Yay! Another Sale

These little charms are on their way to North Carolina. I'm looking forward to a time when sales in my Etsy shop are a daily occurrence, but until then I still get excited enough to post about it, especially when it is this many items.

Have a wonderful day and evening.

Today I am grateful for hard workers, no matter how small the hands.

I am always looking for ways to improve my display at shows, inexpensively and creatively. This is what I have come up with for my charms. Can you guess what I hung the tags on?


That's right. It is a spool organizer. Isn't that just nifty. I really like the way it looks and I think it will be very eye catching at shows.

Today I am grateful for the color pink and that I don't have to be out in the heat.

odds and ends

So, I've noticed from reading an enormous amount of Blogs and magazines, that there are a lot of people who collect heart shaped rocks. I thought it was interesting, but I wouldn't even now where to look for heart shaped rocks. Then one day my husband and I were on one of our photo excursions. He was taking an extra long time photographing the same thing over and over again. I'm sure he had his reasons. But, me being me and getting bored really easy, I started looking for anything interesting that might take my mind off of how incredibly bored I was, when I saw a grouping of rocks. I walked over to find a pretty rock to take back to my daughter, and low and behold there it was, sitting proudly on top of all the other rocks. Not only a heart shaped rock, but a folk heart shaped rock - my favorite heart shape.



OK, so moving on. I have been struggling with the packaging/display of my charms. I just couldn't find a way that showed off their uniqueness. Then one day after looking at a magazine for the hundredth time, I saw a picture of an altered price tag and got an idea. Now my charms will be packaged and displayed on little tags that look like this.


These two charms are my latest Etsy sale and they are on their way to Nevada.



This is how they went. Isn't that just precious.


It takes a little longer to tie them to the tag than it does to slip them in a plastic bag, but it is definitely worth it.

Okie Doke, today I am grateful for: good hearted people who show up to help when asked, sleeveless shirts, air conditioning, and ice.

Strange Fascination

It all started one weekday morning. I was procrastinating, not wanting to start my day of cleaning house and covering foam core in paper mache. I started looking through photos on flickr, which is a great way to procrastinate. Time slips away quickly and before you know it, the kids will be home and it is to late to get any house work done. Anyway, I came across Strange Fascination's Photostream and discovered this wonderful thing called "through the viewfinder" photography. And, I was hooked. Now I love to go to Flickr and Etsy to search for "through the viewfinder photography."

Now this is not a hobby I intend to take up, because we all know that I have issues with photography. The main issue being that I am not that good at it. I do love looking at it and I have every intention of buying some prints from Etsy this fall.

So, take some time this week and search through Etsy and your favorite photo sharing website for "through the viewfinder" photography and discover something new.

Today I am grateful for: great tunes in my Zune, a good nights sleep, procrastinating, and a busy week ahead.

Wednesday

These two little charms are on their way to a very sweet lady in Florida.


And I was featured on a blog this earlier this week.

It's been a pretty good week, all things considered. I spent the entire day Monday painting primer on 4 king size bed sheets and I am so sore, I can hardly move. Why was I painting primer on bed sheets? Well, for VBS, of course. We are painting all of the scenery and decorations on sheets, so that at the end of the week we can fold everything and store it in a box to use for next year. No bulky refrigerator boxes for us to have to deal with. Anyway, I spent all day positioning myself in ways I haven't had to in a long time, especially for an extended length of time. So, now I have to go back over to the church tonight and do more painting. But, this time other people will be there to help me. Some clever person is going to have to figure out a way to paint the scenes on the sheets in some way other than the floor. The sheets are entirely too large to paint while sitting in the floor. A person has to stand over it and bend over to paint. Try doing that all day.

You know, this is all my fault. I'm the one who suggested it. Why can't I just keep my mouth shut? What is wrong with me? I'm always getting myself into situations like this. Am I the only one? Are there others out there who open their big mouths and then get stuck with the consequences? It is all for a good purpose, but I wonder if the kids really care about the scenery and decorations. I have to say though, that it would all be worth the aggrevation and pain if I could get all of the VBS teachers to come dressed in Bible costumes everyday that week. You know, robes and flip flops.

OK, so I promise. This is the last time I will post about VBS. No matter how stressed I get before the big week, which is the week right before my next show, I will not vent to you good and faithful people - all ten of you. I'll keep my frustrations to myself and post pictures of daisies and butterflies. Well, no daisies and butterflies, but I will try to keep it light. I am working on some new charms and crosses for the show in July. I'll try to post pictures as I finish the pieces.

Today I am grateful for a couple of hours away from the house, even if was just grocery shopping and people who are willing to help.

Family

This has been an emotional weekend and it has taken it toll. I am exhausted. Today is Father’s day and I am missing my dad so much, it is hard to breath. My dad was a fun loving person with a strange sense of humor. I was always able to understand his sense of humor, sense I inherited it. Sometimes we would be the only two people in the room laughing, but we knew what the other was laughing at. I still catch myself picking up the phone to call him and tell him about something I heard, a movie I watched, or a story I read that I know he would like and would make him laugh. I see him in my son everyday and now my son and I share that same strange sense of humor.

I spent Saturday at the South Family Reunion, my mom’s side of my family. I so enjoyed getting to see everyone and getting caught up. I haven’t been to this reunion in several years. I had plenty of excuses for why I couldn't go, but we make time for what we want to do. Don’t we? I guess I found it so hard to go, because I would come home feeling sad and missing my mom more than usual. This year was different. When I would see my mom’s blue eyes looking at me from the face of a sweet cousin or my mom’s facial features and expressions on an uncle’s face, it was comforting and made me smile. I still miss my mom so much, but I realized that I can find her sweet nature and generosity in the family that she loved so dearly. And, there are so many wonderful memories of my mom at these reunions. She looked forward to them each year. Next year, I will remember the peace that I brought home with me from this reunion. Instead of finding yet another reason why I cannot go, I will look forward to being surrounded by the love of an entire family so much like my mom.

I miss my parents everyday, and I so often wish I still had them around for advice. But, more than that I wish my children could have gotten to know my mom and that my mom and dad were still here to be their grandparents. I realized as I was sitting in our living room last night and the family was watching a movie that I have not told my kids enough stories about their grandparents and what they were like as I was growing up. This is something I am going to work on.

Today I am grateful that my husband is such a wonderful dad to our kids and that I had such wonderful, loving, kind and nurturing parents growing up.

To list or not to list

I made this Patchwork Clay Heart several weeks ago for a door price at a trunk show that I had signed up for. I was unable to attend the trunk show and so I still have the Patchwork Clay Heart. It's about 7" tall on a foam core base that has been covered in paper mache, painted and colored with oil pastels on the back.

I think it turned out really good. I love the colors. I'm deciding whether or not to list it on Etsy. Should I list it or should I hang it on my wall and save it for the next time I need to donate a door prize?

Today I am grateful for a couple of hours to myself and my husband's hat.