Lucky's Luxury Arts and Crafts Blog

MNArtists.org

2009-07-12T11:23:00.003-05:00

I have recently discovered a site for Minnesota artists called MNArtist.org. It is pretty neat. If you are from Minnesota you can sign up and have a free artist homepage and show your art in a collection. It's really nice too because people can go to the site and search for a specific artist, or they can search for a specific kind of art. I also have the option of listing my Etsy store on my page (which I did). They also have articles, they have a blog, they have a calendar for events, and they also have news and opportunities for locals. The way I found out about the site is actually kind of interesting. My landlord was one of the people who started this site and in the garage my fiance found t-shirts, buttons, bookmarks, and stickers promoting the website. Instead of just letting the items sit in her garage and collect dust I decided I would sign up for the site and continue supporting it and promoting it. I have worn some of the t-shirts, and I have started to send out the bookmarks in my swap packages (I swap on Swap-bot) and on every envelope I send out I now place one of the stickers on the outside so more people will be able to learn about this useful, and unique website that helps support local Minnesota artists.

Como Zoo

2009-07-11T20:20:00.005-05:00

Today my fiance and I took our son to our local zoo. We all had a lot of fun, and my son really enjoyed seeing all of the animals. This zoo is really unique because it runs on donations, you don't have to pay in order to get in and see the animals and the exhibits. We donated some money even though we didn't have to, but we always do because it keeps the zoo open and running. My son really enjoyed seeing the lions, giraffes, gorillas, and zebras. I liked seeing the sloth and the seals. We ended up buying popcorn and enjoyed being out in the sun (we had such beautiful weather here today). Sadly we didn't have enough time to go through the conservatory, but we will have to save that for another day and another trip!

4th of July

2009-07-05T19:52:00.005-05:00

Yesterday was the 4th of July and sadly I woke up feeling pretty sick. I ended up sleeping for most of the day. Luckily my son was so excited about seeing some fireworks that I forced myself to get out of bed and venture out to find some fireworks to see. We were planning on just watching them from our car, but once they started we decided that we needed to find a parking spot so we could get out and enjoy them with the crowd. Thankfully my fiance found an awesome parking spot where we jumped out of the car and had one of the best spots in the park! We all had a really good time and the finale was so beautiful and my son and I started clapping along with the crowd. It would have been nice if I didn't feel so sick that day, but thankfully it ended with a bang!

Longville Art Fair

2009-06-28T09:42:00.003-05:00

Yesterday me and my fiance's family went to the Longville Art Fair. It was a pretty decent size considering the location (Longville is a tiny little town). We bought some kettle corn as soon as we got there and it was delicious! We also bought a little glass coin that has a shamrock on it and a rock that has the word peace on it (the peace rock was for my fiance's father). My little boy got a small Diego pillow for his stuffed animal raccoon, and a cow bookmark. My fiance also bought a big cheeseburger for lunch while we were there and it was great. We all had a great time while we were there :-)

Busy Busy Busy

2009-06-26T11:39:00.002-05:00

Wow! I have not posted on my blog for so long! So sorry to all of my followers. Lots has happened since I last posted though. I am having a little baby boy in October, and the following fall (2010) I'll be getting married! Right now I have the time to post because I'm on vacation. I have come to Longville, MN for a 60th wedding anniversary celebration of my son's great grandparent's. It is really beautiful here (of course I forgot the camera!). We have already seen deer, a bald eagle, a loon, pelicans, and herons. We went on a boat ride yesterday which was a lot of fun. Today we walked around town (very small), and tonight we are going to a bbq! It should all be a lot of fun. I'll have to try to continue to post more often, sometimes things just seem to get too hectic and I forget I even have a blog!

Featured Etsy Seller: Kreativlink

2009-02-16T20:12:00.003-06:00

My name is Renate Ikinger. I'm female. Born (1966) and raised in Austria, Europe. Well, I'm still here but often I'm dreaming about migrating, living in a little house by the sea ...

I completed business college but at 20 my son was born and I was mostly mother until I was 30. Then I started as a self employed webdesigner/programmer. I loved it, but when the big 40 came, I was more or less finished with it. Yes, the decades seem to play a role in my life ...

Since then, I became more and more a self employed full time crafter. I love making my journals. Books always played a big part in my life, and when I realised I could make them by myself, it was like a miracle! Yes, call me stupid, but that's how it was.
At first I made them in the traditional way, but soon I realised that what really fascinates me are journals that look like they are old. Like things from ancient times, when there where still many secrets to discover and a lot of mysterious things going on ...

Yep, that's me. Oh, and about the decades - I plan to spend the time between 50 and 60 with shopping for supplies all around the world after I win the lottery (One can always hope). And after 60 I will be a crazy girl with purple hair and a lot of fun! :)

Knight in Shining Armor v.s. Handsome Prince

2009-02-16T20:03:00.002-06:00

In most fairy tales there is either a handsome price or a knight in shining armor who comes to save the day. Who would you prefer? I'd like to open this question up to my readers before I make a post with my own opinion on this subject, so come on ladies who would you pick? :-)

Pet Peeve #4

2009-02-01T20:53:00.002-06:00

I really hate it when I walk into a restaurant and it's fairly empty and the host/ess sits you at a table that's right next to another occupied table. There is a whole room full of empty tables and they have to sit you right next to the only other people that are there. I know that having tables together makes it easier for the staff but come on who really wants to sit right next to strangers while you eat when you could be somewhere a lot more private. I understand if the restaurant is full that you will end up sitting right next to someone else's table, but when there are plenty of empty tables you should be sat in a more private location. It is just common courtesy in my mind, but apparently not in the minds of those who sit you right next to someone else.

Wall-E

2009-01-26T08:53:00.002-06:00

A couple of weekends ago my boyfriend and I rented the movie Wall-E. We thought it was a really good family movie that our son would enjoy. I have to say that it was a pretty cute movie but at the same time it was pretty slow moving. For one there isn't much dialogue. My son seemed to enjoy it and he actually asked to watch it a couple of times after we had already returned it back to the movie store. My boyfriend however ended up falling asleep and missing the whole end of the movie. Atleast my son liked it though because that's who we really rented it for. All in all I guess I would recommend it for those younger movie goers out there but for those of us who enjoy dialogue in a movie I guess I would have to say move along when you see Wall-E in the rental store.

New Moon

2009-01-22T20:56:00.007-06:00

I have finished the second book in the "Twilight" saga called "New Moon." While it wasn't as good as "Twilight" I still enjoyed reading it and I will still continue on with the series. I think that the lack of Edward in this book was what slowed the story down for me. He brings in a lot of the drama and romance which is what makes the book more exciting for me. Hopefully he will once again be the main male character in the next book which is entitled "Eclipse." Apparently "Eclipse" has not come out in paperback yet, so sadly I will have to wait to purchase it. I have already purchased "Twilight" and "New Moon" in paperback and I always prefer to have my series all the same. It's going to be hard to wait!

Thank You

2009-01-18T21:29:00.003-06:00

I have had over 1,000 people view my blog and I just wanted to say thanks to all of you for making my blog so successful. I've enjoyed writing this blog and it makes me very happy to know that people are enjoying reading it as well. Knowing that people are looking at my blog makes me want to continue making entries and hopefully catching the eye of many more people. Once again thanks to all of you!

Featured Etsy Seller: AdirondackMetals

2009-01-09T15:54:00.007-06:00

Adirondack Metal Designs is a family owned business. We operate out of our shop near the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains in beautiful upstate New York. My name is Brenda. My husband Ed and I began this business as a way for him to leave the construction industry and work for himself. I am in charge of the website, programming and business end of things while he makes the products. I also work full time as a Speech Pathologist with my own private practice. I wish I could work on the metal business all of the time and retire from my real job. We specialize in silhouette metal art. Our products are made with a combination of plasma cutting and welding. We currently have table top sculptures, wall art, yard stakes, key racks, welcome signs, bookends, napkin holders, and wall hooks. Our themes include wildlife, farm animals, western, marine life, sports, and more. If you don't see your favorite theme in our shop, contact us. We can also customize many of our items for you. The pieces come standard with a black hammered finish. Any special paint requests are also welcome. We can work together to meet your specific needs.We can use any of our silhouettes for a custom welcome sign, address sign or name signs.

Twilight

2009-01-06T15:57:00.004-06:00

I have recently started and recently finished the book called "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer. It was so good I had such a hard time putting it down to even spend some time with my family! Before I had even finished "Twilight" I knew I was going to end up reading the whole series, so my boyfriend and I went out to one of our local Borders bookstores and bought the next book in the series called "New Moon". I have just started reading that one and I hope it's as good as "Twilight" was! I have not seen the movie yet, but a few of my co-workers have gone to see it multiple times. I tend to be a bigger fan of the books than the movies when they make movies based on books, but perhaps I'll go check out the movie sometime.

Artfire

2009-01-04T21:44:00.005-06:00

I have opened a new studio on Artfire. I actually heard about Artfire in the Etsy forums. It's a pretty new site, but they are now offering a free studio; you can list up to 10 items in your studio without any charge. From what I've read you never pay a fee to list items, you just pay a $7 monthly fee. I haven't had much views there yet though. I figured I might as well try opening a studio over there since it's free. We will just see how it goes for now! Please stop by and check it out! Wish me luck!

Here's the link to my store: http://Lucky12324.artfire.com

Bad Morning

2008-12-30T20:33:00.002-06:00

I had a bad morning. The badness started when I was walking to my car and slipped on the ice and fell. There was a thin layer of snow on the ground making it impossible to tell where there was ice and where there wasn't. Sadly I walked on the icey part and thus ended up on my bottom. My pants of course were soaked and very cold after that, but I didn't have enough time to go back up to the apartment to change them so I ended up wearing wet/cold pants to work. It was still snowing as I drove to work making it a little hard to see and pretty slippery. Unfortunately for me it was really hard to see when I started choking on my own saliva to the point that I had tears running down my face. Thankfully I was able to catch my breath before I ran the car off the road or crashed into something. Needless to say I was VERY careful walking through the parking lot into work this morning. My arms have been a little sore all day today because when I fell I put my hands backwards to prevent my head from smashing into the ground. While I feel that was a wise choice, you know preventing my head from smashing into the ground, my arms still hurt.

Wii

2008-12-29T12:49:00.005-06:00

My mother got a Wii for Christmas and neither of us had ever played one before. So last night we broke it out and tried it for the first time. We played bowling, tennis, and baseball. They were all a lot of fun; tennis was the hardest to play for both of us. We both enjoyed bowling the best though, we played that game twice and my mom won the first game and I won the second. It was a little hard to get used to at first, but it was still a lot of fun. We also got some other games with the extra remote, we got ping pong, billiards, duck hunt, and a few others. We haven't even opened the other game yet though, perhaps we will open that one up tonight.

Treasury

2008-12-28T21:05:00.004-06:00

I got the chance to make a treasury on Etsy today! It's called Asian Inspired Artists, and it features all items from my Etsy team called Asian Inspired Artists (surprised?). I hope you enjoy looking at it as much as I enjoyed making it!

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=29424

BMI

2008-12-26T12:47:00.004-06:00

BMI means Body Mass Index and apparently it can tell you weither you are underweight, normal weight, overweight, or obese. All you have to do is type in your height and your weight and it will give you a number which is your body mass index. Then there's a chart that looks like this:

Underweight = <18.5
Normal weight = 18.5-24.9
Overweight = 25-29.9
Obesity = BMI of 30 or greater

The number that you get after you type in your height and weight will fall into one of those categories and it will thus tell you weither you are underweight, normal, overweight, or obese. Sadly my BMI is 27.3 and I am overweight. I've never thought of myself as being overweight, but apparently I am. Please someone tell me that this isn't necessarily accurate information...lol

Here's the website where you can find out your BMI: http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/

Happy Holidays!

2008-12-25T20:34:00.002-06:00

Well I had a very Merry Christmas. I had to work from 6 am until a little after 3 pm on Christmas Eve, but after that my boyfriend, my son, and my mother went over to my grandparent's house for a Christmas Eve dinner. After dinner we exchanged gifts which was a lot of fun; I got a nice journal from my grandparents. Then Christmas morning my grandparents came over to watch my son open up his presents from Santa. I ended up getting a lot of nice things: I got a nice shirt with matching tank top, a pair of boots, some long underwear, some pj pants, and stocking stuffers from my mom, and I got a super cute set of silky pj's, a Harry Potter book, and a Moomin book from my boyfriend too! I'm sure I'm forgetting a couple of things but I got so many nice things that it's hard to remember it all! Later during Christmas day my mom's boyfriend came over and we all went back over to my grandparent's house to celebrate with the rest of my family (i.e. my aunts, uncles, and cousins). All in all I had a good Christmas celebration. Lets hear from my readers, what was your holiday season like? What did you receive as gifts?

Drawing

2008-12-23T16:28:00.003-06:00

Well my boyfriend and I have decided to try our hands at drawing. I always thought it would be a lot of fun to start drawing and that it would be a good creative outlet and I happened to voice my opinion on the subject as we were listening to my new Celtic Christmas cd in the car coming home from dinner this past weekend. I said that the music created pictures in my head that made me want to draw and my boyfriend said that he had always wanted to draw as well. So the very next day we set out for Michael's: The Arts and Crafts Store and went ahead and bought 2 drawing pads! We didn't have enough time to start using them last weekend so we have decided to set aside some time to draw this coming weekend. I'm pretty excited about it, actually we are both pretty excited about it. We were wondering if there are any artists out there that have experience with drawing that might have some tips, tricks, or advice? Or perhaps any sort of recommendations? Stay tuned for some pictures of our creations!

Japanese Water Fountain

2008-12-14T21:20:00.004-06:00

My boyfriend always finds the coolest things on the internet and he showed me this video of a water fountain in a Japanese mall and I just thought it was so awesome that I new I had to share it with all of my blog readers! I hope you enjoy watching it as much as I did! :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tP5Ays_eUk

Featured Etsy Seller: LazyTcrochet

2008-12-10T17:58:00.003-06:00

Tricia, of LazyTcrochet, has been knitting and crocheting in her spare time as a stay-at-home Mom for many years. Running her shop on Etsy for almost two years has given her the opportunity to create unique and one-of-a-kind designs as well as classic styles and custom orders. She most enjoys making shawls and hats of all kinds. Stop by and visit LazyTcrochet.Etsy.com or contact her for a style to call your own.

Who Will Comfort Toffle?

2008-12-08T20:35:00.007-06:00

My amazingly sweet boyfriend made me the happiest woman in the world by being such a sweetheart and buying me the book "Who Will Comfort Toffle?" It's a Moomin book by Tove Jansson. We were just strolling through a sort of indoor flea market type mall called Global Market here in Minneapolis and we were looking at the Scandinavian store because I'm Scandinavian and I wanted to see what they had there and right on the shelf was a Moomin book! I about died right there! So my boyfriend told me that he would buy it for me because he knew it would totally make my day and bring me happiness This book is just amazing! The story it tells and the illistrations are just magnificent. I happen to have some postcards that are from the book, which I think is totally cool, and I am so glad that I can share not only this book with you but also some of the illistrations from it so everyone can enjoy it! :-)

Decorations

2008-12-01T21:03:00.002-06:00

Well today my mother and I have taken down our Thanksgiving decorations and have started to unload all of our Christmas decorations. The Christmas tree is now up although it's not decorated yet. Sadly we have to have a fake Christmas tree; our apartment complex doesn't allow us to have a real tree. When I was growing up we always had a real tree and I just loved coming home and being able to smell it throughout the house. I'm looking into getting a candle that will smell like a real Christmas tree, but I highly doubt it will be the same. Tomorrow we plan on finishing the tree and perhaps getting out more of the knick knack type of decorations. I need to clear off our dining room table because my mother has the Dicken's Village houses and she wants to set them up on there. I think it's important to decorate because it helps bring the Christmas spirit into our home and that's important to me because of my son. This is an important season/holiday for children and I want my son to have good memories of the holidays. There's lots more work ahead of us but hopefully it will all look very nice when we're through.

Moomin Postcard #4

2008-11-29T11:13:00.001-06:00

I love this Moomin postcard because it has a recipe on it. Granted the recipe is in Finnish so I cannot read it but still I think it's a pretty neat idea to put a recipe on a postcard. Perhaps one of my readers will be able to translate the recipe so we can all try it! :-)