The Month of the Topaz

Good morning everyone! I've been busy as a bee getting ready for a craft show I'm going to next Saturday. But I wanted to do this treasury before it got too late in the month. Last month I totally forgot to post the birthstone treasury until, well, this month! So even though this is a treasury of the November birthstone of Topaz, I'm also going to take this opportunity to say happy birthday to everyone born in October as well!

Pure topaz is actually colorless, it is the other chemicals found with it that give it its many colors. The kind know as orange (or yellow) topaz, which is the color we most think of when we hear the word topaz is the birthstone for November. It is a symbol of friendship, and its name comes from the Sanskrit word and meaning fire. So to all my friends and family who's birthdays are in November (and October) hope you have a very Happy Birthday! Enjoy! :)

Vintage Topaz Heart Rhinestone Brass Locket Necklace by brideblu	Sunflower Silk Scarf Hand Painted by Palettepassion
Landscape with Barn 30x40 Fine Art Photograph by eyeful	Chocolate Amber Cold Process Soap Bar by LippincottSoapCo
Hand Blown Glass Ornament in Topaz by luminita	Vintage 1970's Gold Crushed Velvet Coat by bytheway

And make sure you check out the big treasury for even more beautiful topaz pieces!

Have a great day! :)

Happy Halloween! :D

Trick-or-treat! Smell my feet! Give me something good to eat! :D Hope you have a fun and safe Halloween and you get lots of your favorite candy! While you're waiting for it to get dark enough to go trick-or-treating, please enjoy this sugary selection of seasonal candy! Enjoy! :)

Cuddly Candy Corn Plushie by bubbletime	Candy Corn Pop-Up Card by tracychong
Candy Corn Cauldron Soy Candle by AutumnMeadow	Candy Corn LEGO Block Ring by Gr0glmann
Candy Corn Cupcake Earrings by maggiesze1	Trick Or Treat Candy 11x14 Print by shannonleighstudios

And for even more sweetness check out the big treasury that matches it!

Happy Halloween everyone! :D

One down, Two to go!

I'm finally getting to the end of my Across Etsy treasury series! Only two more left after today. It's been a lot of fun to do! And in case you have no idea what I'm talking about, I'll explain exactly how this series works. My Across Etsy series is based off of Etsy's categories. I pick a category and use it as my keyword in a search. Then go through all the other categories and try to find pieces based on that keyword. It's amazing to see how the different categories on Etsy cross and re-cross each other. I started with Woodworking and have been making my way up the list. So far I've done one for each category except Plants & Edibles and Dolls & Miniatures, where I split the two halves into separate treasuries. After today, the only two I have left to do are Art and Accessories. I'm guessing Art is going to be a hard one, but we'll see. :) Today's mini treasury is based on the Bags and Purses category. Enjoy! :)

Queen of Hearts Felted Bag by DebAllenFrippery	A Chair and A Bag 8x8 Fine Art Print by fieryeyed
Button Looped Porcelain Hand Bag by braypottery	Autumn Gnome in an Oak Leaf Pouch by LittleRedWhimsy
Vintage Multicolor 1980s Leather Purse from OldBaltimoreVintage	Wedding Clutch Bag with Vintage Millinery Flowers by aaliciawedding

If you want to see more fabulous bags, make sure you check out the big treasury that matches today's post! :)

Have a great day! :)

Epic Giveaway!

*UPDATE* This Giveaway is Closed! You can see who won by going to my Giveaways page! Thanks to everyone for entering!

So I hope you're hungry this morning, because today is the first day of my first giveaway! :) Over the weekend I was lucky enough to get to sample some products from a remarkable Etsy shop: Hash Delectable Edibles!

If you've never been to her shop you must check it out! In addition to yummy baked goods such as delicious sugar cookies and pies, she also has a unique and awesome item that everyone must try! What is it? It's bacon!

Candied Chipotle Bacon

And not just your everyday run of the mill bacon, but yummy delicious candied bacon, candied chipotle bacon, and even chocolate covered bacon! Now I know what you're thinking, "Chocolate covered bacon?? That's weird and probably tastes funny!" Well I am here to tell you, that not only is chocolate covered bacon unbelievably yummy, it is also addicting! I tried some of the Milk Chocolate Covered Candied Bacon and it was amazing!

Milk Chocolate Covered Candied Bacon

First you get the sweetness of the chocolate, then all of a sudden, WHAM! You get the saltiness from the bacon. It sort of reminded me a chocolate covered pretzel that was chewy instead of crunchy, but with just a touch of smokiness. So good!

Not much into bacon? Well luckily for you the baked goods at HashDelectableEdible are just as good! :) Since she was sending me a sample of her bacon for me to review, I also ended up buying one of her Craveable Sugar Cookie Sampler. :)

The Works Craveable Iced Sugar Cookies Mix

And if you think these colorful cookies look good, you should try tasting them! :) You get one cookie of each flavor:

Raspberry, Strawberry, Cherry, Orange Creme, Lemon, Key Lime, Coconut, Blueberry, Buttered Rum, Vanilla, Chocolate, Almond, Root Beer Float, & Peanut Butter

My family's favorites were the Orange Creme:



And the Coconut:



Except my husband, he liked the Almond the best! :)



Her best seller overall is the peanut butter. And I can certainly see why! The frosting was so think and creamy, it was amazing! :)

Peanut Butter Craveables Frosted Sugar Cookies

All of the sugar cookies were soft and moist and the frostings were sweet and flavorful! If you love sugar cookies, I would definitely suggest picking up some these tasty treats. And if your pretty sure you already know which cookie will be your favorite, she also offers a Pick Your Own Craveable Mix, where you can get an assortment of your favorites, or just a whole bunch of one kind! :)

So now that I've got you all hungry and drooling, wouldn't you love to win a free sample from HashDelectableEdible? Well then today is your lucky day! All you have to do to win a free order of yummy, delicious bacon is do the following:

- First, Follow my blog.
- Then, Go to HashDelectableEdible and check out all the yummy treats available.
- When you're done, Come back here, and tell me in the comments below, which flavor bacon you'd like to try and why. Make sure you leave me a way to contact you, so I can let you know if you're the winner.
- You can also get an extra chance to win by favoriting HashDelectableEdible on Etsy! :)

This contest will run through October 4th and is open to US residents only. The winner will be picked randomly, then announced on Tuesday October 5th. Good luck everybody! :)

*Mandatory Disclaimer* I received no monetary compensation for this review. I did received a product sample of the bacon to review, but the cookies I purchased myself. All opinions expressed here are truthful and mine. Your opinions may vary. :)

And now I'll leave you with my latest mini treasury: Glass Across Etsy! Enjoy! :)

Old Fashioned Hard Candy Sea Glass Candy by tHeENDpeace	Tiffany Woodbine Reproduction Lamp by BoomGlassArt
Happy Bubbles Hand Painted on Glass by avgustvarjanja	Orange Thumbprint Glass Vase by Jesswainer
Pyrex Glass Sunflower Mixing Bowl Set by cheshirecatantiques	Amber Winds Silhouette Candle Holder by TreeWingsStudio

And make sure you check out the big treasury that matches! Have a sweet day! :)

Brrr!

It's suddenly cold in the mornings! It's as if the summer is ending or something. :) Fall weather always takes me by surprise. It's not that I don't like the cooler weather; in truth I like the cool fall weather better then the hot summer weather. But for some reason, I never expect it to come back. It's like summer erases the entire concept of cool weather from my memory, every year! :) But, anyway, now that's it's getting close to fall I decided to revamp my blog a little bit. What do you think? I actually changed it to a theme where I can easily change the background and the colors to suit the season, where as before I was stuck with what I had. I like it, though I'm still surprised every time I open the page. :) It takes me a while to get used to change, but I hope you all like it. :)

Oddly enough (and totally by accident), today's mini treasury perfectly matches my new blog look. :) The theme for today was Housewares Across Etsy. This was a tricky one to do, since Housewares is such a broad category. Housewares actually has 25 subcategories, so I decided I would take each item in the treasury from a different subcategory. This made the process of finding items slightly longer, as I had to keep track of which Housewares category I used, and which Etsy category I found it in. If that sounds confusing to you, believe me, it was confusing to me as well! :) So, now I present, without any further interruption, Housewares Across Etsy! Enjoy! :)

Pocket Watch Embroidered Wall Hanging by Moxiedoll	Original Hand Painted Art Rug by RueDesign
Golden Sky Magnets - Set of Seven by jenniferaboston	Alfred Hitchcock Silhouette Pillow by regansbrain
Honey Bear Soaps - 6 Soap Gift Box by catherinefilippelli	Hand Painted Glass Plate by CreationsdeFlorence

And if you liked the mini treasury, make sure you check out the big treasury too! Have a great day! :)

Hmm...

So it occurred to me over the weekend that I have less then two months till the craft show I'm attending in September, and I am no where near ready for it! So starting today I am going to be taking a "blog break" to get caught up. I'll still post here and there, but I'm not going to be doing any treasuries for a bit. As fun as they are, they are cutting into my creative time quite a bit. :) Not that I spend too much time on Etsy or anything, but I could cut back just a little bit. ;)

And in case you are interested, the craft show I'm doing with my cousin Amber (thewanderingknitter), is the Ocean Grove Giant Craft Show on September 4th. I'll post more info about it as it gets closer.

Oh and before I go, I made this treasury up over the weekend, but never posted it. (You didn't think I'd leave without posting one last treasury did you?) Enjoy!

* Make a Wish! *

Have a great rest of the week! :)

Looooong Day Is Long...

...so long in fact, that it lasted until early this morning! Okay, so the doctor's visit was about what I expected, all three got shots, all three cried, and all three were mad when they weren't aloud to take the toys from the waiting room home. But they all recovered pretty well after they got in the car with their lollipops. :)

The issue came after nap time. Apparently these specific shots sometimes make you feverish, sore, and REALLY cranky! My fault though, usually I give them a hit of Tylenol right before (or after) they get shots so the injection sites don't get swollen. And of course, for some reason, I didn't do that this time. The big guys weren't too bad at first, but the little one was miserable! Luckily once we gave him some pain meds, he went to sleep for the night and stayed there! Unfortunately one of his older brothers did not. He was up every two hours ALL night! Needless to say, I'm a wee bit sleepy this morning.

I did get a lot of time last night to think about random things, however. The theme that persisted the most was the idea of me (and maybe my husband if he's good) on my own tropical island, with no kids. :) Just the calm sound of waves on the shore, gentle ocean breezes, and nothing to do all day, but drink cool fruit beverages prepared by someone else! :) And my favorite island fruit flavor is definitely piña colada! I hope you are thirsty, cause that is today's theme! Enjoy! :)

YoYo Pineapple Delight Decorative Fruit by birose	Pina Colada Cupcakes by sweettoothfun
Pineapple Sherbet Mousse Silk Sock Yarn by CraftsMeow	Citrine & Pearls Pina Colada Necklace by carrieWdesigns
Realistic Pineapple Ring Soap Pair by daisycakessoap	Pina Colada Soy Candles in Coconut Shells by candlekitty

Have restful day! :)

~ Treasury of Elements ~ (part three)

Last one! This one was tough! There are a LOT of cool fire items on Etsy! :) I think I managed to find a bunch that looked really cool...I mean hot together! Enjoy! :)

~ Fire ~

From little spark may burst a mighty flame. - Dante Alighieri

This was a lot of fun to do. :) I'll have to see if I can think of some other themes that would work together. If you have any idea for what I should try next, leave me a comment! I hope your day is not too hot! Bye for now! :)