New Boutique Arrivals

I worked like a crazy person (emphasis the word "crazy") yesterday getting our newest boutique items listed.  It's very time consuming to take photos, edit photos, write descriptions and list things in 2 shops!  But I met my goal and am finally caught up!  At least for now!  Here's what's new:

Christmas Bottlebrush Trees:

I don't know why I enjoy decorating these so much.  I think it's because I can use a lot of glitter on them.  And ya'll know how much I love my glitter!  These are so pretty with little Christmas Villages!

Next, my Victorian Peacock Ornament:

I had 2 of these but 1 is already gone so I only have 1 left in stock.

Then I added mom's latest Victorian Tussy Mussy's:

Are these precious or what?  They're mini Tussy Mussy Ornaments for Christmas and Mini Tussy Mussy Ornaments for Thanksgiving!  They're just too cute!  I can see them on a vintage Feather Tree!

I also added a ton of our new Glittered Blank Notecards but I'll save those photos for tomorrow.

I guess that's it for today.  Enjoy the photos!  For anyone who prefers shopping at Etsy, our Boutique Items are also available there.

New Boutique Items

Just a quickie post for today ladies!  My "to do" list is a mile long!  Thought I'd share our new Boutique items.  First, mom's new Easter Tussy Mussy's:

I just love mom's tussie mussies!  Next are my little Wedding Bells:

I took vintage bell ornaments, added some tulle, pink ribbon and vintage millinery flowers.  I thought these would be pretty as a Wedding Gift decoration!

Valentine's Day Drawing!

We're having a drawing for Valentine's Day!  The winner will receive the sweet little mini Valentine's Day Tussy Mussy that mom made for the current New Year Romance issue of Shabby Lane Shops magazine:

Visit our Shabby Chic Boutique for more information!

Boutique Valentines

Jan left a comment for me this morning saying that I was a busy lady!  Yes, I am.  When the hands are occupied the mind is occupied.  Keeping busy, keeps me from going crazy.  Short trip, that's for sure!

Anyway, I just added some new Handmade Valentines to our Boutique.  First, 2 more of mom's beautiful Victorian style Tussy Mussy's:

Then I added these sweet little Pink Angel Ornaments that I made:

I hand painted the metal stars pink (had to be pink!) and then added the pink organza ribbon, fancy yarns and the paper angel image.  The wings are dusted with glitter.  Surprised?

Handmade Victorian Tussy Mussy's

I thought I would share mom's newest Tussy Mussy's for Valentine's Day or Shabby Chic Cottage Decor.  Mom's beautiful paper cone Tussie Mussie's are filled with silk flowers, tulle and paper images of angels, little girls, Victorian ladies, kitties and more:

Aren't these beautiful?  I just love mom's work.  She really has a knack for these!

And my latest contribution is a Shamrock Bonnet Lady Lavender Sachet:

This little Potpourri sachet is the first of my St. Patrick's Day additions to our Handmade Shabby Chic Boutique!

Musical Food Dishes

Thank you everyone for your kind thoughts and prayers for my Simba.  He seems to be doing a twinge better.  No peeing or pooping on my floor and he's not throwing up as much as he was. 

He's not at all thrilled with his special diet food but he does take his pill without a second thought.  He just gobbles it up!

The challenge now is the "musical food bowls".  I have to make sure that Simba eats his food and not the others and I have to watch Nightmare & Lucy like a hawk so they don't eat his food. 

My Nightmare is the most persistent cat I've ever met.  I literally have to put him in the bathroom or bedroom so Simba can eat in peace.

So that's where I'm at with this situation.  I can see why I had a breakdown 2 years ago.  I got so tired of dealing with things, fixing things, cleaning things and just plain doing things.  I just got so worn out!  But enough of that.

I spent hours and hours yesterday adding new things to our shop.  Mom & Kathi have made so many beautiful things!  Here's the latest:

Remember, phone & email orders are welcome!

For now, I'm going to stitch on my "mystery CQ project" and do a bit of needle felting.

Thank you again for keeping my Simba in your prayers!

Corn Bread Muffins Recipe

I mentioned on Facebook yesterday afternoon that I had just baked some Chocolate Chip cookies and a batch of Corn Bread Muffins.  I was asked for the recipe.  I intended to post it here anyway because, this is the best Corn Bread I've ever had in my life!  It's mom's recipe.  She's been using this one for years and years and although we've both tried others, nothing compares!  So here it is:

CORN BREAD MUFFINS

1 Cup Milk
1 Egg
1 Cup Flour
3 Teaspoons Baking Powder
1 Cup Corn Meal
1/3 Cup Sugar
1 Teaspoon Salt
1/4 Cup Melted Butter

In a mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredients.  In another bowl, combine all wet ingredients and mix well.  Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients.  Mix well.  Spoon into cupcake tin lined with cupcake papers.  Bake at 400 degrees for 18 - 20 minutes.  Makes 12 regular size muffins.

You can also bake it in a pan.  Either way, you'll never find a better recipe for corn bread than this one!

In other news, I'll have an update on my mystery crazyquilt project either later today or tomorrow.  I did stitch on it yesterday but want to get a little more stitching done before I post an update. So far, you have some very interesting guesses!  I knew it would be fun to keep you all wondering!  LOL!!!


Tomorrow, Kathi and I will be heading up to Delavan Wisconsin for a Holiday Show at Tall Grass Farm.  If you live in the Northern Illinois/Southern Wisconsin area, you might want to check it out!  It's a beautiful farm and there will be all sorts of handmade goodies, roving for felting & spinning, handmade soap and more.  Kathi & I were there in October and had a wonderful time!  If you do head out there, look for the girls with the crazy quilt purses.  That will be us!

I'll leave you for now with some new Christmas Tussy Mussy's by mom:

Chicken Vegetable Soup Recipe

Not much to share today everyone.  I had to call my Dr. yesterday as the withdrawals were so bad and the depression is not gone yet.  She told me to increase the Zoloft back to 50 milligrams per day and then we'll try dropping the dosage again in a few months.  Feels like a step back but I just couldn't take it anymore.  Maybe more of the depression will be gone in a few months.

I did manage to make a big pot of my Chicken Vegetable Soup yesterday:

Here's the recipe:


CHICKEN VEGETABLE SOUP

3 - 4 pounds cooked chicken breast diced
1 cup diced celery
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup diced onion
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1 pound bag frozen mixed vegetables
4 14 oz cans low sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsely or 2 teaspoons dried parsley

Saute onion, carrots, celery & garlic in olive oil.  In soup pot, combine all other ingredients.  Add sauted veggies and let simmer for 1/2 hour.

This recipe makes a huge pot!  It's low salt and low fat.  And it freezes well!  Perfect for a cold Winter day.

I'll leave you with some Gingerbread Men Tussy Mussy's by mom:

Kitty & Me News Brief

Today is the 1st of October.  Where did September go?  And for that matter, where did the Summer go?  Whew!  It was a very hot and humid Summer and I confess, I'm enjoying the cooler weather.  Flea Market season is winding down and I'm looking forward to having more time to use my great junk treasures that I've collected.

I usually host a Guest Blogger on the 1st of the month but my guest for today has taken quite ill so I will reschedule her when she's feeling better.

For today, I thought I would just share our latest Kitty & Me Designs news.

First, we have a new packaging & shipping manager.  My dad is now taking over that end of Kitty & Me.  Running an online shop properly can be quite time consuming.  I spend so much time listing things, taking photos, uploading photos here, there and everywhere, packaging, shipping, promoting and so on, that it's getting a little hard for me to get my things made.  So dad is now our new Shipping Manager!  That should free up a little bit of my time.  All orders will be shipped within 2 business days as usual.

And speaking of new items, here are some of the latest:

I have loads of gorgeous Christmas things to list and will do so as I can.  I have a 2 new Crazy Quilt frame pieces and my plan is to add them to the shop later today.  I'm currently working on 2 customs orders and will share photos of those soon as well.

So let's see, what else is new here.  Well, I joined Handmade Spark.  Here's the link to my site.   I joined them because it helps with Search Engine Optimization (SEO).  It helps bring my items to the top when keywords are Googled.  Yeah, I can't believe how complicated this has become.  But I have to face facts.  My shop is my income.  And the only person who can make it work is me.  You get out of things what you put into them so I've done my research and I'm taking the steps I need to take to make my shop successful.  It can be loads of fun but I won't beat around the bush here.  Waking up to no sales every day is not fun.  Anyone who wants to sell online has to be willing to do the work.  You can't just list your items in your shop and expect people to find you.  The shop owner has to take the necessary steps to be found.  So that's what I'm doing.

I've also started to invest a bit in some advertising.  My sidebar ad at Craftcult starts tomorrow:

 

I think this came out nice.  The ad will link directly to my Etsy shop.

Oh, before I forget, I'm almost at 300 followers!  Yeah!!!  You know what that means, don't you?  As soon as I hit 300, we can have our drawing for my Sewing Art Quilt:

I'm so excited to see who wins this!  And I'll let you in on another secret....as soon as we have a winner for this quilt, I'll have another drawing for another prize!  

News on Mom - Mom is doing very well!  I've been able to wash her hair for her twice and yesterday, we went down to our craft area and worked on some projects.  Yes, mom was glue gunning!!!!  She hates the brace that she has to wear but told me that crafting helped her to feel better.  Yes, creativity is a powerful healer!

Mom has been so taken by all of your sweet comments and well wishes.  She'll put together a new blog post next week sometime.

I guess that's my news for today!  Happy October 1st everyone!  Have a great day!