You may have noticed that the Sixth & Elm Etsy Shop has been closed for a bit, but rest assured that this closure is only temporary and I plan to reopen at the beginning of February. I had a very busy fall season and I needed time to finish my lengthly queue of orders before I took any new ones, and I knew that I would need some extra time off once Noah arrived too. In addition to that, there is a rule against earning extra income for the first 13 weeks of maternity leave while collecting maternity benefits from the Canadian Government. I will get paid for the full year off like everyone else, but for some reason they do not allow you to work for the first 13 weeks. I don’t mind though. I am using the time off to come up with some new designs for the shop re-openning in February.

If you would like to be notified when the shop is taking orders again to can sign up for automatic email notification on the Sixth & Elm shop page (don’t worry, you won’t be signed up for newsletters or spam) or you can check back here as I will post once I am up and running.

Fellow Etsyian, Loopy4ewe is participating in the 60km Weekend to End Breast Cancer Walk next June, and she is attempting to raise $2000 to participate. Once she let the other Etsy sellers know what she was up to, they responded en masse by donating tons of items they have made – large and small and mostly pink – and listing them for her, all proceeds to go toward her walk.  She didn’t even ask for donations, but she didn’t have to.

I added my little bit by adding the most popular item I sell, the Scripted Box, stained in Antique Pink in honour of the cause. I sanded it down a bit it looks cute and vintage-y – like a little Parisian treasure. All of the money I raise from the sale of this item will go to Loopy and hopefully get her close to her goal.

Here is a list of some of the other Etsy sellers who have listed or donated items as well:

KritterKnitter

StuffbySteph

PaisleyBaby

NancyWallisDesign

HarvestMoonPaper

UxCritter

Loscann

Adornyourself

StringMeAlong

MyHandboundBooks

Gillian’sBeads

How can you help? Easy, buy something from someone on this list!

I really like this one….

Any suggestions on stain colours?

Boo! In time for Halloween, or the first term of school at Hogwarts… It’s Rupert the Reproachful!

What I need from you, dear reader, is advice on what colour to stain him.

Did I mention how much I REALLY want to go to school at Hogwarts, even though I am 30 years old and it… um… doesn’t exist?

From this Photo that Adam took of my Violin and Guitar together:

I started woodburning 2 years ago with a walnut hollow “hobby” woodburner that I bought when I was 9. It did the job, but was rather awkward and sort of burned my hand after a while. 1 year ago Adam teamed up with some friends and family and bought me my first “real” woodburner – a Razortip with pen and replaceable tips (remember this post?). I loved it and used it everyday. It was perfect.

I don’t think the kids at Razortip intended the system be used everyday for about 5 hours, though. Actually, I don’t think anyone would recommend that, as I now have no feeling in the middle finger of my right hand. Eventually, I outgrew the little guy and there simply wasn’t enough power in it for me to finish some of the bigger projects I had. Since I do contemporary decorative woodburning, and not pictures of foxes or ducks, I sometimes have large areas I need to burn dark and the Razortip was having heart trouble.

So I upgraded and treated myself to a brand new Colwood Olympiad woodburner, complete with a couple new tips and even a nice wooden case. It came on Tuesday and I haven’t been able to put it down since, which has made me a bit of a fire hazard around the house. A huge temperature range and enough guts to finish the large pieces, I am really happy with it.

A better system doesn’t make me a better burner, but it will allow me to finish projects faster, which is important now that the shop has REALLY caught on and I am always working on something. Hopefully this will give me more time to start new designs, instead of steadily working on orders of designs I already have for sale. I just have to remember to stop every once in a while for food and sleep.

This is a cute little design that reminds me of Dr. Suess. Horton hears an Elm Tree. I still have to do some touch up and fix some minor scorching, but it’s almost finished.

So, with my new fancy-dancy woodburning system, I have been working on a few projects.
The box above is based off of an idea from Colin (a real, live IRISHMAN!) who suggested the offset cross. I was complaining that the cross centered made it look like a bible, and I like the way this one looks traditional and contemporary at the same time.

And here is a fun thing I burned up last night: 

(more…)

I am addicted to tools. Big power saws, little tiny jewellery hammers, even an eyelet setter can get my heart racing. And the more universal attachments for a tool, the more I want it, even if I don’t know what all the attachments are for. Knowing this, Colin wisely skipped the traditional necklace and earrings gift and bought me a brilliant circular saw for being the “best woman” (Is that what you call a female best man?) at his wedding.