Caught With Handmade Goodness Part 1

I buy a lot of handmade goodies. I give some as gifts and I keep some all to myself. I thought it would be fun to show those goodies in action (except the soap....unless there is great demand then you can pay $1.99 per viewing after just $19.95 sign-up fee lol).

I buy my girls all kinds of handmade stuff- clothes, hair accessories and most recently these adorable friends from buttercupbloom.etsy.com. She worked with me to come up with just the perfect owl and kitty for my girls (who happen to super adore owls and kitties!). So here they are in action....




....can you tell they love them?! I sure do :)

Autumn is coming, right???!

Feels like autumn will never come to Southern California. It's hot and dry and brown. I am pining a bit for the East Coast fall I left behind. We only had them for a few years but there really is nothing like autumn in a place where the air cools and the leaves change and you can leave your pumpkins out on the porch without fear of mold and collapse. Here are some autumnal etsy items that make me nostalgic for the fall....just click the image to get whisked to the listing!

Handmade Weddings are my Favorite!

I've been thinking about weddings lately...all of my friends and most of my family are married and my kids are too young to even consider thinking about their weddings (let's get through grade school first for gods sake)...but I do love helping out with a wedding. Etsy does this whole "handmade wedding" thing and it got me reminiscing about the fact that almost all the weddings I have been involved in were "handmade" to some degree. I wrote and printed my own wedding invitations, made my own bubble bottles and let mother nature decorate with bouganvillas...for another friends wedding we made the pew bows...for another friends we stuffed the almonds in little lacy things...but my favorite was my friend Tammra who got married at a contemporary hotel in San Diego. She didn't want fussy centerpieces so we went with square vases with rocks and a few orchids. It was so gorgeous and expensive looking but it was pretty cheap! I love the ingenuity of handmade weddings but if you are not a crafty person (or don't have one like me who jumps at the chance!) then why not shop etsy to get that handmade uniqueness? Here are just a few things I adore...

In a treasury yay~

I love the surprise of finding one of my items in a treasury made by someone I don't even know! It really makes my day. Here is the pretty treasury made by AMIdesigns (who has a pretty great shop too!)...

Summer Line Sneak Peek

Whew! Been a long time since I blogged! Guess I haven't had much to report- just plugging along here in the SoCal sun. Thought I'd do a quick blog pimpin' my new summer line- especially now that I am getting the kids rounded up and ready for a trip down to South Orange County for some Mission viewing and beach combing. Enjoy!

Snagged a Treasury West yay!

I finally had the time to sit down and stalk the treasury on etsy. I almost missed it though so it was meant to be! The colors are oddly similar to the ones in my last post. Must be in that kind of mood. Probably because I don't have any beads that are that color right now so it's be an excuse to shop!
Here's the treasury (click to see- link will expire after a few days though)...

Some etsy favorites

Hi there!
I spend a lot of time on etsy. I mean a lot. Like almost neglect the kids a lot. Ok that's not totally true but still, I seem to always be searching the categories and I find amazing stuff. Here are a few things that recently caught my eye for one reason or another. Just click the image to go to the etsy listing :)

This one is from strata

The Branches - A Somber Stationery set of 6 Grim Greeting Cards

This one is from RedGateCeramics

Dancing Skeleton

This one is from Tresijas

Viva la Revolucion Rubber Stamps Set

Can you tell I have been in a skull and gothicish type mood? I also have the most awesome poster sketch waiting for me to snag a treasury. I wish we could do more than one poster sketch at a time :( I have so much fun making them!

Blog Reading

Just felt like getting to know some of the people who's blogs I am following. I have been neglectful of that- I followed a bunch a few weeks ago but never really went back and read and commented. I love the little peek into people's lives :) So if you see a random comment from me in your blog and wonder "who the hell is that?" well it's just me being random today!

Some Notes on Materials AKA I love rocks

I just love going to the mailbox and finding it is stuffed with beads! I mean I know I bought them and all but it's still like a total surprise and fun! I just bought some little moonstone briollettes and they are too wonderful. I love the imperfections and inclusions. It all makes me want to tell you how much I love natural stones. Especially not-AAA stones...maybe it's strange but I like to work with the cracked, included, flawed rocks. It's so much closer to nature. I also love pairing these natural bits up with Swarovski for the contrast between the machine perfection and natures perfection...just some thoughts on what it is I do and why....

Spring Line is Coming along

Hi there! I had a nice relaxing no-tech weekend and came home to a sale! Yay! I am excited to get some more spring designs going this week. Seems my spring line is gonna be lots of butterflies, pinks, greens and moonstone. I really hope that isn't cliche lol. I am also going to try to do more chunky ethnic pieces using some great coptic crosses I have had for a while now. If you want to see a peek at whats to come just look over on the side bar to see my etsy mini. After watching the Oscars a bit tonight I am concerned I am off trend again (whatever lol) because all I saw were big gemmy things...that looked super expensive. Since my clients do not generally wander down red carpets with armed guards protecting their necklaces though, I gotta just do what I feel I guess. And by the way...what the hell stone was Angelina wearing? They looked fake but I am sure they weren't ;) I gotta google that. If those were emeralds I am gonna fall over.

Gutter Twins were awesome AKA Yay LA

Night before last I had the distinct pleasure of heading up to Los Angeles California to see my absolutely favorite musician in the whole world...Greg Dulli. He performed at The Troubador with his Gutter Twin Mark Lanegan and some other guy. It was basically acoustic- stripped down. It was great and all but man I'd rather see him rocking it with a full band. They did play Summers Kiss and Candy Cane Crawl so I can't complain. I loooooove those two songs. We did have a blast though- went with 3 of my girlfriends who never go do this type of thing and they loved it. We went and had some super yummy Indian food after an unexpected tour of Los Angeles courtesy of me forgetting how to get places. We cruised Sunset for fun after the concert then headed back down to the Southland. I sure miss LA sometimes. I am gonna head up and wander Melrose when the weather is nicer!

Ok, so now maybe it's winter!

We need it right? The rain I mean....I am happy to see it but admit it is strange to be in just plain cold rain again- it was always either icy rain in winter or it was warm rain in spring/summer in PA lol. It smells great outside though! Nothing like the smell of wet grass and dirt washed streets to get your coffee guzzle instinct going. Speaking of which....time for some joe.

Oh and of course I listed some new bracelets and necklaces over on etsy today so feel free to click my shop link and check it out if ya wanna ;)

It's winter. Really? Winter...hmmmm...

Wow another day of sun and relative warmth. I guess a few years of actual seasons has made me forget a whole lifetime of living where it is almost always sunny and 72 lol. If global warming suddenly causes a snow storm here we are all screwed because I left all our snow clothes in York when we moved back. No offense giant white puffy Fila winter coat or white snow boots but I never want to see you again!

Perhaps later today I will tap into my snowy, icy, damn-my-feet-are-cold memories and make some pretty jewelry....I see lots of clear AB swarovski and rock crystal in my visions....

New listings

I listed a few new things over on etsy. I really love this bracelet in particular. I have had these beads kickin' around for a long time and they finally got the attention from the muse :)

OMG I had another treasury on FP!

And didn't even know it. Again. Woohoo! I was just checking Etsy Front Page Pool and there it ws. I had a feeling this one would make it...it's pretty FP friendly.




Now the two I have up at the moment are not as FP friendly but I love them anyways!

Gearing up For Beauty this weekend

What glorious weather we are having, right? I hope it sticks around this weekend. We are trying to figure out what to do to take advantage of it...go to a local beach for a picnic...go to the park...go to San Juan Capistrano (my son is studying CA history right now)...so many choices! Anyone?

Early Morning In SoCal

I usually sleep until I can't deny the sun is up anymore. Today I got up early to get the oldest ready for school (usually the husband does it). I was crabby about it but after I got out into the day it was amazing! The morning light and the crisp air. Ah, what am I thinking sleeping in every day?! I have said it before (like a jillion times) but I'll say it again...I am so happy to be back in California! I love seeing the foothills to the East and the lights to the West (ok, wish I could see the ocean but I'll take what I can get). I also love that there is no snow to shovel or ice to chip off the windshield!

On another not...I want my treasuries on the front page! I really do love them. I think they came out nice. The treasury sitting in my poster sketch right now is not a front pager so I'd love to get one of these babies up in the next 12 hours :)

My last treasury made it to the front page (yay!) and now I have 2 more up. Man, I loves making the treasuries! Here they are:


I just joined the CCCOE Team and am already loving it. I can't wait to get more involved :)

with a subtle hoot...treasury

Here's the Treasury I got on etsy just moments ago. All that stalking paid off!
I call this "with a subtle hoot..." and it features pale yellows, browns and bronzes.I just love it and hope it gets lots of happy views! (Just click the image to go to etsy and see it in all it's glory)

Gray Day In SoCal

Well its finally a gray day here. Even the dog looks depressed. How did I stand winters on the East Coast lol. I should be out in my studio (aka the kitchen table) working on some new jewelry or some Valentine's cards in case I actually do sell some jewelry before then ;) but I can't. Why? Because I am stalking the treasury on etsy. I know it says it'll open up in an hour but I can't help but sit here and stare at the screen, hoping I won't miss it....but I probably will since it's almost time to meet the children's demands for waffles with syrup and chocolate milk.....

Lake Calaveras Hike

My weekend design inspiration this week is courtesy of San Diego's North County. We go down to visit a few times a month and stay at my parent's house. Nothing like eating fresh-

from-the-chicken eggs and fresh from the farm veggies on an unseasonably warm January day. The weather was so nice in fact, we went on a hike over at Lake Calaveras in Carlsbad (Oceanside whatever- not sure what city its technically in lol). Lake Calaveras is just an oversized pond really, with hiking and biking trails that lead up to an abandoned quarry. My dad was telling us how when they were teenagers they would push old cars off the top and watch them crash down at the bottom. When we were kids there were all kinds of stories about how there were Satanic rituals held in the shadow of the quarry walls. We didn't see any tell-tale fire rings or abandoned cars- just some skaters skating the concrete wash-out and mountain bikers. We didn't see any calaveras either but I do love them so here's one from my etsy shop :)

To the beach!

Being back in the land of milk and honey...or maybe the land of black-lip mussels and sea salt...I am feeling it at any rate. The weather has been so great here that we have made a few trips down to the beach (not the shore east coast friends, the beach!). I was inspired by the uneven wear of the rock- the pockets of sand and water filled with sea anemones blooming like purple and gray sunflowers...the gleam on the smooth water before it crashed over the mounds of mussels and brought in sharp shards of shell. It all sounds like a bunch of poetic musing but I tells ya the beach does that to a person.