Turquoise Earrings

Giveaway is open until Tuesday.....dont forget to sign in as a follower and comment here

A friend of mine was nice enough of drop off some unused beads over the summer (thanks again Lady Diamonds) that she wasn't going to be using.  I was warned that there was no rhyme or reason as to how the beads were organized.  A few weeks ago, I finally got around to going through the big bag she brought over.  I found lots of goodies....measured necklace trays, plastic organizers, and look!

Score with the turquoise and silver!  I dont think that this picture does the pile justice. You cant tell what a massive amount this is.
It took a few hours but I sorted through everything.  I had plenty of time to think what I wanted to do with all these supplies. I had enough time left over to make one pair of earrings. Stay tuned for more designs!

Available to purchase here

I will be keeping the giveaway open for one more week.  So far there has only been one comment under the post (thanks Marcy!) which has made me realize that being that it is a holiday week,  no one really has the time !
click here to view the Post for the giveaway.  Remember to leave a comment as that will be your entry.  You can leave up to one entry per day increasing your chance to win.

We had a relaxing Xmas Eve day.  I had the day off and my K was able to work from home! Which he did intently.  Only a few minor interuptions ...

 And on Christmas morning we woke up to the most beautiful sky.

And now it's over. It's a little depressing to me.  All that preparation and anticipation and its over like that.
(- Insert snapping sound here-)
Now I look around and wish that everything could be cleaned up and put away.  Have a nice fresh start to the New Year.  It's on my list of things to do, but probably not today.  I have a snow day!  Office is closed, my K and I already spent an hour shoveling and I plan on being creative on the couch or up in the craft room.  I took a slow drive to snap some pictures. You can feel the cold from them. brrrrrrrrrrrrrr

A Picture Speaks a Thousand Words

Oh Me Oh My- Free Free Giveaway

First things first.  I need to state a huge congratulations to Diamond Mike Pearls & Lady Diamonds on welcoming their new baby, who I am referring to right now as "quarter carat".  We can't wait to meet the new little one.

As promised, now that I have my 20 followers I'm going to do a free giveaway!  The fingerless gloves below have turned into my signature pair as I have sold 8 of this design alone. A lucky commenter will receive a free pair.  *Please make sure that you are logged in and following this blog when leaving your comment.  Read below for instructions.

Here's the deal, I am going to leave the giveaway open for one week two weeks. It will close next Tuesday (1/4/2011)night around 6pm.
The winner will be picked from comments below.  You can enter up to once a day for a total of 8 entries increasing your chance to win.
Comments will be entered into random.org  and the winner will be generated at random through this website.  Keep a lookout and I will announce the winner here on the blog Tuesday night. We will be in contact as to how you will receive the gloves.

**This is not just limited to the current followers at the time this post is published, but new followers as well.

Pine Cones Project

Another weekend over, another week begins. And a busy one at that.  I can usually tell what kind of weekend it was by how many dishtowels there are to wash.  Yesterday it was 3/4 of my total towels.

I mentioned awhile ago that received a delivery of super special pine cones and had some big plans for them.

I've been seeing glittered pine cones selling from 5.99 and up for a little package! And they aren't as big as these. I refuse to pay money for something I could get for free and jazz up with a little glitter myself.
I spent about $8.00 at the craft store for my supplies using a coupon.
Supplies: Clear Gloss Spray Paint, Tacky Spray Glue, Martha Stewart Gold and White Glitter.  I like the Martha Stewart brand better then others. It's a little finer so it doesn't give you the  "I decorated this in Kindergarten class" glitter look.

 Notice the small red plate.  My original process to get glitter (which is mixed together at this point in the cup) on these was to spray them with glue, place them on the plate and then spoon the glitter mixture over them.  It wasn't covering to well so I ended up just putting the glitter in a resealable plastic bag and shook them around.

I let them dry for a few days and then took them outside to give them a coat of clear spray paint. Brrrrrrrrrr.

I was under a time crunch to get these done in time for my Ornament Party which was the next day . They probably could have used another coat of the Clear, I noticed when I was hanging them that glitter was falling.

I realized I didn't have any ornament holders but there was some green floral wire laying around so I twisted it around the pine cone top, made a loop myself and hung it. Unfortunately the pictures dont do the glitter justice. They came out really pretty. 

I'm going to share a lesson learned for each of my craft projects. Perhaps it's just some common sense I'm lacking but if I can help at least one person who is also lacking in the common sense department, I'm happy. 

Lesson Learned : if you are using Spray Adhesive, use gloves. It takes a very long time to try to get teh stuff off your hands and nails.

And whats a post without my little sidekicks?

On another note, I have now met my goal of 20 followers! Thank you everyone who thinks I'm even the slightest bit interesteing, the people who took the time to type in their email address, and thank you to the people I dont know. I feel honored that you would want to follow me in the first place, especially being that you dont know who I am.

I will be working on putting the giveaway together and will post it soon. Stay tuned.

Friday!

17 followers and still counting (while not counting myself!!). 3 more and the giveaway will begin.  But below is a little hint of what it could be.....remember, if you are a reader/follower, you will need to log in to become a follower.  If only a comment is posted, or you bookmark this page, I don't have visibility to tell if you are a follower.

Just wanted to post a little something for it is FRIDAY!  Already I am waiting for 6 o'clock to hit and I'm off to start a busy weekend.  Still some last minute trimming to take care of before the party tomorrow night, last minute Christmas shopping, a little cemetery visit to lay down some blankets, baking, baking and more baking, prepping for Christmas Eve and somehow manage to crochet some more gloves. I must have caught that trend wave right in time.  The Scribble Scrabble 44 Etsy Shop has only been open about two weeks and I have sold 12 pairs!  Here's a little picture of my busy work. All but one pair in the photo has been sold.

Everyone have a great weekend, and I will see you back here soon. 

Brrrrrr.......

I woke up this morning and on my way out the bedroom door, noticed it was white outside. I think the first thing I said to my K, even before good morning, may have been "Are there any schools closed?" because if there were  I was dialing the 9-5'er asap to see if that automated message was going to tell me something good.  But no, it wasn't enough for a snow day, just enough for the birds to have to shovel their porches to get to their outhouse.

 

On a happier note.  I crafted together a very detailed complaint about my favorite cookies and sent it to the company.  Just yesterday I received this!...

 

Woo hoooo free cookies for me.  For anyone looking to complain...here's a few words that come in handy, use them how you will :

packaging misrepresentation, brand loyalty, repeat customer, poor quality, consumer satisfaction, decrease in size, unappetizing

I don't know if I have mentioned this before, but I try to cook at least one thing on Sundays to have during the week.  Not that we eat the same thing every night, but every little bit helps when I don't have to come home and cook.  Tonight was perfect for this Bacon and Bean soup and a side of cornbread.  Check out that Little Red House blog, the everything they make looks amazing and sounds pretty easy.

9 followers- 11 more to go before I put up a free giveaway!
(I know it says I have 10 followers, but one of them happens to be me.  I have no idea how I managed to follow myself  :)

Surprise!

Tonight is my big surprise....
I am going to announce that I have a blog on my jewelry Facebook page.  Maybe this isnt a big deal to you, but to me it is H-U-G-E.  If you are reading this, I would first like to apologize for my spelling, my grammar, and my sometimes run on sentences.

I've been keeping this blog a super secret since I started.....I wanted to see if I would get any followers on its own.  Unfortunately, it didn't.  So that's why I'm taking it to the big guns...Facebook.
At the time of this post, the only person who knows about this blog is Kevin, and that's only because I showed it to him yesterday morning.
I asked him "So what do you think? You think it's stupid?".  You know what I got as an answer?
"No Comment"!  Can you believe it? In his defense, he has never read a blog and isn't into crafts or anything that doesn't require a weekly lineup (Fantasy Football, ugh).  So it wasn't a big boost to my self confidence when he said that.  I was a little upset and started thinking..."He'll be whistling a different tune when I get so many followers that people want to pay me to advertise on my blog.  Or when I get free samples to try. Or when I walk down the street with people yelling "Jr. Martha..tell me how to do this, Jr. Martha I love your crafts!", etc.  PS- the last part will never happen as 1- thats not my name, and 2- things dont happen like that in Bay Shore.
So anyways, here I go.  Maybe when I wake up tomorrow I will actually have some followers.

Oh- and I finally figured out how to display those Xmas cards!  Thank goodness for command hooks.  The photo didn't come out to well, but I just used the ribbon I had left over from my banner sign (see post below) and a command hook.  I even hid the hole puncher in the garland on the stairs for easy access when more come.

My next craft up on the list is glittering pine cones for my tree (notice above there is only lights so far) .  These aren't any regular pine cones, these are the most awesome and fabulous pine cones ever as they came all the way from Fire Island via my Pops Ford/Dodge, etc....I cant keep up anymore..

Morning....

Still no followers :( 

But I'm not giving up !

Good-early-morning and a Happy Friday to you!

Something about the holidays makes me want to wake up early and get stuff done.  Yesterday, I woke up a little before 5, did a load of laundry (I finished it, I didn't even leave the dry clothes in the dryer to get wrinkled.), got my lunch together, and crocheted a pair of fingerless gloves.  Oh, and was able to order two Xmas presents.  Crazy right?  And of course I got ready for the 9-5er (which will remain nameless) an hour and a half too early.
It's just something about this time of year, I like being awake early, knowing whats going on in the news, having some "coffee couch time" with the dog.  No gas from him today......

I've talked about the dog a few times, but I don't think I have mentioned Holly.  Or as we like to call her Princess Holly because that's what she thinks she is.  To tell you the truth, she should be Hero Holly for all the crickets she has been taking care of in the basement. 
I woke up this morning with her on my chest sleeping and purring like a race car.  I'm happy that I wasn't too groggy and noticed that it is an unbelievably relaxing feeling.  I don't think that I have ever taken the time to just lay there.  Im usually up and out.  It's amazing what you find when you stop and smell the roses :) 

Check out my rocket ship of a fireplace!

Keep it going.......

Mantle is decorated, stockings are hung, menus planned, stair railing decorated, lights are up outside, the only thing left to do is the tree.  That will be this weekend.  No need to get it too early.  We have a cat and a dog.  Last year I didn't even put ornaments on it.  Speaking of the dog, he's sitting next to me as I right this and has some really stinky gas.  Pew & Gag!

I was just thinking yesterday how I haven't gotten any Xmas Cards yet.  I came home and sure enough there was one in the mailbox.  I'm trying to come up with a clever idea on how to display them....any suggestions?


Thinking of doing a giveaway soon....only thing is I need some followers.  Mark my word that once I receive 20 followers, I will do a super cute giveaway.
Stay tuned. and Follow Me !

Off to the 9-5er

Signs, Signs, Everywhere Signs

It's been a while since I last wrote- but as of right now, I still dont have any followers so I'm thinking thats ok ;)

Thanksgiving is over and the Holiday rush is on.  I'm one who usually shops all year round for Christmas gifts.  If I'm in a store and see something that someone would like, I'll pick it up,s a sunny, 85 degree July day,  and hope that I wont loose it when the big day actually comes around.  I haven't  even started...not one single bit.....!  Ive been so busy with my newest adventure in crafting.....

I have been seeing these handmade paper signs around.  So on Black Friday, I ventured out to the craft store (three times by the way, good thing it really is right around the corner for me).
I picked up some glitter, ribbon, glue and a holiday themed scrapbook pad of paper.  Everything else I already had stored up in the craft room!

I'm not one for measuring, so I found a little square plate.  One that sits on my coffee table holding a candle.  I used this to trace the squares and used my Martha Stewart (love her!) cutter (I'm sure that isn't the correct name, but its what I'm calling it these days.  Each piece came out perfectly as they are uniform in size.

I used my stencils to trace some deep green cardstock, cut them out, glittered them (whats a holiday without some glitter) and used a hole puncher to punch two holes on the top of each side of the square of paper. 
Using this adorable red ribbon, I strung them together and presto!
Disregard the digital thermometer in the center,  I have since replaced it with a flame less candle.  (see the photo below)

I Heart Crafts.

Martha Stewart is my idol minus the Camp Cupcake time. 
I self diagnosed myself as having crafters A.D.D.  So many ideas are circulating around in my head, and I often find myself starting one project then starting another, and another and so on until I have all these half crafted things around my house.

I thought I would start this blog as a way to "get back to basics" so to speak.  Start from the begining, square 1.  So, if there is anyone out there reading this, let me introduce you to my wonderful craft room.  What it was, what it took to get there and what it looks like today!

 When we first bought the house, all I cared about is what room would be my craft room.  Inevitably, it wound up being the room with all the great built in drawers, shelves and closet. 

After the room was decided, well...thats when the fun began.  Picking colors, flooring, taking the doors off the closets.  My Kevin was nice enough to lay down new floors and paint for me.  I only heard the phrase "I cant take this pink anymore" twice.  Pretty good, huh?  PS- I made sure that only the trim was pink because if the whole room was pink, I would have heard that phrase a lot more often!

 It took a lot of primer to cover this paneling!  But eventually it all came together and viola!

This is my ode to Where Women Create.  (Take a lookie here! at these inspiring rooms)  Not as extravagant as some of the women in these books/magazines, but it's on its way.  Now I just need to keep it organized!