Free Shipping Offer

Hey all! For this weekend only (4/29 - 5/2) I am offering free shipping* in my Etsy store for any jewelry made from vintage silverware. Stock up on an early present for Mother's Day! To get free shipping, enter the coupon code Silverware1 at checkout.


I have also been adding a lot of new things to the shop these last few days and will continue to add new things throughout the weekend.

Happy Crafting!

*Free Shipping in the continental U.S. only. Please see Store Policies for further details.

Free Shipping Upgrade!

I know it's a little too late to get it there by Christmas, but from now until December 31st, I'm offering a free upgrade to priority shipping in my Etsy shop. It could be helpful if you are celebrating Christmas late, or if you get some money for Christmas you need to spend! ;)

Happy Crafting!

"Hearts Me" Giveaway

**THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED! THANKS TO ALL WHO ENTERED!**

I haven't done a giveaway for awhile, so it's time for another one. In this giveaway, you can enter to win any one item in my Etsy shop priced at $14 or under. (Or $14 off any one item if listed for more than that.) Of course, your item will be shipped for free. But wait....that's not all! I'll also be sending a mix of various goodies to go with your one item. How do you enter? Go visit my shop and find the one item you would pick if you won. While you are there, "heart" the item you want by adding it to your favorites. Then leave a comment here telling me which item you'd pick. Don't forget to leave your email address so I can contact you if you win. (If you don't have an Etsy account, you can still enter. Leave a comment here telling me which item you'd pick and your favorite holiday.) One winner will be selected at random. You must leave your comment here no later than 5 pm, November 4th (next Wednesday).

Happy Crafting!

New Stuff in the Store!

I've been sadly neglecting my Etsy store lately. Not anymore! I listed a bunch of new stuff in the last couple of days. Here's a couple of the items I've done recently.

There's more new stuff in the store. Check it out! So far, most of the new items are jewelry, but I hope to have some new and different items listed by the end of the week. I feel like I might actually be getting back on track with everything before the holiday season begins this year.

Happy Crafting!

Christmas Preview

Am I the only one who is over Halloween and wants to skip straight to Christmas? For some reason, I've caught the Christmas bug extra early this year. Maybe it's all the random snow and rain we've been getting lately. I started gathering ideas for the holiday season already. (I can't help it!) I thought I would show you a sneak preview of one of the things I'm working on: needle felted Christmas trees!I plan on making a tutorial later on for a more simplified version of this. This tree is needle felted with wool over a Styrofoam base. The star was felted separately into shape and then attached to the top of the tree by felting. Then I attached some cute pom pom trim, and ta-da! Christmas.

Look for this little guy to be appearing in my Etsy store soon!

Happy Crafting!

Funky Find Friday: Halloween

For this installment of Funky Find Friday, I thought I would feature some great Halloween themed items.

First up is piece more geared toward fall in general. It's a beautiful pumpkin silk scarf from Ocean Avenue Silks.

Gorgeous!

How about some simple but cute cake decorating ideas from Country Living Magazine?

These ideas actually come from Chef Mary Maher of Chicago's Cakegirls bakery. I love her on the Food Network!

Check out this awesome coaster set w/ storage tin that littlepooky made over at Craftster.org.

Then there's this cute fabric banner from Addiebugs.

I love it!

All this Halloween goodness makes me want to throw a party even more. That's probably not going to happen this year. *sigh* I'll have to settle for decorating my house anyway! ;)

Happy Crafting!

End of Summer Giveaway Winner!

Using the Random Number Generator at Random.org....number 5 was chosen. Commenter number five was Laura (Laura said...
Metal Chair Pin Cushion.. I'd give it to my friend who loves to sew!) I will be emailing Laura and she will have 48 hours to respond to my email, otherwise another winner will be drawn and contacted. Congrats Laura!

I'm hoping to get some crafting done tonight. Included in that will hopefully be a tutorial since I haven't done one of those in awhile! Not sure what it will be on yet, so check back tomorrow to see what I come up with.

Happy Crafting!

Funky Find Friday: Ephemera and Vintage Clip Art

I've been roaming the Internet for awhile looking at vintage clip art, royalty free clip art, copyright free clip art and every other kind of ephemera. There are a lot of sites out there that have royalty free and/or copyright free stuff out there. However, one site that I have found stands out above most. The site is called The Graphics Fairy.

This fabulous site is run by Karen, a self-proclaimed paper addict, who shares scans of pieces in her own collection with the world for free. She does have a few ground rules however, which she lists on her site:

"The Graphics Fairy is an angel company. Which means you can use these images to make a product that you intend to sell. There are a few rules though so please read below:

1. The graphics are free however you may not use more than 4 of the clip art images in any single product.
   
2. In order to use these lovely visuals you will need to save them to your computer. In order to do this first- click on the item that you would like (this will open a window with a much larger image) second - right click the larger image and select "save as" in the pop up box, and then click the save button in the lower right hand corner of the box.


3. Do not link directly to the images.


4. If you use these on your blog, website etc. Please include a link back to this site.


5. Have fun! "
   

One of the things that makes The Graphics Fairy so unique is that you can use the images in items you intend to sell. This is a fabulous find for all paper and digital crafters out there! There are over 70 different categories of clipart to chose from.

Not only does Karen offer free clip art, but she also has a free background site called The Background Fairy. Here she provides backgrounds for blogs, blog banners, buttons, wallpapers and many more items. Simply put, this woman is amazing! Karen also has an Etsy store called, what else, The Graphics Fairy! Her store features many of the actual vintage papers she scans as well as vintage jewelry and various other vintage finds.

I have been in love with everything I've seen on Karen's sites so far. If you're in need of any vintage ephemera, paper, jewelry, or backgrounds, check out her stuff. It's amazing. All of the pics in today's post come from The Graphics Fairy. Check it out!

Don't forget to enter the End of Summer Giveaway! You have until Monday, September 7th by 5:00 pm to enter.

Happy Crafting!

Inspiration Tuesdays: Mosaics

I love mosaics. Whether, glass, tile, found objects or whatever, I love seeing projects where people take stuff and make it special with grout (That's right, grout makes stuff special!). So today's inspiration comes from several mosaic projects that have caught my eye recently.

First is a twist on the gazing balls made from recycled bowling balls. But instead of marbles, Kathy Stantz, a contributor for JunkmarketStyle made this great ball using seashells and sea glass.

For a crazy good picture mosaic, check out vixenmeowmeow's street inspired art piece I found over at Crafster.org.

I love this wall fountain made with broken bits of china and a teapot by Diana Bodwell, a.k.a. pl8buster and found in her Flickr photostream.

Or how about this great tray from Vintage Butterfly 94's Etsy shop. I love that she used all the labels from the back of various pieces of china.

Well I don't know about you, but I'm sure inspired! I have a box of broken and chipped china and I've been meaning to do this kind of thing forever. Tonight seems like a good night as any as hubby will be "working late" (actually he works a couple of towns over and is staying to help with the food booth at the town fair. Read: drink beer.) But that's okay, it will give me time to craft messy and in peace. *Contented Sigh* I love when that happens.*

Happy Crafting!

*Don't worry, I'll show you anything I get accomplished (or whatever I come up with if it's not an accomplishment!) ;)

End of Summer Giveaway!!!

It's been forever since I've done a giveaway, so how about one for the end of the summer! Starting today until Labor Day (September 7th) at 5:00 pm, you can enter to win any one item in my Etsy shop priced at $12 or under. (Or $12 off any one item if listed for more than that.) Of course, your item will be shipped for free. But wait....that's not all! I'll also be sending a mix of various goodies to go with your one item. How do you enter? Go visit my shop and find the one item you would pick if you won. Then leave a comment here telling me which item you'd pick. Don't forget to leave your email address so I can contact you if you win. One winner will be selected at random. Remember, you must leave your comment here no later than 5 pm, Setember 7th.

Happy Crafting!

Funky Find Friday: Art

I have always wished I had the talent to paint and draw. My father has that talent, as does my brother, but somehow it skipped over me. As such, I admire those who can do those things and I thought I would show you some art I've come across both on Etsy and Craftster.org that I especially thought was great.

First is this painting of mailboxes in Peacock Garden's shop.

I love the rual setting and the colors in this one.

I love, love, love the watercolor sailors by Kat Martin. This is one of my favorites.

Her Etsy shop Weigh Anchor is closed right now while she's moving, but you can check out more of her artwork on Craftster.org.

Does any one else have an unnatural obsession with Bob Ross and his happy trees? No, um..okay. Wait a minute...bonesaw over at Craftster.org just painted a Bob Ross inspired delight

Look at all those happy trees for the happy little squirels and birds to live in. *sigh* Check out bonesaw's original post (link above) for some great in progresss shots!

For a medium that's a bit different, milesapart714 painted Alice in Wonderland inspired clothing right on pages from the book!

Check out the post to see all the other great clothing she painted! Plus check out more artwork in her etsy shop, Limette.

Got some great art you'd like to share? Contact me through my profile on the right

Happy Crafting!

Funky Find Friday: This used to be what?

For this week's Funky Find Friday, I thought I would showcase some reduce, recycle and reuse principles I reflected on in a post earlier this week. All of today's finds are from Etsy and are things that take something already in existence and use it for a new and/or totally different purpose.

First up is a beautiful bracelet made from recycled plastic bottles found in Artwork by KD's shop.
Or how about a bird feeder made from old streetlights by Red Yellow and Blue Ink.

I love the colors the two lenses make together! Simply beautiful.

I've always love glasses like these from YAVA Glass.

I located a vintage glass bottle cutter from the seventies, and I'm practicing with it, but man does it take patience. Plus I love these because they are Fresca! (I have an unnatural obsession with Fresca at the moment.)

There is nothing better by recycling using vintage objects! How about using this great wooden crate from Bird In Hand for organizing all your stuff!

It never ceases to amaze me the things people can make out of something completely different. I love the entire principles of recycle, reduce, and reuse simply because of the beautiful transformations that can happen. (Oh yeah, and it's good for the environment too!) ;)

Happy Crafting!

Inspiration Tuesday: Baseball!

Last night, hubby and I went to the Twins game against the White Sox (Twins win 4-3 wooo who!) :) So for today's Inspiration Tuesday, I thought I would show some fun baseball themed rooms and decorations.

This bedroom is great for a little boy:

Head on over to HGTV.com for instructions on how to make this headboard!

How bout a great magnetic message board from TheSpottedZebra on Etsy?

Here's another cute bedroom from over at Design Dazzle.

I love the ball stitch marks on the walls!

Or how about getting a baseball mural from Just Murals.

That mural would look great it a basement behind a bar area too.


Or how about a recliner that showcases your favorite team:

Okay, so maybe that last one is a bit much! The real point I was trying to make today, is that sometimes (in certain rooms and very sparingly throughout the house!) it's okay to be whimsical in decorating. Hubby and I haven't been married quite a year yet, but we've lived together for over four years. In that, I've learned that he needs his own space too. He also needs to have a say in what decorates that space. Accordingly, I've learned to put up with Nascar models, Twins pennants, Vikings helmet string lights (okay, so I drew the lines at those). The funny thing is, I actually like seeing these things around the house because it means my husband is happier, which in turn makes me happier. Plus I'm soothed by the fact that someday when we finally buy our own house, his stuff will all be relegated to the finished basement bar/game room. ;)

Happy Crafting!

Funky Find Friday

Okay, so I decided the more weekly post options the better. In that light, I present to you Funky Find Friday. I scoured the internet for some fun, funky stuff that I thought everyone would enjoy.

First up: This art photo print set from Artsy on Etsy.

I love this robot! He's super cute and the print would look awesome in a retro inspired kitchen or craft room.

Second: Recycled magnets, jewelry and other stuff made from pop cans from Funky Recycling on Etsy.

This squirrel magnet is one of my favorites!

Third: Silk and Shell Facinator from Hatastic .

I don't think I could pull off this hat, but it's gorgeous!

Fourth: This super cute bag made by RaraAvis over on Craftster.org

Love it! I think she actually hand-sewed all those scales on! Amazing.

Finally: A Dr. Seuss inspired nursery painted by Chronicdoodler on Craftster.org for her brother and his fiance.

There are a bunch more pics of the wall paintings over on the Craftser post. What a great auntie! I wish I had such talent.

Happy Crafting!

*All pics are property of their owners. I do not own the rights to them and only reproduce them here for the purpose of exposing them to a wider audience.

Inspiration Wednesday

Okay, so I decided I need some sort of weekly post that will keep me on a schedule! ;) So this week, I decided to do Inspiration Wednesday! I love the lake (any lake really) and am inspired by all that is lake cabin/cottage living. While my hubby and I would love a lake cabin of our own someday (we are from Minnesota after all!), we have to settle for visiting family and friends that own them. If I were to decorate a cabin, here's what I would pull some inspiration from:

*Images from Coastal Living Magazine*

I just love the look of red, white and blue for a cottage/cabin feel. Both of above pics show that look, but subtly and without being overly patriotic.

A great customizable vintage sign to hang on the wall from the Cottage Surroundings online store would be great!

A little whimsy could be added with this pillow from Landl Designs on Etsy.

Or this great pillow made from a recycled sail from Reiter8 on Etsy!

I hope I provided some great inspiration to add the cabin/cottage feel to your home!

Happy Crafting!

New Line: t-shirts!

Hi. I have been absent from here for way too long yet again! I am going to try and get better at this (I know, promises, promises!) and post more often. For today, I thought I would share some of the shirts I've been working on. I've been facinated by freezer paper stencils since first learning about them. Freezer paper makes great stencils because you can cut out a shape and then iron the paper shiny side down to the fabric. The paper will stick to the fabric and you can then paint or bleach the area without the paint running or lines blurring on you. The paper then peels right off when you're done, leaving you with clean lines! I've been experimenting with bleach rather than fabric paint because it last longer, doesn't crack in the wash, or fade after too many washings. Then I had a stroke of genius: Why not do a "reverse" stencil? Usually when you make a stencil, you get a big sheet of paper and cut out the middle parts. Then you use the outside paper for your stencil. Instead, I used the middle part and ironed it on to my fabric. Then I tied up sections of the shirt around the stencil like you would for tiedye. The result? See for yourself:

For bigger pictures, go to my Etsy store and check them out! For more information about using freezer paper stencils, post your question in the comment section or go to the Stenciling Board at Craftster.org!

Happy Crafting!