Featured on A World of Creativity

The last time I'll be featured this year: A World of Creativity has a post about lots of end-of-the-year sales on Etsy, and I'm one of them. Check it out!

Sale Time!

Through January 1st, I am having a sale in my Huggermugger store. I'm getting rid of some older items to make way for new designs and ideas.



If you're like me and looking for Christmas stuff this week because you know they'll probably be on sale, my Christmas items are no exception. They're all 50% off this week!


Also, I've marked all my winter hats, scarves, and mittens down by 25%-50%. All of them -- the baby hats, the child hats, and the adult/teen attire. So if you want to keep your family warm with handmade items, here's the perfect opportunity!

Hot Wings Pizza

If you like hot wings and you like pizza, you need to try this simple recipe. It'd make a great addition to a Christmas or New Year's party, or just a quiet evening at home relaxing with a movie.


Hot Wings Pizza

Ingredients:

1 tube refrigerated pizza crust -- prebaked
2 cups chicken pieces
2 tbsp. butter - melted
8 oz. tomato sauce
1 Tbsp. steak sauce
2 Tbsp. Tabasco sauce
1/3 cup blue cheese dressing
3 green onions -- chopped
1/2 cup shredded Italian cheese

Directions:

In a medium skillet, mix butter, tomato sauce, steak sauce, and Tabasco sauce. Add chicken pieces and heat through. Meanwhile, spread dressing on pizza crust. Top with chicken mix. Sprinkle with onions and cheese. Bake 8-10 minutes or until cheese is melted. Enjoy!

Christmas, Tradaholics Style

Time for my third -- and final -- selection of five Christmasy items, this time from the Tradeaholics team.

This adorable tutu comes from TheGirlyPlace, where you'll find lots of other tutus, hairbows, and more.

I love this ceramic Cowboy Santa pendant! And it's two-sided, with a moose on the other side. It's from ArtrageousClay, which has lots of other holiday jewelry too.

These holly blossom hairpins from TattooAnnie are one of a big variety of Christmasy accessories you can find in her shop.

These six mini thank-you cards are only one set out of many you'll find at PeculiarParchment, where you can also get Christmas cards and gift tags.

And these felted whatnot bowls from MissyAndMe would be great for holding all those little doodads that seem to multiply this time of year. They have some cute felted ornaments too.

This concludes my last-minute team gift guide. I hope it gave you an idea or two for that hard-to-shop-for person on your list, or maybe you've found something you'd like to give yourself for Christmas :-) Happy browsing!

Christmas, BusyMoms Style

Tonight, I continue my last-minute Christmas shopping gift guide by bringing you five festive items from members of the Busy Moms team.

First off, here are some lovely red lampwork and silver earrings from NewHopeBeading, where you can find lots of other Christmasy jewelry as well.

Next up are a pair of microwave mitts that will lend some joy to your kitchen. They're from BijouxDesignsForYou, which is advertising $5 stocking stuffers right now!

This Christmas berry candle comes from OzarkScentsCandleCo, a shop replete with Christmasy candles and soaps in all sorts of scents, shapes, and containers.

This half-apron with attached hand towel is from SlingabyeBaby, a relatively new shop that also has some holiday hats for little ones.

And lastly, this peppermint patty soap is just one of many Christmasy gift ideas available from Cassia'sKitchen.

That's all for tonight -- stay tuned for one last set of gift ideas tomorrow!

Christmas, CAST Style

I belong to three "teams" on Etsy, the Christian Artists Street Team (CAST), the Busy Moms Team, and the Trade-a-holics Team. This week, I'm going to highlight a few of my favorite Christmas items from each team.

Tonight, I bring you five items from the CAST team that have caught my eye.

This cute little ornament comes from BlackBrookShop, which has lots of Christmas ornaments, jewelry, and more.

This Snowflake Sparkle wreath or centerpiece comes from Ivyndell, which has a variety of lovely Christmas-themed wreaths and centerpieces, some of which can pull double duty like this one.

This set of five cross-stitched gift tags comes from BountifulBlessings, where you'll find Christmasy quilts, baskets, and more.


This hand-painted First Christmas Together ornament is one of many in the DoodlePadDesigns shop, where they offer free personalization of ornaments.

Finally, this unique Christmas card comes from LemonadeSun, where you can also get a variety of Christmasy handcarved stamps.

Remember, there's still a little more than a week before Christmas, but you need to order soon to ensure timely shipping!

Featured with a Giveaway

I'm being featured here on the Alterity blog this week -- and as part of the feature, I'm giving away these three eco-friendly spiral scrubbies. Made from 100% cotton yarn, they are great for scrubbing dishes or even using in the shower for a little exfoliation, and you can toss them in the washer when they're dirty. Read Alterity's blog post for details on how to enter to win these scrubbies!

Many thanks to Lisa of Alterity for featuring me on her highly cool blog :-)

My7Kids

No, I don't have seven kids suddenly -- number two won't arrive for another couple months yet. Actually, My7Kids is the name of one of my favorite Etsy shops. This shop specializes in yarn, so you can see the appeal for someone like me who loves to crochet (and is still trying to conquer that whole knitting thing). But the yarn from My7Kids is especially cool because it's recycled!

This yarn starts out as a sweater, usually a commercially made one bought from a thrift shop. It gets unraveled, washed, and then redyed. Though the photographs mostly show artful hanks and twists of yarn, it actually arrives on your doorstep in a convenient center-pull ball, which I personally prefer to those artful twists (because those tend to turn into a big tangled mess when I try to use them). I've bought four different yarns from this shop, and they are awesome! I haven't had a chance to use the two balls I bought most recently, but I'm planning to make things for Huggermugger from them once I finish a couple projects I have going.

The other cool thing about My7Kids' yarn is the way the different colors are named. Three of the skeins I've bought were called Boromir, Inigo Montoya, and The Shadow -- I happen to love Lord of the Rings, The Princess Bride, and the old radio show The Shadow (the movie was pretty good too), so you can see why I might be attracted to those particular yarns.

Right now, My7Kids has lots of yarn named after/inspired by the movie The Christmas Story, so if you're a fan of that movie, of recycling, or just of yarn in general, definitely check My7Kids out! The prices are incredibly reasonable -- all the yarns in the shop at the moment are under $20 and many are under $10. I may have to pick up a couple more myself, as a matter of fact.

My7Kids is run by Nikki, a Christian stay-at-home mom who homeschools her kids -- in other words, she's a lot like my mom and me, just with more kids. You can learn more about Nikki by reading her blog, My Thoughts on Life, Yarn, Kids, and Other Stuff.

Broccoli and Squash Medley

This recipe from BettyCrocker.com combines four of my son's favorite foods: broccoli, squash, dried cranberries, and nuts. And yes, I have an absurdly healthy boy. If I ate the way he does, I'd be a lot better off. Working on that. Anyway, this is fairly quick to make -- the hardest part is peeling the squash. It makes enough to feed 3-4 people as a main course, or you can use it as a side dish for a bigger gathering.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs. Frozen broccoli
2 cups Butternut squash -- peeled and chopped
1/2 cup Orange juice
1/4 cup Butter
1/2 cup sweetened dried cranberries
1/2 cup Pecans - chopped
1 tbsp. Grated orange peel
1 tsp. Salt

Directions:

Steam broccoli; set aside. In a large skillet, cook squash in orange juice 8-10 minutes, stirring frequently, until tender. Add butter and stir until melted. Add all ingredients and toss to coat.

This also tastes good cold, so you can make it ahead of time and put it in the fridge if you want a cold veggie side dish.

And the Winner is...

...Tesoro Jewelry and Art! You've won the handmade purse giveaway! Congratulations :-D I'll be emailing you this morning to get your mailing address so I can send you the purse right away.

Thanks to everyone who participated! I'll try to do another giveaway here after the first of the year. Meanwhile, keep an eye out here for a link to a giveaway of some of my items on someone else's blog next week! Details later.

(I chose this winner using random.org)