Spring is in the air!

For the last week or so, the temps have been warming and the sun has been shining! It makes me think (and hope) that spring is just around the corner. As a tribute to spring, I thought I would list a couple of various links that I thought would put everyone else in the spring mood. (I know they did for me!)

1. This Treasury on Etsy.
2. Collection of Spring Photos from around the world courtesy of Boston Globe.
3. Article on the Beauty of Spring by Mike Freemen
4. Gurney's Seed and Nursery
5. Yummy looking Grilled Asparagus Recipe

Hope you enjoy Spring!

I will be making a tutorial on something fun hopefully sometime this week yet.

Happy Crafting!

Great Audio Book/podcast

Today I wanted to share with everyone a really great audio book/podcast I found. It's called "The House of Grey" by Colin Earl. I went to law school with Colin, but had no idea he was such a talented writer! The book is audio only at this point, but there is talk of it being published later this year. The book is free to listen to either at the book's blog or as a free podcast download on iTunes. Here's the author's description of the book from his site:

"14-year-old Monson Grey faces the same challenges that any freshman high school kid would. Difficult classes, weird teachers, food fights...girls. Except Monson Grey is not Monson Grey. At least, when he looks at himself in the mirror, the scarred face staring back is not someone he recognizes. Now he finds himself attending an extraordinary school, the recipient of an incredible scholarship, among ridiculously rich classmates, and with no memory of how he got there or what to expect. As bizarre events start to unfold around him, Monson wonders what secrets lay locked in his hidden past. Add all this to a mysterious silver stone, an Indiana-Jones-copycat professor, Merlin the wizard, and even Atlantis, and you'll find yourself in a fantastic tale in which magic does exist and everything is never as it seems."

I can't say enough about this book, I love it sooo much! I'm on chapter 6 or 7 (can't remember which) and I am hooked! Check it out for yourself!

Happy Crafting!

Giveaway Winner!

Congrats to our giveaway winner: Mark and Erin! I sent an email to the winner about shipping of the prize. Remember: I am planning on doing this at least once a month, maybe more. So keep checking back here for more great giveaways!

New Swap!

I decided to join a swap on Craftster to jump back with both feet into crafting. I picked one called the Wine-Themed Swap (accessories, not wine itself!) ;) We got our partners on Friday. I am so excited to start crafting for this swap. I have a lot of things I want to try. The only problem is that many of the projects I've thought about doing involve glass. I have yet to make anything with glass for a swap, because I'm so worried it will break in shipping! I might have to jump in with both feet on this one, however. This swap seems to just be begging for some wine glasses...or something even cooler made with glass. Have you done any wine related crafting? How'd it turn out? I will post pictures of the stuff I end up making when swap is all done.

Don't forget to enter my giveaway if you haven't already! Entries must be in by 5pm tomorrow!!

Happy Crafting!

Back in Style: Giveaway!

Hey everyone! I finally got done with my bar exam. Now I just have to wait to find out the results in April. In the meantime, I am back to work, both at the office and crafting/blogging. I thought I would start getting back into the swing of things with a giveaway. I am going to try and do one of these every month from now until summer (at least). So to kick it all off...this month I am giving away this mug:

I was experimenting with new mediums on this. It is a regular ceramic mug from Ikea. I used a rub-on for both the word "sparkle" and the horseshoe. Then to seal it, I used a very thin layer of 3D Crystal Lacquer Glaze. This was a little trickier than I thought as the glaze is pretty thick, but if I got to much on, it started to run. I did this with several mugs, and this is my best one (no runs at all!) The glaze gives the mug a slightly three dimensional look, which was the whole point. This mug is not dishwasher safe, but it is food safe as I didn't alter the inside in any way.

Not only am I giving away the mug, but it will arrive stuffed full of various goodies. Goodies may include various jewelry, trinkets and a mystery prize currently listed on my Etsy that will knock your socks off! What must you do to enter? Simple: leave a comment telling me about your latest craft experiment and how it turned out. I'll draw a random winner from those who leave a comment before St Paddy's Day (March 17th).

Happy Crafting!