Friday, December 31, 2010

Sephora Lip Gloss Collection - Ittybit's Body Care


A friend of mine gave me this great little collection of Sephora lip glosses as a Christmas gift.   I absolutely love it!  It has six different lip glosses you can use.  The shade starts as a dark raspberry color, to a lighter peach then finishes as a lighter pink.   They're not separate little containers.  They screw on to each other at each black section so you can take them all with you.

Thursday, December 30, 2010

JoAnn's Fabric Visit


I enjoy shopping at JoAnn's Fabrics as much as I enjoy shopping at Michael's Crafts.   I just get lost in the sea of fabric, thred, buttons and the ideas that just keep streaming through my head that sometimes I have a complete overload.  WHEW!!  So needless to say it's always so hard for me to leave either one of these stores without something in hand.  What's a crafter to do?  So when I was in JoAnn's the other day I found these really fun fabric quarters.  I have some ideas for how I will use them.   Stay tuned to see the finished products. 

Ittybit

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Featured Artist - Orangethyme


                                                       Photos via Orangethyme

I stumbled across Orangethyme as a "Featured Seller" on the Etsy home page one day.  When I went to go visit the shop I was quite impressed with the variety of lip balms that this shop has to offer.  It not only offers lip balms but lip tints and perfume oils as well.  What made this shop stand out to me (personally) was the fact the shop owner, Rachel, made a comment about always having to reapply lip balm to her lips to keep them moisturized.  Sound familiar?   She had mentioned that instead of using beeswax she uses cocoa & shea butters, candelilla wax, natural and essential oils and alkenet root.   From the moment that I received my first shipment of lip balms (including the Blackberry lip tint) I could tell a huge difference once I tried my first lip balm.  I also was very pleased with the two perfume oils that I ordered, Vanilla/Rose and Pink Sugar.  It's nice to throw one into my purse and use it later in the day.   Rachel has recently added more "NEW" products to her shop as well as a kid's lip balm line.  I look forward to ordering more products from Rachel since she is a pleasure to work with.

Samples from Orangethyme's Shop:

1. "NEW" Clementine Cupcake Moisturizing Lotion (4oz bottle) - $8.00 each  
*differnent scents to choose from

2. "NEW" Lip Shimmers  (Vintage Bronze, Autumn Leaf and Pixi) - $4.00 each

3. Perfume Oils (different scents to choose from - 3oz bottle) - $8.00 each

4. Lips Balms (different scents to choose from) - $2.50 each

5. Perfume Sample Trio - $6.00 

6. Mini Moisturizing Body Spray (.75oz)

7. Cotton Candy Lip Balm (from Kid's line) - $2.50 

8. Lip Tints - $3.00

9. Gift Sets - $13.00 

*Gift Certificates are also available

Here's a little insight into the owner of Orangethyme:

1. Tell us a little about yourself
My Name is Rachel, and i live with my Husband and Daughter in Eastern Washington.
I work full time in a day job at a local hospital, and when i come home i get started on anything and everything Etsy. I wish that i had the entire day to work on it but for now i have to squeeze it in where i can. I illegally re-list items at work, and check my convo's when i can. I'd love to be able to be in a 'quit your day job' interview sometime soon.
And you never know, if my boss finds out that i use Etsy at work, i just might be doing that interview!

2. How did you become interested in creating?
I have been interested in it since i can remember. I love it, my mind never stops. When i get an idea it's impossible for me to sit on it, i have to make it happen and immediately.

3. What is your inspiration?
Colors, Smells, other peoples inspiration and i have to say my friends. I listen to what they like and look for and i branch out from there.

4. What is your favorite piece you've made and why?
I think that changes often. I have a hard time nailing one thing down as my favorite, but i am quite proud of my Blackberry Lip Tint. It's unique that it has lovely color, and it's all natural. Most tints or lipsticks have a Mica Powder to tint them, and i use Alkanet Root. It limits how broad i can make my tint line, but I think it's worth it. It's my perfected lip balm formula so it's super moisturizing but it's got some color. Best of both worlds. Right now for winter, a little of both is pretty great!


To see all of Rachel's great products, check out Orangethyme.






Handcrafted Christmas Goody Bag - Crafting Project

Finished handcrafted Christmas goody bags. 

                                          Lots and lots of purple colored leaves.

                                        Supplies that were used to create the bags.


WHEW!!!  Boy, did I stay busy over the Christmas season.  I had a lot of handcrafted projects that I did for family and friends that I did this year and did little baking.   But all-in-all everything turned out great.   So here's the start of some of the projects that I did that I wanted to share.  My handcrafted Christmas goody bags.

I decided to pull out the scrap booking paper, white paper bags, glue, white pom-poms, silver paint (not pictured) and make my own leaf template out of card stock to create my own Christmas goody bags this year.  This was a simple project and I would have to say that cutting the leaves is what took some time.  I took a black fine tip sharpie pen and traced all the leaves on to both the dark and light colored purple paper. I then started to cut each one out.  Once I had all of them cut I put those to the side. I then took the white pom-poms (my fingers got a bit dirty using this technique) and rolled them around in a cup that had some silver paint squeezed in to it.   I laid them out onto a paper towel so they could dry overnight.   To fold the leaves in half I used my flat metal clay cutting tool which made the folding so much easier.   I placed some glue on one of the flat sides of the leaves and attached it to the bag.  I let the leaves dry overnight.   I then dabbed some glue on each silver painted pom-pom and attached a group of three on different areas of the leaves.  I was very pleased with the final outcome of the project.

Happy Crafting,
Ittybit

Until my next blog post...

Monday, December 20, 2010

Merry Christmas To All! From Ittybit Delights

                               Photo via Martha Stewart

Now that we are all busy with the holiday season, baking, preparing meals, last minute shopping and wrapping - slow down for a quick moment to take a breathe.  I know that during these holiday times it's a great reminder for myself on how important my family is to me.  It's hard during the year to put into practice on meeting each other for breakfast or lunch and spending quality time with one another.   I challenge you to find a few minutes to sit down from standing in the kitchen to talk and share a cup of java with someone, make someone laugh, play a game or pull out the photo book of great family memories.  I know I will.   And I'm wishing each and everyone of you a very blessed Merry Christmas!  

Hugs to all, 
Ittybit

Until my next blog post...

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Sally Hansen Nail Art Pens - From Ittybit's Body Care


This past weekend I made a quick visit to the CVS Pharmacy to purchase the Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen.  I decided on the pink and white color combo.  I redid my toe nails with some light purple nail polish.  I used two coats to make sure everything was well coated.  Once it had completely dried I went to work on my two tiny little canvases.  I was quite impressed with how well these worked.  They are very easy to use and the fine tip makes it nice.  I do admit you need a steady hand but they are fun.  

Monday, December 6, 2010

Cherry Gingerbread Cupcake Recipe - From Ittybit's Kitchen

                                    Photo via Taste of Home

Since we are in the holiday season it's a great time for baking.  All kinds of eye tempting treats, aromas that will fill our kitchens and just plain good times.   I enjoy eating gingerbread cookies but why not try it as a cupcake?  Especially with cherries!  

This recipe can be found in the Apr/May 2007 issue on page 29.  Recipe was submitted by Laura McAllister.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Lebanese Fatoush Salad Recipe - From Ittybit's Kitchen

Click here for the Lebanese Fatoush salad from the July 1998 issue of Cooking Light.   Garden-fresh veggies make this salad refreshingly crisp and cool, and it's simple too.  It's so tasty you might want to make it your whole meal!