Sweet Hearts

It was nice to have a few sunny days last week. We've gotten more snow this year then we have in a long time. And while I don't mind snow, generally speaking, I hate the gray and gloom that comes hand in hand with snowy weather. Gray days should be for curling up in front of a fire with a good book eating some sort of cookie or pastry and drinking a nice hot cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows. :) But in real life, you have to get up and clean and cook or go to work, or fulfil whatever obligations you have for the day. And I think that is inordinately unfair! :P

This is why I'm always happy when we get a few sunny days in a row during the winter. It makes me more motivated to get things done and makes everything just a little bit cheerier! :)

You know what else makes me cheery this time of year? Conversation heart candies! :D I know, half of you are saying 'Yuck! You eat those things?'. Well, yes, yes I do. :) I know they are basically compressed sugar, dyed to colors not normally found in nature, but as the other of you will attest, they are also really yummy! :D Besides, who couldn't love sweet little candies with sayings like 'I WUV U'? ;) Check out today's mini treasury and I'm sure when you're done you'll agree with me completely! Enjoy! :)

Conversation Hearts Fondant Cupcake Topper by TwoSugarBabies	Sweetheart Conversation Heart Necklace by BitOfSugar
3 Conversation Heart Counted Cross Stitch Kits by slipcoveryourlife	Conversation Hearts Note Card by dbPhoto
Mini Conversation Heart Bookmarks by HesedBooksAndGifts	Conversation Heart Mini Wreath by thekeepershouse

And of course, here is even more Valentine's Day sweetness for you to enjoy! :)

Have a great day! :)

Sugar Rush!

This Halloween I got a craving for a candy I hadn't had in a long time: Pixy Stix! I went out to the grocery store to pick some up, but they didn't have any. Over the next couple of weeks I searched all of the stores in my area, but I couldn't find them anywhere. :( Then on Tuesday, I went to Michael's to spend the gift card I'd gotten for Christmas and there they were, right by the checkout!

I was so excited that I called my husband to tell him and then briefly considered spending my entire gift card on Pixy Stix! :D My husband talked me down. But I did buy four bags! :) Yes I am weird, I just usually keep it to myself. ;)

I have been snacking on a few here and there all week. So while trying to come up with a theme for today's post, I decided why not do something with sugar! I looked for Pixy Stix specific items, but there weren't enough to do a standard sized treasury. Instead what I came up with is a treasury full of brightly colored sugary pieces, some of which are made of actual sugar. :) I hope you enjoy this sweet mini treasury! :)

Sweet Strawberry Ring Pop Candy Resin Ring by athinalabella	Rock Candy Soap Complete Set by LoveLeeSoaps
12 Dozen Sugar Cookie Lollipops by FunFavors	Ribbon Candy 8x10 Fine Art Print by SharonWhelton
Vegan Marshmallow Sushi Candy by friendlycreationss	Orange Creamsicle Polymer Clay Necklace by roscata

And here is the big treasury that matches it!

Have a sweet day! :)

The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth!

Wow! That was hard! As you may know from reading my blog, I've been working through a series of treasuries based on Etsy's categories. I take the title of a category and use it as a search term, then go through all the other categories looking for cool items based on the search. It's a fun way to see all the different ways you can use different techniques to make wonderful pieces of art! :) So far I'm a little more then halfway done and I've only had one or two that I've had a hard time with. Today, however, beat them all!

Today's theme is Geekery. Now I know what you're thinking, "There's tons of geek stuff on Etsy, why was today's treasury so hard to make?" Well actually, that ended up being the problem! There is so much great geek stuff, from so many different aspects of geekdom, that it took forever to narrow it down to a theme and color scheme. It has literally taken me hours to sort through all the amazingly cool geeky stuff on Etsy and narrow it down to only 16, then 6 items!

Unfortunately, I was not able to include ALL of the aspects of geek life or all of the different types of geeks out there, but I did my best. And I hope you enjoy, this colorful ode to Geeks Across Etsy! :)

Pwn That Shower Dice Soap by rainbowdarknesss	Geek - The Word Wall Art by artworksstudio
Knit Dice Bag with Dice by ThreadbareKnitter	Set of 6 Rainbow Ninja Companions by Lilley
Transformers Greeting Cards - Set of 4 by creativeapples	Tetris Messenger Bag - Original Fabric by pecansandies

And for even more geekiness, make sure you check out the big treasury that matches today's post! :)

And what geek doesn't like bacon? Stop by my Giveaways page or click here to learn how you can win some free yummilious bacon!

Have a geeky day! :)

Not going to post a lot this week...

...but I promise I will be back after the craft show, that happens to be THIS SATURDAY AAAAAAHHH! :O Kidding! :) I'm not quite panicking yet. I probably should be as I have yet to even do a mock up of the tables, but I guess I'm still in the denial stage of this craft show. ;)

Anyway, today's mini treasury's theme is one of my favorites! Its theme is Needlecraft! Obviously I'm slightly biased, as am I a sewer, but I still think it's a really cool category. I thought this might be a difficult treasury to make, since I figured most of the needlecraft pieces would be in the needlecraft category, but boy was I wrong! There are so many talented needlecraft artists in all of the categories it was actually hard to choose which pieces to use, rather then it being hard to find items to use at all. :) And without further a due, here is today's mini treasury! Enjoy!

DIY Embroidery Card Kit by curiousdoodles	Embroidered Felt Clovers Pincushion by SeaPinks
Mossy Green Felted Wool Acorns by greenbaboondesigns	Custom Scrabble Tile Bag by samann1121
Red Flowers Handmade Appliques by BizimSupplies	Avocado Needle Felted Wool Pin by pammydawn

And of course with that many awesome artists, I had to make a big treasury to go with it! You can check it out here! :)

Oh and I'm reposting the coupon for the Craft Fair in Ocean Grove, NJ this weekend. In case you missed it!



You can check out more info on the craft show in my last post here. Wish me luck! I'll probably post one more time before the show, but if not I'll see you all next week! :)

So hungry...

I should not work on food related blog posts right before lunch! Now I have a major case of the munchies! And even though none of this food is actually edible, I'm sure after looking at today's treasury, you will too! Today is the latest treasury in my Across Etsy series. It features the edible half of the Plants and Edibles category. Enjoy! :)

Chocolate Cake - 4x6 Photograph by ValeriaH	Strawberry Jam Toast Goats Milk Soap by soapopotamus
Smoked Salmon Volauvent Felt Food by britishcreamtea	Scrumptious Sandwich Cookie Necklace by glamasaurus
Soft Boiled Egg Fake Food by FakeFoodDecor	Lettuce Relax - Crochet Veggie Toy by AlethaFaye

Now that you're good and hungry, make sure you check out the big treasury for dessert! ;) Have a great day!

It's Bacon!

Okay, I'm taking a break from my treasury series, to show you what I've been doing lately. :) I've created a couple new ornaments in the last couple weeks. The first couple are old ideas that have have recreated as ornaments. Long, LONG ago, I made a felt advent calender from scratch. It took me two years on and off to finish it.



So I thought this year it might be fun to remake some of the little advent ornaments into full sized ornaments! :) The first one I did was the easiest:

Red Felt Heart Christmas Ornament

I'm thinking of make up a pink one and making a listing for a pick your own color heart listing. We'll see. :) Then I moved on to a slightly more complex one (and my favorite from the calender):

Snow Globe with Red House Felt Christmas Ornament

This was a fun piece to do, though for some reason, I had a heck of a time with the base! I just couldn't decide how I wanted it to look. But I think it came out really cute! :)

Then I made up a couple new pieces. I while back I had bought some yummy colored felt from TheDailyPincushion. I used some of it to make my sushi pincushions and ornaments, but the rest got lost in the shuffle when we moved. While the kids were sick, one of the things I did was organize my workspace a bit better, and in the process I found all my cool colored felt! So I decided to put it to good use and make this:

Strawberry Hand Sewn Felt Christmas Ornament

Isn't that strawberry felt delicious? :) I must have been in a food mood, because the other piece I made with the new felt was: bacon!

Felt Bacon Breakfast Hand Sewn Ornament

Yeah, I'm not exactly sure why I made felt bacon either, but it turned out really cute! And on that note, I've made up a little bit of bacon heaven, for your enjoyment! Please don't eat the pictures!

Candied Chipotle Bacon by HashDelectableEdible	The Big Breakfast Felt Pin by pippindesigns
Felt Bacon Breakfast Hand Sewn Ornament by Autumn2May	Bacon - Use Your Words Framed Embroidery Wall Art by DearNight
Mini Side Dish of Breakfast Bacon by EverydayGourmet	Bacon - Print of Original Oil Painting by mgenomgeno

Oh and here is the link to the full sized bacon treasury! I hope you're hungry!

That's it for now. Have a yummy day! :D

Boom! Boom! Boom! Ooooo! Aaaaa!

We saw fireworks Friday night! :D I love fireworks! It was so much fun! We sat far enough away that it wasn't loud enough to scare the kids, and they LOVED it! But, why do we have fireworks on the 4th of July? Sure, it's a holiday and a celebration, but we don't shoot off fireworks at Christmas, or Halloween, so why do we do it on the 4th of July? I'm sure you all know that July 4 is America's Independence Day. But, it wasn't the day we won the Revolutionary War or the day the war was started, it was the day 56 delegates of the Continental Congress signed the Declaration of Independence. It was the day that Britain’s 13 American colonies became the United States of America!

Now really, when those men signed that paper, they were committing treason! And if we had lost the war, they probably would have been executed! But they believed so much in what they were doing that they were willing to put their lives on the line for freedom. Freedom from what though? Well freedom from British rule yes, but there is more to it then that. The second sentence of the Declaration of Independence really shows what they were willing to die for, and what we as a country have been willing to die for ever since:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

In a word freedom! Not just freedom from Britain, but a new freedom, a freedom we would make our selves, which no person or government could ever take away from us! And while the creation of this country and its freedoms is definitely something deserving of fireworks, it still doesn't quite explain why they are such a symbol of the 4th of July.

I think the main reason for our country's use of fireworks for 4th of July celebrations is our national anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner.

The Star-Spangled Banner was written by the poet Francis Scott Key during the War of 1812, which also happened to be with England. We at the time were a very new country and certainly not the super-power that England was. Nevertheless, we were still ready to fight for our freedom! The song that would become our national anthem was written during the Battle of Fort McHenry in the very middle of the war. He and John Stuart Skinner had gone to make arrangements for the release of some American prisoners, but after overhearing plans for that evening’s battle, they were forced to remain captive on a British ship until morning. You can imagine how they felt, by listening to the first and second verse of the song and imagining what it was like to be the heat of battle, captive, on an enemy ship.

When the sun went down the American flag was flying above the fort, but once the lights from the barrage of bombs had stopped, there was no way for them to know whether or not the British had succeeded in taking over the fort, till morning's first light shown on victor's flag flying from the battlements.

Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?

In the dark, the explosions from the ships' cannon fire and the return fire from Fort McHenry would give just enough light to see which side had control over the fort.

And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.

But once the bombing stopped for the night, it would have been completely dark on the shore and impossible to see what was going on from their ship. Who had won? Who now controlled the fort? Did America's flag still fly? Or had the British flag replaced it?

Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

Then as the sun slowly rose, its light revealed the answer!

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?

Seeing the American flag waving in the morning sea breezes, it must have been amazing! They had held the fort; the battle was won!

Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

That is why there are fireworks. They invoke the feelings that this country is built on. We fought for freedom and we won, not just once, but many times, through many years and many wars. And we will keep fighting for our freedom and the freedom of our children until the end of time if need be. And celebrating that freedom is something that totally deserves fireworks!

Happy 4th of July everyone! :)