Website updates YAY

Well that needed to be done, nIIz Designs web page has now been updated with almost everything from the shop. We have some more photos to get up, but I’m tired of coding now, I’ll get them up with in the next few days.

It’s something I’ve meant to do a while, but I kept putting it off, something I shouldn’t have done, but with me doing most of the promotional stuff (Okay so my partner’s been on creative streak so I’ll give her that credit) I just haven’t really wanted to work on the site. Though I’m thinking I should change the coloring on the main page to match the awesome banner one of our clients gave me.

 I think that will be a project for another day, right now as I said I’m sick of coding so I’m going to be lying out in the sun taking pictures of the products we still need to get into the shop.

While I was working on things I did put up a link page, I’m going to offer a link exchange for anyone who has a handmade crafts shop. If you want me to post a link in my shop drop a line here, or over on my Zibbet and I’ll get your banner up in the shop as soon as I can. Usually it’ll be one or two days from when you ask, all I ask is a link somewhere back to my shop.

And ooh! My partner in crime (Well friends have said the stuffed animals are criminally cute) just told me lunch is ready so I have to get going, Hoping my next update will have some of the shop stuff I’ve been working on.

Laters!
 Nicky

of blonks and cold meds....

Monday morning and I’m wishing that it wasn’t so wet out so I could get some pictures.  Instead I’m playing with key chain and cell phone charms.  The ones I’ve made so far are kind of cute, would be better if I knew where I had put my doll eyes for them though.  Looks like that’s what I’m looking for later today, organization?  I have none.

And I’m fully going to blame that on the Blonks running my little lab.  Really why did I stick Sack and Captain in charge of it?  Those two can get distracted in a heartbeat.  

On the upside, I think I lost the rest of my brain cells with my sneezing fit, meaning they have a mindless zombie to order around…

On second thought, that might not be such a good thing after all, who knows what kind of creatures will be coming out of my cold meds haze. 

(me on cold meds, trust me)

Hm, maybe I can use this time to work on some jewelry?  I know I’m running low on that to photograph for the shop.  And even Blonks need bling right?  Right, well looks like I’m going to be playing with sharp pointy things today, as well as crochet hooks. 

Anyone see where they stashed my extra large mocha cup?  Because I have a feeling I’m going to need a large raspberry white chocolate mint mocha with extra whipped cream and I’m thinking sprinkles today.  Yeah, sprinkles would just make the day ever so much better. 

Either that or a trip to the book store, Captain wants a few new steam punk geared books I promised him I’d get some if he would leave me alone for a bit.  I’m not holding my breath on that since he’s trying to figure out how to saddle the cat. 

(Captain Steamer Bunny - Yes that's his real name - Looking all smug at me)

I’d be more worried if he wasn’t four inches tall.  And the fact I’m thinking a stuffed animal’s planning that?  Just shows how well my cold meds are working.  Maybe I’ll just call today off.

rain rain go away

I was asked late last night by a friend if I’d do a commission for her.  She put the idea up so that she could try to save up to for it first. She’s a friend so I really don’t have a problem with it but I’ve never really done them before I’m horrible at deadlines. 

Which reminds me on my daily planner I should put up a thing to remind me to post here every day, maybe that will work to help me stay focused, seeing the annoying red reminder every hour.

Well it’s worth a shot we’ll see how it goes starting today. 

Anyway, back to the scarf, it’s a simple design and I’m thinking I might try it with a Tunisian stitch just so I can get a feel of that stitch to see if I want to play around with it more.  The pattern it’s self for the scarf is two colors in stripes.  So pretty basic to begin with.  The original which she wants me to try to copy for her was knitted, you can tell from the photo.

But me and my knitting needles are having an agreement at the moment.  We agree to not work well with each other.  Which kind of upsets me because I want to learn how to make socks, I’ve seen some patterns that I would love to try, if for nothing else to make some cute ones to wear with a few of my short skirts. 

I’ll have to take pictures of those experiments when I get some time to work on them.  Right now all the free time is going to catching up with getting photos of the stuff the housemate and I have made for the shop.  We have over 100 items and I’ve barely had time to work on getting photos lately.  The foul weather the last few days doesn’t help matters either.  If it’s not freezing it’s been raining, and I want to abuse, use the rose bush for some of the photos before it blooms!

Next time I hope to have my Lapis wrap finished so I can get a picture of it up, right now it's sitting in the basket I'm using to hold it.  And 31 rows through I realize... I'm using a larger hook!  Half tempted to rework it.  Glad that the only one who will be wearing it is me though.  That one I won't be selling.

Friday Morning

And I want to roll back into bed until sometime Friday evening.  I think I’m going to blame it all on just being a tad bored.  I know I have things I need to finish getting done.  One of those getting more items shot for the shop, queuing up Tumblr for a few days, and I have a wrap that’s currently about halfway done that I want to finish, though mine might have a hood where the pattern doesn’t have one, just because I want a nice summer hoodie.  I fell in love with the pattern when I saw it in the book and it's been the bane of my existence for a month now.  I get a row or two in then work on some other things for a bit.  At the rate I'm going, should be done by next summer. 

I should make a few more bags for the shop too.  Because so far the people I’ve shown them to have loved them.  I want to look at a few craft shops around here too though that could possibly wait until the weekend when it’s supposed to rain, because I hate being stuck inside when it’s raining. 

Today I think is just going to be a blah day.  The Tumblr may just get a week of random stuff in queue so I can focus on the shop only.  Wouldn’t be the first time I pulled that.  I know I try to post one item in shop in it once a day, but out of items that I have photos of up.  I need to update the facebook  page too.  Oh, and need to make some of my mesh gloves too, next time I go on a yarn spree I should pick up more sock yarn, right now I have one skein of black, it’s a little easier to use than the lace yarn I used for the pair of fingerless gloves I use when driving.  But not everyone would want black gloves.  And the usual weight yarn I use is a bit too heavy for gloves to wear in the summer. 

And to help with the lack of pictures today, how about some reader interaction? 

What do you like to do when you're having a blah day?

I'm alive, I think.

Well I know I said I’d blog more often, got tied up in the shop, literally, I’m surrounded by a mountain of projects in various stages of incompleteness.  Though I think today I’m putting on shorts and taking the box of things we have made out to the yard for some shots.  Hopefully I can get some time to edit them and pop them up on-line.  Though I have to admit I think we need a bigger box, because right now we have about 100 items we need jewelry boxes for sending, and need to photograph, I’ve just been waiting for a few nice days where I can lie out on the lawn going trigger happy.

And rereading that last sentence, I sound like I’m psycho or something.  I’m going to blame it on my fondness for survival horror games okay?  Good. 

I’ll leave you today with the newest item up in the shop, just in time for Summer!  Bring on the slushie fruity drinks!  Bonus with the umbrellas okay, yeah it’s been one of those weeks, and it’s only Wednesday, and really I don’t drink that much! 

 

This necklace and earring set, made of pearls, shell and a brass finding, is great for the summer.

The pooka shells mixed with pieces of other shell and pearls just screams going to the beach or boardwalk. Pair it up with a tank and shorts to give a more classy look, or a simple black dress at night for a romantic walk in the sand.

My writing page

I've been rereading some of my older writing and I've been toying with that the last few days.  All my stories (Well one's I'm willing to share with the world) are going to be going over here.  This includes any little stories about the Blonks.  I found a few that I haven't posted here yet, I'm going to edit them then post them there.  I will keep you updated on that!

I know I need to get more images up in the shop soon.  Might start trying to do my Shopping Saturday Features here.  Might do a few other features I did too.  We'll see how it goes.

In which Nicky rambles. Yay

Okay yeah I totally fail at keeping blogs okay? Though I’m trying I really am! Doesn’t help that when I’m at the computer I’m usually listening to the radio crocheting, which reminds me I need to get some better images of some of my blonks to share with my readers. Maybe I’ll do that Monday morning when it’s a little more quiet around here. I know I have some items I have to get up in the Zibbet shop. The unholidays that the housemate and I had ended up being a work frenzy.

And yes I said unholidays, we were so busy until just last week helping her son get things ready for going back to school that we kind of forgot to take time for ourselves. When we weren’t helping him we were crocheting. She made a few tops that I’m tempted to buy from her because they’re so pretty. I just don’t know what I’d wear them with yet. Hm… Black jeans, need to invest in another pair of those anyway and black jeans look good with EVERYTHING in my opinion.

And I’m slowly making a dent in the mountain of yarn around me. I might actually be able to reclaim my wicker basket for the purpose I bought it for which is storing the finished items, not all my yarn! Yeah, that’s a wishful thought okay? I’m allowed them now and then. I have some pretty yarns though that I’m planning to turn into stuffed animals. I want to perfect my monster pattern because really he’s become an awesome buddy to keep around when I’m watching a horror movie, and he doesn’t squirm as much as the cat does.

Once I finish this muffler and gloves set as well as these dish cloths I started like a month ago, that’s the plan make another monster. And this time write down the pattern in notes. I can’t remember what I did to make the original one! Total fail on my part.

Link goes to shop

On that note I'll leave you with one of my favorite jewelry creations.  I love how the colors melded together for this one.  Something about bronze and watery hues that just feel warm and comforting to me.

things in town done... cherry coke in hand...

And I'm looking at the mountain of yarn around me trying to figure out what I want to make today.  I have three more dish towels to finish for a friend's housewarming gift. 

I need to do some things for the shop, including some photos so I can get them up on line. 

Should work on my market bag pattern too because I love the one I'm using and abusing is an awesome little bag that I use everywhere.  Though the bottom I have to work on.  Actually had to repair it today.

I need to make more large Blonks too.  The one pictured is the one I made for my step mother for Christmas.  She adored it and actually had others ask where she got it so yeah, I have to make some more.  If nothing else I'll have a start of a stock pile of things made for craft shows next year.  Shooting for filling the shop first though!

First though!  MUNCHIES! 

Gee I'm doing great at keeping up aren't I?

Well since November I've been working my little hands to the nubs on crochet items.  I need to take more pictures of what I have to get it up on line. 

Also been trying to tame my muses so that I can focus on working on a book.  I have the idea stuck in my head for it, actually been mulling it over for the last two weeks, just need a moment or two to actually write.  Half tempted to just work on programing my voice to text program for my computer.  That way I can actually do some hands free writing.

And sorry this is such a short post.  I have some things I want to get done today while the kid's still out.  Abusing the silence today sounds like a plan.

survived! I think

Well I managed to get the blonk packaged away for my stepmother, it's currently on it's way to Michigan.  Now I just have photos to take of the rest of the stuff we have to get up on line.  Then it'll just be a matter of continuing to keep it stocked.  Shouldn't be too hard really we have a stock pile already and I'm so going to be re-organizing things so that I can get them in a better packaging production mode.

Reminds me I have to get more jewelry boxes.  Yay what fun.

But yeah, I'm planning on using this blog more.  Hopefully I will remember to.  Time for me to actually get off my rear to get the stuff I need done.  the rate I'm going... I'll have everything done by next New Years!  Yeah... I'm a little slow at it okay?

Gah! FRANTIC Mad scientist here!

I have a little over a week to finish up some presents for family and hardly time to do it in.  Though I'm about an 8th of the way done with the blanket I'm making for my dad.  Hoping I can snag some photos before giving it to him for the blog.  I can't show it off obviously before hand not sure if he's reading this one.

Also want to make a decent sized Blonk for Teri, maybe two, though pretty sure the blanket will be shared if I can finish it.  If not the housemate wants me to give them the one she made and I'll put mine in the shop.  I'm just hoping I have enough yarn for it.

And yeah I know I need to put more items up in the Zibbet account to get that fully up and running.  Ugh, if I survive the Holidays this year it'll be a miracle.  They're not even in full swing yet and I'm frazzled.

Might be because I have so many things to do and feels like absolutely no time to do it.  Wonder if this is how other shop owners feel their first year of having a shop?

I really need to post here more often...

I’ve been hanging out too much on Tejinas Toybox lately though I’m slowly trying to get everything organized better so that I have all the blogs tied into one.

Let’s see, the last… few months have actually been a blur, I’ve been busy trying to get things done, and we got the housemate’s son to college, with all the quiet time in the house you’d think I’d spend more time writing… Yeah, not really, I’ve been working on so many crochet projects lately that my hands want to hack themselves off and run away. 

Doesn’t help that Toes is being clingy lately.  I think he misses his sister, she passed away back in February, and since then I’ve been in my little funk.  Hoping to pop out of it soon. 

Yeah I know a eh post, about to go get some things done so I can start figuring out what I’m going to do with the store of items I have to get into the shops.

Guess who needs a new purse?

And reading over this before posting… Oh Gods, I'm going GIRLY! But damn I like the bags I'm linking. They're cool looking and scream 'different'. Which is something I've always tried to be; a little 'out there'.

Okay I don't NEED one I just want one, so that's why I'm sitting on Ravelry looking at purse patterns that I can toy with. There's a few I've seen already that I like.


This bag… I know I will end up making and steaming. It would look really cute with the gloves I'm planning for my steampunked outfit, and it would be the perfect size to tuck away ID and money as well as a small ball of yarn and my hooks for long trips.


Though this one is another cute bag… looks like something I would carry more often.

And yeah I love small pouches. This one just looks cute and I have some dishcloth yarn left from some projects, wonder if the bags would make some good stash busters? I'll have to play around with it a little, doesn't look that hard and I might have another drawer I can empty out for little things.


I may end up having to make a few just for fun, that is after I get these blonks done, and my steam bunny… I may end up making steam bunnies, and purses for etsy, that is when I get the room to organize my things a little better.


And while I'm at it, I know I should be promoting my stuff, but a friend of mine is making cute stuff. We're probably going to do a trade blonks for a wallet cause mine's a bit bulky…


I wonder if it's bad that both of us are feeding each other's addictions… me for my survival horror (If she can find the fabric) Me for hr NCIS (tim and Abby, shouldn't be that hard to blonk them. I has something to toy with this weekend heh.


That is after making that Steamed bunny, and a Zeppelin, because I failed to find one this week for my steamed Mondays!


And yeah I should have some images up for mid week next week. Trying to get the rest of my blonks and the jewelry up, need to work on my pixel for my cards too so much to do so little time to do it.

Steamed Mondays – invasion of the kraken?

I was seriously worried I wouldn't get this done today. First it was driving around town to find a few things… then having to go back to the pharmacy for a prescription… Needless to say, now I'm home for the rest of the night and looking around…

I was trying to find an Amigurumi Zeppelin, but three searches on three different crawlers turned up nothing! Am I just not searching right or has no one come up with an Ami airship yet? If that's the case… I may have to toy with it, my niece will have her Doctor and a whole slew of air pirates! And my brother will think I'm insane.

Wait, he already does.



ANYWAY!

Because the whole zeppelin thing was a bust, I'll give you Squids, Octi, and hm, Lab stuff, because they all go together in some sort of way (Okay the last bit is because I have viruses on the brain, Resident Evil will do that to you).



First off, the story behind these squids were amusing, too bad I'm on the wrong side of the ocean (really should see if they do silly stuff like this at the National aquarium, I'm only a few hours from it and it's a fun drive into Baltimore). And the story behind them… I'm a little curious to see how I'd stand against one of the little guys, or if I'll have my fingers in splints for a few weeks.

And I know EVERYONE does at least one octopus right (Not sure what happened to CK, the housemate's daughter got him so he was probably trashed, but Titan's ruling over his empire, I really need to get him a fish bowl…). I thought that these two just looked adorable.

And yeah I'm a sucker for cats, so I had to add the pirate kitty by djonesgirlz to this week's collection. What better kitty to deal with that squid and the octi right?

And what alchemist lab's complete without a beaker? Okay yeah I know that is the wrong kind, but I grew up with the Muppets, and when I saw him I couldn't help it with the joke.

Hope you liked this week's little collection of Amigurumis. I think I'm starting to get the hang of hunting them down now. Now to work on my own steampunked Amis.

whoah lots of craziness

Currently I have a few Ami's in the works, and I'm trying to reorganize things, so that I can update here, and on my website in the same day as doing an update on the shop. 

So for a while things may look messy here I promise I'm working on it.  Hoping to make a decent banner for the blog too.  It really needs one. 

I know I owe some more, but with all this revamping I really don't feel like writing so I'll leave you with the luv bunnehz. 

Love of the weird and steamed

Yeah I'm into steampunk, just the thought of the clothes, the machinery, and let's not forget the décor. I spent most of yesterday going through steampunk blogs looking for designs that I would love to do to a house. I'd also have to make sure that whatever I did was pet friendly. I've almost always had a pet so I love the idea of animal friendly homes.

Today, waiting for something to load up (Why must my four hours of blowing stuff up take three hours to load Damn you slow computer and Maplestory addiction!), I decided to take a peek to see if I could find any Steampunked Amigurumi (See tied it to the theme of the blog!)

And yeah I'm trying to avoid the whole Chuluthu Amigurumis, I've seen so many of them I think that may be what everyone else thinks when they think Steampunked Ami. So here I go with a Google search for the more rare pieces, I'm going to make this a weekly feature, about four or five steamy ami's (that make sense?) a week? And just so you know, I'm not getting paid to post these nor have I asked the person who made them (Which is why I'll link to their images and sites, these posts won't be filled with images.

Here's one that's creepily cute: Toxic Tots by Crafty Deb Designs on Etsy looks like they could be from Silent Hill as well, well if you go with the movie version. They do scare me a little though, I think if I made one I'd stick it the back of my shelf just to make sure it wouldn't find it's way in weird places… Knowing the ghosts in our house, it would be on my bed…

Then there was this adorable bear from Amigurumi Kingdom. I love the rivets in the ears, he looks like he should be roaming around some steampunked village. Or he's a little messenger bear.

Here's Big Daddy from the Nerdigurumi site. I am so wanting to make myself one of these and a Little Sister to go with it because they're as… Wait no strike that they're a lot cooler than Nemesis, because you know when you get into a fight with one it WILL mess you up. Hm… I make one it'll be out of metal wire though. And I'll need the right kind of lamp to hang near it.

Last for this week is this amazing doll that I found on Toureasy47201's Flicker. I love the attention to detail in her. Considering I'm working on my first doll I'm always amazed at the detail that can be put into them. One of these days I'll have enough courage to so that pattern, right now I haven't felt I could do it justice.

Need to crop some more photos and finish some other Ami that are sitting in the WIP box. Might have to soon put them in my basket because the drawers I have aren't real big.

Oops.

Yeah I've been so busy lately trying to get a bunch of new blonks made and today I'll be photographing them.

Doesn't exactly help that my computer's been crashing on me the last few days so I'm scrambling to save up money to fix that problem too, with luck I'll get that problem situated, because it's hard to run a business or even write when the only other computer I have access to is the housemate's who's I can't use because my programs aren't on it (She refuses to upgrade her software and sorry but I will not be writing out blog posts on a computer that doesn't have a decent word processor. as for last Friday's post…

Well I could lie about it and say I just forgot, but I usually set those so they'll post on the day they're supposed to, just proves how busy I've been lately. Learning how to make a new Amigurumi (Need to finish the legs of this first doll then play with it to see how I like it. Which means my Chinese New Years blonks won't happen this year. Holiday blonks and monthly zodiac will, if all goes well, start next month.

I'm hoping to make enough money with these so that I can save up for two costumes for when I go to visit Dad and my step mom in Michigan, which is where most of the money from the sales of the blonks will be going for right now. Well that and I need to add new stuff to my wardrobe so I can get another job. I want to be able to get my own car because sorry, the one that I have access to now is so not me. I'd rather have something that's a little more adventurous. Hard to take a 4 door coupe on dirt roads, I'd like something I don't care if it gets dirty.

Reminds me, I should price organic local yarns soon, I like the stuff I use, but I want to see if I would like that a little more. I like the idea of organic or eco friendly materials for these.

Okay I have to go finish some of these blonks so I can go play with the camera. Next shop update will have some of my Jewelry too I think. The housemate's too, since she's helping me with getting my laptop fixed.

Hopefully I'll have time to get a story post up too. I need to type up all my notes that I have for the shop too.



Yeah Rambling away cause I'm overwhelmed at the moment.

Nicky

Blonk investigation - Jack's notes

Normally I don’t like to keep personal journals okay?  Though this time there’s just some things that I can’t put in the official report, like the real reason I didn’t mind bringing Nick with me.  I was hoping to share a room with her, but that’s not going to be possible, one of those damn rats are with her at all times, I was bit the first day we were here because I tried to pick one up and she as one riding on her shoulder.

They seem to have her and our host under some sort of, yeah as a scientist I shouldn’t use the word, but they’re under some sort of spell.  I don’t trust the damn rats.  I’m just hoping that it’ll be safe enough to leave her alone with them a few hours while I check out city hall tomorrow.  I need to know if I should call in a team.  Already thinking of telling CDC to quarantine the town.

Just hope that there’s a way to reverse whatever’s been done to Nicky, last thing our company needs is to lose the best photographer and video editor we have.  Ed would get pissed about that since he’s the one that recruited her from college.  

I’ve checked the room, it’s clear of those damned things.  Nick’s asleep in her room, I checked before sitting down to write.  I might be lucky enough to get through the rest of the night without a situation. 

***

Nick’s gone, her camera’s with her but her cell’s still at the B&B.  It’s two am, I went to check on her when I woke hearing something in the hall.  Damn girl managed to slip past me somehow; it’s raining outside and her jacket’s still in her room.  I’m going out to look for her, taking the video camera with me and my tape recorder.  If the damn rats are behind it I’ll be on the phone with CDC to get them to start rounding up everyone in this place.  I’ll even deal with the lock up until I know I’m not carrying whatever they have.

***

Jack’s tapes 4 am

Found Nick.  She’s in the hospital now.  Found her in the woods near some nests.  She wasn’t breathing, took me a moment to get her back to start.  They’re keeping her for observation.  I don’t know what else to do.  She insists she’s fine. 

She was so cold when I found her.  And those damn rats, they were all over her, I looked, there weren’t any bites, but still, I don’t trust them.  It’s like they know I want to take one back to the lab for study.  That’s insane though, how could an animal know that?

Ah happily watching Doctor Who. Want to make some Amigurumis

Actually I want to make the big cuddly Doctors and Torchwood ones from Pixelated Mushroom.  They're adorable. 

Okay,I really should finish these other projects I have before starting a new one.  Like my WTFery doll, which will probably only be one of... I was thinking it would be cute for my New Years ones, but... I don't like how it looks right now  I might not get them done in time for Chinese New Year.  Which is a bummer.  I really wanted to.

And damn it... Why is BBC America Editing the episodes!  They cut out all the funny scenes in the last two episodes before switching to Eleventh Doctor eps.  Oh well, not like I don't have them already.  I'll end up watching them later.

Now I'm done rambling going back to blonks so I zone out on the TV.

WIP Box show and tell (AKA why I'm so silent)

Yeah I haven’t been writing here in a while I’m so sorry about that I really am trying to be better at that!

Well I figured I’d do a show and tell to show you that the blonky lab’s in full swing!  I’ve been working my little fingers to the nubs trying to get these done so I can pop them up for sale.  

I’m also trying to plot out a little story for them.  They’re whole creation story because really, they are supposed to be monkeys, but tend to want to be mice and other little critters, so figure I’d write something to explain what they are other than really loud and Gods they multiply worse than bunnies!  My WIP box has about sixty of them waiting to be born and I plan on making at least another forty of them before I start working on some actual dolls.

I’m really thinking that I should have something up for their creation by Christmas, my little gift to you, a nice story post. 

Maybe there’ll be a post with a WIP doll in it too.  I found a pattern that I really want to try.  Thinking if it works I’ll be adding actual dolls to my collection of items to sell.  I was going to make some coffee slips, still might knowing how much I drink coffee, I’ll play with the pattern with scrap yarn.  I think after this rush I’ll have some extra.  I need to start making a list of the colors I use too, that way when I run out I can get more.  I think that’s one reason I’m using red heart.  No dye lot is becoming a life saver.  I’ve already run out of one color and had to go back to get more at the store a few times, you wouldn’t think that little blonks, only a few inches tall would take up so much yarn.  I average ten blonks per ball with a little left over for the ears and tails.  They’re a great stash buster project though.  

Now for the show and tell one craft drawer of blonks (And one pencil oops): 

 That was at about 3 am this morning.  I'm slowly trying to get at least ten different colors done so I can do some mix and matching.  Still have 2 pairs of gloves to make as Christmas gifts.