1,000 Ways to Be a Slightly Better Woman: How to Be Thinner, Richer, Sexier, Kinder, Saner and Happier Enough (Paperback)

Posted on March 29, 2010 by Christy - The Manic Crafter™

If you click the link for this product and you purchase I could earn a commission. You can get it from the library too, either way it's a cute read!

Perfection. It’s what we’re all aiming for, right? Doesn’t every woman want to fit—easily!—into a size 6 dress? To be a lioness in the boardroom and a tigress in bed? To be a totally dedicated wife, mother, daughter, coworker, and friend? To eat healthy, get rich, wear fabulous clothes, and, while she’s at it, save the planet?

Well, maybe not. What none of the self-help-book authors seem to realize is that most women don’t desire—or have time for—a total physical, intellectual, or financial makeover. They just feel the need for a little tweaking. Enter Pamela Satran, a self-help guru for those who want to be just a bit better than they already are—or to stop obsessing about how they fall short of some “ideal.”

1,000 Ways to Be a Slightly Better Woman offers more than 120 humorous (but nonetheless useful) lists divided into chapters such as “79 Ways to Lose Two Pounds by Next Summer,” “95 Ways to Be a Sexual Demigoddess,” and “86 Ways to Be a Less Desperate Housewife.” Packaged in a fun and accessible format, these gentle prods to becoming good enough provide the kind of self-improvement most women really want to—and realistically can—achieve.

Yard Sale Finds: My great iron!

Posted on March 19, 2010 by Christy - The Manic Crafter™

I just had to share, I got this great iron at a yard sale last year for $2. After using it I have to say that it’s worth full price! My Rowenta runs smooth as silk, has a good weight to it, goes around buttons easily, has easy to read settings, has awesome steam, doesn’t drip (like the cheap W-store-that-must-not-be-named iron I used before) and is even dare I say…pretty. The people who owned it had upgraded but that’s ok with me this was a great two dollar investment that supported my local community (I paid the lady after all, lol), saved a perfectly good item from the landfill (recycling is awesome), and made me happy (it was cheap and works good). The only thing that could have made me happier is if a free week of maid service had come with it

My Love Affair With Ebooks

Posted on March 16, 2010 by Christy - The Manic Crafter™

For those of you who don’t know, I am an avid reader and not just what you’d find at the local bookstore either. I adore Ebooks because though you can with hours of research google til your heart’s content find a project for free usually, that’s just it, you’re spending hours looking for something instead of crafting, why on earth would I want to do that?

It’s just so much easier (and a nice way to support fellow crafters) to simply download an ebook on how to do something and lets face it if you don’t like it at all you can return it most of the time. At the very least think about signing up for a free course and get some goodies. For example below is an interesting ebook for spa products and after checking out the site I see she has a free email course I can take, I’m going to go ahead and check out the writing and directions with the free course offered to see if I like it before purchasing. Usually when you sign up for a free course you immediately get it in your email so I’ll know in just minutes if this purchase is right for me!

Another yummy that I found is dear to me because I just plain love, love, love candles and I have ever since I was a “candle consultant” but I honestly don’t want to spend as much money as I have on the darned things, for me it’s not a happy day to burn candles that don’t smell exactly how I want them to, I mean honestly have you smelt some of the awful ones they’re putting out and wanting 15 bucks for a small jar? Ack! If I could burn candles every single day I would but unless I’m making them that just isn’t financially responsible ya know?

Now this last ebook I’m going to show you doesn’t have a banner but I can’t even tell you how flipping enjoyable it is. I absolutely adore smoothies and there’s a reason that this is considered one of the best smoothie recipe books out there!

I actually sent an email to one of these wonderful crafters to see if they’d agree to an interview so keep your fingers crossed everyone! In the meantime you can check out their sites. These are of course “affiliate links” and if you decide to purchase one of these wonderful crafters ebooks I will receive a commission which would be lovely so that I might earn enough to get myself a French Press and support my familys’ coffee habit.

Have a super great day!

Machine Knitting Bond Style

Posted on March 11, 2010 by Christy - The Manic Crafter™

Some people like it, some people don’t, not to be rude but I think most people in the don’t category don’t give it a proper chance and I’ll be happy if you live in the Jacksonville, Florida area to give you free instruction on how to get started properly, remember crawl before we walk no matter what our age. It does take the length of the video and then a bit of practice to get used to doing something so foreign especially if you’re a hand knitter, but let me tell you I can “thread” (for lack of a better term) the blasted thing and my 3-year-old is able to move the carriage back and forth.

Folks, there is no faster way to get a whole lotta stockinette stitch done (20 inches in 5 frickin minutes) and with a machine that doesn’t break the bank. Don’t let the idea that that’s all the Bond does deter you from what can be a pleasant and fulfilling relationship with this knitting machine.

Click on either of the above photos to zoom in. All photos in posts here at TheManicCrafter.com will enlarge like this.

Here are a couple of examples of the popular Growing, Tumbling, Whatever you want to call them Leaves pattern and done right on my little Ole Bond Machine! It took me getting a chart for it and then about 10 minutes to make my own chart in reverse since the original was for hand knitting and when you’re using the Bond you see and work from the backside (purl) rather than the front (knit). You can download the chart right here(coming soon) already for you to go!

Now there ARE a few things that to me are a downside I’ll admit and if you’re just going to do a bit of casual knitting it really won’t be a biggie for you but for me I am sad that there is not a ribber currently being made for this machine and according to the Bond America customer service lady it hasn’t been made in over 15 years. Bond used to be made in the UK btw but is now a part of Caron International.

The other downside is that there isn’t a commercially available garter bar though there are directions to make your own with bobby pins which I have done, but again if you’re just a casual user this is no biggie.

The Bond Sweater Machine is a 8mm Bulky single bed knitting machine which means that it doesn’t do “fine” knitting like in some of the thinner sweaters you can purchase, it’s bulky and uses mostly worsted weight or sport weight yarns though I have successfully used the thinner yarns and naturally the stitches are large because it’s 8mm

This machine is awesome though and you can check out some of the free patterns available from Bond right here to give you an idea of what is possible. Give it a try you can use a coupon from your local craft store to purchase on for less than the retail (if you don’t like it return it or sell it) or you can pick one up online.

Here are some nifty groups to check out for those who have a Bond or are thinking of getting one.

Incredible Sweater Machine Club @ Yahoo groups

Bonders @ Ravelry

I plan on posting some of my projects under the “machine knitting” section of this site and how I did them, heck I might even post some of the patterns I’ve made, so stay tuned!

Why I love PaperBackSwap (free craft books anyone?)

Posted on March 10, 2010 by Christy - The Manic Crafter™

In case you haven’t heard, in case you haven’t been there, in case you’re wondering what I’m talking about; I want to tell you why I love PaperBackSwap.com because I have saved literally Hundreds of dollars on wonderful books. I have received books from all over in fact they have a map in your account if you’re curious, below is my map as of today.

Basically (there are some common sense and other rules that I’m not going to post here since you can check them out at the site) what you’re doing is swapping out your old books for new ones. To become a member simply sign up and list 10 books that you have that are in good condition (no rips, tears, stains, etc) after you list 10 items you’ll get 2 credits just for signing up. So then pick a book you want, if it’s available a request will be sent to the person that listed it, if it isn’t available you can put it on your wishlist and if you can’t wait you can purchase it from a link they have on the page. If your request is accepted you’ll notice you’re down a credit, lol, then just wait a couple weeks (sometimes because it’s going to come media mail) and viola you’ve got the book in the mail, log in to let the person know you got it and bob’s your uncle.

Now if someone wants one of your books (which you’ll get a credit for) then you are going to mail it to them for FREE just like you’ve been mailed a book for FREE. That’s all it will ever cost you to use PaperBackSwap unless you plan on buying credits.

I have saved far more than the $261 they say I have as they base it on the average of $4.50 a book when in reality some of the books I’ve received were worth more than that so my average savings is more around $522. And that my friends is why I love the site and have the link posted prominently It’s good for everything from textbooks, to fantasy novels, to kids books, lots of love to be had and I highly recommend it.

Even better if you sign up with one of the referral links from this site I can earn a free book credit so that I can get the kiddos a new book!
Cheers

Recycled Crafts Box

Posted on March 9, 2010 by Christy - The Manic Crafter™

If you click the affiliate link for this product that I thought was interesting enough to share and you purchase said item I could earn a commission and be able to support my coffee habit

For those who love to craft with their kiddos I thought I would point this book out

From School Library Journal

Grade 1-6–From its cover with raised letters that look as though they are made of various recycled materials to the helpful back matter (including a list of books and Web sites on recycling), this title is attractive and informative. Divided into sections dealing with paper, plastic, metal, and fabric, the book tells how these materials are made, traces their history, and explains how they can be recycled, emphasizing benefits to the environment. Tip (more…)

“Make It Yourself”: Home Sewing, Gender, and Culture

Posted on March 1, 2010 by Christy - The Manic Crafter™

As I’ve been flitting about the web to and fro planning stages for the new and improved TheManicCrafter.com I ran across a book called “Make It Yourself”: Home Sewing, Gender, and Culture 1890-1930 over at Gutenberg<e> and while usually I’m a novel reader this book fell into a personal reading category I like to call “interesting enough for me to get past the dry”

So this post is an invitation to you to read up on part of the evolution of sewing and it’s impact on history, society, and our culture from the 1890′s to the 1930′s.

The Manic Crafter™

I craft therefore I can

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