Dena's Blog

Eco Etsy Street Team Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Dena) — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:00:00 +0000

One of my groupings of ribbons and trim has been featured on the Eco Etsy Street Team Blog.

My item is the one on the middle left, #3 or you can check it out on my Etsy site here!

New Re Bag

noreply@blogger.com (Dena) — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 23:27:00 +0000

A new year and a New Bag -

This is the Re Bag because it uses:

* Re-cycled felted wool Sweaters
* Re-claimed Vintage outdoor Fabric
* Re-purposed vintage bed sheets
* Re-used vintage buttons

All Re Bags are OOAK (One of a kind) and are completely customizable if you have specific wants and needs.

To Purchase or see more http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=19953114

Bikram Yoga - Happy Dena

noreply@blogger.com (Dena) — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 19:51:00 +0000

I have been trying to get myself in shape for a while now! I had blood work at the beginning of the year (See Below)! YIKES my Cholesterol was BAD - My doctor wanted to put me on medicine - but I asked her if we could try diet and exercise for 6 months and see if that would work.

So a Hot yoga studio opened just down the street - so no excuse not to go! I started going as much as I could at least 3 days a week! For those who dont know - Hot yoga is a form of Bikram yoga which is a series of 26 postures that are done in a room heated to 104 degrees for 90 minutes. I sweat anyway when I work out - so why not make it part of the workout itself!

In the beginning I would barely make it through the class. And wouldn't be able to get into half the postures. But pressed on because I felt better physically!

So last month I got my Cholesterol retested at the doctor! OMG Look at the changes!

Triglycerides: 283 to 106 - - - 177 point drop
Total Cholesterol: 244 to 179 - - - 65 point drop
HDL Cholesterol: 38 to 45 - - - 7 point up (this is the 'good' cholesterol)
LDL Cholesterol: 149 to 113 - - - 36 point drop

My doctor can not believe the results! She actually had to check my chart to make sure that I wasn't taking any medication to help it lower!

In those 8 months I didn't change my diet drastically, just went to Hot Yoga 3 days a week most weeks. Yogiraj Bikram Choudhury the designer of Bikram Yoga states that he feel that these 26 postures can help or cure most things. I am a firm Believer in this form of exercise and would recommend it to anyone that wants to get into shape.

It is not easy at first, but with dedication and time you can enjoy the 90 minutes and the heat!

Our wedding in Brides Magazine!

noreply@blogger.com (Dena) — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 16:20:00 +0000

I just heard from out wedding photographer that a photo from our wedding has been featured in Brides Magazine. See the Fiddler photo at the bottom of Andru Bemis http://andrubemis.com/

Original Blog post from Anne

Gonnella breadcrumbs movie sighting

noreply@blogger.com (Dena) — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 03:51:00 +0000

While watching the movie 'The Promotion' that is based in Chicago in a
grocery store. There was a long shot on a loading dock with a full
pallet of Gonnella breadcrumbs. Family bakery in the movies - I feel
special now!

Swimming Mania

noreply@blogger.com (Dena) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 14:42:00 +0000

The Hubby and I have been watching the Olympics EVERY night. We love it. Everyday that Michael Phelps has a event NBC cameras are all over him. Such as, last night during one of his many prelims, I learned that he has the legs size of a 6' man but a torso of a 6'8" man. Interesting. . . but can I see the WHOLE water polo game instead?!?!?!

I found this shirt first on Crafster.com and then on Etsy.com. I just think it relates so well to the Phelps Mania.

"Michael Phelps Dived for my Swims"

Classic!

Wholesale Avaliable!

noreply@blogger.com (Dena) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 15:47:00 +0000

It is official. I do wholesale orders. I have been promoting via my Etsy shoppe. But have finally added a page to my website for information on my wholesale items.

So if you know someone that knows someone that want supper cute up-cycled bags, accessories, or little whales - send them my way.

I have already had two wholesale orders last month. They came within a day or two of each other. The owners of the shops said they loved them. Now I am just waiting for some reorders to come in!

Have a great day!

Nose Plugs <> Olympic Swimming

noreply@blogger.com (Dena) — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 03:49:00 +0000

Most people that know me, know that I was a swimmer and water polo player for my whole younger life. Since the age of 4-5 I have competitively swam and then in my high school & college years I also played Water polo.

So while on this Fourth of July, while watching the Swimming Olympic trials, I was a gast to see a swimmer of my old stroke, the backstroke, wearing noseplugs!?!?!?! Is this synchronized swimming or real swimming? These people are in the olympic trials, and are better than I could even been. BUT, nose plugs?!?!? A fundamental in swimming is not sucking in water up your nose and I am sure these swimmers know that one. They must know something that I dont know with wearing them, just like those crazy new fangled swimsuits!

Picture of Haley McGregory from Olympic Trials wearing NOSE PLUGS!!

Eco Etsy Street Team - Featured Seller

noreply@blogger.com (Dena) — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 20:27:00 +0000

Yup, thats me!

Click the link to see the article!

Eco Etsy Street Team Blog

Just hanging around

noreply@blogger.com (Dena) — Tue, 20 May 2008 19:55:00 +0000

Just hanging around, originally uploaded by Dena Bena.

These little Whale toys are now complete with eyes and are for sale in the etsy shop - See Link on Right -

I think they turned out SUPER cute and even come with the link to attach to things!

Whale of a Good Time

noreply@blogger.com (Dena) — Fri, 02 May 2008 20:07:00 +0000

To go forward with my new found joy in felting crochet projects, I have created a whale.

The pattern is from a Japanese site. Here is the link to the PDF. I did not find the graphs hard to follow. Snuffykin Journal has some tips on using the pattern. It is actually fun having this pattern out so other people can see it. They look at you weird!

Since I knew I wanted to felt it I used the pattern, but used a J hook to crochet and some of the recycled wool yarn from the sweater that I took apart. I semi stuffed it, knowing that it was going to shrink. And then threw it in the washing machine for a hot cycle.

Before:
After:
He turned out really cute and fluffy. I needle felted on eyes and a mouth. He is even on sale now in my Etsy Shoppe!

Stay tuned for his little friends!

Edit *I should learn how to spell!

I got an Etsy Treasury!

noreply@blogger.com (Dena) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 17:43:00 +0000

A week ago - I created a list of things that I wanted to accomplish with my business.

~~Create my own treasury~~ - I have now created my 3rd one!
~~Be picked to be in someone else's treasury~~ - I JUST got this one! SEE BELOW
~~My treasury on the front page~~ - My first treasury that I created did this.
My products on the front page

So Yea, Soulfulhues from Etsy shop http://www.soulfulhues.etsy.com selected my Felted bucket for a Team Eco Etsy treasury.

See it there in the upper right corner! I am so excited. You can click the image or go here to see it in person.

I guess it is time to add some more items to the list above!

Two Little Visitors

noreply@blogger.com (Dena) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 15:33:00 +0000

Not very crafty - but we had two visitors yesterday that were lost. They came up to the window in our front room. The Pit mix came right on the porch. But it took me quite a while to get the shepard mix on the porch. They were all wet, looked like they just went swimming in the gulf. NO TAGS on either dog. So I called Animal Services. They came within a hour to pick them up. The Animal serivce lady even checked for a micro chip, but neither had one. She said that they are offered for $15!

So moral of the story, GET YOUR DOG OR ANIMAL MICROCHIPED! Better yet - have an idendify tag on them so that neighbors can call you and not the County!

The two puppies were sweet, and not aggressive. The Pit Mix had a ver unusual face and nose. One Blue eye and one brown, and the nose was half pink and half black. She was VERY sweet and looked like she had a litter recently. Hopefully the owner finds them at the County animal services. Lucky the County will microchip them and get rid of the fleas before the owner can pick them up!

Happy Earth Day - Hubby's New Bag

noreply@blogger.com (Dena) — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 23:42:00 +0000

My hubby is now bringing his lunch to work. I let it go a week using left over plastic shopping bags to carry all the yummies.

I made the most manly bag that I could that he could bring to work.

It was made with fabric from my stash with braided cotton webbing, elastic, red binding, and a brown vintage button.

I used this tutorial from Http://www.ohfransson.com with a few changes. I omitted the use of the grommets and added cotton webbing, used red binding to finish the inside edge so that there was less fabric to fold over, and added the button and elastic closure - so no apples get lost in transit.

I fused a stabilizer to both the outside fabric and the lining for stability and durability, since my hubby is using it! :)

The finished size is 7" x 5" x 9" high.

Baby Whale

noreply@blogger.com (Dena) — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 20:43:00 +0000

My neighbor has a lot of friends that are pregnant and due soon. She asked me if I could get together a grouping of items that would make a great gift for a mom to be!

I have been experimenting with felted crochet, see the fucket post, and have moved into animals. Right now it is whales. I created a pattern for a small whale that includes a loop that you can hang from a stroller so it doesn't get lost.

Here is the before. (Shown on a folded 6" x 11" piece of paper.)
And the after. I hand felted this piece, but in the future I will probably machine felt them. Less wear on the hands.
I think he turned out supper cute and is ready for me to make some friends. Since he is small, they are a quick project to finish while watching TV.

P.s. Don't let Milo see it, his is on its way over the ocean to him :)

Sternlab.

noreply@blogger.com (Dena) — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 05:08:00 +0000

Sternlab.I would call this extreme knitting. Hopefully the place that you are using this is COLD. I can imagined how toasty warm it would get inside this thing. But it does keep prying eyes off what you are doing, and keeps you focused on your work.

Maybe I should get this to finish my taxes! Yes I know they are late, but we filed an extension. It is my fault for not keeping up on my business stuff. :(

More photos on Flickr here.

A Felted Bucket or Fucket

noreply@blogger.com (Dena) — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 19:47:00 +0000

My mom got me on this kick to unravel the many unfelted wool sweaters that I have to the raw yarn. I found a great sweater and stared unraveling. I have always loved the patterns of items that are first knitted and then felted, but you know that I do not knit. So I found a pattern for a bucket bag, or a diddy bag as the pattern calls it.

I crochet it up and then threw it in our washer with some other items that I needed to felt. It was HUGE before it was felted, and you can see in the photo. It ended up being only 5.5" in diameter in the end. So it felted over half - WOW!

It came out all cute. I dried it over a canister form that I had in the kitchen.

It is complete now and up for sale in my Etsy shop.

Coming soon are some other items that I crochet and felted. You are not going to believe how cute they are!

Denarella Designs Update

noreply@blogger.com (Dena) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 20:02:00 +0000

I have finally updated my Denarella Designs website. It now includes information on me and also commissioned items that I have done in the past.

I would love to hear what you think!

Product Photos - Help

noreply@blogger.com (Dena) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 19:17:00 +0000

Today was a nice and sunny day. But it is starting to get HOT here in Clearwater. We have already had to turn on the air because we are having moisture issues with our Bamboo floor, but it is about time anyway to live in the air conditioning. So, that means that we will not turn the air OFF till like October. This is the price we pay to live in Florida.

I took a bunch of photos today of items to add to the etsy shoppe. I did mostly the same that I completed in the previous post, but I took a few with just a white background.

Here are the side by side.

As you can tell I am still not satisfied with my photos yet. And just recently the camera that I like to use for my shots, fell on the floor and the screen is done. It was a great Casio camera, and I knew where all the function that I needed were, so now I am using out older Cannon PowerShot. We do have TWO digital SLR camera, but I am just not in the mood to really learn how to use them right now.

Really truly I would like to know what you think of the photos! Just post a comment here and spill your guts!

Honda Fits

noreply@blogger.com (Dena) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 02:43:00 +0000

Pulling out of the Target parking lot

See another Honda Fit in my rear view mirror

He: *Head nod*
Me: *Head nod*

Pulls up next to me at the red light

He: 'Nice Honda.'
Me: 'Thanks, yours too.'
He: '2007?'
Me: 'Yea, is yours the 2008?'
He: 'Yea, and it's turbo charged!'

Red light -> turns to green.
He floors it and cuts me off.

He know that he is still driving a Honda, right??

Treasury Update

noreply@blogger.com (Dena) — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 19:08:00 +0000

-----UPDATE-----

One of the persons that I featured on the treasury has given me a shout out on her blog. Industrial Poppy made the super cute mice as seen here. She has sold the first set, but has posted more!

Thanks again for your kind words!

My Etsy Treasury

noreply@blogger.com (Dena) — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 15:35:00 +0000

In the world of Etsy.com where I sell all of my products now, there are a few things that you strive to do.

Create your own treasury
Be picked to be in someone else's treasury
Your treasury on the front page
Your products on the front page

Well this week I got to complete two of those items - I created my own treasury. A treasury in Etsy terms is a collection of products that you can pick that all match a similar theme, or don't, it is really up to you. The exclusiveness of the treasury is that the number of them is limited and you have to be there at the EXACT moment to get one.

Well I got one. I created it about Recycling and recycling wool sweaters. I picked some awesome items from other artist that use the same stuff that I do! I also tried to pick the little guys, the ones that needed sales or needed some exposure! The same stuff that I need!

So this morning I got a message that MY treasury made it to the front page! YEA! Thank you to Etsy user Jenarter for sending me the pic of the front page.

Etsy Update and Photo Box

noreply@blogger.com (Dena) — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 18:48:00 +0000

I have been updating my Etsy shoppe today with new QuicKEYs that I have finally finished from the -in-process- pile. I really don't understand why I have a 'pile' for this. The last step is the easiest. But finally it is complete.

While finishing compiling my items for this years taxes - note to self keep on top of the tax stuff during the year! I decided that I need to sell more stuff - DUH! So I will be adding new items to my Etsy Shoppe weekly. I will also be updating all of you more with items that I am doing. I will try to give more insight to what goes on in my head when I create.

Today I got out my homemade macro studio that I made from a post on one of many blogs that I read Strobist. I usually use it to take the photos that I use for Etsy. It is crazy easy to make and I think that the photos that it helps take look fairly good. You just need a box, recycled is better, and you cut the two sides and then the top out, with keeping a edge that you can tape the tracing paper. Tape tracing paper over the whole and TA DA!!! it is complete. You are only limited to the size of the box and the tracing paper.

I think that the photos are best taken outside, with the sun hitting the side of the box. With the tracing paper that covers the wholes that you made it difuses the light enough to keep the photo shadow free and keep all the colors true. I use a piece of recycled packing paper for my background. I think that it adds a extra feel to the photos. I also sometimes use this setup to take photos in my office. It works just as well but I still prefer the color that you get from outside. I am lucky living here in Florida, we get sun all the time.

I would love to hear what you think of my photos. Do they show you the product in an effective way? Are they clear? Do you like the background?

Thank you!

Enjoying my 29th birthday

noreply@blogger.com (Dena) — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 20:14:00 +0000

Picking up dog food with the Easter bunny. And, NO, I didnt buy them.

My 29th birthday!

noreply@blogger.com (Dena) — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 18:01:00 +0000

Enjoying it at the beach, with the dog!