Guilt-Free Cupcakes!

I love cupcakes! But sometimes, you want something that's cute like a cupcake but that you won't regret later. Enter crocheted cupcakes. Sure, they don't taste as good as real ones, but they're just as cute, and they have 0 calories!

These cupcakes also last a long time. They're great for decorations, or they can be used for pincushions (they're stuffed with fiberfill). And if you'd rather have a slightly more unusual cupcake, I make Cthulhu cupcakes (tentacles and all) and the ever popular Jayne cupcakes! I also have Halloween cupcakes, but those are seasonal, and not in the shop at the moment. (But if you're interested in Halloween cupcakes now, be sure to let me know! Otherwise, they'll be back around August.)

I'm always looking for ideas for more unusual cupcakes. I still want to make a Dalek cupcake, and I'm happy to hear other ideas you have!

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And in other news, my ice cream cozies were featured in a blog today: check it out!

New in the shop: Coffee Mug Cozies!

While lounging around watching the Lord of the Rings movies, I wanted a crochet project that would not require me to work on the pattern as I went. I needed something that I could work on without thinking too hard. So I decided that it was time to launch the coffee mug cozies!

The coffee mug cozies are similar to the coffee cozies I already made, except that they can be used on a mug that has a handle. There's a button on one end and a loop on the other. They still wouldn't work on a mug that has two handles, but since I haven't seen a lot of those, I think this is a versatile enough design. You can also use them on a disposable coffee cup from the coffee shop.

I'm making these in two different types of yarn. The acrylic ones are great if, like me, you work in an office that likes to make your hot beverage cold before you've really had a chance to enjoy it. They will help retain the heat of the liquid in your cup. The cotton ones (which I haven't listed any of yet) will insulate as well, but they're also absorbent. So if you slosh liquid out of the mug, the cotton coffee mug cozy will hopefully catch some of it! Perfect if you're a little messy. Now, I need to figure out how to combine the two so that I can have an all in one coffee mug cozy... :)

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream!

Sometimes, you just have to have some ice cream. The cute little pint sized containers are great for this, especially if you like one kind of ice cream and the people you share your home with like other kinds. The pints also just scream to be eaten straight out of--why bother to dirty a bowl with such a small amount of ice cream, right? But those suckers get COLD if you hold them for too long.

Enter the ice cream cozy. It helps to keep your hand warm while you're eating your ice cream, and it also helps to keep the ice cream itself insulated, so that it melts a little less. Plus, they come in a whole lot of different colors, so everyone in your home who likes ice cream can have their own personal ice cream cozy.

Of course, you don't have to eat ALL of the ice cream in one sitting, but these ice cream cozies still work if you're only having part of the pint. Because again, who wants to dirty a bowl when you don't have to?

Roses Everywhere!

Valentine's Day is rapidly approaching! If you're looking for a good gift for a loved one that lasts longer than flowers or chocolates, a crocheted rose pin or hair accessory is a good bet! These roses will stay vibrant and beautiful for a long time, and act as a perpetual reminder of your love! I have two styles of pins (some of which would be great for a man or woman) and three styles of hair accessories, all in a wide array of colors, so no matter your loved ones' styles, there is likely something to match them!

I originally put these roses on stems, but over time, I thought that rose accessories would be far more popular. Many of the funky color combinations that I make are the team colors of two of our local roller derby leagues, but they also match up with the school colors of various high schools and colleges. I can also make roses in pretty much any color combination, so if you don't see what you're looking for in my shop, please contact me for a custom rose!

Rose Pins
Rose Hair Accessories

Scary White Girl Designs is 5 years old!

My Etsy shop, Scary White Girl Designs is 5 years old as of tomorrow, November 30th! To celebrate, I'm offering a discount to readers of my blog, fans on Facebook, and followers on Twitter! To receive 20% off of your order on Etsy, use the coupon code: 5YEARSFANS. (The coupon code is good on 11/29 and 11/30.)

Here's to another 5... or 10... or 20! :)

Technical difficulties

Guess who forgot to renew her domain name? Regular content will return as soon as I get things fixed. :)

The great two shop debate...

So this will mostly only be of interest to other Etsy sellers, but I'm posting it nonetheless. I'd love to hear some opinions and ideas on this topic, as it's at the forefront of my mind right now.

I'm seriously thinking about opening a second shop.

Now I know there are plenty of you who read this who have two or more shops, and I've often heard "don't do it! It's a pain in the [choose your favorite word for the backside]!" And I agree that it probably will be a royal pain. But, at the same time, I'm seeing some advantages.

1) I have a LOT of stuff in my shop. Seriously. I don't think it's been under 200 items since maybe last Christmas? Maybe even longer than that. I make stuff, and I keep making stuff even when stuff isn't selling. And the sad thing is that I always have more supplies to make MORE stuff. :) Splitting into two shops will make two much more reasonable sized shops... or give me an excuse to make a lot more stuff for each. :)

2) If you look at my shop, there's a minimal dividing line already--crocheted stuff, and other stuff. There is a little bit of a connecting theme to the "other stuff," but it's not really so obvious at the moment. If I split into two shops, I'll be able to focus each shop on the theme of that shop.

3) Sections. I'm always struggling to fit everything into the 10 sections we get per shop. If I have 2 shops, I can have 20 sections, and thus spread everything out a bit better. Because honestly, "non-wearable crochet" is a rather broad section. :)

4) I love the name ScaryWhiteGirl, and I always will. But I've already got a name picked out for my second shop, it's not taken yet, and I've even got a clever tagline for the shop as well. Basically, in my mind, I've already branded the heck out of this second shop that doesn't even exist yet. :) It will be rather cohesive in terms of the theme, and the theme works with the shop name / tagline.

Okay, so that's my pros. Give me the cons, folks. I need to hear them again, and see if they outweigh the pros.

(You're also welcome to give me more pros. :) I'm sure that running two shops can't be all bad, otherwise no one would do it!)

Decapitated Dollies teaser!

Apparently me cursing the sky earlier made it decide to be sunny enough for photos after work today!



Just teasers for now, because it might be a bit before I get them into the shop. I've been super ridiculously productive lately!

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

It's a rare Sunday post, only because I am SO happy with how these little guys turned out, that I had to post them today. :)

There was some household debate over how many fish should be in this set, but on reviewing the cover of this fabulous book, I found that two fish is totally separate from one fish, so it's not like a counting thing. There is one fish, and then there is two fish. Since there is also red fish and blue fish, that's five fish in this school. So I made the two fish slightly different shades of green, so they're not identical twins. :)

At one point, there was also going to be a bag to store the school of fish in, but then I discovered that I must have given away my fish print fabric. :(

We now return you to your regularly scheduled, non-Dr. Seuss-centric blog. At least for a little while. :) (I may even refrain from talking about fish for a little while!)

Because I've realized that most people who read this page probably don't know the story behind the nickname, let me present, for your reading enjoyment, The Tale of the ScaryWhiteGirl... :)

This past fall semester, I was taking a class on Monday nights. It ran till about 8:30, which meant that I didn't get home till about 8:45. Now, for those who don't know, Monday night is when the WWF is on TNN, and the Old Man is (or was) a big wrestling fan. So every Monday night, he, Mikey, and Ron would assemble over at the house to watch wrestling, down in the basement. I would get home from school and head upstairs to drop off my bookbag and whatever else I had brought home with me, and then head down to see what I had missed...

One night, I came in and headed upstairs. Ron, in a really girly voice, says "Oh no, someone's breaking in!" And so I yelled down the stairs, "Uh, yeah... scary white girl, breaking in." Apparently this sent Ron into a fit of laughter, that ended with him rolling around on the floor... or maybe that had something to do with the strange effect that gravity has on Ron when he's in our basement (really, I can't explain it!).

So yeah, that's the story of my nickname. It's a lot funnier to those of us who were actually there at the time... :)