SweetShop Creations wins a Liebster Award...

So I was tooling around my blogger dashboard, clicking through and catching up on some of my favorites and suddenly saw...my name? Well, not MY name, but SweetShop Creations. The lovely Libby at Artistic Expressions By Elizabeth nominated me for a Liebster, a cute blogging award given to blogs with less than 200 followers to encourage them to keep calm and carry on blogging. I've been focusing on blogging more consistently lately, so it was nice to see that somebody has been reading and wants me to keep it up!  Thank you Libby, and happy holidays!

Now for some basic information...

The rules:

1. You must post 11 random things about yourself.

2. Answer the questions that the nominator set for you.

3. Create 11 questions for the people you nominate.

4. Choose 11 blogs you love (with less than 200 followers) and link them in your post.

5. Please leave me a comment on this post with the URL to your Liebster post so I can learn more about you!

The Questions:

1. What is your favorite craft? Probably crochet. I've dabbled in a variety of other crafting techniques, and that's the only one that's stuck.
2. How long have you been doing that craft? Thinking about it, probably about 5 years! That's surprising...I still feel like I only learned yesterday! 
3. Who taught you this craft? My grandmother taught me how to chain stitch many years ago on a family camping trip...but I didn't learn how to make actual garments until about 5 years ago when I picked up a pattern book.
4. What inspires you to keep crafting? To be honest, I just like making things. I am a DIY princess and will always try to make something myself first or jury-rig it before buying...and when I do buy, I always look for the handmade or crafted version first. Even so, my inspiration sometimes runs low--when it does, I simply trip over to my local craft shop, buy a lot of stuff I really don't need, go home, and discover that what I actually want to do is make 600 things out of the supplies I already have.
5. What are some of your favorite blogs related to your craft of choice? Ooh, good question. I love looking at That1Girl's crafting picture blog--she's so FAST and makes all kinds of things. One Brown Crafter is great for discovering new and like-minded crafters across the blogosphere. Six Skeins Under is great for yarn lovers. To be honest, most of the other blogs I read have to do with fashion or visual arts--I don't really read too many blogs about yarn crafting.
6. What is one item/tool you would love to have to make your crafting so much better? Time. No, really...I think I'd be a much better, more prolific crafter if I just had more time. I have materials aplenty, I just wish I had two or three unrestricted hours twice a week to do nothing buy make stuff.
7. If you could travel to any place in the world, where would you go and why? Right now? I want a week in a resort in the Bahamas. No reason, really...just that I've never done a resort style vacation before and it's cold here!
8. Where is your favorite place to shop for craft-related items? I tend to e-window shop on etsy a lot...but I really like boutique yarn shops. I move and travel a lot, so right now there's no one place that I can recommend. There's one in every city, you just have to hunt them out.
9. Do you sell your items or make them just for the love and joy of crafting?  (If you sell your items, where?) Lately I've been making things just for my personal enjoyment, but in January I'll be putting my etsy shop back up and there will be some original creations available there.
10. How long have you been blogging? This blog has only been around since 2009 or so, but I personally have been blogging since back in the MySpace days. I originally got into the arts scene as a a writer, so I was quick to embrace the blog.
11. Have you ever attended a blogger's conference?  Would you? No...I've never had a blog successful enough (or interesting enough, really) to warrant going to one...but if I ever get the opportunity I'd love to go. 

Now to nominate some folks...

That1Girl

Six Skeins Under

Asoratti

ummm...anybody want to nominate themselves?

If you accept this award(or nominate yourself for one) and blog about it, please leave your url in the comments section so we can all get an idea of who you are!

Oh...almost forgot....here are my 11 questions...

1. What type of crafting do you do?

2. What are your favorite color combinations to create things in?

3. How long have you been crafting?

4. Why did you start? Did anyone teach you, or did you teach yourself?

5. Have you ever successfully taught anyone else to craft?

6. What other crafting skills do you want to learn?

7. What do you like to do besides crafting? 

8. What is your favorite internet craft source?

9. If you had a crafting soundtrack, what songs would be on it? 

10. What's the story behind your favorite hand-crafted item?

11. What's the one question you always ask other crafters when you meet them?

So there we have it! Thanks again Libby for nominating me...peace, beautiful people!