Pens, Pens, and More Pens!!!

About two weeks ago, I was throwing around the idea of ordering some promotional pens for Twin Mommy Creations... some said no, some said yes... and ultimately, I said YES!!!

I know if I'm at an event and I see that someone has company pens... I will always pick one up... I am always getting pens (have been since I was a little kid, lol)... sometimes they are just random pens that I find, but when I'm using them, I always read the side to see which company is on it.

My plan is to add the to orders... who doesn't like getting something free??? I absolutely love getting samples, so with each order, I always send out a sample of some kind... I figure this is just an extra little perk... why not?

Twin Mommy Creations Pens

I decided to get them in three colors... I personally love the pink and teal the best... But they are all pretty cool... and I'm extremely happy that I made the decision to order them :)

Fiber In Booth - 2014

I have been meaning to get pictures posted of the Twin Mommy Creations booth from last weekend... but of course I keep forgetting, lol...

The booth was a team effort... I can not say how much I appreciate all the help from Mara, Brooke, and Laurie in getting it together and all their help throughout the weekend.

I got to see so many familiar faces... and tons of new ones... good times... tons of laughs... and cant wait til next year :)

And here are the pictures you have all been waiting for... well probably not... but whatever, lol :)

The over all

The corner

Needle/Shawl Pin Garden

The above pictures were all taken with the phone... I completely forgot that I had my camera with me, lol.

Needles-Shawl Pins-Lucets-Spindles

Part of the Batts

All the Bamboo Roving

Wool Roving

Qiviut - Spindle Kits - Camel 

Silk Noil - Lincoln Locks

Hand Spun - Felting Kits

Qiviut - Camel - Angelina - Cotton Yarn

Buttons - Stitch Markers - Tatted Accents - Hand Dyed Thread

Hand Dyed Yarns

Sorry for all the pictures... I went a little crazy.. but I love all the colors :)

2 Days... REALLY???

You guessed it... we only have two days until the Florida Fiber In... Can you believe it? Time has really flown by these past few weeks... 

Well, I took some advice and decided that I should sleep... so last night, I went to bed at 9:30pm... set the alarm clock to get up at 3:00am and start creating... yeah right... I rolled out of bed at 7:00am... semi freaking out that I had over slept and cut my creating time down... but at the same time, I feel soooo much better after sleeping :)

The boss lady (mom) has given me tomorrow off of work so that I have more time to finish getting stuff packaged and loaded... she drove the work van over to me this morning... so now I have the van to start filling also... I can not tell you how great it is to have a mom who supports me and goes out of her way to make sure that I can succeed... Love her :)

Last night was a bust... but this morning was actually pretty productive... and we finished the display just a little bit ago... Aaron held the board, I tied, and mom kept track of where the kids were at, while also helping to make sure my spacing was right, lol.

Here are some things that I have been working on along the way... but wasn't ready to share with anyone yet...

Shawl Pins - This one is my favorite!!!

And since I have been wanting to learn to tat... My friend, Barbara, asked me if there was a way to make tatting shuttles out of polymer clay... I figured there just had to be... and so they were born... and I learned how to shuttle tat in the process :)

One of the original ones

A few of the others

Tonight I am planning on finishing the last little bit of dyeing that I think needs to get done... and then packaging begins :)

3 Short Days Left!!!

We have now made it toward the end of the wait... with only 3 days left to create... my brain is going into overdrive... Luckily I have a friend who always seems to be able to put things into perspective... thank you Mara :)

Last night was definitely a long one... but I felt like I was pretty productive... guess I will find out on Friday morning when I am freaking out and feel like I have nothing done, lol.

Tonight should be even more productive... I am planning on getting everything labelled and loaded into totes so that I can just "throw" them into the van and go...

Here is just a taste of what happened in my house yesterday :)

Some buttons fresh out of the oven... 

Neons... Superwash Merino

Clay covered crochet hooks... 

I will continue to work until its time to hit the road... send me all the positive, productive vibes you can :)

4 Days... well pretty much 3 :)

Technically we only have 3 days left... but time got away from me today and I did not get a chance to post earlier... Its actually 1:36am here and I should probably be asleep... but whatever, lol.

This morning when we got to work, the boys and I set up the enclosures for the ball python and leopard geckos... and they absolutely love watching them... They got to feed the geckos some mealworms... and even went and picked flowers for them.

This is what they wanted to do all day... just sit and watch the animals... it was super cute :)

With the help of my mom and little brother, we are almost finished with an awesome display... it was just an idea in my head, and mom came up with a great idea... it was a hassle... but hopefully it will be done tomorrow and I can share the results.

We also managed to get the work van cleaned out and washed, so I will be able to start loading the van tomorrow night... 

Here is another idea that popped into my head... Luckily my step dad, Tim, is super helpful and doesn't mind when I spring things on him last minute (or if he does, he never lets me know it)... We went and bought a sheet of pine... and Tim got to work... I think the sanding was the hardest part, lol... that part was my job.

Lucets... 100% Pine... and 100% Created with Love :)

And Sunday I attended a Bobbin Lace meeting... but I really did not have time to work on my lace... and everyone completely understood my predicament... so I worked on creating some rolags...

These ones are a mix of Superwash BFL, Nylon, Angelina, and Dyed Ostrich Feathers... How cool is that???

I have not named them yet... but my friend, Cori, said that they should be called "Lemonade"

Tonight has been extremely busy... so I should have a fairly decent update for you tomorrow sometime :)

5 Days!!!

We are getting so unbelievably close to the Fiber In... and I really should have been "working" this weekend... but I definitely do not regret taking the boys to the reptile show... they had a blast... and so did mommy, lol.

Of course there was no way that we could have left empty handed... I didn't find anyone selling t-shirts, so I didn't get a shirt... but we did leave with two male leopard geckos and a baby ball python... they are going to be our work "pets".

After talking to mom about the whole thing, we both decided that it would be good for the boys to have something to take care of at work... and something that they will look forward to watching each day... so they will be set up tomorrow when I go into work :)

All of the animals we purchased were born at The Gourmet Rodent... I worked for them for two years when I was in college and loved the company... so how could I not support them :)

One of the Leopard Geckos... he is the sweetest thing ever

He has a birth defect... but what a freaking awesome defect... I got him because of his super cute curly tail :)

Dylan... proud gecko owner, lol.

Ethan just wanted the snake... but hes happy about his gecko too :)

They even got brave and walked over to an African Bullfrog... Ethan was entranced by it, lol

There was a little creating done this weekend... and I have been getting stuff packaged and ready to go... Here are some of the buttons that will be available next weekend :)

Square Floral Buttons

Chrysanthemum Buttons

I am really hoping that once Aaron goes back to work tomorrow, I will become more productive, lol.

ONE WEEK!!!

We have officially reached the one week mark until the Fiber In... In just 7 days, I will get to see some friends that I have not gotten to see in a while... some of them I only get to see once a year... but they are truly friends... and I am beyond excited to say that I met them at a fiber event :)

I really wish I would have gotten more finished last night... but fatigue really started to kick in... and there was no way that I was going to be able to stay up til 3am again... so midnight was the deadline, lol.

I told myself that 15 colors of Silk Noil were enough... but then I couldn't help it... so right now, it looks like closer to 20... and there may be more... just depends on how tonight goes... As for the Angelina, right now, I have 18 colors packaged and ready to go... with at least another 2 or 3 left to package...

All the Sparkles :)

Another Picture of all the colors :)

Fingers crossed that tonight I get something accomplished... or at least this weekend... I have promised the boys that we were going to a reptile show on Saturday after swimming lessons... and Sunday is my Bobbin Lace meeting... so it will be a very busy weekend :)

8 Days Remain...

We have a little over a week longer to wait... Can you even believe it... I have been having such a hard time sleeping, because I am so freaking excited about Fiber In :)

I took some advice from a friend and decided that I really needed to work on packaging, rather than trying to wait til the last minute and not getting any sleep... so I started that last night.

In between dyeing Silk Noil... I started weighing and packaging Angelina... Here is just a small taste of colors... I will have at least 20 colors available :)

1/2 ounce packages of Angelina

And so far, there will be at least 15 colors of Silk Noil - Available in 1 ounce packages :)

Silk Noil Drying

More Silk Noil

And some more, lol.

I am hoping to finish getting the Angelina packaged tonight... then moving onto exotic fibers :)

NINE Days...

We are now on the home stretch of counting down to the Fiber In... I can not even begin to tell you how excited, nervous, scared, and just overall frantic I am feeling inside... I talked to mom today, so everything is in place... Hotel was booked in April, displays are built, and now I have the work van to load all my "stuff" into... 

Mom has always been the voice of reason behind my "projects", but also the one that has pushed me and kept me following my dreams... no matter how many times those dreams have changed... I just hope and pray that I will be that same supportive and reasoning person behind them as they grow up...

Okay, I'm done with all the mushy stuff... for now anyways, lol.

Last night, I had high hopes for all the stuff that would get done last night... and some stuff did get done... but I made the mistake of watching "The Hobbit"... thought that it was boring, and then got soooo into the movie, that I could not focus on creating... I really want to watch the second one tonight, but I just don't know if its the smartest idea.

So... Here is what happened last night:

Tatted Art Yarn Accents - Beaded Drops

Silk Noil

Green Silk Noil... Fresh from the dye pot

Yellow Silk Noil... still in the dye pot

I am hoping that tonight will be packaging and inventory... but I'm not promising anything, lol :)

10 DAYS!!!

WOW, WOW, WOW... Really??? Only 10 Days until the 11th Annual Florida Fiber In??? You have got to be kidding me right...

I still have sooooo much left to do... Displays still need to be finished... dyeing still needs to happen... labeling.. pricing... plus all the other ideas floating around in my head... oh how time flies, lol.

I was sort of a slacker yesterday and didn't get a post done... but that doesn't mean I wasn't working... I finished up some bamboo and then started working on a few more sets of Tatted Art Yarn Accents.

For those who do not know what the heck I am talking about... Tatted Art Yarn Accents are just little tatted creations to spin into your yarn... they work the same way as spinning in locks... they have two tails, so you start with one and finish with the other... then when you are finished spinning, your yarn will have gorgeous little "accents" sticking out :)

A couple packages of Tatted Art Yarn Accents

And here is the drying rack with the new bamboo colors :)

This one is my new favorite... it reminds me of being a small child and believing in mermaids (still do a little, lol).

And some that are just waiting to be labelled

Looks like I am going to have to make a delivery for work tonight (forgot to do a part of my job)... so I may not be as productive as I would like... but guess we shall see what happens :)

Permanent Marker Dyeing... 12 Days Remain!!!

Well, I finally finished the permanent marker dyed bag from yesterday... From everything I have read, it says that the alcohol should dry in around 20 minutes... but it took almost 4 hours for mine to dry, lol.

I think a big part of it is that I did not have a spray bottle anywhere at home... so I decided to just squirt the alcohol onto the drawstring bag and hope for the best... 

Let me go ahead and warn you... gloves should probably be worn while working with the alcohol... as well as possibly covering the counter before starting.

It will dye your hands... and it takes a while to get it off, lol.

So, once you have your bag (shirt, shoes, etc.) colored... spray the alcohol onto the bag and watch the colors spread around... 

Side 1

Side 2

Make sure that where ever you are setting the bag up to dry, that you do not care if it gets ruined... lay it on cardboard, or newspaper, or an old cooler lid, lol.

After the 20 minutes (or 4 hours) for the alcohol to completely dry... you will want to toss the bag into the dryer on the highest setting for 15 minutes... this is going to "set" the dye... 

Once the dyes have set... from here on out, you will want to wash the bag on cold in the washer and then you can pop it in the dryer like before.

Side 1 - Washed and Dried

Side 2 - Washed and Dried

I have a feeling that the colors faded so much because I used so much alcohol... so I definitely think that investing in a spray bottle is a must... and you can get a cheap one from the Dollar Tree... 

Finished!!!

I actually like the result... I would have loved it to be a little darker... but also if I would have done the diagonal lines on both sides... but it was a test... and it worked :)