Fabulous Finds Friday - The Pilot

No, I'm not featuring a pilot this week, I'm actually starting something new (in the hopes it will stick and get picked up for many seasons to come). I'm calling it... (drumroll please)...
FABULOUS FINDS FRIDAY!
Here's the idea - I'm going to feature a fabulous Etsy shop each Friday! I'm going to draw on my personal experiences as not just an Etsy shopowner, but also an Etsy customer!
I had this great shop lined up for today and then it dawned on me - I should probably ask them if they're ok with it first! I mean, who wouldn't love a glowing recommendation, but I've gotta make sure they're ok with me using some of their pictures first.
So here we are at the First Weekly Fabulous Finds Friday.
And I haven't got my stuff together.
It would make more sense to wait until next week, when I'm more prepared to post, but that's not my style. Patience has never been one of my strengths. So here I am, rambling about absolutely nothing (well not nothing - an idea, but that's about it).
I did contact the shop I wanted to feature (about 10 minutes ago) and then realized they are on vacation for the weekend. Well, if I do get permission from them you can expect a belated FABULOUS FINDS FRIDAY (the saturday edition).
Stay tuned...
and have a great weekend everyone!

Rings!

I finally got about 25 of my ~150 new rings photographed. Whew! That's only about half of what I wanted to accomplish today, but it's funny how I get so much less done on our "free-days" at home (no preschool Tuesday or Thursday) than our busy days. Here's a sneak peek:

My focus is on bigger, chunkier rings lately!

I'm also working on ideas for my March special - maybe a discount on green things in honor of St. Patty's Day? I'm open to suggestions!

Almost Forgot!

Really quick note - I just want to say a big CONGRATULATIONS to Cornelio Mallare for winning last week's giveaway on http://www.mystructuredchaos.blogspot.com !
I can't wait to see which rings they pick out!
I'm working on more giveaways in the coming weeks, so keep checking here for more info!

Happy Margarita Day!

If I hadn't "fanned" Jimmy Buffet and Margaritaville, I never would have realized that....

Today is National Margarita Day!

How do you like yours?

Here's an awesome link with tons of margarita recipes!

http://www.margaritatexas.com/recipes/

Enjoy!

P.S. I know I've slacked off the last week or so on the blog BUT I had to get caught up from everyone in the house being sick. Look for more fun facts, tips, tricks, etc, etc... coming soon!

What a Week!

As the week comes to a close, I want to thank all of my new followers for joining me, and thank all of the people that entered my giveaway over on

http://www.mystructuredchaos.blogspot.com/ .

I can't wait to find out who the lucky winner is!

Anywho... I'm finally getting back up to speed after being knocked out by the flu. Matthew also finally had a day of preschool - the first in over a week! The snow, holiday, and parent-teacher conferences kept him home with momma for some TLC.

I did manage to get some of my new earrings photographed - I'll get them listed over the next week and I think you'll be happy to see some brighter spring colors making an appearance.

Here's a sneak peek at a couple of my faves:

Thanks for stopping by, oh and don't worry - If you didn't enter my giveaway head on over to Structured Chaos' blog today - the contest ends tonight so there's still time to enter!

On the Mend (Thanks to my Mom!)

I wanted to share something that has been a staple for me the past week - my mom's recipe for spiced tea! I never realized how loaded with sugar it was until she gave me the recipe, but I can tell you this - I couldn't have survived the flu without it!

This stuff helped soothe my throat, calm my cough and comforted me. I've loved it for years and finally got the recipe out of her.
Mix the following ingredients together and store in an airtight container (my mom always used canning jars). Use 1-2 spoonfuls per cup of boiling water. It makes a great Christmas gift dressed up in a pretty container, too!

MOM'S SPICED TEA
~ 2 cups instant tea granules
~ 2 cups tang
~ 2 cups sugar (whoa!)
~ 1 package of lemon kool-aid
~ 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
~ 1/2 tsp. cloves
(another version doubles the cinnamon and cloves)

Try it and I know you'll like it! I didn't worry too much about the sugar/calories since I was so sick I wasn't eating anything else!

Enjoy!

So I Thought This Was Cute..

And just had to share.

My 3 year old just loves Wubbzy. Today he was watching the Valentine'e episode that we Tivo'd for him & it had something to do with Cupid and kisses. He told me "mommy, some kisses are yuck". So I asked his which kisses are yuck? And he tells me:

"The ones when they have the ballerina stuff on makes it yuck"

So does this mean he's been smoochin' the girls at preschool?

Want to Win a Couple of My Rings???

Head over to http://www.mystructuredchaos.blogspot.com/ and enter to win!

She's got a lovely blog with tons of information, and to top it off she's hosting a giveaway from my shop this week! The lucky winner gets to pick 2 of their favorite rings from my shop!

I'll ship them out and VOILA! 2 free rings!

Back in the Saddle Again.........

After a week with the flu I'm starting out today with the goal to get caught up on my blog, facebook, email, twitter, etc, etc, etc. My head is still pretty "foozy-woozy" (as my son would say) and I've almost completely lost my voice so today all anyone will hear out of me is the clickety-clack of the keyboard. Yesterday my mom and I put my new and improved booth layout to the test at the Vendor Blenders craft show. The booth looked great (imho) but the record snowfall kept the monthly flea market next door closed, and many visitors away from downtown Fort Worth. At least I got some quality time in with my mom, since we don't see as much of each other now that I'm not working & she's not watching Matthew for me. Here's a couple of pics:

My booth

My new improved earring display (homemade!)


Ring and bracelet displays

view from my booth

View from the loading dock down towards the entrance

I'm not sure if I'm up for another show anytime soon (maybe later this year) so everything I worked so hard on to fill my display will be getting listed in my Etsy shop soon! My goal for this week is to get 50 of my 200 new rings listed (photographed, descriptions written, listed, put in inventory). I've also got about 50 new pairs of earrings (some I've got multiples available!) that will go up sometime this month.

I know there was something else I wanted to say, but this head's getting too foozy-woozy to concentrate so we'll save it for another day (If I can remember it!). Have a wonderful Valentine's Day!

Making Progress but Way Behind

So I'm making progress getting ready for my next show - here are some pretty rings from my green collection. You can see I'm still lovin' lime this year!

Next up are black & white. So far I've picked the beads and stones I want to use.

This is as far as it goes today, though. With a sick kid and hubby the past week I've fallen WAY behind on getting things done around the house. I need to spend a couple of hours updating my shop, too. I LOVE Etsy, but man is it time-consuming updating all 100+ listings to reflect shipping charges going back to normal after a long holiday sale. I'll also be setting up my shop for a huge clearance - moving out the old (discounting 20 items each week) to make room for new styles. The good news for my customers is that it may take me a while (into tomorrow probably) to update all of my listings so if they grab something before I get it changed they still get the free shipping one more day! (and I only do free shipping promos like twice a year!)