Missing You Already

It's been a week since we all loaded up the cars and departed from New Orleans. While I don't miss the humidity and the funk that permeates every corner of The French Quarter (if you've been, then you know what the funk smells like), I do miss that place. I attempted to make some cafe au lait yesterday. It was a decent attempt, but a bit more involved than just ordering it at the to-go window of Cafe du Monde.

The scenery in Northwest Arkansas is lined with beautiful mountains and trees, but I miss the scenery of the French Quarter. The wrought iron balconies, the colorful shutters, the Mississippi River with its bridges and barges, and the history. My camera decided not to work while I was there, but thankfully The Sweet Boy brought his along with him and I was able to capture some of the shots you see here.

For more pictures, visit my Flickr account.

To Plan Ahead

In preparation for my move, I made quite a handful of new necklaces over the past couple of days. I figure that the next week and a half will be shot with moving and unpacking so the best thing would be to stock up so I can continue to list new items so my store doesn't get neglected. No new designs were involved, just lots of lovely new colors. Keep an eye on my shop this week so you can snatch these up before someone else does!



(Psst - all of my Longhorn fans, this necklace is about as burnt orange as it gets. This would be perfect to add a feminine touch to the upcoming football season.)

Treasury Sweetness

I've been quite blessed as far as Etsy goes during the past couple of weeks. I sold 7 necklaces while I was away on vacation (shall I travel more?) and am currently a part of three four treasuries. I truly am greatful for all of the wonderful people out there who showcase the works of art of other people. I've had trouble browsing the Etsy Treasuries this week due to so many of them being created recently. The first one I found was a BEAUTIFUL creation by DancingMooney:The same necklace was also featured in a treasury dedicated to birds created by boutikihut:
And then one of my bracelets was featured in a sea related treasury by sosorosey:
Over in Treasury West I found this little gem by ElegantIntentions:Just thought I'd share my bit of happiness this week.

Coffee = fuel

Since returning home from New Orleans, I've been nothing but sleepy. I haven't wanted to get out of bed in the morning, I've been taking naps just after work, I even contemplated a 20 minute nap during lunch today, but instead chose to go grocery shopping. I just spent 30 minutes on the couch snoozing and I'm still exhausted. I'm hoping one of the things I brought home from The Big Easy (seen above) will perk me up a bit later. I plan on sipping some coffee with hot milk (the closest thing I have to a cafe au lait) out on the front porch.

I'll probably be able to sit on my new front porch by next weekend. We get the keys to the place on Monday which will allow the Sweet Boy and I to start moving stuff over during the evenings. We'll move the big stuff over next weekend. I'm most excited about getting back to a normal routine. I'm tired of walking around boxes, stubbing toes on stacks of boxes, banging needs on piles of boxes. I'm ready to be moved in and box free (although I'm not going to lie, dumpster diving for boxes at work today was mildly entertaining).

I find myself peeking at my beads, longing to make some necklaces to list on Etsy. Perhaps that is a sign to get my bootie over to the table and start creating.

And with that, goodnight.

Packy McPackertons

I packed up much of my crafty area stuff tonight. I almost packed my beads and yarn - but I couldn't. Those will stay out until just before we start moving (which is only in a week). One advantage to moving your crafting area is you really get rid of a bunch of junk. I had a ton of scraps of paper, baggies, etc that I was planning on reusing. I needed to be honest with myself. I was not ever, NEVER going to use that stuff again. So into the trash it went.

I've been listing quite a bit of stuff on Craigslist. Yarn that won't get used, scrapbooking stuff that won't get used, sporting goods stuff that has never been used, and some computer junk. It's amazing what people will buy from you. That is money in the moving fund as far as I'm concerned.

Since I'm blogging again, I guess it's pretty obvious that I'm back from New Orleans. I've never been great about writing about my trips. It was fun, the French Quarter is beautiful, the food is amazing, and the cafe au lait and beignets are tasty. Perhaps I'll post some pictures soon.

Vacation

In 2.5 days I'll be hitting the road with My Sweet Boy for a trip down South to The Big Easy. I'll return Monday evening (July 14). You are all more than welcome to buy the goodies in my shop and contribute to my moving back to town fund but all items will not ship out until Wednesday, July 16.

Just letting you all know!

Shop Update this weekend

I'll be updated my shop with three new versions of one of my newest necklace designs, "Falling Leaves". I love making this necklace as it allows me to use some of my fancier beads that don't really fit into my bracelets. I could make them all day, unfortunately, I'm out of leaf charms. Until I find more, I suppose I'll have to work on other things... like packing my house for the move.

Keep your eyes on my shop for the update.