My Wish List on My Handmade Registry!

I just posted my etsy wishlist on my myhandmaderegistry.com page. I have been eyeing some of these items for a while and others I have just found. I hope to make some purchases soon (soon as I get some spendin cash that is).

I Was Included In a Front Page Wish List!

I received a convo. message through etsy today letting me know that one of my items was included on the front page of myhandmaderegistry.com. The item listed was a pair of orange shell earrings and the wish list was created by Maryum K. who has a beautiful etsy shop full of lovely knitted and crocheted items (www.yarncoture.etsy.com). I was and still am very happy to be included and I also joined myhandmaderegistry and will be sure to share my favorites soon. Thanks again Maryum.

Two Down-Five To Go

I had my two trunk shows over the weekend at Bloomingdales at Old Orchard in Skokie,IL. Now I have one more this week (Thursday 23) and two in May(9th and 23rd) and July(3rd and 25th) . I had plenty of people stop by and browse and I had a few sales (some is better than none). Plus I gave out plenty of cards so hopefully people are gonna come calling for some of my pieces!

Upcoming Trunk Shows

I have three trunk shows coming up within the next 10 day so I am crazy busy. I am making new one of a kind pieces and a few pieces that have done well in the past. I have plenty items in stock but I am making more in hopes of selling lots. All three shows will take place at Bloomingdales in Skokie, IL (Old Orchard Shopping Center,4963 Old Orchard Center,Skokie, IL 60077).The dates and times for the shows are 4/17, 4/18 and 4/23 from 11am to 4pm. Here is the link to the event from the Bloomingdales website:
http://www1.bloomingdales.com/store/event/index.ognc?action=search&storeId=50012&Go=Go
I have also seen my shows listed on some around town sites!YaY!
http://boutiqueville.com/style-events/

http://www.stylechicago.com/Invite.asp?ID=6705&PID=7054

Check Out This Cool Etsy Shop!

I came across a very cool Etsy shop on another online craft community ( Mycraft.com). This shop, blaisedenvy.etsy.com, is filled with beautiful, handmade earrings, necklaces, and bracelets made with semi-precious stones, precious metal, feathers, ribbon,etc... There are so many great pieces in this shop and I especially love the ribbon bangle bracelets which are cute, colorful, and VERY reasonably priced-so you can buy more than one. Here are just a few of my favorite ribbon bangle bracelets from this shop- visit the shop to see the others:

Argyle Ribbon Bracelet


Gold Bracelet


Flowers


Multi


Brown


Sripes

Yummy Food Blog!

I have been drooling over the pics on this food blog lately(http://vanillakitchen.blogspot.com/). There is one post in particular that has really got my sweet tooth tingling-dark chocolate peanut butter cups. These cups look so divine. Mmmm!

They Had Me Fooled!

I was checking out the seriouseats blog when I came across a post about squeeze bacon. Yes, you read right-squeeze bacon in bottle. This product is called Squeez Bacon and you can get it from ThinkGeek.com. It is supposedly 100% real cooked bacon that has been processed into a paste by some special blending process. All while I was reading this I was thinking this sounds pretty gross and it can't be real- but there are so many unbelievable products on the market right now so maybe it is real. Then I clicked the add to cart link (just out of curiosity of course) and surely there was a big Gotcha April Fool message . And somehow I am really glad this was a joke.

Interesting Rules for Eating

I was browsing on webmd.com the other day and I came across an interesting article about eating. The article featured 7 Rules for Eating by Micheal Pollan who is a food author. Pollan has written several books including The Omnivore's Dilemma which I have read and found very interesting and eye-opening. Pollan's basic philosophy for eating is "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants." And here is a list of his 7 rules for eating-please read the article for more notes on these rules and more about Pollan:

1. Don't eat anything your great grandmother would not recognize as food

2. Don’t eat anything with more than five ingredients, or ingredients you can't pronounce

3. Stay out of the middle of the supermarket; shop on the perimeter of the store(real foods like
fruits,veggies, milk, cheese, tend to be on the perimeter of store)

4. Don't eat anything that won't eventually rot(i.e. twinkies)

5. It is not just what you eat but how you eat

6. Enjoy meals with the people you love

7. Don't buy food where you buy your gasoline

Aw Man! No Handmade Market for The Summer!

About a month ago I participated in a craft show called the Handmade Market. I had a nice time there and I made some badly needed sales. This market usually happens once and month and the cost to participate was really inexpensive (about $30 and up for more space). All I had to do was bring my table and set up. There was a nice amount of traffic too so I got to meet some new people and hand out some cards. I was really looking forward to doing some more shows with them this summer. However, I received an email yesterday stating that the organizers have decided to take the summer off and restart in fall. I was really sad to hear this because I made a decent amount of cash there (way more than I have made on etsy). I guess I will have to find some other opportunities although many of the craft fairs and shows here in Chicago have high fees, are juried, or have deadlines that I've already missed(for the summer)!*whimper* I do have more Bloomingdales shows coming up though. But cash up front is sooo great!

My Latest Etsy Listing!

Horn, Amazonite, and Shell

I Said I'd Never Do it But....

I could not resist. I am talking about Twitter. I, just a couple of days ago said that I was not interested in Twitter or tweeting. Besides I have an esty shop, facebook, myspace, website-I don't want to deal with anything else. Plus who cares what I am doing? However, I saw some people on Etsy forums talking about it and they said it was a good way to promote their shop and some even got a few sales. This caused me to rethink twitter and I joined this Monday. Of course I am addicted now and I'm updating way more I thought I would. In fact I update more about regular, average stuff than I do about my etsy shop(shame). Maybe I should have expected this though because I said the exact same thing about Facebook (was not interested) but I joined that and got hooked especially when I started to get in contact with so many old friends. I can't wait to see what next phenomena I vow to not get involved in but then eventually do. I guess the lesson for me is never say never!

Spring Clearance @ Beautyhabit.com!

Beautyhabit.com is one of my favorite places to buy great, boutique-y, beauty products. They have a great selection and always send the best free samples with your order. Beautyhabit is having a clearance sale and there are some great products available for really great prices. So much to buy-so little money!

Community Urban Gardens!

Majora Carter
Recently I have been looking for information about urban gardening or farming. I would like to start growing my own vegetables in my backyard but I would also like to get involved in some type of community gardening project for my neighborhood and other inner city areas.

I was born and raised in Chicago's inner city and there was a grocery store right down the street from my house. We were able to do our shopping and had access to fresh fruits and vegetables. As time passed and this grocery store became another grocery store and then a few years later it was gone and nothing replaced it. All that remained in my neighborhood were "quik-ee mart" type stores where you could buy, snacks, cigarettes, juices, sodas, but nothing fresh. Sadly, this is the state of many inner city areas-you can buy snacks, fast food, soda and juice but can't find an apple to save your life. However, lately I have been hearing more about individuals starting urban farms and co-ops to supply their neighborhoods with fresh vegetables. And I am going to keeping looking into to this so that I can get involved.

One person in particular that I have been hearing about and seeing is a long time south Bronx resident named Majora Carter. Majora is an African American woman who advocates for enviromental justice and has an organization called Sustainable South Bronx. Carter and her organization have been making the South Bronx a better and greener place to live with gardening, green job training, parks, transportations and many other projects. When I read about people like Majora I realize that one person can make a difference-it just takes some hard work and time and a never give up attitude.

15% Offf Mychelle Products! Oooh!

Mychelle is one of my fave natural skincare lines and they are offering 15% off their products for the month of March! I bought one of their sampler sets a while back and really liked everything, but what I loved most was the Clear Skin Serum. This serum really seemed to keep pimples at bay and gave my skin an overall nice texture. Must replenish now!Plus Mychelle has a bunch of single trial sized items that are also %15 off so you can try before you buy full price.

Even More Jewels!

Chrysophrase Gold-Filled Earrings



Green Amazonite Gold-Filled Necklace


Sodalite Necklace


Citrine Gold-Filled Necklace


Zoisite Gold-Filled Necklace

Zoisite Gold Filled Necklace

Trunk Show Jewels Cont.

More jewels

Amber and Silver Earrings


Green Amazonite/Gold-Filled Earrings


Andalusite/Gold Filled Earrings


Mookaite Necklace


Sodalite Bracelet

Trunk Show Jewels

Here a few pictures of jewelry from my trunk show :

Flourite Gold-Filled earrings




Tourmaline Gold-Filled Bracelet


Ametrine Gold-filled Earrings



Flourite Gold-Filled Earrings

My Trunk Show

My Bloomingdales trunk show went fairly well this past Sunday. I got some sales and a few contacts, and a custom order. So I am pleased and hoping to do more trunk shows (and maybe some craft fairs) in the near future.

Skincare for Men that I Love!

I got some skincare samples a while back (can't remember from where) and I recently tried them. It is called Eyre Bio Botanics and there was a multivitamin day balm and a facial moisturizer. I used them for a couples of days and I thought they were great. The day balm moisturized but it was not at all greasy or oily. And the moisturizer (I used at night) was good too-not too thick or rich. On about the fourth day of using the samples I looked closely at the label and saw that it was skincare for men. Oh well, I'd use it anyway. Plus it is seems better than many of the "made for women" products I have tried.

Girls Night Out ! Sounds Like Fun!

Shecky's Girls Night Out is coming to Chicago (Mar.18-20th) and it sounds like fun! Free samples, shopping, swag (goodie bag worth $100) -what more could a girl ask for? And the tickets are a discounted $15 until March 12- I might just take advantage!