Isabelle's 10th Birthday!

Well, my little one is celebrating her 10th Birthday today! Where did the time go??? Finding the perfect present this year was a difficult search. She's at that in between age where she doesn't want clothes yet, but the toys are too babyish for her. I also wanted to buy her something handmade to keep with my mission for this year. She loves animals, hates pink and claims to be a tom boy. I had a hard time searching for a handmade gift that fit those qualifications.

We ended up finding her gift by accident. We were shopping at a Sporting Good store for some Cross Country shoes for my older daughter when Belle fell in love with a skateboard. The store happened to be having a "Going out of Business" sale so we bought the skateboard on the spot! Belle was thrilled, but I had failed my mission of buying a handmade item for her gift.

My husband happened to come across a shop while surfing through the Etsy forums. I took a look at it and was immediately excited with what I saw. Very cool decorations for cakes and cupcakes. I showed Belle and she loved the barn cake topper. Although we live in the city, Belle is a farm girl at heart. She loves visiting Great-Grandma's farm where she can spend the entire day outside or in the barn with all her cats. So the barn cake topper was perfect for her!

You can get your own personalized cake topper from KidsCakes on Etsy!

Happy Birthday Belle!

(The TomBoy that hates pink, but loves animals)

Idea Journal

I love carrying around journals to capture my ideas in. I have an extremely bad memory, so when I'm out I like to be able to write down my ideas before they disappear. Sometimes I'm inspired to make a new design while looking out the car window. We live in a small town so we must travel to a larger town to do most of our shopping. Luckily, we only have to go 20 minutes in one direction and 15 minutes in the other. Or if we really want to do some shopping Madison is about 50 minutes away. But to get my new journal I had to go to Austria. I'm not sure how many miles I'd have to travel to get there, but I'm sure it's alot. Don't you just love the Internet!

As you all know... I've been on a handmade mission this year. It's been fun buying and making things for those I love, but I got a little jealous of all the cool stuff they were getting. I wanted something for myself, but I wasn't sure what I wanted. I believe I was looking at some treasuries on Etsy when I stumbled upon it. An absolutely gorgeous handmade journal. I didn't actually need one. The one that I've been using is only about half full, but this journal had so much personality. It looked like it was made for me. The price was a little more than I usually spend on a journal so I hearted it. I kept coming back to look at it. My husband caught me a few times and told me to "just buy it already". I said, "No, it's too much." I'm an extremely practical person. For example, when my husband and I first started dating I told him that, "Don't bother buying me flowers. They're a waste of money and will die anyway. I'd rather have something for the house that will last." So, I just kept looking at the journal and didn't buy it. About a week of this went by and one day I clicked on the journal (to drool some more) and got a horrible surprise. SOLD! My journal had sold! I felt awful. I realized I really did want that journal. I guess that saying is correct. "You don't know what you've got until it gone." I didn't think I'd be so disappointed to see that the journal had sold.

I emailed the Seller immediately and asked if she could make something similar. Her journals are usually one of a kind, but I thought if she had that same fabric maybe she could make something similar. She answered back that the buyer hadn't paid and that this particular journal might come back up for sale. Woo Hoo! Now I just have to wait. After about a week she emailed me again and stated that the journal was back up for sale in her shop. You've never seen someone click so fast! I found my journal and clicked "Add to Cart" and then "Commit to Buy". I made my payment. The journal was MINE! So I guess the lesson is... If you see something that is "perfect" for you. Buy it! So many times I have to compromise with the things I buy because they're not quite the right color or color combination. Or I wanted it a little larger or smaller than that. It's rare that I find something that's absolutely perfect the way it is.

Now I have another dilemma... The journal is so beautiful. I don't want to mess it up with my chicken scratching. :)

You can find your own Idea Journal at Kreativlink on Etsy. Renate has many journals to pick from. I'm sure one of them will be just "perfect" for you!

Maden's Super Birthday!

My nephew, Maden, had his 2nd birthday party on Saturday. So I wanted to share with you what I bought for him. A while back another seller had hearted my husband's decal shop on Etsy. I occasionally peek at the other shops that heart his shop. That's where I discovered this cool Super Hero shop. DiscoveryDenim's shop has a bunch of gear for your little Super Hero. You can pick from a variety of capes, masks, and cuffs. I chose the Red and Blue Cape that was personalized with my nephew's initial. My other nephew's name is Mason so the initial works for him too.

I shared my purchase with my mother and sent her the link to the shop. She thought the Super Hero Gear was super cute and wanted to buy the matching mask and cuffs to go along with my cape. We picked blue cuffs with a red rocket and a blue mask with red stitching. My husband and I sent a quick convo to DiscoveryDenim and was able to add the other two items to my order to save on the shipping. The shipping was low to start with, but it's nice to save a buck where you can. I really wanted to share a photo of my nephew wearing the cape, but the weather prevented us from playing outside. He was also dealing with an allergic reaction to some animals from a petting zoo he visited earlier that day. So he wasn't quite himself for the party. But hopefully soon he'll be back to his Super Hero self.

Maden opening presents.

This picture was taken right after he stuck his finger in the cake.

Hey, it was good cake. I totally understand.

Happy Birthday Maden! I love you.

Gifts for my Dad's Birthday

I thought it would be hard to find a handmade gift for my Dad's birthday. Usually I end up getting him a gift card to Fleet Farm. Fleet Farm = "The Man's Mall". I happened to be looking through some treasuries on Etsy.com and saw a guitar shapped cutting board. The cutting board caught my eye because my husband is really into music and plays the guitar. So I clicked on the guitar cutting board and saw a bunch of handmade wood items.

My dad likes working with wood. He can make just about anything out of wood. For me.... he's made a bookcase, changing table, shelves specifically to hold my glass sheets, stands to hold my 3-d stained glass birds and a bunch of other things. So when I saw the clock and coasters I thought that they were perfect for him.

I didn't want to buy something that he could easily make himself. These items were great because of all the different types of wood. I bought the clock and coasters a little too close to his birthday. So they didn't come in time for his party, but I did show him a picture of what was coming. When they did arrive it was really fun watching him open the package. The clock now hangs above his desk and the coasters are in the living room for all his beverage needs.

To tell the truth about why I didn't purchase his gift earlier was because I wasn't going to include the "boy" gifts in this mission. I didn't think I could find handmade gifts for boys, but I was proven wrong. So I'm very excited about continuing on this journey for everything handmade.

To find your own unique wood gifts go to Taunton On Green.

Picture of the Clock hung up.

Mission to buy only handmade items for 2010

I have decided to support my fellow artists by only buying handmade items for the gifts that I buy in 2010. I will also be making some of the gifts myself since I make stained glass and fused glass items. I actually started this mission in January of this year, but I just recently began thinking that I would write a blog about it. I thought that maybe other people would enjoy seeing the wonderful unique items that I've found or made.

Buying handmade items may cost more, but I've found that it's definitely more satisfying than just going to your local big box store. These items are special and different and you know the person that receives your present won't already have it. I also think that making some of the gifts myself will offset the additional cost of what I purchase.

I'm very excited about this new endeavor and I hope you'll come along on this journey with me.