The cutest dog gift tags...

So earlier this morning, I was reading Four Dog Day and the post ended right next to these gift tags: Aren't they just the cutest? And they're on clearance!

RWestDesigns earring giveaway on Little Reminders of Love!

RWestDesigns is giving away her polkadot earrings on the Little Reminders of Love Blog in her October Giveaway! The giveaway ends on 7 Nov.

A-Z Wednesday from Reading at the Beach

Good Morning! Welcome to my portion of A-Z Wednesday brought to you by Reading at the Beach.

This week's letter is "K."

To play, simply scan your shelves and piles of books to find a title starting with the letter "K." Post a picture, the title, synopsis, a link to the book (from amazon, etc), and post your link back here at Reading on the Beach. Have fun finding an old friend or maybe something you've been meaning to read, but had forgotten for a time...

My book:

Synopsis:
The Kite Runner tells the story of Amir, a young boy from the Wazir Akbar Khan district of Kabul, who betrayed his best friend Hassan (by allowing him to be raped), the son of his father's Hazara servant, and lives in regret. The story is set against a backdrop of tumultuous events, from the fall of the monarchy in Afghanistan through the Soviet invasion, the mass exodus of refugees to Pakistan and the United States, and the rise of the Taliban regime.

I bought this book a couple of years ago after I listened to - and liked - A Thousand Splendid Suns (also by Khaled Hosseini) on Audiobook. The Kite Runner was in my pile of to-read-real-soon books, but somehow got put away on my shelves. Digging it out last night in preparation for today's entry, I have begun reading it and by next week, it will be in the already-read pile :)

California Blue Giveaway Winner!

Recently, I've been busy entering myself in a bunch of giveaways. Fellow hitchiker on the handmade highway, California Blue sponsored a giveaway on her own blog and I was lucky enough to be the random winner so I thought I'd share a quick picture of my winnings. I got my choice of her summer designs - I selected the "Beach Casual" earrings. (Sounds like me, doesn't it!)

So over the weekend, I go this cute little blue box in the mail - I like how the color matches the theme of the store :) Inside it were these little beauties:

Please excuse my pre-dawn photos with the kitchen light - I don't think it does the earrings justice. I won these at the same time that I ordered a couple of things on etsy and these arrived faster. The quality is outstanding - the earwires have been hammered in the fashion that I like and the wrapped loops above the beads are perfect. I can definitely recommend California Blue as a quality jewelry maker and don't forget to check out her new autumn collection!

Dinnertime Chimes and Buffalo Gals Soap Giveaway

Some local NC sellers are participating in a giveaway on the blog Things Moms Like. Entry deadline is 21 Oct, so don't delay :) (The giveaway is on the post for 15 Oct.)






With this giveaway, you could win:

1 bar of Nitty Gritty Soap from Buffalo Gals on etsy,











1 Bar of the original unscented goatsmilk soap from Buffalo Gals on etsy,



and....









2 fork easels with a bundle of recipe cards from Dinner Time Chimes on etsy!




Now I do love hadmade soaps, but I like these easels, too! I think they could go perfect with my mostly recycled item displays (like this one to list prices versus the current Dollar Tree acrylic frames that I use).

Huge and Useful Blog Giveaway at It's a July Thing

Want a chance to win a huge collection that includes an embellished journal, a bookmark, Tim Holtz masks, charms, game pieces, studs, old music sheets, an embellished candle, a gold candle plate, appliques, beads, and more... Check out Lynn's blog, It's a July Thing. But hurry - the deadline is 11 Oct!

Fabulous Autumn Giveaway at Diary of an Indy Grrrl

Indy Grrrl is offering a great Halloween prize on her blog! Check it out before it ends on 23 Oct.

California Blue Giveaway!

Giveaway at California Blue's Blog! Win some neat beaded earrings - click on the banner above to enter.

Hurry - ends tomorrow!

And don't forget to check out the sale items in this shop.

A-Z Wednesday - Reading at the Beach :)

This week's letter: "I"

Check here for the rules and to see other players :)

So scanning my bookshelves, I find, out of more than 1,000 books, only two that begin with the letter "I" (for titles)... of course I found this exercise a lengthy one because my shelves are organized alphabetically by author - but it did make me run over all of the titles again :)

The choice for reading today - if only I could be sitting on the beach, too - is humor.

Tim Allen's I'm Not Really Here.

Synopsis: In I'm Not Really Here, Tim Allen takes a look at men and their relationships to wives, children, friends, the universe, God, and why it's tough to get a good night's sleep. In the Toolman's inimitable way, he deals with some of the urgent questions a man faces: What is real? What should I eat for breakfast? Why do parents always tell you not to stir your ice cream into soup? Why are the canned beans next to the tampons in the supermarket?

Handmade by Amy Giveaway!

Amyzo, creator of Handmade by Amy on etsy, is part of the 12 weeks of Christmas giveaway on SewArtzy's blog.

Hurry and enter before time runs out!

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.

Creating Banners for your store...

Wow... I almost gave up... I was about 5 seconds away from trying to post an alchemy request on etsy to find someone to make me a banner for my store and my blog. And that would have meant I would have to pay money for something I should be able to do on my own... But alas, I finally found something with which I can live.

So what, it doesn't look totally professional... but then I am not a computer design professional type anyway. So I say, "Good enough for me..." Let me know what you think! I just put the banner at the top of this blog and a similar one on my esty shop: http://www.shoredebris.etsy.com/

Truthfully though, if anyone has suggestions on how to do it better and can speak in non-computer layman's terms, I'd definitely listen :)

Sneak Attacks on Etsy

One of my first days looking around on etsy, I found an interesting group...

Sneakers Notorious on Etsy for Attacking with Kindness (Etsy Team S.N.E.A.K.)

Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, they do an "Attack" on a new shop or a shop that donates to charity. So far I've only participated in two of the attacks because there was a week in there, where the stores they hosted did not have anything I could use... and there were two with really bad pictues and no profile or policies.... which definitely makes me a wary buyer. Although overall, I think it is a very good idea, and if I keep following... maybe all of my Christmas shopping will be done by August :P

You can read more about them on their blogs or catch them on an etsy thread...

http://etsyteamsneak.blogspot.com/
http://handmademovement.com/

Bad Craft Show Experience...

Ah, if I only knew these rules before I signed up for that fair!

Here's a link to some good pointers:
http://cinnamonspicecrafts.blogspot.com/2009/05/craft-fair-tips-for-papercrafters.html

Brought to us by the lovely owner of http://www.cinnamonspice.etsy.com/

It is geared toward the papercrafters, but since I was at the same show, I can verify that this list of tips applies to all crafters. One good thing did come out of this horrible 2.5 week long fair - I met the extremely nice owner and creater of Cinnamon Spice Papercrafts. She is the one who pointed me in the direction of etsy - mentioning the crafting-only selections, the great people willing to help you and point you in the right direction, etc, etc. She also pointed me toward Vista Print (an online printing solution for just about anything you may need for your business) and the fact you can get many free items from them :) - Let me know if you see my purple P.T. Cruiser running around Raleigh and Fayetteville with my big Shore Debris magnet!

If accidentally find yourself in a bad craft show, I wish you the luck to meet someone who can turn the whole experience into a positive for you, too.

Younger siblings and how they can surprise you

When I left home for college, I was 17 and my little brother was 15. I stood about 6 inches taller than him and out weighed him by about 40 lbs... that's still how I remember him. Now, although he's closer to 6ft, I still outweigh him, but everytime I visit I feel like I'm meeting a stranger. Why does my mind always go back to the person that was much smaller than me 10 years ago instead of the mature young man who is there today? And why do I almost want to gag when I think of the term "young man"? Is this something all older siblings experience?

Today I came to the realization that so much has changed... and somehow he is more mature and further along in life than I am. And I mean lots more mature... read this: http://www.smartpathtohappiness.com/ and compare it to my tongue in cheek ramblings...

Yeah, I got a college degree and got married, but here I am, living in my first house, just stopped working 1 April 2009, trying my had at being a full-time crafter, I have an engineering degree that I am not using, and have no direction at all that I am headed right now.

Now there's my brother... little brother... has a master's degree in computer engineering, just bought his second house, does consulting work on the side of his day job, has numerous website ventures, and is now writing a blog that is light-years ahead of my maturity level.

My family would argue that my time in the Marine Corps (5 1/2 years) and going to Iraq and all sorts of things bring on maturity. I don't think so - I think the military is social retardation... and social retardation to the extreme when you deploy. In Iraq, you get out of bed, you go to a bathroom (port-a-john) that someone else cleans for you (contractors). You go to breakfast where someone else (contractor) cooks for you. You drop off your bag of laundry and get a tag so you can come back and pick it up tomorrow morning (contractor). You go to work. You go to lunch that someone else (contractor) cooks for you. You go back to work. At least one person in your building has a care package full of candy - you dig into it like little kids. You go to dinner that someone else (contractor) cooks for you. You go to shower realize you are out of shampoo and go back to the office to dig through the 5 ft by 5ft pile of shower stuff that has been sent over to Iraq by well-meaning groups (but I guess they don't realize how much they are really sending to Iraq) and pick out a bottle that will work for you. In the evening you sit down and watch a bootlegged copy of some movie on your friend's laptop. Around midnight, you realize you are still hungry so you go back to the chow hall for yet another meal cooked by someone else. Absolutely no responsibility except doing your job.

Well, time for me to go to bed.