Etsy sale on chainmaille bracelets

I just wanted to announce a sale in my Etsy shop.  All chainmaille bracelets are currently $10 off regular prices.  Sales prices are as listed.  These prices also apply to custom requests on chainmaille, such as colors or sizing requests.  While you are there, take a look at my new line of handmade soaps!  Happy shopping!

What to do with the extra frosting?

Yesterday we decided to use up the last of the candy canes from Christmas by making these cupcakes.  Ok, ours don't look as perfect as the Soap Queen's, but the girls and I had fun and they turned out pretty good.  No need to adjust your television set, the candy canes really were blue.  I omitted the peppermint extract from the frosting and just made it vanilla because there was already peppermint in the cupcakes and the candy canes.

 So we had these yummy cupcakes, but we also had a ton of leftover frosting, and well, we can't let all that creamy homemade frosting go to waste now, can we?  What to do?  Today we made these lemon drop cookies, added lemon extract and a tad of yellow food coloring to the vanilla frosting, and glazed these tasty cookies.  Very messy dripping the glaze on warm cookies, but so much fun.  The waxed paper under the cookies contained the mess.

Be aware that a 9-year old may enjoy dripping the glaze so much that it may start pooling around the cookies. lol  We are not all about appearances here, we just enjoy the taste.

Thanks for stopping in, and don't forget to take a peek at my Etsy shop.  I have added some new soaps to go with the chainmaille bracelets, handmade wood products, and knitting patterns and knitted objects.

Etsy sale from now until Christmas

Ok, we all know the Christmas shopping season is well underway.  From now until December 25, I will be offering a 30% off coupon code at my Etsy shop.  Enter code DEC2010 at checkout to receive 30% off your total purchase.  Happy shopping!

Cyber Monday sale!

What?  You didn't get a chance to take advantage of the Black Friday/Thanksgiving weekend sale in my Etsy shop?  Well, then here is a new coupon code for Cyber Monday, November 29, starting at midnight and running 24 hours Eastern Standard Time.  The code is CYBER2010 and it is good for 30% off at checkout, regular and sale-priced items included.  Now go shop!

Thanksgiving Weekend Sale on Etsy!

I just wanted to announce that I am having a Thanksgiving weekend sale on my etsy shop. Most items are already marked on sale 20 - 25% off. If you enter coupon code TURKEY2010 at checkout, you will save an additional 15% off the sale price. This sale runs from Thanksgiving Day, November 25, through November 28, 2010. There are knitted garments, toys, and chainmaille bracelets on sale. Or, choose a non-sale item like PDF patterns or woodworking goods, and use the coupon code, and you can still save. Check it out!

Cooking in the yarnhoardin' household

We have been doing a lot of cooking here lately, both me and the girls. Emily loves to cook, and last night she insisted on watching a cooking show on tv. So today, she was putting on her own cooking show. She was narrating which 'gredients she was adding to make 'ssert (dessert lol), and she also made soup and I'm not sure what else. She made sure to announce each ingredient as she added it from a separate bowl, just like they do on tv, mentioning how many grams of each item (grams? that's her own thing lol) and describing how to mix them. And yes, she does like to pose for pictures. Can't you tell?

Last night, Maddie wanted to make butter. We found this great book at the library, 50 Science Things to Make and Do. It called for filling a jar half-full with heavy whipping cream, a pinch of salt to taste, and shaking it for 15 minutes or so. Who knew it was that simple? Ok, so a lot of people did, but I didn't. lol It doesn't look like much, but we have this fresh, spreadable butter in the fridge, waiting for me to make a fresh loaf of bread to go with it.


As for me, I have been working on clean eating, trying to cut out white flour and sugar and man-made chemical additives in my food. So I found this recipe for snack bars made out of dates and nuts, and the kids think they look like dog poop, but they are very tasty. I used pecans instead of cashews.

And finally, for those interested, I have been doing some knitting. My Coraline cardigan is in time-out right now, for daring to let me mess up the first row of smocking on the yoke, and not noticing until I was up to the neck. I ripped back almost 40 rows. So there she sits, in time-out for now, and I'm working on the Krista tee with some friends. Here is the back so far:

Oh, and while you're here, don't forget to click the link towards the top on the right for Eat.Sleep.Knit. I'm collecting yards in the yarnathon and I get 5 yards each time you click! ;)

Help paying to finish college

I am less than a year away from finishing my bachelor’s degree in accounting, and have run out of federal student loan availability. I do not qualify for private student loans, as we had a foreclosure a few years ago when I lost my job and the ARM loans started going crazy for everyone. I can’t even qualify with a co-signer. I’m trying (desperately) to find scholarship/grant opportunities. I am supposed to start a new class in 2 weeks, but I have to come up with $1,675 first. My new Pell money comes in June or July and will help somewhat, then I’ll be a few thousand short of the rest of my program. Any suggestions on help for the meantime? Any benevolent benefactors out there who just want the satisfaction of seeing a mom finish her degree and return to the workforce?