stand mixer heaven

One of the first "big" purchases for my kitchen after getting married was the long-dreamt about KitchenAid Stand Mixer Professional Series. I was in love with this thing, but it takes up a lot of room in the kitchen and that's something I just don't have.

Anyhow, yesterday, we decided to finally pull it out and give it a whirl.


Paul, my husband, decided to make his ultra-rich double chocolate cookies (dark chocolate cookies with chunks of white chocolate chips. The mixer definitely made dough-making super easy and fast.



In no time, he was putting trays into the oven! Since I was busy making my own cookies, I barely had time to take a photo before he popped them into the oven.


The last time we made these, Paul made the dough using an ancient hand mixer and we definitely noticed a difference in how the cookies turned out. They looked very consistent and super professional - completely with the pretty crackling on the top!


In the meantime, I was busy trying a recipe I've always wanted to try but never have - Snickerdoodles. I think I've always wanted to make these cookies just so I could say the name.

Again, the stand mixer made mixing the ingredients a breeze.


I love the part of rolling the cookie balls in cinnamon sugar before baking - it smells delicious! From now on, I'm sprinkling cinnamon sugar on everything!


The final result was even better than I had hoped, considering if was my first attempt. They cookies are crispy at the edges and soft and moist in the centre, making for one of my favourite cookies to make to date! (Ok, so I've only made like 3-4 types of cookies ever, but this is still on top!)

in the cafe spotlight: kimforbeads

Featured Etsian: kimforbeads
Shop link: kimforbeads.etsy.com

How long have you been doing your craft?
I have been beading & selling my work for approx. 18 yrs & I love it.

Who/What inspires you in your craft?
Everything inspires me, colors, beads, my children, nature, moods, feelings, people, stories, clothing. I could go on & on, I get inspired in my dreams & when I am awake. It is hard to turn it off to go to sleep at night.

What do you like least about your craft?
There are never enough hours in the day, & I have so many ideas, that I can't get them all done.

What’s a normal day for you?
I get up at 5:40 - get ready for work, go online while eating my cereal and check convos with Etsy & the forum, post some, then finish getting ready for my day job. At lunch I am either shipping product I sold, beading or on Etsy on the forumn or making a treasury. After work I do the usual mom things, dinner, dishes, cleaning, play & read with my 7-yr-old. My other child is no longer a child at 19, almost 20 yrs. Then I tuck my young one into bed, & either bead or go on to Etsy or both. I am up every night until about 12:00 or 12:30 - depending on how much I need to get done. Then I start all over again. My husband has medical problems, and is not able to work, so I have to keep up these two jobs - late hours and crazy pace to make ends meet. If I had my options, I would & have in the past, just be beading, instead of having my full time day job.

What advice would you give Etsy sellers just starting out?
Be patient, Be kind, Listen, Share, Respect & Take great pictures (I am still working on that one.)

How do you discover new things on Etsy?
Search on the forumn, talk to friends, & I am sure there is a lot I do not know yet. That is the fun part, discovery.

new fabric means new products

Back in early December I bought some new fabric and I finally made some cute new accessories for my shop and got them listed. Here's a few of the new products - aren't they adorable?

Cute new bumblebees (I also got this fabric in brown, but I love the blue!)


Haha, this little dachshund was too long for one magnet! :)


I've been looking for this little sailor boy fabric for the longest time and finally found some on Etsy at a great price, so here he is! Isn't he adorable?



At the Holiday Trunk Show at the workroom back in early December, my robot magnets sold out super quick and I had to remind myself to stock up on the robot fabric whenever I can. And I was also asked to expand the robot "offerings" in my shop. So here are some robot bobby pins for the techie gals!

my goals for 2009

I never make New Year's Resolutions, because they seem to last for about 1 week! But I did want to be semi-ambitious and set some goals for myself for 2009, some realistic and some a bit loftier. I thought it would be fun to check back at the end of the year and see how well I did. *huge breath* so here goes...

Ok, first the more vague ones, like:
* cook more often and try new recipes (oh, and eat healthier too)
* keep building my Etsy shop, pandacub
* spend more time with friends and family
* continued supporting the craft/handmade movement

Alright, now the ones I can actually keep track of:
* read 50 books this year (50 doesn't seem like a lot, but when you work it out, that's one book a week, so it's still pretty ambitious!)
* buy a house
* blog at least once a week
* hit 250 sales by the end of the year (starting off 2009 with 59 sales)
* get rid of all my old magazines (is anyone really impressed that I have 5 years worth of InStyle sitting in my office?) by scanning and keeping only the useful articles

As the year progresses, I'm going to re-visit this list every so often and see how I'm doing, and maybe even add a few more goals to the list.

Do you have any big goals you want to accomplish in 2009?

christmas gifts from etsy

As I've mentioned before on this blog, I've really put a lot of energy lately into re-discovering "the crafty life" and I noticed that the handcrafted spirit is extra-strong around the holiday season.

Although I did buy most of my gifts at the usual shops, I did manage to snag a few beautiful gifts on Etsy.

My sister, who is way craftier than I am, sews (which I would love to learn how to do) so I got her a couple of fun pincushions. My sister and I also share a weird affinity for fake food, so I just HAD to get her the sushi pincushion!

Sushi Pincushion by MissLittlejeans

Mini Blue Daisy Pincushion by TheBlueDaisy

And I got this stunning journal for my friend, who's a big Shakespeare fan. This journal is even more beautiful in person and I had a hard time giving it up! I may have to buy another one for myself! Elizabeth, the artist who designed the cover, has her work sold at the Globe Theatre (Shakespeare's theatre, for those of you who don't follow these things) and at Shakespeare festivals around the world and it's easy to see why! She's super talented!

Hamlet Journal by immortallongings

Not to be outdone, my sister (who I already said is way craftier than me) made me this adorable change purse from one of my favourite fabrics! It matches the wristlet purse she made me earlier this year!

HAPPY 2009!

I just wanted to wake up from my "stayed-up-too-late-last-night" state and wish all my friends and family and wonderful new year! May 2009 be filled with warmth, happiness and lots of crafty fun!

it's all about the food

I love the holidays - time off from work, spending time with the family, gifts, and of course, the food. I love good food and the holidays are no exception.

My mom doesn't really like making turkey, so she opted for prime rib and lobster (one lobster each!) for our Christmas dinner. No complaints here! My husband, who's a really good cook, did the meat while my mom did the lobster and everything came out REALLY yummy.

Check out the photos (haha, now that I have a new camera, this blog is going to be chock full of photos!)...

The meat and lobsters prior to cooking:



and, the obligatory "after" photos:

pandacub's exclusive loyalty program - get free stuff!

New for 2009 - pandacub's "Frequent Buyers" program! Are you as excited about this as I am (probably not, but you will be!)?

To celebrate the new year, I'm launching a fun little program to reward my loyal customers.

Every time you reach 10 items purchased from my Etsy shop, pandacub, you get your choice of a free pair of bobby pins, hair clips or ponytail holders!

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How does it work?

1. Make your purchases from pandacub as normal
2. I'll keep track of your purchases
3. Once you reach 10 items purchased (it can be any combination - ie, 10 purchases of 1 item each, 1 purchase of 10 items, it doesn't matter) I will send a special "thank you" card along with your most recent purchase that has a special code just for you
4. The code is valid for ONE free pair of bobby pins OR hair clips OR ponytail holders of your choice and includes free shipping! Just return to my Etsy shop, pick your free item and "purchase" it (but you don't have to pay for it!) and remember to use your code in the "Notes to Seller" section

Is there a limit to how many free items I can get through this program?
No! Once you hit 10 items purchased and get your free item, I start counting your total again, which means every time you hit 10 items purchased, you get free stuff!

What if I've made purchases in the past, before I found out about this great program?
No worries - I'm going back and making sure all my past customers get to take advantage too. If you have made any purchases in 2008 from pandacub, those purchases count towards your total, so you may already be on your way to free things!

Other things you should know about this program:
- The free item does not count towards your total items purchased
- Transactions are tallied by Etsy account, so if you purchase from two different Etsy accounts, your totals will not combined
- You will receive your free item code with every 10th item purchase
- Each code is specific to your Etsy account and cannot be transferred to another person/Etsy buyer
- Each code is only valid for one item and cannot be used more than once

Still have questions about this program and how it works? Email me at pandacub.etsy@gmail.com!

yay for my new digital camera!

I'm very excited to share that my parents got me one of the things I've been wanting for a very long time - a new digital camera! It's a Olympus Stylus 1010 and is a sleek black little camera with 10 megapixel capabilities and an optical zoom of 7x! :D

This is great new for my blog as it means (hopefully) that I'll be able to put more photos on the blog soon!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Just wanted to take this opportunity in between family events to wish all my friends out there a wonderful Christmas!