braided.

In summer selling crochet items can be, well, darn hard. My slippers always do well for me once the cool weather starts to roll in, but during the hottest months of the year the demand for them is not very high. (Though I do hear, "Come winter, I'm getting myself a pair of these!" alot.)

To remedy my selling summer blues, I knew I had to come up with a crochet item that broke the traditional mold of crochet. It can't be bulky, hot, or heavy. And one fiber always seems to be the most associated with summer, cotton.

So I designed a couple lines of headbands, one of which is my braided crochet headbands. These are near and dear to my heart because they are 1) fun to make and 2) allow me to play with fun color combinations.

If I could have my way, I would have every color of yarn - ever! Then think of all the possibilities. But believe me, I have enough (for now) and I do have a blast working out new headband colors. These two new headbands have just been added to my Artfire shop and run $8 + shipping. One is summery with bright yellow & blue, and the other is more traditional with red & black. Both would look great with a tank top and jeans or as a fun accessory with a swim suit out by the pool.

Either way, these crochet goodies weigh you down in the summer heat. For more information, visit my Artfire studio.

a room with a view. of the ocean.

I'm so sorry for disappearing! Real life is once again taking hold and prohibiting me from blogging and visiting all my favorite reads, and it doesn't look like it'll be letting up anytime soon.

This past week I spent in my soon to be future home of Wilmington, North Carolina. A big move is coming for Andy & I as we trek (literally) halfway across the country for school. We'll be making the move at the very end of July, but we had to get our living arrangements sorted out before hand (mostly just to calm my nerves). We now have a beautiful, roomy new apartment that is about 15 minutes from the beach and I couldn't be more excited about calling it home soon.

For now we are back in Texas and I trying mentally and physically to prepare us for the move coming up. Been cleaning the apartment and starting to get stuff packed away into boxes so when August 1st comes rolling around the actual moving part won't be such a headache.

In between packing, cleaning, & traveling, I've managed to fit a teensy bit of crocheting in. These slippers I added to the Artfire shop last night. I have named them Oceanview - I guess my trip kind of inspired me!

I don't know when I'll get more things added to the shop. Besides the move, there's been a serious development with my dad. He underwent bipass surgery a few months back, but right now things aren't looking as good as could be hoped. A few of the grafted arteries seem to be clogged & the surgeon thinks it's too soon after the first bipass to attempt to perform another one to graft a few more arteries. For now it looks like he'll be getting some stints placed in the bad arteries in an attempt to relieve some of the pain he's been feeling & buy him some time incase he'll need another bipass. Please keep my family in your thoughts as I think we're all still in a bit of shock on how this is turning out. And please think fondly of my dad & hope he gets better soon with no more pain, surgery, and hopefully no heart attacks.

Sorry to leave off on such a sad note, I just wanted to give you all a heads up on why I may not be around as much as I'd like to be. And I'll try to keep updated as things progress with both the move and my dad. Hope everyone enjoys the rest of the week (and may it lead quickly to the weekend!).

memorial day sale.

That's right! Broken Hallelujah Accessories is having a Memorial Day sale!

All items in my Artfire studio are 15% off!

The sale runs from today (Sat 5/23) till 10 p.m. (Central) on Monday (5/25). All items in my Artfire studio have been marked down 15%, including the mary jane slippers, headbands, and new bookmarks.

This is the perfect opportunity to do some early Christmas shopping or pick up those pair of mary jane slippers you've been coveting for awhile.

Please feel free to tweet, retweet, plurk, etc. about my sale! I really appreciate it. And please stop on by and check out the goodies.

I hope everyone has a great Memorial Day weekend! Relax and enjoy yourself. (And do some shopping!)

clean & green

I love the clean lines of these works & the combination of simple green and white. Click the images above for more information on each item.

how much is that doggie?

I couldn't be more excited! My mini collaboration with one of my fellow Artfire artisans - SpoiledBratzWear has resulted in this adorably designed doggie vest. Yup, those are my crochet flowers dotting this great vest. Doesn't it just have a great spring feel?! I am completely wishing I had a dog of my own to sport this adorable creation. 

When the crochet flowers were ordered from my shop I didn't really know what the plan was for them, but seeing this finished product I couldn't be happier. So I simply had to share this doggie couture with all of you and introduce you to SpoiledBratzWear. Even if you don't have a dog of your own, it's just fun to look around the shop at all the great outfits she offers and see the adorable pictures of her own (rescued!) puppies. I can't wait to have the opportunity to work with this artisan again!

So please head on over to this shop & let her know what a great job she did & maybe pick up something for the dog in your life! 

picard creative

Picard Creative is a great shop that features some one of a kind, sassy magnets. Everything in the shop seems to be somewhat tongue in cheek, and I love it!

Check out her shop on Artfire for more great magnets that are made from recycled art. So they are not only sassy, but also eco-friendly. And they beat greeting cards that get tossed in the garbage after a week.

At the great prices she offers, you can afford to pick up some, save em away for all occasions.

caterpillar peacock

As a way to help promote Artfire and the artisans who pour so much of the time and creativity into the website, a promotion has started where specific Artfire artisans will be featured across the web by many of us at Artfire. Today's promotion features Caterpillar Peacock!

Caterpillar Peacock makes some amazing items. Her work is mostly felted, like this beautiful needle felted lily pin I've decided to feature. Besides her great flower pins & necklaces, she also make some of the most creative and cute tiny little felted hats. I wish I was enough of a hipster to be able to pull off one of her tiny berets, but till then I shall just fawn over them and their adorable tinyness.

So check out Caterpillar Peacock over on Artfire! And come back soon to see who the next great featured artist will be - it might be you! 

spotlight: for dad.

The spotlight of this week is coming a bit early.

I created this spotlight with my dad in mind. He's going in for heart bipass surgery this week, so I picked my favorite heart related items for this week's spotlight. We don't know when the surgery will be yet. Until then it's a waiting game. But it looks like it'll be at the end of this week on Friday most likely. So this one is for you dad! Because your heart is more beautiful than any of these could portray. ♥

mary, mary, bright & cheery

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Here are two of the new mary jane slippers I've added to the shop. I've really taken a liking to these because they are vibrant, but they don't over do it. Perfect for someone looking for some cute, colorful, handmade slippers. I've got more colors coming soon, but in the mean time you can check out all my mary jane slippers for a rainbow of variation in my Artfire store now!

new yarn, new fun!

Getting in a shipment of new yarn is always acted as a catalyst to creation. Friday I got my order for some new cotton yarn and have really been enjoying all the ideas it has brought me for new creations. 

Not only did it send colorful design ideas dancing through my head, it also got me inspired to reorganize my yarn storage. For almost a year now I'd been keeping my yarn in an old bookcase sorted by color. While it did the job, it wasn't the idea storage: new yarn purchases were not getting sorted into their proper places, dangly ends of yarn were getting tangled together, and it was just hard to get to yarn buried at the bottom of piles. So I headed out to the store and bought some 15 oz plastic containers - one for every color and a couple extra just incase. For less than $40 I totally reorganized the yarn so that they were neatly stored together by color with no dangly ends peeking out. Everything is looking a lot neater and cutting back on the clutter has also cleared my mind. 

When I haven't been reorganizing, I've been creating! This headband is just the first to get it's photographs taken and added to the shop with more to come. I've also  been working on some new slippers lately as those have been pushed to the back of the agenda lately with all the headbands I've been working on. I've got some fun, funky new colors in the works that I'm sure will show up here when they're finished and listed.

Lots of fun new stuff in the shop, so be sure to check it out!

spotlight: purple!

This week's spotlight features items that are my favorite color: purple! If you like what you see, simply click the picture above to learn more about the item. I hope you enjoy and hope everyone has a great weekend.

do it right. do it bright.

These two new headbands are my latest. I'm producing them as part of a new series entitled: Brights! I bought new buttons to produce a more coordinated look in the headbands featuring the button accent.

One headband features bright, colorful buttons in shades of green, yellow, pink, blue, and purple. The other features colorful flower buttons in shades of purple, orange, green, and pink. Both are bright, funky, and fun! The headband ties in the back like my other styles and is crocheted using 100% cotton for ease of care and maximum comfort. 

Black is just the first color of band I've produced with white on the way! I also have some more fun colors of yarn in the mail so there will be more colors including a charcoal grey coming soon. 

On top of new band colors I am also working on another 

color series I'm thinking of calling Bloom! that features muted shades of yellow, pink, and orange for a very colorful spring look.

So check back soon for more information on the new headbands coming soon. And in the meantime you can check out these headbands and many more that are already available in my Artfire shop. As always, if you have a custom idea for a headband, I'd love to work with you. 

button up!

This headband is one of my newest in the shop. It's experimenting with a new design that was suggested to me by my friend at LaDeDaCreations. Be sure to check her out because as you can see she has some fabulous ideas! She not only came up with the idea of putting buttons on the headband, but also figured out that you could wear the headbands as cute, funky chokers! I just love that the headbands can be used in more than one way and look totally fabulous. 

Another idea that is new in the shop is that of interchangeable flower pins for the headbands. Each headband will still come with a matching flower pin, but now customers have the opportunity to purchase individual flower pins in their favorite colors to ultimately customize their headband and create their very own look. Plus, the pins also look great on blazers, blouses, hats, scarves, bags, and as little additions to gift bags. They have a plethora of uses that adds a colorful, handmade touch to anything you apply them to. They can also be seen in the shop now with many more colors coming soon. Of course, custom colors are always welcome! 

All in all, there's tons of fun goodies being added to the shop all the time, so be sure to check us out! 

flowers of a different sort.

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Now available in my shop! These beautiful and delicate looking flowers are crocheted from mohair blend yarn and accented with real pearls in the center. They make great additions to coats, sweaters, blouses, scarves, and even hats and purses! They add a nice delicacy to anything no matter how you decide to wear them. They also would make great gifts for only $9.50!

I've really had fun working on these flower brooches and hope they do well because I would love to continue making them and explore new textures, colors, and designs.

You can see these brooches in the shop along with all my other goodies, or if you're just dying to have one now go ahead and purchase right from my blog by clicking the images above!

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

"slippin" away.

brokenhallelujah

Buy Handmade

New slippers have been added to the shop! Some old favorites, like the mint chocolate chip mary janes and blue swirl, along with some new designs like the floppy bunnies and primrose mary janes. These are just a few of the slippers that are available in my Artfire shop. I know the weather is starting to turn warmer in some areas, but these slippers are great all year round to keep your toes cozy and in style. They also make great handmade, one of a kind gifts.

Click the images above for more info about the item! You can also purchase items directly from my blog without signing up for an account - just click the images.

On top of these new slippers that I've been working on I have some more designs in the making that should be debuting in my shop soon. So keep your eyes here to be one of the first to hear about all that's to come!

a cozy for your chapstick.

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Buy Handmade

Click the image above for more information.

Available again in the shop after a long disappearance are my keychain lip balm cases! These handmade cozies are the perfect size for a regular Chapstick sized lip balm of your choosing. No more rummaging around in the bottom of your purse or make-up bag, because now your favorite lip balm is right at your fingertips on your keyring. Or, if you're a fan of those longer, skinnier tinted lip balms I'd be happy to make you a custom keychain in the color of your choosing.

These keychains are not only handy for lip balm, but also are the perfect size for lighters and USB thumbdrives. Gotta love things that have multiple uses!!

At $9 a pop, they are a steal. So check them out in my Artfire shop today in a rainbow of colors.

three times the charm.

 New in my shop is this fun three-band crochet headband. It's one headband that ties in the back for adjustable size and comes with a matching flower pin that is removable so that you can customize the look of the headband and make it your own. It's great for a Greek goddess or stylish Bohemian look with it's handmade nature. 

I had lots of fun designing this headband and working out the kinks on how to get a sturdy three-stranded look with the ease of a single tie in the back. The pin applique was just a quick after thought. A small little addition that is removable or just moveable to change the look of the headband to your mood or outfit. 

I'm still working on perfecting the design, but I always welcome any constructive criticism. Also, custom orders are always welcome if you'd love one of these headbands of your own is a specific color or design. 

Or if you love this one, you can make your own today with the quick, nonmember checkout of Rapid Cart below. 

brokenhallelujah

Buy Handmade

rapid cart.

Look at this great new feature from Artfire!!

brokenhallelujah

Buy Handmade

It's called Rapid Cart, and it allows you to post items from your Artfire store on your blog or social networking site so that people can purchase the items right then in there - IN 28 SECONDS! You don't have to have an Artfire account or even visit my Artfire shop homepage. It's a great great new feature that I think will revolutionize the way people shop handmade. I can definitely see myself using. You can only use it if you are verified member which only costs $7 a month, but will soon be raised to $20 so be sure to get your account now if you are a handmade product seller. (P.S. Be sure to leave 'brokenhallelujah' as your referrer.)

getting a-HEAD of myself..

Lilac and Teal Crochet Headband

Available now. Click here for more info. 

It always seems like I've got tidbits of yarn left over from my other projects, but they aren't enough for a hat or slippers. The colors are so fun and I hate to throw large scraps away, so I decided to try some out a new headband pattern. And I'm pretty proud of how they turned out, so there's more to come in a rainbow of colors. Have a specific color you'd like to see? Let me know. 

star gazer.

Star Burst Mary Jane Slippers

Now available. Click here for more info.

Something new in the shop: bright and cheery! These mary jane slippers are in wonderful bright orange with yellow star appliques on the toes.