Treasury Thanks

I was honored to be included in 8 beautiful treasuries this past week! Please help me thank my curators by clicking on their treasuries and checking out their shops :)

Sarah Beth of Magnolia Surprise featured my Mother Word Album in her What Rhymes with Purple? Treasury!

Sarah makes adorable crocheted play food and this Cupcake is one of my favorites!!!

Sheryl of SherHastingsDesigns featured my Pink Flower Earring Cards in her Pretty in Pink Treasury! Sherly's Sewing Room Clip Art is sure pretty in pink as well :)

TheJetty featured my Friends Word Album in their Claire and Ethan ♫ Treasury! TheJetty's Gemstone Carnival Bracelet caught my eye the minute I entered their shop!

Cecilia of peachymedesigns featured my Grandma Word Album in her Don't Forget Grandma Treasury! I think my grandma would love her Pink Braided Tee!

Teresa of LileesGramKnits featured my Drink Me Wine Bottle Stopper and my Owl Magnets in her All things wild and wonderful Treasury! I love the versatility of this Handmade Pinup in Teresa's shop!

Judy also featured my Wooden Wedding Invitation in her This Fertile Earth Treasury! Her earthy brown Wash Clothes would go nicely in this treasury as well!

Linda of PruittCreations featured my Name Album Letters in her Color Visions in my Head Treasury! Linda's shop is full of colorful items like these Reversible Coasters!

  I just loved all the colorful treasuries this week! Thanks again for featuring my work :)

To Have & To Hold

Today's the day!!! The Etsy Wedding Event: To Have & To Hold is taking place today!!!

I can't wait to see what kind of traffic this event brings me! I honestly have no idea what to expect!

If you haven't read my first post about To Have & To Hold...my Carved Tree Guest Book was selected to be featured at this event! Yup, I'm pretty darn excited (to say the least!)!!!

I mailed off one of my guest books along with 1,125 coupons to be placed in gift bags for the attendees. Now I just have to wait and see. I'll be sure to let you know how the event goes and what type of traffic my shop receives from it...Wish Me Luck :)

Friday Features - Arbor Day

Happy Arbor Day!

The last Friday of April each year marks Arbor Day...A day to encourage the planting of and caring for trees. Arbor Day originated in Nebraska City, Nebraska...where I will be this weekend! Each year the town comes alive on Arbor Day Weekend and I will be participating in my last Spring craft show.

In honor of the holiday, I went searching on Etsy to find some great Arbor Day finds!

Single Oven Mitt Arbor Day Mod Leaves on White with Aqua

  by pasqueflower

Plant a tree girls ladies shirt silkscreen screenprint Alternative Apparel

 by LIttleAtoms

100 percent charitable donation - Cedar Tree - Fine Art Print 8x10 - Arbor Day Foundation

by  JustinRichel 

 Green Nebraska vintage charm

by  vintagejewelryalcove 

 Have a wonderful weekend! And I hope you'll consider celebrating Arbor Day this weekend as well :)

Graduation Banner

Yesterday I teased you with an In the Works photo. I've been working on something new for a friend's daughter's graduation. It's a banner!

It was also a tricky project! And rather time-consuming as well! I started by cutting all the purple zebra paper into strips. Then each piece had to be fan-folded at 1/4" increments! I placed the finished "flower" on a large black circle and then topped each one with a smaller black circle and letter.

Joining each piece was the tricky part. I thought ribbon would be my best option, but I think I put my holes down too low and they didn't hang well with ribbon. I thought I was going to have to punch a second set of holes higher up, but finally found a better solution. I used silver brads to attach each circle and it worked great! I put ribbons on each end so it can be hung.

I love the finished product and can't wait to see it hanging at her graduation party!

I thought about adding these to my shop as I think they're fun and cute, but I'm not sure I want to make another one quite yet...LOL :)

Wordless Wednesday - In the Works

Disney Autograph Books

I must admit...I'm just a little jealous of these new books! They get to go to Disney World (and I don't)!

I got to make some fun new Autograph Books for a recent custom order...and in pink even :)

The customer really liked my Autograph Name Albums, but wanted to take the books with her to Disney and we both decided that a different style would work better to make the journey. These are what we came up with.

The books are 8"x8". The covers are chipboard and the pages inside are left blank for the characters to sign and the customer to add photos to when she returns home. What a fun idea! And they're in a Disney Princess theme for her girls :)

I'm considering adding something like these to my shop. But I was thinking maybe in a smaller size so they could easily be put in a purse or back pack.

 I'd love to hear your thoughts...What size would be best?

Treasury Thanks

This week was another exciting week in the world of treasuries! I had the honor of being featured on the Front Page again!!!

Please help me thank my curators my clicking on their treasuries and shops :)

A special thanks to Oranee for featuring my Wooden Wedding Invitations in her All About Wood Treasury that made it to the Front Page! Oranee has beautiful vintage neck ties in her shop like this Pink Necktie!

Kaili of clockworkghOst featured my Custom Baby Name Album in her A Touch of Sun Treasury! Kaili's Beautiful Waterfall Photo makes me want to get out and enjoy a touch of sunshine :)

Iris of ArtisEverything featured my Engraved To Do Book in her Oh Deer...Treasury! Iris has awesome Business Cards Holders in her shop that would make anyone pick up your card!

Deb of storybeader featured my Custom Destination Album in her Enjoy Earth Day! Treasury! Deb's Art Journal would fit perfectly in this treasury as well!



Kathy of tapestry316 featured my Wooden Birthday Card in her Here kitty, kitty, kitty Treasury! Kathy has the perfect Watercolor Print to add to this treasury!

Thanks so much to all my curators this week :)

Friday Features - Earth Day

Every day is a good day to celebrate Earth Day :)

This year we will officially celebrate on Sunday the 22nd. It's always nice to have a reminder to take a look around and see how we can make our lives more green and environmentally friendly.

Around here, we recycle our glass, plastic and tin cans. And I reuse everything I can! Good for the environment...bad for our ever-growing clutter...LOL :)

Etsy makes it easy (and fun!) to be more eco-friendly. Just take a look at all these green finds I came across!

paper and sterling beaded earrings

by storybeader

Repurposed Burlap Coffee Bag

by ManilaExtract

Every Day Is Earth Day - Plant Marker / Garden Marker - Vintage Silver Plated Spoon
by BrambleBunny

Up-Cycled Bottle Cap Magnets

by BeansThings

May The Force Be With You

I think I may have made my most unique wedding photo album yet :)

My aunt is going to a wedding this weekend and the couple is very into Star Wars. Their wedding invitation had an unusual font and star wars graphics. My aunt thought it would be fun to have me create a wooden photo album to match.

And fun it was! I was able to find the exact font they had used on their invitation and the Star Wars graphic as well!

I can't wait for the couple to receive their photo album! It will be the most unique gift they receive :)

Wordless Wednesday - Puppy Love

♥Jesse's Aunt Kelly and Sadie♥

Scouts Honor

As many of my readers know, custom work is my absolute favorite! I love working closely with my customers to come up with an idea that is unique and special.

I had the pleasure of making two special albums recently for two very special Boy Scouts!

The Eagle Scout honor is the top honor for Boy Scouts and these two brothers both received this great honor!

Their aunt wanted to get them something special to remember their honor with. She loved the wood albums and together we came up with two different designs for the boys' books.

The wood and kraft cardstock worked perfectly for these outdoorsy, rustic books...perfect for Boy Scouts!

Deja Vu!

I can't believe I've been on the Front Page AGAIN!!!

And it's the same Wooden Wedding Invitation as before!

I'm new to all this attention, but maybe this is how it all happens...a waterfall effect of sorts. You get on the front page, people see your item and add your item to more treasuries. The more treasuries you're in, the better chance you have of getting on the front page.

However it works...I'm loving it!

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A special thanks to oranee for featuring my item in her wonderful All About Wood Treasury!!!

Treasury Thanks - Special Edition!

This week's treasuries are extra special...because one of them landed me on the front page for the first time ever!!!

You can read the post HERE.

Another special thanks to Alice of ephemeralpillages for featuring my Wooden Wedding Invitation in her Wood Is Good Treasury that was featured on the front page! Alice's shop is full of pretty jewelry like this Pretty As A Peacock Cuff Bracelet.

Margaret of SplendidLittleStars featured my Pink Flower Earring Cards in her Songs of Spring Treasury! Margaret's Hand Dyed Silk Scarf would be perfect for Spring!

Janet of HoneyFromTheBee featured my Engraved Wood Photo Card in her All American Mom Treasury! My mom would love her Red Jasper in Silver Pendant!

Rose of randomcreative featurd my Friends Scrapbook in her Rock April With Lime Treasury! Rose's shop is full of colorful jewelry and lots of lime! Her Spring Green Button Charm Bracelet is one of my favorites!

My Birthday Diamond

Warning: The following content did not come with an engagement, a wedding, marriage, a family or children. LOL :)

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I just thought I'd get that out of the way so I'm not confusing people :)

This is my BEAUTIFUL NEW BIRTHDAY PRESENT!!!

On our first Christmas together, Jesse bought me a diamond ring. It was the best gift ever! I've worn this ring for 11.5 years now and the band recently broke...it was time for an upgrade :) We made the decision a long time ago that marriage just wasn't something that was important to us. We don't plan on having a family and we're very happy with the way our relationship is :)

Last Monday we went shopping for a new ring! It's really a pretty funny experience to shop for an "engagement" ring when you're not getting engaged...LOL! When you tell the jeweler that you're looking for a diamond, they immediately congratulate you. Once you explain that you're not getting engaged...they don't really know what to say. We had fun messing with some of them...LOL :)

This is the ring we chose...isn't is stunning! I can't stop looking at my finger!!!

The center setting is actually made up of 4 separate diamonds. There are 11 more diamonds on the band surrounding the setting. I've always loved princess cut diamonds and this has 15 of them!!!

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Jesse even took me to Red Lobster last night to celebrate :) I couldn't quit smiling! I've wanted an "upgrade" for a while now and this is just perfect :)

Friday Features - Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend

Today's features all have something in common with my birthday present...can you guess what it might be :) Jesse and I went and picked it out on Monday and we get to pick it up today...so I'll have pictures for you tomorrow! Oh, the suspense :)

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For now, enjoy these awesome Diamond Finds from Etsy!

Dripping Diamonds - Neon Pink - Wall Hanging

by sfettingis

Diamond Plush / Pillow in Peach by Yellow Heart Art

by YellowHeartArt

diamonds pot holders - made to order

by xxxRedStitcHxxx

Print. 8x10 Shining Blue Diamond. Watercolor Painting - 204

by 2142stuart