A List Designs has such stunning items. The exquisite
handmade jewelry is fashioned from beautiful gemstones and sterling silver, and
many pieces show off their impressive metal smith skills. Their store is filled
with such charming and unique pieces; it is a trendsetter’s paradise.
Continue reading to find out more about the talented hands
behind the brilliantly crafted jewelry at A List Designs.
I was inspired, recently, by this blog, to start a series with in this series.
Though I will interject with a poem, or song, or different story when I feel it's appropriate, every Writing Wednesday I will write a flash fiction piece, no more than 500 words, based around an emotion. unlike Donovich's posts I will not be going in any particular order, but rather, I'll be using a random generator to pick the emotion each week. Also, each story will be like a short episode, peering into the lives of the same set of characters, and all the stories will be told in chronological order.
Ellen sighed as he walked away with
her. “She's pretty...” she thought, sighing as she struggled to keep here
halfhearted smile in place. “She’s nice, she's smart, she is actually rather
perfect...” She turned back to the coffee she had just poured, wrapped her
thin, self-manicured hands around the warm paper cup, and, hoping it would be
cool enough to indulge in, lifted it to her lips. Breathing in the steam, she
lowered it with a sigh and glanced at the tiny, white clock that sat just an
inch below the dingy drop tile ceiling of the fellowship hall.
Church was scheduled to start in
just five minutes so she made her way to the sanctuary, keeping her pace quick
and eyes focused in the hopes that any of the prying women, or even any of the genuinely
nice ones, would assume she had some important business for the service to
attended to. Futile she knew, partly
because there were a few who, if they noticed her, would simply not be so
considerate, and partly because she would need to deal with the same problem
once she got to the sanctuary. Service was scheduled to start at 10:00am, but
everyone knew, and took advantage of the fact, that it wouldn’t actually begin until
10:15 or 10:20. Twenty minutes, at least, of faking happy. It’s not that she
was that sad about it, she just didn’t want to talk about it. She knew she
wouldn’t be able to clear her head of it. Not until she sat and rationalized
her thoughts.
When she got upstairs she headed
for the bathroom. It was quiet, and empty. She leaned over the small sink as
she looked in the mirror. Her skin looked pale, and her pink lip gloss, purple
in the unflattering incandescent blue overhead lighting.
“It’s a good thing,” she thought. “It’s
very good… I wanted to hate her. I wanted to find some flaw, something that would
make her wrong for him. That was wrong. I should want him to be happy. I want
him to be happy. She makes him happy. She is pretty, and intelligent, and
sweet. She has his sense of humor, she has his taste in music, and she’s
perfect for him... She is perfect for him.”
She quickly splashed some soap and
cold water on her hands as another woman walked in with her preschool aged
daughter. She began to wander to her usual seat in the sanctuary as she
continued to recite those thoughts to herself, using all her power to push back
the one thought that incessantly fought its way to the front of her mind.
I’m so in love with the photos at Spackle The Gap. The
owner, KJ, clearly has an eye for beauty in interesting places. I love how she
uses her listings’ descriptions to describe her vision for many of the photos,
and the photo effects perfectly compliment the desired aesthetic feel. Whether
it’s telephone wires or speckled spiders, a stadium or one of the wettest spots
on earth, KJ finds the perfect shot every time. Read on to find out about the woman
behind the shutter and find out how you can win your choice of any of her 8x10
fine art photos!
So I happened to recently move into one of those towns. The type where nearly every house is covered in 20 strands of lights. But hey.. it's pretty!
Actually it is really pretty. I want to show you all some of the beautiful displays around here but I'm guessing my neighbors really won't appreciate me taking pictures of their homes to post on the internet.
So since I can't show you, I thought I would tell. In song, of course! This just sort of came to me when I was driving through town with my fiance one day. It is a parody of the beloved Christmas song "Silver Bells."
Two weeks with a set posting schedule before I break it... Yep, that sounds about right.
It has definitely been one of those weekends. Actually it has been one of those weeks. I started out the week excitedly talking about how backing Christmas cookies & decorating on my twitter & Facebook. I ended the week having only made 1 batch of Christmas cookies & not even having the tree up!
With me having about hundred & one things on my to-do list for my Etsy shop, my fiance having finals, and the other not so fun parts of life, all of the things we wanted to do this week got kicked to the curb for the things we had to do. Don't you hate it when that happens?
The funny thing is, I knew this would be a busy week.
The first thing that struck me about this Etsy store was the
name, Cardinal Virtues. It’s one of those names that just stick with you, &
the banner the name is displayed on is such a beautiful representation of the
rest of the shop. The stunning vintage items are complemented by lovely
photography, and some of the beautiful jewelry is sold for charity!
Here is a more light hearted story, that was written purely for fun. Today, however, I am not the author. This awesome short story was penned by a very good friend of mine, Daniel Donovich.
He is a fantastic writer. Literally, he writes fantasy. Though, he does not (and most certainly should not) classify his work genre fantasy. He always writes stories with true literary value, and does so very, very well. To get a better taste of his work please go check out his blog.
The story he gave us today is a bit different than his usual writing style (& he will probably say that is quite the understatement), it is more of a creative non-fiction piece. But I find it very fun & entertaining to read, & I think you will to.
I LOVE Vintage Books. If you have ever read any of my profiles you know this. For instance, I own a book written entirely in short hand. And no, I do not read short hand.
Beautiful, bright, bold colors instantly grab my attention
when I enter Etsy shop KnellyBean. Her collection of crocheted accessories
& embellishments are so fun & upbeat! Just looking at her store makes
me smile. I just love her photos & her creativity. I also love how she donates a portion of her
proceeds to the Scleroderma Foundation.
Though she sells a variety of items her store they are all
still unified under her love of color. But I don’t want to spoil the interview
for you. Read on to get a taste of her equally upbeat & fun personality!
This story just came to me one day. I'm not really sure where it came from, but it came to me so I wrote it down. I'm also not sure why it's written from the point of view of a middle aged man even though I'm a college aged girl, oh well. Many people seem to like it, so I thought I would share it with you.
Enjoy.
On that particular morning I wasn't doing much of anything, just sitting on the dusty tattered couch in our living room sipping my morning coffee. I say our, but in truth it was no longer ours, just mine. Rather ironic, considering I was against the odd looking thing in the first place. It was stark red, made of some expensive, supposedly fine material, which I suspected was no more than dollar store yarn, which was now breaking, fraying and allowing the small bit of polyester stuffing to stick out. It looked and felt like a poorly knit blanket draped over a metal bench, which was quite befitting of my life at that point.
Ah Christmas...A time to spend with family, friends, & God; thanking Him for giving us His Son & each other. A time when we become more conscious of those around us & begin to show a greater kindness in our actions.
Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas & I love snow. What
I don't love, what I rather hate, is the time between fall & the first real
snow. I'm not talking about those little frozen rain drops that stick to the
grass but make everything else look wet & muddy, I mean real fluffy,
sticky, and perfect for a snow ball fight snow.
Unfortunately we usually don't get that type of snow around
here until January, if we're lucky. But at least we then get about 10 feet
dumped on us over the course of 36 hours at some "unexpected' point in
February.
I just wanted to share with you this little "commercial" I created today. As the watermark implies, I used Stupeflix, but only because WMM was acting weird. I'm hoping to do more things with Youtube in the future, like DIY's & peaks into my workshop, maybe even a vlog or two. But for now, let me know what you think of this little vid.
Not the catchiest of titles but accurate! To celebrate Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Sunday just because it's awkwardly in the middle and Cyber MondayI am offering 15%OFF everything in my store! Use coupon code HANDMADEHOLIDAY15 for 15% off starting Friday Nov. 25th 2011 at 12:00AM through Monday Nov. 28th 2011. And if you spend $50 or more* at my store this weekend you can use coupon code HANDMADEHOLIDAY25 for 25%OFF your purchase!
Keep in mind my Christmas cut off dates are Dec. 12th for U.S. orders & Dec. 5th for international orders. After these dates I cannot guarentee that you will recieve your order before Christmas. This is based off of shipping dates for USPS first class & first class international. If you would like to upgrade to priority or expediant please contact me via Etsy's messageing system or my email: BookCraft.etsy@yahoo.com
Have a very happy holiday season!
Courtney Rae
*May only be used if your Etsy shopping cart for my store equals $50 not including shipping.
To all my fellow NaNoer's:
WHY AREN'T YOU WRITING!! GO! GO WRITE NOW!! (get it.. like go right now.. only in really bad pun form)
And to all my non-NaNo readers:
WHY AREN'T YOU WRITING! GO JOIN NANO LAST MINUTE! IT IS NOT TOO LATE! GO NOW!
To those of you who stuck around anyways, or writing in the comments that I should be taking my own advice & not writing a blog post, I would like to draw your attention to the "It's not too late" part.
Thank you Steve Jobs. Without your brilliance, your mix of
creativity &; science, this world may have never witnessed the incredible
technology boom that it has.
It is common law, in these parts, that if you are someone who lives in Pittsburgh, and especially if you are someone who grew up in Pittsburgh, you are a Steelers fan. Well, I'm not. And no it isn't because I like another team, it is because I don't like football.
Sure I grew up with kids making fun of me & throwing rocks at me when i didn't where Black & Gold the day after a win, but they would have done that anyway.
Ever buy something from IKEA & have trouble putting it together because you can't understand those confusing pictures?
Well lucky for you I've translated some of them! Enjoy.
This video is via Etsy's online labs & is truly awesome. If you are an Etsy seller, or any small business owner & you haven't see this yet watch it NOW.
The devotional was actuallyabout firing an employee in a Christian way, which doesn’t apply to me at all.But, because he’s God, I got something out of that. Not so much the words thatcame after the verses, but the verses themselves, & the title.
You see, I have noticed that as business owners, we tend to see ourselves as.. well…the business owner. The boss. I think of myself as my own boss, but never, until this morning have Ithought of myself as my own employee.
To do accounting work?Or to finalize a new listing? That is the question! ... Oh wait no, it's to doaccounting work? Or to finalize a new listing? Or to create a new product? Orto write a blog? Or make a Facebook ad? Or to make edit my Etsy ads? Or stockup on product? Or to clean up the office? Or..
