A Few of my Favorite Things . . .

One thing I can't stand doing is putting away my holiday crafts! I love homemade items. But every year, I pack them away until the next time. Some of these items I made SO long ago, they could probably be considered vintage by now. Seriously.

The wooden reindeer were made by simply painting them all a solid brown and then splattering white paint on each one which makes each one unique from the others. A small hole drilled in the tops and twigs from the bushes outside, wahlah, reindeer! Complete with Rudolph with his nose so bright, guiding the sleigh. Some of the twigs have broken over the years but I refuse to go outside and get new ones. One or two deer were chewed by previous pets, but I don't care, I still love them. The trees were just as easy. Painted green with white spots and inserted in red bases. Easy!

Stitching has always been one of my favorite crafts and I especially like primitive stitching. The tree is made on perforated paper carefully cut down into 7 squares that fit snuggly into the blocks which have carved out centers. The blocks are painted a darker red and made to look antiqued. The Santa picture is also done on perforated paper and framed with a barn wood frame. Perforated paper is SO easy to work with, no hoop required, even holes for easy counting and keeping track of stitches. I highly recommend giving it a try!

Lastly but just as important to me are the stained glass pieces my hubby made! He does incredible work. Done the good old fashion way! Two Christmas fans in stands, done with red, white and green glass. A Santa moon that I hang in the window each year is one of my all time favorites! Then, there's two stained glass lamps that I do leave out all year round. Take special note of the maroon colored lamp made with special flaked glass! It's so beautiful. Also, I made the yo-yo runner it sits on. The blue and white lamp sits on a doily I purchased at a flea market and was handmade by someone, but not me! The Santa at the base was made by my Mother! It is knitted and bound to be a wonderful vintage item.

Day after

Hi!

I hope everyone had a great holiday! It's such a busy time of the year and then I'm not sure what to do next when it's all over!

Ended up driving an hour both ways to return a present today. I would have rather stayed home, it was so busy! I don't like crowds. I can't wait to go out again and not have the crowds.

Now I have to get ready for a New Year's Day party at my house. I'd rather be busy doing paper beads! Soon, I'll be able to relist my map bracelets on Etsy and get started listing new items. I'm looking forward to it, but for another week, it will all have to wait.

Stay safe!

Christmas Stuff

I finally wrapped my gifts today! Finally! I used all metallic wrapping paper. I like that stuff. My friend, Jennie from http://www.sosorosey.etsy.com/ made me special package tie-ons and they worked out great! Plus, I had my Christmas trees with stands to tie-on, too. Sorry my photos suck, but I really do like how they worked out.

House

"Is this an Intervention? It's a little late, since I'm not using drugs anymore. I am, however, still hooked on phonics."

Dr. Gregory House

S & H Green Stamp Earrings!

I love trying new things and these worked out great! Strips of genuine S & H green stamps, rolled, glued and heavily coated, then made into earrings! I coated these so much, they have the look and feel of porcelain! You can see more photos in my Etsy shop, www.RunsWithScissors4.etsy.com.

Speaking of selling. I've been accepted at HandmadeFuzion, which is a juried place to sell handmade items! Apparently, I was accepted back in Sept. but didn't know it! I was surprised this morning when I received an email asking if they could use me as a featured seller and to answer some questions. In my famous smarty attitude, I answered some of the questions seriously until I got to the question "where do you show your items?" and I answered "on Etsy, since you did not accept my application". LOLOL! Imagine my surprise when the owner of the site wrote back and said she has me in her database as a seller. So, I got busy selling!

Also, I signed up to sell on Artfire! I did this before I knew I was accepted to Fuzion, so now I have four shops. Whew. Four shops, two street teams, a blog and a Pez website. I better get organized!

Sneak Preview - New Paper Beads for 2009

This is another new design I've been working on. Hourglass shaped beads with moving parts. I used a jump ring around the center of the bead and love how they worked out.

I used antique copper again, matched the jump ring to the bead caps and used a topaz glass cube. What do you think?

Black dots

Here are the black dot beads made for the EtsyBead Theme Week that is Little Black Dress. I think they are perfect for this theme! Check out my Etsy shop for details and sales!

New design paper beads

Made to look like little sundresses, these beads are smaller at the top and larger at the bottom. They will stand on their own if you want them to. These are suitable for bracelets, a necklace, earrings and other projects. Stay tuned, I will be adding another set of these in black tomorrow.

Puzzle piece earrings

I decided not to give up on my idea for puzzle piece earrings. I was able to find a cute little Winnie the Pooh kids puzzle at the local dollar store and gave it another try! I like them. I think I'll look for some small Mary Engelbreit puzzles, they are nice and colorful.

Paper Bead Bracelet

It seems such a long time since I blogged! I finally took some time to do something for myself today. I made a bracelet!! I love how it turned out.

Using two new bead designs that I'll be introducing to my shop next year, I used grey agate beads with antique copper bead caps along with my paper beads. The paper beads were made from wallpaper and are big and chunky! Plus, they have my favorite color in them, purple.

I finished off the bracelet with this wonderful box clasp with a large crystal. I am not really pleased with the clasp, I like how it looks, but it's a bit hard to get on because of a safety feature it has. As long as I take my time and show a little patience, I can get it on one handed. For that reason, I don't think I'll ever make a bracelet to sell with this clasp on it!

Weird!?!?

Does anyone else think this is a strange fortune to get out of a fortune cookie? I kid you not. I kind of feel ripped off! LOL! Although it makes me think someone in that factory has a sense of humor!

More Map Bracelets

I had another order for two more custom map bracelets. These were done in antique copper and I love how they worked out and hope the customer likes them, too!

Again, I will be taking these out of my shop around Dec. 11 and not putting them back in until next year. I won't know what to do with myself and all the time I will have on my hands. I'm done making Christmas beads now and am starting with a few other beads so I have something to put in my shop after Christmas. And I'm working on a new idea, that I hope works out.

More Christmas Tree Earrings

I made these for myself today, they are smaller than the other ones I usually make. I, also, made another pair of larger ones that I listed on Etsy tonight.

I like the green ones the best, they are dark green with bits of gold throughout them.

Paper Tree Beads

I received a convo from a fellow Etsian, friend and customer that purchased some of my Christmas tree beads! She sent a photo along to show me what she has done with them and I wanted to show everyone else what can be done with them. She's made package ornaments!Thanks Bea! You did a great job and I'm so pleased at how they look and thanks for sending me the photo!