Forbidden Fruit Curiosities

It's Holiday time!

2010-11-29T08:35:00.001-08:00

So we're right smack dab in the middle of the holiday season, which, naturally, is my busy time.

I've vended another craft show since my last update, the Knoxville Mommies Holly-Day Bazaar. It was small but fun! I was really tired, not sleeping the night before, but I was lucid enough, hahah.

I decided to give up NaNoWriMo this year. I just couldn't do it. Between family obligations, selling things on etsy, vending three shows? It was too overwhelming.

But etsy seems to be doing well for me this year, even more so than last. I've already sold more stockings this season so far than all of last season put together! I just hope it stays pretty consistent.

I'm off to SEWSEWSEW!

2010-11-10T19:17:00.000-08:00

Vending at the Knoxville Creative Hands Etsy Teams Fall/Holiday show went okay. I sold enough to break even, so that's always a plus!

I did have a great time meeting new crafters and artists. And I handed a lot of cards out, so maybe that will show on my etsy sales.

Speaking of etsy sales, it's picking up more and more all the time and I'm loving it. I've been keeping quite busy.

The next show that I'm vending is the 2nd annual Holly-Day Bazaar put on by the Knoxville Mommies (www.knoxvillemommies.com). I'm looking forward to it. I really wanted to vend their event last year, but things just got too hectic. I hope there's a great turnout!

I haven't even thought about what to craft up as Christmas gifts for this year, since I've been busy making things to sell. I need to get on that.

Today is day 10 of NaNoWriMo. I'm sitting at a horrible, PUNY word count of 6,948 words. As of tomorrow I should be at 18,337. Not doing so hot at NaNo this year. I'm not so far behind that I can't catch up though. I wish I could have some 5-7k days like I did last year, but as I said earlier I'm so busy! I mean, I tried to make writing a priority today, but wound up with a horrible headache. So, I only wrote 630 words today.

Sigh.

Well, I guess I can try to get back to it for a bit before bed!

I'm back!

2010-11-01T22:26:00.000-07:00

Well, well, well. I haven't kept up with this blog AT ALL.

I guess the holiday spirit is what makes me remember, lol.

I've been working on stockings, hope to have at least 50 new ones this year. Also, I'm in the process of figuring out what to craft up for Christmas gifts.

Annnnd today is day one of NaNoWriMo! I wound up with a little over 50k last November, barely making it, but I did it. I vow to do it again this year. I wrote 1,918 words today. Which is awesome, since I only have to fit in 1,667 a day.

Tomorrow I *hope* I can get that many words in ... my husband and I are going to see Danzig, so I won't have a lot of time. But a lot of fun will be had ;)

I made about 45 pairs of Christmas earrings, and around 20 or so Christmas necklaces today!

I've already done one craft show for the holiday season, the Unique Gift Expo. I did so/so at it, handed out a lot of cards. My etsy business is starting to pick up as well.

I'm doing another show November 12-13th, this time it will be an all etsy seller show. I'll post more details on that later though. There's another one coming up on the 20th that I'm pretty sure I'll be doing. :)

Now I'm off to think about my story a bit more, and maybe relax a bit!

It's a new year!

2010-01-09T18:11:00.000-08:00

Wow, so November 17th was my last post.

I had planned on posting all through December, with all of the Christmas crafting I was doing. It got so overwhelming that I was unable to do so.

I didn't even get around to everything I had planned on!

Argh.

Plus, I did really well on etsy over the holidays. Sold quite a few stockings! If only I sold as much stuff on there all year round as I do during Christmas, lol.

Well, it's a new year, time for new crafts!

I plan on crafting for myself more this year than I have in recent years. I've been so overwhelmed with crafting for other people and my crafty business that I've neglected doing things for myself a bit.

Costuming.

I have a few different costumes that I need to get going on. I think I'll type up a separate post for that.

Stuff around the house.

I want to make some tissue cozies, pillowcases, a bathroom set.

I've already started tackling my organization issue, which I'm really proud of!

Well, I hope to have sporadic updates here. I am doing another writing 50k words in one month session in February, but I'm not going to stress over it like I did in November.

I look forward to this year, and what it holds!

2009-11-17T22:57:00.000-08:00

I've been so horrible at posting to this blog!

NaNoWriMo has taken a huge chunk out of my month though. That, and I just had my Book Nerd Girls group cabin weekend, and all of the New Moon craziness this week/weekend!

I'm getting there on the NaNoWriMo novel though. I am very close to hitting 39,000 words. I should do that tonight. I'm hoping to hit 40k tomorrow, then 10k to go before finishing NaNoWriMo! Of course, the book won't be finished at 50k. But from there, I can relax a little. Then time for rewrites, and...whew. Don't need to dwell on that right now, lol.

I wanted to finish more than half of my Christmas crafting by the end of November, but so far I've only finished making a few pairs of baby shoes, a present for my hubster, a few patterns to make things for other people, and plotted some of my baking.

I still have so, oh-so-very much to do!

It's not that I haven't crafted though. I've done my crafting for things to sell, mostly etsy stuff though. I'll always put my orders first :)

I did get an order for a dozen "Gay Bar" soaps, and they were so fun to make! I don't get nearly as many soap orders as I once did, and I don't post as many on etsy. But when I do get them, I love, love, love making them. My whole house smells wonderful from them too! I'll have to post a picture of those soon.

Well, off to finish up my writing for the night, and possibly fit a little smidgen of crafting in too before bed! Goodnight!

2009-11-09T22:38:00.000-08:00

I haven't been able to post recently...

Writing has taken up pretty much all of my time! (I'm doing NaNoWriMo)

I'm now at 25,151 words on my novel though, which is a smidgen over 10,000 words ahead of where I'm supposed to be, so hopefully I can catch up on some craftin'!

I did force in some time to make new baby shoes though.

I still have so much crafting to do. (aside from etsy orders....I'm starting to have more and more Christmas etsy orders trickle in, yay!) Christmas, Christmas, Christmas! I may have bit off more than I can chew this year. We'll see!

2009-11-01T15:17:00.000-08:00

Halloween was fun, even if we didn't get any trick or treaters. I wouldn't let any children go inside an apartment building that you had to go inside a door, THEN knock on other doors. Plus with the outside, and most of the inside lights blown? No way.

It was my wedding anniversary, so the hubby and I just hung out, watched horror movies, and went out to dinner. Neither one of us were feeling the greatest, so we didn't go out really.

Earlier yesterday I attempted to get an H1N1 vaccination, but it wasn't meant to be! You can't get the nasal mist one if you have asthma. I was told I definitely needed to get one, since I'm prone to breathing troubles, but I'd have to get the injection.

I also went by Hobby Lobby and took advantage of their .77/yard tulle. I can't wait to make my twin nieces fairy tutus!

Here are some pics of the fabric I bought the other day for baby shoes:

Today is day one of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)! Writing 50,000 words in 30 days is going to be something else! That's 1,667 words a day, every single day. Today I've written 1,714 so far, definitely surpassing my goal. I'm going to try and write more here in a bit though. I really want to get ahead of myself, since I'm sure there will be days when there is no way I will be able to do any writing!

Plus, on top of doing NaNoWriMo, I'm trying to get the bulk of my Christmas crafting done!

We'll see how it goes, hahah!

2009-10-29T21:50:00.000-07:00

Halloween is almost here! My husband Doug and I were going to buy a couple of pumpkins to carve tonight, but decided last minute not to. We live in an apartment, and we'd only be able to display them on the back porch, and thought that would just be a waste! So, damn. I really wanted to make an Eric Northman pumpkin this year!

We decided to take the money we would have spent on pumpkins and the carving utensils to throw into our "day after Halloween" fund. (We sometimes just refer to it, appropriately, as the Day of the Dead, lol) One of my favorite shopping days of the year! All of the awesome Halloween stuff gets clearanced, and after all of the Halloween window shopping that I do? I finally get to go crazy, lol.

I didn't really do any crafting today. I did visit Joann's though. Got some Heat N Bond, and a bit of fabric. All of their Halloween stuff is already 60% off, and it was all picked through. :(

I plan on making a lot more baby shoes! I have a couple other patterns to try out for those sometime.

I may not get to do all of the crafting for Christmas that I had originally planned for November. I've decided to do NaNoWriMo this year! That's going to busy up December bigtime. I have a journal half full of the things I had originally planned to make, but I may not get around to everything this year :(

Ah, well. It will be worth it!

Crafty goodness for the day!

2009-10-28T10:55:00.001-07:00

I've been trying to finish up a lot of projects today! I completed some more stockings. I still have quite a few to sew cuffs and hanging loops onto though. But 7 more are now 100% done!

I also finished up one of the million (it seems!) projects I'm doing for my hubby for Christmas. Can't post a pic of that....he may check this blog, lol.

I also whipped up a little cupcake plushie, using a freebie pattern from Fantastic Toys. (Please excuse how he looks right now...his glue is still drying, and I haven't really dressed him up yet!) I'm thinking of making some more for my nieces and nephews. By then I will have SEVEN! Three nieces and four nephews! Of course, I don't think some of them would be old enough to play with them. Maybe some of my sister-in-laws would dig them though!

I also tried out another freebie pattern I'd found on the net. Baby Kimono shoes! So darling. This is my test pair though. The first one wasn't so good, the second one 100% better. 3 of my nieces and nephews are one year or younger, so this is going to work well for them :)

I'm already tired, but I need to finish up the rest of my stockings, AND try to organize my craft area a bit more. Think I'll resume my horror movie watching while I do it!

New business cards!

2009-10-28T03:49:00.000-07:00

Decided I'd try out adding pics to a post, to see what it would look like :)

I did receive some new business cards in the mail that I'd ordered. They are really adorable!

Well, nifty. You get to choose where on the post your picture will be, and choose a size. Hmmm. Starting to like Blogger!

2009-10-28T02:54:00.000-07:00

I've blogged on and off for years, but have never set up a blog strictly for crafty stuff.

I'm sure my non-crafty friends will appreciate me setting a a blog elsewhere for this!

My name is Jamie, and I've been crafting for as long as I can remember. I honestly think it's in my blood...it was handed down genetically from my grandmother, to my mother, and to me, lol. My grandmother was, and will forever be a huge inspiration in my crafts.

I started selling my crafty wares around 10 years or so ago online, and in night clubs. Oh, the joys of old-school eBay!

I now primarily sell my things on etsy. (www.forbiddenfruit.etsy.com) I still occasionally sell my stuff at a local night club. (www.myspace.com/templenight)

Thanks for taking the time to visit my blog....now I better get to craftin'!