A New Year...A New Look

The Yankee Burrow Co. has been in business since February 2010.

5 years of growing, and changing, and evolving.

I started out working with my daughter Amanda on Etsy, and our shop was Our Home to Yours.

5 years later, I'm on my own and known as Yankee Burrow.

And I still like it.

BUT

sometimes life situations causes us to re-evaluate and change, yet again.  

And The Yankee Burrow Co. will be changing over the next few months.

I will be updating my blog.

Changing my website.

Adding a site to feature truly handmade items.

AND changing my own direction of handmade.

Gone will be all the crochet scarfs, and jewelry.  The market is way too saturated with both.

Soon you will see original artwork, home decor, and totally unique wearable art pieces.

And, of course, baby stuff, just cuz I love me some babies. lol

SO

to start fresh, I need to clean house.  

I now have EVERY ITEM in my Scott's Marketplace shop on sale.

50% off everything.

A flat $5.00 shipping fee, except for the large heavy items, and as usual all the jewelry and greeting cards ship free.

Just use the coupon code CLEANHOUSE50 at check out.

Let's take a peek at what I have to offer.

Rainbow Lilac Crochet Scarf

With the winter starting to settle in, even here in NC, there is nothing nicer than a warm soft scarf around your neck.  And this scarf is super warm with the fun fur yarn giving it softness.

It is listed at $22.00, but you can get it for only $11.00

If you're looking for that unique statement piece of jewelry, how about this one of a kind, double strand necklace?  Listed at $28.00, now only $14.00.

Now, if you're always dreaming of summer, and enjoy the boho retro look, grab this handwoven, 100% cotton long fringe belt.  Listed at $20.00, with the coupon code CLEANHOUSE, only $10.00.

Plus if you are in the area, everything is available for pick up.

Check out my shop, The Yankee Burrow Co. for more great savings.

Come back soon.

Be blessed,

Debbi

A Little Window Shopping

I'm just sitting here getting ready for the last season of Downton Abbey  :'(

and I thought I would do a little window shopping for some great handmade.

I popped over the Scott's Marketplace and found these adorable Funky Chicken earrings in the shop of KATs-n-Thats.

Over at Handmade Artist's Shop there is an interesting shop called Cabochon_Persnickity's that not only has great items, like this Thimbles for Buckets earrings, but they tell stories about their creations.  A great item description is as important as great pictures.

One of my "old" friends on The CraftStar is Kristen from Quirky Bits N Pieces.

She not only makes amazing artisian yarn, but also these wonderful mini weaving looms, complete with special yarn and directions.

That's it for tonight.....

Downton Abbey is calling!

Be blessed,

Debbi

What Does This Yarn Say To You?

As few months ago I purchased some amazing yarn from Quirky Bits-N-Pieces, but I have yet to find the "right" pattern for it.  Yes, I do believe that some things will tell us what they are meant to be, that's part of the creative process.  But this yarn is being a bit quiet today.

But first...

here's just a few of the projects I already have in process.

I have a new book ready for review, red heart granny squares made from soft fuzzy yarn which will become...I don't know yet.  And a cool heart shaped woven basket that I saw on Pinterest.

Gotta love Pinterest!

Here's how far I have on the basket...

This is a nice and relaxing project, easy to take along, and no counting needed.  :0)

Now back to my yarn....should I make a potato chip scarf...or weave it on my loom for a belt or scarf?

potato chip scarf

woven belt

So, what do you think?  Leave your suggestions in a comment, because I really need help.  In more ways than one!

hahaha

Be blessed,

Debbi

The Craft Star artist feature - Noveenna

Today I want to show you the shop of a new "friend" of mine over at The Craft Star. Her name is Anne and her shop is Noveenna.  (What an interesting name).

Anne creates the most beautiful beaded/woven pieces of jewelry.  And I love the message in her shop announcement..."I beadweave with seed beads for the sake of my sanity".  

Trust me, I've worked with seed beads before, and they are a sure way to help me lose my sanity, so hats off to you Anne. :-)   Let's check out a few of her items.

Isn't this GORGEOUS????  I love, love, love the colors and patterns.  Anne calls it Faith Beadwoven Cuff, 

I want to call it mine...hahahaha

Here we go, I found something orange.  I love orange.  My mom loved orange.  To the point that she even bought a sports car back in the 70's just because it was orange.  (inside and out).  The fact that it didn't run didn't seem to make much difference to her, she had an orange car. hahahaha.  

If you want these Orange Sorbet beaded earrings, you better click on the link and get them now. 

Just look at this Lemon Sunshine beaded collar necklace!  Not only is this so very pretty and delicate, I can't imagine the work that went into stringing and weaving all these seed beads.  Amazing.

In Anne's shop, there are 304 items to choose from, so grab a cuppa joe and follow these links...

bib necklace, bracelets, collar necklaces, cuff bracelets, earrings, lariats, lighter cover sleeves, necklaces, pendant necklaces.  And you can read her blog, like her on facebook, follow her on twitter, and follow her on pinterest.  There, that should keep you busy for awhile. :-)  

And make sure you let her know that I sent you.

Be blessed,

Debbi

P.S.  Anne...thanks for all the RTs.  ((hugs))

The new look for our shop

Well, I've just spent several days updated and "tidying up" our shop on HandmadeArtists.  Due to Etsy allowing re-sellers and wholesalers now, and moving away from handmade items, we have decided to let our shop there slowly fade away, and have increased our presence on the Handmade Artists site.  It's a great up-and-coming site, full of ONLY handmade items, and with amazing customer support.  The forums are fun, and the shop site is improving and expanding daily.  I personally love the fact that Andrew and Kimberly have a set goal...20,000 sellers, then they will close off open registration.  They want to be the "Tiffany of Handmade" and I want to be a part of that future.  So, if you want to be a part of a great handmade venue, hurry on over today.  Now see what I did with our store...first I revamped our sections, improved some pictures (or tried to), and checked the shipping costs to get you the best prices available.  So let's browse by section.

 Our first section is our jewelry.  Here you will find our unique designs in mostly beaded jewelry.  I have a different approach to designing my pieces.  I find a focal point, then just sit at my table and look at my beads.  They are in drawers, hanging on walls, in my carry tote.  I grab some complimentary colors and shapes, then just start laying them out and stringing them together.  The beads pretty much make themselves into jewelry.  Like this pearl seed bead memory wire bracelet.  I just reached into my bead pile without planing the color pattern, and I love how it turned out.  In this section you'll find necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and crochet cuffs.


Let's visit our next section...

fashion.  Here you'll find our scarves, cowls, belts, hats, and handbags.  I first started crocheting way back when I was only 10, and have been "hooking" ever since, lol.  I love yarn like I love beads...soft and bright.  For most of her childhood I have tried to teach Amanda to crochet, without much luck.  Until a few years ago.  It finally kicked in, and she's become an accomplished "hooker" herself.  She created this long and skinny purple scarf, it's her own design.  I also knit, but being left handed, it is one skill I cannot learn from someone else.  I had to struggle and figure it out for myself, and yes, I hold my needles funny and knit backwards, but the outcome is still the same.  Speaking of backwards, I recently taught my youngest daughter to crochet, and it's hard to describe her technique.  It's sideways.  She had to just watch me, then went off by herself to figure it out.

The last section I want to share with you today is our  section for quilts, blankets, and pillows.  Right now there are only 2 blankets listed, but I am in the middle of one more crochet in an southwestern pattern, and 2 soft applique blankets, and several pillows.  Yes, I suffer from artists ADD...when I get up each morning, I never know what medium will catch my fancy....knitting, quilting, crochet, beads, painting, sketching, paper crafts...it's a wonder I get anything finished.  I completed this blue chevron stripe woven blanket not too long ago.  I really enjoyed working on this blanket.  Since it's weaving, I didn't need to count my stitches and I could watch television while creating.


Next week, I'll show you around some of our other sections.  And some new items I am listing this week.  So bookmark the page, and come visit me soon.
Be blessed,
Debbi

a new craft

A couple of years ago, I was at a civil war re-enactment with Hannah when I saw a woman weaving on a small(ish) table top loom, and was instantly bitten by the "I gotta try this" bug.  So I went home, did some research, and got Chuck to build me a loom.  Then it sat for the next 2 years.  Now don't yell at me...I didn't mean for it to sit for 2 years.  It's just that life kept going on until the other night I determined to weave, no matter what.  It took me a few hours to load the yarn on the loom.  Mostly because I did not read the directions fully, and had to unload and reload several times, lol.  Then the yarn I was using, well, it turned out that I only had 1 ball of that color and it wasn't enough.  So yesterday I took a trip to my local store.  And they did not have the same color yarn as what I already had on the loom.  But they did have this totally awesomely bright pink/yellow/orange.  So last night I spend another hour taking off the old yarn, and putting on the new yarn.

The picture is from my cell phone because it was late and my camera was in the studio and it was dark outside. heehee.  Plus I was so excited to start that I had even forgotten to take pictures of the loom before I started this process.

Here is the start of my weaving adventure.  This will be a belt for our Etsy shop.  Oh the ideas floating around my head....I even told Chuck that I'm going to need a bigger loom for placemats and stuff. hahaha.  Check out these great handmade loom weaving items. 

Click on the links to see them upclose.

On the left is an authentic, from Jerusalem, hand woven prayer shawl.  You can find this and several others at Weaving Creation on Zibbet.
On the right is a handwoven silver / blue / green scarf from Loom on the Lake on Etsy.

And go ahead and subscribe to my blog for all the future updates on my weaving experiments.

Be blessed,
Debbi  

the local Hiddenite Festival

Today was a beautiful day for our local Hiddenite craft festival.  It started out with the whole family, but we left the boys home after lunch, and it was just Hannah and I.  We had a good time.  Here are a few pictures.


a japanese kimono




the woodwrights shop




throwing a pot




making a corn husk doll



spinning wool with a drop spindle

 And after a tour of the Lucas mansion complete with period furniture, we relaxed while listening to this great musician.  That's a type of dulcimer he's playing, such a pretty sound.

What a perfect day!
Debbi

Countdown!

Ok, the countdown has begun, 15 days till Brandon, Amanda, and Owen move back to NC from KS.  And not a moment too soon.  They had such a storm yesterday that Mandy was waiting to see a witch fly by her window!  I'm so excited and can't wait to see them.  Of course, it will be tight quarters here for a while.  2 families, 7 people, in a 3 bedroom house, but we'll make it work.  In this tight economy, families have to help each other just to survive.  They could stay in the art studio, but there is no running water, and with a toddler, running water is a must :) .  So, until their house is ready, I am just going to LOVE having my grandbaby back!!!!
WHOOHOOO!  My husband just built me an inkle loom!  I saw a woman weaving on one at a living history re-enactment and wanted to learn to weave on one myself.  After browsing the web for directions, I just gave my wonderfully talented husband a picture of one, and viola, it's made.  I so enjoy being married to a handyman.  So there's something you'll hopefully be seeing in our shop one day soon.
Debbi