Hold me back

Sur La Table is having a 75% off summer sale. Someone hold me back. I do not need more stuff.

Relaxation

It occurred to me sometime yesterday that I needed to STOP. I hit the ground running after finding out we were getting the new house and had not stopped for a break and it had been almost a month. I had packed, traveled, packed, moved and started to settle in and it had taken its toll on me. I was feeling stressed and it was making me feel not my best. I've spent a lot of time resting over the past couple of days. I managed to get a couple of boxes unpacked, but that's about it.

Because I haven't done much this week, I don't have much to say, but I did want to leave you with another picture from the new place. The item in this picture might be the thing that made me decide on this house. Let me introduce you to my new best friend - the claw foot tub. Yes, it's okay to be jealous - I would be if I were you.
I shall leave you with another picture. It seems that late in my 6th year, I was already a budding artist. I'm sure the Snopy (Snoopy) and Garfid (Garfield) have never been portrayed with such emotion. These were in a box I didn't know I had - along with many other art projects from the mid 80s.

Moving Complete

It's official, I'm blogging from the new place. Now I can quit talking about moving and start complaining about the mess of stuff in the new place. I don't think I knew I had as much stuff as I do. I knew the small kitchen at this place would be a challenge since my last kitchen was a bit larger than HUGE... however, it seems like all of the spaces are going to be a challenge. Ah well, I enjoy a good challenge.

I do have the kitchen functioning, well, as functioning as it needs to be for scrambled eggs, toast and coffee. The crock pot is cooking tonight's dinner, so I can't really say the kitchen is ready for a gourmet dinner, but soon... very soon. I also have my crafting corner almost up and running. It's good for making things but not completely all unpacked. The view above is the window above my crafting area. The entire room I'll be working out of is an old sleeper/sun porch. It's wall to wall windows that all open up when the weather is nicer for a great breeze. So far it's MUCH better than the view from my old crafting area, which was a wall.

I'll get more pictures up as the rooms start to take shape. I love this part of moving in!

One Hundred and Two

My Etsy sales broke 100 today - I'm at 102.

Thank you to my mom and sister (I would have NEVER started this if it wasn't for them), to Sacha who introduced Etsy to me, to AREtsy (you guys are SO supportive) and to my Etsy friends and fans for helping me along during this past year.

I couldn't have done it without all of you!

Tuckered Out

Guess what blog fans, I'm T-I-R-E-D. I spent half of yesterday cleaning up the new place, then the entire evening was spent moving a couple of truck loads and looking for a new TV (don't ask, I don't get why we need one either). Today I worked a full day up at the Arts Center and packed some boxes and moved another couple of loads. While my car doesn't fit as much as the Sweet Boy's truck, I feel like I took a lot over. I took over almost all of my clothes, all of our hanging pictures, the wine, some odds and ends that just needed to go, and some more kitchen stuff. It's finally looking like we're moving here in the old place.

I took out in my new front yard tonight and just listened. I didn't hear the fire trucks that I've grown used to living down the street from a new station, I didn't hear the motorcycles street racing down the highway and I didn't hear the jacob breaks of the 18 wheelers pulling into town. I just heard night sounds. Tree frogs, crickets, other night bugs, and quiet. It was nice, I'm really going to love the new place.

I received a few custom orders today and I just happened to pack up the crafting stuff a couple of nights ago. I'll get that moved over tomorrow and unpacked so I can get the order made and photographed by Saturday afternoon. My customers are first in line when it comes to my schedule, so moving can depend on the Sweet Boy while I craft away.

And with that, I listed the gem you see above tonight and goodnight.

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.

Stuff for the new place

It's official. The Sweet Boy and I (oh, and the Schmoo cat) move August 1 into the cutest Bungalow in town (pictured in a previous post). I was overly concerned that we would not be chosen since quite a few people were looking at the place. I had already come to the conclusion that it wasn't meant to be and we'd find something else. Thankfully, later on that day, I received a call from the owner and she was really interested in our application. A couple of days later, we had signed the lease and paid the deposit.

Aside from the necessities that we'll need to buy (sheets for a 2nd bed, bath stuff for a 2nd bathroom) I want to get a couple of fun things for the new place. The coasters pictured here from RubeeDesigns on Etsy are a given and so are the napkins picture from MichelleBrusegaard, also on Etsy. I'd like to see what other great items people recommend. Keep in mind, it's a bungalow and we'd like to keep it modern but still with the charm of a bungalow house. Let me know what your favorite items for a new place are. I'll take all recommendations but really love the ones from Etsy.