Indie Business: A Punkin Card Company

It’s been quite a week. A lot like Christmas actually. Today I am featuring A Punkin Card Company by artist and designer Amie Needham. I ‘acquired’ some amazing products from her this week. She creates her cards from recycled materials and uses a flat printing process. The result? Delightful designs that are available as gift tags, individual cards and even gifts sets; sustainable too! Thanks Amie!

Now let me explain when I say 'acquired'. It's simple really and the oldest concept in business; bartering. With the economy lately business has been slow, so I thought a great way to 'shop' for myself and for gift items, and at the same time help promote other small businesses was through trading. And it's so much fun. You should do the same!

Indie Business: Rotem Gear

Here is another product that I ‘acquired’ from another indie business, Rotem Gear by R. Jean Roth. It’s a t-shirt like cotton scarf with a hamsa at each end that is silver and sparkly. What is a hamsa you ask? Essentially in Islamic and Jewish custom it represents a protecting hand. Often times it is worn as charms or in homes or other buildings as wall plaques to protect and offer good luck.

Rotem Gear is primarily a t-shirt line and offers many unique and fun t-shirts. This is my current favorite. The Goth Hebrew Love shirt

Thanks Jean for the scarf! I’ll wear it for months!

Happy Jewelry and Indie Friends

I'm in the process of 'acquiring' other indie designers' products. I will be showing them off as I receive them. The first little piece to show off is something that I've been coveting for several months. It's a Raggedy Ann Pendant that is a 30 year old bedsheet made into a pendant and put onto an eyeglass. I initially saw this piece in a photograph and found out that it was sold. But
I didn't give up. A little whining never hurts. But seriously, my friend KB, was excited that she could make me my own.

It definitely makes me happy and I hope it makes everyone happy that sees it. It's made by the designer KB Van Horn of Kokoleo. Make sure you stop by her shop and see all of her wonderful designs. She has great kids items.

Banana Date Drop Cookies

It was cold. It was raining. My daughter was bored. We baked. I had this recipe from a long time ago and found it today in my recipe stash. Super easy, healthy and quick to make. This recipe would be great to use for teaching little kids to mix things together and cook, but my 16 year old daughter had just as much fun. Her favorite part? Smashing the bananas using the potato masher. My favorite part? Watching her completely devour an entire plate full of these scrumptious cookies. (but of course she wouldn’t let me take a picture of her)

Banana-Date Drop Cookies
Makes 2-3 dozen

6 large smashed bananas
2/3 c. vegetable oil
4 cups oatmeal
2 cups dates (you could substitute raisins or cranberries)
A couple dashes of salt
½ cup of mini chocolate chips

Grease 2 cookie sheets
Mix ingredients all together in large bowl
Drop cookies by teaspoon or tablespoon onto cookie sheets and bake at 350 degrees for 25 min. or until tops of cookies are slightly light brown.

Enjoy!!

Bobbles on My Mind

I've been craving bobbles for a long time and have always wanted to learn how to make them. Well, not exactly these bobbles, but aren't they cute?
I know there are crochet bobbles and knitted bobbles so either way I could learn. Finally, having completed all of my lined up projects it was time to try the knitted bobble. I started simple and inexpensive with a free pattern from Berroco.com called the Rory Scarf and knitted this up. It has bobbles on the diagonal and was rather easy. One thing learned though is when you're knitting bobbles, it tends to eat up a lot of yarn. So be aware. This scarf is warm and yummy and I wear it all of the time now.
Once I realized I had the hang of the bobbles, I kept going on this bobble roll and am currently conquering the Surface Sweater and Wrap by Nora Gaughan found on Knitty.com. Initially I just wanted to make the wrap, but when I completed it, I knew it really needed to have it's mate, the sweater. So I am currently working on that. It's going fine but I may not complete it until after our California winter is over; which could be any minute. I'm using Zara fine merino by Filatura di Crosa in a berry red color. The yarn is super soft and squishy. It was an excellent choice for the project. It's also very affordable on WEBS.
Hey, also, if you're on Ravelry, find me to see the progress and my other projects. I'm bonnindesigns.

A Rainstorm Challenge

Weather in CA in Feb can be very unpredictable. We know it rains. That’s a given. That’s why my son quit swimming. No fun to have swim meets in the rain and cold. Good thing. I hated watching swim meets in the rain and cold.

Yesterday was one of those unpredictable days that a simple rain kept us indoors and cozy until all of a sudden a huge down pore with hail even!!! For about 30 min it rained so hard the drain system in the roads just couldn’t keep up. In most places they’d call it Flash Flood conditions. Most people would dread this.

Not my 14 year old son. When he saw all of the water he became so excited. I asked him “What are you planning?.” He responded “I don’t know yet but there’s a frickin’ lake in my street”.

And off he went. So off I went to take pictures because he was hilariously happy which made me want to capture what I could. Obviously, the fast setting on my camera wasn’t cooperating, but you get the idea.

A Makeover, Finally

I guess it was fear of the unknown but I finally took the big leap into 2009 and upgraded my blogger layout. Not only is the layout different, but the editing features make everything so much more easy. Plus I even added a way to subscribe to my blog and added Feedburner!!! So happy, except....I'd love to be able to put in a background that was a little more me. I know I'd have to delve into the abstract world of html, so this may be the way it is until I get brave again, if I get brave again.
Sometimes it takes a lazy husband that wants to sit around watching tv and a rainy day to get me glued to the computer ready to take action. Love to know your thoughts and opinions.

Took the Big Step

Bonnin Designs, the website, is no more. It was a long time coming but it was time to let it go. Sales were down which was expected since most of my energy has been on my Etsy shop. And for people in business, you know that most time and money in a business always ends up on the marketing end. I hadn’t done any this past year so zero marketing = minimal exposure. On the good side, my Etsy shop is doing well. I have been adding new products, prices are lower and I have FREE shipping to the US. I also ship International.

Another thing though is that I still own my domain name. And so if you type in www.bonnindesigns.com you will always be redirected to my Etsy shop. This gives me a little warm feeling that I still own my name and have good internet presence in the search engines as I have previously.