New Cards for the Holidays?

"When Santa runs out of elves he uses happy chicks"

I know it's not even the end of August and I'm already preparing for the holiday season in my shop LiPeony! Actually it didn't even cross my mind until one day I was lurking in the Etsy Forums and stumbled upon this post by KreatedByKatrina (btw visit her soap for soap goodies like gingerbread men soap! ) and she's been one of those long standing people on Etsy who has a lot of knowledge and experience and when she writes something I read it. This post happened to be "Preparing Your Shop for The Holidays" . She lists several good ways to prepare and opened the board for others to both learn and put in their advice. I've been gobbling up every single morsel of knowledge. I decided to finally start on those Christmas/Holiday cards. I've always wanted to be hands on with my work and making cards is no exception. I decided to experiment with the little print above.

Martha Stewart Crafting Scoring Board
I also have this nifty Martha Stewart Crafting Scoring Boards when I was making my friend's wedding invitations. It's not a necessary tool but it's so awesome to have because you can make crisp lines on blank sheets of papers to fold into cards. It's simple and they sell it at craft stores. I think this was brought at Micheal's with one of their lovely 40% coupons and it came up to a little over $11. Yes this thing retails around $20 hence the coupons.

It's very simple and the whole thing is outlined with inch ruler measures and the corresponding scoring groove. So all you really need is the bone folder which is that flat and rounded edged tool that comes with it. Place your paper on the board and pick how far you want your folded line to be and press the bone folder from that groove all the way down the card.

Ta-da! Perfect groove where you can fold your blank piece of paper into a card!

Now a nifty little card!Open up for anyone to write their special message in. This is just a practice run because I do want either a luster/pearl or a glossy finish. Haven't decided yet. I've also deciding on whether to buy plain white envelopes with the cards are these lovely light light blue envelopes which cost a tad more. I'm leaning towards the blue ones because I think it adds a bit more. Look forward to new card sets (was thinking sets of 3 or 6) close close in the future. So how have you been preparing for the holidays or are you still going "WHAT? HOLIDAYS? ITS STILL SUMMER??"

Until next time... stay groovy!

Bedtime Stories

A Monster Bedtime Story @ LiPeony

I remember as a kid I had a huge book of tiny bedtime stories one for every night of the year. It got passed down to my brother who pours over it. I'm a big fan of books like these because there's just so many stories inside one collection and it was conveniently all in one book with a picture for each. I created the above picture because of this penchant for late night reading and imaginative friends and adventures.

On another note another one of my favorite kid's reading material is the monthly magazine called Cricket. It's a magazine for ages 9- 14 filled with poems, stories from books, recipes, tutorials, comic strips from around the world and spans all different time eras. There are also lots of creative writing and art contests that they publish. I have years of these subscriptions on my bookshelf that my brother and sister poured though. For his birthday this year I'm buying him a year's subscription. I think that's more worth it then buying him more toys but of course he just really wants another computer game.

What's your child's or childhood's bedtime routine?

Until next time... keep on reading and exploring!

Yarns on the Brains

Yarn Basket Head Print @ LiPeony

I've been going though an artist block though maybe it could be due to the heat wave coming though. Yesterday I did have a stroke of inspiration and drew some new sketches like the one above and I'll be having some Chibi Boy drawings up too! I'm very excited since at craft fairs people ask whether I have some boy drawings. Which reminds me of a forum post I was reading about "Etsy Product Gaps" which mentions the lack of boys and men items. If you want some ideas or mention something of your own it's still quite active so check it out!

Lately I've been busy between making something for a friend and also crocheting away a blanket for my boyfriend. I just think of it as a really really big scarf. So far the length covers a king size bed and the width is 18 inches and building. I used about 6 skeins of yarn and i brought four more but I know I will need a lot more. My deadline is the third week of September... so a bit a day... a bit a day.

Which reminds me living in NYC the closest Micheal's is quite a bit away and the nearest A.C Moore is somewhere in Long Island or New Jersey... so I rely on this small place called P & S Fabrics Corp in Lower Manhattan. The place is fairly big and they have tons of yarn including the one color yarn that neither Micheal's or A.C Moore sold (to my dismay) and crochet/knitting supplies. They also have random notions... ribbons, thread, fabric chalk, buttons etc. I spent tons of time browsing though the patterns that include things from kid's costumes to everyday wear. I found a Pokemon pattern I want to try!
They also have a lot of fabric including some cheap scraps which are pretty big. There's also a downstairs for heavy fabrics and batting. One thing I did like about this place is that it's cheaper to buy using cash like 50 cents cheaper here and there but they add up. The things were slightly more organized then the other fabric places I've been to in NYC. The location and the sheer variety of stuff they have makes this place a go-to for me. Plus it's also close to Pearl Paint a huge store of art supplies etc.

I found out about another knit/crochet store close by in SoHo called Purlsoho that looks very very promising. I will have to stop by sometime today =D . As you can see I'm a pretty big fan of Yelp because it offers reviews and comments on tons of stores and places in the city. If you're ever in NYC and wonder about places Yelp is a great place to gauge where you want to go.

Until next time... get crafty!

Making a Vest

I've been writing on and off about my attendance to one of the biggest anime conventions Otakon this July 31 - August 2. I've planned to do two cosplays over the three days. So far I am done with Lei Fang (post of how that came along). The next one is Yomiko Readman from Read or Die (ROD) which is the above character. I love her because she's this introvert quirky bibliophile secret agent with the power of paper. My awesome friend introduced the OVA to me and suggested I cosplay her since I look similar to her down to the glasses >_> .

That was last year and this year I'm determined to finish this costume. Her outfit seems very everyday plain the fact that I'm so petite it makes it very hard to find clothes that doesn't look like a kid's. This is where I got to bust out the sewing machine and what not. I found an awesome and rather easy instructions for a Vest Tutorial on Threadbanger and it even comes with a Youtube video.

I used a T-shirt that fitted nicely on me and penciled a pattern using that on newspaper leaving about an inch for seam allowances. There was one back piece and one left/right piece which are exactly the same. I was happy to find the perfect shade of tan brown at an awesome fabric store P&S Fabrics on Broadway. They recently moved across the street but if you're in the area in NYC... they have a lot of fabric, buttons, yarn, thread, ribbons etc etc. One thing I love about the store is that they have knitted/crocheted swatches of the yarn they sell so you can feel and see if you like the results.

This is my family's sewing machine. It's one of the industrial version that either my mom or grandma got from a factory that was closing down. This baby is at least 20 years old and it still keeps on trucking! My mom and grandma takes very good care of it and knows the ins and outs. I'm still a novice but my mom was surprised on how quick I was picking this stuff up to the point in which she said I can easily surpass her skills. That I highly doubt because she makes all the samples that everyone else in the garment factory follows and the go-to girl for any questions. I realize I need a new pin cushion for the top so I think I'll browse around Etsy for a cute one.

After about two hours of sewing and mom teaching me how to sew buttonholes the vest comes to life. I love how it came out though it was a bit tighter then I wanted. Must do larger seam allowances. I washed it and waiting to iron it at my boyfriend's place. My mom was extremely proud =D

Here I am in my impromptu cosplay. My mom took the photo so it was kind of not good ... hehe... The shirt and dress are from my closet and the red tie was something a dear friend brought for me a while ago. The vest look pretty good. This week I'll be working on the coat which is a whole other headache...

I do hear and read a lot about family who don't support watching anime/cosplaying and the like. I'm very glad my family is not the same way. They're more amused and shrug it off as "kids will be kids" or it's a "generation thing". One great thing that came out is my mom and I bonding over making my costumes. She loves that I'm learning from her and though it's for costumes she's thrilled nonetheless.

Until next time... let loose the creativity ...

Weekend Wrap-Up

This weekend was a busy one! I was vending at the Hester Street Fair and it was very fun! I shared the space with two other NewNew Teammates... Corey from Sansmap that makes these awesome bags and Angela that has her own WEBSITE in the making and Etsy shop EnchantraGirl also in progress =D. She mixes and makes all these beautiful jewelry that has a fresh simple taste to it. I've already ordered a ring XD. Can't wait to see it!

Today was slow and probably because the weather had that "threatening it might rain" outlook but the day was actually very beautiful and warm. I was also the day with the World Cup game between England and the U.S.A if I'm not mistaken.

Despite that there was a fair amount to traffic coming in and there was 50/50 amount of vendors and food vendors. The food is awesome... I tried out the chocolate baguettes from the bread stand across from me and it was so so so good! Angela raved about the omelet station and the summer rolls. There was also the interesting spice vendors that had just bowls and bowls of different spices above. They also made blends of spices on request and I thought that was pretty darn nifty. Thankfully the wind was minor and the spices weren't sent to our tent as I'm very sensitive to strong smells.

Here are the new cards I made with the new stamps and stamp pads. If you want to know more about the process and reviews on the new ink I brought you can refer to this POST. My sister was surprised they were stamped on because they look printed to her. The ink dries so smoothly on the paper. I was surprised at what sold which was this octopus tea card I made a while ago.

These are my prints. I've yet to find a nice 5 x 7 photo holder that can hold my photos both vertically and horizontally so I left them in small piles. One thing I do love is the 5 x 7 three photo frame where I put my animal trio in. That was how I had meant for the trio to be displayed. It would look awesome in a nursery or child's room. I might be making some new animal prints like that very soon. I've also been asked to make custom orders of the simpler designs like the animals with people's names on it. I haven't thought of that but that's a great gift for people.

Sunday my friends and I had a crafting party of sorts where we made different pocket invitations for the wedding. We followed these simple instructions on Wedding Bee. I don't have any pictures which I regret but it was fairly easy. If you do like pocket invites you can adjust these to fit your style. Once thing is I do love the Martha Stewart Score Board which is awesome for scoring =D.

Until next time how was ya weekend?

Busy Busy Tuesday

I hope everyone has a great weekend! I spent mine with my bf where he grilled for the first time this summer and boy is he happy with his new grill. I stopped by Micheal's, A.C. Moore and JoAnne's and got the stamping ink and cleanser. After a lot of research and deliberation I've decided to get the Memento Dew Drops. They come in many vibrant colors and the small size and shapes makes it easy to get the ink on every detail. The colors dry rather quickly and I can draw without the color running off. The felt dewdrops come in sets of four in coordinating colors. They're about $10 but I used a 40% that knocked the price down to about $6 bucks and at $1.50 which is a dime

I also got the StazOn jet black because I use black the most and I've heard very good things about it. The color is very true black and the smell is pleasing for some reason, like candy. This also dries pretty darn fast. I also got the StazOn Cleanser and it works great! I really like how it cleans all the ink dried onto the crevices of the stamp. Though I have heard these are bad on acrylic stamps because it erodes them.

Here are some blank cards I made for the Hester Street Fair this Saturday June 12th

Here's some camera, cupcakes and bunny love.

Here's the penguin collection.

Here's some hearts and cupcakes. I really love the colors. They're very vibrant and the two cupcakes reminds me of cotton candy. Next time I'm going to buy the rest of the colors! I'm not sure whether to have them up in my store in packets or to even put them up in my store... any suggestions?

Until next time... how was ya weekend?

How to Make One Simple Good Cheesecake

It's my boyfriends birthday coming up and today he's coming to pick me up so we can celebrate his birthday early. I decided to surprise him with his favorite strawberry cheesecake. If anyone knows me I am a horrible cook so I had to find a simple recipe even I can't screw up. That's when I found this simple cheesecake recipe on EasyStrawyberryRecipes.com. There is under ten ingredients and I had half of them already in my fridge. I changed the recipe somewhat so here's the recipe

Ingredients:

Crust

2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
4 ounces butter or margarine, melted

Filling

1 cup granulated sugar (I put in half a cup)
3 pkgs. (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened (I put in 2 pkgs instead)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 8-ounce carton of sour cream

Instructions:

Combine graham cracker crumbs with 2 tablespoons of sugar and the melted butter or margarine. Press into the bottom of a springform pan. Set aside. Cream the softened cream cheese with the sugar and vanilla extract. Add the eggs one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition. Add the sour cream, which should be at room temperature. Pour into graham cracker crust. Bake for half an hour at 350 degrees F.

Turn off the oven, leaving the cheesecake inside for another half hour. Chill and refrigerate for at least 4-8 hours. Top with your favorite fruit topping, garnish with fresh strawberries or graham cracker crumbs.

Because of the time limit I brought one of those already made graham crusts but I will seriously make it next time as the store one got extremely crumbly on the edges =/ . It's pretty easy and the first photo is what came out of it. My whole family had a slice and they loved it though because of the heaviness of the cheesecake they took a small slice. I thought it was very good. It was not too sweet and not too sour and of the cheesecakes I tried from English restaurants it is considerably lighter but heavier then those of Asian variety. I forgot to buy garnish/fruit but by itself it's very good! I'd recommend you to try it out especially if it's something easy. I hope my bf will like it =D. Oh yeah another reason why I don't bake. My family does not use the oven except as a extra space to put in pots and pans. Everything pictured above I had to take out and then put it back in. That's why my sister and I rarely bake... sigh! I'll bake this cake for my friends and coworkers next week. Hope you have fun with this recipe!

Until next time... happy cooking! =)

Weekend Crafts and Tiny Towns

I hope everyone had a great weekend! I know I did... my next mystery post will be tomorrow since I want to share my ventures of my weekend. Though right now I've been up for the past 14 hours on 5 hours of sleep so it may sound kind of slurry I suppose. I spent it with my wonderful significant other down in South Jersey. I made sure I came on the same weekend as the Cape May Craft Fair in New Jersey. The area is really nice full of tiny shops and had this quaint feeling. It was almost like stepping into some fairytale of cottages and wonderful tall mansions there were actually bed and breakfast inns. Above is part of the main street and you can see it was a very nice day and there were many tourists that spend time in this quiet neck of the woods. This little place is only a block or two away from the wonderful beach that seems to have turned out to be a private beach as you need to pay for a pass to go on the beach. Kind of weird since I've never heard of a beach you need to pay to get in.
This clock looked pretty nifty out by what seems to be the town square. It really has this vintage look that I think adds a lot to the quaint atmosphere of the whole area in general. Oh by the way these pictures are taken by my significant other who has taken up a hobby of photography. He was just clicking away at random things that he found was interesting. This was towards one end of the craft fair and you can make out the tents of the craft fair and it's right by the edge of where the beach is. Though there was a lot of people there it was mostly browsing. I'm very shy to ask the sellers any questions but I've heard like everywhere else business this year was not so good. Regardless there was many amazing artists there and I must've walked up and down the some odd 40 - 50 crafters there 4x. I like to look at everything first then decide on what to buy. I did indeed brought some lovely items. Though I was scanning for some fellow etsy shops I didn't know quiet how to bring it up so I just mostly browsed.

My Mom always complain that I never get her anything... well I thought these little sachets would be perfect for her since she recently complained bout how she wanted something nice and floral to tuck into her closet and drawers. Though Little Pine Creek Potpourri based in Pennsylvania do not have a site yet their wonderful abundance of fragrance and beautifully stitched and lanced bags where a great draw for me. I especially love the unique blends of potpourri that combined scents of strawberries, roses and host of other wonderful fragrances.
The first time I saw these stark blue and silver chain mail earrings from DeepshadeCreations I had those "I gotta have them" gleam in my eyes. I passed by once but had to go back to get them. They were surprising light weight considering how heavy they look. My pictures don't do them justice, I wore them out the next day and they added a rock punkish sparkle to my outfit and I loved the way they felt and sometimes made a tingling noise as the wind swept past. These earrings are great to add that extra flare of attitude to any ensemble. They're going right up there with my all time favorite Toast bread earrings.

All in all great great weekend! Picked up some fantastic finds and enjoyed great weather and great scenery with a great boyfriend! Well now I am extremely tired so hopefully see ya guys soon.

Until next time... support the arts and crafts!

Books n Books

I just listed my first bookmark above. I had the idea for about a month now I did not get to really get into it until now. I like how it's small, simple and I love the little character Mark the Book on the dangle part. The whole thing is almost made entire from recycled materials. I work in the Student Labs and there are tons upon tons of paper wasted when people accidentally print the wrong things or it does not come out the way they want. So I decided to take some of those clean scrap paper and wrap them around some cardboard from boxes in my home to make bookmarks. I love how they came out! I'm still having my Spring Free Shipping Break until Monday. =DSo I'm a fan of the Twilight series and I noticed there was an explosion of supernatural especially vampire books and series out. My sister brought the boxed set of the Sookie Stackhouse collection by Charlaine Harris. I'm not an avid reader as I'm extremely picky and somehow the fact that it was made into a TV series deterred me but alas I decided to pick one up. Guess what it's actually pretty good. The text was easy enough to understand and the dry wry humor of the main character was a refreshing change. It does get a bit confusing but overall it's a pretty enjoyable read. Who knows what the next book I read may be?

Until next time... A book is the gateway to worlds you can only dream of and worlds you cannot imagine...

Float Away...

It's a pretty crappy rainy and grey day today. I'm glad I put up my newest print called Dandelion Float. You know those little fuzzy flowers that when you blow on them the seeds just float away? There's not too many around where I live in NYC. Actually not too much flora around here at all but the restaurant a block down has these beautiful cherry blossom trees that look gorgeous with pink flowers in the Spring. I look forward when they bloom because when the wind blows it looks like in those movies where the air is filled with light pink petals.
This is a picture of Washington D.C when the Cherry Blossom Trees are in full bloom. There's an annual festival and right now it's predicted that April would be the best day to see the blossoms. You can click on the picture and it will bring you to the official site of the cherry blossom festival. D.C is about 3 hours away from NYC so I've had the luxury to see this event and I tell you, words cannot describe it.
Anyways I just got back from my first meeting with the NewNewTeam at Etsy labs in Brooklyn. It's definitely hidden and if I hadn't bumped into some people going there I'd probably blow right past it. The people were cool and me being the extremely shy one mostly listened as plans were made to continue the Spring and Summer fleas and shows in NYC. Which reminds me about the Spring Handmade Cavalcade and the last one was a big success! I'm hoping to participate more in the team but between my school work and job and family and friends and boyfriend... I have to schedule things far in advance. I was lucky that I got to meet the team and go to the Etsy. Heck maybe I'll show up for those Monday night craft nights. If you see a tiny girl with big ol glasses or hear a high pitched kiddy voice that would be moi. As if!

Until next time... don't be afraid to go out of your comfort zone... =D

A Bit of My History

I make origami and I love so many parts of Asian culture and I thought I'd share a bit of my own Chinese heritage. My cousin who was visiting from college is one of the members of the Asian Society Club and they wanted to showcase Asian fashion unfortunately the students don't have any. Fortunately for him and his club one thing I love is ancient Asian clothes such as the ones above called qipao or cheongsam which are long elegant embroidered dresses from China. They are rather pricey in the U.S because they're imported. When my mom went back to China last year I jumped on the chance to ask her to pick me up a few and she did! Okay my pictures are kind of bad but my cousin took them. The first one is a light silk material with silk screened flowers and the fabric is unbelievably smooth and silky to the touch. The orange one is thicker with all these tiny embroidered details of flowers, branches and birds. The black one is also embroidered but this one was brought in New York. They're pretty snug and comfortable though becuase these are so form fitting a custom one would be awesome but very expensive.

Traditionally nowadays when someone gets married it's a fusion of Western and Eastern culture. The bride starts out in the traditional white wedding dress for the ceremony. For the dinner party a bride can change between 1 - 3 qipao outfits each one gorgeously embroidered and vibrant in color. One is usually red and gold to symbolize good luck and money. The next is one with a large phoenix since women are considered the "phoenix" and men are considered "dragon" the last one is usually some embroidered flowers like peonies and what not. I also see this type of dress style in modern fashion which I find very cool. Pearl River is a store that has a huge inventory on Chinese imports from clothes, ceramics, food etc. I hope you enjoyed this slice of my history. =D

Until next time... Your past is equally important as the present and the future.

Sweet N Cute Spring

Who else enjoyed the super Spring like weather this weekend? I certainly did. I spent it in South Jersey and Philadelphia with my significant other. It was a great relaxing weekend something I think everyone needed. With this new hop and skip in my step I have been working on a new collection for both my shops Meekiyua and Lipeony called the Sweet N Cute Spring Collection. It will be a mix of the quirky cuteness and fresh aroma of spring with a dash of sweetness in it. Very vague but working with bright colors and concepts which I think Spring is the best season to do so. The above are my new stickers I made with the Xyron 1.5" sticker maker. I love stickers as a child and when I saw this little contraption I had to have it. It's the size of my hand and very easy to use. The stickers I made actually stick! I'm not selling them just a fun way to tape close the bags for the Brooklyn Flea this weekend. =D

Until next time... Spring.. Spring is a wonderful thing!

Journey of a Charm

I don't know about you but I'm one of those people who have little charms on my cell phone, school bag, handbag, desk basically everywhere I can put one. I had this idea but it took a lot of work to make my idea work. This is the Journey of a Charm. Well As you may or may not know it just passed Chinese New Year and my mouth waters from thinking of all the goodies. Anyways I have a lot of Red Envelopes like the one above everywhere. The great thing is there is literally hundreds of different designs. I cut them into square keeping the design in the square and folded them into origami. Grant you the paper is actually quite thick and the size is small so they took a bit to fold correctly.
Next I had to find those little cell phone straps and you know those buggers are quite hard to find. I went to some stores in NYC but they were either super overpriced or non existent. I waited till I went down to my boyfriend's place and he lives just minutes from Micheal's, A.C. Moore and Joann's! I went to Micheal's where one of the kind employees pointed me to Walmart. Walmart didn't have it though I did spend some time looking at their very nice Arts and Crafts section. They had it at A.C. Moore god bless them though they were quite pricey at $5 for 6 but it was the only thing. I couldn't find the really small bells there so off I went to those tiny shops hidden in Lower Manhattan and brought 5 really small bells pictured above.
Around this time I decided to give Mod Podge a try. I heard rave reviews about all the things you can do with it. I wanted to seal my origami but couldn't deal with resin or plastic so this seemed like a good option. I got a small Sparkle version of Mod Podge. Once my origami was assembled I put on a coat of Acrylic Spray dried it over night and went to put on two coats of mod podge waiting till it's fully dry and one last coat of Acrylic spray. It took me a while to decide where to put the bell... above? Below? After everything this was what I had.I really like how she came out. She is just a bit bigger then my thumb and had a nice sparkle to it. The bell is on the bottom and made a pleasant jingling noise that wasn't too annoying. The origami is pretty stiff almost like slightly bendable plastic. If you haven't mod podge you should it's very simple to use as a glue and sealant. It also dries fairly fast of course this depends on how thick you put it on. They even have glow in the dark mod podge! That I got to try one day! =D I'll be putting that up in my shop tomorrow.

Oh by the way the little cork board I found those nifty things at Office Depot for $4. They are 1.5 inch by 10 inch cork board with double stick foam that you can stick anywhere and use thumbtacks to tack whatever you need. I found this to be sooo great because I could hang things to dry or just random notes on the top of my desk instead of leaving holes in the wood. My place is very small and this maximized my space a lot.
Until next time, pounce on every idea and make it real! =D

Mess... Destress

Is that like your room? Like what my chemistry teacher said everything in the word is always heading towards chaos. Well I'm a sporadic cleaner: my room gets messy and suddenly I go into a frenzy cleaning for hours then stop and my room goes back to being messy again. Now that I've started crafting a lot more I have stuff everywhere and my room is very very tiny. One day a stroke of genius hit me square between the eyes and I drew up the plans and my Dad helped me make this thing below:

No it's not one of those medieval torture devices though I suppose it can be used that way. It's my new rack for my origami. It can be used to hang so many different things and it took about half an hour to make. All you need is a good piece of wood, doesn't have to be super thick, maybe 1/4 of an inch thick and a whole bunch of straight thin nails. Now just space out where you want the nails to be and start hammering away. Also hit the nail so it bends up a bit so if you hang something it won't slide off. Either drill two holes on the top or have a looped screw to hang where ever you want. So I hung all my finished origami and it frees up tons of space on my desk for me to craft more and its great to organize your stuff. The beauty of this is that it lies fairly flat depending on how the thick the wood is and how far you hammer the nails in. The one above is hanging on the back of my door. Another great thing is that it's completely customizable. You can choose the size of the wood, the spaces between the nails. Heck you can make it like a long rectangle with thicker nails or wooden pegs to make a darn coat rack.I was looking though the web and found this nifty tutorial from about.com on how to make your own pretty boxes out of shoe boxes and whatnot. The instructions are very simple and you can easily transport your stuff from home to craft fairs or whatever and use it as a display because it's so darn pretty.I really love these foldable boxes from Ikea. I love the simple designs and the fact that they are mesh like and come in a variety of sizes. It's about 8 dollars for 3 boxes. I'm a very big fan of any storage boxes or bags that are foldable so it saves a lot of space when you don't need to use them right away. There are tons of such items on Etsy and on the web or your local store. You can always find them on sale ever so often, so check it out. I know the extra bed drawers underneath my bed are a life saver I put all my heavy sweaters and hoodies there. Whenever it gets chilly it's right there and ready to be taken out and worn.

Until next time... don't get stressed over that mess =D

Magnetic Personality?

Howdy from NYC! I was walking to my fridge to do my usual raiding when I saw all the little magnets my family has collected over the years. Most are the flat ones that double as business cards and what. I also have a magnetic board in my room that came with magnets that holds all my schedules and important notes. Well I made some magnets of my own which are the ones above! My Dizzy Busy Mom magnets, they have a good magnet on the back and sprayed with protective coating of acrylic. The biggest problem was finding good magnets. The ones I found were called "craft magnets" which are decent and I found them in Pearl Paint. Don't use the magnetic tape... I brought some and they don't work. I decided to do a bit of research on magnets for crafting. There are mainly three that I see... one is the craft magnets they're usually light and thin and only good for light items like paper and foam. They are the ones that usually come with self adhesive on the back (not guaranteed to work), next are ceramic magnets that are thicker and stronger versions of the craft magnets and those are the ones I use. They're also slightly heavier and you have to stick them on yourself with glue. I use Elmer's and it's held up fine on my board. The next are neodymium or (super) magnets, these are light, not that much more expensive then the other magnets requires you to stick them on and is very strong. The only ones I've used were ceramic and they hold a good 2-3 sheets of paper that's fine. I got my info from this Craft Store Online. By the way suppliers on etsy also sell these. Here are some of the great magnets I found on etsy. Above is from Mooremagnets. I see her a lot in forums and I love her magnets. She's specializes in magnetic boards that also include magnets in punchy colors and designs. What I like about the one above are that they are magnetic boxes that you can slip pencils/ pens and markers in them. Perfect to use on any magnetic board and you can always switch off the pen if you like or if it runs out of ink. Check it out!.


When I was browsing under magnets this little critter above just shot to me. It's this awesomely cute felted magnet! I love the texture, the simple designs and the colors! This is brought to you by the little new store MarcieMayFibers. I think they are just the cutest little things.
Okay I'm a little bias to origami paper and design so I really loved the ones from Gamiworks. These are chiyogami paper of tiny goldfish in clear tiles. It's like having a koi fish or goldfish pond on your fridge. What can be better then that? Plus it comes in that super convenient box!

Magnets are fun and can be dangerous if you don't use them correctly or swallow them. How can magnets be dangerous? Well for one eating one is highly NOT recommended. You laugh but there have been toy recalls because the magnets of toys came off so easily and kids ate them resulting in surgery. Here's a pretty darn important list for all you people with kiddies.

Toy safety tips for the holiday season:

For children under age eight, avoid toys that have sharp edges and points.

For children under age six, avoid sets with small magnets, which could cause serious injury or death if swallowed.

For children under age three, avoid toys with small parts, which could cause choking.

Helmets and safety gear should fit properly and be worn by children using riding toys, such as skateboards or in-line skates.

Improper use of projectile toys, such as rockets or darts, could result in serious eye injuries. The toys are for older children.

Keep toys appropriate for older children away from younger children.

Battery chargers and adapters can pose a burn hazard for children. Adults should supervise charging batteries and pay attention to warnings on the chargers.

Look to toy labels for age guidelines and safety recommendations.

Choose toys that suit the child's age, abilities and skills.

Select toys with a sturdy construction.

Discard all plastic wrap after gifts are opened.

Source: U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission

Anyhos this post became much longer then I expected. LOLOL..
This is Meek signing off!