Wednesday, August 26, 2009

{ { { F A V O R I T E S } } } Treasury

Well, FINALLY, I was able to get a treasury! I had had a poster sketch ready for ages, but always missed it.

I went back to the Etsy shops which I had marked as favorites since I opened my shop, and picked out my latest favorites.



(left to right)
1st row:
beadstylin
maiaart
ivylanedesigns
2nd row:
adustyframe
mompotter
dennisanderson
3rd row:
bathnbeads
emptynestegg
shadysidefarm
4th row:
maidofclay
ixela
unkamengifts





These guys all have lovely, unique items in their shops. If you're not already an Etsy shopper, get yourself a user name and go take a look - it's fabulous!

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Things I Learned Last Week (2nd ed.)

Whose says you can't teach an old dog new tricks? I learned some more things last week that I thought I would share:

1. Do not ever, under any circumstances, go to Wal-Mart the weekend before school starts. This goes double for you if you're sensitive to noise, or if you're the teeniest bit claustrophobic.

2. When you see a puppy at the pet store which has been marked down and is "on sale", it will break your heart, and you will be tempted to take it home, even though you already have 3 dogs, a cat, 3 roborovski hamsters, and a guinea pig.

3. You don't realize how much you depend on your credit and debit cards until the local convenience store only takes cash because they were struck by lightning right before you get there, and you're so desperate for a diet Coke, that you frantically dig through your wallet until you come up with enough change to buy one.

4. Never walk across a freshly sealed road or you will end up with tar all over the bottom of your waffle-soled shoes.

5. When you use a front-load washer, make sure you read the little sticker that tells you to ONLY use 2 tablespoons of liquid detergent, instead of the usual capful. (Take an extra 5 quarters just in case you forget, so that you can wash everything twice.)

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Treasury x 5

I was thrilled to see that I'm in 5 treasuries today - I think that's a record for me! Four of them are curated by my lovely teammates on the Schooling at Home Etsian team (SHEteam), while one is curated by a new acquaintance from Paris.







"She is Lovely" is curated by my friend Mary, better known as EmptyNestEgg. She makes the most amazing, intricate designs out of teeny, tiny beads. She featured my latest design, "Unakite Delight" top row, center.

Thanks, Mary!
















"SHE is so soft!" is curated by Hamncheezr, another SHEteam member. I think she captured the "soft" mood perfectly with her selections! She was kind enought to include my pastel lavender and green
Swarovski phone charm, second row, right.


Thanks, Hamncheezr!












"Cup of Joe" is another treasury curated by EmptyNestEgg - lovely shades of coffee brown plus a wonderful mug by ellemardesigns to put it in! A wooden phone charm made from vintage beads is on the top row, right.

Thanks again, Mary!


















"rOunDed Beautifully" is curated by SHEteamer allthesethings, and features lots of round curves from the homeschoolers. My Mosaic black lip shell and mother of pearl charm in 3rd row, left.


Thanks, allthesethings!

















"RASPBERRY CREAM" is a great treasury by YannPendaries, an artisan from Paris. He featured my Girly Drama Phone Charm, 4th row, left. An interesting bit of trivia - top row, left, is by Yann's fiancee, Malam.


Thanks, Yann!

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Ooooo so pretty!


I was very happy to see that I was included in this treasury by DESIGNbyHELEN. She included my purple charoite phone charm.
Thank you, DESIGNbyHELEN!

Friday, August 14, 2009

Golden Hearts






I was excited to be listed in this lovely treasury today. My item is the Lemon Meringue Phone Charm. This treasury, "Golden Hearts" was curated by Kanokwalee. I happened to feature a gorgeous aqua-colored cowl by her in my treasury a couple of days ago (see previous post).




Thanks for the feature, Kanokwalee!
















Here's my latest phone charm - it's my SHEteam challenge item for August....our theme is "Back to School". In case you don't recognize them, they're purple pencil toppers!
To see all of the neat challenge items for August, go to Etsy and search for "sheteamschoolcha".












Thursday, August 13, 2009

Latest Treasury

This is kind of a learning experience for me...I wanted to figure out how to post a copy of a treasury onto my blog, so here goes.



Well, that wasn't too hard - you can click on the image to zoom in to a larger view. I had been working with some turquoise Swarovski crystals, and was inspired to create a turquoise treasury. While trying to think of an intriguing name, I ran across some information about the Mediterranean beaches in Turkey, and how beautiful the water is...a place named Oludeniz was supposed to be the prettiest, so that became the name.














Meanwhile, unbeknownst to me, a SHEteammate of mine, TerrBear37, was also being inspired by the color turquoise...she was kind enough to include my latest phone charm in her treasury (top row, left). Thank you, Terri! Link to this treasury for a closer look at these items.

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Honeymoon Island

Yesterday K. and I went out around 6-ish to check out a new beach at Honeymoon Island State Park. We had heard that it had excellent shelling and that's really my favorite part of being at the beach.

We arrived well equipped - we had masks and snorkels, and round floats, plus shell bags. Our plan was to don masks and snorkels and drape ourselves over the floats with our faces down in the water, leisuring searching for shells. After a short while of doing this, I started to feel distinctly ICKY. At first, I thought maybe the taste of the new snorkel was bugging me, or the scent of the new mask on my face, or maybe the odd sulfurish smell at the beach. I eventually realized that I was feeling seasick from all the bobbing up and down in the waves! What a wuss!

After sitting upright for a little while, the feeling passed, and we did find some nice shells. A thunderstorm ran us off the beach after about an hour, but I wouldn't mind going back again, maybe with some Dramamine in my system :o)

Listed some new items recently in my shop:


This is a brand new "effect" from Swarovski called Red Magma. Supposedly an "effect" is different from a "finish" or a new crystal color. An effect is somehow built into the crystal, where a finish is basically a coating applied on top. Red Magma is a neat, reddish orange color with a highly reflective surface.






This is a peridot nugget phone charm. Peridot is a kind of olivine, and is also the birthstone of August. It's a lovely, glassy green gemstone.







Oh, and last thing, one of my items made the front page on Etsy on Thursday - in the Etsy world, that's a big deal, and a lot of free publicity. Go to www.craftcult.com/vault and click on "search for member" and type in "cellchic". It will pull up the list I was in - see if you can guess which one is my item :o)