Monsters!!!

Mr. Bean and I are what I like to politely refer to as "weird." We're a little goofy and sometimes our friends just shake their heads at us and laugh, but we have a great time and we don't hurt anyone with our oddness (at least I haven't received any requests to appear in court about anything yet). With that intro, allow me to introduce you to Mr. Bean's new office doodad, the British Lawyer Timid Monster:

Mr. Bean is always complaining that Etsy doesn't have enough "stuff" for guys (he wasn't nearly nearly as impressed as I was with the masculine scented bath fizzies I bought him), so I decided to go hunting for something for him. He's almost done with law school (graduation date = 5/10/09!), so I wanted to get him something attorney-esque. When we stumbled across the Etsy shop Trupinys, we knew we'd found "the one." We commissioned the seller to create a one-of-a-kind British lawyer Monster! We are not British, but figured that a British version of an attorney would look more lawyer-ish than just a monster in a business suit (which is what we thought of when we considered the American version). Check this guy out! Yellow legal pad, leather brief case, judge's robes, and a powdered wig! The details are incredible.

Although Trupinys also carries jewelry, crocheted items, and paper crafts, the Timid Monsters are what really drew us in. As seller Patricia describes, "Timid Monsters are fast becoming my most popular category. Strangely, they originated in an attempt to use up remainder clay. Now, I am constantly evolving their looks and personalities in an attempt to keep them fresh, new and unique. All my Monsters are baked clay and come with little handwritten biography cards so you get their little story with your order."

I did a search for "monster" in this shop and came up with 76 items! Prices start at just $2.25 so everyone can nab a little Timid Monster of their own (or you can commission Patricia to do a custom piece like I did). They come in all shapes, sizes, and colors (be sure to check out her sold items for previous Monsters, too!). Some of my favorites:

Did you notice that the last monster is St. Patrick's Day themed?! Be sure to check this shop out soon!

Giveaway: Colorado Catnip Toys

THIS GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED. THANK YOU FOR PARTICIPATING! PLEASE VISIT THE SPONSOR, Colorado Catnip Toys.

An addict lives with us. His name is Bungee and his drug of choice is catnip. We've tried everything: therapy, long talks, even cutting off his kitty treats. Nothing works, so we've ultimately decided to reward his addiction by getting him even more catnip toys. Seems to be a healthy response, right?

Since I am a fan of Etsy (you don't say?), I recently purchased the Pets Jubilee sample box there and inside was Bungee's new true love: a flat toy shaped like a little car stuffed with organic catnip by Colorado Catnip Toys. Bungee loves this thing! He sleeps with it (konked out about 5 minutes after this picture was taken with the thing still in his arms), takes it with him when he moves from room to room, and even hides it from us when he's not using it. The catnip is strong enough to where even I can smell it through the fabric, and I like that the owner, Jana, takes great care to stitch up each toy carefully so it remains safe for kitties. You can get these toys in fun shapes like fish and butterflies as well as in catnip mats and quilts for both cats and dogs at Colorado Catnip Toys.

When I contacted Jana to let her know how much Bungee enjoys her toys, she offered to let me host a giveaway for two of her toys. Two lucky winners will receive one of the toys pictured here to share with their feline friend! To enter:

1. FOR ONE ENTRY: Visit Colorado Catnip Toys to check out all of Jana's products and pick your favorite. Return to The Sweet Jelly Bean blog and post a comment to this post identifying your favorite (please don’t just steal an answer from someone else’s comment). Be sure to leave your email address instead of commenting anonymously (if you’re not logged in) so I can notify winners!

2. FOR A BONUS ENTRY: Begin following this blog – please post a separate comment here if you are already doing so or if you begin to do so.

3. FOR 2 BONUS ENTRIES: Mention this giveaway on your own blog and link back to The Sweet Jelly Bean. Please comment on this post to let me know you've done so!

4. FOR 5 BONUS ENTRIES: Make a purchase at Colorado Catnip Toys March 2-9. Post a comment with a link to the sold item page.

This giveaway ends Monday, March 9, 2009 at 9PM PST. The winner will be chosen using random.org, and will be contacted following the close of the contest. Good luck everyone, and please send a special thanks to Jana for her generosity!

5 Etsy items to help with Spring Cleaning

I can hardly believe that it's almost March. Where has the time gone? Are you planning to do some spring cleaning soon? I'd like to say I plan on it, but so far I don't. I like it when our apartment is really clean, but it's the actual cleaning part of that scenario that always scares me off. What better way to kick off Spring Cleaning than with a few treasures I found on Etsy?

Clean In-Style Gloves - trimmed with Floral Carnival and Light Blue Oilcloth (by Etsy seller Julie Meyer), $12.50. Although this is my favorite pattern, she also carries this products in a variety of other designs and styles.

Very Concentrated Room Spray (by Etsy seller Red Leaf), $14. Available in nine scents. There are lots of room sprays on Etsy, but this store's packaging really looks sharp to me.

Carpet Freshener (by Etsy seller Craft Scentiments), $5. Choose from more than 25 scents. My favorite is the Lemon Bundt cake - YUM!

Ecofriendly Dry Dusting Floor Mop Head - Fits Regular Swiffer Sweeper (by Etsy seller Picket Basket Crafts), $9. A great way to go green while supporting an Etsy artist!

All-Purpose Cleaner (by Etsy seller la petite vie), $6. Not a lot of info about what the scent smells like, but I love her packaging!

Now you're armed with the tools to clean, clean, clean? Need a little push? Try Real Simple's Spring Cleaning Checklist.

I'm a winner!

I've never really won much of anything. Once when I was 10 years old my mom let me pick Lotto numbers for her. We won $3.00. Then I once won a CD at a Best Buy grand opening when I was in middle school. I was feeling pretty good about it until I walked by the promo section and saw they were $4.99. That's...about...it.

And then I started blogging and reading everyone's blogs obsessively and entered several of your giveaways. This year I have won three (3!) contests! As an additional way of saying thank you to both the blog owners and the shops that sponsored the giveaways, here is a lineup of the treats I've won:

Truffle Button Magnets from Etsy seller Romantic Treasures, giveaway hosted by Simple Finds - these are adorable (they help keep me from caving into real chocolate ALL THE TIME and I like that they help me organize my scatterbrained fridge)!



Sweetheart Orange Apron from Carolyn's Kitchen, giveaway hosted by Cookie Girl Creations - somehow this apron manages to look sweet and sexy! I like to wear it when I'm making sweet treats for my Etsy shop.







Amethyst and Sterling Earrings from Etsy seller Oh2122, giveaway hosted on Oh2122's blog - I just found out that I won these earlier this week. I love purple and cannot wait to show them off to the other ladies at work - hopefully I can send them to Oh's shop.

Please visit these fantastic shops and blogs, and many thanks to you all for your generosity!

Sampler Boxes

As I previously mentioned, my new obsession is sampler boxes. After getting three of them (Out of the Box Sampler, Get Eurofied Sampler, and Pets Jubilee Sampler), I decided to go digging through Google to see if I could find more and...jackpot! Here are some that I'm dying to try out!

Lemming Central Sampler Boxes, $20 for USA with free shipping, includes beauty and candle products

The Little Black Box, $20 with free shipping, US only, includes jewelry, bath and body, candles, bookmarks, keychains, buttons, magnets, luggage handle wraps, silk scarves, pet treats, stationery, photography, tissue cozies and more

Snowberry Creek, $22.95 for USA with free shipping (also ships internationally), includes soaps, candles, ornaments, woodcrafts, coffees, teas, bath and body items

The Sampler, $8 and up plus shipping, various themed sampler boxes

Crafty Cubes/Aroma Cubes, $19.99 with free shipping, soaps, toiletries, candles, some jewelry and stationery

Pink Ribbon Sampler, $22.50 and up with free shipping, you get to CHOOSE your samples, 25% of proceeds go to fighting breast cancer

So the question now is, "Which one should I try first?"

New items in my Etsy shop!

Hi everyone! Things are much better now that I've had a couple of days to recover from my wisdom teeth surgery on Friday. I still can't go chow down on chips and salsa, but I'm staying full on lots of yummy foods (egg drop soup and milkshakes) and have had lots of down time to work up new products for my Etsy shop. Now that Valentine's Day is over, I'd like to premiere two of my own chocolate covered Oreo designs here: Dirt and Worms and Under the Sea!

I came up with the Dirt and Worms design after eating a cake with a similar theme over the holidays. My version includes a chocolate covered Oreo cookie topped with crushed Oreo crumbles to simulate dirt and a neon sour gummy worm. I officially got the thumbs up on this one from some kids in my neighborhood!


My other new design is called Under the Sea. It starts out with a chocolate covered Oreo and is then topped with azure blue sugar and 2 red Swedish fish.

I've also introduced several new toppings for my chocolate covered Oreos including St. Patrick's day sprinkles and spring pastels, so please stop by my Etsy shop and check things out! Mention that you read this blog post and I'll include a free gift with your order!

Giveaway: Chocolate covered oreos (Bloggy Carnival)

THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. THANKS FOR PARTICIPATING!

Please join the Bloggy Giveaways Quarterly Carnival by entering to win a a box of 8 chocolate covered Oreo cookies made to order from my Etsy shop per the winner's specifications. This includes your choice of chocolate, flavor, and toppings! To find out more about my Oreo cookie boxes, please visit my Etsy shop. PLEASE NOTE DUE TO THE ITEM BEING PERISHABLE THAT THIS CONTEST IS ONLY OPEN TO PEOPLE IN THE US. Here's how to play:

FOR ONE ENTRY: Visit my Etsy shop and check out all of the sweet treats I offer and pick your favorite. Return here and post a comment to this post identifying your favorite item. Be sure to leave your email address instead of commenting anonymously (if you're not logged in) so I can notify the winner!

FOR A BONUS ENTRY: Begin "following" The Sweet Jelly Bean blog - please comment on this post to let me know you've done so!

FOR 2 BONUS ENTRIES: Mention this giveaway on your own blog and link back to The Sweet Jelly Bean. Please comment on this post to let me know you've done so!

The contest begins January 26 and ends January 30 at 10PM PST. The winner will be chosen using random.org. I will contact the winner following the close of the contest to find out what toppings and chocolate flavor you would like and ship shortly thereafter. Good luck to everyone, and remember to tell your friends to enter!

P.S. Yet another giveaway will be starting within a week, so please remember to visit often!

The Bean's Pick: LuceGirlsArt on Etsy

As I've mentioned before, I am a stationery freak! I think I collect notecards more than I actually send them - sometimes it's so hard for me to part with a greeting card I've bought weeks in advance for someone’s birthday that I almost don’t send it to them! It’s really an unhealthy obsession, I suppose, especially since Etsy sellers are always so reliable in feeding it. Recently I searched through dozens of Etsy shops looking for just the right set of Valentine’s Day cards to send to my closest family and friends. After much debating, bookmarking, and browsing, I decided on these lovely handmade cards by LuceGirlsArt. She’s relatively new to the Etsy scene, but has already made quite the splash with her adorable earrings and notecards, including the ones pictured here (photo by moi – visit her shop for more pics). She made 9 of these in a special order for me and they arrived quickly without any damage! I love how the lovely tree (with glittery little hearts) is layered on top of delicious chocolate colored shimmer paper. As usual, it’s going to be hard for me to part with these when it comes time to send them out in early February. If you’re in the market for cards, check this shop out!

Visit my Etsy shop for chocolate covered Oreos and more

WARNING: Shameless self promotion in 3...2...1...

Do you dream in chocolate? Does the term "ooey gooey, soft and chewy" make your mouth water? In addition to blogging, I also run a new shop over at Etsy called The Sweet Jelly Bean (go figure!) that features chocolate covered Oreos with your choice of topping, snickerdoodle cookies made the way God intended, Southern Pecan Praline Cookies, and more! If you're shopping for Valentine's Day, any of my shop items can be purchased in advance and shipped on a day of your choosing (we have a strict "no frozen dough in the freezer" policy at my house, so I guarantee your treats will arrive fresh). Please visit The Sweet Jelly Bean on Etsy today!

New blog banner

You may have noticed the new look here at The Sweet Jelly Bean. I would like to thank Studio Sub, an online shop over at Etsy (my favorite website these days) for designing this for me. Olle worked tirelessly to help me get just the right look: upbeat without being too perky (as I consider the title of this thing perky enough for now). Studio Sub sells premade Etsy and blog banner packages starting at $5, and will even design something from scratch depending on your needs.

4 calendars from Etsy you'll want on your desk (and a intro to my paper obsession)

I am a paper fiend. Take me to the mall and yes, I'll browse through a few clothing stores to drool over this season's peacoats and whine for a new pair of boots. But the store that you'll really have to drag me out of will be Papyrus, Hallmark, or any other store that carries a variety of notecards, invitations, gift wrap, and stationery. I actually get excited about going to pick out a card for Mother's Day, and you should see me in the fall when, in our family alone, there are 7 birthdays! Let's not mention how positively giddy I become when it comes time to select a new yearly planner each December (that's about when things become a little too unhealthy, I think).

Combine my love for paper products with Etsy, and it's a match made in heaven. I first stumbled upon this place a couple of years ago, and my life hasn't been the same since! As the website suggests, it's an "online marketplace for buying and selling all things handmade." THIS INCLUDES PAPER PRODUCTS, which is one of my favorite Etsy pursuits. In honor of it being only a few days into the New Year, I am pleased to share a few of my favorite 2009 calendars available on Etsy - click on the picture to get a larger version, then visit the seller's shop link (please note that the link will not take you directly to the seller's store instead of the item as I do not want the link to be broken if the item sells).

Image below from Things Are Better with a Parrot (I bought this calendar last night and can't wait for it to arrive!):

Image below from Sure as Blue (I bought my desk calendar from them last year and loved it!):

Image below from Valentina Design:

Image below from Susannah Tucker Photography:

Image below from paperWERXings: