Cute Kid Gift Tags

I can't believe I forgot something really important in my last post! The gift tags!

Since discovering all the wonderful gift tags that talented indie designers generously make available as free online downloads/printables, I have never again bought a mass-market store product. The gift tags I used on my children's end-of-year teacher thank you gifts were these super cute blank tags from The Small Object. I love how they feature little kids .. just perfect!

I have assembled a list of downloadable/printable holiday gifts tags that I love, but these cuties I found on this fabulous gift tag compilation site at Living Life As Art. It not only covers holiday themed tags, but a whole bunch of all-occasion tags too. The great thing about this site is that it shows images of the all gift cards, so you don't have to click through each link to see what they look like. It is image intensive and the page takes a while to load .. but it's worth it!

Happy New Year !!

Happy New Year!! I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year's Eve and was able to celebrate the arrival of the New Year in style with fun, family, and food! I truly wish that 2011 brings each and every one of you all that you desire, that it rewards all that you work hard for, and that it has a few unexpected extra-nice treats in store for you.

Free Printable Holiday Gift Tag List

I'm busy as an elf working away on holiday gifts & goodies. Can't post about any of those though just in case the recipients are looking! So ... how about a post about where to find free, indie printable holiday gift tags to put on your handcrafted gifts? These are some of my favorites (p.s. I wasn't sure about whether I could copy the tag images to show here, so you'll have to click through to see them .. but it's worth it!):

Inside a Black Apple has a charming set with hot chocolate, a mitten, a beret-wearing bird, and several others.

Sew Mama Sew has an assortment with simple motifs and contemporary colors. I love the ones that say "handmade with love".

LollyChops has some for baked goods that say "from the kitchen of".

Creature Comforts offers a festive bunch with fun, bright colors and a large open writing area.

Finally, from Kitty Genius come the most darling little people tags. Love the little fox suit ones. There is second page of these cuties here.

Happy Holidays!!

Mini Crocheted Holiday Stockings

I'm always looking for cute ways to use all those little bits of yarn yardage you're left with after finishing projects. You know, 4 feet of that gorgeous green alpaca, 6 ft of that yummy white mohair.... bits too small to use in any substantial project but too big to throw away.

I use many of these remnants to make my flower pins, but what I really found myself wanting this year was a way to use them to make holiday gifts. So I was thrilled to find this delightful pattern on Ravelry: My Stocking Ornament. I'm going to make lots of little mini-stockings and use them as the "wrappers" for little candies to make quick holiday gifts. The stocking can become an ornament after all the candy is eaten.
The pattern makes the cutest little mini-stockings! It's a really easy, quick, adaptable pattern and will work with any type of yarn. And they are terribly addicting to make .. you can't make just one! I'm leaving mine plain, but these would be super cute with felt holiday shapes appliqued on them or initials embroidered on.

Autumn Fire

The deciduous trees here have been putting on the most GORGEOUS show. Such vivid red, orange and yellow leaves. Just love this row's fiery autumn foliage. Every year they turn this amazing hot orange color. Just beautiful!
I'm not sure of the species, but one row of trees I pass by walking my little guys to school creates distinct yellow, red, and light orange leaves .... all from the same tree!
The golden yellow ones were my inspiration to make this lacey, yet warm, autumn scarf. Here's my Ravelry project page: Golden Leaves Scarf. I ADORE this scarf pattern. It's one of my favorites. It's called the Queen Ann Lace pattern. You can see two more gorgeous examples of scarves I made using this pattern here.
Yes, that's me in the photo. I'm not terribly keen on being my own model since I feel I photograph poorly, but my son is a blossoming photographer and he loves helping me take pictures of my crocheted goodies. I guess when I'm 80 years old I'll look back on these and think, "Hey .. those weren't half bad!" :)

Blockbuster Holiday Lighting Show: Carol of the Bells

If you are going to do holiday lights, might as well do them with style! This family has synchronized their light show with the traditional carol "Carol of the Bells". You are going to have to trust me on this. You haven't seen your neighbors do holiday lighting, until you've seen them do this:

Happy Holidays!

To all my wonderful friends, family and customers: Hope your holiday season is merry and bright . . . . and I wish you all a simply fabulous 2010!!!

How An Average Girl Takes Awesome Firework Photos

Hope everyone had an awesome Fourth of July Holiday Weekend! And if you're not in America, I hope your weekend was excellent too! Our family quickly burned through our fireworks early in the evening and was fortunate enough to get to watch a neighbor's fabulous show later on. What a treat!
Did you know your digital camera might have a specialty selection for taking firework pictures? I was actually trying to set the camera in "night" mode to take a picture of the full moon, but I noticed an arrow at the bottom of the selection screen that said "more?". I pressed it and there were more options, including "behind glass" and "fireworks". Hmm.. newly discovered firework mode, fireworks show right in front of me..... had to try it! And look at the fabulous results!!!!
These fireworks in these photos might look impressive, but I assure you all fireworks used were legal in this state. Tip#1: take pics early on because once the smoke gets too thick, the quality of the photos diminishs. Tip#2: embrace chaos theory .. don't try to capture the perfect shot because everything changes so rapidly, just randomly click and be surprised by how the most oddball of shots can produce the most stunning results.
This is what my kids using sparklers look like! Who says there are no such thing as real magic wands! :)

P.S. my camera is nothing special, a four or five year old basic thing, so if my camera has this mode, chances are good yours does too somewhere!

Love is in the Air

"Meeting on the Turret Stairs" by Frederick William Burton

Valentine's Day: the day when people, esp. lovers, express their love by sending romantic cards, presenting flowers, engaging in intimate dining, or offering confectionery. But around here ... it's watching gooshy, romantic movies on TV while eating the aforementioned confectionary (usually something pink and frosted or dark chocolate, but cheesecake would not go unappreciated!) and smelling the lovely flowers :)

There are so many flavors of romantic movie: bittersweet ("Moulin Rouge"), classic ("Casablanca"), epic ("Titanic"), comic ("Bridget Jones’s Diary"), happily-ever-after ("While You Were Sleeping"), and so many, many more.

Our house leans heavily in the sci-fi/fantasy direction, so our current line-up for curling up on the couch with confectionery on our "date night" this week are: "Ever After" (great costumes too!), "50 First Dates"(this is sweet, cute and different), and "Groundhog Day" (classic Bill Murray).

What is **your** favorite romantic movie??

Snowed In !!!

What a month!! First .. thank you to all who wished my son a speedy recovery. He is all better now and ready for Santa!
Next .. we got hit with a snowstorm the likes of which hasn't been seen in this area for about 40 years. We have been snowed in for 9 days now. I say snowed in because historically we get a few flakes here or there, but never any real snow. Nothing you can stuff a ruler into and be amazed at how deep it is. We don't even own boots, shovels or snow chains. Never been a need. But we haven't lost power and have plenty of food so we are good :) Last night we got 12 more inches of snow and then had freezing rain coat everything in a 1/2" thick glaze of ice. YUCK!! And this morning there are people skiing down the middle of our street!The pics are of my winter blooming camellia -- doesn't it look gorgeous dressed in snow? This was on the first day of snow. It's not looking as pretty now :(School of course has been cancelled for days. So, what have I been doing? Making ninja cities with my two little guys :)And designing new pretty jewels.I haven't been blogging since the snow. Between taking care of two little active guys at home and trying to get ready for Christmas in a snow-bound house it's been a little hectic. I didn't even know that the blog post I had scheduled to post automatically during my busy shipping weeks didn't post for some reason. So .. if you feel like reading more, read the next post down :)

And finally ... If you have kids and would like to do something cool with them, check out the NORAD SANTA TRACKER 2008. This site is a hoot! It pretends to be NORAD (military organization responsible for the aerospace and maritime defense of the United States and Canada) tracking Santa's activities in the sky. Important: it doesn't go live until Santa takes off in his sled Christmas Eve, so there is nothing to see until then! When live, it shows a globe with present icons popping up on the cities of the Earth as Santa visits each one in real time. Select major cities get animated cut-scenes. I did it with my kids last year and they were just riveted!

*** Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and A Happy New Year to Everyone!!! ***

Happy Halloween!

'Twas a dark and scary night. The lights burned feebly through the thick foggy air. Everything was chilly and damp. The air was hushed and quiet .............. except for the screams of glee from hundreds of little costumed kids! That's right, hundreds and hundreds! This is one town where buying huge bags of candy for Halloween is a necessity. Don't sneak eating any before the big night ends, or you might just run out of candy before you run out of trick-or-treaters.

Keep a wary eye out for goblins and werewolves lurking in the misty dark! And if you are driving, please drive safely and watch out for little trick-or-treaters :)

Happy Halloween everyone!! Hope your night is spooky scary and lots of fun!!

Autumn Means Wooly Bears

The leaves continue to change and the air gets colder and quieter every day. The afternoons are still getting quite warm though after the fog burns off. Perfect for late afternoon walks. So ... off we went for a family walk!

This row of trees was just picture perfect! The only thing missing was that bright blue sky particular to Autumn afternoons. More of a blah grey today, but oh, those magnificent trees!Watch where you step! It's a fuzzy Wooly Bear!! Otherwise known as the caterpillar form of the Isabella tiger moth, Pyrrharctia isabella, but that's just not as much fun to say as "Wooly Bear" :) Folklore has it that the severity of the coming winter can be foretold by the width of the brownish/red band. A wide band means a mild winter and a narrow one means a harsh winter. Hmmmm.....from the looks of this one, looks like plenty of snow and ice ahead!

Autumn Glory

Summer seemed like it would never end, but Autumn has arrived at last! The trees changed almost overnight, and then started dropping leaves by the bucketful. It's not a New England display, but I think the trees in our region put on a lovely autumn show!A few flowers are still hanging on. This hydrangea is aging gracefully, it's bright lavender flowers fading to a soft, dusty violet.
Autumn here also brings a thick, ghostly morning fog. The streetlamps shining through the fog and leafy orange treetops tint the air yellow, like old gas lamp lighting. It makes for a very lovely and peaceful, if slightly unworldly morning stroll!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day to you all!! I hope this day is filled with flowers, love, chocolate, warm-hearted wishes, and everything else that makes you feel special!It was so wonderful to be part of The One World One Heart Giveaway again! What an amazing blogland event. Through it I found many new friends, reconnected with some old ones, and bookmarked MANY new wonderful blogs to explore. Special thanks to everyone (all 162 of you - whoa!) who took the time to come visit and enter my giveaway. I wish I could have given every one of you a gift on this special day, but I only have one ring today so ....

The giveaway winner, as chosen by ye olde random number generator is .....(drumroll)....... Kecia at Lemoncholy's Flight of Fancy! Congratulations Kecia!

p.s. sorry this is being posted a little late in the day - my husband surprised me with a lovely Valentine's breakfast this morning :)

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

Wishing everyone and their loved ones a very Merry Christmas and a happy and wonderful New Year!!

Thank you to all my lovely customers, my dear bloggy friends, my faithful blog readers, and everyone who has done me the honor of looking at my jeweled creations for making this a wonderful year! I hope that 2008 starts off wonderfully for you all and that the year just keeps getting better and better from that point on!

I will be taking a short break from the blog and will be returning on Jan. 3rd. I'll still be working in the studio every day, running the boutique and my new etsy store and sending out your lovelies quickly, but it will be nice to spend some quality time with my family during the holidays. I also have plans for new creations that are already underway that I hope to unveil when I get back.

See you in 2008!!!

Happy Halloween!!!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Hope everyone has a spectacularly spooky night!!!!

Had a nice visit with my mother and the children had some great grandma/grandkids bonding time. Now .... it's trick or treating time!! Time to adore all the cute costumed little ones who come to our door, scare ourselves silly with scary movies, keep an eye out for vampires and ghosts, and gorge on candy until we feel sick :)

And I just made a spooky discovery! Just a mile away is an old cemetery dating back to the 1800's. Had no idea it was there, hidden away at the bottom of a hill below an elementary school. Hmm.. anyone up for a midnight cemetery picnic?