If you love Johnny like I love Johnny....


These amazing My Little Ponies are from designer Mari Kasurinen from Finland! I love her Captain Jack Sparrow and Edward Scissorhands! She has a collection of Star Wars favorites, 80's movie characters and an incredible Pan!

Wouldn't you love a peek inside Mari's brain??

The Amazing Walrus Tusk on Etsy













This week I am introducing you to Jennifer’s incredible Etsy shop Walrus Tusk. If you spend any amount of time on Etsy you have come across her intricate and amazing pieces of beadwork. Jennifer was brought up in the far north in Fairbanks, Alaska where she learned from craftsmen how to adorn the body with beautiful pieces of bead work. She now lives and works in the desert in Arizona. The dry desert air creates such a different environment where she cannot help but be inspired.

I also know the ruddy duck is her favorite bird and she loves Pan’s Labrynth and Pushing Daisies and is a coffee addict (Me, too! Although I am not sure I have ever seen a ruddy duck). Her work is stunning with amazing craftsmanship (she also makes some of my favorite treasuries!). Check her out!

6 Things You Don't Want to Know ABOUT ME

I have been tagged by the amazing Ngan of nNVe Designs (who I will never forgive). These are the rules:

link to the person who tagged you > post the rules on your blog > write six random things about yourself > tag six people at the end of your post and link to them > let each person know they've been tagged

1. I have lived in the same state my entire life, the much maligned state of New Jersey, where I somehow managed to go to 7 schools in 7 years.

2. 5th grade was my last great year of school- I won most popular, best looking, most athletic, starred in the school play, won the spelling bee, got straight A’s . The next year I lost all my charm and stayed that way until… well, I stayed that way….

3. My husband and I met on a blind date. I only agreed to go out with him because my sister promised me he was moving to Florida the next week. He had only been told I was very skinny, had just cut my hair super-short and had a scar on my shoulder- he showed up anyway. He had no money to go anywhere, asked me why I wore my hair so short and looked at me like a starving man looks at a steak dinner…. proof that love does not have to happen at first sight, although he still swears it did for him….

4. I was a bank manager for 10 years. Actually I was a bank teller for 1 year, a head teller for 1 year, an assistant manager for 1 year and a bank manager for 7 years. I was really good at it. Until a gun at my head during a robbery, a knife pulled on me during a forgery attempt and a crazy stalker customer pushed me out the door and back into myself ……

5. I am diet pepsi obsessed. I only buy the caffeine free kind from the grocery store, because it makes me feel better about myself- but sneak off to fast food drive thrus almost daily for a caffeinated one- I think the ones you drink in your car don’t count, right?

6. I do not really like cats - please do not hate me for this

7. I go to a psychic once a year around my birthday even though she is wrong about almost everything

8. Cat is short for Catherine which is my middle name. My real first name is top secret, but you probably have an old, gray-haired, maiden aunt with this name who used to pinch your checks and give you sticky quarters…

Oops overdid this- probably should delete the cat thing....
now to pass this on to 6 people - please forgive me guys!

I am tagging ButtonEnvy, Something Whimsical, Decorate the Diva, AntiGenre, ShutterKate and Fisheye

Sweetness Jewelry Is Named Just Right



One of my favorite Etsy sellers is Kelly of Sweetness Jewelry. I met Kelly through our mutual love of making treasuries on Etsy and knew Kelly for a while before I discovered her secret- Kelly is 12 years old! She makes her jewelry, takes her own pictures and runs her own online jewelry business and she does it all with an amazing 'sweetness' that makes her one of Etsy's favorites! I bought one of her amazing pieces and it always gets me lots of compliments.

When asked our OliveBites question of the week about her earliest crafty memory- Kelly answered, "My earliest crafty memory must be drawing animals on the dining room walls with black and purple crayons. I was like 3 years old." I am sure she is the only Etsy seller who can remember being 3 years old! Go Kelly!

Grace Hartigan Memorial



I recently received an email from Kat of Kat Gallery to let me know that a Grace polarity locket that she had given to the director of her graduate program, Grace Hartigan, who passed away recently at the age of 85, had been placed in her archives in Syracuse. You may recognize Grace's name and work. She was an amazing abstract painter and I thank Kat for giving her this gift and for letting me know of its final destination!