New Year Resolutions

I don't generally celebrate the traditional New Year, simply because I'm still recovering from Christmas, and I highly prefer the Lunar New Year (longer celebration, plus it seems to have more tradition & meaning to it).

However, I do make resolutions for the beginning of the year. Here is (more or less) my game plan for 2010:

6. Post more often on my blog (which has been very much neglected since I started it)

5. Participate in more craft shows this year & explore getting my work into shops

4. Improve my photography skills

3. Learn how to reupholster a tufted chair

2. Get myself back into shape (I'm become a bit of a couch potato this year)

1. Keep all of the above resolutions in effect for the entire year. :)

What are your resolutions for 2010?

Hope everyone is having a happy Thanksgiving!

I'm back...

Well, after a couple of weeks of being completely obsessed with preparing for my craft fair on the 21st, I am now able to focus on preparing for the holidays. (whoo hoo!)

This weekend I will be participating in the holiday sales on Etsy, as well as offering free shipping to the US and Cananda for all items in the Liesldesigns shop until December 31st.

In the Gypsy Mouse shop, there are sale items and free shipping to the US and Canada on books and supplies until December 31st.

New in the Shop

Gigi earrings

Why I Love Autumn...

It's the leaves.

I love going to my parent's house in autumn, simply because they have a large wooded lot, and every autumn their yard is FILLED with leaves. Seriously. You can't even see the grass anymore. Raking is an all day activity.

And they have the *best* leaves, too... their yard has leaves from oaks, chestnuts, and a wonderful red maple in the front. I love the fiery red dotting the brown and orange carpet of autumn.

I know I should really be there to visit with my parents, but I can't help finding excuses to go to their house before they get around to raking just so I can play in the leaves.

What do you love about autumn?

GLC Fun Day

I'm *finally* getting around to uploading all of the pics from my camera, so I'm a little behind with posts. I have definitely NOT made my blogging goal this past month!

Anyway, here are some pics of the Breyer Youth Fun Day that the Great Lakes Congress model horse club hosted on October 24th:

Fun mechanical carousel made from Breyer Stablemates that Bentley Sales Co. had in their booth.

GLC members Kerri Johnson and Liz Cory

GLC members Jamie Rott and Cindy Chrisos picking out Stone "Chips" at the P.S. Cord booth

Youth showers listening to the critique of the sport breeds class

My favorite picture of the day: a "Snow Horse" entry in the Youth display class

More Owls...

In preparation for Indie Wed in January, I've decided that I need to streamline my sales process for craft fairs, since my meager little "money box" is just not going to cut it anymore. So, I went looking around on Etsy for the perfect craft fair apron.

After paging through quite a few "it's okay, but I'm not in love with it" offerings, I came across this one and absolutely fell in love:

This apron is offered by Etsy seller Boojiboo, and she offers several great retro-style aprons in her store from patterns she has designed herself.

It arrived today, wrapped in a pretty orange ribbon...and I have to say, I love it even more in person! The owls are very retro-looking(a definite plus for me), and it fits perfectly!

Swap-O-Rama

I *love* getting mail. (Who doesn't?) Today in the mail was this absolutely wonderful package from fellow Etsy Wisconsin Street Team member MineFull. I am participating in the WIST ornament swap this year, and she was my ornament "Secret Santa".

This is the adorable snowman ornament I received from her:

For my ornament, I decided to try something new, and created a little tree from a felted wool sweater. I added beads for ornaments, and a vintage rhinestone button for the star:

I have to say, I am definitely hooked on this swap thing now. I may be heading over to Swap-Bot to find some more swaps to participate in!

Thrifting...

On a whim, I stopped by Goodwill on my way home from work today and perused the furniture section. I normally don't find anything that appeals to me (or I see it being carried off by some lucky person as I walk in), so I was pleasantly surprised to come across this guy:

While it does have some issues (the original cushions are disintegrating under the icky-colored slipcover, and a couple of the support springs are a tad loose), it was sturdy and fit nicely into my mid-century aesthetic. And it was only $10! How can you beat that?

I'm currently researching where to find new springs, but the cushions are easily replaced, and I've already found a great fabric for them (Amy Butler Martini):

(I'm still trying to decide which color scheme I want....)

Sadie has given it her seal of approval, I have a feeling I'll be fighting her for this one. :)

Owl Love

Lately (and and somewhat inexplicably) I have become obsessed with owls. I think I somehow associate owls and the great autumn weather we've been having here on the IL-WI border. Here are some of my favorite owl items on Etsy:

Retro Owls print by FerntreeStudio

Owl mobile by EvelynX

Adorable upcycled wool felt plush owls by woolcrazy

iPhone case by KapomCrafts

Screech owl necklace by lulubugjewelry

Naptime...

The perfect blustery Autumn day activity.

Smurfs, Paint and Puppies

I spent this past weekend at my sister's house painting the bedroom I will be using when I move in with her in March. This weekend I also discovered that I have absolutely no talent for painting.

This is my "painting glamour shot", the photo that says "I am a master painter!"

Well, at least I picked a great shade of blue. Isn't that the happiest blue you've ever seen?

Here I am actually painting. Wow, I really look like I know what I'm doing, don't I? Well, you can't see the back of my shirt...

or the bottom of my pants...

or my socks...

or my shoes...

or... well, you get what I'm saying.

By Saturday night, I looked like an light blue Smurf. I even had blue paint streaks in my hair, no clue how that happened. My mom had a nice chuckle over that one.

This is the part of the room that caused the most problems (yes, that is a sink in the corner... don't ask, 'cuz we don't have a clue...) I kept backing into the walls when I was painting this side of the room, hence the Smurfiness...

This weekend I also got to meet this gorgeous guy, Kody. He is a rescued white collie that my sister is currently fostering and will most likely be adopting. His coat is a little short (it had been shaved before he came to my sister's house), but it kind of suits him right now, giving him a rangy, wolfish look. I am completely smitten with him!

New Pieces

Some new pieces that will be showing up in my Etsy shop this weekend:

Diedre bracelet

Rosalie necklace

Paisley necklace (Remember the bird pendants? I finally decided what to do with them!)

The search for the perfect paint color...

I'm moving to my sister's house in March, and have been told that I need to paint my room now, before it gets cold outside. Apparently, paint won't stick to cold walls. I learn something new every day...

So, today I went to the various home improvement stores in my area looking for a suitable paint color that I can live with indefinitely. I figured this task was going to be pretty challenging, as my sister's house is two hours away, so I can't paint chips on the walls and see how they look.

I absolutely *love* this Dutch Boy Crayola display! I wasn't really loving the colors they had, but how cute is this display?

I wasn't having much luck until I got here:

This is the magical, wonderful wall of color choices that Valspar had...oh. my. gosh.

These are my final paint chips, narrowed down from the bazillion choices available. I eventually chose a deep sky blue color called Lyndhurst Celestial Blue.

9-9-09

I am so excited about the new remastered Beatles CDs that were released today! I've had the opportunity to hear some of them already, and they sound sooo much better than the old CDs. I've already put all of them on my Christmas list!

(I debated about adding the Rock Band game too, but that may be getting a little obsessive, since I haven't owned a video game system and since my uncle gave us his old Atari.)

Anyway, about halfway through my team meeting at work today, it struck me that I had subconsciously dressed for the occasion... this is the random shirt I pulled out of my dresser this morning:

Controlled Chaos

My current studio workspace... aka the coffee table.

My Weekend Catering Gig...

This weekend I was the caterer for a convention...

...of mosquitos.

Apparently I taste **really** yummy...

This is only a small fraction of the bites I discovered on my legs after coming inside...these are also the small ones...there's one the size of a QUARTER. I kid you not.

I'm going to be stocking up on insect repellent today...and a lot of calamine lotion.

New Necklace in Shop

Tamsin Necklace -- A longer necklace that is wonderfully asymmetrical and just in time for the fall weather! I will be wearing mine with my t-shirt and sweater combos!

Two New Necklaces

I've been working on some wedding-inspired jewelry in preparation for Indie Wed in January, and have been playing around with incorporating vintage chandelier crystals into my jewelry. Two new necklaces will be debuting in the shop on Monday...

Cassandra necklace

Collette necklace

I'm Going to Indie Wed!

I've been accepted as a vendor for Indie Wed in Chicago on January 30, 2010! For more about the event, click here to go to their website.

I'm so excited! This is the first juried show I've applied to, and I can't wait!

Tilt-A-Whirls and Tornadoes

Yesterday I took the kids I work with to the Lake Villa Fun Days carnival...

Of course, they had a Tilt-A-Whirl...

We had to leave because it had started raining, and around 5pm we noticed these clouds...

Unfortunately, my camera doesn't pick up exactly how low and fast moving these clouds were, but it was pretty impressive how they were cruising along.

Later on we heard that there had been a tornado somewhere to the west, and that those were the remnants of it. Whatever it was, it was an impressive bit of nature!

Little Birdies...

A week or two ago I was at the thrift store looking for some fun vintage items for my gypsymouse shop, and cruised by the "jewelry" rack to see if there was anything there that I could take apart and use in my own jewelry designs. (I've been trying to use more vintage components, as well as components that don't require new energy consumption to produce)

And yes, the quotes around jewelry were intentional... let's just say the thrift store's idea of jewelry is a little tacky and kind of gross. :(

But I was able to find a necklace of cute little dyed mother of pearl birds, which I have turned into whimsical earrings:

Both of these are now listed in my shop here.

My New Favorite Earrings...

New in the shop this evening, Genevieve earrings.

I absolutely love the resemblance to the fleur-de-lis in these brass stampings, and think they go beautifully with the deep blue of the iolite beads.