Happy Valentine's Day!

Hope everyone is having a lovely day!
I have been spoiling my daughter pretty good today.  I went and had lunch with her.  She was so excited when I brought her heart shaped pancakes, eggs and apples.  She told me this morning she is going to give me a back massage when she gets home...after we do crafts of course!  I love how thoughtful and sweet she is.  She's my perfect little valentine!
I hope you have a great day with your perfect little valentine's too!  These are pictures of some of my needle felted creations wishing you a happy day!  Feel free to click and save either of these photos and send one to someone special! 
Enjoy! :)

Buried Under the Rubble

What happened...I blacked out!  Who abandons their blog for over 6 months?  Apparently I do!  I wish I had some fabulous excuse for my absence, however none of them are good enough.
It all started when we had to make the choice to tear our building down.  I was pretty busy emptying it out for quite some time.  It was not an easy decision to demo it, but the cost of fixing the damage was more than tearing it down.  It was a really difficult to watch something so old and beautiful be destroyed, but we were out of options.  The building was built in the late 1800's and went down with quite a bang.  For weeks we filled a semi trailer full of all the contents in the building that my dad had collected over the last 25 years.  My sister and I thought the semi trailer parked in front of the building was the one containing all of his things, so when the whole front of the building fell down unexpectedly crushing and flipping the trailer, you can imagine our surprise (which explains my sister's swearing in the video).  Luckily no one was hurt, but here is a video of the building falling down not as we planned.



I guess when the building fell, my blog got buried with it.  I got so wrapped up in it, that everything else kinda took the back burner and I just never found my way back.  I have really missed blogging though and hope to get back to posting on a more regular basis again.  I have done quite a bit of crafting over the months and have plenty of projects to share.
So once again, I apologize for the abandonment and hope to bring you some more fun projects and patterns here soon! :)

I Finally Built a Light Box!

I have been procrastinating building a macro light box for sometime now. Thanks to Thea at That Yarn Store, I have been given a little push to finally get it done today.  She has been posting lately on her adventures in becoming a better photographer. Check it out for some laymen's, non overwhelming and helpful ways to start being a better photographer.
When crafters start selling online at Etsy, photography becomes kind of a necessity.  Did I mention I suck at this!  I know that my cardboard light box won't transform my abilities, but it does make a statement that says-"Hey I'm trying!"
There are a lot of tutorials on how to build one of these.  Just Google how to make a macro light box.  Amazon also sells a couple for pretty cheap too, like this one.  Just read the reviews before buying (helpful advice in those).








I want to stop having Etsy photo envy and start taking some better shots of my own.  It can't hurt to try! I still need to get a better light source, but Gus my needle felted mouse gave me an A+ and an apple for my efforts! =)

Did Whim Wham fall off the face of the earth?

No.  I am still here, but my apologies on the lack of posts.  I went on a vacation, and found out there was no internet where I was staying.  (Not so relaxing for me, but probably a break I needed to take.  I just would have prepared better had I known.)  Anyway, lots of fun stuff going on here!
I had a nice vacation.  I still did manage to work a little though.  I got an Etsy order while I was vacationing and  happened to be where the customer lived, so she asked to meet me.  It was really nice to meet a buyer in person.  It was an unexpected and very cool part of my trip.  It's so nice to put a face with a name! =)
I also hit some garage sale's.  Only I would garage sale on vacation!  They were having a neighborhood garage sale where we were staying at my friends house, so I couldn't resist.
My daughter got a pet parrot for $10, that she absolutely loves.  She really lucked out because he costs $350 in the store and Mom would have never spent that much on a toy.  I guess since real parrots cost so much, people pay this????  Anyway, he is pretty cool and almost as annoying as the real thing!

I also lucked out an found a cool vintage sheet and some nice eyelet pillowcases.  Gotta love the vintage fabric finds at garage sales! =)

We also went to a baseball game, a drive in movie, went bowling and made some huge sidewalk chalk drawings.
Overall, we had a really nice time.  Now back to reality and all that I have been neglecting!

When it Rains it Pours!

"When it rains it pours!" my grandma would always say to me when things weren't going her way.  However, sometimes when it rains and pours, it can be the very cause of nothing going your way!
First I want to apologize for the lack of posts lately and offer an explanation for my absence.  My father owns a historical building that did not weather the recent storms.  A severe wind storm peeled back pieces of the roofing and left a historically huge disaster behind.  We were not aware of the damage until after it rained for days, filling the building up like a bucket.  When I first discovered what had happened, I wanted to cry.  Pieces from the 18 ft ceiling had fallen down, and the beautiful hard wood maple floors buckled up about 1 ft off the ground.  The whole building was basically ruined!
My father is out of town on business.  So for the last 2 weeks, I have been dealing with this disaster and a renovation team that is trying to determine if the building is even going to be salvageable.  It has been heart breaking to watch them tear everything out of there and toss it into dumpsters....100 year old doors, the entire original maple floor, all of the contents that we had in there.  The news just keeps getting worse and it looks like our historical building will soon be history.  I can't even image them knocking it down.  It is the 2nd oldest building in our town, and it has been there forever.  I have spent so much of my life in that building. I grew up dancing in there (yes I used to be a dancer haha!). I opened my first business up with my best friend there too.  Lots of good memories!

Anyway, sorry for rambling on.
I have still managed to get some crafting done in between the chaos.  I cut out about 350 wool felt covers for the needle felted hair clips I make on Etsy.  (It was actually kind of therapeutic.  Crafting often can be good therapy!)  I also did some needle felting...nothing helps you distress like stabbing something with a needle a couple thousand times!

I had a baby shower to go to for my cousin this weekend too, so I made her baby girl a matching gift set.  I appliquéd and sewed a onesie dress, two burp clothes, a pacifier clip, and a reversible bonnet.  I made everything the morning of the baby shower and still managed to arrive looking like I've slept and showered recently! =)








So, that's what's been going on with me for the last couple of weeks.  Hopefully, I will have so more free time soon, to put a decent tutorial on here, and catch up on my 870 items I haven't read yet in Google reader!  Wish me luck!

Soccer Mom of The Bearded Child!

I just had to share this.  My little girl has always been kinda full of weird behavioral surprises, but this one takes the cake!  A friend of my Dads likes to give Cora quarters for the vending machine at a restaurant we go to for lunch, and what does my daughter buy with them?...A moustache collection!   The bad part is she insists on wearing them to soccer practice and games.  I told her I thought it would be best to leave them at home, but she was really set on wearing them to soccer.  I figured the other kids would laugh at her and cure this bizarre phase, but my plan backfired.  They all thought she looked cool.  So it looks like I'm the soccer mom of the bearded child! Awesome!

Let Your Little Girl Be Alice in Wonderland for a Day!

My daughter loves Alice in Wonderland!  She has watched the cartoon so many times and is now obsessed with the made for TV movie of it from the 80's.  The littlest things that have to do with the movie make her so happy.  She found a pocket watch of her papa's and suddenly turned into the white rabbit looking for her gloves and fan.  She seemed to love pretend playing Alice so much, that I thought I would help out her imagination!
I bought a frilly dress at the thrift store for $5 and let her wear it out for a nature walk.  We also had to keep her hair down (which for Cora could be a knotted disaster, but it actually combed through relativity well later on).  So dressed and ready to go, off we went for a nature walk looking for rabbit holes!
 I walked along with her pretend playing that we saw the rabbit and the Cheshire cat.  We kept growing, shrinking, and crawling along.  We barley escaped when we had to run away from the Red Queen!
It was a fun time to spend together, making me reconnect with my own childhood.
Nothing beats a walk through the woods and a little imagination! =)

Whim Wham, We Have a Problem!

Sorry I have not wrote a post for awhile.  My hard-drive failed, so I have been out of commission.  It was a new hard-drive too, so it's failure came as kind of a surprise.  Luckily I did not lose a lot of information, and I have finally got a temporary setup going until my new replacement arrives.
A lot has happened here in the last 12 days.  My birthday was on the 12th, and  my daughter took me out to Chuck e Cheese to celebrate!  Wasn't that nice of her?
I also got a pretty cool present.  My long time friend from Korea came to visit me.  He also was kind enough to bring me 5 Japanese craft books too!  One of them is pretty cool.  It is a book of up-cycling and reusing clothing to make kids clothes. I will try to get some pictures of it on here later.
I went to Mitsuwa in Arlington Heights too and got a couple more Japanese craft books yesterday.  I tried to get something a little different this time, instead of the usual sewing patterns.  I chose a paper cutting book and another book that shows how to make fabric containers. (It is in French and Japanese...yeah, two languages I don't understand!)  I can't wait to make something from them!
These technical difficulties are cutting into my precious craft time.  I can't wait until I get it all resolved!
It has been a week of a lot of deep breaths!
I will do my best to catch up on some posts over the weekend! =)

April Fools Day Everybody!

Did anyone get a nasty prank pulled on them today? It was surprisingly quiet around here today. That almost seems like an April fools in itself.
I haven't had anyone prank or trick me for years. When I was growing up, my mom would pretty much do the same evil thing every year,(Don't try to deny it either Mom!)and like an idiot, I fell for it more than once! She would tell us it was a snow day, and we be like"woo hoo! no school!". Then she would say "April fools!"
That's just sooo wrong!

Anyway, join me for a group therapy session and post a comment of any April fool's jokes that have ever been played on you!

Spinning Wool at the Brookfield Zoo!

My sister and I took the kids to Brookfield Zoo today.  It was a beautiful day for it too!  The kids were having so much fun going from habitat to habitat, and luckily the animals were agreeable to be seen.  Brookfield also has a small petting zoo within it, so of course they wanted to check it out.
Zoo's are really not my cup of tea.  I do love and enjoy looking at all of the animals.  I just feel a little sad about animals being sort of trapped away from their homes, so I normally don't get overly excited about being there.  Today however was different.  As we walked through the petting zoo, I smiled as the kids pet the goats.  I laughed at how cute and huge the pig was, and looked thankfully upon the sheep....but then everything around me faded and became silent as I was drawn like a magnet to the women with the spinning wheel.  What was this?  This has to be the best trip to the zoo ever!  My sister took the kids by the hands, remarking she knows that she has lost me for a while, and told me to meet up with her when my eyes are unglazed.

So I had a lovely chat with a women named June, whom has been knitting most of her life.  She was spinning on a portable Ashford Joy spinning wheel, which I watched her pack up in about 1 minutes time.  It was a real treat today, and totally unexpected to run into someone making yarn at the zoo.  June has a lot of experience through her years of carding,spinning and knitting wool.  She happily answered questions as kids crowed all around her (me being the biggest one!☺).  She also gave me some information about an inexpensive spinning wheel that she has come across.  The spinning wheel is made out of PVC.  She said it is not the prettiest wheel on the block, but that it spins like a dream.  The good news is, it is very inexpensive.  I went to the website of Babe's Fiber Garden, and sure enough you can get a spinning wheel for under $200.  So if function over fancy works for you, you can own your own wheel in no time!  I may have to give it a whorl..get it!

Anyway, thanks for chatting with me today June.  I truly enjoyed meeting you.  Keep teaching those kids to love wool!  You just may have inspired someone to spin today! =)

Mommy's Little Helper ♥

I finally listed some needle felted hair clips in my Etsy Shop.  It took me long enough...only about 2 years of procrastinating.
I make hair clips that are covered in wool felt, and sew a little needle felted object on them.  I needed to take some photos for the listing, so I asked Cora for some help.  When I asked her, she said "Sure Mommy.  I'll help you.".  It was bedtime when I asked her...I meant we'd take the pictures in the morning.  So, I went to go brush my teeth, and when I came back into the bedroom, this is what I saw.

She said "I'm ready Mommy!".  I said "Oh my.  That's not quite what I had in mind, but yet a very effective way to display all of your clips at once!".
I love my little helper!

(I did also want to note.  These are my daughters hair clips, not the ones I am selling.  I don't want people to think we put them in our hair before I sell them!☺)

Watch Out! Contents Could Explode!

I thought this was kind of funny, and wanted to share it.  I usually don't buy soda, but since Cora was sick, I got some Sprite for her upset tummy.  When I gave her the first bottle yesterday, she kind of shook it and  I told her "No honey, you can't shake soda or it will explode all over the place when you open it."
So, today she comes walking in my room, which is just across the hall, carrying a bottle of Sprite.  She was walking super slow, holding it out in front of her, so I asked "Cora. What in the heck are you doing?".  She said  "I don't want it to explode Mom!".  I had forgotten that I told her that yesterday, so now she thinks that soda is very unstable. 
If only she would be this careful with all of her drinks!

Nothing kills a happy mood like vomit!

Shortly after my last post, I snuggled into bed with Cora and browsed through Articulate Matter's Flickr Photo's.  (which are so funny to look at!)  They are squid, jellyfish, and octopus set into scenes of everyday life.  Some have so much detail.  Very talented and creative photos. 
Anyway, it was a perfect night.  Cora and I fell asleep hugging each other, sleeping peacefully, until..."Mom.  I think I'm going to be...." followed by which seemed like, never ending vomiting.  The sweet embrace no longer had the same appeal.  She managed to get it on just about everything in the entire bed.
So after our second shower (we had just taken one before bed), and a ton of laundry, followed by more vomiting...I am finally sitting down next to her in a moment of silence.  Well, almost silent.  We are watching Flushed Away.  She looks like she might fall asleep again soon.
How did this night take such a turn?  I suppose too much perfection can make you sick.  I hate to admit it, but I am feeling a little queasy now too.  Maybe it's just from cleaning up her mess.  Please let that be the case.  I have too much to do.  I don't have time to be sick right now, but I do have time for my little funny tummy girl.  I'll take those hugs...vomit and all !

Hope you all had a better night than mine. =)

A Day of Fun With My Girl!

I went and got my DBA today.  I am officially Whim Wham now!

My daughter Cora went with me and was amazed at how big the building (court house) was.  This building is like the size of a Barnes and Nobel in the city.  I didn't realize until then how sheltered she is becoming living in the country.  Time to take a trip to Chicago and show her some real big buildings.

Anyway, we wanted to celebrate the new business, so I let Cora pick somewhere to go out to eat tonight. She picked her favorite restaurant of course, China Buffet.  She was so cute tonight, eating with her chopsticks and congratulating me a hundred times. She even did a cheers with her glass to mine.  I had a great time hanging out with her.  She seemed so grown up to me today.

After we ate, I had to stop at the store to get some shipping supplies.  Cora had money from Grandma burning a hole in her pocket, so she bought a bucket of glow in the dark plastic perler beads (those things you arrange into patterns on pegs, and melt together with an iron).  These plastic beads rank right up there on my list of favorite crafts, as plastic canvas does, but she couldn't wait to use them (I love that she wants to spend her money on crafting supplies :).  So, we got home, tore into that bucket and made melted bead art literally all night.  Her room is just glowing!  Couldn't have asked for a better day!

Uncle Sam called, and he wants his cut!

Well, I made a little more progress today.  I had no idea this hobby/adventure was going to turn into such a task.  I found out today that Etsy store owners have to get a DBA (unless doing business just as your own name I suppose).  I also have to file for a state tax certificate.  So, that should be fun times. The list just keeps growing.  Every time I think I am getting a little bit closer to opening my shop, it falls a little further away...but that's ok...I can run in place all day!

I can't wait to just hang out with my little peanut this weekend.  She doesn't have school tomorrow because of PT conferences.  I see a weekend full of parties (everything is a party to her lately), and making snow angels (before all of the snow melts).  Hopefully she'll help me get together something fun for this blog too, instead of my whining and complaining posts! :) 

Making the plunge and wishing I had floaties!

I have been sitting back and silently reading craft blogs, thinking to myself... "I would like to have a craft blog too someday.  That would be fun!".  Well, the time has come and I am diving in, but I am starting to feel like I can barley keep my head above water.  I am trying to get everything set up all at the same time, and am feeling slightly overwhelmed. I have started this blog, an Etsy store, a Flickr, you tube, Twitter (still not even sure what that is??), and all of the web analytics stuff (also very confusing).  I cannot wait until all of this becomes second nature, but until then, please bear with me. 

I will learn this...probably while publicly embarrassing myself on occasion, but by golly, I am not giving up after all of the work thus far.  I now have a much greater appreciation to all of the craft bloggers and etsy store owners out there.  Thanks for all of your time and effort! :)