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!!!

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!

And The Winners Are...

Congrats to all the winners from the Etsy Maine Team Halloween Scavenger Hunt! It was a lot of fun (and work) and with only a small hitch or two it really was a success! Here's a list of our winners!

AtlanticPuffin
Baggavond
BastilleBleu
CartBeforetheHorse
CheekyTreasures
ExtraMegan
FirstLightGlass
FiveSparrows
Flawed
InbalShapira
JCollander
KnittingandThings
Knittopotamus
MichelleRita
MRMBracelets
Orangitude
Nikid
RockyMtBeader
Strawberryona
Sockimals
SpiritThingStudio
TheCraftyCatCorner
vicki142

I've linked to the shops, so check them out and support Etsy and Handmade!!

More Scavenger Hunt!

As I posted a few days ago, the Etsy Maine Team is having a super-fun Fall Scavenger Hunt! We've got at least 23 teams participating so that means 23 prizes to be won! Your objective? Find THIS ghost:

...23 times!

Here is a link to the Etsy Promotion Froum Thread...participating shops are in there posting now about the prizes they're giving away, if you want a sneak peek of what is there to be won!

The Hunt is easy...On Thursday morning (October 1st!) a list of the Maine Team shops that are participating will be posted on this blog and others, as well as in that Promo Thread above. All you need to do is have an Etsy account and some time to hunt! Look through the listings of each shop on the list until you find their ghost listing. Convo your list of shops and correct listings to DreaBunny to be entered to win a prize! Find 15 ghosts and be entered once, find 20 ghosts and get THREE entries! On Sunday, October 4th prizewinners will be notified and the prizes will be sent out to them Monday!

Tell your friends and your own Etsy Teams! The more Hunters the merrier!

Etsy Maine Team's Craft Show!

Well, that was fun!! Yesterday in Freeport we held our first Maine Team Craft Fair, and as we Maine Teamers would say, it was a "Friggin Blast!"

Casie's Scrabble Tile Pendants http://littleputland.etsy.com

Here's my display...I spent a lot of time painting, covering, and gluing up those display frames!

And now I can list my freshly-made earrings that I didn't sell at the fair! Here we go...

Oops!

New earrings:
Sterling silver-plated vintage connectors, stone and mother-of-pearl carved flowers, and Swarovski crystal.

OK, so it has been a few weeks...but life has been keeping this bunny busy! I am getting ready for the Etsy Maine Team's Craft Show on Saturday in Freeport...click here for more info! I have made some new earrings to get ready for it and have been working on creating displays and earring cards. I also ordered new business cards to reflect both my Etsy shops and have debuted my new banner and avatar for BunnyBaubles, so a big THANKS to my darling friend Eliot Lucas for making them for me! I've posted some of my new earrings throughout this entry, tell me what you think! I won't be putting them into my Etsy shop until after the show on Saturday (unless they sell!) so if you like 'em you'll just have to come visit us on Saturday...and bring your wallet! There is going to be a lot of great items you'll just HAVE to have!

New earrings:
Sterling silver chain with malachite teardrops,
sterling silver chain with faceted smokey quartz and garnet rounds,
and gold oval-link chain with pink chalcedony drops.

So what else has been happening? I was one of the winners of Jenna's photo contest, so I won a pair of her gorgeous silver blossom earrings. You can check out her blog and Etsy shops here!
http://AutumnEquinox.etsy.com
http://thefirstdayofautumn.blogspot.com
I also ordered a necklace from her shop...it was a present from Matt to me for Military Spouse Appreciation Day on May 8th. We spent that weekend (Mother's Day) with my in-laws in Bufallo, NY and my beautiful necklace was waiting for me when we got back! Thanks, Jenna!

Well this beautiful breezy day is coming to an end, and so is this blog post...time to touch up my spray-painting on my displays! Saturday is coming up quick!

New earrings:
Sterling silver-plated vintage metal "wings" with Swarovski crystal,
Sterling silver-plated filigree drops with apatite rounds.

America's Next Top Hand Model

What did I accomplish at the Etsy Maine Team's Sweetland Retreat sleepover? Some new photos at BunnyBaubles and some hand modeling. Yup!

Check out my hands here: Helping Hands Pottery. Kim's new diorama rings are a collaboration of Kim's clay sculpture and Jenn of Quench Metal Works' silver rings, photographed by Joy of Constant Galore and RibsMalone, and modeled by me! =)

Lots of fun had by all! Hopefully get some photos up here soon =)

Excited

It's been another wonderful week here in Bunnyland! I've been keeping busy, hence I haven't written in almost a week!

Monday's Etsy Maine Team meeting was a blast...we went art supply shopping and lunched at Pedro O'Hara's in Brunswick, and ended with gelato...mmmm. Kellie made us all awesome Maine team keychains and we got to meet the little mastermind behind MySpiderLegs, an 8-year-old arteest! Oh, and torrone gelato...devine!
Tuesday's inauguration made me cry happy tears, as a history buff the back-to-back MLK Day and Inauguration Day was almost too much to handle! The whole thing made me miss DC and I can't wait to take a trip down to Virgina again and see my family in Alexandria as well as show my husband around town--he's never been! We discussed it a bit over a celebratory dinner date Tuesday evening.
I went bowling just last night with some of my former co-workers and had a blast. An hour of bowling followed by three hours of chatter at Tim Horton's? Perfect in my book.


On the job front...I've got a possible gig as a Nanny coming up. NannyBunny! That would be fun. I also started applying at....dun dun DUNNNN...dry cleaners. My dad is a dry cleaner, I grew up at a dry cleaner's, I know how the business works. I need something to do with my time until we move in August, and I am not about to go back into retail just yet...I do love working retail...I like to help customers, set up a display, learn about new products...I'm good at it. I'm not good at dealing with the BS that comes with a poorly-managed shop, though. Anyone remember Sheena? Ugh.

On that note, it's time to get out of my house! Until next time...