Purse Charms

 My cousin started selling Miche purses a few months ago,  Of course we all fell in love with them.  Just love the idea of being able to change my purse without having to empty it each time.  Cause if' you're like me, you carry a lot of junk in your purse. 

In their catalog they have something called Charmers, which essentially are purse charms.  When my cousin had her store, she used to sell purse charms, and they were so cool.  I didn't like the ones in the catalog, there's only maybe 6 at a time shown.  And they just weren't me.  So I decided to make my own.

I didn't realize how many heart beads and charms I had, so i put some of them on one.  Just love how that one turned out.

 And of course, I love beach themed items.  And I love blue too.  So of course I had to make a beach themed purse charm.

I was laughing at the fact that the four I made the other night were all blue.  Love the teardrop turquoise bead.

And I don't know where I found this big silver bead, but just love it!  So, used some of the smokey blue beads for that one.

I've got a few more that I need to make, so will post them as I make them.  They're so fun to make!

Blog Giveaway....

I've become addicted to making these monogram pocket keychains from Five Star Fonts.  I just love them!  It's so much fun learning new techniques and using new patterns.

So, I've decided to give one of these away on my blog, well, a personalized card holder just for you. You get to choose the color and of course your initial.  All you have to do is make a comment on this post to enter.  And I'll pick a lucky winner on Thursday, August 23, 2012.  I'll post the winners on Friday night, and you can send me your contact information.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Pocket Keychain Holder

 I just love these Pocket keychain holders!  They are just so addicting to make, and fairly easy.  It was my first in the hoop project that wasn't a banner.  LOL  I just love the sparkly material I found, and luckily had a bunch of material to match.  Cause you know, I tend to pick out material cause it's cute, and I don't think of matching it to anything.  LOL

And here's a photo of Velcro I found on my camera, I just thought it was too funny.  She doesn't like it when I take photos of her, and always closes her eyes.  Luckily got this one!

Heather's Baby Shower

 This Saturday was my niece Heather's Baby Shower.  It was a really fun family party with both sides of the family there.  She had a Candy Bar and a Nacho Bar there, which was awesome!!  I made a banner for the Candy Bar using the Big Dreams Embroidery Candy banner and the Heart banner.  I used multiple colors because the candy bar had all the colors of the rainbow in it.  :)

 And of course had to get in One Hello Kitty candy in there.

 Ashley did a great job putting the candy bar together.  She separated the skittles (with the help of niece Jordana).  And made taffy kabobs!  It looked awesome!

 There is the Sofia banner I made, also from Big Dreams Embroidery.  I just love their alphabet banner!!

 They had a bouncy house there!  I've always wanted to jump in a bouncy house.  And I did!!  LOL  It was HILARIOUS!!  There were two other adults in there as well, and we were bouncing our hearts out.  LOL  Yes, I am totally a big kid.  :)

 Here is Ashley and Heather.  They're just too cute!

And here's the Louisiana family.  It's so cool to see how much all the kids have grown.

Candy Heart Banner... And a Surprise!

 For the past few days I've bee working on this candy with hearts banner for my niece's baby shower.  They're having a Candy Bar for it, so I thought this would be cute!  It's another cute banner from Big Dreams Embroidery.

 I just love how the candy turned out.  I think I need to get a little better on my color combinations though,  I love how the Hello Kitty candy one turned out.

 I also received a great surprise in the mail!  I entered the L&L Hawaiian BBQ HIC (Hawaiian Island Creations) sweepstakes for July.  I received an email from L & L a few weeks ago that said I was a winner, but they never had my name on their fb wall, so I thought it was a hoax at first.  But today, to my surprise, there was a package for me in the mail!

For those who know me, I just love dragons!  So the shirt was perfect.  The shorts are HUGE, they're a size 42. LOL  I don't know anyone who is a size 42.  Do the kids wear their pants that big??  Phil can put them on over his jeans and there is still a ton of room!  LOL

Gave me the giggles today!  :)

Letter Banner and kitty...

 I have a new niece on the way, so for her baby shower, I made a banner using the new alphabet banners from Big Dreams Embroidery.

 Since my niece is a big fan of Hello Kitty, I made the banner for her little one using Hello Kitty Material that I found at JoAnn's.  I love Hello Kitty! 

 The letters are so easy to do, and they look really nice once they have been stitched out!!

 I hope that they will like it!  I think I need to make myself one using some Star Wars material that I found at JoAnn's!

Last week we found this cute kitty at work that I named Julius (Orange Julius, get it?).   He was in our wood pile out in the back, and he was yelling really really loud whenever anyone would go back to see him.  It was funny, it was like he wanted you to see him, but he then he remembered he was supposed to be afraid of you.  LOL  I think he just needed a really mommy.

Luckily, one of my friends found a home for him, and I hear he was really happy to be there.  I'm so glad when kitties find new homes.

A day to play with my beads

 Today I took the day off from work cause I just needed a day off to play.  I was going to sleep in, but when you have cats they have other ideas.  So  I was up early sorting beads and decided to play with my beads today instead of my embroidery machine.

Here are some of the things I was working on today:

 I love the sun!  These beads I found at Beverly's, they are just so fun and happy and on the flip side there is a moon!

 The lanyard above was a request from a friend of mine.  She wanted something in Patriotic colors, and since most of my bead collection is in the basement somewhere, I went out to buy some blue beads.  I like how it came out.  I found the big blue heart bead at the flea market awhile ago, and the red and silver findings I found at the bead show last weekend.

 Today was also my beachy themed jewelry day.  I just love all things that have to do with the sea.  I spent a lot of time at the beach when we were kids, so there are a lot of really fond memories of spending the late afternoon going to the beach while our parents were surf fishing.

 I found these little bobbers at Cabela's on our last trip to Reno.  I just had to use them in a pair of earrings. 

 And these things are called spoons.  I think they are just too cool and remind me of many pairs of earrings that I've owned in the past.  Plus I remember someone asking me one time why I like earrings that look like fishing tackle.  So of course I had to find a way to use them in jewelry.

 They make so many cool colors!  Love the silver/teal colors of these spoons.  Now I want to take a trip out to Scheel's to get more!!

And lastly, my nephew has wanted my bullet earrings/charms in red.  And my flea market lady never had them.  I was so excited to see them at the bead show last weekend, so of course I scooped them up!!  One actually is just red glass, and the other has a fire polished sheen to it.  You can't really tell with the photos. 

I really need to invest in a mini photo studio!!

That's all my creations for today.  Tomorrow we will be on to embroidery!!

Embroidered Owl and University of Super Villains

Today I actually got to use the owl applique on a garment.  I bought this jumper for my future niece a couple of weeks ago, and just thought they were a little plain.  So I decided they needed a little decoration.  And the owl fit perfectly!!

 (Yes, I think I need to take a better photo too).  LOL

 I think she's so darn cute and sparkly!  I just love how she turned out.  I might embroider "Lil' Hoot" on the back, but I'm waiting to hear if my niece is actually going to be a niece and not a nephew.  LOL

 I also embroidered the owl on a bib.  I think that turned out too cute!  I'm going to embroider her in different  colors within the next couple of days.  And I want to see what other designs she has to embroider.  I did find a cute turtle the other day, turtles are always cute.

And her's the blue owl close up.  I really like this owl!

 

So, last weekend we were driving around downtown and I saw this hanging from one of the bank buildings.  How cool is that!!  I tried to google what this could possibly be, but nothing yet.  Hmmm, will have to check it out!  Maybe it's Dr. Horrible??  LOL

Embroidered Owls and new necklace

 One of my nieces is very fond of owls. So I found this great program on etsy by artapli.  She has a lot of great designs on her site, and I really loved these owls!  The design comes with 5 owls in 7 different sizes.  I think that is so awesome!  I just love how she included all the designs.  Plus she included a free design in my purchase.  I know I'll be purchasing designs from her again!

 I'm really starting to like this applique embroidery.  I was a bit fearful at first, not knowing what I'm doing, but now that I'm getting more and more used to doing it, it's really very easy to do!

I'm also working on some jewelry.  I posted a necklace I made for my sister-in-law awhile back, and one of my friends said she wanted to order one.  And I took it to work, and my friend at work wants me to make her more jewelry. 

Now I'm getting inspired to create more things.  Check back to see what is next!

Hillbilly wine glasses & the gun show

 So, we saw these glasses when we were in Reno a few months back, they call them Redneck Wine Glasses.  We thought they were really cool because a friend of ours always drinks wine out of a mason jar.  So we bought one.

Then while in Beverly's the other day, they had a video on how to make them.  And of course, I had to come home and find the parts to make them. Cause that's the way I roll.

They're really easy to make, just find some E-6000 and you're pretty much all set.  Just love it that we can make them now!

 Last Saturday we went to the Gun show.  I love going to the Gun show cause I can find so many different cool things there.  I just LOVE the ninja t-shirt, so I had to buy it. 

 This one booth had these really cool patches.  I have to find something to put them on.  They are backed with Velcro, so I just have to sew the other part of the velcro on them.

And I found these really cool bracelets there too.  They're leather with fun crystal studs on them.  I just think they're so fun!!  My friends think I'm turning into a biker chick.  ;)

I get questioned a lot about going to a gun show, yes, they sell guns there, no, you can't take them home right then and there, they follow the law, there is still a 10 day waiting period to take them home.  You have to go through a transfer dealer to pick it up after that 10 day period.  I love going cause I can find a lot of tools to craft with, and there is always jewelry and stuff to see.  In actuality, I usually purchase more than my bf does when we go to these now.  LOL  If you haven't gone, you really should check one out.

X-Factor Auditions

 Yesterday my friends Debi, Joanne, and my step-daughter Ashley and I went to see the X-Factor auditions at the Oakland Coliseum.  Debi went to the auditions for America's Got Talent, and she invited us to go along to the X-Factor ones. 

The auditions were a lot of fun to watch, and it was so very interesting to see how they film things for the tv show.  And it was cool to be a part of the Live audience. 

We were lucky that they gave out actual tickets for the audition, so we didn't have to wait in line once we waited in line for the tickets. (Ok, I didn't officially wait in the ticket getting line cause I was getting lunch). So, we got to find a bit of shade, and have some lunch. 

I thought it was interesting that they had a dress code, and so many rules on what you could and couldn't bring into the audition.  Again, we were lucky because we were allowed cellphones, and they let everyone tape the judges walking into the arena.  But asked us to put them away once taping began.  My friend Debi was next to where they walked in, so she got some great photos.

 

The judges talking.

 Demi Lovato and Simon walking in.

L.A. Reid, Demi Lovato, Brittney Spears, and Simon Cowell

Simon signing autographs and taking photos with the audience.

I thought it was so nice of Simon to take time to greet some of the audience members.  I thought he was really a very nice guy.   He really treated the performers with respect, not really mean like they showed him on Idol.  I really did enjoy watching the taping of the show.

What I thought was interesting was how much input the audience has on who they choose to go through.  But they said to us a few times that we're the ones who are going to buy the music, and that helps them to make their decisions.

I can't wait to see the actual show to see how they will edit everything together.

Chutebox

So I finally bit the bullet (ha ha ha) and put my earrings on Chutebox.  It's a site that one of my friends has created, and I thought I'd try it out and list a pair of earrings on there.  I'm actually going to list more items as the week goes along.  But these are the first pair of earrings that I'm listing.

It makes me nervous wondering if I am putting the right prices up, so we'll see if they sell.  My Etsy shop will be back up and running in a couple of days or so too. 

Will be interesting to see if anything will sell!  ;)