Green Beans N Strings

Photoshop painting

2009-06-20T15:28:00.003-06:00

Just a work in progress, learning how to paint in photoshop. Hubby and I are going to pool our birthday money and get a wacom tablet, should make things much easier.

Hiatus

2009-06-14T18:53:00.002-06:00

Yes it has been a very long time. I am not a good blogger. Since I last posted I have got my website up and running, gone to Hawaii,spun up some really pretty yarn, and most recently I started to squidoo. I hope to post on all of these here soon and try and clean off the cobwebs from this blog.

Snow Fight

2008-12-21T15:57:00.003-07:00

Daddy and Gabe had a snow fight today. It snowed most of the night, all day today and is still coming down. I was guessing we had 18 inches but went out and measured and we have about a foot or so but we could easily hit 18 by tonight if it keeps it up.

Long time gone

2008-12-16T13:11:00.004-07:00

Yes it's been a while. The last few months I have stretched my online presence thin and blogging took a back seat. Busy with the kids busy with the business, just busy. I hope with the new year coming I can get back on track with my updates so stay tuned. I want to post some of the Christmas gifts I have made but that will have to wait until next week so it doesn't ruin any surprises. So here are a few things I have been working on, the gloves are my gift to myself but I only have one done so far.

Happy Mother's Day

2008-05-11T23:44:00.004-06:00

While doing some blog reading today I came across this on 88Words Blog and I thought it was just so lovely I had to copy and paste for everyone who reads my blog. And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, Speak to us of Children. And he said: Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, And though they are with you yet they belong not to you. You may give them your love, but not your thoughts, For they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday. You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far. Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness: For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable. ~Kahil Gibran

Sucky!!!

2008-04-19T12:25:00.002-06:00

I hate Website Tonight! I am pulling my hair out as we speak! I have been trying to get my website halfway presentable and it has been giving me nothing but problems. Their templates are awful and every time I try and edit the css file by hand it reverts my picture back to template picutes! Ugghhh. Ok rant over. Maybe in the next year I will have my website going for all to see.

Lil Fairy

2008-04-09T00:59:00.001-06:00

Lil Fairy
Originally uploaded by Green_Beans

I was bored so I made Little Miss into a fairy.

Featured

2008-03-31T23:34:00.004-06:00

I am so excited! Smiles and Sunshine has featured my yellow patchwork headband on her blog. So very nice of her, Thank You! Go check out her blog and leave a comment while your there.. Kay ;o)

Spring is almost here!

2008-03-21T12:28:00.002-06:00

We finally have some sunshine here and some rain which has been nice since it has greened everything up. My bulbs are going to bloom soon and I have been busy making spring dresses. I finished Little Misses Easter dress last night. I absolutely love the way it turned out and she is going to look so pretty in it. I made it big enough so that she would be able to wear it all spring and hopefully summer too.I will post some action shots after Easter. I as finally finished my sunshine patchwork dress I have been working on for almost 3 weeks now. I have it listed in my Etsy shop but I liked it so much I am now working on something similar for myself. Hope you all have a very blessed Easter!

This is a Tribute

2008-03-18T16:17:00.004-06:00

To all things cupcake. I'm not usually one for the cutesie kind of stuff but who can resist a cupcake. I decided to do this because whenever I see a cupcake I can't help but think of a certain person(Yeah you know who you are). And since Etsy has so many great artists and craftsters I was able to find some really great, not so cutesie, but totally cool cupcakes. So with no further ado......

The Evil Cupcake T shirt
by
Jonas Illustration's

The Pirate Cupcake Sticker Pack

by
Dogbone Art

Shark Attack Cupcake Toppers

by
Bake and Destroy

Don't Spit On My Cupcake -- Print

Rustic Goth

I was so inspired by these great Etsians that I had to come up with something that featured the "not so cutsie" cupcake and so I designed...

Punk Rock Pirates N Cupcakes Tank
by
Green Beans N Strings

Enjoy your cupcakes.

New Layout

2008-03-17T02:02:00.000-06:00

Yeah it's 2 in the morning. But checkout my blog. Pretty hot!

Etsy Treasury!

2008-03-09T10:46:00.002-06:00

We have finally stepped out of the stone age here and now have high speed internet! Woohoo! And I now have my very first treasury on Etsy. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's a list that I handpicked of things I like on Etsy. You can only get one if the list drops below 333 and with tons of people wanting one I think it's almost impossible to get one with dial-up. Anyways mine expires Tuesday morning so go CHECK IT OUT, click on some pics, leave a comment and maybe I'll make the front page of Etsy!

Springtime Stawberries

2008-02-20T12:33:00.005-07:00

I am so ready for the cold weather to be gone and for spring to be here already, so I picked up this really cute fabric while I was out shopping to make a dress for Little Miss Bean. I knew I wanted to make a dress I just wasn't sure what pattern I was going to use, until I saw a cute little dress that someone had made on Craftster from a 1960's pattern. Well she posted the measurements for the one that she made which was a 3T size, so I got out my pencil and paper and figured out the measurements for a 6 month size and drew up my pattern. I changed a few things from the original like scooping the neck, making the buttons come in from the back and top stitching all the way around so it comes out of the wash better.It turned out more like a top than a dress but I think I am going to make her a diaper cover to go with it. And since I still have enough fabric I will probably make a summertime strawberry top in a bigger size!

"Natural" Sham

2008-02-05T22:49:00.001-07:00

We are going back to the basics. Simplicity is my new saying. Why? Because I'm sick and tired of lead in my kids' toys. I'm sick and tired of not being able to read half of the ingredients on the label of my "whole wheat" bread. Do you even want to know what is in your toothpaste or shampoo? This year the Little Man is getting nothing but handmade China free toys and books for his Birthday,(he LOVES books BTW). And NO cake in a box! Simple food equals vegetables, grains, fruit and meat. No more boxes with a myriad of unrecognizable ingredients prepackaged for your convenience. I have come to the point of realizing that I have been feeding my family junk, when I thought it was good for them. I had been duped into thinking that by buying 100% Whole Wheat bread that I was doing the healthy thing for my family. One day while in my kitchen pondering what to make for lunch I decided to take a looksie at the label on my bread. Low and behold the 3rd ingredient, high fructose corn syrup, shortly after that came partially hydrogenated soybean oil and not to mention a long list of preservatives. Although there has been no concrete evidence that high fructose corn syrup is any worse than regular sugar, I tend to believe that our bodies were not meant to eat and digest things that come out of a science lab like high fructose corn syrup. Partially hydrogenated soybean oil is so bad it kills you...slowly, and in the meantime it just makes you fat. It lowers your thyroid which in turn makes your energy level go down so you don't feel like exercising. Then comes the diabetes, heart disease and possibly cancer. Partially hydrogenated oil is in about 40 % of the food at the grocery store! See this link for more info on trans fatty acids: hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils, proven serious health effects. So although I already enjoyed making bread, I now have a reason to make it. No more store bread for us, my bread machine now has a permanent place on the counter. And needless to say I have become a compulsive label reader. I want to know exactly what is in my food and keep my family healthy. I choose my family's health over pretty prepackaged convenience, not to mention my food tastes better.

Snowballs

2008-01-31T23:06:00.002-07:00

So I finished and filed our taxes today. Woohoo we owe nada! In fact we are getting back a nice chunk thanks to our little beans. What are we going to do with this money? Well I would love a spinning wheel and I'm sure the Hub would really like a nice new shiny thing to shoot or one of those fancy flat screens to fill our wall, but no. We are going to save it and pay off some debt. And to be completely honest I am really happy about that. I went to the library yesterday to get some new books to read to the beans. I also picked up a few cookbooks to get my menu plan spiced up a bit and a book called Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey. I had read bits and pieces about how this was changing peoples lives and how great it was on various blogs and sites, so I decided to check it out and see for myself. Well after filing the taxes I decided to sit and read a bit, 7 chapters in and I'm totally ready to start our money makeover. We have less credit card debt than the average American. But we still have debt (not counting the house) and I hate that. One of our goals has been to get our finances organized and get some saving built up. I have been trying but not with a clear direction. Well this book has total set it all out there for us. No more paycheck to paycheck for us! I'm pumped! And ready to climb that mountain. So we are going to snowball the debt right out of our life. And if we have to go without a few "wants" for a while then so be it. I know God does not want us in debt, and we don't want to be either. It's going to take a lot of self-discipline and dying to myself daily. So if you haven't read this book, I totally recommend it even though I'm only half way through.

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

I need a fresh start

2008-01-30T01:00:00.002-07:00

Ugggh. Yes I know this blog has been quite the snooze fest lately. Well the bug that Little Man got spread to everyone. The Little Man is better now considering he had a double ear infection on top of this nastiness. I've been drinking my tea and honey and getting lots of rest and am finally feeling better. But things have been pretty crazy round here nursing the Beans back to health, trying to keep up with the ever growing mountain of dirty clothes and dishes, and not feeling wonderful myself. I've been feeling pretty discouraged by this since one of my goals this year was to get organized. And well to say the year has begun with less than a bang is an understatement. So I'm going to start this coming month fresh and with a plan and a goal! I am going to organize everything from the menu plan to my mess of a craft closet. So stay tuned and say a prayer for me. Lord knows I need it! Hopefully all this organization will lead to more time for the family and more time for my knitting, sewing, and spinning

Snow, Sickness, and Spinning

2008-01-10T01:59:00.002-07:00

Meet Dick. He has got to be about the coolest snowman in town. The Man made him while Little Man watched out the slider door. It dumped over a foot of snow on us and more is supposed to be on it's way. Little man has the flu so he can't go out to play. So Daddy made him a snowman, don't ask me why he named him Dick. No Clue.

So while it was snowing like crazy outside I was spinning my fool head off trying to get the 2 ounces of columbia/dorset blend that I had dyed spun. After hours of spinning singles I rolled it into a cat ball and was going to attempt to do a 2 ply with the one long single working from both ends. Well turns out I rolled it too tight and broke off my center pull. UGGGH. I hopped on the internet and went to a site that has really taught me a lot so far. Thanks to Spinning Spider Jenny I did my first Navajo 3 Ply!!! I ended up with about 111 yards and I think it turned out really well and I think I might make some fingerless gloves maybe?

All Things New

2008-01-05T21:00:00.000-07:00

So I decided to start a blog. I remember when I first heard about blogs, I thought "who in their right mind would want to spill out their whole lives to the whole world?" Well I can promise you that I am not going to tell you my life story. But I will give you bits and pieces of my lovely life; mostly about my new addiction to spinning, knitting, and dyeing fiber. An ongoing love for sewing, crocheting and other crafty sorts of stuff. Also my greenbeans, who I love to pieces, and most likely my models for a lot of the things I make, and about the projects we accomplish as we dive into the wonderful world of homeschooling. I decided to start a blog because I was inspired. I learned to spin from blogs and u-tube, maybe some of you can learn something from me too. My good friend Mommyca inspired me too, her cupcakes are going to be the next big thing. And of course there is Ravelry with a nice big blank spot to link up to your own blog. For those of you who don't know what Ravelry is, it's a great new web community for people who make things with yarn. Myspace with a crafty twist. If you knit, crochet, spin, weave, then it's the place for you. It's still in beta so you'll have to wait for your invite, but trust me it's worth the wait. Another good thing that happened today other than my new blog was that my new Golding spindle arrived! I love it and it spins beautifully. Spinning some nice soft Merino. So here's to a New Year, a new blog, and a new spindle! Now back to my spinning for a bit since the beans are sleeping.