The Pine Cone Project

Browsing through my "Favorite Sellers", I came across The "Pine Cone Project" at the Northernlodge store on Etsy. It seems that the store owner's 17 year old daughter has been out collecting pine cones in the mountains of Colorado to sell to crafters like me to pay for her school clothes for her Senior year of school. I found this all very refreshing. No spoiled little girl with her hand out here. Not only is she resourcefull, but she is very creative with this endeavor.

Here is a excerpt from the pine cone description:

"We live in the woods in Colorado-so we have an ABUNDANCE of pinecones. Our trees are just starting to drop their cones-so all of these will be FRESH-no overwintered, grayed out, or damaged cones. All of these are beautiful reddish tones, and have a great pine smell. The cones are a mixture of Ponderosa pine, Pinon pine and Douglas fir.

Each cone type is displayed in the pictures posted here.Pinon cones are 1" across x 1.5 inches tall, Ponderosa average 3.5 tall x 2.5 wide-but we can handpick larger ones if you like. Douglas fir cones are 1 inch wide X 2 inches long.They are PERFECT for crafts, potpourri, wreaths, fire starters, or display.

The ponderosa cones also make GREAT bird feeders-we will send you directions if you want to make these with your little ones. This is a kid-friendly project and the birds in your area will LOVE you."

She goes on to give a complete description of each kind of pine cone and all the wonderful qualities of each one.

If you could use some pine cones for your crafty projects, or to decorate your house or some other wonderful thing, this girl deserves your consideration.

I think the world is in good hands with young people like this coming along to take care of it.

northernlodge.etsy.com,

Wordless Wednesday

New -- New -- New -- Peppers2's Tea Totes

I have a neighbor and "knitting buddy" who is English. She sends away for this special tea which she loves, and likes to carry with her. Trouble is.. the tea gets fine and some comes out of the bag into her purse. So.... I made her a "Tea Tote".

It was so easy, and such fun, I decided to put some in my store. Then I discovered they are good for many things. Such as moist towelettes, artificial sweetener (hundred of us carry that) lip balm, "light days" pads......... the list goes on.

So, here are some in my store. They are made of cotton yarn, and I crocheted them in a tight pattern so they would be sturdy without being bulky. I may try to knit some at some time. My next one will be red.. for Christmas. Oh my, I can hardly believe I said that!!

Featuring Another Etsy Artisan

There are so many artists on Etsy that have oodles of talent, and huge amounts of "niceness".

The other day I was shopping for a pot to hold my new begonia plant, and came across Danceswithclay. Her work is stunning!! She loves making pottery, and is inspired by nature ... leaves, shells, butterflies, etc. This shows in the items that she makes. She also likes the patina of the weathered look, which makes her designs very rich looking.. I did fall in love with her pots.

However, she did not offer the little saucer that goes under the pot to catch the drips. I sent her a little conversation saying I wished she had the saucers. She answered me back saying why (weeping of the water through this type of pottery), and offered to make me a saucer at no charge. Now, Ladies and Gentlemen.........This is what Etsy Artists do. They have the most beautiful items in the world, and will go out of their way to make you happy - just like you were in their shop in person.

Well, by that time, I had already purchased another pot from another artist. But because Dancingwithclay was so thoughtful, and her work so delightful, I thought featuring her here would make up a little for the lost sale. (mine)

She also makes porcelain clay birds......just because she enjoys it, and loves doing it. They are absolutely beautiful and do make me smile when I see them.

Her items are reasonably priced, and I'm sure you will get the same personal treatment that I did when you visit her store.

http://danceswithclay.etsy.com/

Wordless Wednesday

Facebook Fan Page

I just created a Facebook Fan Page..... I'm still learning how to set it up and what to do with it.

I have no fans yet..........

Would you please click on the "Facebook" block to the left of this page and become a fan??

Please?

Someone is having a Birthday!!

My Great Grandson - Nick - is having his 3rd birthday tomorrow.

We are having a cookout, and of course, cake and ice cream. The whole family will be there, and I imagine he will be very excited. The last time I was there, we had strawberry shortcake. We he heard the word "cake".... he just automatically burst into song "Happy birthday to you". We had to explain that it was no one's birthday. He was quite confused. "Then... why cake?"

Tomorrow - we can all sing, and I'm sure he will join us.

I get him bonds for every occasion, but I also got him finger puppets. The 2 brightly colored ones I purchased from noelledoodle, and the little brown one from knitwitknits on Etsy. I know he will enjoy them for the quiet times just before bed when his mom reads to him.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NICK!!

FREE SHIPPING

If you have had yur eye on something in my store...... now may be the time to do a purchase.
From July 17 to the end of the day on July 19, I will be having FREE SHIPPING for anything and everything in my pepper2 store.

A sample of items is on the left. If you like what you see........ go to the store for more. I have 5 pages of lovely knit items for you to chose from.

Wordless Wednesday

New Ideas Take Shape

I met this marvelous Etsy designer of cross stitch charts, and asked her if she could do her designs in embroidery. This was about a week ago.

We have had such fun... e-mailing back and forth and sharing life and giggles, and coming up with digital stamps for her store.

Her designs are of Chinese characters, and she does have the translations for all of them. She sent me this design...........Translation: "Freedom".........., and I am embroidering it for myself. She had some issues with size and placement of the characters, but we have all that ironed out, and her digital stamps are going to be up in her store this coming weekend.

Her store is DPeaGreenDesigns, and currently contains many beautiful cross stitch designs. As soon as she gets her "digital stamps" up on her site, I will be purchasing the "peace" Chinese character to embroider for my store peppers2, and possibly to do a nice greeting or notecard with it.

Take a look at her store..... she has lovely things.

Wordless Wednesday ... on Thursday

Southwestern Rice & Bean Salad

First let me say that I absolutely hate kidney beans, and I would rather not eat any rice, thank you. Now that I have that out of the way... I have a really great recipe for summer. It goes together in an instant (well, almost), and most everyone loves it.

I first made this salad from a recipe I saw in the newspaper in California many years ago. It was perfect to take to the VFW for pot luck suppers, where the men just loved it. Then, I moved to New York, and lost the recipe. I started searching the internet in the year 2000, and finally found it this year. I am so happy to have this recipe again. I just hate living all summer with salads that contain mayonaise. Much as I like them, it is nice to get away from them from time to time, and in spite of the kidney beans and the rice, I love, love this salad.

To give credit...... The recipe is from Jeanne Chapel - Fatfree Digest - adapted from "Country" magazine.

2 C cold cooked long grain rice

1 16oz. can kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1 C Whole kernel corn

1/2 C Sliced green onions with tops

1/2 C Picante sauce

1/4 C Bottled fat free Italian dressing

1 ts Ground cumin

Combine all ingredients---- Cover and refrigerate 2 - 3 hours.

That's It!!!!!

So easy, and really quite good. I Would like to hear if anyone tries it.

A Little Pouch Purse

This is one of the funnest things I've done in a long time.

Actually, I purchased the little purse. I dont have the right facility to do any felting where I live, or I would probably be doing quite a bit of it.

So, I purchased the little purse, brought it home and needlefelted a little flower on it, then embroidered a small flower, and just a little tiny flower on the back. I had never done needle felting before, so this was a new adventure for me. I discovered that it is not as easy to get the shape you are looking for as it looks.

But, this is my first time, and I know what to look for next time, and will (hopefully) learn from my mistakes.

It was fun to do, so you can look forward to more of these in my second store.

Wordless Wednesday

Update Only

No picture today... I am working on something that is new to me, and I don't know how it will turn out. I am doing some needlefelting on a small purse. So far so good.
When the needlefelting is done, if it looks half way like something I will embroider a little bit on the purse also. Suffice it to say that I'm doing flowers.
Right now I think it looks like something I would purchase if I was in the market for such a thing. In other words.... it is pretty cute.