I Bid You Adieu with some Crafty Book Giveaways!

Well friends, it's been over 2 months since I've written a blog post. There's been a lot of change going on in my little corner of the crafty world. My priorities have shifted quite a bit as of late, and it has taken me time to get used to it. Basically, I've decided to focus all my creative energy on Kuhmillion, my lingerie business, to really try to build it and make it into a full-time gig for my husband & I. In fact, we've been working our designing (mine) & programming (his) fingers to the bone lately giving our website a complete overhaul, which we hope to launch later this week. Kuhmillion 2.0 is going to be amazing, and we're really excited about it! We both have bigtime entrepreneurial dreams and schemes that we just can't give up. But there are only so many hours in the day, so much energy in our bodies, and so much stress we can handle healthily. Splitting my time between three small businesses just wasn't working out very well (imagine that!). Something had to give. Know the feeling?

So, in the past few months I've withdrawn my partnership in The WonderCraft and put Beth Hempton Art & Toys on the back burner (my Etsy shop will remain open, and I still have stuff at a few shops in town, but I won't be developing any new products or pursuing new consignment or wholesale accounts for the time being). There's been quite a bit of guilt involved over my many unfinished projects and unrealized ideas, and a lot of "what now?" confusion coupled with twinges of feeling like a failure... but I think I've come to peace with all of that.

Also, to save up money and pay down debt in preparation for the hubs & I both being gainfully self-employed someday, I went back to work. I'm a part-time hostess and shop girl at a lovely local cafe, which I'm enjoying, but it's been a big adjustment after working from home and being my own boss for over 2 years. And oh yeah, I also joined a recreational roller derby league (which is totally awesome!), so I'm skating 3 or 4 times a week now.

So, needless to say, all of these new developments have left me little time or energy for blogging. I'm bidding a fond farewell to Crafty Mishmash. I'll leave it online, but don't expect any new posts (for now, at least). But, before I go, I have something for all of you dear readers - fabulous craft books!

Several weeks (months?) ago, the great folks at Kodansha Publishing sent me copies of two of their fun & creative titles: Felt Friends from Japan and Crane Origami. I was too overwhelmed at the time to do this giveaway, so some of the timely impact has been lost, but I figured it was better late than never. These are both great books, and all you have to do is leave a comment telling me which book you would like and you'll be entered in a drawing to win it!

Felt Friends (pictured above) is a simply adorable book, with clear instructions for making tons of cute toys and accessories. The book has lots of useful diagrams and full-color photos of finished projects. I've got 2 copies for the taking, ya interested?

About the crane origami book, Laura from Kodansha says,

"There's a legend in Japan that says that if 1,000 origami paper cranes are folded, a person's wish will come true. Over the years, The Thousand Cranes ("Senbazuru") have become the symbol for peace, hope, and recovery from illness. Today, in the face of monumental hardship and loss following the earthquake and tsunami, people around the world are folding cranes as a sign of support for Japan's thousands of victims."

Isn't that a beautiful vision? Would you like to learn how to fold paper cranes to show your support for Japan? I've got 5 copies of this book to give away!

Remember, all you have to do is leave a comment telling me which book you would like and you'll be entered in a drawing to win it! Easy-peasy! Thanks so much for reading my blog.
<3<3<3
UPDATED 5/18/11:
Congrats to the following winners; I'll be emailing you!
Felt Friends: Aimee & Deborah
Crane Origami: Meredith, Amelia, Jen C, Jen F, Beth A

Bits & Pieces

a box of colorful ears...

stuffed & waiting by my machine to be spiral-stitched for that adorable quilted effect! This is perhaps my favorite step of elephant-making.

and a stack of embroidered faces on what will become the elephants' bodies.

I love seeing the pieces at different stages & watching a batch of toys come together from a stack of parts. These polka-dotty elephants will soon be getting some national attention! Can't wait until I can tell you all about it!

A Look at My Messy Desk

Here's what's been accumulating on my desk lately: a giant jar of recycled wool stuffing, a refreshing glass of root beer, a plethora of needles & scissors...

a huge pile of fabric scraps (which I save for use in future toys and fabric collages)...

and this adorable parade of toy elephants in various stages of stuffed-ness!

A Zandra for Zandra!

I had to share this story with y'all because it's so cool! As you may have read, The Snuggle Herd was recently featured on Little Austinite with a giveaway of one of my Zandra the Zebra stuffed toys.

This caught the attention of a gal named Shannon, so she visited my Etsy shop & the EtsyAustin blog & left a couple of comments about what she found. When the contest ended, a commenter was picked at random, & Shannon was ecstatic to learn that it was her. She sent me an email explaining why:

"There is special meaning to this for me. I have a very dear friend who lives in Minnesota (where I grew up) and her name is Zandra (we call her Zandy). She never finds anything with her name on it, so she will be completely blown away when I send her my awesome Zandra the Zebra!"

Cool, huh? Zandra the Zebra is now on her way to her new home with Zandra in Minnesota. I'm sure both Zandras will be very happy to meet each other. And here I thought I had made that name up!

Hey, is my mouth too low?

That's what Max is wondering, I bet. And I'm thinking: yes. Yes, Max, you're mouth is strangely low. Why is it way down on your neck? Come to think of it, you don't really have much of a neck at all, poor guy.

These are the kinds of details I've been working out with my prototype monkey toy over the past couple of days. I'm trying to finish a few to take to the Austin Handmade Market. Seeing as how it's only a few days away, I should probably quit playin' on the interwebs & get back to work. Will post more pics of Max soon(with a perfectly cute face & a neck). He even has a little girlfriend, Molly.