Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Monday, October 28, 2013

Fall Wedding Season

I've already blogged a couple times about outdoor/fall weddings and how great they are. I couldn't resist putting together this beautiful Fall Wedding Season Treasury. This treasury features items from the Blogging Business Artisans and the Wed Eclectic Team.

This treasury is also part of the Wed Eclectic Team's monthly treasury challenge. Please stop by and vote for my treasury HERE.

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Wooden Photo Pendants

I haven't been doing a good job with keeping up on blogging lately, but I have been busy behind the scenes. I've been working on new items, like the ornaments I shared on Monday, and these adorable photo pendants!

I carried photo pendants when I first started engraving and for some reason let them expire out of my shop. Thanks to the request from a fellow blogging friend, Sharla at Beaded Tail, I reintroduced these pendants this week. And I've upgraded to a new design and chain style.

I currently have the baby/person pendants available in my shop and will be adding pet pendants as well. Sharla had her beautiful Sadie engraved and I just love how she turned out!

Christmas is just around the corner and these little pendants make great gifts! Contact me for special shapes or sizes.

Monday, October 21, 2013

New Christmas Ornaments - BBA Challenge

This month's challenge is brought to us by LeAnn of pasqueflower. Her theme is Prelude to the Holidays and she writes this about her challenge:
"October! It is time to start thinking ahead to the holidays -- Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas and New Year. They will be here before we know it!
This month, I challenge you to create a holiday-themed item. It could be a new listing for your Etsy shop, a holiday decoration for your home, a costume or special accessory for a holiday gathering, or a gift you intend to give to a friend or loved one.
Since "prelude" is a musical term, you could also make something music-themed if you wish."

I've known all year that I've wanted to add new ornaments to my shop
 for the holidays. This challenge got my butt in gear to get them done early and listed in the shop!
 I've only added one new listing, but I have several variations within the listing for buyers to choose.

I also plan to add a special set of ornaments for Baby's First Year as well. They will follow the same idea as these ornaments with the baby's name at the top, an image in the middle and the date at the bottom. I'm working now on getting several images together for parent's to choose from. I like to offer many options to make the ornament perfect for each buyer.

Thank you LeAnn for this month's challenge and for making me plan ahead for the holidays...I know we can all use that!

Friday, October 18, 2013

Friday Features - Pumpkin Finds

With less than two weeks til Halloween, all the pretty, cute and fun pumpkin items are really catching my eye. There are so many great finds on Etsy and I enjoyed picking out these pumpkin features for you today.




Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Monday, October 14, 2013

Studio Update - Coming Together

Coming Together - The title of this post really has two meanings. Obviously my new studio is really coming together! But the title also refers to the coming together of our family and friends to help us get where we are. Last Friday and Saturday, we had tons of awesome help show up to put up the rafters and stand up the last wall. With Jesse being out of commission for the time being, it was so great of everyone to pitch in and really make my studio come together.

Also, with Jesse being out of commission, that means I'm getting to do more of the manual labor. I helped pour the footings and the concrete slab, but I haven't done much since then. Jesse and his dad built all three walls and got two of them stood up before his surgery. This weekend I was the muscle...lol. Friday I helped lift each rafter up on to the walls and lean them on the existing roof. And Saturday I got to climb onto the roof and push the rafters back off and help stand them up. Boy am I sore today!!!

It's just amazing how fast things come together. The process seems to be taking forever and winter is fast approaching, but it's amazing what you can get done in a couple of days! Next will come the sheeting on the walls and roof and tying in the new roof to the old roof. Sounds like a lot of work, but I've been told the sheeting goes fast...fingers crossed!

Friday, October 11, 2013

Friday Features - Pink With a Cause

With October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month, today I'm featuring some beautiful pink items. Each of these items have part or all of their proceeds going to an organization that helps with breast cancer awareness. Shopping for a cause...what could be better :)




Thursday, October 10, 2013

Going With the Flow

Most days, I'm a planner. I have my day planned out the minute I wake up and my to do list ready to be tackled. I like order and routine. But the last couple weeks have challenged my daily routines and I've had to learn to go with the flow a little more. With Jesse being off work (for 4-6 weeks!), my life has changed drastically from when he was working. It's really great having him home more, so I'm making some changes in other areas to make sure I still get everything done that needs done.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/119253665/quote-print-landscape-photography-go
As I'm sure you've noticed, my poor blog has been a little neglected the last couple weeks. I used to write my posts the night before and schedule them for the morning. Now that time is being spent cooking supper and watching movies with Jesse. Sometimes there just isn't time to get everything done! And I know Jesse will be back to work soon and I'll have my routine back. So for now, I'm enjoying the extra time together and letting a few things slide.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/105033198/family-routine-childrens-wall-art
Now that Jesse is finally feeling a little better (but still can't lift anything), we've been taking a few road trips and spending more time with family. Usually Jesse is sleeping when everyone else is out and about. So we've been taking advantage of this time and seeing our family during the week when we normally wouldn't.

I still plan to try to blog 3-4 times per week. But I wanted to give my awesome readers a heads up as to why my posts are a little more scattered than they normally would be. I should be back to a normal blogging schedule in the next few weeks. Just in time for the fall rush :)


Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Friday, October 4, 2013

Friday Features - Fall Weddings

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, last weekend I attended a beautiful fall wedding. Everything was decorated with fall colors, mason jars with a little bit of pink thrown in :) The ceremony was outside and the wedding was in an building in the back yard.
Today's features are items that remind me of the wedding and would be great at any outdoor or fall wedding. Enjoy :)



Thursday, October 3, 2013

Fall Weddings

Fall is upon us! The weather here in Iowa is very much fall-like with mornings being quite chilly and the afternoons being simply gorgeous. The leaves are starting to turn. And pumpkins are popping up on everyone's doorsteps. And I just attended a beautiful fall wedding.

With fall in the air, I thought it was the perfect time to add some new fall themed guest books to the shop.

First up is a larger size of my Leafy Vine Design. The smaller version has been doing great and I had a custom request for the larger size.

And another custom request was for a Simple Maple Leaf Design. I love that the wood is really the star here and the simple design lets it shine. Another perfect design for fall!

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Wordless Wednesday - Through the Rain

If you want to see the rainbow, you must stand a little rain :)

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Just Roll with the Punches

Well, I was hoping to have a studio update for you this week. The trusses were delivered on Tuesday and we had planned on putting them up Friday and Saturday. Life had other plans for us and Wednesday morning Jesse wound up in the emergency room for 5 hours, then had to meet a specialist on Thursday and had surgery on Friday! Definitely not what we had on our to do list. But when life tells you to slow down, you better listen!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/107626713/roll-with-the-punches-with-gold-boxing
Jesse is healing well and I won't get into too many details here on the blog, but we are still awaiting results from the surgery and more treatment may be required. In the meantime, he's on a 10 lb. weight restriction, so putting trusses on our addition just isn't happening. So we're trying to decide if we ask family to take on this task or just break down and hire a contractor to get things finished up before winter rears its ugly head.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/83760816/personalized-keychain-find-the-silver
This year has sure been a challenge with 3 family deaths, 2 close family friends being diagnosed with stage 4 cancers and now Jesse's unexpected surgery. But even with all the bad, we have had many good things happen this year. With every blow, we roll with the punches. We look at our lives and see how blessed we are. We're not the type of people who dwell on the negative and always look for the silver lining.

Hug your family today and think of all the ways you are blessed. I know I will be :)


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