New!

Hi folks!

I haven't updated here in a year and a half, despite many promises to keep up with this. So I've decided to start over with a new blog. Pretty please check it out, and follow me! =)

http://isitstilltuesday.blogspot.com/

Projects

It's been a busy few months and I've been slacking in both Blogland and Real Life...but I'm slowly working my way back into the creative world....all because I realized I had my store-bought red, white and blue Americana wreath still up...no, not just since the Fourth of July but since MEMORIAL DAY. Whoops!

You see, I'm an equal-opportunity neglecter. It's not just you, my dear blog. I have also overlooked my poor front door. That happy little wreath of tin stars needed replacing, STAT. It's August, after all! So it was off to A.C. Moore I went...(did you know they offer a military discount?? Cuz they do!)I took the easy way out and bought a premade wreath and silk flowers to wire on. Gotta start slow, y'know? Pretty pale pink roses and hydrangea with creamy yellows...so pretty! Brilliantly green hydrangea leaves added some pop, and then I finished with some awesome vintage lucite goodies The Beadin' Path...translucent ribbed baubles in watermelon and tiny carnation pink rounds. I wired them in with this great soft aluminum wire I bought there a couple years ago...not sure if there is any still in stock but it's fun to play with!

So, what next? Well, today I started a facebook fan page for my jewelry shop on Etsy, BunnyBeads. Would you like to like me? Go here. Would you like to like me even more? Check out the BunnyBaubles page here. I also started an encaustic painting today with supplies I bought from fellow Maine Teamer Jamie Ribisi-Braley. Check out her absolutely stunning artwork and supplies here in her Etsy shop! I promise (as always) an update about this new painting soon...<3

Hope

I have some really awesome and exciting news to share! I've been busy for the past few months raising money for this year's Relay For Life, which is the American Cancer Society's #1 annual fundraiser. This is something I have done every year for 13 years...but this year is special. THIS year I have a force of awesome standing behind me in my efforts...and that force is Regretsy.com

April Winchell runs the website which is downright snarky and mean...which is why I love it. April is a snarky bitch with a heart of gold. She recently raised money through Regretsy to help an Etsy seller, HiBird, to get a new sewing machine, and when I saw how quickly the Regretsy community rallied for this cause I wanted to cry. She did something totally amazing and life-changing in a matter of hours. It gave me hope. I emailed April to tell her how amazing that was and how I really needed that to lift my spirits since my own fundraising had hit a roadblock...money is tight this year, and everyone's feeling it. Without being asked, April graciously donated $100 leftover from the sewing machine fund to my personal Relay Fund, and now she set up this, just for me:
http://www.regretsy.com/2010/05/24/new-alchemy-project-3/

I am so excited about this! Now there are so many ways to help!
-To donate directly to me, go HERE!
-You can also buy from my two Etsy shops, BunnyBeads and BunnyBaubles, because 25% of total sales through May and June are donated.
-You can also donate to me directly, HERE!
-You can bid on the Regretsy Ebay items.
-You can buy April's Regretsy book directly from Amazon.com where her royalties will go to my fund and Amazon.com will kick in an additional 5%.
-Did I mention you can donate directly HERE...?
-You can also donate items to go into one of two gift baskets that will be raffled off at the Relay on June 11. The first basket is going to be full of Regretsy-themed goodness, the second full of offerings from the Etsy Maine Team.

Big thanks to April and the Regretsy community, and to all my friends who have also generously donated to this cause! Thank you!!!

Neapolitan Dream

It's been a good 7 weeks since my last blog post (and of course I probably promised in that post to update again soon...sorry!). In my defense, I was out of town (visiting home!). I am also lazy. =)

But here I am yet again, lovely readers, with a new piece for my small collection of Donna Necklaces, a collection named after my dearest mother. This pretty baby was started in late January and finished just yesterday (again, lazy)...

I started out with some of my Beadin' Path Design Partner beads (check out the stash I started out with here) and added to it with some BP favs. The carnation pink Czech glass pinch beads and the marbled pink Czech glass daggers were part of the bundle I received from Heather, the rest were pulled from my personal stash!

The teeny pink coral rounds were actually from a great Beads in the Mail Club set from about a year ago (are you a hoarder like me? I always save things for the right piece!). The matte cocoa seed beads were meticulously plucked from one of the fabulous seed bead mixes (don't want to pluck? Here's a tube of ALL the same bead...wonderful concept, really. Why didn't I think of that?) and the brown agate rounds were actually going to be part of a different necklace many many moons ago...but of course I changed my mind. 'Twas destiny! They were destined to be a part of this delicious Neapolitan Dream necklace!


The fabulous Bali cones I snagged from another Esty shop, MegaBeadStore. The hook clasp is a BP staple, you can find it here.

I hope it won't take me another 7 weeks to update again...I have some earrings to match this necklace I'd like to show off while still relevant!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

Hear that? It's the sound of relaxation...oh, wait, my vacation is over. Then that must be the sound of the real world coming back to smack me in the face!


Well, life isn't too bad, in all honesty. I just got back from a week at Walt Disney World with my wonderful husband of three years.

We had a wonderful time!

But now it's back to the grind...work, home, work, home...luckily I have another trip to look forward to very soon! Back to my real HOME...to Massachusetts and Maine at the end of this month! Woohoo!

In the meantime, look for some new Funky Flowers to arrive at BunnyBaubles, and don't forget about the Etsy Maine Team Spring Cleaning Sale! Check out my sales here and here!

Until next time...

Spring Cleaning!

I know it's February, but I've started my Spring Cleaning already! I decided to do some cleaning in my Etsy shops too, adding to my Sale/Clearance sections so I can make room for new things I have been working on! I have several new necklaces for BunnyBeads so the SALE section in that shop has grown significantly. I am also phasing out the "Candy" line of bobby pins and barrettes at BunnyBaubles to make way for my "Button Up" line, created with mis-matched vintage buttons. I love me some buttons! Above are my new Laura pins, below are the Kaylea pins. Love!


Several of my fellow Etsy Maine Team members have started to clean up their shops too! You can search Etsy for our SALE items, we're tagging them with "MaineSpringClean" so it's easy to find and shop! There are some really awesome items that are super-affordable! Go check it out!


Speaking of the Maine Team, I got some really awesome Valentine ideas from fellow teammate Shannon, who is an editor of the online magazine Modern Handmade Child. (Check out Shannon's Etsy shops here and here!)


I am a Nanny by day, so I am always looking for fun new things for the boys to do. Ben, in 3rd grade, is currently learning parts of speech in English class. So what's better than giving out super-funny MadLibs Valentines?? We took MHC's idea a step further by decorating paper hearts (as you can see, with loads of stickers!) and inserted the MadLibs scrolls at an angle to be the "arrow" through each heart.

For 1st grader Jake, we had a lot of fun peeling and breaking up crayons to make his Valentines. Here are our broken crayons going into the oven (in a silicone muffin pan I got at Jo-Anne's for $7.50!)


Check out the "After!" Jake was very impressed! His class loved the crayons too, win-win! I made these crayons again with my best friend's seven-year-old daughter, another success! She made a red, white, and blue heart crayon just for her daddy. Feel the love!

Reduce, reuse, restock!

I've been adding new items to my BunnyBaubles shop this week...

...There are two new Lace Barrette colors...
(Coral Pink is already available, check back soon for the Chocolate Brown!)

...several new Funky Flowers...
(plus a couple old favorites and more to come!)

...and I've slowly been phasing the lucite "candy" collection out and adding in layered buttons.
I have a great pair of red button bobbies that should be available tomorrow...enjoy!

To top it all off I'm offering a bit of a Valentine's Day Promotion! Free US shipping on all orders from both of my Etsy shops. Happy shopping!
BunnyBeads
BunnyBaubles