Cherry Blossoms & A Thrifted Piece

Ciao!

I love this pendant.  I found it at one of my friends bead shop.  I was not sure how to come up with a necklace design.........but I love red and black and I had red chipped beads that really look great against this.  I added some black round beads and piece complete.  I finished it last night at our monthly bead meeting.

It is different.  That is what I love about designing jewelry.  You can create your own pieces to go with whatever mood, outfit, occasion you need.  The joys of being creative!

I am attending a city Art Association tomorrow.  They saw some of my pieces last month and this month I get to find out if I am voted in!  Fingers crossed!

Besides my many craft groups, I belong to a book club, and a local Art Museum.  I read something the other day......."Consume experiences, not things"  I really thought about that one, because at this state in my life that is what I am doing.  There is more important things in life than buying the over priced latest fad or being duped by the many advertising traps out there to make you think you NEED the next IPhone or whatever is current these days.  As I get older, this becomes abundantly clearer to me.


A friend of mine saw a 1950's bangle bracelet at a thrift store over the weekend.  This bracelet is awesome!  Matches my outfit today!  The cost was less than a $1.  I was so appreciative of my friend who gave it to me first thing Monday morning (what a boost for a Monday) and  it looks great.  This is what life is about, good friends, good thoughts........and a good glass of wine!

Weekend Estate Sale

It was a rainy weekend.  I did not do much. Just tinkered around the house, cleaned etc.  All the normal things that go on on rainy days.  The rain did not stop me from checking out a local estate sale!!


This vintage purse is a gift for my step mother in law........maybe.  I LOVE it and may keep it if I do not find anything else to get her.  I love vintage purses!!!

I love jewelry.  I make my own, but I cannot pass up estate sale jewelry.  I just love things that have a history.  I much rather wear something that belonged to someone else.....like to keep their memory alive.  In my family, I am the keeper of the memories.  I have all the old pictures from the 70's, certain things from the past that no one really wants...trinkets etc.  I keep it, because I feel the memory of the dead is alive in the living. 

The palm tree bracelet is sterling silver.  It was $18 but today everything was half off!! I got it because I am going to Florida and this is the perfect bracelet!!  The broach speaks for itself for me!!  The necklace, I love it.  Two pearls and the clasp has details with dangles...that is what I do to my clasps, add dangles or charms.

OMG, I kept walking by the bathroom and saw the waste basket and toilet holder.  It is soooo retro 60's/70's.  I don't think it was for sale, but she tagged it for me...$5.  LOVE IT!!!

Now I am having wine and watching Cash and Cari!!  I can never get enough!!  LOL!

Ciao!!

Happy List

The other day I got lost in blog world.  I came across so many interesting blogs about vintage, thrifting etc.  I just couldn't even stand it!  Vintage Vixen had a list of top 10 UK blogs that were FAB!  Congrats to her for being on that list!! 

Going through those blogs and other faves, a lot of people always refer to "Happy Lists".  You write in a journal a list of things that you appreciate or what made you happy that day.  It is a good exercise, because if you always focus on what you DON'T have you will always come from a place of lacking.  If you focus on the things you DO have, or what makes you happy you will always feel fulfilled.  It is good to do a list when you are having a bad day or you are around people who aggravate you........kinda like people who suck your good energies right out of you or are to negative....eeewww!

Seems a no-brainer, but it is one of those things that are easy to talk about doing, but never do. 

So today I start one...and will continue to do weekly and even daily!  You can have fun with these lists, they don't have to be soooooooooo lengthy, or stuffed in a journal.  If you see an inspiring picture on the web print it out and jot 1 or 2 things on it, and hang it up to look at it for random bursts of happiness. Print a picture of your favorite flower, celebrity, food etc. Possibilities are endless...........

1. My upcoming trip to Florida!!  (I already printed out a list of local thrift shops to visit)!

2. Wine.

3. Twisted Sisters cupcakes.

4. New found favorite Vintage Blogs.

5. New inspiration from those blogs.

6. Local estate sale that I will be going to tomorrow!!!

7. The smell of coffee.

8. Family & Friends.

I feel good already!!

Ciao!

Coupon Craze

Every time I turn around I am into something new. Coupons are nothing new, however I really never used them. I would cut them out, organize them and then forget about them. By the time I went to use them they were expired. They were not really worth my time anyway since I bought mostly generic.

One of the food stores I go to are now starting to double coupons up to a dollar and doubling dollar coupons on Wednesdays! That is a savings! I figured I would go try this out. I gather a few coupons on items I wanted and headed out. When I got to the register my total was $23 and then I gave her my coupons and the total dropped below $17. Not bad for a few things right?

I learned today from my fellow friends and co-workers that you can stack coupons! Meaning if I have 5 coupons (store/manufacture) for a $1 off of lets say Gain detergent I can use all 5 of them on one bottle. If that product is on sale combined with the 3 coupons.....wow!! What a savings. If I go on a Wednesday armed with all this, since they double dollar coupons.........holy crap!!! Lets say the price of Gain is $12. I have 5 coupons so that is $5 off. Gain is now $7. Now if I use these on a Wednesday with the coupons being doubled ($10 instead of $5 off) it really costs me $2 for the detergent!

The more I educated myself on this the more excited I got! I started realizing how much money can be saved doing this. My goal is to save save save and put the money I saved from food shopping away for my jewelry creating, big estate, thrifting days!

Ciao!

Cancer Awareness

I think we all know someone who has cancer. It is a disease that too many people have. As a gift to one of my co-worker's mother, I made her a bracelet. She was recently diagnosed with cancer. I believe they caught it early enough. I am sure she is a little racked by all this so I made her a surprise gift.

I hope every time she looks at it it gives her positive energy and the strength she needs to deal with everything she will be facing. The best thing you can do when life throws you curve balls, is embrace it. Be positive. It will only make you stronger.

It is harder to do than you think, but it can be done. It is a mind set. When you feel like you have a bad day and all is loss, it isn't.

If you think it is, click on the below picture here:

I came across this blog yesterday and I was so impressed and touched with his attitude and outlook on life. It changed mine.

Love your life.

Focus on what you have instead of what you don't.

Don't be caught up with labels and worrying about what people are saying.

Anyone saying anything negative is not worth having around you.

Wear Your Hardware

Once in a while my husband goes through the mundane task of cleaning out the garage. Trying to make room for his bikes and bar stool racers. As he was building his trash pile, I saw old slatted doors in the pile. The hardware caught my eye.



I have a big love for skeleton keys, key plates, old keys of all shapes and sizes. Maybe it's the allure of stories of past lives the key holds.



I knew I could come up with some sort of design. It did not take me long. I just grabbed a few beads and wire and whipped something up.



I am wearing this piece today and as I was out and about I got a lot of compliments on it. I have been meaning to make another one to put in my Etsy shop.



What ever it is you design, YOU are your biggest advertiser. Wear your stuff. People will gravitate to you and ask you about your pieces. Have business cards on hand to pass out!

I did not do anything to the finish of the key hole. On my next one I may....not sure yet.

Ciao!

Calm before the storm

Yesterday the east coast had a 5.8 earthquake. Some areas felt it more than others. I thought someone dropped something heavy on the second floor of the building. Overall no big deal and no one was hurt that I know of. I guess we are getting hit with a hurricane this weekend. Maybe that is why we are having such calm and pretty weather right now.

The weather was beautiful last night. It was breezy and in the 80's. A nice break from the 90+ heat and humidity. After work my husband and I sat outside by our firepit having a few beers.

He made this fire pit by hand, scrolled the legs and everything! The stone is left over tile from our backsplash in our kitchen. We broke it up and put it on top! This patio is off of our original patio area and sits on top of hudge granite slabs. I LOVE IT here. You can take any space in your back yard or porch area and make it unique and beautiful. A far away retreat in your own back yard.

What I usually do every summer is hang skrim off my main patio. Skrim is a gauzy material that is great to hang outdoors. It dries fast and you can see through it. This plant below was not this big in the beginning of the summer. It had a few stems hanging down and now look at it. I almost goes around the whole top area!

The skrim gives the patio area a tropical feeling, perfect for summer nights. It looks great with candles and tiki torches lit at night. I keep it like this well into the fall! :)

Nice to sit outside and have vino as well.......my fave drink!