Oh the Cuteness!

Check out what I just listed in the shop! Pretty cool right?! I'm incredibly excited about these Valentine's Day anatomical heart surprise balls I made! They're made from about 64 feet of heavy German crepe paper streamers, which I cut by hand and wrapped around seven little toys:  How cool would it be to get one of these from your love on Valentine's day?! You unravel it like a ball of yarn and at the end of every color of streamer out pops a prize! Can you believe that only one dot of glue holds the whole thing together? So cool! I've been having a blast picking out all the little toys for each different kind of ball, and I tried to choose vintage-inspired prizes that I enjoyed as a kid (And, honestly, I still enjoy them now!). I've gotten some surprise balls in the past that didn't have very good prizes inside, like paper fortunes or candy, so I wanted to make sure mine were top-notch! If you check out the listing on Etsy , I ha...

Hi everyone! Well, once again the holiday season has thoroughly kicked my butt, but this year I kicked some right back! I know I haven't updated the blog in a good while except to advertise sales and such (Although if you follow my instagram  @ohthecuteness then you've seen what I've been up to!), but I have some fun new tutorials and crochet patterns coming up in the new year! Also all of the craft fairs I did this year went so well that I didn't have much left over to list online, which totally blew me away! As soon as Halloween rolled around Johnny and I were so consumed by decorating that I didn't get to post anything, and as soon as Halloween came down Christmas went up, and by then I was consumed with making things for the holiday fairs as well as family functions. I've really been enjoying the lull for the past week and found time to take some nice photos of the house all decked out for Christmas. I think I might keep the photos of Halloween till next yea...

Easter has always been a special holiday for me. I'm not religious but rather I like to celebrate it as a welcoming of spring, and the simple ways we celebrate are such great symbols for the rebirth of the land. I'll be heading to a friend's house for a brunch of crepes and sweets in celebration of her pet bunnies' birthdays! I promise to myself and all my readers that I will NOT forget the camera! Anywho, since Easter celebrations are usually so simple and sweet, you can wait till the last minute to start working on projects! I found two pages that have lists of links to all kinds of adorable Easter projects that take practically no time at all, or that you can do with friends and family on the holiday itself. First, there's Brit + Co. with their list of 40 creative ways to dye Easter eggs . I still love dying eggs or making something funny with them every year, as evidenced here and here . If you think you're too old you are waaaay wrong, just try it and...

I'm happy to announce that the RAC's annual Holiday Arts Festival was a complete success! I've done this fair for 4 years now so it's quite the tradition for me, and if you'd like to see my posts for the last few years here's 2009 , 2010 , and 2011 . This year was the first time I've had a booth all to myself and I was a little nervous, but since I know lots of the other regular vendors and staff members it was just as easy-going as any other year. And this fair was extra special for a few reasons. Firstly, I decided to make tons of fascinators and center my booth around them since they sold so well last year. I was worried that with the fair being only one day this year instead of two that I wouldn't sell as many, but it was great!  Also, I was incredibly happy with how my booth display came out, and you'd never know it from the look of it, but it's made entirely out of oatmeal and baby formula containers from the local artist'...

Well, the holidays kicked my butt yet again this year but they were, as always, completely amazing. I had tons of work to do between  WSPS  and  WCM  this year, as well as getting ready for the  RAC's  holiday fair (which went REALLY well, photos to come), hence the posting drought. But, as part of my new year's resolution I'm going to focus more on my own business and crafting, as well as a huge project I've had in the works since last year, and as part of that I'm continuing to play catchup on here. Anywho, on to the holiday at hand: Thanksgiving! As some of you may know I host a Thanksgiving dinner every year and invite all my friends who can't make it home to visit their families. I started it 3 years ago when my parents decided they didn't feel like celebrating it anymore.  The original had 7 people ,  then there were 12 , and this year there were 18 in all! It was so big I couldn't host it at my place anymore, but my best frien...

This time of year is a stressful one for me, mostly because I'm so busy but also because I have so many people to buy presents for and cash is always tight. And I know I'm not the only one out there who feels this way. So I'm having a Cyber Monday sale in my Etsy shop ! Everything is 30% off , just use the coupon code CYBERMON during checkout! Not only does it help people save money on their holiday gifts, but it also helps me buy my family's gifts, so everybody wins! And to sweeten the deal, my 100% biodegradable moustache straws are back in stock! Also, and this is our little secret, I'm giving blog readers free shipping too! Enter the coupon code BLOGMON in addition to CYBERMON and there you go! The 30% off coupon went out with my newsletter, which you can subscribe to by entering your email on my sidebar, but the free shipping is to say thank you to everyone who makes this blog worth writing! Happy holidays! If you have any questions or need help using ...

Just a quick update today! I'm selling at the Richmond Art Center's Holiday Arts Festival again this year. I always love this venue, and this will be my 4th straight year! I was a staff pick this year because everyone loved my fascinators I debuted at the last fair, so I'm doing a ton more this time (and I got a photo on the flyer)! Click on the flyer to be taken to the RAC's website for more info! And as always, blog readers that come visit me get 20% off anything at my booth!

Halloween this year was so much fun I really don't want it to end! Soooo, one more Halloween-y post before I get back to trying to get through everything I didn't post during the summer mayhem. This year, while I decorated my own house, I actually spent Halloween in Campbell with my new boyfriend Johnny, a lovely, Halloween-obsessed partner in crime. He decks out his house every year inside and out and puts on quite a show for the kids. It's kind of a dark Wonderland theme, as he is always the Mad Hatter (completely in character, voice and all), so I decided to be the March Hare. I made a giant brown pom pom for my tail, the cardboard template for which was as big as a desert plate and it used a whole ball of yarn, and I recovered some old Playboy bunny ears (come on, it was in high school) with brown and pink fabric et voila! I really like the way my nose makeup came out, and the little clip-on whiskers were only a few dollars and relatively comfortable for most o...

Hmm, I wonder who did this lovely piece of yarn bombing? It had to be more than one person, all the strips are so different... Isn't it just the cutest thing ever? If you're local you can go check it out on the corner of Piedmont and Linda, across from the movie theater. ^_~

Happy Halloween everyone! We had a great party on Saturday night and I decked out the entire house in horrific decorations. Click on the pictures for a larger view. Firstly, the living room: Mom gave me these cute little vintage-style pipe cleaner cat ornaments and I used some bits left over from my big round of cake bunting making to turn them into a little garland. Recycled wallpaper, orange polka dot scraps, and orange and white baker's twine was all it took to make my favorite new decoration! Black and plain cheesecloth, construction paper bats from years past, and a host of store-bought decorations I've been collecting since I was a kid covered the rest of the room. For the party we turned off all the lights and everything was lit with candles, black lights, and glow sticks. The majority of the Halloween decorations I have stored are candle holders and there are SO many candles around the room but you can't really tell. The curtain is m...