My First Bound Book

Here it is. I spent some time today making a little note book.

The book measures 3"x2" and had 36 pages.

The pages inside have been hand sewn and glued. I covered the book in snowflake paper to give it a festive looks

I am going to be giving this little book away on this blog.

Here are the ways to enter.

Follow my blog 1 Entry

Leave a comment 2 Entries

Follow me on Twitter 1 Entry (www.twitter.com/kiraanndesigns)

I really enjoyed making this book so I am going to be making more to list in my Etsy store.

Deadline for entries is 11.17.2010 unless there are no entries then I will extend the deadline.

Book Binding

This is the latest craft to spark my interest. I love small items so I am going to have a go at binding a small note book. If things go well you may see some little books moving into my Etsy store soon.

Origami Lucky Stars

So here we go with the first post on my revamped blog. I wanted to share some photos of my work and a link to the instructions for making these cute little stars.

There are several places on the web to find these instructions but here is one of my faves.

www.origami-fun.com/origami-lucky-star.html

This website has a whole bunch of other origami for you too try. I would love to see some pictures of Lucky Stars that you have made.

I sell the strips for making the stars in my Esty store www.kiraanndesigns.etsy.com but if you want to try now grab an old magazine and cut 1/2" vertical strips and follow the directions on the website above.

Back to blogging

I have been spending a few weeks following the tips from www.flylady.net and finally feel like I have myself organized enough to return to blogging.

I love working with paper, as anyone who has been reading my blog will be aware, so I want to try and find a direction for this blog that will make it fun for others who love working with paper too. So if you are into Scrapbooking, Card making, origami or other paper crafts, follow this blog and maybe I will introduce you to a product or a craft that you didn't know was out there.

I am open to suggestions for features and would love to feature how-to's by paper artists out there.

Organizing My Life

I have made a decision to try and get myself organized and a friend of mine told me about this website.

www.flylady.net

There are some great organizing hints and tips on there so I am going to give it a shot and see where I am in a month.

I am starting with the baby steps section and shopped for a few items they suggested to help with the first step.

Bleach, SOS pads, windex.

There is a great article on the site about clearing paper clutter too so I am going to give some of that a go, our home office is getting out of control in that area.

Anyone who has or is trying this let me know, I'll love to hear about your progress.

Wow, it's been a long time

The summer has come to an end and I have finally had a chance to sit down and give some attention to my blog.

Sales have been steady and I am trying to prepare for the holiday season. I have some ideas for origami holiday decorations that I hope will sell well.

I have just signed up for an Artfire account so I am hoping to see some activity on there in the next few months.

Check it out here at http://www.kiraanndesigns.artfire.com/

HTML

I got my HTML text book this weekend. I completed the first chapter and I'm really excited about the possibilities now I am begining to understand more and more.

I have always found it frustrating to have to choose from templates for my website. Hopefully by the end of the course I will be able to design something truly unique.

It's been a while

I have been super busy. My parents came for a visit and I have been studying for my web design course. Just finished an intro to CSS and now I'm waiting for the shipment of my books on HTML.

It's getting harder but I am determined to make it through. I can't wait to started getting creative.

Web design

I just signed up for a web design course. I am hoping to study while I am home with the kids and maybe be making some money at it by the time the kids are in full time school. 3 years to go.

New Blog

Check out my other tv blog

www.whatIlovetowatch.blogspot.com

Back Again

The kids are keeping me pretty busy so I haven't had much time to update this blog.

I am working on lots more origami jewelry for my store. I am really happy with the results so far. I am hoping to make enough money to pay for the Web Design course I am interested in. I just need to make $54 a month. It should be doable if I list each day and sales pick up.

I am also working on writing some short stories or a book. It'll be in the sci fi/fantasy genre as that's what I like to read most. I have tons of ideas that I am getting into a word document, my first aim is to get all the ideas down and then sort through them for the ones I find most interesting. I am setting aside 1/2 hour a day to just type.

Vacation next week, yay!!!!!!!

Long Time No Blog

I haven't blogged for a while. My weight has been stuck at 180lbs for a week now, I need to try and figure out a way to bust through that plateau. I am taking a 20-30min walk each day and doing strength training three days a week. I have cut out caffine and soda and cut back on a lot of processed foods. I am hoping to get the weight down to 178lbs this week and then not see 180 on the scale again.

On the positive side of things I haven't put any weight back on since the detox.

Weight Loss Update

182lbs this morning. Woo Hoo!!! maybe I'll be having a glass of wine this weekend. I have decided to end the detox when I lose 2 more lbs or on Sunday which ever is sooner. I hope I can be done by the weekend. But I am still thrilled if I end the week at 182lbs.

I am going to try a quinoa salad for lunch today and a cucumber soup for dinner. I'll post the recipes if they are yummy.

The Weight Is Dropping Off

The detox is going great. I thought I would have to starve myself to lose this much this fast. I stood on the scales today and saw 183lbs on the dial. WOW. That's 5lbs since St Patty's day. I know this will slow down after the detox, but what a way to kick start the healthy eating and weight loss.

I think that I am still going to start the day with a smoothie even after the detox. I feel so good going into the day. Other things I don't miss are soda, caffine and red meat. I am going to try and leave them out after the detox too. Plenty of fish and chicken instead. I already use ground turkey whenever a recipe calls for ground beef so there won't be too many major changes.

One of my biggest changes is drinking more water. whenever I feel like a snack I am pouring myself a glass of water with a slice of lemon instead.

3 more lbs until that glass of wine.

Detox Day 1

I started the detox today and it's going well.

I had a mango smoothie for breakfast which consisted of mango, avocado, kale, coconut water and almond milk. For lunch I just had an almond crusted baked chicken breast and baby spinach. For dinner I am going to be having the gazpacho that I posted the recipe for a few days ago.

I found a weight loss workout on Fit Tv that I recorded to the dvr so I can do it why my son is asleep. I did it to day and it felt good, I definetly worked up a sweat.

I weighed myself this morning and I'm 185lbs!!! yay!!!! That's 2lbs in one week. Hopefully I get at least that for next week too.

Weight Loss Update

No change in weight for today. I have my list ready to shop tomorrow for my 7 day detox. I have tried a few of the smoothies already to make sure that I like them. If they didn't taste good I don't see myself sticking to it for 7 days.

There are also some yoga moves to go with the plan that I plan on doing each morning. Hopefully the rain will clear up and I can add going for a walk to my fitness program. I would walk in the rain but I'll be pushing my little boy in his stroller so it's not possible.

So tomorrow things are going to kick off and I will keep on blogging about it.

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution

I watched the show last night and couldn't believe the resistance he was getting for trying to help the country be more healthy.

I don't know how any parent could be ok with their child being served pizza for breakfast, and the milk, what elementary school age child wouldn't pick the strawberry or chocolate milk. They shouldn't be expected to make the choice at that age. What is wrong with 1%, 2% or even skimmed. Milk should be white.

I know changing the system is a huge task but you would think people would be a bit more open to it and supportive of someone who just wants them to be more healthy.

My children will be entering the school system soon and I will be sending them with a packed lunch and cooking them a healthy dinner myself. No way is my child ever having pizza for breakfast.

Let's support Jamie in trying to make some changes for the good.

Bring on the food revolution!!!!!!!!

Quick update

I just weighed myself 186lbs. That's 1lb less than last Tuesday. Maybe I'll hit 185lbs by this Tuesday. Fingers crossed.

New Item Added To My Store

I just added this new bracelet to my store. It's made with size #11 seed beads and took me about 4 hours to make.

I really enjoyed making in and am going to make myself one in Mets colors for the upcoming baseball season.

Yummy Recipe

I made the following gazpacho from the Martha Stewart Whole Living website and wanted to share because it was so yummy.

It is part of the detox plan and I wasn't expecting it to be great but I think I will be making it even when not detoxing.

Pineapple and Avocado Gazpacho

This make 2 serving sizes, it can be stored in the fridge for 24 hours.

2 cups pineapple, diced small
1 avocado, diced small
1/2 jalapeno, seeded and chopped finely
The juice of 1 lime
1/2 tsp sea salt

Combine all ingredients in a bowl then put half of the mixture in a blender and puree.
Put the puree back in the bowl with the unblended mixture and fold in.
Serve.
You can add water if you would like the mixture thinner.

Feeling motivated

Weighed myself this morning and I'm 186lbs woo hoo. I lost some weight. I must have done something right yesterday. I think it was not drinking alcohol and not snacking after dinner. I am going to make it a rule not to do that because it seems to have worked. In fact let's say no eating after 7pm.

So todays weight is 186lbs, only 6lbs away from that glass of wine :)

Decided to start the detox on Monday. I will have gotten everything together by then.

St. Patrick's diet sabotage

OK, I indulged a bit yesterday. I joined my husband in a Guinness or two. Good news is that I didn't drink any caffine all day and I had no headaches.

I went shopping this morning and bought some of the things I need for the detox smoothies. They don't sound too appealing but it's only for a few days and I am determined to do this.

So here are the stats for today. 188lbs. :(

I want to see 17? on that scale so bad. No more alcohol for me for a while. When I get to 179lbs I'll celebrate with a class of wine.

I need to get some work done today. It's a beautiful day so when the baby sleeps I'm going out on the back deck to take some product photos.

Time to get serious

It's time to get serious about getting rid of the pregnancy weight. I read a suggestion that I blog what I eat and when to look for downfalls and cravings. I am also going to blog my progress. So I aim to blog at least once a day about my weight loss progress.

So here is the current situation. 5'9" 187lbs.

I am going on vacation in June so I figure I have about 3 months to lose at least 20lbs. ultimately I would like to lose 40lbs but I don't think that realistic in 3 months but you never know :)

My first step is to do the detox program on the Martha Stewart Whole Living website. This week has been all about cutting down the caffine. I tried to do the detox before but the caffine withdrawal headaches were too much. I am down to one cup of tea a day and have managed to go without until lunchtime now without a headache. When I want a drink I am having a glass of water instead of putting the kettle on.

So it's 11am now and I have had a bowl of cereal and a glass of orange juice so far, along with a couple of glasses of water. So far so good. For exercise this morning I chased my son around the house about 30 time. He thought it was great fun to run with mommy.

New Website

I have my own website under construction.

I'm excited to have lots more control of content and layout than I have in my Etsy and Zibbet stores.

Check out the progress here

www.kiraanndesigns.com

Scrapbooking or Cardmaking Embellishments

I finallly purchased the flowers punches that I had my eye on for a while and have been addicted to making these cute little flowers. I have a bunch of them in many different colors to add to my store a couple a day.

Sping Training Starts Tomorrow

One more day to go. Before the Mets are back on my tv. Winter is finally winding down and we can start looking forward to spring.

Oh and today is my birthday. So here's looking forward to a good week.

Zibbet, Zibbet, Zibbet

If you have an Etsy shop and haven't signed up for a Zibbet shop yet follow this link and check it out.

http://www.zibbet.com/kiraanndesigns/sell

The basic account has no listing fees so get some exposure and promo for free. If those Etsy fees are adding up you might want to think about a premium Zibbet account for just $7.00 a month. Take your regular Etsy buyers with you and save. It cost about $6.00 a month to list one item a day on Etsy and you'll pay even more if you make sales. So if you plan to list daily and make sales a premium account on Zibbet makes sense.

I plan to keep my Etsy shop for now but my focus is shifting more and more towards Zibbet and the great community on there.

See you on Zibbet!!!!

Censorship Rant

I need to rant about something that bugs me about the US TV networks. Why is there an issue when someone utters a curse word on live tv at midnight but it is perfectly ok for NBC to air trailers for R rated movies such as the new Wolfman movie during the Today show. My 3 year old was watching with me for the snow reports and got pretty upset, the trailer has some pretty gruesome stuff in it. There seems to be hardly any censorship when it comes to violence which I think is far more damaging than the odd curse word at midnight.

There, I vented, phew.

New Post At Last

I've been quiet for a while. My little girl started preschool last week and things have been settling down to a new routine.

We finally got some snow last week and this but it's not sticking around. Most of it has melted over the past two days. There is talk of more to come next week but I doesn't sound like it will be much.

I am going to get back to work making cards and other paper goodies this week. Easter is around the corner so look for some pastel colors coming soon.

For now, here is the latest addition to my store. I posted this and some more upcycled origami stars today.

Etsy Find of the Day 2/5/2010

Here's my find of the day. I love this recipe box from http://www.cokiepopaper.etsy.com/ The colors are so bright and fun.

My latest item

I am becoming more addicted to oigami by the day. My latest additions to my store are these cute origami lucky stars. I upcycled each of these stars from the pages of fashion magazines.

Etsy Find of the Day 2/4/2010

Back to my find of the day. I took a day off yesterday to calm down after the chat room nightmare. I'm please to say I have been cheered up by the support of the other people on Etsy. Back to todays find of the day. I have choosen this cute frame by http://www.thelittlegreenbutton.etsy.com/ I love the colors and the photo is great too. What a great way to use those beautiful buttons.

Etsy Chat Room Abuse

I am staying out of the Etsy chat rooms for a while. I am going to host a team chat tonight but that has a password on the room so the person who was being nasty today will be kept out. I can't believe what happened. I changed the title on the fs room a couple of times to some silly things like "That's what she said" and for the next 2 hours someone was changing the title telling people not to buy from me and other horrible things.

Why do people do it. They are so brave that they wouldn't even make the comments in the chat. They just did it anonimously by changing the room title.

I'm still going to be active in the Etsy community, just in the forums not the chat rooms.

Etsy Find of the Day 2/2/2010

Today's find of the day is this beautifully crafted bottle stopper from http://www.darrylmasterson.etsy.com/, take the time to read the store announcement and item descriptions for details of how these gorgeous items are constructed.

Treasury

I got a Treasury on Etsy!!!!!!

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=110307

Check it out and leave a comment.

Origami Roses

I have been working on making origami roses. I thought I would post my efforts here. I love minature so this rose measure about 1" in diameter.

I am liking how this is turning out with this paper.

Etsy Find of the Day 1/29/2010

Today's find of the day is from http://www.leakhena.etsy.com/ She has a lot of really different and beautiful jewelry items in her store but this one stood out for me. So cute.

Todays thoughts and ideas

Snow at last. We had a few inches of snow this morning. I hope it sticks around for the weekend so my little girl can go sleding.

I put together a new design for a mailable size thank you card. I just have to wait for the sun to come out to take some photos. I made a set of four and I really like them so I hope they are popular.

Etsy Find of the Day 1/28/2010

Todays find of the day is this handy key fob from http://www.keyfobfairy.etsy.com/ . I am always hunting around in my purse for my lip balm, this would make it so much easier to locate. Love this item and it is definetly on my want list.

Todays thoughts and Ideas

When I get to 100 followers for this blog I am going to have a giveaway. I've seen other blogs doing giveaways in order to get followers but I am going to look at mine more as a celebration of 100 followers. I don't want people following just to get free stuff, my hope is that people follow because they like what they see here. So as of right now this blog needs 48 more followers before the giveaway.

I really want to figure out a way to make something for my shop with a ancient Greek or Roman theme. I have always been fascinated by the gods and goddesses so I am thinking a series of Aceo cards each featuring a different god or goddess.

I am going to have to give it some more thought but maybe I could put together a Venus/Aphrodite item before valentines.

Etsy Find of the Day 1/27/2010

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=37283341
Today's find of the day is a beautiful fine art print from http://www.lilacpopphotograhy.etsy.com/ Check out the store for other stunning prints.

Recycled Butterfly Embellishments

I have been trying to think of something to do with all the magazines and catalogs that I get other than tossing them in the recycling. I came up with the butterfly embellishments in the photo. Each one constists of four butterfly punch outs. I glued two pairs of butterflies together to thinken the paper and then glued the two pairs together down the middle to make them 3D. These are going to be great for scrapbooking and card making and each one is unique.

Etsy Find of the Day 1/26/2010

Todays find of the day comes from www.crochooley.etsy.com/ I am about to start listing butterfly embellishments made from recycled magazines so recycling has been on my mind a lot and when I saw this shop it really stood out for me. These creations are amazingly creative and I probably wouldn't have guessed they were made from recycled plastic bags if I had just seen the photo.

New Listings on Etsy

I finally got around to making some new sets of mini note cards. The sun came out for 5 minutes today so I grabbed the chance and took some pics so I could get then up in my Etsy store. Here are some photos of my new sets. I am really pleased with how they turned out.

I am working on some new butterfly embellishments using recycled magazines. I am hoping they are going to be popular, they are fun to make and look really pretty. I'll get some picures up on here tomorrow if the weather is good.

Blog Feature

My store is currently featured on the following blog.
http://rjshotspot-rjblueyes.blogspot.com

Check it out, it's great to see Etsy friends out there promoting other.

Thanks rjblueyes

Etsy Find of the Day 1/25/2010

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=32834940

Today's find of the day comes from http://www.mooshoopork.etsy.com/ the peg dolls are so cute and this pirate ship is one of my favorites.

Etsy Find of the Day 1/22/2010

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=38693346

There has been no find of the day for a few days due to illness but I'm back now to end the week on a high with this sweet pair of earrings from http://www.lacravatteduchien.etsy.com/

Etsy Find of the Day 1/19/2010

After the weekend break and the holiday my Find of the Day spot is back. Today my find is this handstitched notebook set from http://www.nicopapergoods.etsy.com/

Etsy Find of the Day 1/15/2010

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=38323704

My find of the day today is this beautiful handcrafted necklace from http://www.valerietyler.etsy.com/

Stickers

I have been looking around on Etsy for some custom stickers for packaging my cards. I'll post on here if I find someone good. I love my cards and I want the packaging to look professional too.

Etsy Find of the Day 1/14/2010

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=27897393
I think this Alice in Wonderland necklace from http://www.sugarraindrops.etsy.com/ is so cute, I had to feature it as todays item of the day.

My New Item on Etsy

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=38513727

I spent some time coming up with a template for envelopes to go with my cards. I love this new card I found, it's so pretty these simple plain envelopes look great with them. I love this style so I'll be adding other patterns soon.

Etsy Find of the Day 1/13/2010

My Esty find of the day is this cute little bath bomb set from www.myotherprincess.etsy.com

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=37317378

Etsy Find of the Day 1/12/2010

Today I am loving this print from www.belliUccelli.etsy.com

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=33423985

Kira Ann Designs Featured Item

I got some interest in these cards last night and possibly a custom order so they get rewarded with a special place on my blog today.

Packaging

My current dilema is how to package my cards so people love giving them as gifts. I welcome any comments or suggestions

Favorite Esty item from another seller for today 1/11/2009

I love these little crochet bowls from www.wondertrading.etsy.com

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=33399438

Favorite Item in My Shop

These are my favorite items in my store right now.

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=38115469

Facebook

I just create a facebook fanpage. www.facebook.com/kiraanndesigns

It's brand new so not much there yet, but with the new year comes a new commitment to keeping current with Facebook, Twitter and Blogging.