Christmas is coming...

Okay so Christmas is next month but lots of people are getting a jumpstart on the craziness and beginning to look for deals for the people on their list.  I'll be posting some of my favorites here on the blog over the next several weeks.  Anything I post from Amazon will have my affilitate link.  I think it's a win/win - you get to know about deals you might not have known about, I get more added to my Christmas buying piggy bank.  If you don't like it then of course you don't have to click the link just go find it on your own.  :)

Here are a couple of my favorites to get us started:  Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head for only $5 each!!!  Prices can change at any time so I recommend rushing over and getting it while you can.  Let me know if you snagged one or two or ten!

Zebras

Okay, how cute are these little girls?!  

I know you can't be sick of the twincesses yet because this is only the second time I've featured these lovely little models.  In this picture they are featuring the Zebra hats I made for them from this wonderful pattern I found at Repeat Crafter Me.  

I've decided that stripes are not my favorite in something this small.  It's kind of a bugger to have to change the color so often!  It sure was worth it though.  They are so stinkin' cute!

She has such amazing, easy to follow, creative patterns that I'm sure you will be seeing many more of my crocheted creations inspired by her!

In other crochet news I'm going to start on Christmas presents for little family members that will include an Elmo hat, a My Little Pony Princess Celestia hat, a beanie for a Jets fan, and a Pikachu hat.  Beanies are so fun because you can do so much with them and tailor them to each person's likes.  

If you are looking for a pattern for any specific character let me know and I'll be happy to see what I can come up with for you.  And...if you're not a "happy hooker" than let me know what you'd like to buy and I'll let you know if I can create it for you or point you in the direction of someone who can.

Great Deal on Superhero T-shirts on Amazon

I love me a great deal.  Amazon has these great Justice League Superhero T-Shirts on sale.  $9.99 for a 3 pack!  That's only $3.33 each!  Sizes are going fast so run over there.  I know a little boy who's getting some for Christmas.

Baby bunnies!

Sure, Easter was weeks ago, but really any time is a good time to show off bunnies…and babies…and babies dressed as bunnies.

My little nieces deserved to have some super cute Easter-picture outfits and as an added bonus I got to have some adorable little models for one of my for-sale sets.  I got this adorable pattern from Repeat Crafter Me here.

Now, if you want to whip this set up yourself visit the link above and you’ll have some done in no time.  Her patterns are some of the easiest to read and complete.  If you yourself are not a fan of the hooking (the crafty kind not the street walker kind) but want a set for a baby in your life you can order one, or several, from my etsy shop or by visiting my For Sale page!  (I can do several other animal sets too)

Flaxseed brownie....hit or shit?

I have a friend who is currently not eating sugar, starch or grain.  In my attempt to make a dessert that she could partake of I have been scouring recipes that will follow her dietary restrictions.  Ummm…not an easy thing.  I can find tons that are sugar-free, or starch free, or gluten free…but practically nothing that is free of all three.
I found what looked to be a promising recipe for almond flour brownies at Grain-Free Foodies.  Only one problem, well two actually.  First, my hunk of man is allergic to almonds.  Second, I didn’t have almond flower and found a teeny tiny 4 cup bag of it for $13 and change.  Umm…no.
So, I kept searching.  Then I found something that said I could replace almond flour with flax-seed meal in 1:1 ratio.  Ding!  Ding!  Ding!  I have that!
So, I whipped those bad boys up replacing the almond flour with the flax-seed meal.  This is what they looked like when I took them out of the oven.

Hmmm…that is quite the indent….should have been my first clue all was not peach keen in brownie-ville.  I tell my daughter, hey that’s no big deal, I’m putting whipped cream and berries on top anyway.  She assures me she will be my taste tester.

An hour or so later, after much begging from her, I finally pop one out cut a wedge and hand it to her.  She chews it, all the while trying to smile and says, “Meh, it’s…ok” and quickly follows up by telling me she’s sure they’ll be better with the whipped cream and berries.  I then bring a piece to my two year old.  He pops it in his mouth and quickly removes it while saying, “Dat’s gross mommy.”  My husband was also not a fan.  I then hand a piece to the one year old.  She LOVES it!  She came back for more three times!  Ha ha.  I figure it’s probably because she’s never had the “real thing”.  At least they weren’t a total waste and I can feed her a yummy treat without guilt.

Alas, I’ll keep looking for a better “healthy” brownie.  In the meantime I was smart enough to have some Pillsbury ones baking as back up for the rest of us.  I’m still taking a few of these to my crazy friend.

Do you have a great “healthy” brownie recipe?  Please, for the love of tasty treats, share your recipe!

www.lizzieg.com

I hear an echo

I’m preparing to write a guest post for another blog that I am a fan of.  I am confident in the piece I am writing.  It’s personal, powerful (for me at least), and from the heart.  The most stressful thing about this whole venture is the little bio dealy-bob.   I have never been a fan of writing a bio blurb.  I’ve usually always begged or bribed a friend to do it for me – especially friends that think I’m amazing and whose words taste delicious on my tongue.  The stress of condensing the essence of me into a few sentences is just….ugh.  Do I include this?  Do I leave this out?  Do I go for professional or personable, serious or witty? 

However, I’ve realized tonight that the main reason I hate to write them is because I don’t want to be perceived as "stuck up".  This has been a major perception issue for me.  Very many years ago I had an experience where I stood in front of a group of people and they gave me feedback.  The feedback they were coached to give me was to address my “walls”, the parts of me that it may be painful, but valuable, to look at and to identify the way I hold myself back from people.  The things I was told most often that night were that I was self-centered, stuck-up, and a total bitch.  My thoughts while walking out the door bounced back and forth from “Well screw you very much” and “Ouch.  How do I change that?”

I’ve grown a lot since that night 17 years ago.  I speak up, I speak out, I recognize my worth, I’m willing to be vocal about it and as long as I’m true to me I never regret it – even if someone thinks I’m a bitch.  That doesn’t mean that the fear of being perceived as egotistical, selfish, or a bitch doesn’t come up.  It comes up a lot.  The question now is, when it comes up what do I do with it?  I’d like to say that I just take it and, like a dandelion seed in the wind, blow it away with a wish for something better.  It’s not that easy or whimsical though. Often when it comes up, I notice it and move right on.  Sometimes it takes work and I have to beat the crap out of it (or me) and stuff it back down into the dark depths it belongs in.  Sometimes I let it win and lessen myself because of it.  Gratefully those times are fewer and farther between.

For several years I have taught people not to hide their light, to let it blaze brightly.  I’ve told them not to weaken themselves for anyone else or to diminish who they are to make anyone else feel better.  Tonight as I struggle with this (really minor and ridiculous) task, my words come back to me, “Dimming your light doesn’t make anyone else’s light shine brighter.  It just dims your light.”  Thank you to all those of you who have listened over the years and who echo these words back to me tonight.