Happy 5th Anniversary!

It's hard to believe but today I am celebrating my 5th anniversary on Etsy.  My Etsy shop has taken me to places that at one point I could have only dreamed about.  Knowing that something I designed is being worn and loved by a woman across the world is something pretty special.  I've had so many lovely conversations with customers and I've been so happy to be part of their weddings, birthdays and Valentine's gifts or just a part of their everyday life.  I thank all of you for your wonderful support!

This spring I've introduced some gorgeous colours into my designs.  Bright yellows, corals and orange. Mint greens, periwinkle blue and turquoise.  A perfect way to add a splash of colour to your wardrobe.

• Colour Block necklaces.  So fashion forward and perfect for your summer!
• Stretch bracelets with glass beads and semi-precious stones in vibrant colours and sterling silver accents.
• Vintage glass jewel earrings in opaque brights.  
• My Lemon Cloud Necklace was in a design contest this month.  Although I didn't win it was fun to have been asked to participate and be a part of a group of jewellery designers from around the world. Thanks to all those that voted! ❤

To celebrate my anniversary please use this Coupon code: HAPPY5TH  to save 15% of your purchases. (excludes custom orders) 

Coupon expires April 28th, 2013. (11:59 p.m. EST)

Add some Colour to your life!

Let's celebrate spring and bring some colour back into our wardrobe.  I'm done with my drab black and grey t-shirts.  I just love the colours of spring.  Mint green, blues, corals, orange, pinks, neon brights. 

It's so easy with these stretch bracelets.  Just pop one on and you have instant colour. I've used materials such as premium glass firepolish beads from Czechoslovakia, semi-precious stones, sterling silver beads, premium cord and care in making. 

Mix and match.  Just pop one on and you have instant colour.

To celebrate spring I'm having a bracelet sale in my etsy shop.
BOGO Sale.  Buy one get the 2nd one (at same or lesser value) for 1/2 price.
Limited time offer.

Bunny Tales

As a nice diversion from my morning here are some pictures from my garden over the last couple of days.

As you can see he's pretty comfortable in our backyard.  In fact, he and his siblings have become playmates for our dog!  It's become a pretty leisurely chase around the garden now.

We're getting so close I'm sure before I know it he'll be expecting a proper dinner invitation.

I'm pretty sure I know who is eating our tulip leaves.

Sixteen Candles

Time is a funny thing.  I  remember my Mom telling me that when I get older time will just seem to fly by....and she was right.  Yesterday was my youngest daughter's 16th birthday.  How did that happen?!  When I turned sixteen my parents gave me a bouquet of roses and we've kept up the tradition with our girls.  These pink roses are the most spectacular and perfect for Sydney.

 We're so proud of all her accomplishments.  She's such a thoughtful and caring person, an amazing dancer, excellent student, and a fabulous daughter.  How lucky are we!!

Erica made Sydney this fabulous cake with the perfect Dr. Suess quote.  The world is at her doorstep and it will be so exciting to see where it takes her.

Happy Birthday Sydney!

Happy Spring!

I'm not sure what happened to March but it sure has come and gone quickly.  While I'm still trying to grapple with the idea of spring the Easter weekend is already before us.  The snow has melted in the front yard and glimpses of spring are starting to be seen as the first bulbs push themselves through the soil.  In the backyard there is still mounds of snow mixed with inches of wet, sloppy grass by the midday sun.  

Our backyard is visited daily by two or three local rabbits and our dog is most interested to greet them and as often as possible.  This makes for lots of paw wiping when she gets back in the house and that is a sure sign of spring.  I've noticed the birds singing.  I don't know if they have always been there and their voices muffled by the snow or they have just returned from a southern winter but it sure sounds nice. The garden is wet and brown but there is hope out and there and a sense of excitement as to the possibilities.  Spring is a very welcome sight to me.

Happy Easter!  

May you enjoy your weekend with some rest, sunshine and friends and family.

Paint Works Magazine

Last winter one of my lovely customers, Amy Mogish, asked me to make a custom eye glass chain for a project she was working on.  Amy had painted a beautiful wooden eyeglass case and she wanted me to make a coordinating chain for her eyeglasses.  She sent me the sweetest owl charm that she had painted herself and wanted me to attach to the back.  She also sent a couple of pictures of her painted owl for inspiration.  

Now her work can be seen in the latest Paint Works Magazine (April 2013).  You can even try your hand at making this project with her detailed step by step instructions.

Paint Works Magazine

Owl Be Seeing You by Amy J. Mogish.
Page 82-84.

I made the glass chain with denim blue and brown glass beads along with some copper beads.  All handwrapped onto copper wire and attached to antiqued copper cable chain.

So much fun to see this project in print.  I'm so happy for Amy and so happy I could be a small part of it.  You can find Paint Works Magazine at your local book or magazine shop.

Happy Valentine's Day!

 Mmm....the house has a wonderful warm, chocolate scent to it right now.

What better way to celebrate Valentine's then with some heart shaped brownies.

I think these strawberries might still need a little chocolate dipping.

Have a wonderful day!

Drawer by Drawer.

Well, I must say my new year plans are going along pretty smoothly.  If you knew what kind of week I've had you'd be pretty impressed (small kitchen fire, credit card fraud).  Really? What's next??!!

Anyways, my organization plans are slowly but surely happening.  Today's accomplishment...cutlery drawer.

Ok it seems pretty silly now that it was left for months because it actually took me less than 15 minutes to clean and sort.  I bought a new drawer organizer at Winner's last week and it worked out quite well - it even gives me an extra spot to keep those measuring spoons that we are always searching for.

It went so fast it actually left me some time to sort out the kitchen utensil drawer below it.  The bonus cleaning this drawer was that way in the back with the crumbs I found an earring I had lost a couple of months ago.  I had searched everywhere in the house - well, not the kitchen utensil drawer because who would think to look there for an earring?  I guess we should be lucky my earring didn't fall into somebody's dinner!

Ok so maybe kitchen renos are not in our budget right now but at least we can have an organized one in the meantime.

Looking Ahead at 2013.

The corner of the living room does look a little bare right now.  The tree is down and the decorations are packed away for another year.   Another year, another Christmas gone by.  A new year brings hope of something better, excitement of things to come and knowing to enjoy it day by day.

We have some big changes coming us to this year.  It's hard for us to believe that Erica will be moving out to University in nine months. Wow! How can that be?  By the end of this year it will just be the three of us at home and I'm sure that will be a bit of an adjustment to us all.   As quantity of time inevitably diminishes as the girls get older we want to make sure we have quality time together.  We'll have to work at continuing as many family dinners as we can and just spending time together.

I have some things I'd like to work on professionally.  I want to be more proactive with planning, sales goals and effective marketing.  I think to take things to the next level I do need to consider the business side of things in conjunction with the creative side.   To continue to be profitable and competitive I can't just follow every pretty bead I see.  I think sometimes beads to me are like squirrels to our dog Mabel. Beads!! Squirrel! (if you know what I mean!)

I want to start painting the walls again.  A few years ago, and before I opened my etsy shop, I was painting rooms all the time.  Paint chips and swatches could be constantly found taped to our walls as I considered future colours.  It's definitely time to do this again and I'm ready.

To do this I need to find a better balance of my time with work and our home.  One of my biggest goals this year is to organize and clean the house.  This goal will involve other members of the house but we're all ready to get rid of all the stuff we've accumulated over the last several years.  We've been in this house for 15 years now and it shows.  My mind thinks big when it comes to organization (everything cleaned in the next 2 weeks!!) but I know this will be a long term process.  Drawer by drawer, cupboard by cupboard.  The time spent will be time saved later on when you don't have to go searching through mounds of stuff to find things.  Most importantly for me though is that less clutter just makes for a calmer feeling.

Some sorted inspiration!  (Style at Home)

We started our organization plans off right by sorting and purging all our Christmas boxes.  We had decorations that haven't seen the light of day for years.  We still have a lot of Christmas boxes but they are labelled and everything in them is something we use. We are still missing a box of decorations that we could not find this year but I'm sure it will show up over the year when we tackle the basement.










I'd like to grow about 3 inches taller but while I wait for that to happen we will continue to walk more and eat healthy.  For me, I need to make sure to take the time for myself to do these things.

A picture from a beautiful walk we took at my parent's cottage over the holidays.

Happy New Year everyone.  Any plans for your year ahead?