Big Summer Moving Sale

This is a great time of year to score some good Etsy bargains-- just do a search for the word "sale" or "yart sale." I'm holding a big moving sale from now until whenever I get all moved in and settled, which could be a month from now. The idea is to reduce my inventory as much as possible while at the same time, generating some funds to help with moving expenses. My sale features:

-Free Shipping on all jewelry

-20% Off all Shadowbox art

-50% Off already reduced items in the "SALE" section of my shop (these items are dirt cheap and going fast!)

-Buy One Get One FREE on all prints

Happy bargain hunting!

Just Listed, Version 2.0

I've had the past week almost completely free to craft and create to my heart's content. Consequently, I've listed 4 new pairs of earrings and 3 new necklaces. Some of my favorites:

Whole Ages Have Fled necklace- I try to give my stuff clever names, but was having trouble coming up with something involving Ivy. The name of this one is from a Charles Dickens poem, "The Ivy Green."

Pocketful of Posies earrings- these were fun to make because of the spiral copper stem. I was also happy to find a use for the lovely purple flowers, which had served in a past life as part of some vintage post earrings.

She Waits by the Sea necklace- special thanks to Brian for helping me name this one. It was originally entitled "Miss Blue," which was horribly unimaginative.

My Foray into Book Bag Design

So my boyfriend, overestimating my powers of craftiness, asked me to make him a bag to safely store books while he's at work. (He has an army backpack that he keeps with him, but he landscapes in the summer so everything gets dirty.) He wanted it made out of an old brown towel.

Me, I'm no seamstress. Just got a sewing machine in April & have done two little projects with it. But I'm such an optimist when it comes to crafts. I decide that while it might be ugly & utilitarian on the outside, the inside will be lined with nice, pretty fabric. And it will have a really cool button. Oh, and maybe a little storage pouch inside for bookmarks...

So I go get all the stuff I need, which includes heavy-duty thread & machine needles, plus the liner fabric -yellow with Japanese maple leaves- & a cool horn button.

It takes an eternity to cut everything. Have you every cut terry cloth? Brown fuzz EVERYWHERE. Finally get it cut. Now for the sewing machine...
Load the bobbin with thread. Ok, I remember this part. Thread the machine. So far, so good. Raise the bobbin thread. OH HELL. Not happening. I cried a little. I got stabbed with pins a little. I drank a little. FINALLY I get it to work, after ripping wads of brown heavy-duty thread out of my sewing machine's innards.

Keep in mind that I am going about this from a completely non-professional standpoint. I decided that I should first sew the lining onto the terry. It ended up a little crooked, and the seams were a bit reminiscent of Frankenstein's monster, but it wasn't a total wash at this point.

Next, I turned it so the lining was on the outside and sewed the two side seams. Again, a little crooked but not completely heinous. So now I have the basic body of the bag and I'm pretty proud of myself! Time for the embellishments.

I tried sewing a piece of blue ribbon trim along the bottom of the closure flap. There is a quilt design called Drunkard's Path, which is actually a very pretty symmetrical and geometric pattern. My stitching on the ribbon much more closely resembled a REAL drunkard's path. I ended up cutting the bottom off, trim and all. I figure it's okay if the flap is just a little bit shorter than originally planned.

Okay, forget the ribbon. Time to work on the buttonhole. I read my handy Singer Prelude manual only to find that I am supposed to have a special buttonhole FOOT. Pssht, I think to myself. I can do it without some fancy foot.

One hour later, I have an ugly brown bag with an ugly gash surrounded by ugly stitching. Nothing for it now, I'll just sew on the button and be done with it.

Well damned if the button doesn't have to be hand-sewn. I spend another 30 minutes doing this. By the time I've finished, I've consumed 3 shots of whiskey, been stabbed about 6 times, wasted about 30 yards of thread, and covered all work surfaces with brown terry fuzz.

The bag is ugly. But you know what? He needed a sturdy, nondescript bag in which to store his beloved books away from the dirt and grass, and by God, he got one.

Another Suffocating Summer in Virginia

Here it is, the beginning of June, and already it is shaping up to be another miserably hot summer. This is especially bad for those of us who work outdoors, like my English teacher boyfriend who spends his summers landscaping, or like my dear self who works at a rec camp for all of June and July.

Luckily, autumn in Virginia more than compensates for the swampy summers. Below are some fabulous fall-inspired Etsy finds to help us look forward to more comfortable temperatures!

Send your friends these maple leaf notecards by BeeDazzlesGifts. In the dead of summer. Act like it's perfectly normal.


I've had my eye on these gold-dipped oak leaf earrings for quite some time. Plus, the seller OSSMedicineJewelry is using the proceeds from her products to fund a documentary about the vanishing of the honey bees. Not only will your ears be very enviable, you'll be helping a great cause! You can check out the trailer at www.vanishingbees.com/trailer.html.

Wrap yourself in luxury with one of Phydeaux's Lucky Minx scarves. Beautiful colors! Miss Brenda of Phydeaux describes Lucky Minx as "super soft and silky, and I love the yarn so much, I'm keeping one for myself! I have several skeins in stock, so can make several scarves."

And finally, you can keep fall on your wall all year 'round with a nice big 8x12" Robert Socha photo, Autumn Glow.




Images used with artists' permission.

Just Listed

After what seems like a weeks-long hiatus from making new things, as I finished up my first year working in a school, I have finally made and listed two new necklaces.


This might be the funnest piece I've ever made. I am really tempted to keep it:


Gin-Soaked Bar-Room Queen necklace


This little lovely is perfect for summer:



Picnic in the Meadow necklace