my personal jewelry designer

I'm taking a break from working on my custom mirror. It's pretty big so I have to do it on the floor. My back and knees are killing me. I've been trying to stop buying stuff till I start selling stuff, so it's been awhile since I've really gotten to work on something. It feels good.

I'm so, so excited! I asked my wonderful friend Dian from Holmes Craft to make me some earrings, and she listed them for me today. Holy cuh-rap, they're absolutely gorgeous! I was so giddy. Not only is she incredibly good at what she does, but she's the sweetest thing ever. Working with her is a blast.

She did such a good job. I sent her some pictures of some earrings I liked, but wanted in different colors. I'm pretty sure it was confusing as hell. But she did it all perfectly. Very rarely do things turn out exactly like you planned.

So yay for earrings! I can't wait to get them :) Go visit her store! You can have your very own personal jewelry designer just like me. Actually, on second though, she's mine. Find your own :)

xoxo

you are my candy girl

So I was browsing Etsy for my Spoonful tonight, and the front page had wedding themed items on it. Gag me with a spoon. I'm so bitter. I just keep thinking things like, "Don't waste your money" and "He's a lying butthead". There was this thing that said "I'll love you forever" and I actually snorted out loud. Yeah friggin' right. Lies, all of it.

Bitter much? Only when other people are happy. I'm kidding. I am bitter though. I was at Michael's today getting stuff for my new serving trays, and they have this little DIY wedding section. Christ almighty...apparently it was "rub the divorce in Michelle's face" day. There were like 812 (I like that number for some reason) people in the aisle. All chattering and giggling. I had the almost uncontrollable urge to run down the aisle screaming, "DON'T DO IT!" and tip all their carts over. It's been an interesting day. The fact that I'm pretty sure he left for deployment and didn't call first doesn't help matters...Twist the knife, dude; twist the knife.

Anyway, I really didn't get on to write a bitter things-do-not-end-happily-ever-after post. Etsy made me do it with their sappy wedding crap.

I was reading this blog earlier today and the girl was talking about how she was going to do a shop of the week because "she blogs a lot". Holy crap. I do a shop of the day. The addiction is spiraling out of control. AND NOW, sweet Beth has offered me a discount on the sushi set. I want it so bad it makes my teeth hurt. Buying stuff makes me feel better. I know it's unhealthy. I took all the classes in college. Too bad knowing better usually doesn't mean doing better.

I got my tank tops from Aeropostale a few days ago. I ordered one of every color. Actually, two of some colors...FIRST of all, they were like 30% off. SECOND, I wear a tank top, sports bra, and yoga pants everyday. Because I am lazier than sin. So, you see; I needed those tank tops. I couldn't do laundry fast enough to keep up with my tank top habit before! Now I need more sports bras...

You know what I really want to do? I want to make a treasury on Etsy. But seriously...they have a limit. I don't have the patience to sit around and wait for someone else's to expire so I can pounce on the spot like a rabid tiger. Can tigers be rabid? I really think that would be fun though. Too bad they make it so danged hard.

I keep flipping back and forth between here and Etsy. I'm still Spoonful shopping. Could someone please take the wedding crap down? Seriously. And holy mother of God, can anyone afford $250 earrings?? And if you can, will you adopt me?

Well, I've found my Spoonful. It's from Pure Innovation. It's so me. This is pretty much a representation of all the items I own.

I can't believe this is hand painted! I can't imagine being able to do that. There are a lot of other beautiful things in the shop. Another favorite of mine was the Custom Block Letters. Check those out too.

I have to go stain some more things now. I got smart and bought those cheapo sponge brushes so that I can just trash them after I stain. Not more goopy, oily, sticky, nasty stain to try to clean out of my beautiful paintbrushes!

today is a shopping day!!!!

I love shopping days :) Especially when I know I'm going to make money on what I buy! My cousin wants me to do a custom piece for her. She wants a hook rack for the wall of her boy's bedroom. I guess backpacks and jackets always end up on the floor. I'm really excited. I love custom pieces! It's gonna be so cute. I'm gonna find some blue, red, and yellow tiles. The theme of their room is space and astronauts and stuff. I'm going to have a few tiles made that have stars, planets, and spaceships on them so I can scatter them throughout the piece.

I'm going to skip merrily through the stores. Too bad I can't buy everything I want at one place though. There's going to be at least 3 stores on my agenda today. Maybe more if I can't find exactly what I want at one of my "go-to" places. I have a tendency to stand in the aisles staring at things for a long time too. I might not be home til midnight...

One of my very best friends also wants me to make a tray for her. She likes the brown one I already sold, so I need to get stuff for her tray too. My credit card is gonna be smoking by the end of the day :)

Funny story...I'm in limbo at the moment. Since I'm getting a divorce, I'm living with my parents till September when I move in with Tammy in NC. I can't go before then cause she's still in a lease. So, anyway, I have my craft table upstairs in the game room. That's what I call it. It's what it was when we were little. Now it's the treadmill/old TV/telescope (don't ask...)/my craft table room. It's at the top of the stairs and there aren't any walls on the stair side. So basically every time you come up the stairs, you can see into the room through the railing. Not sure if that made sense.

Back to my funny story. I get off track a lot. All the bedrooms are upstairs in my parent's house, so you walk by that room everyday. I have all my finished stuff set up and I always see Mom stopping in there all the time to look at stuff. She doesn't work on Fridays, so yesterday I got back from walking Jers and she was in the kitchen. She yells at me as soon as the door opens, "Michelle! Come in here and tell me what you think!" She's always moving stuff or painting something, and we have relatives coming so that's been increased exponentially. So I figured she just did that again. So I go in the kitchen and she's got two things from my table set up on the counter. She was like, "I'm just going to buy these!" When Dad got home he said, "Why didn't you just take them? They already sit up there." He's got jokes. Oh, Dad.

So she's got this candle holder and a mirror that I've made. They actually look really good. She's draped like this fake vine thing around the mirror. I dunno where she gets this stuff. So I told her it looked good. Then she whips out this 4"x4" ceramic tile that I had in my stash and she goes, "And can you put this in the middle of the mirror so it's more decorative than mirror-ish." The woman cracks me up. Having that craft table there is my best advertising ploy ever! And I didn't even mean to :)

Well, I was passing the time while my hair dried a little. If I try to dry it right away, it takes like an hour. So I have to let it air dry for a bit before I take the hair dryer to it. Not that anyone really cares about that. But I've got shopping to do!

sugar fix

Today I need a lot more than sugar...but I'm nothing if not true to my word, so I will post my Spoonful of Sugar despite the crushing need to hide forever. It makes me pretty happy to find cute things, so I guess I get something out of it too.

I happened to find this next item on the recently listed screen of Etsy. When you feel like crap, it helps to watch them just flash across your screen. So much prettiness. It's like getting distracted by something shiny. Then, I have this game I play where I see how fast I can click on something and add it to my cart. Bonus points if I've paid in under a minute...Just a little mental health tip from me to you.

So here the cutest thing I've ever seen besides my puppy:

It comes from Renee's Funky Country. She's got all kinds of adorable hand painted art and signs (lots that you can customize!). The crosses are stunning, so be sure to check those out as well. You can visit her shop here: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5509648

Her stuff makes me want to pinch some one's cheeks. The face cheeks, folks. I'm not quite that desperate yet.