07 Tuesday Oct 2014
Posted in Holiday, Home Decor
28 Sunday Sep 2014
Posted in Christmas, Holiday, Home Decor, News
Tags
Hello All,
As some of you know I have added a few items to my Etsy shop. If you haven’t stop recently at www.etsy.com/shop/UniqueDesignbyMonica here is what you’re missing.
20 Saturday Sep 2014
Posted in News
Hello All,
Well I finally did it! I’m on Etsy…. again. After the debacle on Storenvy in 2013 I just thought it best to sell what I have on Etsy. I trust it and even though it has fees up the wazoo I can deal with them. Since Etsy does give me a lot of perks like support and helpful tutorials I do not hate that much.
So check me out at: https://www.etsy.com/shop/UniqueDesignbyMonica
15 Monday Sep 2014
Posted in Halloween, Holiday, Home Decor, Silhouette Cameo Info
Hey Subbies,
I have made two more 3D Popcorn Treat Boxes. A spooky ghost and a fall pumpkin, I think they both came out super cute.
13 Saturday Sep 2014
Tags
42nd Annual Castro Valley Fall Festival, Books, Charms & Jewelery, Drinks, Festival, food, Fun, Kids
Hello Subbies,
Well it’s late and my kids are finally asleep and I can blog about my day. Today and tomorrow is the 42nd Annual Castro Valley Fall Festival. It start at 10am and runs till 6pm. My family and I had a great time! I love our local business they are the best people you can ever meet, and just seeing them all on the strip made it all the more easily to see them all.
I saw some new faces and some and I missed a few. But the atmosphere was surreal; there were so many people that it blew my mind.
Let me just say the amazing smell of the vendors would make any tummy rumble.
The lines seem to go down the street for some food vendors and I can tell you why. If your vegan turn away this is not for you. But for all of you that love the smell of BBQ keep watching.
Oh yeah, mouth watering!!! You can smell this for blocks and this is why people were coming. But once you were there the rest is what made you stay. There was music from live bands which sadly I couldn’t get clear photos of. But you saw little kids and adults just rocking out right on the street.
But I did get some nice shots of the local vendors like “Auntie Nel’s Fine Foods” best baked goods and hot food this side of Castro Valley. If you go to her site get 20% off discount when you place your first order. www.auntienels.com
My favorite stop was the “FRESH KETTLE KORN” Oh those delicious kernels of caramel goodness has me coming around every Saturday at the Farmers Market. However, I didn’t need to go there today since they were at the festival.
And after my bag loads of popcorn I headed over to Mehendi Artist nothing better than some henna tattooing while you’re at a festival. I think that was Swati Shah giving a customer a lovely ink job. If you want to see their handy work, check them out at www.hennatraditions.com.
And Operation MOM were there, got to give it to the military family support group. These ladies really dedicated there time while I was there. If you want to know what they are all about take a look at their site www.operationmom.org.
After a few hours there we got a little thirsty so we got ourselves some drinks. Not bad beer or wine for 5 bucks and you get one of these lovely glasses.
Once we had our drinks we stop off at Kate Bartolomei place called USBORNE Books & More. She is a lovely woman that is an author and lover of the written word. My son kept snatching at her books trying to read them; we would have spent the rest of the day at her booth if it wasn’t for my 11 month old daughter grumpy mood. It was a bit warm and she was on her last leg. She wanted her naptime and she wanted it now. If you want to check her out, click www.usborneus.com.
I wish I had more photos, but it didn’t dawn on me to take them when we got there. There was a big kids section with bouncy house, climbing tents, space jumpers, and tons of kids with faces paintings. Oh I almost forgot “SEW IN LOVE” where there. My favorite shop in Castro Valley. They had the cuties Halloween clothing you can check them out at http://sewinlove3113.wix.com/sewinlove.
12 Friday Sep 2014
Posted in Halloween, Holiday, Home Decor, Silhouette Cameo Info
Hello Subbies, This template comes from Lynn White she posted this on Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/120752833732698760/. If you don’t like the look of this popcorn box there are hundreds of free templates online. Just go on to your favorite search engine and enter Free Popcorn Box. What you will need:
Check out my tutorial for tips and tricks to making this box
The following are photos of popcorn boxes I created using my silhouette.
02 Tuesday Sep 2014
Posted in Silhouette Cameo Info
Tags
Hello Subbies,
If you haven’t checked out my Facebook you’re missing out on Freebie Tuesday. Don’t fret here is a list of places you can pick up your freebies this week curtesy from your favorite crafters.
Miss Kate Cuttalbes: http://www.misskatecuttables.com/
Silhouette of America: http://www.silhouetteonlinestore.com/
Get your 48Hour Freebie – Steampunk Clock with Gears: http://www.scrapbooksvg.com/
Get your Deep Edge Card 10, 9, and Spooky Design Team Halloween Mask Card: http://www.birdscards.com/
SVGcuts has a nice Thank You for you at: http://svgcuts.com/blog/2014/08/27/free-svg-file-08-27-14-hand-drawn-thank-you-caption/
Get your Treasure Box Tuesday FREEBIE of the week from: http://www.treasureboxdesigns.com/category_78/WEEKLY-FREEBIE.htm
Still making teacher gifts for your little ones as they go back to school? Then check out Apple Cub at: http://kadoodlebugdesigns.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2&products_id=467
Take a look at the 2 Panel Banner from: https://designsoncloud9.com/weekly-free-file.html
Need a dragon? Then get it before it file off at : http://www.littlescrapsofheavendesigns.com/category_22/Weekly-Freebie.htm
Get your apple basket that you always wanted from: http://www.paperpiecingpals.com/category_46/FREEBIE.htm
Love that lunch box template? Love Disney? Then get both from: http://blog.diariodeumasilhouette.com.br/p/shapes-gratis.html (need your translator up) also don’t miss getting your free Rapunzel tower: http://blog.diariodeumasilhouette.com.br/2014/08/torre-rapunzel-shape-gratis.html
Lori Whitlock: http://www.loriwhitlock.com/blog/
Under a Cherry Tree has bonus Freebies for today only: http://underacherrytree.blogspot.com/
31 Sunday Aug 2014
Posted in Home Decor, News
Tags
Hello Subbies,
For those of you that have been following my blog here is an update what I have been up to. It has been quite a long time since I posted on YouTube. So it’s going to be a major treat to see all the ornaments that I have finally completed and still need to complete.
20 Wednesday Aug 2014
Posted in Holiday, Home Decor
Tags
Hello Subbies,
Well August is almost over and I have never encountered so many delays in such a short time. If you have been following my blog I challenge myself to complete 10 to 20 ornaments by the end of July. Sadly I failed my own challenge very badly, but I kept on going to see if maybe I could finish it two weeks in to August.
I was surprised that my little boy got sick with the flu since he didn’t show any signs until it was bad. A few days later my little baby girl was sick also. It wasn’t soon after until I fell into the same sickness. There went my two weeks. Then my husband went into surgery which had him laid out for another week.
The worst part of it all is I had my ornaments completed a week ago only to have my Triple Thick go belly up. I had bought an 8 FL of tub back in 2010 and I have to tell you it worked amazingly. I never had a problem, not even once. Well back in July of this year I bought myself a brand spanking new tub of Triple Thick from Hobby Lobby. I started glazing in the same way I did in 2010 not thinking I had any problems.
Until the glaze was fully cured, that’s when I noticed it . . . CRACKING!! Not just a little cracking but big lines, notable lines, the kind of lines that make earthquake damage look like a paper cut. I showed my husband perplex. What happed? What did do wrong? Did Hobby Lobby sell me a bum product?
My husband told me not to worry we will take it back and buy from Michael’s. I never took back the product telling my husband I could use it if I need a crackle effect later on. I had to Gesso every single ornament and re-paint. Finally done I re-applied the Triple Thick that I bought at Michael’s and at first I thought it worked, I gave it two full days and I saw it again. CRACKING….. What is going on! I check online and sure enough reports showed everywhere. That Triple Trick will in some cases crack your paint. Why was this happen now?
I have ornaments sitting on my shelf right now that I made in 2010 with no signs of cracks? So what happened between 2010 – 2014? Well whatever the case, I couldn’t use that glaze anymore and had to find new glaze. I have re-gesso and repainted all the bulbs again. And then when on the hunt for a glaze or gloss I could use. I spent hours looking at reviews and finally settled with Americana DuraClear Gloss Varnish. Its ok, it’s watery and it will take up to 3 to 4 coats to get the shine I’m looking for. I’m not 100% happy since with Triple Thick I just needed one coat and it looked professional. With this new stuff it’s taking forever to give me the shine I want but at least it’s not cracking.
21 Monday Jul 2014
Posted in Holiday, Home Decor, News
Tags
Hello Subbies,
Well, my challenge is not going so well. Thus far I have only been able to make eight types of ornaments. I have made two of each ornament but still only eight types.
Completed just needs paint:
Now in order to keep customer interested on my Etsy site you need quantity and verity. I wanted to say that “by the end of this month I have completed everything on my list” I really wanted to say that. But I don’t think I am going to make it. On my “TO DO” list I have twenty items and I have only completed eight what does that tell you? Now it’s not for a lack of want or time, actually what it boils down to was procrastination. Yup it got me; like a fish caught on a hook, it got me. There I was for a week playing video games. My kryptonite, my Achilles heel… and when I realize what I was doing, time had passed me by. I feel like a kid that just realized a test is coming up and is now cramming to get stuff done.
I don’t want to call it busted yet! I still have a week and four days and I can still pull it off, I think. But I may have to change my original list to some other things I can crank out more easily. Quality is key, you don’t want to produce junk otherwise your customers won’t be happy.
I wanted to make:
9. Chandelure – Pokémon
10. Inferno – Pokémon
11. Whimsicott – Pokémon
12. Minion 1 – Despicable Me
13. Minion 2 – Despicable Me
14. Sailor Moon
15. Pegasus
16. Griffin
17. Cerberus
18. Trupa Kupa Shell – Super Mario
19. Baby Rattle – 1st Christmas
20. Baby Legs – 1st Christmas
I am still may end up doing the baby rattle and baby legs ornament, that won’t take too much time to do. But the other eighteen… Oh boy!