And we have a winner!

Congratulations to my dear laigrai, you've won the tea giveaway!  Send me an e-mail with your choice of prize and your shipping address!

And a moment to plug my dear friend Laila's etsy shop.

Are you wiping up drool from your keyboard?  I am.  Congratulations again Laila!

Excuse my absence...

First I had wedding brain.  Don't they look gorgeous??

I still haven't gone through even half of the 1200 pictures I took, but I've gotten some really really cute ones so far.  I'll definitely share more as they develop.  The joy in these photos will make you cry.  Promise.

Then I had work brain.

The September Tea Club is shipping out today and man is it delicious.  I can't stop drinking it!  It's called Lavender Biscotti and it pretty much tastes exactly like lavender flavored cookies.

And then I got this amazing light from my parents storage (along with a bunch of other stuff like a vintage JC Penney bike from the 70's.  Which is cool.) and it makes makes taking photos a dream.

It makes rocks look glam.

And now we're dealing with a sick pup.  I'll spare you the details, but it's gross.

Everyone send healing thoughts.

And I've decided to extend the giveaway for a week to give more people a chance to enter.  So keep spreading the word!

Also, fiber update tomorrow in the etsy shop!

Giveaway Time!

In case you missed it, Fall Creek Fibers is now carrying tea!  We have a lovely variety of delicious treats as well as a 3 month tea club!

To celebrate and spread the word, we're giving away your choice of a 6 sample pack with your choice of tea flavors, or a spot in the 3 month tea club!

All you have to do is 1) follow my blog, 2) leave a comment with your favorite type of tea (doesn't have to be FCF tea, but yay if it is!), and 3) for extra entries, tweet, blog, or share the news and leave another comment for every place you've shared.

I'll announce the winner next Friday, September 10th.  I've extended the giveaway to Friday, September 17th! Good luck!

Congratulations Ida!

You're the lucky winner of the Virtue Natural giveaway!

Do visit Sosae's shop and contact her for your gift certificate number.  Congratulations again, can't wait to hear what you think of the products!

Have you met Sosae? (And a giveaway!)

Comments closed!  Winner announced first thing on May 15th, 2010!

Virtue Natural is one of my all time favorite etsy shops and I'm so honored to know the creator behind the amazingness.  Meet Sosae.  

Not only is she gorgeous to boot, she's talented in the ways of brilliant customer service and she and her husband Dennis create amazing natural skin care products.  I use almost all of the products they carry in their etsy shop and let me tell you, I'm never going back to commercially made products!  My personal favorite is the Virtue Natural Radiant Complexion Scrub which I use after every shower (and sometimes in the middle of the day when my skin is dry) and it never lets me down.  Keeps my face hydrated and soft and smelling like a summer garden.  Another favorite is the subtle yet lovely Orange and Patchouli Body Scrub... I take showers just to smell like this scrub.  Seriously.

 

Virtue Natural carries an incredible line of all natural, organic, simple yet surprisingly complex skincare products and we want to give you a chance to try them!  

But first, a little bit about the shop and the beauties behind it.

Tell us a little bit about your process/workspace.

First off, thank you Brie! It’s a pleasure to be here. Let’s see… My process involves lots of note-taking. I have a notebook always on hand, where I write down any runaway ideas for products, scents, design, etc. Then I spend time trying to elaborate on those ideas. I research potential ingredients, and try to see what exists that can match what I have in mind. Thankfully, nature is abundant. That’s one of the reasons why I feel that skincare ought to be all-natural: the laboratory can never really match the quality of nature’s own ingredients. Once I have my ingredients in mind, I will design a recipe based on how I know these ingredients to behave, and then I’ll go to the kitchen/lab and begin “development.”  (With some products, this development stage has taken months to a year!) Workspace: As of now, my workspace is in transition. For the last year it’s been my spacious industrial kitchen (once the main kitchen of a huge office building that housed a software company!) In the near future (once we move) I will have a truly beautiful, more traditional kitchen to work in. In both cases, my kitchen windows point to endless pastureland with cows and horses. Love it.

What's your favorite part of being a small business owner?

What an awesome question – the list is endless! I love that I can set my own work hours. Yes, I work all day long and get very little sleep most nights, but I love it. Even on off-days when nothing’s going right, I still love it. I whisper thanks all the time. I love that my husband and I can work together, creating things that provide a benefit to others. I love being able to organize my own time, and of course, being my own boss. (I’m a nice boss because I seldom have to fight myself: I just do what I need to do. I think it’s that easy because I enjoy it so much.)  Oh, and I tend to alternate between running around in my pajamas and floppy slippers all day, and getting dolled up and wearing pumps. Seriously. I just go with the flow.

What's your favorite Virtue Natural product and why?

Before I answer that I have to mention that I use virtually all of our products daily! (That cracks me up, because I’ve always been a products girl, and until 2 years ago, it never occurred to me I’d be using our own brand of products!) My absolute favorite is the Radiant Complexion Scrub. That was the second product we developed (the first were the Organic Cocoa Butter lip balms.) I think I would have saved myself a lot of trouble over the years if I had this face scrub. (Namely the years when I had bad problem skin.) It’s an all-around gem: cleans, moisturizes, soothes, enriches…  Yeah, the Radiant Complexion Scrub is my baby, and I’m really really happy to see so many of our customers loving it as much as I do!

Besides making awesome product, what's your super power?

What a cool question! I think my super-power is something I inherited from both parents: I can learn anything in a flash, as long as my heart is in it. My husband/partner’s super-power is the ability to hypnotize field-mice at 100 yards. It’s pretty amazing…

Creation of any kind burns a lot of mental energy – what do you do to recharge? Does your creativity come in waves, or are you one of those (rare) people who is always charged?

I have to thank my mother for this: I tend to have an even and constant charge. I’m not a hyper-active person or anything, I just have a constant flow of energy, rather than surges and drops. I keep a steady pace, and I think that’s why I can work all night and into the morning without getting worn out. But of course, the spirit needs food to convert to energy, and that’s where my hobbies come in: knitting and spinning. I can’t stress enough the importance of having a hobby one really loves! And I believe if you’re self-employed, that hobby needs to be something unrelated to your business. I look at it like this: my business is my brain-child whom I love and nurture to grow. My hobby is how I nurture myself, find inner peace and grow. I then take that and give it back to my business.  So basically, I’ll spend 8 hours a day working at Virtue Natural, and then I’ll stop and start knitting or spinning for 3-4 hours, and then I’ll go back to VN, and finally sleep around 4am! Good times. 

 
So, what's in it for us, Sos?  :)

We’d like to offer your readers a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to our shop! 

Well folks, you heard her!  Leave a comment on this post for a chance to try your new favorite body scrub, face mask, complexion serum, and lip balm.  Not to mention complexion serums and foot soaks.  Comments will close on May 14th and a winner will be announced!  For more chances to win, tweet, blog, or facebook about this giveaway and leave a comment for each place you've shared.  I can't think of a more lovely shop to support and spread the word about!

P.S.  Don't forget to enter our fiber giveaway here!

So what do you think? (And a giveaway!)

Okay... -big sigh-.  I am feeling much more like myself now and I'm super excited to share my new project with you!  If you haven't already, head on over to Fall Creek Fibers and poke around.  Eventually this blog will find its way over to the FCF (Fall Creek Fibers) domain and when that happens I will be sure to let you know to update your bookmarks/feeds.  The idea is to have everything 'theurchiness' packed into one convenient identity where you can shop, read, and learn about all things fiber!  The tutorial link section is packed full of helpful tidbits (as well as some interesting places to get your blog fix) and at some point there will be a FCF tutorials section.

As for the shop.  Well.  I'm stoked about it.  It will stock everything from SOAK (for your fiber, quilting, and delicates), gifts for knitters (we have some amazing partnerships in the works for things like knitters hand balm and notions/needle/drop spindle cases), and everything you could need for creating your own handspun.  Drop spindle kits, dye kits, un-dyed roving, etc.  Not to mention all of the handspun and hand dyed roving you've come to expect from theurchiness (and a new line of colorways in the earth tones you love).  And I'm taking my hand to dyeing some sock yarns... Because you can never have too much indie dyed sock yarn.

The transition will be slow, and I can't imagine ever completely shutting down my etsy shop (because I do love it so), so for a while you'll still be able to find me as theurchiness.  The idea is that by the end of 2010 the shop will be in full swing and I have lots of exciting things planned for the launch.

Starting with...  A giveaway (or three)!

Yep, that's right.  I'm giving away a spot in my fiber club!  One lucky reader (open to everyone, even international!) will be shipped an exclusive fiber club colorway for the months of June, July, and August.  All you have to do is visit Fall Creek Fibers and leave a comment on this post telling me what else you'd like to see there (products you'd buy, resources you could use, tutorial ideas, etc).  If you're already a fiber club member, not to fret!  You can still enter the giveaway and get a double dose of fiber or use this winning to renew your membership when your three months are up.  This giveaway will go on for three weeks, comments will close on May 22, and I'll announce the winner (via random.org) on Monday, May 24.

For those of you who wouldn't know what to do with roving if it bit you, we have a non-fiber related giveaway scheduled for Wednesday, May 5, so do check back then!

And on Tuesday there will be a (theurchiness) (this is going to get confusing) shop update at 11:00a PST.

And on Friday, May 14 there will be another non-fiber related giveaway.

It's a busy and exciting time for us all!

Thank you to everyone for your love and support, I couldn't do this without you!  Now get commenting for the fiber club spot!

PS You can read more about the fiber club here.  And gossip about it here.

Hello darlings...

As promised, I am here to remind you that there is a giveaway for a gift certificate to my shop going on over at Virtue Natural this week.  We had such a blast putting together the post for you so I hope you all head over and leave a comment (and tell your friends!).

I've spent the past few days spinning and working on super secret projects and training my new packaging supervisor...

Packaging is serious business after all.

I am a solitary being...

So when the lobster (bless his beautiful soul) is home for most of the week with a stomach bug, I want to blow his brains out. Or mine. Maybe both.

Today I've been struggling with getting things done and it's partly because the house has become shelter to a viral incubus. I'm ready for it to purge away.

So I've banned my honey (who is feeling a bit better and shall be off to work tomorrow) to his man cave (also known as the loft) in a very nice way with his manly Netflix and his manly peppermint tea. And I'm zenning out with Lisa Hannigan in my headphones, a yummy petite sirah in my favorite wine glass, and catching up on my peace. My etsy shop policies are getting a revamp, I'm finishing up a gorgeous handspun (oh how I love spinning BFL!), I'm working on Christmas lists, and the fire is keeping me warm on this dreary and glorious night.

I like solitude. I need solitude to get things done. I'm blessed to be able to spend my days creating and dreaming and exploring myself... Alone. I love my honey and wouldn't have anyone else, ever, and I miss him when he's not around. But I still like my solitude. I'm lucky he's understanding of that.

In other news, my Twitter account was hacked today, so don't open any DM's from me! Apologies to whoever got one. I also bought new shampoo and conditioner (mandarin and olive oil... YUM) that I'm excited to use during my shower tonight (it's the little things in life, no?) and I can't wait to cast on some stripey fingerless gloves in this amazing yarn I treated myself to. In fact, I think I'll do that now. Stay tuned for pictures of the new handspun!

Also, how do we all feel about a giveaway? Anyone need a skein of handspun yarn to celebrate NaBloPoMo? If this comment section gets enough interest I'll definitely launch a giveaway after midterms next week as a 'thanks for your support and follows'. Let me know you're reading! :)

And the winner is...

I just couldn't pick out of all of the perfect names so I left it to random.org and it chose the lovely Threadless from ravelry! Her names are: "Sylvan Glade" and "Sunset Lake" and I would say they are just perfect! Congratulations Maureen!

Stay tuned for another post later today. :)

P.S. Twenty-seven comments, you guys!! You blew me away completely and I thank you thank you thank you for your support. And as a thank you, anyone who posted on the giveaway post will receive 25% off in my etsy shop from now through Saturday, October 3rd at midnight PST. Leave me a note in the comment to seller section and I will refund the discount through paypal. Thanks again for all of you support!

Today I like...

... This etsy shop (SharonMontrose.etsy.com) has some aaaaamazing animal prints! I especially like the camel, kangaroo, and alpaca.


... Back to school bangles! Don't they make you want apple cider and sharpened pencils?


... Back to school hood! Or something. I just love this, so beautiful and magical and perfect for fall. (Are you sensing a theme here?)


... While I'm not a huge fan of leather, I am a huge fan of this green with this tree with this amount of blank pages. YUM. Check out her other journals, too. I especially like this one that is much more animal friendly and features a ridiculously cute vegan treat (moment to add that to my Christmas wish list, please!). But I like the green one for this post because it reminds me a bit of autumn and all things fairy.

... Okay and something decidedly NOT handmade and eco-friendly, but OH WOW. I love ruffles.


... And how about this sort of ruffly goodness from one of my 'drool over' stores? I could forever be known as the 'girl with the ruffly jacket'.


... I'm sorry! One more ruffle, I promise. Ruffle BOOTS!


... Okay, back to another etsy favorite... Another vegan treat, this time on a necklace!


... Last but not least: Alaskan Summer



Happy autumn, my beauties! Make sure to check out my giveaway!

Dyeing to Giveaway!

I've learned to dye my own roving!!

And in celebration I'm giving it away! All you have to do is submit the perfect name for the roving below (there are two, so pick one or submit two names) and a 3.7 ounce braid of the top color combo is yours! If you're not a spinner, I will gladly spin the roving for you and make the giveaway a yarn giveaway! The fiber is 100% heavenly soft Merino, like butter to spin and knit.

So leave a comment with your name suggestion in the comment section of this blog (sorry facebookers, you'll need to visit the actual blog to comment) and cross your fingers! (And spread the word!)



Oh! And I'm working on knitting some mittens (two at a time, be still my heart!) from the lovely "Anasazi" yarn Mr Lobster loved so much. I'm not sure I'll have enough for man sized mittens, so if I run out toward the end I'll make them littler sized (for me, oh darn).


Comments close on October 1st at 10:00am! Winner announced shortly after. Happy naming!

*** Comments are now closed! Stay tuned for the winner announced in a new post! ***

Oh dear.

I forgot to tell you that I was going to be away yesterday and now you're on the edge of your seat for the Things I Love on Sunday post! Oh whatever shall we do?

Let's get started, shall we?

... I love that my house didn't burn down. Thank you firemen and women and police and all! From the bottom of my heart, thank you for not letting this life (this tale, these pets, this dream) get taken away and turned into a less pretty one.

... My lovely sister's hospitality! My love and I went on a mini road trip to SLO to visit and it was sooo nice to get away from it all for a bit!


... This glorious photo stream with the most inspiring home.


... Rocking this soundtrack these days thanks to the gift giving abilities of my darling little brother (who has the freaking cutest girlfriend ever, btw).


... This hat spotted by Jessi on Pink. I hope to cast on tonight since I finished my Porom (rav link) a few days ago (more details on that one a bit later)!


... This image by the beautiful bohogirl (who inspires me to no end) makes me so happy and long for that kind of style and life.


... I love these pretty headphones and will be purchasing them ASAP.


I think that's all for today. After a dusty camping trip over the weekend we have a lot of laundry and cleaning and errands and organizing to do today. Oh, and the giveaway shall be postponed (or maybe substituted to something already knit up) due to that fact. Sorry, but 7200 acre fires in my backyard take priority! :)

Hope you all have a great week!

... Oh! One last thing! Drool.

The MASSIVE 100th Post!

I kept putting this post off and off and off because my muse has been hibernating since last week and now too many days have passed and my muse is still sleeping in her comfortable cave but I have a lot to tell you anyway.

First, a few things I love:

... This talk on creativity that mirrors exactly how I feel about it all.



... Crossing things off the list. More on that in separate post.

... I love everything in this etsy shop.



... Obsessed with the music of Sleeping at Last.

... Love this idea.

... And this idea, too!



... Spending time with beautiful people and looking forward to all of the vacations and camping trips coming up!

And second, what I've been up to:

Sean and I re-carpeted the bedroom. This was quite a task and took a very long time and Sean did most of it for which I am eternally grateful. The new carpet color (dark olive green) doesn't exactly go with my bright teal wall, so I shall be painting the wall a nice light sage color. Maybe tomorrow.

I got my nose pierced!! I've had my nose pierced three times over the past 6 years or so and the piercing wasn't a big deal... It didn't hurt much. And now I feel more like myself (although it hurts when I yawn or sneeze or take off my sunglasses too quickly). I always loved having it pierced but kept losing the jewelry so the hole would close up. This time, I have a back up stud and a retainer for client meetings... It feels good to be comfortable in my (modified) skin.


I've learned how to spin! Making my own yarn is just the coolest thing ever. And look at this pretty roving that came in the mail yesterday... I'm planning on spinning it up a little bit later on today... I'll let you know how it goes. I want to learn to ply, but need to learn to keep my twists consistent, first. Then, dyeing my own fiber! Oh the possibilities!


I've been supporting artisans toting handmade goodness. Between roving and yarn and some new art prints for my home (does anyone else get SO bored looking at the same art day in and day out?) I feel like I've added something to a community I am proud to be a part of.

Speaking of, I'm working on a porom hat (rav link) in this beautiful sock yarn by Amy's Rainbow.


Planning some camping trips which makes it feel like summer finally. Summer session is out and we have three camping trips planned between now and fall quarter. Yay for adventures!

Aaaaand lastly, giveaway details! Next week, Tuesday. Be here or be square. Or something. :) I'll be giving away some wrist warmers in a beautiful sage green (rav link) that could be perfect for just about anyone. :) I'll also be working on a blog re-design (providing my muse wakes up and has a cup of coffee before my next big post).

Love and magic and gummy bears to you all!

Things I Love... on Saturday!

Sorry to throw you off but I have things going on tomorrow and free time right now. So without further ado...

... Winning giveaways! Check out this awesome site and bracelet!

... These knitted mitts (rav link). Perfect colors perfect yarn perfect pattern perfect combination.


... My patient, charming, loving, perfect, supportive, glorious Mr. Lobster. Just because. (It's our anniversary in a couple of weeks so expect another gushy session before then... Sorry. :) )


... The idea of kittens being adopted. Not that I don't love my house to be full of kitten cuteness, just that I'm tired of it being unclean, smelling like a kennel, and full of litter and paw prints. I will miss this face, though!


... Working with 2-ply handspun yarn. The color combinations some people come up with are just amazing! Like this one, this one, and this one.

... Tea bowls. I would love some ceramic and gorgeous tea bowls similar to these one day.


... Roving. I'm learning how to spin and now I'm obsessed not only with yarn, but with roving and batts. Here is one of my new favorite etsy links.


... And lastly... To do lists that contain fun and crafty items! Unfortunately today there is a lot of stuff before those items, but I have confidence that I can get things done and have a crafty reward waiting at the end.

A little piece of news... This post is my 99th post. Since my next will be my 100th I'd like to spread some giveaway love. I was thinking knitted giveaway love, actually. Would y'all prefer a chance for a hat or some wrist warmers? Also stay tuned for a blog makeover... I think it's time. :D Leave a comment and let me know which knitted lovely would go better in your closet! (P.S. It will be gender neutral or made especially for the winner... Whichever works out better!)

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

Giveaway Winner and Etsy Link

Hello folks, hope everyone is having a beautiful weekend! The weather around these parts has been cool and cloudy with drops of rain and I love it. After three weeks of 76 degree unchanging weather I'm stoked for something different.


Now down to business shall way? First of all congratulations Jacqueline of Maple Sugar Lyrics! I'm stoked that our very scientific method of choosing a random number ("Sean, pick a number one through eleven.") turned up with my sister. She's always been so supportive and kind about my unconventional ways and I appreciate her. I like that this journey is starting with her!


And click that ^ for my etsy shop. I'm nervous and excited and a bit uninspired by the whole thing today, which is exactly why I gave myself a deadline. I have a tendency to want everything perfect when I'm promoting myself (good thing for business, bad thing for art) and it's not. But there are some awesome dream catchers posted as well as a few photographs. More to come this week... I have some lovely things on the needles (Who can write her own knitting patterns? Me, that's who!) and will be selling the pattern on ravelry and etsy. Also, how about some bistro aprons?


All of this and more! I'll be listing a few things at a time, and I'll be sure to post here and on Facebook (oh and twitter, too) when I list new items. It will sort of be a hodge podge of craftiness, but hopefully someone will find something they like!

Thanks to everyone, stay tuned for a knitting giveaway soon! Oh oh, also stay tuned for adventures in house hunting! We may be moving!!!!!

P.S. The actual url for my etsy shop is theurchiness.etsy.com ! :)

Giveaway!

Yay! The long awaited giveaway and news announcement!

Or else you forgot about that promise and I didn't need to feel guilty every time I sat down to write a post that wasn't this one. :)

So here it is... I'm giving away a hand crafted dream catcher in celebration of my etsy shop opening next week! Yay! All you have to do is spread the love... leave a link back to this blog post any where (facebook, blog, twitter, flickr, whatever) and leave a comment letting me know you've done so! The giveaway will end next Sunday at 10:00am... at which point my etsy shop will open!

This is the dream catcher being given away:


All dream catchers are made from recycled picture frames, hemp, and glass beads! This particular lovely is black on black with a zebra bead. It is 8"x10" and it would look right a home hanging on the wall or placed on a shelf in your home!

Tomorrow I will be back to show you more photos of the process and the goods to be posted in the shop. In the mean time, don't forget to comment for a chance to win!

Okay, okay, here's a tiny peek at one of the other lovelies I've been working on... I'm excited about this one. It's particularly beautiful.


Stay tuned!