Happiness is a free graphic *UPDATED

I found a fantastically wonderful website - two of them actually - that saved my sanity as well as my (formerly) AWFUL blog design. My heart went pitter-pat when I stumbled on the beautiful and FREE! graphics from The Graphics Fairy. Oh how I swooned! And dug for hours through all her clip art. Her FREE clip art. *fans self with handkerchief*

And then. AND THEN. I tore my eyes away from the graphics long enough to see that she also has a blog for free blog goodies!

And I passed out with a mighty *thunk*.

When I came to, I clicked the link to The Background Fairy. Fortunately I had my smelling salts to hand, because this site is as fantastical as the former. I fell in love all over again, and after playing around for longer than I should admit, I finally picked the background your pretty little eyeballs are looking at right now. Isn't it lurvely?

So many graphics I that found I just had to have, even though I don't know what I'll create with them yet. Lemme sho you dem:

As you can see, I have a thing for birds. Which worked out fine, since The Graphics Fairy has so many lovelies to collect and cuddle with! (Mental cuddles, but only because I can't find my printer paper.)
~
In other related-ish news, I was contacted a few days ago with an offer for a free ad spot on Craftcount. At first I was all suspicious-like, wondering who was pulling my leg and how hard I should kick them. But it seems my cranky doubtfulness was misplaced! So I jumped about for a while and made my husband come and look at the email (while he was watching some dudes beat each other up for a shiny belt, no less) (he was happy for me, but swift to depart) and then I started to worrrrrrry.
What if my ad is ugggggly?
What if nobody viiiiiiiisits my shoooooop?
Why is my hair so friiiiiiiiiizzy?
(If I had smoother hair I could make a prettier ad. That's just how I roll, peeps.)

So I fretted for a while, pulled my hair into a ponytail, and set to work! But. My images were all on my laptop, which is cantankerous. *sigh* My life is hard. (If only I had good hair!) Some swearing and stressing and picture locating commenced, and then magical finding of previously mentioned websites-of-awesome happened, and now I present you with my completed 150x100 pixel ad!

taa-daaa!
I'm pretty proud of myself, I must admit. Especially since I am a dork and can only use Paint to create and edit graphics. I would love love love your feedback - even negative feedback... I've stared at it for so long I've lost perspective. And my hair is messy. So. You know. I need all the help I can get. Or a hairstylist.

(Both. I need both.)

(And a nap.)

In the meantime, my ad has been sent off and I will be informed as to when it will be up at Craftcount! I'll let you know as soon as I find out when it will be on the site, and you can join me in my happy dance! (Watch out though, I am a terrible dancer and have no rhythm whatsoever. True story.)

Oh, I almost forgot! I also created a new banner for my shop! Pop on over to check it out!

*UPDATE*
My add will be running on Craftcount from April 27th through April 30th! Weeee!

*tap tap tap* Is this thing on?

Hello since forever ago! Don't look at the date of my last post, it is depressing. Well, it's depressing to me, anyway.


I have to share a new blog I found! I am so inspired by this lovely lady, I am planning on using so many of her ideas and craft tutorials to make-over my house! I have so many plans already, and I will share my projects with you here!

Please hop on over to Remodelaholic! You will find a plethora of ideas and inspirations that will get your crafty juices flowing! Tell her I said hi and make sure to sign up for her AWESOME giveaway, which is open until April 19th. Which is tomorrow, so ya'll better hurry! :)



Here is an example of the type of custom artwork you could win!:

Wet spots and other irritations

I hate sleeping in the wet spot. And no, it's not what you think.

I woke up this morning to the bed shaking in time to rhythmic sluurrp sluuurp sluuuuuuurping of one of the demon dogs licking a paw so vigorously that I'm surprised there is any fur left on that foot. I could feel cold clammy dampness on my calf. Ugh! I flew out of bed, or tried to, because I was trapped by dog bodies pinning the covers over my legs. Much flailing ensued, followed by two cranky and muttering dogs being unceremoniously ushered outside. Back in the bedroom, a large wet slobber spot greeted me from my newly laundered comforter. Damn dogs! Covers were dragged off the bed and stuffed into the washer. AGAIN. Argh.

I didn't get to go to my appointment for college admissions yesterday. About an hour before I was going to head out, I sent Mrs. Smith an email to confirm our appointment and, get this, got her OUT OF OFFICE reply stating that she will be gone from Nov 17th (yesterday, the day of our appointment) until Dec 1st. Um, WHAT? I called and got her voicemail, which said the same thing. I don't really know what made me contact her to confirm, usually when I have an appointment I just head out the door and expect everything to go as SCHEDULED. (gettit? ha.) Some sixth-gas-and-time-saving-sense did me a positive there.

But seriously, WTF, Mrs. Fancy-Pants Counselor? Was it some sort of emergency, or just crappy planning? I am frustrated. At some point today I'll call the school's main line and see what happens next. But at the moment, I am a little turned off. Also, I am not feeling like getting out of my pajamas. But that's normal.

A break from the whining

Check out the new Iddy Biddy Blog, written by Mir of Woulda Coulda Shoulda fame. In her words:

"It’s a blog about going green for those of us “regular” folks who either cannot or will not immediately give up everything less-than-ideal."

Mir is awesome, I have been reading her blog for years, and I love her take on going green - very realistic and inspiring.

Whining recommenced

Of course, washing my king-sized comforter twice in less than 24 hours isn't very green of me. But I doubt Mir would sleep in dog drool either, and that's one of the many reasons I love her so.

Well, hello there stranger!

So, I've been absent, for.... a while. A loooooooong while. I've been in sort of a creative slump - deny the existence of the interwebs - wow time flies - mode. Dunno why, but it happens to me periodically. Sorry 'bout that. It's just the way I roll, apparently.

So, let's see... I've moved into the new house. And um... I've read a lot of books. And... become proficient at ignoring the house work. Not very interesting. I feel like the last few months have just slipped past without my notice. Weird, yes? This cannot be normal.

But now I am gearing up to go back to school and I am TERRIFIED. Also, excited, nervous, scared, and worried about money. The mister has been very encouraging and for the most part very patient with my whining about how sceered I am.

My current "plan" is to get at least an associates degree in graphic design. My last soiree into college was 10 - almost 11! - years ago and I went with a full honors scholarship and ZERO motivation. I went straight from high school to college and was SICK TO DEATH of school. Now I am looking forward to it (mostly). I hope I can remember how to write papers and do algebra and so on. Yikes.

Of course, I need to pick a school first, and that has been presenting it's own challenges. And then applying for scholarships and the dreaded student loans. SCEERY! I do have an appointment with a counselor* on Monday, so hopefully that will help me get started.

*(Side story: This counselor always refers to herself as "Mrs. Smith". Not her full name, not ever. Clearly she expects me to call her "Mrs." Which, okay, I guess I forgot about that particular schoolish thing**, but it kinda bugs me a little. Since, you know, I am now an ADULT with a house payment and a (teensy) retirement account and all. I guess it would be less weird if she didn't keep calling me by my first name. Look, I'm 28 and married, which you know from my info I submitted, so either return the courtesy and call me "Mrs." or skip the formality all together. I think when my hubby and I go to the appointment, I'll introduce us as "Mr. and Mrs." and see how that flies.)

**(I have no problem with calling people by their titles, such as "Professor" or "Doctor" or just being respectful to my elders, etc. But for some reason, this lady just bugs me. I mean, this school is going to cost me THOUSANDS of dollars, doesn't that earn me the right to call the admissions counselor by her first name? Or at least for her to return the courtesy and call me "Mrs."? After all, I am a CUSTOMER and deserve to be treated as one, yes?***)

***(Despite above rant, I know this isn't really THAT big of a deal. It's just weird and kinda... annoying.)

My Mantra: I can do this, I can do this, also: quit being a weenie.

So that's my news, such as it is. Riveting, huh?

It's getting deep in here...

So, I've been thinking... and man, are my synapses tired.

This is a blog I created to talk about my handmade jewelry, great etsy finds, and maybe a little bit about me thrown in.

And that's all well and good... but really damn boring.

REALLY

DAMN

BORING

So my question to you, how much more do you wanna know about me, the real me? The me that swears too much, that laughs at farts, that has "issues", that needs to clean the house more often?

Truth is, I am running a business, and this blog reflects my business. I don't want to muddy up the water with too many naughty words and stories about how I can't seem to get out of my pajamas. But, that is just a part of who I am, and the jewelry I make (and sell) is a part of me too. It may not be the same part that laughs at fart jokes... or is it?

Are you interested?

My money is on the Ninja Zombies

So I'm sitting outside in the lovely (read: STIFLING) 90 degree-at-10pm-heat, drinking a large cosmopolitan (note: ice melted almost immediately) watching my dogs eat bugs attracted to the outside light (annoyance: small insects buzzing around my face) while waiting for them to barf all the creepy-crawlies back up before I let them inside again. WHY AM I DOING THIS, you ask?

Answer: the back yard is clean. Obviously this is where I need to be to preserve my sanity.

My house is a disaster. As in, Call FEMA and For The Love Of All That Is Holy Don't Let My Mother Come Over, disaster.

We are moving into a new, slightly larger house in 10 days. For two people and a small menagerie of animals, we have stuffed this house FAR beyond it's max capacity. Where did we get all this SHIT? What's with all the knick-knacks and hand-me-down furniture and odd collections of mismatched pillowcases and towels? I have serving dishes that I don't even recognize hanging out and smoking dope in my cabinets and putrid-smelling hand lotions from 1998 in my bathroom. There are clothes hanging up in my closet mocking me with their size-six-smugness while the clothes I ACTUALLY wear lie in heaps because there is no room to put them away properly. Shoes from my sophomore year are lurking morosely in corners waiting for the grunge movement to come back in style. The dust bunnies are forming malicious gangs and tagging my walls with spray paint I didn't know I owned.

My theories? Goodwill has been dumping their leftover items at my house. Or grumpy neighbors are getting revenge for our yard that isn't watered enough by sneaking their junk in while I sleep. Or! There is a black-hole-time-warp-thingy in my hall closet that keeps regurgitating crap I SWEAR I got rid of years ago back into my house.

Maybe zombies? Ninja zombies?

One thing I know FOR CERTAIN: It cannot POSSIBLY be my husband's theory that I am a pack rat that attaches sentimental value to anything ever given to me by a loved one/ bought for a rilly rilly good deal/ could maybe kinda be used again in the future. I don't know where he comes up with these wild and crazy ideas.

Poor delusional man. Maybe I should get him some counseling.

But only after he helps me shut down that black hole thingy. The man does have a physics degree, after all. Time to put that fancy college edumacation to use.

In the meantime, I am busy hiding outside in the heat with my laptop. It's just too scary to go inside. Crafting has taken a backseat to waiting for the house to pack itself in preparation for our move. There's a LOT of work to do in there, and if it doesn't have a few boxes packed up by the time I finish my watery drink, I am totally gonna cut it's allowance.

Excitement and Excuses

I am very VERY excited as I am working non-stop on getting boat loads of jewelry made for a consignment order! Eeeee! Many thanks for the opportunity from BecharmedStudio, who totally hooked me up with a bead shop in her area! Woot!

My hands are sore from working with beads and wire and pliers and more beads, but I am loving it! I'm so inspired to make new creations to send and I am making extras to list in my shop! Listings coming soon!

I totally just pulled out my camera to take a picture of the massive amounts of beads and stray findings on my desk, but the battery is dead. I will post some pics when the battery has charged up, if I manage to conjure up some willpower to find my charger.

Instead, may I appease you with some pictures of my sweet doggies?

Sammy:

Poppy:

(I have no clue what that white stuff is on Poppy's nose. I'm sure she rubbed it off on the carpet later.)