Friday List: Dainty Everyday Necklaces

Recently, I was gifted a beautiful, simple gold necklace by my lovely new friend Kelly of Delicious Reads . . . when she gave it to me, she said something like, "You strike me as the sort of person who would really appreciate a simple, low-key everyday necklace," and she hit the nail squarely on the head with that one. (And perhaps I'm reading too much into it, but I really like whatever it must say about me that I apparently come across as a 'low-key, everyday necklace' sort of person.)

I admire big, glitzy jewelry from a distance, but I rarely buy it. I'm not sure where exactly statement necklaces fit into my current stage of life, spending the majority of my days at home with 4 messy, grabby little hands. I love the simplicity of owning a beautiful, dainty, everyday necklace (or two, or three . . . ). It makes getting dressed and ready for the day that much easier--the simple, everyday necklace always goes. 

1. Gold Bar Pendant by Unforgettable Jules // This is the necklace that my friend Kelly chose for me, and I have been wearing it just about daily (which, if you ask me, is exactly the point of owning a sweet, dainty, delicate necklace--it is a no-brainer, no-stress jewelry choice). I have been loving it immensely.

2. Tiny Silhouette Necklace by Le Papier Studio // I love that this necklace--in addition to being adorably simple and sweet--adds an extra touch of meaning with the silhouettes. Perfect for a mother, to carry her babies' silhouettes around her neck.

3. Birthstone Beaded Necklace by Lolabean Jewelry // Normally, I would shy away from color when searching for an 'everyday' type of necklace. But I think this one, with its tiny row of birthstone beads, is perfect. It's simple and personal, and I love that it adds just the tiniest bit of color while still being soft and quiet enough to complement any outfit.

4. Personalized Heart Necklace by E and E Project // Two or three years ago for Christmas, I got my sister a tiny heart pendant with her initial on it, similar to this one (although hers simply had an 'R' for Rebekah, instead of two initials). And many times since then, I've wished I'd bought one just like it for myself (or stolen hers--R for Rebekah could just as easily be R for Rachel). I just love the look of this sweet necklace.

5. Personalized Double Strand Necklace by The Silver Wren // I think double strand necklaces are so beautiful and fun (and I love when they are truly a double strand necklaces instead of 2 separate necklaces worn together). This one, with a simple circle pendant as well as a customizable bar, is beautiful. You can have a name, initials, or a meaningful word stamped into the necklace. I love that it is beautiful and personal.

What's your jewelry philosophy? Small and sweet, or big and bold?

New Spring Items + Sale!

I mentioned the other day that I’ve been adding some new items recently to my Etsy shop for spring. I’ve had a lot of fun finding/writing new patterns that I think will carry your typically wintry crochet over into cooler weather. So here’s what I’ve got!

I always have fun crocheting headbands—so quick and adorable and fun to wear—so I added a few new headband styles for spring. Shop the Wavy Crown Headband, Big Leaf Headband, and Flower Headband (which technically isn’t a new product, but the cute pictures of my nieces wearing them are, so I’m counting it).

Chelsea suggested bow headbands, which sure seemed like a good idea. And in 3 bow sizes, to boot!

Shop Little Bow Headband (shown in pink), Medium Bow Headband (shown in blue), and Big Bow Headband (shown in cream).

I couldn’t leave hats out, plus a twist on an old favorite. My personal favorite? The ribbon hat. I love the idea of switching the ribbon out to match different outfits. I’ve worn it a lot so far . . . a whole lot.

Shop Butterfly Headwrap, Ribbon Newsboy, and Textured Newsboy.

My favorite spring item by a long shot, though, is this one:

A soft, romantic springtime wrap. I love that dusty rose color, I love the feminine ripple pattern, and I love that it can be worn in so many ways—a wide scarf, a shoulder wrap, or even belted to give it a drapey sweater look. I love it. I love it a lot. Find it HERE.

I have some ideas for more kids’ items, but an unwilling model makes me less than enthused about kids’ crochet at the moment. If I can recruit an adequately adorable neighbor child, or bribe the one I already have into modeling, I’ll see if any of those plans come to fruition.

In the meantime, I want you to celebrate my new spring designs with me with a sale! Use coupon code SPRINGFEVER for 20% off your purchase through March 15th! Click HERE to visit my shop and put it to good use!

What do you think of my new spring items? Anything you’d like to see added to the shop?

I Zig, You Zag (or, 2 new blankets)

I have two new blankets I’ve finished up recently to show off, but before I do, I wanted to give you a heads up about a crochet along starting now. ChiWei from One Dog Woof is starting up a crochet along this week, and it’s going to be geared toward beginners with plenty of easy introductions and tutorials to help you get started. So if you’ve thought about learning to crochet but haven’t known where to begin, or need a refresher course, or just want to crochet along whether it’s your first project or your 50th, join in! You can vote on the project now at this post, and the lessons will start next Monday. Head over and check it out!

Now for my recent projects. Of all the things I enjoy crocheting for my etsy shop (or just for myself), I think my favorites are baby blankets (which is kind of a shame since they are far from my most frequent sellers . . . such is life, my friends, wo is me). A blanket pattern that I saw months ago caught my eye, and this seems to be my routine: see a pattern I like, ponder making it for 6 months or so, then finally get started on it after months of intense and frankly quite ridiculous inner monologue deliberation over color choices, longevity of style, etc.

I always gravitate to neutrals, or, if I venture into colorful territory, tend to stick with just one color. I decided to go wild this time and combine a few fun colors for this pattern. It was kind of scary for me, although I am willing to acknowledge that green and pink aren’t really all that wild of a color combination. Baby steps.

But I love how that apple green and deep raspberry pink look together, and I think the cream stripe keeps it from being too loud (thanks to my instagram friends for the color advice and input—I can never seem to make decisions on my own, but luckily no one seems to mind stepping in and sharing their thoughts. You can find me on instagram at maybematilda if you want to toss in your 2 cents next time I get crochet angst, which will probably be in like 4 minutes. It happens quite a bit.)

The pattern was a pleasure to make—it worked up quickly and was very quick to memorize and make from memory. The perfect ‘mindless crochet while watching a movie’ type pattern. My only complaint is that it wasn’t quite as detailed as I would have liked—no suggestions on different starting chain lengths to change the size of the finished product, or when/how to carry vs. cut your yarn, etc. As written, it comes out in a small baby size—probably best suited to be used as a crib/stroller blanket. But other than the lack of help when it comes to variations like size, stripe width, etc, a great pattern. The only downside was the zillions of ends to weave in as a result of cutting the yarn after every row—tedious.

I actually enjoyed making it so much that as soon as I finished the green and pink blanket, I immediately started in on another one. I thought it would be stunning in more neutral tones, and I think I was right. I love how it looks in silver and white.

I made a few changes when making the pattern a second time—I started with a chain of something like 220 (I don’t remember the number exactly, but something like that) to end up with a bigger blanket. Still probably best suited for a baby/toddler, but definitely large enough for snuggling with a little one, or tossing on a chair as a throw blanket, or cuddling up with while reading. I also doubled up the stripes—two rows of each color meant a bigger, bolder chevron, not to mention I could just carry the yarn up the side after switching colors instead of cutting at the end of each row, so I only had a handful of yarn tails to weave in at the end instead of, oh, 40,000 like in the green/pink blanket. And since the scalloped border hides the sides, no one will ever know that I carried that yarn along instead of cutting after every row. Except for all of you reading this. Don’t tell. I love the ‘open’ look of the stitches in this blanket, and I think the chunkier stripe came out nicely.

I’ve been wanting to crochet a throw blanket for the couch in my living room, and out of curiosity, I tossed this one on. I think the chevron blanket combined with chevron pillow may be a bit too much zig zagginess, but I love how the subtle gray and white look in my room.

So, in conclusion, great pattern, fun to make, and I’m loving the finished products. If you are interested in either of these blankets, they are both listed in my shop. You can find the green/pink blanket HERE and the gray/white blanket HERE.

Are you feeling the zig zag thing, too? I resisted it for so long (the more popular something is, the more I feel the need to resist it with all my body and soul), but I have to admit . . . they are so fun to crochet.

{I’ll be sharing my blankets at Sarahndipities, The Girl Creative, and Sew Chatty.}

Shop Sale and Various Items of Newsage

(You know, newsage? Not new-sage, but news-age, as in, “I wanted to share a few various items of newsage”? I know, just click away, I never have any idea what I’m talking about. <—see? Told you.)

Item Numero Uno:

I decided to have a fall kickoff sale in my shop! Fall is my absolute favorite time of year, and it just so happens to be the perfect time for you to start thinking about what winter hat you (or your little munchkin) will be wearing in the chilly weather. And I just so happen to make many awfully cute ones.

(Clockwise from the big one: Baby Bear Hat, Slouch Hat, Flower Beanie, Owl Hat, Headwrap, Cluster Cowl)

Pop into my shop, take a gander, decide what you could use this fall/winter, and use coupon code FALLKICKOFF at checkout for 25% off. That coupon code is good for THIS WEEKEND ONLY, so don’t drag your feet if you’ve got your eye on something!

(That coupon code can be used on any purchase from my shop, so feel free to use it on a pattern purchase if you’d like to crochet something yourself. And, as always, I love doing custom work, so shoot me an email [maybematildaquilts at gmail.com] if you have a style in mind that I’m not currently offering and I’ll let you know if it’s a possibility for me to recreate. And don’t feel limited to the colors in pictures—I’ve got a big old yarn stash of colors to choose from, and I’m always happy to go shopping to find the color you’d like if I don’t already have it!)

Item Numero Dos:

My friend Chelsea over at Two Twenty-One has started a new business venture—photo editing for the shots you love that require a little help to make them shine. Just look at what she did with this formerly lackluster photo of me and my sister from last fall’s visit to the pumpkin patch:

Nicely done, Chelsea! Click on over here if you’re interested in seeing what she can do to help your photos out, too.

Item Numero Tres:

Did you know I’m famous? (That’s okay, neither did I.) My husband informed me this morning that my pixie growout post is the top google hit (is that the right terminology?) for the search words “grow out pixie cut.” I guess this explains why I’m still getting comments on that post, 6 months after writing it. 

Well, this google news (plus the reminder of my Beiber hair offered by the photo above) makes me think that the pixie growout post desperately needs an update—the first post covered pictures, growth, and general Beiberocity for the first 6 months of grow-out, and I’ve now passed a year of pixie growth, so you can expect an update to that post soon. I apologize sincerely if you have been anxiously sitting at your computer for these past 6 months, refreshing my blog every minute whilst sweating and biting your nails as you eagerly awaited an update. To appease you until I can take proper hair pictures, enjoy this shot taken yesterday with a severely webcam-obsessed Forrest that includes my head and, unavoidably, hair and hence is semi-related to this item of newsage without actually being informative or helpful at all. (Translation: I feel the need to redeem my naughty child’s reputation after my last post and this picture ought to do the trick.)

(See, I told you he was cute at home. Now if he could just keep this up when we leave the house, we’d be all set.)

My Granny Transformation is Complete

I think I’m aging far too quickly. I’ve been slowly morphing into a granny for years  (far more quickly than most people seem to), but things are speeding up lately. My gray hairs are multiplying at an alarming rate, my hobbies are increasingly grannyish (baking homemade bread, reading [gasp] non-fiction, and of course, crocheting like a fiend), and I’m pretty sure I’m getting arthritis.

But one old lady thing I swore I’d never do was crochet a granny square blanket. Before I learned to crochet, I thought granny squares were the ultimate tacky old lady craft. I had only ever seen them done in a distinctively grandma fashion (although neither of my own grandmas crochet, as far as I know, so I’m not sure who I’m basing this on): bold, harsh, non-matching colors, cheap and scratchy yarns, washed and used hundreds of times for decades until the blanket feels like cardboard. I hated them and said I’d never sink to a granny square level.

I hereby repent of my granny square prejudice. Once I started to crochet, I noticed that there are so many gorgeous—truly stunning—granny square blankets out there. They weren’t all the mismatched, wonky-looking, tired and scratchy pieces I’d thought. As soon as I identified a theme in the granny square blankets I loved, I was itching to make my own. My favorite granny square blankets have plenty of white to tone down all the color (like this one), have something of a color theme (like this one), and look very orderly despite the chaos that is a blanket made of a zillion different colors (like this one).

So I tried my hand at the infamous granny square blanket, and I have to say, my inner granny is pleased. She’s already plotting for more. I kind of think she might be evil. I mean, she is kind of taking over everything around here.

I followed this pattern for the squares—I love that they look almost like little flowers, so the entire blanket ends up reminding me of a flower garden. That pattern was pretty straightforward and easy to follow, and I had a fun time crocheting up stacks of little granny square blocks.

I used all yarns from my stash to make this blanket, but I tried to stick to a color theme. It’s definitely a loose theme, and all I kept in mind when choosing the colors, really, was that they be girly. I used mostly pinks, yellows, purples, and blues, and even the not-so-girly colors like gray and sky blue and green came together to make a decidedly girly blanket.

Predictably, the absolute worst part of making this blanket was joining the squares. Is there anything worse than being only one step away from finishing a blanket, but that step is an interminably long, mind-numbingly dull step such as whipstitching squares together? (Answer: yes, there are a million worse things. Sheesh, white girl problems.)

I finished it off with a cute little scalloped border. And I love it. I love the whole thing. It took a few weeks to put together—it was really quite a lot of work between making all the squares, switching colors hundreds of times, weaving in countless little yarn tails, sewing all those squares together—but I think it is so fun and spunky and sweet and charming. And, of course, hopelessly old-fashioned and granny-ish. In a good way.

This one’s headed over to the shop, so pop in to check it out if you know a little lady who could use a sweet granny square flower garden blanket.

Shop Sale!

The Queen Bee Market has come and gone, I’m slowly catching up on the housework that I willfully neglected for the past few weeks while I sat crocheting instead, I’m admiring my own purchases . . . but I’ve got some leftover stock on my hands that didn’t sell at the Market! (I can almost hear what you’re thinking: those nutjobs at Snap Conference didn’t wipe my booth clean?! I know, I know. I’m thinking the same thing.)

But their loss is your gain . . . all my items that didn’t sell at the Market have been marked down and placed in my Etsy shop for you to snatch up! Yay! They’ve already been discounted (up to 30% off regular prices!) so you don’t have to worry about applying a coupon code to get the savings . . . the markdown has already been taken off the listing price. Hurry and check it out—I just added the sale items and they’re already flying off the proverbial shelves. All of the sale items are listed in the “Baby Ready to Ship” and “Women Ready to Ship” shop sections (the sections are located on the upper left hand side of the shop), so you can find your clearance goodies there! Here are some of the treasures you’ll find:

These large flower headbands were one of my personal favorite items from the show— a great way to add some color and fun to a simple spring/summer outfit! Marked down from $14 to $11. (Plus, they’re fully adjustable . . . they tie in the back, so they’ll fit anyone and any head size, from baby through adult.)

I made a mountain of these button beanies with interchangeable flowers in sizes all the way from teensy newborn to child and have a pretty good variety of sizes and colors remaining. Each hat comes with 3 flowers (pick your own colors!) so you can easily change up the look. I love ‘em! Marked down from $26 to $20.

(And because you have to see how cute they look on a little bebe:)

(Awwwwwww!)

Another personal fave . . . I really love wearing these slouchy hats, and would secretly not be very disappointed if I ended up having to keep a lot of them for myself. I might be biased because I made them myself (not unlike the mother who swoons over even the most hideous of her child’s photos), but I am of the opinion that they look great on everybody and go with just about every outfit. Win win win win win. Marked down from $28 to $20! I can hardly believe I’m selling them that cheap. I’ll try not to change my mind about it.

I’ve also got a handful of these little elf hats (from newborn through toddler sizes):

 

And just a few bear hats:

I love these little headbands—a total steal at $8 each—in sizes from newborn through toddler and a whole rainbow of colors:

And of course, these headwraps are always a popular item—I love that they’re cool enough to wear in warm weather, but they’ll definitely still be useful in the fall and winter. Marked down to just $14:

Whew! I think there are a few stragglers I’m leaving out, but hopefully that’s enough motivation for you to head on over and shop your lil’ heart out. When they’re gone, they’re gone, and jumping back up to my normal prices, so if you’ve got your heart set on something, it would be wise not to wait too long.

(All of these items are available as custom orders as well—you pick the size and colors—but the discounted items are all ready-made and ready to ship out!)

Handmade Shops for Christmas Gift-Giving!

Can we get real for a minute here? Of course we can. I can say whatever I want and you can't stop me. Booger. Poopdeck. See?

Anyway, let's get real for a minute here. How many people, exactly, are you planning to make Christmas gifts for? 1? 3? 15? If you're anything like me and are realizing the cruel truth that Christmas is only 12 days away, some of those handmade gifts may not be happening this year. There's only so much time in the day. So, as I'm narrowing down my handmade gift list to what is actually feasible in the 282 hours left before Christmas, I thought maybe it was time to share a few handmade shops that would make a great addition to your holiday shopping list. Handmade gifts are always special . . . even if they aren't handmade by you.

I haven't personally experienced all of these shops--I have shopped with and love some of them, some are the shops of friends and family who pour an awful lot of love and talent into their work, and some I have just admired from afar. And many were found on my Handmade Shop Directory, which I would highly recommend you check out if you're looking for awesome handmade shops to visit! But anyway, these really are all shops I've found and enjoyed, and none of them are paying for a mention here. (Don't you hate it when you can't 100% trust a recommendation because maybe the shop in question paid for a glowing review? Not the case here. Shop with confidence, my friends.)

I love the whimsical paintings and artwork at Andralynn Creative Designs--her shop has a lot of fun items like felt toys, sculpted ornaments, and magnets and buttons, but my favorites are her storybook paintings. I'd love to snag a few for Forrest's bedroom:

This one, I seriously cannot get over. My old college friend Lauren is the knitting fiend behind All Stuft Up . . . adorable hand-knit monster and monkey stuffed toys. I love them so much it almost makes me sick.

(Many of her creations are made to order and probably wouldn't be ready for Christmas giving, but she has plenty of ready-to-ship cuties, like Harriet, pictured above, and all the monsters in her Ready to Ship section.)

 Speaking of adorable stuffed cuties, I may have actually "aaaaah!"ed when I first visited SOMA Craft Me Happy. Don't they just melt your cold, cold heart?

 

Such adorable little teddies! I want to take them ALL home!

You will seriously love the illustrations at Les Joues Grises . . . did you know garlic could be so delightfully cute?

I, for one, had no idea. I want that garlic print in my kitchen, stat (not to mention her other vegetable prints, too!).

My sister-in-law, Jaida, just opened up her brand-spanking-new shop a few weeks ago! She knits accessories and sews nursing covers . . . my favorite item is this sweet little poncho:

I want one for myself. So, so cute, right? Somebody better snatch that up before she realizes she should be selling them for, like, triple that price. It's $12. For realsies.

Dear Nicole has lots of fun home decor and holiday decorating items, but my favorite are the rosette necklaces:

I'm pretty sure wearing a necklace that springy and happy would obliterate not only your own winter blues, but those of any onlookers, too.

And if you're one of my family members reading this, look away now, because somebody's getting a gift from Sincerely Serenity . . .

Beautiful, fun, inspiring, and hilarious handstamped rings, necklaces, and bracelets.

I love the item I ordered, which I can't show you in case someone is peeking. It was customized for someone and came out just right, and was shipped really quickly in cute, gift-ready packaging. Two thumbs up!

That should be enough to get the old wheels in your head turning, right? Check out the Handmade Shop Directory for more fun ideas, and if you're here in Utah, make sure to visit the Jingle Bell Hop at the Bungalow Boutique in Heber for more holiday shopping, handmade creations, and family fun!

You asked . . . how I package my etsy orders!

I got an email recently from a reader who had been looking over my Etsy Success Tips posts (here are parts 1, 2, and 3) and came up with a good question. I mentioned in this post that you ought to package your items as if you were sending a gift instead of a purchase--I want my customers to feel excited when they open their mailbox, not deflated when they open it and find an ugly package. So one reader requested to see how I package my etsy orders for shipment . . . I'm happy to oblige.

Hopefully it won't be a letdown--my orders are packaged in what I would consider to be a "middle-of-the-road" sort of way. The majority of the items I have ordered on etsy have arrived in downright ugly packaging (am I the only one who hates the big yellow envelopes? And addresses written in sharpie? And fragile items wrapped in crumpled newspaper?), so if we're comparing to those, I feel pretty proud of my packaging. 

But I know there are many sellers who put a lot of love and effort into their packaging (there's an entire flickr group devoted to it, and my word, their packaging is beautiful!)--compared to theirs, mine is a wrinkly manila envelope smudged with black sharpie. 

Unfortunately, time and money create a problem at some point. Frankly, I'd rather spend my craft time working on orders than working on their packages, and if I made the packaging too fancy, I'd have to pass the cost on to the customers. So this is packaging the Maybe Matilda way: inexpensive, quick-and-easy packaging that still looks nice and feels like a treat to open.

Here's what I use:

- Poly Mailers from Royal Mailers (I highly recommend Royal Mailers--every item I've bought from them has been top-notch, their shipping is crazy fast, and their prices are incredible.)

- white tissue paper (I just buy the big value pack from Walmart . . . I haven't even looked at ordering this online, because I have proven myself to be, for some reason, incapable of assessing my tissue paper supply and restocking before I run out. Walmart to the rescue.)

- cute scrapbook papers (I try to keep a large variety of colors on hand so I can match the papers I use in the package to the item inside the package . . . unfortunately, I'm running low right now [translation: I currently have two, count 'em, two sheets of scrapbook paper in my house], so for these pictures, they won't match the hat at all.)

- washi tape (won in a giveaway from The Modern Marigold! Yay!)

Since customers are ordering a handmade product, I like to keep little handmade touches on the packaging. I used to print out the address labels, but I've stopped doing that recently because I enjoy seeing a seller's handwriting and feeling like they put a little effort into the packaging. Also, I'm out of ink. So I write out the addresses by hand and use scrapbook papers to add a little color to the white envelope, matching it to the item if I can.

I also include a handwritten note with orders, written on scrapbook paper that matches what I used on the envelope. This hat was headed to a friend who's expecting her first baby, so this isn't the note I would normally send (and I'm feeling silly now that I bothered smudging out names . . . I can hardly decipher my own handwriting in that picture). If I'm sending an order, I thank them for their purchase and give a coupon code to use on future visits. I've been meaning to order business cards to include as well, but haven't decided where to order them (anyone have a site to recommend?).

 

I wrap the item up in white tissue paper, and seal it with a little strip of cute washi tape.

Slip it in the package and we're good to go! 

It's nothing particularly fancy, and it doesn't belong on the etsy packaging flickr group, but I like that it's clean and simple, looks nice, would make for easy gift-giving (just pop the tissue-wrapped item in a gift bag and it's ready for gifting!), and doesn't take too much time or money to pull together. I'm able to keep my shipping costs low while still sending out packages that, I hope, are exciting to open. 

Definitely better than a manila envelope and crumpled newspapers, right?

Yeah, it's another crochet baby blanket. Like you didn't already know.

(First: the winner of the 3 pattern giveaway from Violette Field Threads is Marcy! Yay! (Marcy, I've sent you an email . . . let me know if you don't see it!) For everybody else, remember, you can save 15% on  your purchase from their shop with coupon code Matilda!)

Well, you guys are good guessers! My teaser post last week didn't turn out to be that big of a tease, apparently, since most of you guessed it spot on . . . I finished up another baby blanket recently! (My other crochet baby blankets are here and here)

How fun is that?! I'm really enjoying the cute pattern on this one. As usual, it took me days and days of poring through crochet patterns on Ravelry and Pinterest before making a decision (I don't know why choosing a pattern is always such a struggle for me . . . I guess because crocheting a blanket is a real time commitment, and how frustrating would it be to get halfway through and realize you hate how it's turning out?). 

I used the Sunny Spread pattern and just made fewer squares than the pattern calls for to end up with a baby size. It was a really fun pattern to make (I'd definitely recommend it if you're searching for a blanket pattern!), and I loved watching the little wheel motifs take shape, but let me tell ya, I hated connecting all the squares. You know how people sew quilt tops and then send them out to be professionally quilted and bound? In the future, I might just crochet mountains of squares and find a sweet old granny to put 'em all together for me. But considering our debilitating poverty (darn you, student loans, darn you to heck!), I hope Granny is okay with payment in the form of homemade cookies and slobbery baby kisses.

I'd like to make another Sunny Spread blanket with colorful circles, like this one from Raveler CaseyPlusThree--it looks so fun with the bright centers! But the thought of weaving in a thousand little different-colored yarn tails makes me want to cry . . . which is why I've only crocheted single color blankets so far.

(Also, if you know a little cutie who needs a sweet purple blanket, this one's in my shop!)

And since you're all such hot shots at identifying projects in the works, wanna make some guesses at what these are?

#1

#2

#3

#4

 I'll be sharing my blanket at some of my favorite link-ups . . . check them out if you're looking for gazillions of great ideas!