My Etsy Shop is up and running....

I am excited to announce that I have started my Etsy Shop!!!!!!! I currently only have three items in it but it is up and running so I am happy with the start! It isn't quite a grand opening just yet, but I couldn't keep the secret any longer, I had to share my excitement. I am also still working on taking better pictures of my stuff, I now have a light box and am learning many different things. So check out my Etsy shop at: LaurasGiftBoutique

Saw it coming...

My time has come AGAIN, I feel like I just did this. It feels like less than five years ago but maybe it wasn't. I did have to go the last time but I wasn't selected as a juror, but I was questioned by the lawyers etc. That was for a murder trial. It was interesting. Well I don't have to worry about it just yet as it doesn't start until the 21st and my number is HIGH. Maybe, just maybe I wont have to go in this time, as DH got lucky and had to call in for a week straight and never had to go in. (How come I can't get that lucky???) We will see this time. My number is 638 I believe.

Whole week gone by....

Has it really been since last Sunday for my last blog post? Where has the week gone? Well let me share a little with you...
My Nights:
Mon - Taught Jewelry 2 at JoAnns
Tues. - One free night I had, spent with A. and put her to bed
Wed. - We had our MOPS meeting and we painted glass plates and they turned out AWESOME!
Thurs. - Tonight A. had her dance recital, what a trip and a half to watch three year olds dancing on a stage with real lights and curtains too.
Fri. - I am having a Tastefully Simple party. I have about 12 people coming to my house tomorrow night for a taste testing party.
Sat. Am - I am going to Make and Take and we are making meals for and with a pregnant friend. Should be fun.
So yah it has been a busy week albeit a fun one.

What have I been doing craft wise? Well the painting a plate was VERY fun. In fact it was so much fun that I think I might want to start a new craft endeavor! haha. However I have been working on a serious side of my business this week, in all of my spare time, literally. I have been trying to figure out how to take REALLY good pictures of my crafts so that I can start an ETSY.com shop. And so I can have better photos on my blog as well. I have a new found respect for people with blogs that have awesome photos. The whole photo taking is an art in and of itself. I found a great blog tutorial which has been helping me a lot. Plus I LOVE the sense of humor this person has. It's been slow, I want the results right away, but it is coming along.

What has Dear Hubby been doing? Well he in literally all of his spare time, finished building his second guitar!!! I have an affinity for this one. I love the all wood look and he now has a name plate that a guy at work made for him - very cool I might add! That is GOLD POLYMER CLAY inlay FOLKS, DH and I figured out how to do that!!!!

Egg

You can turn your photos into Easter Eggs, very fun I might add! Here is the site to check it out for yourself.
http://www.dumpr.net/

Scissors Dress...

Today we have Easter activities going on at our household. First A. went on her VERY first Easter Egg Hunt this morning put on for our town by the Kiwanis Club. It was really well done and very nice. It was FREEZING though. I brought a hat and DH was getting cold and didn't dress for the weather so I gave him my hat. We got to see the Easter Bunny. DD didn't want her picture with EB though, she is still a bit afraid of characters whom are dressed up.

Easter Egg hunt next to a snow bank, hmmm, is Spring in the air???? Yes she has her snow pants on too!

It took 2 min. for the kids to get all the eggs and 3 minutes for everyone to get back in their cars.

Every single egg had a bag of jelly beans in it, I was kinda disappointed as I am not a jelly bean fan :-)
I turned around and just thought "OH MY!"
I made the Apple Pie Pastries for Easter dinner dessert. It is the recipe in the current Taste of Home magazine, which my MIL got me a subscription to. I also made the coleslaw for the second time for Easter dinner as well, it is sooooo yummy, it is a non mayo recipe. This time I also used a mix of Splenda/sugar blend, so it is not too much calories and sugar etc. It tastes just as good, I love the toasted sesame seeds in it too. Now the baking of the Apple Pie Pastries took me a LONG time! Although the magazine says it will take 40 minutes. Maybe it was because a three year old helped me with the first part of the process. I will say that it was worth the time and effort they came out great and very very tasty!!!!! Can't wait to serve them for dessert tomorrow night. DD was off playing and WAIT till you see the results of Mom not paying much attention to what she was doing! She made herself a scissors dress (with all of my scrapbook scissors, I might add) on the clothing she was wearing.
Apple Pie Pastries, worth the work and fun to make.
Parchment paper, my new best friend! Saves my already downhill baking sheets from more agony. :-)

What are my scrapbooking scissors doing within her reach? Well I am reorganizing my craft room, remember Whoa Nellie, well it was time. So I pulled out all of my scrapbooking stuff and it came up to the dining room. You see the problem with my craft room is that it needs to serve many purposes not just one, such as scrapbooking, hey if I only had to fill one craft that would be EASY, oh no I can't do that though, I need to have Polymer Clay, Jewelry Making, Rubber Stamping, Paper crafting, and scrapbooking, and sewing. But I pulled out sewing for now too. I am really happy with the results so far, I am organizing and I am going to be getting rid of storage bins etc that I don't need anymore. I would post a pic, but you may not see the progress since some parts still look messy even though that is just my interim way of organizing. I LOVE organizing it helps me remember what I have, what I need etc. Also my scrapbooking was infiltrating all parts of the room, somehow! Now I am working on clay stuff. I've decided that I want to open an ETSY shop too, so that has been on my mind as well. The organized craft room should help me in that endeavor.

Update: Upon further inspection of the 'scissors dress' shirt there are holes in it, they are minor, however guess where I got the shirt? Goodwill! It was worth the moment :-)

Beads, Beads, Beads

The above photo: the beads I made in Julie's class, she tells you that you won't get the color right away and I don't think I did too bad but definitely not my fav. Still came out neat tho.
This is my second batch/color scheme which in a future post I will try to get a better pic. for the color sense for you, since this picture doesn't do it justice, see those nasty little air bubbles I hate those!!!
Top and bottom, same exact bead, different photo, see what a difference a little light can make? The top picture is more true to the color of the beads.

More circles and I used one of the 'tools' that Julie gave us in class to make these designs, I just LOVE them all.

My new Diddy....

When I was at Cabin Fever Clay Festival, I took a class with Julie Picarello, which REALLY INSPIRED me. Since I have been home I have worked on two different batches of beads made with the techniques I learned from her. Here is a picture of one. I am also working on taking better pictures of my work. The gold leafing you see peeking through is 23K gold leafing, neat eh? I need to get me some more of that good stuff!!!! Stay tuned to my blog for more pictures and the other color scheme that I also made the beads in.

Special Event...and Repo Man

Today I acquired the Western New York Polymer Clay Guild (aka WNYPCG) Library. Yup thats right, I got all the books and magazines sitting in my living room, wahoo! The sad part is I may need to play the part of a Repo Man, because there are some outstanding items from YEARS past.


A. liked the box they came in!!!

Anything special happening with you today???????

Still in Canada...

We were suppose to drive home today, however due to a major winter storm, we had to make a decision. So we decided to stay another night. The Greater Toronto Area has had 700 auto acidents today and they are expecting 1,000 by the time this ends tonight. So we went on the Subway today and we went to a place called Honest Ed's Bargain shopping. Very interesting to say the least. It is VERY BIG and we had to ask directions twice to get back to the check out area.

We made it to Music With Markus this morning. A. didn't seem to be enjoying it, or so I thought, when we got back to the room, the first thing she said was "I liked music with Markus." She was a bit timid, other kids were dancing around, however they may have seen him before or have been exposed to him, plus the speakers were loud too. We got her a signed CD with Puff the Magic Dragon on it.

O Canada...

Yes I am blogging from Canada, North York, Toronto to be exact. We got through customs is 5 minutes flat - a breeze no one was on the bridge over, our timing traffic wise was great. A little hairy when we got here though, we could see our exit but couldn't get to it, the divider was in the way - SOOOO, you don't just get off of the QEW and get back on easily, we somehow, by the grace of God, found a gas station on some side street and a taxi driver and a nice man came over to help us. The Taxi driver helped us out, he kind of led us there too - HOW NICE, there are some REALLY nice people in this world!!! We couldn't even tip him because we didn't have the chance to. Check in was good A. got a stuffed seal and grabbed it from the man at the front desk giving it to her, luckily he thought that was funny and she is still cute! My friend Paula was right this hotel is not bad, there are some fancy parts and the view from the room is neat. BUT when we got into the bathroom, I had to call the front desk and have housekeeping come a clean the bathroom right away. My daughter is toilet training and touches potty seats, so yah this needs to be done. John said parking our car was going to be 15 a day, well they called and let us off of the hook on that one due to the bathroom situation.

OK I am excited about something else too, I looked up free stuff to do. And for Canada they have March Break for the kids from school and many of the libraries are having activities for kids. Well "Music with Markus" is happening Saturday AM for free at a library on the same street. Well not only is it on the same street it is attached to this hotel and we don't even have to go outside to get there!!! There are shops and eateries attached too - yahoo!

Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun

Please shine down on me.... There is nothing like a 66 degree day in MARCH in Rochester, New York, with a little snow to play with. DD is playing with snow and has her coat off - poor girl she was so confused!

Our little ice/snow pack. Today it is 33 again and they are forecasting possible ice storm tonight. This is the 1991 anniversary of that ice storm too, so people are up in arms. However it is not doing ANYTHING outside.

Also yesterday in the mail there was a large envelope addressed to me and it was Ballerina Princess Cupcake print that I won! Ashley and I had a fun/sweet moment opening it. It was so cute to see her smile and laugh at it, she got it! Plus it is soooooo her right now, she loves wands, princess, ballerina etc. etc. Thank you Nikki! Thank you so much you made our day. I even went thrifting for a frame today but haven't found one yet. We can't wait to put it up in her room. She even wanted to see it again before she went to bed last night.

By the way, our family trip to Toronto is coming up this weekend!!!!

Send good vibes...

Hello everyone,

A friend of mine is having Weight Loss Surgery (gastric bypass) tomorrow morning first thing. Please send good vibes and prayers her way. Her initials are S.W. The hope is that she will be able to have the laproscopic version, she has done everthing her docs have asked and lost a ton of weight before the surgery so is hoping for the laproscopic version of the surgery. Thanks for your good vibes and prayers Monday early AM.

Thanks
Laura