tgif ....

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Hubby and I are hijacking Kella and Chris's vacation to Asheville, NC -

(I've never been to North Carolina, only through North Carolina)

They kindly invited us down for a long weekend

(ie we begged and pleaded and sent Olive to their house with her sad face)

to a house they rented for the week on a lake (?) - I think a lake - are there lakes in North Carolina? I'm sure totally amazing lakes!

It is going to be a long drive tonight and tomorrow and then straight back on Tuesday, but worth it for 2 days of a mini-vacation.

I hope everyone else's weekend is just as wonderful and that Olive & I survive the car trip (hubby has packed his AC/DC's and Black Sabbath - ugh!)

*lilly in asheville notecard by Jen Obata (I am re-titling it cat in asheville for this weekend Jen, I hope you don't mind!)

xo all

Upcycled Tutorial - Vintage Children's Block Initial Necklace - Xmas Gift Countdown Begins!

I thought I would begin my annual upcycled holiday gift tutorial guide

(whoa say that 3 times, I dare ya')

early this year so I might actually finish it!

Everyone loves personalized gifts with their inital - and this is an easy, peasy one to make!

(the only kind of tutorial I do, because let's face it folks those long, complicated tutorials may look amazing, but are you ever really going to make them?!)


you will need:

vintage blocks (new blocks will just look cheesy- we need some vintage wabi-sabi for this one), chain or necklace cording, washers, eyehooks, slip rings, charms, beads, doodads

you may need a drill for your eyehook starter holes, I didn't, but I do lift a 20 lb terrier/beagle 482 times a day, so have one handy just in case

determine which block letter you want visible for the wearer, measure and mark your center, drill starter hole, add eyehook and washer, tighten with pliers, add chain or cording to top, repeat on bottom andding charm or doodad to the bottom

(note - if your name starts with a V and you get a Christmas present from me, please close your eyes at this point)

I added an amazing and gigantic lobster clasp to this one! My block is approx 1.25" with a 30" chain- smaller block/smaller chain- if you want to make one of these and need a 30" ballchain pop me an email and I will pop one in the mail to you.

To find some amazing vintage blocks to make these gifts check out these Etsy sellers:

1. agentobsolete
2. vintagebyalexkeller
3. brooklynretro

I have another tutorial using a child's block you may want to try HERE

GIVEAWAY Pawtisserie Dog Bakery $25.00 Gift Certificate! CLOSED

AND THE WINNER IS:
True Random Number Generator

Min: 1
Max: 182
Result:
109
Powered by RANDOM.ORG

= Cstironkat
- I hope Kouga and Milele like their goodies!

Pawtisserie Dog Bakery is the amazing shop of  Erin- a Jersey girl (yay!) with a big love of dogs (double yay!).

Her love for baking organic dog treats came about once Erin and her hubby adopted their dog, Ruby. They wanted her to have high quality, human grade ingredients in what she ate. Erin began baking treats for her, then for pets of family and friends, and then poof! Into an online store!

We are so lucky to have a gift certificate to Erin's amazing shop for this week's giveaway!

WHAT YOU GET:

One lucky winner will receive a $25.00 Gift Certificate at Pawtisserie!

HOW TO WIN:

It's easy, peasy - just leave your contact information below!

For additional entries:

(5) Twitter this post
(5) Blog about this contest; linking to this post
(5) Follow my blog
(5) Facebook this post

Let me know if you have done these things so I can give you additional entries. This contest is open to everyone.

DRAWING:
Enter by midnight on Sunday 10/9! Good Luck!

maybe we're not lazy, maybe we're not unorganized (well maybe we're a little unorganized) - maybe we're just trying to do too much

a short rant - at a certain point even the master juggler

(that guy in the Guinness World Record Book with the 47 flaming plates on a stick, who may or may not be missing an ear)

piles on one too many plates and finds his maximum juggling capacity

(hopefully before losing that second ear).

And this maximum juggling capacity is a personal thing.

Your maximum and my maximum are probably two different maximums.

(and now that I have just typed the word maximum so many times, the spelling just looks ... wrong - I hate when that happens)

* wastes 2 minutes googling maximum *

And yes, I get that these lessons are all about setting priorities and asking for help and saying no and

... I guess we had better figure it out before those flaming plates hit us over the head.

(there are some kick-ass earrings out there - it would be a sad thing if we never get to wear them ....)

* stacey had big plans print by happytownusa