of the creatures I've been talking about. A menagerie of wheeled animals! If you don't already know, needle felting is a process that involves poking and prodding different colours of wool with a very (and I mean very) sharp needle until you reach the perfect shape.

These are my mushrooms... a blend of beige's, moss greens, and deep orange and reds. It's hard to tell in this picture, but they are just about life size.

This elephant took a lot of time to make. I couldn't find the right colour roving for him, so I meticulously separated Briggs and Little 100% yarn to get just the right look for him. I'm really pleased with the way he turned out! I LOVE elephants!

This set will be a hard one to sell. The reindeer was my first attempt at a realistic animal and the catalyst to keep me going on some of my other animals. I'm also very pleased with the Father Christmas, instead of the more usual Santa Claus. Stay tuned! I'll be adding more pictures as the opening date approaches...if I decide on my new store! LOL!

Summer Solstice

Today is the official first day of summer... but it's raining... it rained yesterday too... and it is going to rain for at least the next 6 days... sigh... Actually I don't mind, I really like the rain... for a day or two! With my Fibromyalgia my hands and knees and well, who's kidding, my whole body really starts to ache so I need something to take my mind off of it. What to do? My Mom's remedy for a peaceful mind is to move furniture. I don't really have that option, so I like to reorganize things. So today I started to reorganize my wonderful yarn stash, which if you remember increased in size thanks to my wonderful Auntie!


I really like to see my entire stash laid right out so that it can "speak" to me when I'm choosing a new project. So... I took some books out of my studio bookcase and stuffed them into the shelves! I used books as dividers to keep some of the same yarns together.

Look at those pinks! A gift from the a fore mentioned Auntie! I can't wait to create something with them, but I'm kind of intimidated to start because I love them so much I don't want to waste them!

Some more of the stash! Most of this section are gifts/hand-me-downs from Auntie, Mom and a cousin AND my mother-in-law! Aren't I the luckiest girl ever!

Close Encounters

Yesterday I say my first fawn of the spring! A doe cautiously brought her little speckled baby out into the open and I quickly grabbed my camera and zoomed in as close as I could get. You will have to click on the picture to enlarge it to see the baby, but trust me, it is there! I see the mom out again this morning but the fawn hasn't ventured out yet.


Then, right on my door step was this gorgeous little toad! Actually not so little for a toad, but little to me and Frosty, who insisted on checking him out! The toad, however, patently waited for me to take several picture of him and all his glory!

Then Mom sent me this picture of a baby sparrow who was taking a break from flying lessons in her bird bath. She took several pictures of him all the while trying to get closer and closer and finally she was able to walk right up to him! This in not a zoomed in picture, she actually got this close. Worried about the little bird being eaten by her two cats, she and my brother walked up to him and were in the middle of discussing what to do about him when off he fluttered back to his nest! I wonder what delights we will see today?

Etsy Treasury

I haven't made a treasury on Etsy for a long, long time, but early this morning a Treasury West just happened to open up, so I grabbed it! What do you think? My favourite colour combination is Pink and Grey and it wasn't very hard to find other artists who feel the same way! Have a great weekend everybody!

Lilacs and Anniversary

I have always loved Lilacs but now, after 15 years, they hold a very special memory for me.

This week is my wedding anniversary. Fifteen years ago I was a young June bride being married in the church both my parents and grandparents were married in. The day was beautiful, my dress was big and white, my husband was handsome in his tux, family and friends were all gathered near, but the one memory that I hold dearest in my heart and still brings tears to my eyes... Lilacs.
Why Lilacs? When I walked down the aisle of the church I noticed the church was filled with the scent of lilacs. Where did they come from? We never picked any lilacs? They were a gift. A gift from a widow who could not afford to buy me a gift, but wanted to do something special for me. She picked the lilacs from her own garden and walked up to the church and filled the vases on the alter with them. This was the greatest gift that I have ever received. Sadly she is no longer with us, her house has been sold and is being renovated, but those lilacs still bloom every spring.