Fun with Beads

I took a break from Christmas Prep today to play with some beads.

The colors were so soothing and pretty.

It was just the break I needed.

Now.....

Back to Christmas! lol

P.S.

Bracelete, Necklace, and Earrings will be in the shop soon.

xoxo

Cari 

Today

Here's what I'm working on today.

(they are all finished and in my shop)

Sweet little Easter Baskets. Perfect for party favors or a "special" little treat.

They are made with lots of German glass glitter and German silver glass glitter.

I'll have them finished up today and listed in the store first thing tomorrow with plenty of time to ship them to you for the Holiday.

xoxo

Cari

Beautiful Clutter

Beautiful Clutter

Just sitting at my (messy) desk and thought I'd snap a few inspirational photos.

Love me some Vintage velvet flowers!!

And of course, rhinestones, pearls, and glitter!

Come over and check out my new (this one will be leaving soon) blog.

aluckygirlsblog.blogspot.com

Have a lovely day

xoxo

Cari

I love all of my wonderful followers.....

and.... I love these tags from mycherrytree on etsy.

Valentines is almost here. Are you ready?

My blog is moving, come visit my new spot: aluckygirlsblog.blogspot.com

xoxo

cari

Last of the Christmas Swaps

O.K, I was going to post these pictures a few days ago and then...

I got sick! ugh!!! I never get sick. Anyways...

I did a fabulous Christmas stocking swap hosted by Cerri Campbell. My partner was the amazing Wanda Clark from theratspajama. Look at what I saw when I opened the (very large) box.

(Look at the items from Julie Collings etsy shop, LOVE the trees, Wanda dyed those herself!!)

O.K, let me say that I have been a part in some fabulous swaps before but seriously, all due respect to my previous partners, I've never seen anything like this before!!

Wanda got me some AMAZING things!!

I love, love, love the vintage trim and ribbons.

Look at how sweet she rolled up all of the little pieces of fabric, and the lovely appliqué flowers.

Are you drooling yet?!? I still am! Look at the rhinestones, and how cute are those little bottles filled with deliciousness!

Everything was is in my favorite colors and all of my favorite kinds of goodies! Sooooo many lovely buttons, I could just eat them up but, then I wouldn't have them anymore. LOL

Beautiful millinery and vintage beads and broken lovely vintage pearl necklaces.

Wanda sent me the neatest set of cards, they are small and lovely, they spell out the most wonderful words. I can't wait to use them to make a banner for my desk. Oh, and look at the beads!

O.K., crazy right!? To top it off, she sent me the most amazing vintage scarf of Italy, some beautiful vintage glass flowers, and a wonderful handmade tag.

I'm sorry it took me so long to get this posted,

I still have everything in the box and almost daily, I take each little bag of goodies out of the box and ooh and ahh over them again and again.

Lovely,

I feel very blessed.

xoxo

Cari

Another game of catch-up.

Here are some photos of a Christmas Stocking Swap that I recently participated in. It was hosted by the lovely Cerri from littlepinkstudio.

We were supposed to make a stocking! O.k.... I don't know how to work a sewing machine! I mean it, I won a wonderful sewing machine once and broke it, I took it and had it fixed and still can't work it.. I mean, I've even bought a few (yes, more than one) of those little tiny sewing machines so that I could sew through paper on tags, etc. Nope!! Can't work any of them.

I really don't know why I have such a problem with the machines. I mean I can work a blow torch and soldering iron competently, but a sewing machine?!?! Apparently not!

I do "hand-sew" fairly well though. So, long story less long (I mean the whole "long story short", ship has kind of sailed. LOL) Here is the stocking that I lovingly hand sewed.

I made the flower on the front detachable so that it can be worn as a brooch if desired. Here are some of the other goodies I stashed inside. My partner wanted pastel pink, blue, and green and she also mentioned that she loved mice, mushrooms, and food.

I had so much fun hunting around for lovely items to add to her stocking. I painted the inside of this little cut glass jar and scoured the area for vintage mice, to no avail :-(. I wasn't super lucky with the mushrooms either so I embroidered a small piece of linen with a sweet picture of a little girl surrounded by mushrooms. I got the image from Molliemakes magazine. I somehow didn't get a picture but it did turn out super sweet.

I also found a yummy box of mushroom cookies dipped in chocolate that I sent along with the other goodies. I had such a blast putting it all together. I hope she had just as much fun getting it. Tomorrow I will show you the mind blowing package that I received from my partner!!!

xoxo

Cari

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!!

O.k, Time for some resolutions.... again....

but first..... I've got to play a little catch up. I was in a wonderful Christmas ornament swap with HollDoll from my Marie Antoinette group and these are the absolutely stunning

ornaments that she sent me. Look at all of the work that went into them!! I mean seriously, the ball ornament must have 50 handmade fabric roses! wow!!

This snowman is so precious too. I just love here crown of lace and rhinestone buttons. Fabulous!

O.k.... so onto the Resolutions.....

hmmm. Well, there are always the old standbys.... get in shape, eat better, don't procrastinate

etc..... and of course, blog more! LOL O.k, I'm making a commitment. I'm going to blog more. (That's it!) I can't commit to more than "more" but I REALLY am going to try and blog more.

I should be able to do it this time, I've worked out all of the kinks. I've got a laptop now, AND I finally figured out how to put my pictures onto it! yay!! so...... no more excuses! Well.... just life, I guess but hey, I'm going to try. I miss blogging, I miss all of you, I miss all of the creativity in blogland. So... here I go again.

(These are the ornaments that I sent to my partner. We both loved glitter, silver, cream, white and pink. I hope she liked them, it was so much fun making them. )

Wish me luck. I wish you luck in all of your Resolutions too!

More swap catching up to come.

xoxo

Cari

A Bit of Good News

Not to long ago I received notice that I was going to be published again!

I was so excited!

(My picture is awful, click on the link on my sidebar to be taken to the actual printed version and to see my Halloween Ribbon)

When the magazine came I immediately scanned for my item. I didn't find it. Uh oh! I thought I must have missed it, so..... I scanned again (more carefully this time) still no item..... So... I sat down and scrutinized every page.... then, I found a Halloween ribbon that I made at the last minute and sent in with my first submission!! I was so surprised! I was a little disappointed (still totally honored though) because I thought that they were publishing something else. Well.... I continued to peruse this absolutely fabulous magazine Somerset Gallery and low and behold there was my second item (the one I had actually sent in this time).

I was beyond excited, to say the least!!

Hope you are all having an absolutely lovely summer!

xoxo

Cari

Anniversary Sale

Wow, time sure does fly!!

It was 2 years ago today that I opened up my "Goods" shop.

This was my very first banner

(click on image above to connect to my shop)

The shop has been a dream come true and, as a Thank you to all of my wonderful customers and blog followers, I'm having an Anniversary Sale.

Just enter the code "Happy2Years" in the coupon code spot at check out and you'll receive 20% off all of your items. Yeah!!!

I know I've been missing lately, It's been total chaos around here.I'll be back soon with swap photos and a surprise.

xoxo

Cari

Aprils Design Challenge

Every month I'm given a challenge. I've got to create something based on some form of inspiration. This month, the challenge was based on a color palette. Just happens to be my favorite color palette! yay! So.....

This being the month of Easter and all I created a little Easter Egg Box.

This is the "inspiration" color palette. Pretty close.

Hope you like it. Have a wonderful weekend.

xoxo

cari

Pretty Pearls

Just some "Bling" I've been working on.

My grandma left me some vintage rhinestone jewelery and one of the pieces she left me was a fabulous bracelet and necklace set made of these(above) links. The necklace was broken. Which means, no guilt when re-using all of the lovely little links.

Re-Organizing

Just a little crafty re-organizing. Here is a peek at my newly (almost finished) craft space. My work space is wedged between the second fridge and the furnace in the garage. But hey, you gotta do what you gotta do! right?!

Anyway, I couldn't take the yucky garage walls so I cracked open a can of "Ballet slipper Pink" paint. (I love that name don't you?)
And, what a difference a can of paint and a little re-organizing can do. Unfortunately, I've got lots of stuff piled behind these pictures still to be put away. I haven't put it all away yet because it looks so pretty, I don't want to mess it up.

Here's a close up of the shelf. Don't you love that antique German Prayer book. My daughter threatened to kill me if i cut it up. LOL

O.K. so back to the mess behind me. My husband is getting a little impatient so I thought I better hurry up and get some pictures of the niceness before it becomes messiness again.

It's fun to look at these pictures and see all of the neat little goodies I've gotten in swaps or the beauties I've created with the fabulous kits I've ordered.

(This, well..........ahhhhhh!!! right?

nothing else to say about this.)

Alright, so even my organized desk is still a bit unorganized but still inspiring!!

I've got a couple of post ideas brewing, I've got 2 swaps to show you and a little something else. I've got to work on them now because the kiddos are off for 9 days in 3 days. I better hurry!!!

xoxo

Cari

Fun Little Craft

Hi all, just a quick little post to show you what I've been up to.

Thank goodness for deadlines! Seriously?! If it weren't for deadlines I don't think I would get any crafting done lately. This sweet little box was my latest craft for the "More Paper than Shoes" forum. It was super fun to make and now I feel like I've accomplished something. Hope over to the blog by clicking on the icon to the right and see what all of the other artists have been up to.

Have a wonderful weekend.

xoxo

cari

Chunky Book Swap "Sneak Peek"

Here is a quick sneak peek at some pages I made for a "Chunky Book Swap" with the lovely Robin from Thrifty Miss Priss.

The theme is "Winter Whites"

I can't wait to see the wonderful book put together with all of the pages finally in place.I'll show you more when I get it.

P.S.

I couldn't find my cameras battery charger so I had to go out and buy a new one. Ouch!!

I did save the receipt because you know how it works. Tomorrow the other one will show up. (hopefully)

Also,

Christmas items are coming to my shops soon.

xoxo

Cari

Lucky Me!!

Wow!! I don't think I've ever been so lucky in my life.

The amazing Elyse from tinkered treasures was having a wonderful giveaway and I won!! The giveaway was called "Lucky me~Lucky You"

Here's a look at all of the amazing goodies she was giving away

What a coincidence that I'm luckygirlgifts and the giveaway was called "Lucky me~Lucky You"kinda like it was meant to be. She does such wonderful work. I've purchased the most adorable magnets from her. They arrived very lovingly packaged. If you want to get some of her cute stuff for yourself just check out her etsy shop.

I can't wait for my pretty package. Elyse, you are truly wonderful and not just because I won. You've always been so sweet and welcoming.

Show Me Your Crown

The lovely Andrea from Vintage Bella Studios is hosting a wonderful "Show Me Your Crown" party. Go on over and she has lots of links to other amazing bloggers who will show you their crowns too.

These are some of the details on the side of this crown.

I love the colors. Yummy!!

How could I resist? But, I just didn't have time to create anything new. So, I'll just have to "show you" two of the crowns I had lying around. I hope you like them. Here it is from the front. Our weather has been overcast for a few days so it's not easy to get a super picture.
Another little detail. I love this butterfly and the Rhinestones attached all over.

This is another of my chicken wire crowns but in a totally different color scheme. I found these old woven strips at the swap meet. They are only about 6inches long. I think they look nice folded over and glued into a fan shape.
Add a little bling and some mother of pearl buttons and lots of old lace and voila.

Well, there you have it. I hope you liked them. This was so much fun. I can't wait to check out what all of the other artists crowns look like. Thank you Andrea.