Well I have an answer to that question.  Etsy is the foremost place to go on the internet to find quality handmade items.  Come see what I found!

Monkey Wrench Silk Necktie- Projector- York, England
Standard width 100% silk tie with an adjustable wrench design, screen printed and ready to ship in the three colors shown.  Baby blue on a navy tie, Gold on an olive green tie, or Dove gray on a black tie. Their standard width silk ties are 3.75″ at their widest and 1.25″ at their narrowest, and the overall length is 56″. All of their ties come ready for giving as a gift complete with greetings tag for your special message.  $30.00 Projectors’ aim is to provide original neck wear designs for people who are looking for something different from the ‘run of the mill’ stuff found in retail outlets.

Fathers Day Fishing Lure- Peachwik- Gonic, NH
The perfect gift for the dad who loves to fish! This is a steel metal spoon fishing lure with glossy white coating and treble hook.  The artwork is heat fused to the fishing lure – not a sticker or decal – will not crack, fade or peel.  Fishing lure is approx. 4.25″ long (from lure to end of hook) and is approx 1.25″ wide at the widest point. The treble hook itself is approx 1.25″ long.  $16.00

New Daddy Gift Set- Zoey’s Attic- St. Louis, MO
Perfect gift set for the new dad and his new adorable baby. This listing comes with a matching onesie to give as a set for baby showers, father’s day or hospital gift set. Dad will love wearing this slightly slim cut, super soft and hip ringer tee t shirt to the gym, running errands or even to wear in the hospital when the new little ones makes his or her appearance and imagine the photo ops for both of them. S I Z E S: Men’s M, L, XL, XXL ($3 more), Sizes are slightly slim fitting – not super fitted, but not super loose. For baby: NB, 6mos, 12mos,and even larger t-shirts available -18mos, 2t, 4t! $37.50

Hand Carved Caricature Golf Ball with Dimples-GT Carvings- Greg from Ann Arbor, MI
Carved from the core of the golf ball, each face has its own personality. The center of each ball has its own texture and material and the color shown is that of the inside itself, not painted.  $25.00  A caricature carver for over 10 years, GT Carvings specializes in hand carved caricature golf balls, and will also be adding carved ornaments and caricature figurines as times goes on. 

Dad You Rock Pears- SkyeArt- Monument, CO
Three of the most darling little pears you will ever lay eyes on. Handmade by moi, and then stamped with words. I don’t ever use molds or templates to make my sculptures, they are totally handmade from start to finish by me. Made of polymer clay and painted, and finished with a coat of high quality clear varnish. Just line them up on your mantle, somewhere in your cubicle, a window sill, just about anywhere for instant cuteness. You won’t be able to stand it. Each pear is about 2″ high x 1 1/2″ wide. $32.00

1966 Ford Mustang Hubcap Clock- 8 Mile Creek Designs- Baldwin City, KS
This clock is a 14″, 1966 vintage Ford Mustang hubcap. Like most vintage hubcaps this one has a few nicks and dings adding to the character of the piece.  It runs on one AA battery.  $55.00 

Tales of the Crypt Handpainted Custom Shoes- Inkheart Kicks- Felix from Nottingham, UK
Hand painted one of a kind kicks! This design is based on original artwork from the Tales from the Crypt Comic! Be assured that these kicks are totally individual, you won’t see anyone else in these!  The shoes are hand painted with elastic acrylic, so don’t worry about the rain. They can be wiped clean with a clean damp cloth too. Each pair comes in its own little handmade dust bag.  $84.30

Mens Soap Set in Cigar Box- Abela Bodycare- Seagrove, NC
The soaps are arranged in a vintage Emanelo cigar box (how long ago was it that cigars cost 26 cents?!), with 100% recycled shredded eco-packing. Soaps include: Wake-Up Bar, 930 Pint Beer Soap, Southwind Farm, Simple Soap, and Cedarwood Lemongrass.  The heart garland was for photo purposes, and is not included. The box will be wrapped with ribbon. Rainwater is filtered and used in all their soaps.  This creates a soap that is exceptionally gentle on the skin. Each large bar weighs approximately 6 ounces.  $28.00

Fork Head Golfer- All Forked Up-  Judson from North Salt Lake, UT
Fore!!!!!— KKkk!!!  An awesome display for any golf enthusiast!  Whether it be your boss, father, step-sibling, or whoever, this gift will get laughs from everyone. It’s stainless steel so it won’t rust on you, and the ball comes off in case you want to change it. Great for the trophy room, office, den or as a general decor.  $27.50  

Buckeye Turquoise Inlay Cigar Pen- R. Neely Pens- Shreveport, LA

This is a unique Handmade Buckeye Burl Cigar Twist Pen, with with several hand-crushed, hand-selected bright blue turquoise nugget inlays, from the Sleeping Beauty Mine in Arizona. A piece of wood like this only comes along, one out of a hundred blanks, note the two pair of eyes on the cap, and the nib section filled with turquoise. This pen comes with a generic black ballpoint refill, andwill include a very smooth writing Genuine Parker Medium Point Black Gel refill to upgrade the performance of this pen! $99.95

Olive Wood Chess Set.- Premium Olive Wood- Germany
Dimensions total board: approximately 15,75 inch x 15,75 inch.  Attention: The board which comes will be a bit bigger than on the picture. The playing area will be bigger…but the wooden area around the playing area will be smaller. (the board comes with the chess figures).  Chessboard and figures are handmade. Olive wood is one of the hardest woods in the world and impresses with its exceptional grain and is easy to maintain.  Just rub it regularly with some simple cooking oil or olive oil.  $74.00

Circuit Board Clock- TecoArt- Lakewood Ranch, FL
The clock is attached to an interesting circuit board that used to control a computer hard drive mounted on an acrylic stand.  Circuit board components are hand painted a glitter gold for very unique look.  Clock dial is actual mirror-finished Laptop disk platter.  Hour, minute and second lock hands are all brass with golden-raised dashes at the 12-3-6-9 hour positions.  Approximately 4″ wide by 7″ tall.  Artist signed and numbered “Certificate of Authenticity.”  Great gift for a co-workers, family members, friends or your favorite geek (which may be any of the aforementioned!)  $37.00 

Pretty awesome, right?  I love the imagination and ingenuity that can be found on Etsy.  So go grab a cup of coffee and show these shops some love!

Do you love to knit, but are stumped by certain knitting stitches such as the cast-on?  Knitting instructor, Liat Gat, has just launched a new ebook on Cast-Ons.  The perfect way to begin a project perfectly!

Learn to knit like a superstar with Liat from Knit Freedom!  The Cast-on is the beginning of a project, and what better way to get a project started professionally than to learn a proper cast-on?

Did you know that there are over 50 different cast-ons that you could use for any given project?  Each cast-on stitch has a different purpose.  For example:

• Tillibuddy’s cast-on to create a buttonhole,
• Italian tubular cast-on to invisibly start ribbing
• Chain cast-on to perfectly match your cast-on and bind-off edges

Liat shows you in detail 38 different cast-ons, explains their uses and teaches you not only how to create each stitch, but understand why you would use that particular stitch for a project.

I’ve been a fan of Liat’s ebooks for years.  All her knitting tutorials have amazingly clear, beautiful videography.  She patiently shows you how to complete stitches, repeating the steps until you are confident in your own ability.  I have sat for quite a while in front of the computer and one of her videos, knitting along as she shows me the ropes.

It is like having your own personal knitting instructor come to your house at your convenience!

Be sure to check out Liat’s latest video, Cast-Ons, along with her other great instructive ebook courses.  You will be knitting like a pro in no time!

And then you can tackle some great free knitting projects like these!

Butterfly Garden Sock Pattern from Knit Picks, and Zip Front Cardigan by Patons Yarn

 Buttercup by Drops Design, and Amy Doll by Yvonne Boucher

I received a free copy of Cast-Ons by Liat Gat in order to do this review.  My opinions are entirely my own.  Her stuff is awesome.

It’s time again for the weekly Photography Challenge!  Each week I announce a new theme and our challenge is to come up with an amazing photograph that fits that theme.  It is a great chance to learn all the bells and whistles of our digital cameras, and have a bunch of fun along the way.

This week our theme is “Work of Art”.  But before we begin, please take a few moments to check out some of the amazing photos submitted last week, when our theme was “Weather”!  Seems that most of us (including me) were most impressed with wintery weather!  Ha!

Our theme this week is “Work of Art”, and our challenge was to take a photograph and use the free software available at Picmonkey.com to create a photograph that looks like an actual work of art.

My chosen photo this week was taken in downtown Seattle, Washington.  We were in the older district in town, doing the tourist thing and I took lots of photos of the older buildings.  The intent as always, was to go home and paint all the beautiful things I had seen.  And as usual, those photos are still sitting there waiting for me to find the time to grab those paint brushes and make some art.

The challenge the week allowed me to go ahead and do just that!  I ran this photo through just about every special option in Picmonkey.com, playing with textures, adding extra color, and making tons of adjustments.  I love the fact that you can add an option to your photo and if you don’t like it, you can easily remove it and move on.

The end result was a “Work of Art”!  I love how it turned out.  And to make it look even more like a painting, I even “signed” it in the corner.

This photo was taken with my Canon SX30IS and edited using the free software at picmonkey.com.  (I am not an affiliate of Picmonkey- I just love their software).

This is my childhood church in Pea Ridge, Arkansas. I played with picmonkey.com to add the effects. ~Brenda Williams- Weatherford, OK- Cats, Kids and crafts

This is a photo I took of an historic home in Ardmore, Oklahoma. I used picmonkey.com to make it appear like a piece of art work. ~Brenda Williams- Weatherford, OK- Cats, Kids and crafts

I’ll add a few images from my former home town, Antwerp. They are the cathedral, the ancient Bourla theater and a statue of one of our famous painters Jacob Jordaens. ~Luc

You know the local. this is my gal, shes in the woods, right where she stoods…~ Jeff, Douglasville, GA

Next Weeks Theme- Architecture

Next week we will be looking at the beauty of buildings and man-made structures. Architecture is an art form all in itself. I have lost count of how many times I’ve found myself taking photos of amazing pieces of architecture while touring a new town or city.

So our challenge next week is to take an amazing photograph of architecture!  Ready, Set, Go!

See you back here next week!

Be sure to visit some of our previous photography challenges!

Are you new to the Sitcom?  Be sure to check out my Frequently Asked Questions Page!

Do you have a blog and want to start making a bit of money off of it?  Did you ever consider that it can actually be lucrative?  For a very short time, Blogelina is once again offering her very popular 4-week blogging class — for FREE!  This online class will be held in June 2013.

This is a $100 value!  FREE!  But hurry- this offer ends on May 31, 2013!

What does it include?

• The Class Manual – packed with 60 pages of information that will help take the overwhelming out of starting your own blog.  This manual includes such things as

  • How to Get Your Blog Started on the Right Foot
  • Questions to ask as you begin blogging
  • How to Choose a Web Host for Your Blog
  • Why Your Blog Design is So Important
  • 9 Different Ways to Easily Monetize Your Blog
  • How to Draw Visitors to Your Blog

• 4 weekly online class sessions where you can ask your questions and get personalized feedback

• A FREE Year of Web hosting! Blogelina will provide each person who registers for Blogelina’s Online Class, a complimentary year of web hosting ($84 value)!

That’s right – no strings attached, no hidden requirements… Just register for the class through the button below and start building your profitable blog today – for free!   Blogelina got the Sitcom on the right track, and I know that this class is an invaluable asset.  Take advantage of a good thing and check out her class!

Go here to sign up for the FREE 4-week blogging class.

(This post contains my referral link. Here’s my full disclosure policy.)

There are lots of great free quilt patterns to be found on the web!  Add a bit of color to your summer days and quilt a pretty throw or lap quilt!

I did a search for patterns that are not only colorful and fun, but are also simple enough for a beginning quilter to tackle.  Want to see what I found?

 The Military Nine Patch by Cindy Carter.  There are several versions of this quilt pattern on Cindy’s site, but I love this one the most.  I think it would look fabulous on a little girl’s bed.

 Square Dancing Lap Quilt Pattern by Sandi Irish.  This quilt is a great use for fat quarters.  Mixing fabrics and prints can create a whole new look.  A great pattern to experiment with!

Windmills at Night lap quilt by Suzys Sitcom.  This is my latest quilt pattern design created with pre-cut strips of fabric called jelly rolls.  A beginner’s pattern with pop!

Candy Hearts Quilt from Moda Bake Shop.  Look difficult?  Not at all.  In fact, this is a very simple method of applique!  It would make a fabulous baby quilt.

Peas in a Pod by McCalls Quilting. The brightly colored fabrics make this quilt pattern pop.  It would be a sunny addition to your summer chaise.

Happy Cats by Caroline Reardon.  This sweet pattern was originally published in Quiltmaker magazine in support of Project Linus, an organization that provides handmade blankets for seriously ill or traumatized children. You can learn more or find a chapter near you by going to their web site at www.projectlinus.org.

Gathered Quilt by Train to Crazy.  All you need to know how to do to make this quilt is sew a straight line!  Very detailed tutorial.  Choose bright colors and go for it!

The I-Spy Disappearing Nine Patch by Obsessively Stitching.  This is a great use for novelty fabrics.  Looks difficult?  You will be surprised.  You can create this colorful quilt in just a weekend!

Summer Jewels Lap Quilt by Suzys Sitcom.  This is my absolute favorite color combination!  Another great use of pre-cut fabric strips.  This quilt goes together surprisingly fast!

Kissing Fish Baby Quilt by Freshly Pieced.  A clever use of triangles creating lots of kissing fishes!  A perfect gift to make for that next baby shower!

Never quilted before?  Try your hand at one of these simple quilts.  Start small with a lap quilt or baby quilt.  You just might become addicted to quilting like I am.  And in the process, you will create something beautiful that will be treasured for years to come!

Are you new to the Sitcom?  Be sure to check out my Frequently Asked Questions Page!

For more than 100 tutorials for all ages, visit my tutorial page!

In need of a bit of free advertising for your blog, your Etsy shop or your latest project?  The Sitcom currently has over 15,000 subscribers.   Take advantage of the momentum and get your stuff out there!  Commercial Break Thursday is your opportunity for a free ad, and a chance to be featured!

This week I am featuring Audrey from HGK Handmade.  Audrey is a master at beautiful crafts, with a definite specialty in hand sewn embroidery and beadwork.  She does beautiful work.  The intricate stitching on her items is amazing and I spent quite a while on her website admiring her handmade items.

Audrey says, “I love to knit, sew, crochet, craft and garden. And to play around with felt, yarn, thread, scissors, glue, needles and beads. Mother to 2 little boys, wife to a larger one, and sharing a home with one grumpy kitty.  This blog is where I show things I create and things that make me happy”.

Audrey offers her beautiful handstitched items and beadwork through her website HGK Handmade, and her beadshop.  Be sure to take a few moments and check out some of her work.  You will be amazed at the beautiful details, and I’m betting you will find a few things that you just got to have.  I know I did.

Then take another moment and promote yourself!

Please feel free to link up your latest crafty project your blog or your Etsy shop.  That way we can all get a little self-promotion in. A little bit of advertising and self promotion never hurts.   Next week, I will randomly choose one of you to  feature.   Please link away, and be sure to visit some of the other folks who link up.

And it would be totally awesome if you would add the button below to your blog to give the Sitcom a shout-out. Link lists are a great way to help each other out!  Just copy the code below the button and place it on your page or sidebar if you have a blog!

<div align="center"><a href="http://suzyssitcom.com" title="Suzys Artsy Craftsy Sitcom"><img src="http://suzyssitcom.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Sitcom-Button150x150.jpg" alt="Suzys Artsy Craftsy Sitcom" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Link away for some free advertising!

P.S. If you’re reading this in an e-mail or reader, click HERE to see all of the fabulous creations linked up at the Sitcom!

Are you new to the Sitcom?  Be sure to check out my Frequently Asked Questions Page!

**EDITED** Apparently the server is down at Linky Tools.  I apologize for the inconvenience.  With any luck, they will be back up shortly.  ~suzy

Try your hand at paper crafts!  This beautiful butterfly in a jar not only is a great way to recycle, but makes a fabulous conversation piece.  Paper quilling with colored cardstock and a recycled jar!

So I have this thing about throwing perfectly good things away.  Like pickle jars.  I love those huge kosher dill pickles.  I snack on them all the time.  And they come in nice sized glass jars.  Of course, I certainly cannot throw them away, so I’ve accumulated at least 20 of them in the back of my kitchen cupboard.  This week, I decided to put one of them to good use.  I created a quilled butterfly in a jar.  The perfect pet.  No back-talking, no poopy on the kitchen floor, no begging at the table.

For this project I used:

I wanted to create a Monarch butterfly from my quilling paper, so I pulled a photo off of the internet for reference.  I then cut my cardstock in 1/8″ strips.  For the butterfly, I used black, dark orange, light orange, and yellow.  Using the quilling tool, I then coiled the strips, dabbed a bit of tacky glue on the end to hold it, and pinched the end to create teardrop shapes.

Compensation and products for review were provided by Glidden via MomTrends. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions of Glidden.

Today is the big room reveal!  I have been working all month on creating an awesome Disney themed room using new Disney Paint and their Ready, Set, Glow! specialty finish- glow in the dark paint.   In part one of this series, I showed you Disney’s new line of paints along with their five innovative specialty finishes that are easy to use and apply.

In Part Two of the series, I showed you how to use the specialty finish, Ready, Set, Glow!  We made an entire wall of glowing butterflies and a beautiful fairy.  The paint was so easy to use and the glow in the dark effect was just awesome!

And here is the finished room!

 This is a reminder of what it looked like before!  What an amazing difference!  The Enchanted Violet paint added just the right color to the wall to make this room pop, and adding a few coordinated accessories just brought it to a whole new level.

And look what happens when you turn out the lights!  I just love this fabulous glow-in-the-dark feature!

 Included in the room are several crafty projects that have been featured on the Sitcom that fit perfect with our Disney fairy theme!  Included were my Stenciled Flower Wall Art, Chrysanthemum Mirror (made from plastic spoons!), and my Paper Flower Topiaries.

I placed a pretty lime green cover over the brown chair, and added pillows and stuffed animals to go along with our Disney theme.

Our Disney theme also includes this beautiful comforter and my Stenciled Flower Pillows.

What a great way to make a room beautiful without spending a ton of money!

And now for the big reveal!  I invited over my niece and a small group of her friends and parents to check out the room.  Because after all, if we are going for a Disney theme, we need to see if we are successful!

So I put together some appropriate treats for a Disney party, and invited them all to come see!

The looks on their faces made the whole process so worth it!

I invited them to stay for a pajama party because after all, the star of the show was the Disney Ready, Set, Glow! Paint and the only way to see that would be to wait until after dark.  The girls had a total blast, and so did their parents as I gave away a $50 Walmart gift card to one lucky mom.

Comments from the girls included:

“I love the glow in the dark fairy!  She is beautiful!”

“This is my dream bedroom!”

“My favorite part is the glowing butterflies!” 

“Soooo pretty!”

I am so grateful to the wonderful folks at Glidden for allowing me to try out the new Disney Paint.  I highly recommend the paint for any room!  It goes on smoothly (one coat was plenty for this room) and was virtually odorless, making the whole painting experience pleasant.

My little guest room went from drab to beautiful and is now a very inviting place for guests.  Especially young guests, or at least the young at heart!

Compensation and products for review were provided by Glidden via MomTrends.  The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions of Glidden. 

It is time again for the photography challenge!  Each week, I present a new theme and challenge myself and anyone else that would like to participate to come up with a photo that represents that theme.  It is an opportunity to try out all the bells and whistles of your fancy digital camera and have some fun along the way.

This week our theme is “Weather”.  But before we begin, please take a few moments to check out some of the amazing photos submitted last week, when our theme was “Wilderness”!  The submissions were just beautiful!

This photo was taken a few years ago as we really haven’t seen any decent snow here in Georgia in quite a few years.  So when we do, not only does the city of Atlanta totally shut down, but we run outside and take lots of photos, build snowmen, and just plain act like kids.  This is my driveway and a bit of sunrise, all framed with beautiful fresh snow.

Meanwhile, the local reporters are out in the field with their rulers showing us just how deep and treacherous this half inch of snow can be!  Only in the South.  Really.

This photo was taken with my Canon SX30IS and edited using the free software at picmonkey.com.

I will be revealing my new Disney themed room next Monday!  Created with the help of Disney Paint, and the Disney specialty paint, Ready, Set, Glow! glow in the dark paint.  In the meantime, I want to show you another project that I made for the room- DIY Stenciled Pillows!

Last week, I showed you how to make your own stencil and how to create a great piece of stenciled wall art.

This week, we are going to make some matching pillows to bring the colors in the room together.

For this project, I used:

About 2 yards of cotton canvas fabric
RIT Dye in pink, purple and apple green
Salt
Fabric Paint in hot pink, lime green and bright yellow
Flower Stencil pattern
Blank stencil
sponge brush
Stick-on Fabric Jewels
Fiber fill

Begin by cutting your fabric in (six) 20″ x 20″ pieces.  We are going to dye the pieces using RIT liquid dye.  Believe me, it is extremely easy to use the liquid dye.  You will be surprised.  To make a dye bath, use an old pot or glass dish (plastic will take the color).  Fill with very hot water and add one cup of salt.  Stir.  Then add about 1/2 cup of liquid dye.

Put on some plastic gloves to protect your hands from the color.  Stir again, to evenly distribute the dye, and then place one piece of fabric into the dye bath.  Move the fabric about, allowing it to soak up color.  Once it is a bit darker than the color you desire, (it will dry a little lighter), rinse it with cold water, squeeze out the fabric and set aside to dry.  Color two pieces of fabric pink, two green and two of them violet using this process.

Once the fabric is dry, iron with a steam iron and trim any frayed edges.

In the Stenciled Wall Art tutorial, I explain how to create your own flower stencil.  Simply place the pattern under your blank stencil and trace with a pencil, then cut out the design with a craft knife.  You can find the pattern here: Flower stencil pattern.

As you can see, this stencil has already gotten a lot of use!  Place the stencil in the center of the fabric and tack it down with a couple pieces of painters tape.  Dip the sponge brush in contrasting fabric paint and dab onto the fabric.

Remove the stencil and you should have a cute contrasting flower on your fabric.

Add a bit of bling with some stick-in fabric jewels.

To assemble pillows, place your fronts and backs right sides together.  Begin sewing at the center bottom of the pillow, sewing a 1/4″ seam around the perimeter of the pillow, ending about 5″ from the start of your seam. You will want to leave about a 5″ opening so that you can turn the pillow and stuff it.

Clip the corners as shown.

Turn the pillow right side out, and then stuff with Fiber fill.  Once the pillow is stuffed, hand-sew the 5″ opening closed.

And there you have it!  Stenciled pillows to match the wall art!

Stay tuned for the big room reveal on Monday, which includes glow in the dark paint, and five crafty projects to go along with it!

Are you new to the Sitcom?  Be sure to check out my Frequently Asked Questions Page!

For more than 100 detailed tutorials for all ages, visit my Tutorial Page!