recycling Christmas and greeting cards

i wanted to mention a place in Nevada, called St. Jude's ranch for Children . St. Jude's Ranch for Children has a 40 year history of healing and caring for abused, abandoned and neglected children. what they do is take used Christmas and greeting cards and turn them into new cards.

Currently they are accepting used, all-occasion greeting cards from November 15, 2008 thru February 28, 2009. You can mail your donations to:

St. Jude's Ranch for Children
Card Recycling Program
100 St. Jude's Street
Boulder City, NV 89005

take a look at their website to learn more about how the program works.

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a few of my new years goals have been to get new stuff added into my etsy shoppe ( i have so much stuff to add) - but i just hate the process of doing this on etsy (have i brought this up before?) it is so time consuming and takes a ridiculous amount of steps. (yes, i have definitely mentioned this before....) my other goal is to finish the tutorials and get my website going so that i no longer have to load all this stuff into etsy. with that said, i'm adding a few things in there tonight, such as this box: ( notice the tiny little shells that are sewed into the tulle.)

So how are the post holidays going for ya? me and tuck are still congested from our colds. what is it with colds these days where you don't really get "sick" but have a few symptoms for a day or so, but then you are left with weeks of congestion? today the wind is blowing something fierce so that is causing allergies and headaches. last night i finally watched "Dark Knight". dillon had an improv show, so he and jeff were gone, so i thought that'd be a good time to watch it without interruption. so me and tucker watched it. i thought it was okay, but i'm a chick. i think it was more of a guy movie. plus i didn't really get the ending where he chose to be hunted. guess i missed something..... anyway. i got this birdfeeder for Christmas. it is called a "cardinal feeder", but i've yet to see one cardinal fly in there! (but they do eat what is falling on the ground...) right now we've got yellow finches, house finches, chickadees, wrens, nuthatches, sparrows and the tufted titmouse flying in for snacks. i actually watched a chickadee sit still and hang out by herself in the feeder yesterday morning. chickadees are very active and i have never seen one just "sitting" before. it was cool.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to my family and friends

I just wanted to wish all my friends and family a very Merry Christmas. We had a lovely day; the weather was beautiful and sunny. i got to sleep in (yay!) since i was up all night with a scratchy, dry cough (boo!). we opened our gifts and then Dillon went to play a video game, i set about cleaning up, doing laundry, getting things ready for dinner (you know, "mom" stuff). we decided this year to have a very informal dinner, no company and no set time. i would cook and then we would eat when we wanted. it was very relaxing.

Oh, and the winner of my blog giveaway is Abbie Galie, who guessed 150 ornaments on the wreath. i actually used 151 ornaments! thanks for playing.

the last two pictures i took at a local nursery where i went to find a terra cotta tray for my bird bath (mine cracked). it was so cheerful and warm inside the nursery. the temp was about 75 degrees or more and the sun was coming in. it was just gorgeous and i felt so much better breathing all that healthy air from the plants. i 'll have to pop over there more in the winter as it gets colder and grayer. (maybe i'll bring my beach chair and a book and set up in an isolated corner of the greenhouse! )

my friend, Z, got her Christmas present today. I was going to make her put it under the tree, but she sounded so excited that i told her to go ahead and open it. this is what i made for her. i think she was quite happy!

blog giveaway

well, i 've been quiet for a few days and that usually means that either i'm not feeling well or Tucker isn't feeling well. well, Tucker, it turned out, has bronchitis. wednesday night he was up til 5am coughing, coughing and coughing. i stayed up with him, suctioning, singing to him, talking to him, keep him company, etc. and then i spent the next few days trying to recover! we took him to the doctor on friday and she started him on an antibotic. i swear a few hours after the first dose, he was already sounding better. Friday i ended up sleeping in until 11:00am, something that rarely ever happens. i'm just not one to sleep in. i have some many things i want to get done on a daily basis and usually sleeping isn't one of them! but i was exhausted, had a horrible headache and needed to rest. so rest i did. i'm still a bit tired, but getting there!

my project for the last few days was working on a wreath. i decided i wanted to make a wreath using vintage ornaments. i've been collecting these for awhile, so i had plenty on hand. i started it last night and got about 1/2 done before i ran out of glue stix. stopped at Michale's this morning to restock my stix and back to work (why is that they only had 1 cashier on a saturday morning, a few days before Christmas and with a line 12 people deep? ugh!)

i made my first wreath when i was in college and had gone home for Christmas break (that was also the time i made all these adorable "gingerbread people" ornaments out of felt. ) my mom was making them and she showed me how. we would go deep into their property (she was living in Greensboro, NC at the time) and we would look for grapevine. then we would wrap it in a circle and begin the decorating. we used a glue gun and whatever supplies she had on hand (i really don't remember what it looked like!) i just fondly remember the time. so now that my wreath is completed, i thought it'd be fun to guess how many ornaments it took to fill in this wreath? whoever comes comes the closest will win a prize (a prize i am still determining)

i'm bummed

Well i got the phone call today from the data recovery service. I had sent them my external hard drive that houses all my pictures as it wasn't working ever since i accidently dropped it on the ground. he told me that my photos were not recoverable as some thingy-ma-gig suffered a traumatic blow when it fell. BUMMER! so here's some advice to you - make sure you back up your photos! i have many photos stored on flickr and there are many pics on my blog, but still there are so many that are just gone. so that' s my news.

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also, here's a holiday tip i thought i'd share with you. a few years ago, i started saving some of the tags that my mom uses when she wraps my holiday gifts. she usually has them all done up in lots of ribbon that she has curled. i save them and hang them on the tree. i wanted to do this because as my parents get older, i realize how fast time is going by and i like the thought of her writing out that tag for me as she wrapped my gift and i know she put a lot of love into it. i like seeing her handwriting as it is such a reflection of her. my dad doesn't wrap gifts, but i've been saving his letters and cards for the same reason, to have his handwriting and pieces of him.

spreader of love award - pass it on

RedBessBonney passed this award onto me the other day.

The Spreader of Love" Award ~ a reminder that I'm "loved" and that there are other very special people out there for me to "spread this love" around with!



So i'm passing this award onto my very good friends, Kim, Allegra, Zhulia, Laurel, Denise

thanks for thinking of me Susan!

holiday photos, Christmas '08

thanks for all the nice compliments on our photo. someone asked me who took the picture - well i did! i set up my tripod, set a little scene in front of the chair, got everyone postion, viewed the shot and hit the timer - viola! then i'd check the pic to see how the positioning of the camera was; make any changes and take some more! i've been doing it this way for years. oh, but the last shot here with tuck on my lap, i had dillon's friend, Adrianne snap some shots after i got it all ready for her (she takes lots of pictures, so she got my vote of confidence!)

helpful kitty

here's Miss Lilly helping me put up lights. anything that dangles (lights, yarn, thread) - she's always right there to play with it!

finally got my icon to work properly!

http://

is it friday yet?

(photo by Lucky Snap)
first i slipped outside (this was monday). i didn't fall, but a rug slid on me as it was icy underneath and i was on a ramp, so my body jerked as i slipped and then corrected myself. i was quite sore; actually felt like i had whiplash in my neck, shoulders and between the shoulder blades. then the next day (yesterday) i had to do a show alone and had to carry my table really far to this building and it was really heavy. i am not strong enough to carry that table, but we didn't really think that the door to the building would be so far off from parking. then i get up the doors and they are not automatic nor is there any buttons to push them open, nor anyone around to help. so it was very difficult. so after setting up, doing the show (which sucked - i made $18) and then taking everything down again and then driving an hour and a half home, i was exhausted and sore.

when i got home tucker started coughing and had to be suctioned almost all evening and then get this - we lost power for almost 4 hours. i have backup power for 2 hours and then his suction machine has a battery, but it was really dark (just candles) and i was getting concerned about how much longer the power would be out and how long the battery in his machine would last. so i called the police department to inquire about how long to expect the outage and the next thing i know, they want to send out a squad car and EMS to evaluate. talk about my stress level going through the roof. i was like, no, it's not necessary, this isn't an emergency, etc. but they came. good heavens. right after i hung up with him, the power came on! i told the guy on the phone, please don't come into our neighborhood with lights going and sirens blaring (our neighbor, Kevin, died 2 days ago and i thought it might be very upsetting all around). and then i didn't want all the neighbors worrying and coming over.

tucker ended up coughing almost all night, so i stayed up with him. when i got up this morning (I kind of curled up next to him in his bed) i felt like a mac truck hit me. i am even 3 times as sore now. jeff relieved me at 7am and i went back to bed until 1:00. i felt a tad better after a hot shower and then walking around is loosening up my tight muscles. i'm kind of walking like i was out horseback riding for 3 days!
kecia

p.s. don't forget to check out a collaborative necklace put together by our yahoo group, The Charmsters, being auction on ebay for our designated charity - 100% of the proceeds to go to Bernie Berlin's "A place to bark".

Charity auction for "A place to Bark"

our yahoo group, the Charmsters, are holding an ebay auction for a necklace of handmade soldered charms with a Christmas theme. 100% of the proceeds are going to Bernie Berlin's, "A place to bark". here's some need to know info about the charity:

About this nonprofit:
A PLACE TO BARK'S mission is: To provide assistance and care to animals in need. Working together closely with other animal welfare agencies to help end the needless killing of adoptable animals. Proactively working to save lives, by spaying and neutering, eliminating needless deaths. We are dedicated to educating the public on responsible pet ownership and to helping those who would like to have their animals fixed by providing low cost spay/ neuter.

the auction is starting today, just not sure what time. the ebay listing is 190272807952. i can also forward you the listing as is if you'd like to see it before the auction begins (make sure i have your email!) after it starts, i will add the clickable link to my blog. now here's the info on the necklace:

You are bidding on a beautiful hand crafted charm necklace. This necklace features 15 soldered, Christmas-themed charms. Each beautiful charm has been created by an individual artist. This creative group of women collaborated to make a very special work of art which can be yours just in time for Christmas. You can leave the charms on the necklace as shown or remove them to be worn individually. This would be a perfect gift for someone special. the length of the necklace is 24". the ebay listing has great pictures of the front and back of each charm.

i had several requests (thank you for the interest!) to see my resin pendants individually to get a better idea of what they look like, so here they are. i've been adding them into my shoppe today (still have a few more to go, but working on it).

this pendant, featuring "the girl with the pearl earring" says on the left side "after much thought, i've decided not to do the laundry today" - SOLD!

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this one is SOLD, but i will be making more featuring her, as she is very popular.

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still available

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SOLD!

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still available

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from a friend

a package arrived yesterday from my friend, Kim. we had done a necklace swap along with another friend, Maija. Poor Kim though, got a double whammy because the swap was taking place at the same time as my birthday, so she ended up having to make me two necklaces. (so i made out like a bandit!) so this was my 2nd half of the swap. but not only did i get a necklace, i got a pair of gorgeous earrings and an ornament that she put a nest from her yard in (forgot to take a pic of it). the necklace is this intricate wire cage in which in the middle sits a lovely green heart. you would not believe the wire work on this piece. i am in awe as it must of taken her forever! it is quite beautiful and can't wait to show it off. thank you so much, Kim, for taking the time to work on such wonderful pieces for little ole me.

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i finally got the resin to dry on these new jewelry pieces that are featuring either vintage bird images or some of my original artwork. i think they turned out pretty cool

my dolls were featured on the front page of etsy

FP-12-4-08-copabananas, originally uploaded by copabananas.

a fellow street team member created this wonderful collection of various Jersy etsians and we managed to get on the front page. (which is great because then your shoppe gets a lot of hits, which is potentional business).

vinette by the front door

here's a little vinette i created and it is really easy to do, so if you feel inspired to create your own, it took me about 15 minutes. of course, i have the resources in my own backyard to go cut holly, berries, pinecones and evergreens. we took the dogs and made a little trip to the back field and snip these items, collected pine cones, yelled at Gracie for running off, oh and looked for birds nests. we found one which jeff wrangled out of some sticker burrs and then i took all the findings and starting laying them out around this old farm table (bought for $5 years ago!). the wreath you see in the back of the picture, we got at the flea market this morning and the same with the rusty old truck (which had been in a fire). i fell i love with the truck the second i saw it. it reminded me of jeff telling me how when he was little, he use to bury his toys in his backyard. so i told him, we are going to tell people that you buried this truck when you were little and we recently dug it up! in the first picture, you can see the darling little bird nest in the cab of the truck. in the second picture, i decided to add some vintage ornaments also purchased at the flea market this morning.

don't have these kind of items? well, let's get creative and see what else you have to substitute!

here's a picture of sweet Kirby on our walk today. she was very helpful.

My friend, Abbie, created my new avatar, featuring one of my icons. isn't it great? i just love having a handy computer friends!

garden statuary goddess

inspired by cindy forrestor's bottle class in california, i made this tiny little bottle with a doll on it and turned it into a necklace

new goodies

, originally uploaded by keeshagirl4.

this was me yesterday

(photo by Eun Leanan, see more incredible robin shots here at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/eunleanan/sets/72157603843903744/ )

after running a few errands, I decided to bite the bullet and go the mall and get a few people on my list taken care of. i do like to give handmade gifts, but most of these were kids and i don't realy make handmade stuff for the little ones (unless it is my neice). but i was really sleepy for some reason and had a horrible headache that i just couldn't shake, so it probably wasn't the best day to go shopping. i got extremely irritated at Old Navy (won't be going there again) as the store is so disorganized, crap everywhere, they never have the right sizes and you have to watch them carefully with their sales items and clearance stuff because it is always wrong. which is exactly what happend to me with some of their sales. i'm tired of the hassle of dealing with these places just to save a few bucks. in one store i swear, the clerks were on me like feathers to tar telling me about their sales, what can they help me with, am i looking for anything in particular, etc. etc. . normally i expect friendliess and customer service, but yesterday with my headache, i just wanted to be left alone. is it kind of hard to be friendly when you head is pounding! anyway, that was my day and i still have a bit of a headache , which probably means my neck is tight, which means i should go get an adjustment ( a massage would be nice too!)