HANDMADE FELTED BOWL SHOP is live!

One month ago today, I opened my second shop on Etsy called deboraBstudio.

My jewelry shop BeadinByTheSea has been open for 3.5 years and now with over 1200 sales, I am feeling inspired to expand my horizons. Oh, my jewelry shop is still my first love, but I love knitting too! 


While making silver jewelry involves loud hammering, toxic chemicals, messy hands due to polishing, hot torches and trying to see tiny details with my 40-plus eyes, knitting can be a welcome break as I relax in the chair, knitting needles in hand with soft, vibrant colored yarn. The most stressful part of knitting is trying to keep my cat Ace from running off with my project!

My mother taught me how to knit when I was a little girl, and I've been knitting projects on and off my entire life. Recently I have become fascinated with the process of felting. Something magical happens when a knitted piece of fabric that resembles a hat comes out of the washing machine looking like a sturdy bowl! 

You can check out my shop by clicking here. I absolutely love these little bowls and think that everyone could find a use for one. They are the perfect solution for any odds and ends that you need to put away around the house. I have one on my bedside table to store hair clips and my husband has one for his loose change. They are great for rubber bands, paper clips, you name it... and they won't scratch your furniture.

I was encouraged to have my first sale within a couple of weeks and I have been included in so many lovely treasuries. I've also had the privilege of being on Etsy's home page twice. I think my bowls are popular for treasuries because of their vivid colors and they are just so darn cute!

So please check out deboraBstudio. To celebrate my opening, I am offering a 10% discount on all purchases.

Just type in NEWSHOP10OFF in the coupon code when checking out. This offer is valid until November 20th, 2011. Just in time to get a jump start on your Christmas shopping.

Thanks so much for reading and I hope you check out my shop!

Our "HOLE IN THE WALL" House Project

If you've been reading my blog, you'll know that we recently moved into a home in the Pacific Northwest and have been busy with a few renovations. After living in this house for 3 days I got a fantastic idea that we should open up a wall between the formal living room and the family room that sits in the back of the house. My argument was that this front room was extremely isolated from the rest of the house and that the family room did not get much natural light as it backs right up to the woods. After much convincing and a great sell job to my husband, I got my wish. Work began in late October.

First,we had a contractor come in to knock out the wall and build the new trim, then hardwood floor experts filled in the missing wood slats and refinished, some extra electrical wiring had to be done and then finally it was painted by a professional painter. This whole process, as well as some other extensive trim work upstairs took about 7 weeks. It was finished about 10 days before Christmas so we were rushing around trying to get our holiday decorating done. You'll see our Christmas tree in the photos and some furniture out of its usual place, but you'll get the idea of what a radical change for the better this made to our environment.

Here are some of the photos:



Above, is the family room with the tape placed where I wanted the cut-out to be.


This is the formal living room, on the other side, again with the tape placed. Much thought had to be put into figuring out where this went!

Above: This is just a picture of what everything looked like during construction.

Above: The family living room AFTER.

Above: The formal living room AFTER.

Above: Another angle of the two rooms together from the formal living room.

Now my husband thinks that it was a pretty fantastic idea after all!
The moral of this story is this: If there is something in your home that you can change to make it more beautiful and flow better (and you can afford it) don't put it off. Contractors are really looking for work right now. You can get some fantastic deals as well as maybe helping someone stay in business!

Okay now, go and think up some great ideas for your space!