Oooh, Look at Elsie's Treasury!

Take a look at this beautiful treasury picked by Elsiee. I love the color flow...

"I know you want me, You know I want 'cha!!"

Not only was I fortunate enough to have my shells in this treasury, but I found something else I couldn't live without :)

Top Row: Creative with Clay, Artsharyne, and Miss Ruby Sue
2nd Row: Gyspy Eyes Jewelry, ME, and Wondrous Strange Designs
3rd Row: Museum of Useless Objects, Woodrootlings, and Indigo Rain
Bottom Row: Elin Art, Surf and Sand Jewelry Design, and Localcolorist

Great Shop Names (3)

It's been awhile since I've done this feature (not because I'm not finding interesting names, but simply because I've cut back on my etsy browsing in an attempt to save my wallet from utter ruin...). Reading an etsy e-mail about forum posts, I went to that post and saw a shop called: "auntjanecan" The reason I was drawn to it was because her avatar had a lady with a feather-like hair adornment and a green bird. I was assuming that this was some sort of joke for Aunt Jane being like a Toucan.

I was pleasantly surprised when I clicked on her avatar and found out that my assumptions were totally wrong :) and laughing to myself as I was reading her shop announcement. Her premise is that "Aunt Jane Can ... make it all better."

A quick excerpt from her announcment:

"Having problems? Just ask Aunt Jane."

"Trouble in your marriage? A nice gift made by Aunt Jane will make up for whatever you did to upset your wife. Everything is all better."

Aunt Jane is an artist of many different media - she's got sculpture, beadwork, painting, altered digital photography/painting, and more her her shop and here's just a sample of one of her prints on a card:

This week's favorite... keeping in my posy theme

Looking for more neat stuff on etsy, I was looking for posies. I was actually looking for some cards or tags that looked nothing like my attempts earlier this week, but my eye was caught by these instead... the blue posies necklace created by Circ on etsy. This artist finds various vintage items and puts them together into new jewelry creations.

9 Posies down...

Only 291 to go... So here is my first try at branching out from only square paper items and I've managed to use 9 of my posies. And if I think of it harder, I believe this is the first time I have made gift tags that are not Christmas-themed - wow, I'm making progress of breaking out of that mold...

Looking at the tags more, I think I need to find something to be the stamen for the flowers, but I have time to figure that out (since there are no birthdays or other events coming up for me to wrap gifts for a couple of months).

Too many posies!

I've been thinking of buying a corner punch for some time, but haven't just because they are kind of pricey and I don't make all that many cards... besides, until now, I have insisted on all of my cards having square corners with patterns of squares and rectangles on the front. While buying a rounded corner punch, I found this punch on sale, so bought it, too.
So, after sitting for hours in my craft room, I have approximately 300 pale and dark pink posies. Sure, that was a little bit overboard and I didn't really need to mow my knee-high grass or weed the gardens or clean the house...Now, what to do with my too many posies while still avoiding all chores?

This week's favorite... rainbows on the brain

With so much talk about rainbows this week, I decided to find rainbows on etsy - actually just searching the term "rainbow" gets way too many results, so I started looking for "rainbow painting" instead. This cute little fairy was created by Giggle Goddess Creations. I love the bright colors and almost mischievous look on the fairy's face. She's got lots of prints, original artwork and jewelry in her shop and has a blog where she talks about her painting, family, and other etsy related things.

More rainbows...

Continuing with my rainbow theme from yesterday.... I have now organized my paper scraps into a pretty little rainbow. I was thinking I was almost out of my paper scraps last week, so when out shopping I bought 2 more packs of scrap cardstock. I was surprised because the paper from Walmart was better than the paper from an actual arts and craft store. Normally, the cardstock scrap packs at Walmart are about 80% carstock and the rest is just regular paper. I was severly disappointed in the other package (I wish I had kept the packaging so I would know the brand) - maybe 1 in 10 pieces of paper were actually card stock versus colored printer paper. Nothing against Walmart, but normally I like to think that the smaller guy has better quality - just not this time.

Creating rainbows

I have a lot of satin ribbon scraps and was having trouble keeping them flat (I kept getting wrinkles in them no matter how I rolled them, folded them around a small pillow, etc, etc). I thought I had this brilliant idea by hanging them all on a hanger in color order, but this has turned out not to be the best tool...
For the first couple of days, the hanger looked perfect - like a beautiful rainbow of my colorful ribbons. Now my hanger is sagging in the middle and all of the thicker ribbon has slid to the middle, ruining my pretty rainbow.

I guess I need to try this again with two hangers or come upwith another way to store the ribbon.

Artwork, Artwork Everywhere... Even Dinner

I just love making everything pretty, even my meals. Spending time creating garnishes, splashing different colors, trying to be healthy...For tonight's dinner, I have a butternut squash soup (made with squash from my own vegetable garden!), pita's with green peppers and cream cheese, tuna salad and tomatoes.

This butternut squash soup is one of my favorite recipes. Before finding it in a magazine, I had thought it was much too hard to make soups from scratch - and since it, I've been experimenting with all kinds foods I'd never have thought to try.

So, I've decided to share it:

Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 med-large butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
5 cups water (or chicken broth)
1 - 15 oz can white beans drained and rinsed
2 Tablespoons orange juice
1 teaspoon cider vinegar

Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook for 3 minutes. Add squash, salt, and spices. Cook, stirring, for 3 minutes. Add water (or broth) and bring to boil; reduce heat and simmer until squash is tender (about 15 min). Stir in beans, juice, and vinegar. Puree in food processor or blender. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Fun Soaps... Etsy Product Review #5

A couple of weeks ago, I ordered 7 different pieces of soap from Annie's Powder Room on etsy.I really thought the little gun was just too cute to pass up for a small gift for a male in my family and just kept looking around Annie's shop. They arrived quickly and each soap order was packaged with red stuffing in a clear box and tied with red tulle. I like that the soaps came with plastic boxes - makes them very easy to wrap and send away as a gift.

For future soap gifts, I think I will shy away from the very dark colors and more intricate designs like the little revolvers - there are areas of the soap where because of the details in the mold design, the soap is almost clear because the layer there is so thin. Although, ones like the sea urchin would definitely be good for me in the future!

This week's favorite... a beautiful set of bookends

I do love my books (if you can't already tell...) and just love displaying them with beautiful artwork from around the world. Look at these Raku Raven Bookends from Kawartha Wilds Pottery. I could definitely see these sitting on my shelves :)

Etsy stuff for free!

The bigger - the better - right?

I've been seeing many blog giveaways recently (and entering a few, too)... and here's one with lots of prizes and lots of chances to win. Enter the Esty Bloggers Mega Giveaway in honor of their second anniversary here.

This week's favorite... a sea shell necklace

I love beaches... the smell of salt water... the feel of sand between my toes... finding the neatest seashells along the shore...

I also love finding someone else who has made jewelry from shells in a way that I would have never come up with on my own. Check out the abalone shells in this necklace from Dark Fairy Treasures on etsy.

Browsing further in her store, there is this neat green man necklace - reminds me of those faces you can put in your trees...

Hope you like them, too!