Great Find on Etsy!

One of my daily habits is flipping through Etsy and checking out different sellers. I found yellena today and want one of all of her art. What is even better I love the colors and my husband would appreciate her lines. For those of you that don't know he is colorblind and has a tendency to not like the same art as me (He hates my paintings like Monet because he doesn't see the picture) I think he may really like these and they are super reasonable! I have been planning a trip to Ikea in Seattle and I may have to add some frames to my list. Yellena has a blog as well www.yellena.com/blog Check her out!

Her art also makes me feel better about not having any aquariums any longer since we move so often. I know its not for everyone, just one of those things I am now infatuated with.

Ecstatic

I am super pumped today since I have finally finished my dressers! It took me long enough! They aren't perfect but they look so much better, and match our bed. I could keep working on them but we will be moving in less than a year and I would cry if they got dinged up. When we stop moving I will sand some more and have glass cut for the tops like I would like. I kept the old knobs/pulls, first because I am cheap and it was going to be over $300 total to get the weird sizes for 4 drawers out of 11. That was so not worth it! I am really glad I kept the old ones now because they were free and they look great with our bedding.

Colin's Chest of drawers

Our Bedding (I didn't make the bed so this is all you get)

One table at the show on Sunday, there was another one to the left full of goodies.

P.S. -Fleta if you are on here do you recognize something Mamo sent to live at my house?

Teal Button Earrings

We have been super busy all day working on everything. I haven't gotten much made today except these, I wish Colin didn't know everything that is in my jewelry chest or I would keep these. He also knows all of my shoes so I can't get away with buying new ones. :( He is a little too smart about my addictions!

Beatles and Bugs

Today I am just trying to make a few new pieces for Sunday. So far all of them are black and beautiful. I am only going to share one since I have to have a few surprises this weekend.

Hope everyone is enjoying their Friday!

Free Paint from Home Depot Giveaway

I just had to share this! I always like to read Thrifty Decor Chick to see what new items she is creating out of nothing. She had listed this free paint giveaway from Glidden Paint at Home Depot. Just hop onto this website and you can get a free quart in whatever color you choose. It is only good until July 2nd so hurry up and get some!

I got myself a can of Red Delicious, not sure for what yet.

Post Apology

Anyone that follows my blog I just want to say I added the list function this afternoon and was cleaning up my post labels, sorry if you have a ton of new/very old posts that I have written showing up in your feed. I am still figuring all the gadgets out. :)

Show and Tell: Uno Turquoise

Well I spent most of yesterday tagging all of my new pieces and planting a few new plants on the patio. I have 1 new piece that I thought I would share.

A few of my numerous plants on the back patio. I went a little crazy since they wont die here. Phoenix was so hot I couldn't have any outside. Unfortunately a lot of my fun pots were stolen down there :(

I might have a few new pieces tomorrow but I am focusing on my dresser. Tomorrow is the final coat of poly on the dresser top! Yeah! I finally will be able to put my clothes away, but then its on to Colin's chest of drawers. I am hoping to have them done before July 1st.

Overwhelming Buttons

Well my supplies came in the mail Saturday so I am switching gears to work on new items other than vintage button bracelets. But first here are a few more of the buttons I drooled over and made yesterday.Green and Teal Wonder

Toffee Delight

Cotton Candy Pink

Wine and Silver

Black and Butter Yellow

Cheryl should have my website up and running tonight or tomorrow. Yeah! I better get to work so that I can start uploading pictures and buttons to purchase as soon as she has my template done. It is going to be a busy week!

Lots of Projects!

Thought I should share what I have been up to the last few days. Here are a few new button bracelets that I made yesterday and today. I also included a few of the other projects I currently have going on in our house.

White Wedding Button

Carmel Toffee Button

Black Velvet Button
Disco Glam Brown Button
Black Glam Button

Apple Blossom Button

And here are a few other things I have been doing. Below is our guest bedroom in the basement. I have been wanting a nightstand for quite awhile but hate to spend any money on a new bedroom set when it will just get beat up moving. So here is my $5.89 purchase from Salvation Army. It just required some sandpaper and some leftover paint I have been saving from painting our old headboard. :) Oh I bought a new knob that was $2.99 at Ace. Much better!
This is my other project I started forever ago. The dresser and chest in our bedroom. They are from Ethan Allan and I hate to get rid of them as they are built so well. When we lived in Michigan and I worked at a furniture store I checked out all the special order books looking for a bed frame to match. This was to no avail, the old wood stain had to have been retired in the 80's. You cant find it anywhere. So we bought a bed frame that we love and I decided to refinish the dressers to match. This decision was made almost 3 years ago now. It's about time!

My supplies came in the mail today, this next week should be super busy getting ready for Susan and Kelsey's show next Sunday. Hope everyone is having a good weekend.

Bumblebee Choker

I have been super busy getting ready for the the next jewelry show. My button hunting trip yesterday was a flop. The place wasn't open AGAIN (4th time), and most of the other antique/flea market stores don't have buttons because this other store supposedly is just a button store. Due to that I will have a even smaller selection of button bracelets available. :(

Happy news is that I have created a few choker pieces. I personally have a tendency to be allergic to metals and I have more issues in the summer, therefore I am making a few pieces that have small amounts of silver and alternative methods for securing.



This set is Aragonite, Sterling, black jade, and black Czech glass mixed with black gross grain ribbon. I have a Coral piece that is similar also in the works. Sorry the picture is of lower quality, my light box is sitting on the floor since I used the table it sits on for my garage sale.
Hope everyone is having a good week, I have lots of new items in the works with another supply order on the way. :)

Today is Button Hunting again....

Good Afternoon!

I am supposed to be working on quite a few new pieces and heading out to find a few buttons. I have a show up here in WA the end of the month and I am a little worried that I wont have enough items for the large number of people invited. I really need to lay out a few pieces today and finally send my order in to my supplier so I can increase my stock quickly. This week and next week shall be very busy.

Oh my garage sale was very slow and so was my neighbors. Apparently the town over has a town garage sale and it was the same days. :( I allowed myself a small box of junk to come back in the house and Colin and I are donating everything else. It did allow me to treat my husband to movie tickets for "Angels and Demons" with popcorn, and then dinner and drinks with some friends at PF Changs. The bonus was we had their Great Wall of Chocolate Cake. Yum!

Yesterday we packed up our picnic basket (its beautiful, we got it as a wedding gift from Colin's aunt) and drove up to a winery above town that has live music every Sunday. The view is awesome as you look out over a cliff onto the river and town. They even have a natural small waterfall. It's five bucks to get in and you can buy a bottle of wine and bring your own food, a pretty nice date. Even better we had a few other friends to enjoy the sunset and music with. I am starting to wish we wouldn't move again, I am loving it here. 2 great dates what a wonderful weekend!

Nothing Much

Well I went back to a minimal background on here. All that junk on the sides was making me dizzy. Simple is so much better.

I am gearing up for my garage sale today so I can finally promise that I will be back to work next week full force. That means tons of new pictures of new pretty jewelry pieces. Yeah! Anyways hope everyone has a good Friday and a great weekend!

P.S.-My website is coming along, my sister has put up just the main page under construction but it gives a small idea of what it will look like. Check it out and let me know your HONEST opinion. I really want to know first reactions other than my own. I am just excited that it will be super user friendly (and Kerrie friendly) to run once it is up and going.

No my Dresser is still not done...

I'm back, well kind of. I really should be working on jewelry but other things have consumed me today, such as: making oatmeal craisen cookies (its cool outside, so the house is super cool), watering the lawn, laundry, etc. Since I am not in the mood to create and I need my workspace tables for Friday's garage sale, I think I will do other needed projects. Hence this!

I am finally back to working on my dresser. If anyone remembers I started this maybe the end of February or early March and got sidetracked. Either way I really miss my 2 drawers that I was using as guinna pigs. My bedroom misses them as well since I still have 2 boxes with socks and undergarments living in them.

Anyway I was really disappointed that none of my stains were penetrating the maple and getting as dark as I would like. I had tried 3 different versions, by the way I am not impressed with Minwax stain with Poly in it. So I finally broke down and pulled out my Minwax gel stain. I was trying to stay away from it because it can tend to look more like paint but I need those drawers. I cant stand the boxes anymore. So here is only one coat of the gel stain, not bad! I think I will sand and do one more just to have a more consistent finish and then add some poly. :) Finally the color I was going for, our bed is also an espresso finish so this works just right without buying new matching dressers or putting on 10 coats of stain.

All I can do is smile! That and after I get the stain off my hands I am going to go hang out with some girlfriends and have a few drinks. No Colin or any guys he works with! :) Not a bad day!

A few pics from our Trip

I have been a blogging slacker. Life has been very busy since we got back from vacation. I haven't made any new jewelry, I haven't even sat down at my beading desk this week.

Apparently it was very hot while we were away and our yard was fried and sporting some new weeds. So I have been watering like crazy, mowing, and planting a few flowers in my flower pots. Anyways since I haven't been to thrilled with the yard work etc. I will share a few photos of our adventures while on vacation. Oh I would really like to thank Colin's mom for washing his clothes before we flew back to WA. You saved me a ton of work! My sister Cheryl and Gunther on the way to KS.

Colin's cousin Heath with a bass he caught out at one of their grandpa's ponds.

The other fish that wasn't thrown back in the pond didn't fare to well. Cameron and Vance (Colin's brother and cousin) didn't like the fish flopping around and decapitated it. This created an issue while they were trying to fillet it. So here is Cameron, Colin, and Vance making a mess.

The start of our scooter club. Featuring Micheal (Colin's cousin) doing tricks. We had five of these and had a blast riding around town and out in the country.

Poor Cheryl ran out of gas, this was the third misfortune she had. First the line ran out of her fishing pole when she caught a fish. Second she got smore/marshmallow all over her glasses, face and hair. Third is this photo where she ran out of gas. Sad thing is before the day ended she also lost the muffler on her scooter. Its a good thing she had so much fun.

After Cheryl and I left Colin's parents we drove down to Manhattan (Kansas State, since Cheryl needed to sign her lease for grad school) and we had lunch with Colin's younger sister Lindsay. Then we traveled to Topeka to see Colin's older sister Erin and her husband Mark's new house. This is Shane and our nephew Talon. Shane by the way is one of Colin's best friends that was very disappointed that Colin was not with us.

Erin and Talon :)

Then Cheryl and I headed to Blue Springs, MO (which is just east of Kansas City) to try on bridesmaid dresses for my friend Joyce's wedding. This is Jennifer (Joyce's sister and I in the dress Joyce picked. We will be wearing Horizon Blue, which is on the left.
After spending 2 days in MO we headed back to Manhattan to have lunch with a friend of Cheryl's and then stopped in Junction City where our great grandparents lived. We had to pick up an orange for Gramp's and some flowers for Nana. Sorry Dad, Cheryl and I couldn't find any peanuts for Gramp's to feed the squirrels. This is Cheryl by the way, wearing a K-State t-shirt of course.

And here I am. I know creepy, we are taking photos in the cemetery. We have always done this, our mom for some odd reason likes to stop on road trips and look at old headstones. She does leave flowers by the way, so not super creepy.
Talon and myself. He looks super cute in the vest and tie his grandma Jenifer made him to match his mommy's bridesmaid dress.
Colin holding Talon, and Talon didn't even cry. Poor Colin always makes kids cry. I think its the faces he makes to try and make them laugh. Poor Colin! Thanks Talon, he would have felt awful if he made you cry!

I ran out of battery so I didn't take any more pictures. :( We had to drive back to Denver the next day and fly home. Which almost didn't happen as Frontier was throwing a fit about the dog needing more paperwork. I felt bad but was a little mad and voiced my opinion and we had them get a manager. If they had no problem letting us fly into Denver what was the problem now? Either way we got it fixed and got home. I don't want to deal with flying the dog again but Gunther took it like a champ.

P.S.-We are going camping and fishing this weekend at Saint Joe River in Idaho so I will be blogging slacker again. This may be a new trend this summer I fear.