These Crazy Holidays!

Before the snow fell we were driving and realized how nice it was... we stopped in West Linn to take a picture of Buttons with a view of Mt. Hood behind him. This view overlooks the Willamette River and Oregon City. It was a very pretty day!

Santa's Little Helper now lives in Texas... hope it's not too warm for him! D's monkey: the Number 1 Monkey decided it WAS fun to make snow angels! This was just after our big snow fall... although we didn't get nearly what others got this year. It's still early, we've been known to have snow in March!

Holly was out supervising the activity. I think she decided all was well and sat to rest.

December has kept me busy with orders. Jimi is one of my favorite character monkeys next to Ozzy. Next to him is Edward from Twilight... Christmas presents for VERY special people! Next: SRV!

I'm alive once again on Etsy... check out the shop often for new items.

Snow Day

OUR HOUSE, 7:30AM

Buttons and the boys made it outside today to play in the snow that we did get... it's not much, and we're expecting more tomorrow.

I'm sad to announce my husband was in a minor fender-bender as a result of the conditions this morning. Everybody is okay, but it's an example of how very dangerous it is out there. (He did make it to work!)

STUNT MONKEY

Well, he's finally finished! The Stunt Monkey was requested as a Christmas present for one very special little girl.

Who's next??? (Jimi)

New Items in Shop!

I've been putting it off (shame on me) but finally got around to listing a few new items in my shop.

Just in time for last minute holiday gift items (and great stocking stuffer ideas, too) give it a look and see what you might need. Don't forget, all CEM's and Daily Buzz members receive FREE SHIPPING (use promo code: CEM/DAILYBUZZ and wait for a revised invoice before buying.)

AND... there is more to be listed! Keep an eye out, but don't wait too long to order to ensure delivery before Christmas!

Buttons' New Glasses

We went to the mall yesterday (...yes, we were part of shopping the day after Thanksgiving!) I was surprised to find it was busy as a typical busy weekend!

Rather than leaving Buttons in the car to be stolen, we took him shopping with us. He found a new pair of glasses! (He also received many compliments along the way...)

I Recommend...

I SPY!

If you have small children or know somebody who does, you've got to consider buying this toy for them!!!

Shop with ae baby on Etsy... she's a SUPER nice seller and I received my order very quickly. That being said, DON'T WAIT too much longer to order for Christmas... the holiday is sneaking up on us and you'll want to allow enough time for your order to arrive in the mail!

Check it out!!!

(I can't wait until Christmas morning to see the look on G's face when he opens this gift, it's the sort of thing he'll be very excited about!)

Let This be a Lesson!

BACK UP YOUR STUFF!

Something happened with our power, and while we were re-starting the computer and chose PC Recovery, it WIPED OUT everything we had!

No more Etsy files... no more Etsy photos... all of my documents and designs GONE. The most horrible part is losing pictures of the kids. Those can't be recovered from the internet or re-created.

We now have to re-install ALL of the software we had. Not such a big deal. I have to re-create all of the work I had for Etsy (I don't care, I did it before now this time I'll just do it BETTER!) The Kid Pics... it kills me a little!

So... BACK UP YOUR STUFF! Have a special little place for these so they don't get lost. These are memories you have with your family that you can't share with others unless you have them to share.

(G and D watching Spongebob Squarepants!)

On a positive note, I hope everyone has a GREAT WEEKEND! (It's raining here...)

It's Over

With my coffee and a chocolate chip banana muffin at my side...

The bazaar is over! At the same time I feel both a sense of relief and sadness. It was fun to plan and prepare, meet people, visit, SELL, make friends, share information... but it's over. And I'm WIPED OUT!

There were many vendors there with lots of great items to buy! I also met a few other Etsy sellers, someone who lives in the same town as me, and someone who's husband works for my former company.

The monkeys were well recieved by young and old alike. It was a little surprising when the little girls got excited about SOCK MONKEYS! But... there are three recent movies I can think of that they've been shown in. They are: Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium; Kit Kittredge an American Girl; and Horton Hears a Who (there is a little Who, who goes to bed with her 'Who' version of a sock monkey toy.) Our older visitors remember having their sock monkeys and mention that they're "still in a box somewhere..." (Get them out... set them free!)

So, for now, what is left over is back in my Etsy shop.

Happy Holidays!

ARE YOU LOCAL?

Just a reminder to everybody, I'll be attending a bazaar this weekend! Come see me at:

St. Patrick's Catholic Church

HOLIDAY BAZAAR

498 NE 9th Ave

Canby, OR 97013

Saturday, November 15th 9am-5pm

Sunday, November 16th 9am-5pm

Mention reading this blog and receive 20% OFF your entire purchase! Just say, "I'm local and I read your blog!"

*Note: also during this time my Etsy shop will be closed. I will re-open on Monday, November 17th

(Happy Birthday Josh and Jeromy!!!)

New and Improved!

Yesterday I wrote about Ducks and Beavers Snowman Ornaments. I was bothered with the way they turned out... I'm a bit of a perfectionist and they didn't seem quite right to me!

I went back at it, made them strictly out of polymer clay and transformed the old snowmen into snow-girls! I had a couple of ECRU-colored gloves in a box and transformed the fingers into hats, and had scraps of fabric which became their scarves.
























I don't necessarily think all WINTER things should be RED and GREEN... I like to make mine a little non-traditional. This is what I'm offering this year!

Ducks and Beavers

Along with my Red Hat Society Ladies of Snow ornaments, I made some Ducks and Beavers fans snowman ornaments... At first I was happy with the way they turned out, but as with most things, the more you look at it the more you realize it could use some improving.

Lucky for me I only made five.

They're fine, but they're not the best! My goal today: IMPROVEMENT! I LOVE my new snowman (and lady) ornaments! I'd like to think they're my favorite original idea so far...

Back to work...

Holiday Bazaar

So much work... so little time! In less than two weeks I'll be attending the St. Patrick's Holiday Bazaar in Canby, OR. Anybody who lives close is welcome to visit me:

St. Patrick's Catholic Church

498 NW 9th Ave

Canby, OR 97013
Saturday, November 15th 9am-5pm

Sunday, November 16th 9am-2pm

I will be bringing with me some SOCK MONKEYS; hand sculpted RED HAT SOCIETY ORNAMENTS; hand sculpted DUCKS and BEAVERS SNOWMAN ORNAMENTS; polymer clay FOOD JEWELRY (EARRINGS, NECKLACES, PINS); BUTTONS; GREETING CARDS....... Pretty much everything in my Etsy shop! Check it out for a "preview" www.hoffeeandanuffin.etsy.com

I'm looking forward to this event and hope to see you there!

Also... don't forget to check out my last post featuring other Cafemom Etsy Mom's shops! There are LOTS of great gift ideas for every member of your family!

A HANDMADE HALLOWEEN: The Evolution of Wall-e

At first G wanted to be a spider. Not just any spider... it had to be GREEN. Well, we didn't have anything around the house to make him a GREEN spider, with eight legs and only two eyes. He didn't want to compromise and be a black and green camo spider (which would have been just as cute in my opinion.) We went online for ideas and of course he then wanted to be Wall-e! Not too bad... we had boxes and paint and LOTS of imagination! That did it!

I surely wasn't going to let him off with not helping to make his costume. G needed to understand that these things don't come easy, and the end result is more rewarding when you have a hand in the project yourself. I'd say that both he and D enjoyed marking spots for holes, testing their positions, and finally PAINTING the box. Of course, as you can imagine with a two and four-year-old, paint didn't exactly stay where it was supposed to! While the paint is drying, we TAKE A BATH!

Daddy came home after work with magic cans of paint and while everybody slept, finished the Wall-e box! Mom still has to paint the eyes and somehow attach them to the hood of a sweatshirt.

The end result: We have one very happy four-year-old on our hands... he was even kind enough to share his costume with his brother! Tonight we go trick-or-treating!