Jewelry Stamping Tools

I am way too excited! I spent over an hour at a serious hardware store and got everyting I need to start stamping jewelry.

I'm going to practice all week and find a creative way to get my favorite words across. I've been perusing my thesaurus and my foreign language dictionaries for a week now, looking for amazing words.

So far I'm very fond of TRUE GIFT DELIGHT AMOR MIO FELIZ TI AMO LIEF ENTENTE (harmony) MUSE

Off to practice with my new goodies!

I collected business cards from the vendors around me and thought I'd pass them on, as they are all so amazing

http://www.xoxi.etsy.com/ critters

http://www.anomalousbits.etsy.com/ beautiful and bizare pendants

http://www.knitschmidt.etsy.com/ coolest knit monster and elf hats

http://www.disconsolator.etsy.com/ handbound eco journals

http://www.mmsomewhere.etsy.com/ wallets made of photos

http://www.mommythemaid.etsy.com/ fabric, washable sandwich baggies

There were many more artisans there, but these were the ones around me. Go check out their work, it's inspiring!

City Park Handmade Fair

Just returned from the second show at City Park this summer. It was very quiet today, we may have been too far from the Farmer's Market and most of the park's joggers/walkers didn't bring money.

It was great to be out there though, I love the buzz of creativity as I met so many cool artisans. We're all out there because we're passionate about making somethng beautiful from raw materials. I saw adorable patchwork stuffed octopi, gorgeous handblown glass, funky knits, the most amazing wallets ever, stunning pottery, and on and on...

I was happy to sell a few of my skin balms and hope they help, I like hearing feedback either way. Right at the end, I sold a funky bracelet I made just this week and my favorite pair of earrings went as well. So much for my rule, "if it makes it through 3 artisan shows, it's meant to be mine".

As summer fairs are coming to a close, I'm putting my jewelry on etsy.

Summer in City Park

Was fortunate enough to be invited to sell at another artisan fair last weekend. It took place at the edge of City Park, near the Farmer's Market. The traffic was good, although most people were walking dogs without their wallets... I did meet and talk to a lot of interested folks.



I found some gorgeous green jade rectangles and made a bracelet for the fair. It's such a wearable green too. It's funny how when I have time to create jewelry, I can't think of a combination. Then at 2 am, something wakes me up and I'm determined to put together what I've dreamed up in the last 5 minutes.

baby weekend

Went to a lovely baby shower this weekend with my balms as a gift. The mum-to-be has a few weeks left. Met a woman there who tried to talk me into doing home shows with my products. I've been testing out a skin oil now for 4 weeks on my broken capillaries and age spots. So far, I am seeing success, although I slather on the tinted spf moisturisers all day long anyway. Hormonal fluctuations haven't been as noticeable on my skin this time...
I'll keep testing it and get more friends/family to try the combination as well. Maybe a facial/spa home show could work in the future!

Kitchen beauty

So I'm obviously interested in natural products. All the research shows that chemicals on face = bad news. I just can't seem to let go of my black waterproof liquid eyeliner. I use nature-inspired moisturisers, my own blend of oils for my skin, lip colors that are safe for lips, etc.
Now what the hell takes off waterproof liquid eyeliner?!

Of course chemicals work great for this, but isn't there a natural way? I searched and searched, reading all kinds of advice and decided to just try some regular old olive oil.
It worked!

Being attracted to esthetically beautiful and simple packaging, I transferred some olive oil into a cobalt blue dropper bottle from Whole foods, printed out a cute label and proudly display it next to my natural skincare jars.

Who knew an old beauty secret could hold its own in this day and age. I'm thrilled!

High Heels

I asked my four year old daughter if she'll be a good mom to her way-in-the-future twins (a boy and girl, both named Bob) and she replied, "of course I will, I'll wear high heels". Her tone was quite condescending actually, like this all goes without saying.

I hardly wear high heels. Funny that she would have this idea so firmly planted in her head.

My daughter has sniffed out my make-up and perfume drawers as soon as she could crawl. My two boys assume the drawers are filled with poisonous snakes and want nothing to do with any of it. I had them first and was spoiled in my peaceful realm at my vanity every morning.

To me, sitting at my vanity is a luxury. It's a decrepit, old yard sale item with a heavily spotted mirror. I don't care, it's the ritual I crave. I sit there, listening to my iHome and choose my style of the day. Let's see... what color shall I go with, etc. Ironically, I pretty much always end up looking the same. Once I'm done and have walked through my chosen perfume spray of the day, I turn the light and iHome off and never look back. I am usually a mess by bedtime, with eyeliner circles under my eyes, lipstick long gone and my hair in the opposite direction from where we began that morning. I don't care, that's not what it's about. It's the act of of preparation. The green room before the Opening Curtain. The drama of anticipation. The calm.

This is what I've decided to let my daughter share with me, as she is so willing to be a part of this little 10-minute secret world of mine. Her mini vanity is next to mine and she has 2 clear lip balms, a stinky Hello Kitty perfume and a glittery pink lip gloss (I purchased for myself thinking it would get me out of my brown lipstick funk, but I can't pull it off) for "special occasions". This started off being a short list of birthdays and Christmas, but somehow I have been coerced into believing every play date she has is now a "special occasion".

So here I am, corrupting my daughter. We end the ritual by looking in the spotty mirror and agreeing that it was fun to put stuff on, but really we don't need it as we're both beautiful ladies.

Thankfully, she's like me and never notices when her hair clip falls out or what she looks like at any other point in the day. Who cares if all our work melts off in 5 minutes, it was applied in a serene setting and that alone is all the preparation we need.

Now for the high heels... no where in her description of herself as an adult does she talk about her lipstick or hairstyle, just these mystical high heels that will make her a great mom. Just goes to show you, you can worry incessantly about your effect on your children and it will always be something you never saw coming.