it's been too long.

It has been way to long. I had to put a halt on etsy for a while because of school and work. It felt like i never had time to crochet and my nose was always stuck in a book. But now with the onset of Christmas vacation I have been able to finally pick up my crochet needle again.

And I got around to listing a few pair the other day and already I've been given a Christmas present from etsy. A pair of slippers I only listed yesterday are featured on the front page!



I'm very excited. It's the second time I've been featured on the front page. It's always exciting to wake up and see one of your own products there on the front page. Thank you to whoever selected me for their treasury.

Whew, I've been busy. A couple weeks ago I moved into my new apartment. I'm still not totally unpacked. It seems like everywhere I go I find something new I need to put away. But I'm really enjoying it. My roommate is out of town for the summer so I have the place all to myself. Work started two weeks ago, too. I'm really enjoying it. I love the place and the people there and I'm really liking what I'm doing. I'm working in a cotton pathology lab for the USDA. Right now my job consists mostly of getting DNA out of cotton leaves so we can run tests to see what genes are there (and if they are the ones we want), but I also work in germinating the cotton plants themselves. Everyone is so nice and flexible that I can work as much or as little as I want and as long as the work gets done it's alright. So I love my flexible hours. Summer school is starting tomorrow. I'm taking organic chemistry. Oh joy. Chemistry is not one of my strong points, but I'll live through it. A little hard work never killed anyone, I suppose. It'll be my first class on my new campus. I have pretty much no idea where I'm going, but that's what friends are for. Andy has volunteered to ride with me to campus early tomorrow and show me what building my class is in. So it's mostly been work around here, with a little play now and then. We went and saw Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End on Thursday and I loved it, of course. The next big thing I'm looking forward to this summer is the double Harry Potter release. The etsy shop has taken a back seat during all of this, sadly. I'm still making good sales though and I'm finally making some headway on my custom orders. I'm enjoying the excitement of life, but I'm beginning to feel ready for things to calm down again so I can get back into etsy and crocheting. I'll keep you updated .... hopefully sooner rather than later.

you say goodbye, and I say hello.

Hello again. I'm sorry I just randomly disappeared, but after Spring Break my life got really hectic with school and life and I just had to lay low online for awhile until everything settled down a bit. I didn't even really have time to do much crafting, either besides a few custom orders here and there. But finals are over in school. I've just finished out my second year of college, hopefully with straight A's and a 4.0 GPA. Also during my little "break" I found myself an apartment and roommate (my first) and a job at the USDA-ARS working with cotton and the little buggers that ail it. So I've been busy visiting apartments and doing job interviews, but now it looks like everything is in place. I move into my new apartment next Monday and I can't wait. Other than that, it's just been school and trying to have fun on the side. I'll hopefully be updating again soon with new pictures of my place and some custom order slippers I'll be working on. And hopefully some new colorful additions to my etsy shop. There's still a ton of wonderful stuff there for sale, so stop by and check it out!

easter weekend.

This past Easter weekend I had Friday off from school, so I went up to College Station to spend my (well earned) three-day weekend with Andy.

I've slowly been collecting up easy, but yummy recipes to teach myself how to cook. And since I've started cooking for the two of us I've found I really love it. Before I knew I could bake decently, but it turns out, I can also cook pretty well and it's so much fun. So this week we splurged at the grocery store and picked up some New York Strip steaks, asparagus, and other very yummy things that I cooked up for dinner for the two of us.

On Thursday, I made seasoned NY Strip Steak with roasted asparagus and pomegranate vinegarette spinach salad.

And then on Saturday I made some pizza baked spaghetti and used up the left over spinach to make another salad.



Way too much fun. I'm trying to find some super fun recipes for this weekend, so if you know of any or a site that has great recipes, let me know!

Also this weekend our little guppy died, so we went ahead and got a dwarf puffer fish from Petsmart and brought the little guy home to his new home. He's so tiny and can swim awfully fast when he wants to, so I did my best to get a picture of the little guy.





I had another green spotted puffer who wasn't a dwarf that I had named Robby-Bobby, but my roommate killed him one weekend while I was way. So in honor of Robby-Bobby we named this new little guy Baby Bobby Pops. Silly, yes, but that's us, so it fits.

It was a great weekend and I can't wait for the next one.

mother's day moving sale.

MOTHER'S DAY MOVING SALE! Broken Hallelujah is moving to a new home this spring and what better way to celebrate an exciting move than with a sale?! Plus, Mother's Day is just around the corner and BH has the perfect gift for that great mom! So, between now and May 1st, I'm two specials you can take advantage of: ENTER CODE 'BH BOGO' at checkout to BUY ONE GET ONE 40% OFF! or ENTER CODE 'BH MOM' at checkout to RECEIVE 15% OFF A SINGLE ITEM IN MY STORE! Please wait for a modified invoice before paying. OFFERS INCLUDE CUSTOM ORDERS but excludes PDF patterns and items with free shipping. Each offer can only be used once by a customer. Plus, there's new slippers available in my shop so check it out and get a great deal.

Click the pictures for more information on each pair.

spring is here.

I took a break from my busy school schedule and went to visit Andy's (my boyfriend) new puppy in Dallas with him this weekend. I don't have pictures of the adorable yellow lab puppy (deemed Lemonbutt) because Andy's mom stole the memory card I put the pictures I took on, but hopefully I'll have them soon. However, I do have pictures from all the great wild flowers that were in bloom along the way. The pictures aren't that great because I took them from the car as we sped by, but I thought I'd share them anyway.

My favorite are the bluebonnets, the Texas state flower. We don't get them up where I'm from so it's very exciting for me to see them in bloom out in the wild. Very gorgeous. Sometimes we'd drive past these huge fields of them that just took your breath away. When we weren't driving and playing with puppies, me and Andy had a Sonic Spinball marathon on his Wii. Here's Andy playing with my wiimote (it has sea life on it!) in his glasses from seeing Meet the Robinsons in 3-D, which was totally worth seeing because the 3-D was awesome even if the movie wasn't the greatest. "I have a big head, and little arms. I'm just not sure how well this plan was thought through." But anyway, we found these glasses hilarous because they were like Horn Rimmed Buddy Holly glasses. Just proves that "Heroes" is an influence in designing 3-D glasses.

good things come in small packages.

Today I just got the urge to crochet, but I wanted something just super quick to whip up and super satisfying, and I came up with these little heart appliques. I'm selling them for $.50 each in different lots. There's the rainbow set and the flirty fun sweetheart set. They'd be great additions to hair barrettes, headbands, clothes, handbags, pouches, pretty much anything! Even slippers, which you can now create yourself using my hand written mary jane slipper pattern! The pattern has been selling so well that I went ahead and wrote up another pattern from my amigurumi bear with froggy hat. You can find the pattern for the little guy here.

the life of a student. pt 1

School is driving me crazy! It's so stressful right now - it just feels like I'm being pulled in every direction with day trips, projects, tests piled on tests, lab reports and practicals, and what seems like miles and miles of taxonmy to memorize. Such is the life of a junior marine biology student trying to run her own business I suppose. I spent all of last Saturday wading through freezing fresh and salt water habitats trying to net and identify fish. It was so much fun, but completely exhausting and pretty much knocked me out for the entire weekend, plus ruined my super sexy slipper modeling legs.

That's pretty much the only shot I could manage to get that didn't show a scrap or scratch. It's also the first pair of slippers I've listed for awhile because of lack of time and lack of sales (which leads to lack of inspiration). I'm very excited about this weekend, though. I get to head to Dallas and see my boyfriend's new puppy and get to forget about all the stress for just a little bit. And if anyone needs to know fish taxonomy, I'm your gal over the next couple of weeks. ;)

sharing my knowledge.

I was asked if I would ever think about selling the pattern to my beloved mary jane slippers and I thought, what the heck, why not? So now available in my etsy shop is a mary jane slippers PDF pattern. I'm selling it for only $3 (with no shipping!) and I'll email within 24 hours of recieved payment. It's the first pattern I've ever written, but I think it's definitely a good one. So we'll see how it goes.

summer lovin.

Click the picture for more information on headbands available at Broken Hallelujah Accessories. These headbands and more are now listed in my etsy store for only $5-$6 plus shipping. A great new accessory for spring, headbands add flair and style to any outfit while being a cute functional way to keep hair out of your eyes! Plus, if you buy handmade you'll find patterns and styles not offered in any store and quality to match. I've ordered more headband bases so there will be more patterns and styles coming soon. I am so in love with the warm weather that has finally arrived. But I still love walking around in my favorite pair of mary jane slippers. My feet get so cold at night and I just can't sleep when I'm cold, so these slippers are life savers. Plus, they are great and easy to slip on when I'm running outside to get something out of the car quickly. If they get dirty, I just toss them in the washer and they are ready to go again! So don't forget about Broken Hallelujah's great mary jane slippers. Offered in a variety of fibers and any color in the rainbow - plus I take custom orders for no extra charge. One of my most popular colors available now!

leap into spring with style!

New at the Broken Hallelujah shop: headbands! A great way to make any outfit flirty and fun, these wide headbands are making a comeback and Broken Hallelujah is your place to get your original and one of a kind headband you won't find in any commercial store! Click the picture for more details. This headband is the first one in my store. I have a couple other 2 inch ones made up already and I'm going to work on 1 inch ones tonight so that I'll have goodies to list all week. I'm also selling some of my jewelry supplies that have just been sitting in the dorm all year never being used. I'm really trying to use up/sell a lot of this stuff in the next month before I have to move out - so help me out!

fluffy like cotton candy.

New Mary Jane's available in my etsy store. These I weren't able to come up with a clever name for, so they are just Mary Jane Slippers in Light Blue and Purple. I made them with a yarn I got on super sale at Hobby Lobby back when they were having a yarn blowout. There was just something about the colors mixed together that caught me - you didn't see these two colors mixed together very often. And they are so very soft and fluffy that I can't help but love them.

They fit size 7-11 (US women) and are only $16 plus shipping. You can click the picture for more information about this pair of slippers.

In other crafty news, Joann's has some great coupons this week. 50% crafts, fabric, sewing and more - plus yarn is on sale. So, use up those coupons while you still can! I'm not trying to show any crafting store preference, just pointing out when a great deal is available. Who doesn't love a deal?

the happiest hooker.

This purse is inspired and slightly modified from a pattern in Debbie Stoller's great book Stitch 'n Bitch: The Happy Hooker which is a great book for contemporary crochet and a great reference guide to use when experimenting with new styles and stiches. I just fell in love with this purse and when I found this yarn and these handles at Joann's I knew this purse had to be made for a great spring purse. I've got it listed in my etsy shop and hope to have another one ready in the next couple of days. I was going to make myself a blanket this break, but with all the slipper custom orders I just don't know if I'll have the time... I miss making things for myself every once and a while.

trying something new.

Hobby Lobby had a huge clearance section when I was there yesterday, and when I found this little soap kit for orange slice soap, I couldn't help giving in to my longlived desire to try making soap. I started on it last night and finished this morning, and this is the finished product! I kept half the soap loaf I made for myself and the rest I'm selling on etsy just for a limited time. It was fun to make, but in the dorm it would just be ridiculous to try so if I go back to making soap, it won't be till this summer. Plus, I have enough crafts to use up my money already - I really don't neet another. I am proud of how it turned out, though, for my first try.

etsy mini

So check it out. There in the side bar right under my flower - my new etsy mini! It's a nifty new contraption put out on etsy (check the bottom of the sidebar when logged into "Your Etsy") that updates with my featured items and links straight to my etsy listing for them. I think it's a great idea for spreading the word of etsy and bringing direct hits to listings. In this whole mess of the etsy constitution, this is a nice refresher that etsy can still be hip and cool and a great place to sell handmade items. I approve.

lov.li

I opened up a shop at lov.li yesterday and already today my little monkey keychain lipbalm case is already listed as a hot item on the site! I'm ecstatic. I really like lov.li. It's a very nice site and the people there are so so so very nice. I hope I find some success there.

it's a zoo out there!

I decided I needed something to give my lipbalm cases their own distictive look and feel, so last night while I was studying and idea came to me and I just had to create. And out popped this little monkey lipbalm case. He's the first in my planned series of animal lip balm cases. I have a couple of animals in mind that will make perfect cases but I'm always welcome to suggestions if anyone as a cute creature they'd love to see as a lip balm case. I can't wait to get some more of these made, but I have a custom order of slippers and four tests this week that I need to prepare for, so I don't know if I'll get anymore out before this weekend. Next week, however is spring break, so I'll have plenty of time to work on more animal designs and work on more great lip balm cases and of course more slippers.

introducing...

Broken Hallelujah Accessories New Site Now Open! I created a whole new website to showcase and spread the word of my etsy shop. The new site features full updates for all my specials, new lines, and the newest products! I've also set up a mailing list to keep interested customers up to date and to include new specials and discounts for mail list members. Also, one of my favorite things about the new site is the crafty link exchange. I've opened up a link exchange for all people with crafty websites, whether that be their etsy store or an external website like mine as a way to connect crafters. It's open to everyone with a crafty website, so check it out if anyone is interested. I'm very excited about the new website and I can't wait to get more into it and hopefully expand.

keepin' lips sexy & smooth.

Introducting keychain lip balm cases - new at Broken Hallelujah accessories. Click the picture for more information. I'm trying these new lip balm cases in my etsy store because I needed a simply, fun, and easy way to use up all the extra yarn I have lying around the dorm from making my slippers. I always feel bad about throwing the extra yarn away because money is an important commodity in college. These are so much fun to make and so easy to produce quickly that they became the perfect solution for my yarn stash. I'm hoping come May there won't be much yarn to throw away when I move out of the dorms - otherwise it'll have to be tossed because there won't be room in my tiny Saturn for it all. Spring break is in a week and I'm really looking forward to being home. Having the whole day to craft. Having my mom buy me yarn. It'll probably be the last time I go home for awhile... I'm growing up and it's kind of scary. Yet exciting. I'm really looking forward to getting my own apartment for the first time. I can just imagine all the room I'll have to store yarn compared to the one drawer I have now. I really want these shelves from ikea. Think of all the glorious, color coded yarn that could fill it up. Yes, I'm a dork, I know.

cutest slippers ever.

Can you belive how adorable these slippers are? They were ordered for an infant, but they requested a toddler size so the new baby can grow into them. They are part of a custom order for the expecting mother, her new baby, and her 10 year old daughter. All done in the 10 year old's favorite colors of red and black. I'm really proud of this order of slippers and I really hope that I can do mother-daughter slipper sets again. And I definitely want to do some more infant slippers because they are just way too adorable. One custom order done, two more to go.

15 minutes of fame.

I woke up this morning to a very excited AIM message from Jenn screaming at me that I was on the etsy front page. So of course, like anyone who has never been featured on the front page before I hurried over there and there were my Bunny Foo-Foo slippers!!! By the time I got out of class at 10am, they were already sold. So my front page fame was short lived, but completely worth it. I never ever thought I'd be on the front page. School, on the other hand, not so glamorous. I dropped a beaker of boiling water down my front today in my Chemistry lab and ended up with burns and blisters on my right thigh. Right now I'm relying on antibiotic, ibuprofen, and chocolate to take the pain away. At least I'm done for the day...

it's all new & fabulous.

I made the shift over to blogger finally. I've gone through a livejournal, a personal website, and now a vox, but there's something about the accessability of blogger that makes me want to call it home. So, I suppose I should introduce myself and my slippers. I'm Brandy, and I'm a yarnaholic. This obsession with yarn has led me to taking up crochet to give my hands something to do and my mind something not to fret over. And somewhere along the way, it stuck. I opened up my etsy shop Broken Hallelujah in early July as a way to get rid of all the crochet projects that were piling up around the house. It took a while for me to find my niche there, and then came my mary jane slippers and the site has taken off since then. Currently I'm studying marine biology at TAMUG, so in my spare time I still crochet and have been lucky enough to find the time to keep up my grades and keep my etsy store stocked and running. So that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.