Etsy Problems!!

Hi all, I wanted to let you know of a problem I am having with etsy- just incase you might be having the same problem and not even know it.  I have had a dramatic sales drop.  The only sales I am getting right now are from returning customers. I have also notices a drop in views too.  This was quite noticible for me, and because I depend on my sales for bills and groceries I needed to find out the problem.  I went to the forums and tried to figure out what the problem was.  I found it in the "BUGS" section.  I put myself on Vacation in March and then again in April which is where the bug came in.  When I reactivated my shop my items were no longer included in google product searches which is HUGE!!  Unfortunately I am waiting on the etsy admin to fix this problem.  If you too have had this problem -go to the forums and give them your shop name so the engineers can look at it and fix it.  Of course don't hold your breath to have this taken care of anytime soon.

Around My Mama's House

Here is my final post on my Texas Trip.  I love so much about my parent's home.  It is not where I grew up but is quite homey.  This house is actually the parsonage (Dad is a preacher).  These are just a few highlights of their home-there is so much to see so I will take more pictures next time.

This is one of those corner plant stands, that my mom put in the bathroom and made a flower arrangement for the top shelf.  It gives height to make more of a statement and helps clear clutter off the counter.

What to do with those windows up there? Well my mom's solution is add some color and it looks beautiful from the outside especially at night. 

I think this lamp is just perfect in my Nanny's room (my grandmother lives here too- and has a wonderful room)  This lamp is beautiful in person the detail is very unique. It is white with yellow.  The shade has painted with muted yellow stripes with flowers to embellish the shade.

Mom had a candlestick that was quite sturdy so she used the 5 minute epoxy to adhere the large mosaic glass vase.  She then added twinkle lights inside to give it a nice glow.

Here is another project using the 5 minute epoxy.  Mom found 3 candle sticks of different heights.  She then used the epoxy to glue glass platters on top. This is perfect for banquets and special events at the church to serve food with style.

To Do Tuesday

Mothers day is just about her and I seriously need to get some gifts made.  For this weeks To-Do Tuesday, I chose to pick mother's day gift crafts.  So if you haven't gotten yours done either here are some ideas. Be sure to check out the details of each of these crafts by going to thier sites.
 1.  Melissa over at Those Northern Skies crafted this beautiful heirloom

2. Go to On My Side of the Room to see this awesome mother's day gift.

3. Then check out this Tea Towel Cake over at Aly&Ash

4. Stories By Me has a tutorial for this bracelet that would also be a wonderful gift.

5.  For the gardening mother go to The Flowering Dogwood for these garden spoon markers

Embellished Mistakes

Here is a bonus post for ya!
While I was home visiting the folks, my mom wanted to work on a t shirt she could wear during vacation bible school.  The theme this year is about cowboys or something like that.  Anyways we were going to do a bleach stencil shirt that said Rhinestone Cowgirl  and of course add tones of rhinestones. For that tutorial you can go here.  So I got the shirt ready, but I totally saturated the shirt and the bleach soaked through the letters so I ended up with this.

Not quite my desired outcome.  So my challenge was to save this shirt.  I decided to do the freezer paper stencil technique.  I used my cricut to cut out Rhinestone Cowgirl.  Then I just pressed it on the shirt wax side down.

I cut a few more pieces of the freezer paper and pressed on the shirt to protect it from excess paint.  I wanted to try this spray paint for shirts.  I have never used them before and was curious how they would do.

It was interesting but didn't work as well as I had hoped.  You are supposed to spray with a white base coat first but that spray can didn't work.  So I just sprayed it with the pink and it came out in a jet stream. I wasn't sure how well it was being covered. It was an uneven coverage and peeled some when I took the freezer paper off.

I may try to use this product again, but overall I was disappointed.  If anyone has any tips and love this product please do tell. At this point I know I wanted to add a border around my bleach mess.  I chose to do a reverse applique.  I thought i had some hot pink zebra but I did not so I went with a brown zebra print for this.  First I turned my shirt inside out and pinned the zebra print to the shirt with the print facing the back of the t shirt.

Next turned it right side out, sewed a straight stitch around my bleach spot.  Then I sewed another straight stitch on the inside of the previous stitch. After that, I cut away the t shirt revealing a border.

I have no idea what to do next, but I know it needs something else. . . .STARS!  I drew some stars on my heat bond and made stars to put on my shirt.

I positioned them and ironed them in place.  I then stitched them to the shirt.

Add iron on rhinestones and wear.

Meal Plan Monday

This week here is the plan.
1.  Chile Rellenos ( recipe to follow)

2.  Taco Salad

3.  BBQ Sandwiches

4.  Pasta Primevera

5.  Meatball Sub casserole - testing it out from Tase of home April 2010

Dessert Lemon Delight Trifle

Doesn't that look yummy- my husband voted for the peanut butter brownie trifle- but i felt lemony. This recipe is also in the taste of home april 2010 issue.  I will share it with you if it is delicious.

In celebration of Cinc de Mayo, we will be eating chile rellenos.  I live in the southwest so we use green chile. Let me tell you about that first before I get to the recipe.  Green Chile looks like this before it is roasted.

Beautiful-huh! But before we cook with them they are roasted.  In September the air is filled with this aroma where they are roasting chile- even at walmart they roast them. They roast them like this.

You probably don't have one of these roasters at home but you can go Here to see how to roast your chile- or you can also use poblano peppers for rellenos.  When they are roasted they will look like this.

Now you are ready to do some cooking.  To begin get your chile ready.  Peel the skin off the peppers.  Make a slit in the pepper and clean out the seeds.  Then you cut cheese strips and slide it in the pepper- now it is ready for the batter. 

1 C sifted flour

1t baking powder

1/2 t salt

3/4 C cornmeal

2 eggs

1C milk

Sift flour, baking powder and salt in to med. size bowl.  Stir in cornmeal.  Beat eggs in a small bowl until frothy.  Stir in milk and pour mixture into dry ingredients.  Stirring until well blended. 

Dip your chiles in the batter and fry up in hot oil and you get this yummy meal. 

Easy Decor and Fish Bowl

This craft is brought to you from my mama's house.  I have a few more posts to share from my visit to Texas.  My mom bought these candlesticks on clearance from Christmas.  She used 5 min. Epoxy to attach a little fish bowl- which you can also find pretty cheap.  She used this for an actual fishbowl and to decorate above her craft desk.

I took two pictures of how she decorates with them- so you can see it when it is lit up at night.

Have a great weekend!

Help Was on its Way!!

I have a problem with some benches in my back yard.  I live in the desert and the sun is torture on anything outside like my benches.  Rory over at Tools are for Women Too sent help.  Check out his site to see his solution for me.  Thanks Rory!