#5dollarcraftswap

Back in January a challenge was issued by Marine Parents: make some handmade awesomeness where supplies cost less than $5.

And you know what?! Challenge ACCEPTED!!!!!!

I was partnered up with the lovely Nicole from Unique Pl8z, we were given each others favorite colors plus a few little details. Nicole loves funky quirky things and I can't blame the girl, funky and quirky rock!

Immediately an amigurumi pattern I had found came to mind and I got to work. I love watching my little creatures come to life and so does the toddler. Around that time I was also perfecting my travel mug cozie patterns and so I decided you know what I can kill two birds with one stone and grabbed some of my scrap fabric in her favorite colors and got to work trying out my new ideas.

So you want to see what I came up with?????

Meet Mr. Scrappy! Isn't he just some funky quirky awesomeness!!! I love him and well had a hard time letting him go but off he went :)

So now you want to see the amazing gifts I received??

 

the Japanese newspaper MAKES it

Isn't this little plaque just too cute and soooo creative! Nicole took her inspiration from this pin hanging out on my DIY one day Pinterest board. And AND she included that adorable little keychain from her shop too! I haven't found the plaque its forever home quite yet, but until I do it hangs out with me in my craft space where it reminds me that I can do hard things :)

This was such a fun little exchange, I have my fingers crossed for more in the future. I love making little gifts for new friends.

some linkys for you

If I could sum up my week in linkys this is what it would look like:

• Opened up the shop with a fun grand opening! 
• Pink Hippos & Polka Dots does that not just say it all? 
• I sent a little Inspirational Art to dear friend of mine this week, I simply love the art work to pieces.
• I am excited to have the fabric cut for this tag a long bag what a fun DIY project for Friday!
• Okay so I don't 'work' work but a girl has to eat right? working girl lunches
• Totally bookmarked this for the day I get with the times and get a smart phone
• My keys totally need a friend

Click 'em don't click 'em either way the English in this sentence is horrid ;) But I hope you do, I promise you'll find some amazing things if you do!

quirky cute's grand opening!

Welcome and Thank You!

I am beyond excited to announce that Quirky Cute is officially celebrating our opening over the next 2 weeks! Sure the festivities are a little on the long side but I like to have fun when I throw a party. I can promise you is lots of good things in store so please won't you join me in this joyous occasion?!

I want to thank each and everyone one of you for your support now and what I know will be a long founded friendship in the handmade world.

So to start off the fun I have a little freebie that will be included with every purchase over $15.00* from now through February 18th, your choice of Teal, Red or Natural Mini Wooden Heart Earrings. Please leave a comment in the "Notes to Seller" box during checkout.

*$15.00 spent before shipping and after any discounts

Be sure as well to make sure you signup for our newsletter so you can keep up with the latest and greatest. I promise not to spam.

And in case you are wanting to connect with us socially you can find us here: Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

and we are OPEN

Woohooo! We are open!

So not everything is completely listed, but its all getting added in as quickly as I can. Mother Nature is playing cruel tricks on me with the amount of sunshine I get and when it shows up. Working on continuing to make more stock in everything I plan to have in the shop as well as get any last minute details nailed down. Now if only the baby, o my gosh I can't believe he is nearly 7 months old, would let me work a little bit more; testing out his voice by screaming/growling is soo soooo not cool.

In case you have missed any of the updates on Facebook and Twitter here are a few of the items already listed in the shop

Chocolate Love Bug

I Love You Button Earrings

So much more fun stuff on its way, promise! But for now I am off to bed, pulling these late nights is getting to be a little rough.

See ya when the sun is up and shining!

Holiday Baking

Monday I decided I wanted to bake some holiday goodies and when I say bake I mean BAKE, baking is not taken lightly around here. When I get in the mood it's a marathon event.  Want to see what I was inspired to make?

I first started off with cookies: Cherry Oatmeal Bars by Cooking Light, followed by Mocha Toffee Truffle Cookies and Ricotta Cookies both by Twillypop.

I forgot to take a pic of the cookies before packaging, please use your imagination

Then I moved on to candies. YUM! With a little help from Pinterest I made these Almond Toffee Bites by Shugary Sweets, Caramels by Better Homes and Gardens, my famous Peppermint Bark which is a modified version of Paula Deen's recipe. I then felt like experimenting a bit more and tried a Butter Toffee Crunch recipe I found in my Better Homes and Gardens red plaid cookbook.

Peppermint Bark via Paula Dee and Almond Toffee Bites via Shugary Sweets

Now here is what I learned from making these candies, as the toffees and caramel was new to me.
1. Caramel takes patience, lots and lots of patience especially if you don't read the whole recipe before starting to catch that there is a short cut available. Yeah sitting at a stove stirring caramel for over an hour not that much fun, sorry to say.
2. DO NOT think its smart to add almonds into the toffee, its ruins the mix and its a big useless waste of money :( Yeah still not happy about that "genius" idea
3. Silicone is your friend, seriously find a coupon to your local craft store and buy some! I loved my mini square bites for the Almond Toffee Bites, soo sooo easy.
4. The ingredients you put in really do make a world of difference. I splurged and used my homemade vanilla extract in all the goodies and let me tell you, you CAN taste the difference. I don't think I will ever go back to store bought vanilla extract again.
5. MEASURE. I am not a big measurer, even in baking but with candy making it is a MUST! I kid you not that me and my kitchen scale are BFFs when it comes to candy making.

I am thinking next year I'll try and do all the baking during the weekend, package up Sunday night and mail off goodie boxes on Monday. That's right I am mailing off 6 lovely packages to close family and friends.

And with that I bid you a Merry Christmas!

What I am loving this week

Ever Friday I am going to take a moment to share with you my favorites from the week, whether that be a quirky anecdote about the toddler or some linkys to items I just love.

Enjoy!

A blog post by Pen and Paint rang true with me this week, and I know I for one am guilty of it too and am striving to be better.

I found The Paisley Mill via April of Marine Parents thanks to a little Etsy stalking :) And well I have fallen head over heals over lots of her items but these earrings in particular are a MUST have for me

Ginger Earrings (small primitive heart shape

This ring holder by Promise Pottery is just so quirky and perfect its on my wishlist for sure! Thanks goes to Leonora of Yellow Heart Art

ring holder, ring dish, Mustache Party Favor, Black and White, Hand Made Pottery

I am also loving the fact that the toddler is completely utterly into hugs this week. Every 10 minutes he comes up to me, 'hug?'. Yes, o yes child I will hug you! This is a big change as before mommy only got hugs when daddy wasn't around and he hurt, such a daddy's boy.

I think that about sums up this week. I would love to hear what a few of your favorite moments or finds this week were!

Toddler Tales: Monster Cookies

Okay so let me start off by saying I have never I mean NEVER had my toddler help me with cooking before, aside from put this back and grab this. But I decided yesterday of all days we should make oatmeal cookies or Monster Cookies as we call them. So while he napped I measured everything out ahead of time and put it all in little bowls convenient for little hands to dump.

So after he woke up, had his diaper changed, hands washed and was ready to have some fun, we apron'ed up and got to work.

he needed a snack before we got started

We had to move the mixing bowl down for him to help out. Even with the step stool still not tall enough. I couldn't believe how much fun he had pouring all the ingredients into the big bowl for me to mix.

After each successful ingredient dump he would jump and scream AWESOME!!!!
I love him.

Such ENTHUSIASIM  

whatcha' mixing?

 Didn't get a beauty shot of them before going into the oven or out as it was during the passing of the baby duties. But I did get a cute shot of my boy enjoying his 'num num gookie'.

Feeding daddy his cookie awwww

Overall I have to say it went much better than I expected. Even the baby was nice enough to be happy chewing on his crinkle for the time it took. Sadly the dog didn't get any crumbs as they are just too good to waste and poor baby is still too young.

I hope you enjoyed my little adventure this afternoon, it was full of laughs and smiles thank goodness. I highly suggest that you try getting your toddler in the kitchen its such a treat and I plan to have him help me cook more often!

**I followed the Better Homes & Garden Make It Mine Oatmeal Cookie Recipe, its similar to this one but obviously doubled as you can see it calls for one egg and my picture shows 2. Oddly enough I did add flax seed meal and wheat germ to my cookies as well as oat bran, gotta sneak some goodies in there ;)