~ Lots of New Items at Happy Cloud Supples ~

My dad is back from Hong Kong and he brought some awesome stuff back for me!!  I have been busy taking pictures and listing.  Honestly, I am surprised that I haven't gotten as many sales considering how much stuff I am listing every day.  There's so much unrest in the Etsy forums about the new changes and drops in sales.  Should I blame Etsy too??  Nah... I think I really need to put an ad out somewhere.  I noticed that only about 10-15% of visits to my shop are new.  I need new customers!

Anyway, here are the new stuff!  I am not done listing yet, but if you see anything that you need to have right now, just let me know and I will make a custom listing for you!  First, let's look at... the cutest little bells!  I got little piggies, froggies, bunnies, chicks and penguins!  The chicks will be perfect for Easter!  The bunnies are great for the fall season too because it has little maple leaves on its sides.

 I got more cute lampwork glass charms!  The mice are glow in the dark!!  I got more owls and sheeps too.  Glow in the dark star charms are also restocked!  Those were very popular so get yours before I run out again!

 Last time I was in Hong Kong, I got myself one of these and everyone who saw them wanted one.  So, I told my dad to grab a few for me to sell.  These are the cutest measuring tapes!  They are retractable which is awesome because I hate having my old measuring tape getting all tangled up.  They also come with a chain and you can conveniently hook them up to your craft bags.  When you pull their bodies, the measuring tape comes out.  It's like decapitating them!  These are awesome gifts for all crafters!

More polymer clay doll head beads!  Watermelon is super cute!!!  Also, the Fleurette the Fairy is back in stock!  If you are wondering what to do with these, check out this tutorial!

 I got a lot of new rhinestone charms!  Let's add some bling to everything!  There are a few heart related items, keys, snow flake and bows!  Some of the pictures didn't turn out that well though.  I may have to retake the pics using a different background.  Check out the lil giraffes!!

I also restocked the romantic gold and pink charms and got a new one!  See the 2nd one?  It's so sweet and romantic!!  It's a vintage looking bike with a basket of flowers!  Super super super pretty!

Which one is your favorite?  I just love the measuring tape because it's so cute and practical!!  But, I love bling too!  And giraffes!  I just love supplies! :)

~ Butler's Orchard Pumpkin Festival ~

It's been a while!  Sorry, I have been busy!  October is always a busy month with lots of festivities.  This past weekend, I hung out at the Butler's Orchard Pumpkin Festival.  There were a lot of people!!  It's definitely more geared towards little kids with all the little games, face painting, little corn mazes and slides.  I like the slide though.  I was glad I wasn't the only adult on it.

There wasn't that much food at the festival.  The usual carnival food and fresh dipped caramel apple.  I just had bbq beef sandwich which was pretty good!

We went through the corn maze which was interesting.  It just seems weird to me to see all that corn going to waste.  That's food people!

Maybe it's ok because it doesn't look like yummy corn. 

It's ok though, I think we were just there to enjoy the hay ride and get some pumpkins from the pumpkin patch.  I have never been on a hay ride and I was slightly disappointed that it was just riding on a truck with hay.  What's the big deal???  It was just nice to look around.

I did enjoy seeing all the pumpkins on the field though.  They look so cute lying there, waiting for someone to take them home.  Can you see how anxious they are?

Of course, this place is just full of photo ops.  I did lug my pentax to the festival to abuse this opportunity.  I like this picture 'cause it looks pretty magical and reminds me of Cinderalla.

I like pumpkins with bumpy skin.  Gives it so much more character.

These things are heavier than they look!!!  My arms were very tired after lifting this!  I ended up not picking a pumpkin because they are all so big.  I just don't know what to do with them.

We stopped by the farmer's market right outside the festival.  There are so many different kinds of pumpkins they sell!  Some of them look cook but some just look really weird and creepy like the peanut one (2nd pic) and the red warty thing.  The blue and white pumpkins are pretty though.

I found the biggest and smallest pumpkin.  Aren't they cute together?

I love the small pumpkins and the weird looking squashes.  I got a few just for fun!

See, this size is so much cuter!  I think it fits me more.

The farmer's market has a lot of other fun stuff like this bag of cute pastas!  If I have kids, I will totally get these for them.

All in all, it was a fun day. I just wonder if they refill the pumpkin patch every night with pumpkins from other fields. I mean, the pumpkins look like they were just left there. Sure I saw some vines, but I don't think that field can grow enough pumpkins to supply all the people that were at the festival. So, really, there's no difference between buying a pumpkin from the market vs picking one right? Anyway, a friendly tip if you plan on going to the festival this weekend. Bring cash! $10 per person for entry and it's cash only.

~ Hiking at Sugarloaf Mountains ~

I don't hike often, but I like hiking a lot!  Last weekend and this weekend, a bunch of my friends and I got together with our dogs and hiked!  I love seeing Momo on the trail.  He's so good!  He doesn't run off even when he's off leash.  He'll go ahead of me but come back to check on me because I am slow.  He's so good with climbing the rocks too!!

Today, we went to Sugarloaf Mountain and hiked on the blue trail.  It was a little weird getting there because the entrance looks like a private house.  But, once we figured it out, it was such a fun hike!  It's not that hard, but certainly have lots of uphill and rocks.  We even crossed a small stream and Momo loved it.

This is him ready to pounce across the stream.  He got all muddy and I had to bathe him just like last weekend.  I was hoping this week, he can keep himself clean enough that I only have to wash his feet, but no.  What does he care about bathing, he just wants to have fun!

 

We have fun just climbing on rocks.  I was trying to do the Lion King scene, but it was tough!  I am sure Momo was wondering why the heck I was dangling him from 6ft in the air!

There were plenty of great photo ops too.  Here are a couple of my favorites.  Nothing too exciting though.

The view was great at White Rocks.  The sky was beautiful and everything just looked so peaceful!  It was quite windy up there though! 

The blue trail was about 5 miles and it was a good distance.  I can really feel the physical toll right now.  Last week when we went to Great Falls, it was a more challenging hike but shorter.  At the end, I wasn't even tired, but I was certainly scared at a few points when I had to climb up the rocks and slide back down.  Fall is such a great time for hiking!  I hope I can find some time and companions to hike again soon before it gets too cold!

~ Bon Chon: The Best Korean Fried Chicken ~

I usually eat pretty healthy, but once in a while I cave to Popeyes or garlic pork belly slices.  And now, I have Bon Chon! 

Bon Chon serves many different dishes but all I had was the chicken. I had the spicy and regular. Spicy has a good kick. I ate 1 spicy and my mouth was burning 3 regular pieces later.  This chicken is not like any fried chicken I have ever had before.  It doesn't taste or look like it's breaded but the outside is so crunchy!!!  The inside is tender and it's sweet and tangy and just so good!!!!!

We also got an order of fish balls. It's all fried. All kinds of different fish balls. The square one is my favorite. Very good stuff!!!

I think it takes a long time for them to fry the chicken, but my awesome friend made reservations and ordered for us.  When we got there the food was already on the table!  I love that kind of dinner!  No need to look at the menu.  No chit chatting...just sit down and eat!!!

It's a good thing that Bon Chon is in Annadale, VA and I am too lazy to drive there just to eat.  Otherwise, my arteries are going to clogged up and I'll probably end up having a heart attack as I  am putting the big drum stick in my mouth.  *drool*

~ Swarovski Crystal and Polymer Clay Doll Head Figurine Tutorial ~

When I first saw these little figurines, I wanted one in every color!  They are so dang cute!  I sell these in my jewelry shop and I also sell the polymer clay doll head beads in my supplies shop.  For those of you who are crafty and wants one of these, read on and then get the beads from my shop!

There are 2 parts to this figurine:  body and legs.  Legs are optional and can be done with chain or eye pins.  It's very simple so I am going to leave that to you.  Here's what you need for the body

8- 3mm bicones (5301 or 5328)
2- 5mm bicones (5301 or 5328)
6- 6mm rivolis (6200)
6- 8mm rivolis (6200)
1- Polymer clay doll head bead
1- 3.5 inch eyepin, 22 gauge or 20 gauge 1- Non-elastic cord.  0.4mm is a good size.

Step 1:  Create the 3 layers by stringing the crystals as shown in these diagrams.

Step 2:  Attach the legs to the eye pin.  You can use chains and dangle small beads at the end or eye pins or whatever you feel like.  You want to attach the legs first because it may be hard to attach them after you put the rest of the beads on the eye pin.

Step 3:  Put the layers on the eye pin as shown in the diagram.  Finish by carefully forming a simple loop above the polymer clay head bead.

Step 4:  Attach this charm to whatever you want.  Use it as a cute pendant or add it to a cute phone strap.

Easy right?  I hope you enjoy this tutorial!  Please let me know if you have any questions or have trouble finding the supplies.  I will be posting another tutorial soon!

~ Run Momo Run! ~

Momo is so cute when he runs! He's so quick!  I am trying to get pictures of him running but it's so hard.  Getting a picture of his tongue is easier.  His tongue is so cute and pink against his black and white.

I brought him to an empty grassy area to watch him run.  Look how happy he was!

Alright, let the running start!  If only I can take clear pictures!

This one would've been so good if he was clear!  He was off the ground!

Finally, a couple clear ones but these are not as cute as when he was running towards me.

This one is funny.  Look at his crazy teeth!

He only ran around for about 10 minutes and then gave up.  I expected him to run more, but it was unexpectedly warm.  Even I got really hot and got a headache afterwards.  But these cute pictures are worth it!  I was told to try using continuous focus and a small AV number to get faster shutter speeds.  I will have to try again soon before it gets cold!