Some Favorite Etsy Shops

I thought I would like to share with you some of my favorite Etsy shops. If you haven't heard of Etsy.com before, this will be a good introduction for you. If you are familiar and shop on Etsy, maybe these are some shops you haven't visited yet.....

Etsy is a wonderful outlet for those who love to create and for those who love to shop for things handmade and not mass produced.

Please take a few minutes to check out the following shops.....also, please share some of your favorite shops on Etsy.

Emerald Window
Peppermint Charms
The Ugly Dog Ranch
Rock On Jewelry
Beady Monkey
Just Wire

My next post will be about a collaborative effort that I would like to propose. In the meantime you may like to take a look at A Charming Exchange by Ruth Rae and Kelly Snelling. Their book details how several creative women met through forums and eventually collaborated on projects. The reason for their success was due to their dedication to a project and the bonds that grew between them because of it.

Until then......HAPPY BEADING!

KittyD

It Really Came True.....Paris!!!!

A trip of a lifetime....Two Weeks In Paris!

My husband and I decided in August 2009 to take a long-dreamed about trip to Paris in October 2009. Planning and preparing for the trip was fun and exciting....where to stay, what to wear (I was more into that than my husband), tours to go on, what sights did we want to see.

We chose a small hotel in the 7th Arrondissement at Hotel Duquesne near the Ecole Militaire and the Eiffel Tower. Through Google Earth we could actually see what our hotel looked like from the street. Our view from our 2nd floor room through the French windows was of the top third of the Eiffel Tower. I was thrilled.

We took the Metropolitan (subway) almost everywhere we went in Paris and got quite good at finding which routes we needed to take. We would end each evening at the Cafe Bar Le Tourville with a glass of wine. We knew the staff quite well by the end of our trip and enjoyed talking with them.

We spent three days in Avignon and loved strolling through all the narrow streets. We stayed at the Hotel D'Europe which was very old but had been updated and was beautiful. We took a private day tour with a wonderful guide and saw the ancient Roman Aqueduct, walked through Arles and saw the collesium that is still be used today for bullfights and sipped coffee at the Van Gogh Cafe that is depicted in his painting, Cafe Terrace. Lastly we went to winery located in a cave called Sancerre.

A day trip to Normandy was one day I will not forget. Seeing Gold Beach, Omaha Beach and the American Cemetary with rows upon rows of crosses representing those that fought and died during WWII, was a day of reflection.

I think the beliefe that the French are not friendly is false...we found people to be friendly and always helpful. I could go on and on about our trip but these were some of the highlights.

We're already thinking of returning in 2010 and hopefully it will be another dream come true for us.

Until then......enjoy life!!!

A Trip to the White House?

Imagine my surprise when I found out that the wife of a Congressman wore a bracelet she had purchased from me to a reception at the White House given by President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama.

The bracelet is sterling silver with Thai silver flower beads and pearls.

It's based on a design by Janice Berkebile>

Until then...Happy Beading!!!

Kitty

The Suspense is Over

Those pieces of wire and tubing have finally become something... a Little bit of This and a Little bit of That....it was so much fun to create this piece. Can you identify where those pieces of wire and tubing ended up?

I used an old earring I bought at a second hand shop and a charm from a necklace that was wondering why I hadn't worn it for a while. I hope you're not disappointed. It looks great on my blue jean jacket.

Until then...Happy Beading!

Kitty

What Will They Become?

It's just some wire....copper, sterling silver and brass tubing. Wonder what it will become. Sometimes what we picture in our minds doesn't always mean that's what you're going to end up with.

So far, I've made a headpin on one end of each of the copper wires, flattened it with a hammer and drilled a hole in each of the flattened headpins. I'm thinking of doing some riveting. I'm thinking of using the brass tubing between the two flattened headpins. I'm thinking........

Well, until then.....Happy Beading!

Tools on the Run

Never would I have believed that I could be thrilled by receivng a Mighty Bag. "Wow," I said to my husband as I gave him a big huge hug!!! "What a great Valentine's gift!!!"

I've got visions of carrying my tools to a workshop, to a friend's house to bead, or just making it my tool storage container on my workbench....what every workbench should be sporting! And look at all those pockets on the outside.....

Until then....Happy Beading

Woman's Day-Shopping 1966 Style

In a recent post I showed you the cover of the February 1966 Woman's Day Magazine....now let's take a peek inside.

Shopping....by mail. From wigs to fiberglass bedspreads, from cake decorating to personalized kitchen labels. The concept of mail order shopping has evolved to shopping on the internet. But whether it was ordered in 1966 or in 2009, the products still arrive via USPS, UPS, FedEx, etc.

This is just one page of mail order shopping and I'll be sharing other mail order shopping pages in future posts.