New year, New look

As we have started a new year, and started with some new sculpted designs for our hairfork line, we wanted to move that new look into our shop as well.  DO what you love, love what you do. Thats what we want you to see!

we have gotten our new banner up in the  shop and would love to have you come see our new clean fresh look! we LOVE it and hope you do too! we wanted a fresh new direction and less words..which our wonderful designer accomplished in a heartbeat after we described our vision. Please stop by and let us know what you think too!  we would love your comments here, on etsy or our facebook fan page too!

Rejuvenated and infused with creativity!

WE were finally able to take some time off this week, after no vacation for over a year, to rest our hands and brains after working through the holidays! WE went to see my Aunt and used her home in Nevada as a base camp to play and see a few local tourist spots...The Hoover Dam...

Oatman Arizona, an old mining town with a cool touristy twist! The Burrows are now allowed to wander the town wherever they please, and they are fed by the tourists! it was great fun for me, as i love animals. The shops are all quiant with lots of antiques, wild west themes, biker themes and Route 66 fame. 

Some of the wild life at the Hoover Dam was Terrifying :D

THe landscape down south is amazingly beautiful, i am always amazed at the rocks, the colors and the shapes of the rocky peaks....i love the desert. Its sunsets are stunning, and it inspires me to my soul!

The Virgin River Gorge is between Arizona and Nevada, and quite a 13 mile drive! the pictures cannot capture the vastness , i tried to get some other cars in there for perspective...it makes it hard to drive too, you want to look everywhere!! this is actually the very west end of the grand canyon gorge...

SO we got to visit with family, relax a bit, and see soem wonderful sights! we also had some brainstorming time as we drove and listened to a book on CD...

We hope you will take our poll, its one of the questions we came up with for new designs this year!!

Hope you enjoyed our little tour, and more pictures are availble if you visit our Facebook page !!

Trying to be better and still pamper you...

We are changing the way we do our packaging this year in an effort to be more responsible with paper and carboard useage. WE still want to pamper you as you open your box :D but we are going to stop the tissue paper and try to use a box that is better sized to what you are buying.  You are still going to get a sleeping bag for your fork, but it is going to be handmade local (Our local) so we are supporting another handmade business, and if you wanted it could be reused as a gift or snack bag as well!   If you have any comments about this, good or bad, please let us know! We want to be more responsible and still leave you feeling blessed and pampered when you get your box!!
We appreciate you all so very much!!

Hair Swords....Yes, i said swords...

As you all know, we love to make hair toys. Hair toys that are made especially well, to hold very long and/or thick hair. Hair Forks and sticks that are unique, and have our character built into them.Stacy wanted to make some wood hair swords for hair sticks. Cool, ok, lets do it! Well, Stacy aslo loves to make little things that are detailed. The wood hair swords were a hit!

Then, we decided to wrap the handles, with wire or leather. That was a hit as well, they are really fun and cool looking!

Then, we got a request for a detailed, miniature japanese katana, ray-skin wrapped handle and all. We got pictures and off to the garage Stacy went! He made the little tiny metal parts that go around the blade and hilt gaurd, he watched tutorial videos on authentic Japanese sword handle wrapping. and we went in search of the right materials to do this process, tiny. Since then our swords have been a big hit, and they are getting better and better everytime! we now carry some pairs of katana wrapped pairs, that have the look of katanan wrap but are not toally authentic in their beginning and ending, but it keeps the cost down a bit.
Then, the order that tickled Stacy to no end, was for a hair sword, metal blade in a sheath that could be worn in the hair. THe blade would be invisible while sheathed, and it would look like just a large stick was holding the hair. For this order, he made a display stand like the real swords are often see on.

Then when the sword orders continued he decided to make the little stands to go with any sword that was over $100. It looks really cool, and it is our very special free gift to you. When Stacy puts WAY too much time into these amazing swords already, this is a real treat, becuase the swords are amazing. His craftsmanship is very detailed and fine, and he works on these swords until they are really well done, wether it takes 2 or 3 times the amount of time he thought, he is going to make it right!

Now i was a little put off by the idea or using ray skin...that is sting ray leather. I ADORE sting rays. I think they are one of the most beautiful creatures ever. I have a sterling silver bracelet made with a stingray as each link! But the truth of the matter is, the villagers who catch these rays for food, make money selling the skins as well, and they are going to continue to eat a very reliable food source for them and why waste the parts?! honestly, i am not being cheeky here, i thought long and hard about this. They have been using this material on sword handles for ages. IT makes them look very authentic and cool, and it helps support the people making thier living off of fishing in small villages all over the world.

SO, our sword brag is now at a close for the day, i am just so proud to offer these beautiful and amazing hair sticks to our customers, i wanted to give a little background, tell you about the sword stands and why we send them with some and not with others....and we will sell them as well if requested.

Thanks to all of our customers, we would love to see hair sword action pictureson our facebook page!!

Love to you all

Kimi

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Today...

Today we decided to drive to Nine Mile Canyon. It is on the national scenic byways and it is a cool place, but getting there is quite a drive. It is 48 miles of almost completely dirt,washboard pot holed oil field roads. But the rocks, the towering spires, then the desstination with the petroglyphs is worth the dusty drive. We listened to a book on cd and enjoyed the animals and flowers along the way. Yes, the desert blooms!

It was a sunny beautiful day, and the walk was lovely. We saw lizards and antelope, prairie dogs, chipmunks and something that looked like a lemur, but i am pretty sure it wasn't...we did not drive THAT far! HEEHEE

As i have told you before, we like to take a picture of our feet when we go places, just for fun, and here is us! in the desert, you can see the bottom of my trusty walking staff too.

Lastly, we had to get a picture of my hair in this beautiful place. No hair fork today, silly me, but i felt like having it down since it was a day for my husband and he loves to look at my hiar, but i did not want it all knotted up..so if anyone is interested, i did an english braid with the top half of myhair. then i put the bottom half up in a ponytail under the braid, and wrapped that braid around the pony, pinned with decorated amish pins. then i rope braided the ponytail. It looks pretty cool, if i do say so! Having layered hair makes most braids something i cannot pull off, but when i take the top half and the bottom half seperately, i can do some fun stuff! And Husband loved it.

So we had a good day, came home to eat and rest then went back to forkin'!

Hope you enjoyed our adventure pics!

Love to you all,Kimi

The circle of life...

Always remember that problems contain values that have improvement potential.


Move away from past failures and mistakes and go forward without letting them be a weight upon you. Every night when you lie down to sleep practice dropping the day into the past. Look confidently to the future with God.

Choosing not to answer the phone, on selected occasions, can be an empowering decision and can greatly reduce the stress in your home life.

Once again, valuable and timely words from PTD newsletter! I try to do these things to help life in our home be smoother and stress free, but it is a daily thing, we must live each day, IN that day and do our best!
Love to you all
Kimi

Unborn Hair forks...

Part 2 of the behind the scenes of Grah-Toe Studio..these are unborn hair forks! When choosing the woods, we have to make sure the grain is strong in the tines, and beautiful in the top....we have to be sure the arch of the tines has strenght...there is a lot to consider, along with the aesthetics of it all!

and then there are these kinds of final outcomes..

This custom inlay was made with slabs of turquoise, instead of powder. Each petal was shaped and cut by Stacy, and fit until they looked as we needed together, then he had to cut them into the wood! after they were secured in, we had to refinish the fork but the result is just stunning! Over 6 hours of work..what do you think?

Hope you have a blessed Sunday,restful and rejuvenating and see you again soon!
remember to share some love!!!

Love to you all, Kimi

Treasury love...we are so blessed!

A while back i posted about being in a few tresuries on Etsy and what a thrill it is...well, we have been in a bunch more and i am so excited i can only do a little dance around the living room with Stacy praising the Lord! We are so glad that people love our work, as we love doing and making our hair art!
here are the treasuries lately, hope you will pop in and see them,and click on everyones pictures if you have time, there is so much talent out there!
http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c12b34f264b8eef8fd78c41/my-link-lovies
http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c123c5a0a5a6d917a76772e/love-red-love
http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c11725d264b8eef3ed86e41/ebony-skies-today
http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c117487264b8eefdb1b6f41/egyptian-waters
http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c0a91a068f48eef884ccb21/when-i-come-home-relax
http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c0933ebab056d919bcef9ce/let-down-your-hair

Now, if we could just get one to go to the front page...HMmmmmm, we were also blessed to be featured in The Storque, Etsy's blog, yesterday! One of our antler hair sticks! WOOT
http://www.etsy.com/storque/spotlight/etsy-finds-beach-blanket-bingo-8758/
 So we are just so excited to be getting this exposure and the love from those who are chosing our items, thank you so much!! we truly appreciate it and look forward to more traffic meaning more sales!!!
Love to you all!
Kimi

A simple suggestion to help simplify your life!!!

I don't exactly think of myself as a goddess, but i do love the simplicity and advice and love that flows from this blog...http://www.goddessguidebook.com/

"Today, your Zen Your Life project is:

Find a box. Put three things in there from your space that you no longer need.

It’s time to find it a new home, dearheart. Either send it on to a friend you know will love it, sell it on ebay, or donate it to charity.

Let your things find their purpose in their world of making someone completely & gorgeously happy… not just stuck with it.
They have a destiny too you know… and it’s not to make you miserable!"

She often has little tips that really make sense, and she helps women know they are beautiful and loved, and we love LOVE!!! handmade love, personal love, spiritual love, the world just needs more of all kinds of LOVE!

Speaking of love, we have been featured in few more treasuries, that is such a good feeling!, but this one is full of love!
http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c123c5a0a5a6d917a76772e/love-red-love
Hope you will stop by and check it out!! and check out the website to zen your life tips  today too, you just might find some inspiration in a place you never expected!

A peek at the inner workings of Grah-Toe Studio...

We thought perhaps some of you would be interested in the process we go through to get you your pretties for your hair! This is part of my sanding area , we do  alot alot alot of sanding! I wear a mask and safety glasses and do the major sanding  here, then it goes to hand sanding.

The wood does NOT start out looking like you see it , it looks more like this...

WE cut the wood, then lay out the forks to fit the wood grain, get the best pattern and make sure the grains are not going to weaken the fork. This part takes alot of planning and knowing of wood sometimes to get it right, and we don't always get it right!!!

IF you are interested in more of the process, part 2 is coming up next....

Love to you all, Kimi

GIve some love away, its Wednesday!

""We can't live all bright days, but one thing is true, no cloud is so dark that the sun can't shine through.
TODAY make an effort to enjoy whatever you must do..

It is an absolute, demonstrable fact that the person who really practices love---real love---rises so high above fear that it can no longer touch him. Where love is, fear cannot live. Love withers fear.""

THese are both quotes from my Positive Thoughts for The Day letter and it is what i am aiming for! to be so full of love that fear cannot immobilize me, or make me feel sick. SO full of love that no cloud can rain on my parade!
Today,  I AM making that effort, to enjoy all that i have to do...laundry, cooking, dishes, sanding hair forks, editing photos, all of it! Join in with me!
Remember that the most powerful motivation is spiritual motivation. So expose yourself to the spiritual. FOr me, the Bible, the Word of GOd  is the SPiritual motiviation that i look to for this strength and this love!

Happy WEdnesday Everyone, and be sure to give some love away today! You get more back when you give it away!!!
Stop over to kind over matter and get some inspirations from them too! 
Love to you all
Kimi