I Love My Beading Bowl

I have a new addition to my beading supplies that I really love - a beading bowl! Actually it was an experiment of my husband's to do something he'd always want to do - turn a bowl on his lathe. He got a 2x10 piece of pine and puttered around one day and created this shallow bowl. I loved the grain of the wood and shape of the bowl, so I put it out on our coffee table.






As with many things in our house, it shared the coffee table with my current beading project. One day when I didn't have an available bead board for a project, I dumped all my supplies into the bowl and went to work. Now I have totally claimed the bowl as one of my beading accessories. It's great for making phone charms, since they're small and don't have to be laid out like a bracelet or necklace.



Here are the latest phone charms I've made, using my Rings and Things shopping spree and my pretty bead bowl, of course :o)

Faceted Carnelian and Rhodonite Puffed Ovals

Leopardskin Jasper and Swarovski



















Faceted Fiber Optic Beads

An Etsy Listing a Day...

I heard that if you share one of your goals with someone, you're more likely to achieve it, because once other people know about it, it helps you stay more committed to your goal...okay, so here's mine.

I've been trying to think of a strategy to build up my CellChic shop, inventory and sales-wise - I've heard that you should list or relist often to be near the top of a search stack. I decided that I would try to add 1 item a day to my shop. I'll work on this until I reach 120 items - also, I'll relist any items when they sell - that hasn't been too hard to keep up with ;o)

When I get to 120, the first items I listed should start to expire and then I'll renew those listings, which will keep me with new listings on a regular basis.

I've done this almost each day so far in June and it seems pretty workable.

Well, OK, that's my strategy, so I'm going to give it a try, I 'll let you know how it works.

Ya Learn Somethin' New All the Time

I had heard that cell phone charms are something of a cultural phenomenom in Japan. EVERYONE has one on their phone. It occurred to me that, since Etsy is a worldwide marketplace, I should make sure that someone from Japan would run across my CellChic shop when searching for charms. I decided that I needed to find out the Japanese phrase for "cell phone charm" and tag my items with it.

After a bit of googling, I finally found it --- keitai strap! Keitai is the word used for cell phones, and they call the charms keitai straps...I even found the Kanji characters, and tried to cut and paste them, but Etsy didn't take kindly to that. So I did tag a dozen of my items with "keitai strap" and I'll be interested to see if Google Analytics shows any hits from Japan - we shall see :o)

I made a few more charms with the beads I picked up at the Rings-n-Things Bead Tour - here are some pix:











Faceted Tigereye
















Red, White & Blue


















Chinese Charoite

Snakeskin Jasper

500 Miles Later, Back at Home

Today I drove from Orlando to Tallahassee and back, about 500 miles, operating on about 4 hours sleep...I'm so full of caffeine I don't know if I'll ever sleep again! Lest you think this is the type of thing I do for fun, let me explain...I took DD up there, and met my niece, who drove over from Mobile. She took DD back to Mobile with her to spend 10 days with my sister. Now I'm back home, waiting to crash - in case I just keel over, the dogs are fed, my teeth are brushed and flossed, and I have on my jammies :o)


I've made several phone charms with my Rings-n-Things haul - here are some photos:









Striped Mother of Pearl





















Mookaite Teardrop



















Yummy Gumdrop
(Rainbow New Jade)

Rings-n-Things Bead Tour

Last Wednesday was SUCH a fun afternoon...Rings-n-Things brought their annual Bead Tour into town. They had a room set up with tables and tables full of the most wonderful beads. Most prices were half of the tag price minus 15%...and the REALLY fun part was that I had a $100 gift certificate to spend - I had gotten it for winning 3rd prize in CraftyNation's recent Craft-off Contest. It was such a blast deciding what to get :o) So thank you, CraftyNation, for sponsoring the contest, and thank you, Rings-n-Things for providing such a great prize. And especially thank you to the people who voted for my project! Here are a couple of pictures of my Rings-n-Things loot - these are gonna make some great phone charms!

And the Family's All Together

DH will be coming home tonight from his work week in Clearwater...DD and I and all the critters have been alternating - a week in Clearwater in the RV, and then a week at home for me to recuperate :o), so this was our week at home.

I'm not sure what DH has been scrounging up for dinner each night, so tonight I decided to do some burgers on the grill. I have a really tasty burger recipe that even DD will eat, and I swear that she has the pickiest palate on the planet. (Say THAT 3 times fast!) Here's my recipe:

MexiBurgers
2 lbs. extra lean ground beef
1/2 green pepper, finely chopped
2 - 3 onion slices, finely chopped
1 t. cumin
1 t. coriander

Mix together and form patties. Grill on low for 20 min., flipping halfway through. Top with favorite cheese slices just after removing from grill. Serve on whole grain buns.

A couple of notes: I buy the absolute leanest beef I can buy - it's usually 96/4. The burgers don't shrink much at all. I make 6-oz. burgers for DH, and 3-oz burgers for me and DD. I cook the smaller burgers on the cooler areas of the grill. This recipe freezes really well. I can usually make 8 or 9 burgers from the above recipe (3 large and 6 small).

If you're feeding kids, make sure you chop the veggies really, really fine...kids don't like finding chunks of veggies in their burgers, but they usually like the flavors that the finely chopped veggies impart.

Happy grilling!

Get yourself in a lather

If you've never tried handmade soap, you're really missing out! I'm fortunate enough to have a sister who likes to whip up a few soap batches every now and then, and she keeps me supplied. I haven't used store-bought soap in AGES.

However, if she ever gives up soap-making, I won't despair...Etsy has a wealth of talented soapmakers who can keep me supplied at reasonable prices. And if you aren't familiar with Etsy (gasp!), go to http://www.etsy.com/ , for the ULTIMATE handcrafted shopping experience on earth!. Once there, just type "soap" into the search box, along with any additional keywords (i.e. lavender, goat's milk, massage, etc.), and you'll be swimming in choices :o)

Here is just a sample of some fabulous soap artisans on the web:

ElegantRoseBoutique.etsy.com

This homeschooling mom of 8 (!) has a wonderful array of soaps in her shop. The picture to the left is her Minty Rose Shea Butter.

dennisanderson.etsy.com

Dennis is a full-time soapmaker whose shop just makes me drool! This is his Lemon Luster Shea Butter Massage Bar (VEGAN Friendly). If you love luxurious soap, you're depriving yourself if you don't go visit his shop!!









ROSSoaps.etsy.com


Of course, ROSSoaps has plenty of gorgeous soaps, but here is a GREAT idea for trying out handmade soap at a bargain basement price. Occasionally a soapmaker has some bars that may be miscut, misshapen, underweight, or underscented. It is still their wonderful, skin-loving soap and SUCH a bargain! Check any soapmaker's store for these "ugly" or "oops" bars.

The Perils of Perfectionism

I haven't posted in so long, because I was waiting to have the time to sit down and do the "perfect" post - you know, witty, great pictures, something fascinating and/or inspirational and/or educational.

Well, I just read an e-mail from my mentor FLYLady yesterday, talking about the perils of perfectionism. (If you're not familiar with her, she's a WONDERFUL help for those of us who live in CHAOS (the "Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome"), and who are SHE's (Sidetracked Home Executives). Visit her at www.flylady.net - anyway, here I go getting sidetracked :o) )

True perfectionists procrastinate because they don't have time to do things "right"...the end result - they don't get anything done. So I'm going to post to my blog, even if it's not the "perfect" post. Even if there's nothing earthshaking to say...at least it will keep me in touch with my family and friends, and let them know about what's going on in my everyday life, when I don't get to see them everyday :o) God bless!

Donna