Turkey-palooza!!!

I'm getting excited! Today I found out the names of our soon-to-be turkeys (Blossom and Tinkerbell), and their delivery date (11/20). Stay tuned!

P.S. If you don't follow the minutiae of my daily life - well, first of all, shame on you! And second of all, to explain - we're taking part in this year's Farm Sanctuary Turkey Express, where shelter workers deliver a pair of turkeys to an eagerly awaiting adoptive family (ours), and try to whirl up a bunch of press coverage just before Thanksgiving to raise awareness of turkeys as sentient beings, and to encourage people to consider not taking an innocent creature's life as a celebration of 'thanks'.

New Stuff

More wedding rings :-)

Recycled sterling silver and 14k gold band, 5mm wide, size 9

Yellow sapphire (lab-created), recycled sterling silver, and 14k gold band, 7mm wide, size 10

A fun project for the kiddos

(or just the kids-at-heart)

I wanted to make some cute thank-you cards for Carlos to send to everyone who gave him birthday gifts, and this is what I came up with.


Materials:

card stock (I cut mine into 5.5" x 4.25" rectangles to use as postcards)
crayons (old broken ones work fine)
cheese grater
wax paper
iron and ironing board
thin hand towel or pillow case that you don't mind ruining

Instructions:

Finely grate the crayons. I put each color in its own little bowl for Carlos, which worked well. Sprinkle the crayon gratings lightly over the paper. Set the paper onto an ironing board or cutting board that has been lined with a junky towel or pillow case. Lay a sheet of wax paper over the top of the card stock and crayon shavings. Using the lowest setting possible on your iron, gently press over your design. (It doesn't take long at all to melt the crayons; no need to linger!) Set the card aside to cool. Once it's cool, peel off the wax paper. You may need to set the finished cards under a heavy book for a couple of hours if they curl up a little bit.

If you're planning on using these as postcards, like I did, you might want to consider gluing a separate sheet of card stock to the back side after you've finished your art project, because the wax in the crayons kind of seeps through to the back and makes the paper hard to write on.

Have fun! This has the Carlos seal of approval. :-)

Exciting New Work

I'm proud of this one...

Moissanite, recycled 14k gold, and ruby wedding ring, size 6.5

A 6mm moissanite center stone surrounded by 12 tiny flush-set moissanites ...

... and one tiny flush-set ruby.

I'll be listing it in my shop momentarily. :-)

Economic Relief, BestBeads-style

Fellow Americans (dare I say, "my friends"? ha ha), I feel your pain. Times are tough. Money is tight. You're struggling to put food on your family. Well never fear, BestBeads is here to help. I've just slashed prices on a bunch of beads in my shop - most by 50% - so go enjoy some retail therapy without spending every last penny in your bank account. :-)

The boy has style.

Carlos had a great time last night trick-or-treating. He was really too young last year to care about Halloween, but this year he was totally into it. We just went around to a few family members' houses, but that was plenty - he got more than enough candy and excitement.

Rooster boy

Carlos with Grandma Thelma (maker of Carlos' costume)
(she's in costume by the way; I think she was the mean old lady from Hansel & Gretel)

So I was thinking - with as much work as Carlos' grandma put into his costume, it seems a shame to use it once and never again. And I'm not the pack rat type; I'd rather know that someone else is enjoying it than hold onto it myself out of sentimentality. So if any of you guys would like to have it for next year, I'd be happy to pass it along. It fits Carlos perfectly - well, maybe just a smidge on the small side - and he's a bit small for a three-year-old, so it would probably fit most two- to two-and-a-half year olds. If you have a child who will be around that age next Halloween and who would like to dress as a stylin' rooster, let me know.

In other news, my much-coveted boots arrived yesterday. I'm happy with them - they are really cute - and even cuter on Carlos than on me!

October Jewelry for Charity Recap & November Kick-Off

It's hard to believe another month has passed! I hope your October was pleasant. Thanks so much to all of you who shopped in either my bead shop or my jewelry shop during the month of October! With your help, I've raised another $500 to send to Animal Place in support of the purchase of their new property, which I believe they hope to have operational sometime next year. One more payment and I get to name a pasture! :-) I have no idea what I'm going to name it though; any ideas?

(By the way, if you're an animal lover - or even if you're not! * - check out this sweet post on the Animal Place blog. Awwwwww.)

* I can't imagine that there are any non animal lovers reading this blog - listening to me would probably drive you nuts!

Back to my charity projects...

November's recipient is Asociación de Amigos de los Animales, an awesome group working to improve the lives of animals in Guatemala. Their website is all in Spanish, but if you make any purchases from either of my shops this month, I'll include an English language flyer in your package to let you know a bit more about what they do.

So thanks again for your support, and remember that 5% of any purchases you make this month will go directly to the people who are out there trying to make the world a better place!