10 Day WE CAN DO THIS Countdown to 2011 - #1 Be Brave

"I am not afraid ... I was born to do this. " - Joan of Arc

After 9/11 we packed an emergency suitcase in the trunk of every car and had a plan that in the event of a national emergency all family members would drive west and meet up somewhere beyond Hershey, PA.

We had no specific destination, but thought when we reached an area where people were familiar with Skoal tobacco, GEDs and fishing with dynamite we would be safe.

We kind of pictured ourselves becoming the kind of survivalists we knew from the Discovery Channel, Eddie Bauer ads and Stephen King books; creating a new world order in some rarely visited national park - living on dandelions and mole crickets.

After a while some of these fears subsided a bit, but it did leave me with the certainty that being BRAVE is an extremely important attribute.

Fear keeps us from making decisions and creating change and if we wait for the fear to go away, we may always be left waiting.

So in 2011, I resolve to be BRAVE.

(note- this does not include my completely appropriate fear of stink bugs, closed shower curtains and cats that don't blink)

*fearless card by happytimesco

One Gift Into Two - doing more with less through charitable donations for the holidays

If you are still looking for a last minute gift- charitable donations in someone's name are an amazing way to turn 1 gift into 2!

For as little as $5.00 you can give a gift that helps a child grow out of gangs in Honduras.

For $12.00 you can provide 20 pounds of multi-purpose soap through oxfam.

$20.00 provides art and music supplies and instructions to an impoverished child through worldvision.

$25.00 lets you sponsor a No Mo Chemo party at St. Jude's!

$50.00 gets you 50 trees planted in Brazil's Atlantic Forest through the Nature Conservancy.

200 dictionaries for students in Africa can be donated for $75.00 through Books for Africa.

$100.00 gets a family's new home a kitchen sink through Habitat for Humanity.

Justgive gives you the opportunity to make your donation locally.

Charitychoice allows the recipient to choose the charity.

Lots of great charitable ideas instead of buying Uncle Elmer another tie for his tie drawer this year!

A Holiday Stack of Goodies!

1. giant gumball machine
2. etch a sketch ipad case
3. handmade leather football
4. native shoes
5. spool scarf
6. mumford & sons cd
7. best made first aid kit
8. fuji 3d camera
9. land carpet
10. photo day planner
11. balloon dog toy

An amazing holiday stack of goodies from my favorite wedding photog and stacker of all things stackable Kella MacPhee

Upcycled Gift Tutorial Week # 5 - Repurposed Rubber Stamp Jewelry

If you are a crafty mama, you have probably rubber stamped a scrapbook page or two or rubber stamped something or other and now have a bunch of stamps gathering dust in a drawer somewhere.

(or maybe things in drawers don't actually gather dust, but you get the idea)

I recently made this little bat necklace for a vampire freak - although I do know that today's vampires do not actually turn into bats (the vampire freak loved it anyway) and that the bat thing is just an old vampire myth that real vampires, like my girl Sookie (and yes, again I realize that Sookie is not really a vampire ... yet) are busy dispelling.

Anyhoo, this is a very quick and easy jewelry gift idea for those rubber stamps that you would like to use in a new way!

This would also make a great keychain with a keychain ring in place of the neck chain!

You will need:

1. an old rubber stamp
2. permanent markers (easiest) or paint, chalk, sealer
3. washers and eyehooks
4. drill for starter holes
5. some sort of chain, cording or ribbon, some beads and baubles



1. you can either permanent marker the stamp 'picture' or paint or chalk it (if painting or chalking you will need to seal it with a clear sealer) - you may also decide the back of the stamp is where the really amazing picture is and use it backwards
2. drill a starter hole
3. screw in your eyehook and washer
4. add beads and baubles
5. add chain or cording

Making Decisions Without My Magic Eight Ball or how choosing one thing means letting go of the other thing and maybe that's why it's so hard - Part I

2010 is almost over folks and I for one am totally ready to let it go.

(bye bye 2010, don't let the door hit ya ...)

I am determined to make 2011 the year where I actually make some decisions rather than letting life make them for me through my amazing ability to procrastinate and "settle".

(ugh)

It could be all over in 2012 anyway according to the gazillion books in the 2012 section - yes, there is an actual 2012 section, I've seen it - at the Barnes and Noble, so we better get crackin' with all this 'make our lives what we want them to be' stuff.

(but I wouldn't run up your credit cards deciding that is going to happen)

The word 'decision' comes from the Latin ‘decisio’ which means “to cut off" and when we make a decision, we cut off that other option and this is where the deciding thing gets tricky and sometimes scary.

Like if we decide to eat that chocolate cake, we lose that time on the treadmill (a small thing) and if we decide to buy that new car, we lose our access to that money we saved (a bigger thing) and if we decide to quit that job we hate, we lose our steady income (maybe) and at the very least our ability to have an actual job title when we fill out one of those forms that requires it (a much bigger thing, trust me).

Deciding is about being strong enough in our choice to allow a 'cutting off' of those other options.

Our lives are literally made up of all the decisions we have ever made.

(remember that song about "years of bad decisions running down her face" - ugh, that's a depressing one, but yeah, those bad decisions make us who we are, too)

I usually make decisions with my gut and intuition. I don't think I've ever made one of those pros and cons lists that hubby is so fond of.

(he even weights the pros and cons on a lined yellow notepad and tries to calculate the value of every outcome - what fun is that, I ask you and it works no better than guts and intuition anyway, believe me)

Once we reach the point where a decision is needed, the game changes. This is when we move out of discomfort and into plain old fear. This is also when the universe sends things at us to test our commitment to our decision.

So, let's talk about deciding as we start 2011. What decisions have we been putting off? What do we need to decide to say no to, so that we can say yes to the important stuff? What is the 'important stuff' anyway? What are we 'settling' for because we are afraid to make that decision and cut something off? Is our comfort zone making us a little too comfortable?

Part II - The Game Changer

Decisions, decisions ... photograph by Urban Pink Photography

*FINAL CHRISTMAS SPECIAL - 12/15-12/19 ONLY - will bump up all U.S. first class shipping to priority mail plus a 10% discount with coupon code DECIDE in my Polarity shop and my Uncorked shop*

Whining Wednesday - or a Christmas fable of a girl, her dog and the smelly guy at the post office

Actually, I know it's Tuesday because Tuesday is stinky guy day at my post office

(I send Olive in and look how excited she is about it)

Her sense of smell is, of course, about a gazillion times better than mine, so this is especially cruel

(please don't report me)

No clue how anyone could possibly cultivate a stench this powerful and still remain unaware of it.

This is not the smell of hard work and sweat - a totally relatable smell to us makers during the holiday season as we rush to get our goods into the mail

(so they can get smashed and lost just in time for the holidays)

No, not a hard work kind of smell just a very bad smell and somehow no matter how I time my Tuesday shipping I always meet up with this guy.

(the smell is what I would imagine it would be if dead animals threw up on his clothing and then he filled the pockets full of hard boiled eggs and left it all in his car trunk for a year ... in the desert)

On the other hand, I do get freaked out if a gigantic bodybuilder kind of guy smells like fabric softener.

(maybe the holiday rush is making me punchy)

When I was unemployed

(and that should narrow it down to, um, most of the time between 2001-present)

there was this huge guy at the gym.

He had a tattoo composed of about 50 human skulls inked on one arm and it was of lesser quality, if you know what I mean, like it could have been done over the course of a short prison term - say breaking and entering maybe - using a ballpoint pen and a thumbtack.

And, it was always unnerving to me when I'd see him throwing up in a trashcan after he'd dead lifted the equivalent of a Ford dealership and he'd still be smelling like a Care Bear ... yes, the pink one.

So, I don't like guys who smell bad and I don't like guys who smell good. No clue what this says about me. Luckily hubby is a kind of non-smeller who rarely even needs deodorant, but maybe this is too much information ... sorry.

(like I said, the holidays are making me punchy)

So, for everyone out there who is spending these last couple weeks leading up to Christmas running around like a maniac getting everything done and working up a sweat, I just wanted to tell you that I'm right there with you, I can feel your pain and frankly Olive can smell you from here ....

Giveaway on COSA VERDE - 10 Days of Nice - Enter by Midnight THURSDAY

Don't miss Cosa Verde's 10 Days of Nice Giveaway of my ladybug cork necklace and Metamorphosis locket with collage artist Jodie Hurt over on Cosa Verde today!

It's easy, peasy to enter. Just leave a comment on the post for your chance to give both these items to the recipient of your choice. Enter HERE!

I Smile Because You're My Sister ...

I laugh because there's nothing you can do about it ...

my kid sister is in town from Portland for a few days so I am putting this little blog on break until next week so I can spend some quality time with her and give her all that big sisterly kind of advice that only mwah can provide ...

poor kid ...

Upcycled Tutorial - Week # 4 - Holiday Gift Countdown - Potholder First Aid Kit

I saw this tutorial in a book a couple years back and thought it was quite a clever and quick upcycle for those potholders that you get as gifts that do not really work for you -

(and by work for you I mean they are too ugly for your kitchen, but not too ugly for someone to stuff in their glovebox)

I seem to get alot of these.

(maybe because I know alot of people who do their shopping at Walgreens on Christmas Eve ... hello, yes, I've been there, too)

So anyhoo turning a potholder, some plastic sandwich bags and a cute button into a little travel first aid kit or some other little kit is easy, peasy -

just remember if you intend to turn a potholder and little baggies into an actual pot-holder (if you know what I mean) that this would be illegal (although quite clever) and not recommended, but just about any other little doodad holder would probably work -

(and not get you a 6 month suspended sentence and 30 days community service - not that this has ever happened to me)


Now I know you are all very clever and do not really need a step by step with this one, but I couldn't really call it a tutorial without a step by step so bear with me.

1. Sew your little baggies (the sealed end) into the center of your potholder
2. Add bandaids, wipes, etc
3. Sew on an appropriate size button
4. Add or sew on some kind of first aid symbol or add a hangtag

(and now that I think of it you could probably get everything you need for this project at 5:45 on Christmas Eve at Walgreens if you had to)

If you are going to make this project and would like a couple of these little first aid pins to add to your little pouch - just email me through the LET'S CHAT link on the right and I will pop a couple in the mail for you, for free, that's just how I am, plus it's the season of giving and all that jazz .... and I made too many.

Whining Wednesday - please don't interrupt me when I'm talking to myself

Just a quick little Wednesday whine because I know everyone is busy and I, as usual, am a bit backed up and running behind.

Whine #1 - I may have totally lost my mind

Case in point - I had been enjoying some gorgeous late autumn weather a few days back

(you know, from indoors)

and thinking about taking the Halloween decorations down and putting the Christmas decorations up when hubby got all annoying about something or other and I decided to take myself for a little drive to the mall ... alone.

I wandered into the movie theater

(I have been posting quite alot lately about mall wanderings and I am really not a mall girl and not really much of a wanderer anymore unless you count my late night trips to the fridge)

and there was a Russell Crowe movie playing and since hubby really likes Russell Crowe I decided to stay and see this movie ... alone ...

(so when he would tell me at some point that he wanted to see it I would get to say -"too late bud, already saw that one, remember that day when you were being impossibly annoying and I went on a "wander" ... yup, that day bud, saw it ...")

anyhoo, I put on my big girl pants and resisted the snack bar and took my seat. There were maybe 20 other people in the theater. At some point during the movie

(that I should repeat once again I was seated at alone)

I suddenly yelled out

"GOOD SHOT"

at the movie screen.

*sigh*

Of course, 20 pairs of eyes were upon me before I had time to duck down in my seat and of course, I waited until the very last one of them left the theater at the end before I made my exit.

Now, when I told my daughter this story, she laughed very hard and most likely reported her mother's final slip into dementia to all her friends.

When I told hubby this story he said -

"you know you're going to have to see that movie again"

me - "did you hear me? I talked to the movie screen, I yelled out GOOD SHOT!"

hubby - "well, was it?"

Which of course, is why I love him.

(still think the days with my boat actually anchored to the dock may be numbered)

10% discount in either of my shops Uncorked or Polarity with coupon code GOODSHOT through 12/8.

Giveaway- RED BIRD INK - Cable Knit Letterpress Coaster Set! CLOSED

AND THE WINNER IS Jasmine 1485 of the wonderful Nothing Too Fancy blog #46 chosen by random.org

True Random Number Generator

Min:1
Max: 355
Result: 46



Red Bird Ink is the art, design and letterpress studio of the amazing Julia of Atlanta, Georgia!

Julia loves creating art and design objects with a fresh, elegant aesthetic, using luxurious inks and fine papers while maintaining a sustainable design approach.

You will love her shop filled with cards, prints, coasters, tags and lots of holiday goodies!


We are so lucky to have one of Julia's amazing coaster sets for this week's giveaway!

WHAT YOU GET:

One lucky winner will receive this gorgeous cable knit letterpress 4 piece coaster set!



HOW TO WIN:

Visit Red Bird Ink and check out this amazing shop - then come back here and leave a comment letting Julia know which piece is your favorite!

For additional entries:

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

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, Sunday, December 5th! Good Luck!

Thanksgiving Weekend Special in Both My Shops!

For the 3rd year I will be donating a chicken for every purchase in either of my shops Uncorked or Polarity from 11/25- 11/29!

Heifer.org is an amazing organization whose mission is to work with communities to end hunger and poverty and care for the earth.

By giving families a hand-up, not just a hand-out, they empower people to turn lives of hunger and poverty into self-reliance and hope!

UNCORKED customers will also receive a 10% discount by using Coupon Code - CHICKEN

POLARITY customers will receive 2 FREE EXTRA LIDS with every locket order (no coupon code required) during this special!

Happy Thanksgiving Week Everyone!!

Taking a little blogging break this week to get my house in order for turkey day - hoping everyone has so much to be thankful for this year - be back on Friday!

xo

(magical photo by the amazing Lucy Snowe Photography)

It's Beginning to Look Alot Like Christmas ... or miracles really can happen at the mall or the girl/guru that got away

I hadn't been to the mall in a very long time.

It was cold and rainy and I was in a funk, weighed down with so many important things happening so outside of my control these days, when I spied something warm and uber comfortable calling my name from the Old Navy window and wandered inside.

I noticed a cute little couple- she in an outfit that may have been stolen from a goodwill drop box or maybe from that guy that sleeps on the steps of the local library -

(I am now too old for this and if I tried it would be approached by an off-duty police officer and asked if I needed a ride back to the group home - I can though, still appreciate the crafty ability to throw together a couple articles of old clothing, various doodads and a handful of glitter and make it look adorable)

but somehow looked perfectly perfect on her talking to a hipstery handsome guy with a very bored look on his face.

"You shouldn't be talking about this in public", he was saying, scanning the room, "but I agree this is very, very important. I mean, dude, this could save the world and I mean it."

I was behind them, purchasing my old navy performance fleece pajama pants for $10.

(while I never realized I needed "performance" out of my sleepwear, it's nice to know that it has been included - note to self - add the word "performance" to all Etsy listings)

The sliding scale of my pajamas has gotten a little sad - thank you fleece "lounge" pants with bold, blue snowflakes

(and by the way everyone knows no two snowflakes are alike and there are alot of repeat patterns on these pants Old Navy!)

for helping me usher in this new era of "comfortableness".

(what I really want is a snuggie but hubby has threatened to wrap me in it, tag my ear and release me back into the wild if I buy one)

*sigh*

Anyhoo, back to that cute little couple and the conversation that I just so happened to happen upon if you know what I mean. I paid some fast cash so I could stay close enough behind them to hear where this conversation was headed.

"It really is the secret to being happy" she was exclaiming as he began to look a tiny little bit animated, too.

(and by this I mean his head sort of tilted from time to time and his feet shuffled slightly as he walked)

"I am so lucky to have figured this out so young, so I can be really, really happy every single day of my life."

(by now I was almost tripping over her as we walked, trying to stay close enough to hear the twentysomething words of wisdom that I think I may have forgotten somewhere in the last decade or so - if she had glanced my way for even a second I would definitely have knocked her to the ground and demanded to know her "secret" - luckily I was not yet wearing my performance fleece and so might still be able to conjure up a wee bit of intimidation)

"
"Catherine!"

A voice boomed from behind me and I turned to see someone my hubby used to work with almost running toward me. When I turned back my old navy hipsters were gone.

*sigh*

We chatted for a bit about this and that, but nothing important, when she suddenly said, "Damn, I just knew something wonderful was going to happen today!"

(huh?)

"What happened?" I asked, still kind of distractedly looking for that guru/girl with all the answers in my peripheral vision.

"Well, I ran into you, of course" she answered.

I stopped. I focused on her. Her eyes were gray and I almost missed that.

I smiled.

And it was like a giant tumbler clicked into place in my head and my funk lifted a little bit, just a little, but enough to see a little blue sky in that very moment that I had been missing thinking about that next moment - trying to pin down the sure thing that doesn't exist.

We laughed and made plans, that we will probably never keep, to see each other again.

But, somehow that little moment brought me back to center and my funk lifted a little bit and I "got it" - that life in the leap thing, that living in the present moment thing, the ability to survive when that thing that you want so badly could be just a little bit out of reach - that may or may not have been that hipster's aha moment that could save the world, but it did save mine, or at least it did yesterday ...



today print by honeyboo and be happy painting by livingstonandporter

Upcycled Jewelry Tutorial - Christmas Countdown Week lll - let's make jewelry!

For week 3 of this year's recycled holiday gift countdown let's make some easy, peasy jewelry!

If you are like me you probably have a drawer full of buttons and another drawer filled with those hard non-recyclable (until now) plastic bottle caps.

With some black cording from the craft store and a few metal pipe clamps from the hardware store (my favorite place) you can create some amazing interchangeable (that doing more with less thing again) necklaces you will be proud to give and your friends will be happy to get!

what you need:

some buttons of various sizes
a couple plastic bottle caps
power drill
screwdriver
metal hose clamps
thin black cording or chain


1. drill hole in center of bottle cap 2. thread stack of buttons backward from smallest to largest 3. push both ends of cording into bottle cap and tie off 4. cut off any loose ends (good life lesson here) 5. loosen clamp with screwdriver, insert bottle cap and tighten 6. add cording or thin chain to slot on back of clamp



See more of my recycled tutorials here

GIVEAWAY - Kylie Parry Handmade Ceramic Christmas Ornaments CLOSED!

AND THE WINNER IS Hedgehog and Rabbit!

True Random Number Generator (random.org)

Min: 1
Max: 267
Result:
47

Kylie Parry is an amazingly talented Wisconsin potter and illustrator!

She creates ceramic jewelry and wheel thrown functional pottery. Kylie enjoys creating work that celebrates the natural world.

I love her warm and wonderful pieces!

Her work is formed out of stoneware clay, hand-carved/stamped, stained and glazed. She uses rich, earthy glazes that are all food safe.

We are so lucky to have one of Kylie's amazing pieces for this week's giveaway!

WHAT YOU GET:

One lucky winner will receive this gorgeous ceramic reindeer ornament set!






HOW TO WIN:

Visit Kylie Parry and check out her amazing work - then come back here and leave a comment letting Kylie know which piece is your favorite!

For additional entries:

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

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, Sunday, November 21st! Good Luck!

Weekly Wrap Up or wrapping everyone in our loving arms today

This was supposed to be a video post, but my voice was scary bad.

I just couldn't bring myself to post it.

(seriously, it has me thinking that if I could have just gone through life with one of those little cartoon bubbles over my head and people could read what I was saying instead of hearing me speak, I would have gotten alot farther in life -

like finished college, had a 401K, corner office and stock options kind of farther)

but I decided to go ahead and post the ending pic ala Jessica Doyle - she always posts with a pic and it feels like she is talking right to you ...

plus it looks like I just ate that salad and the stack of slice-n-bake chocolate chip cookies I polished off afterwards are out of screenshot

To wrap up this stressful, insane week I will say that my daughter's surgeries went perfectly and she is feeling better everyday,

my sister finally booked her flight to New Jersey after 2 flippin' years,

(she did book it for the busiest week of the year for me, but since I've been looking for potential delegation candidates for the holiday season, this could be a good thing ... for me)

my friend Laura (creativelytangled and the inspiration for TeamEPE) got her new boobs,

my camera possibly needs a new, very expensive, shutter - ugh,

my hubby got his hair cut so short I almost cried when I saw it

Check out my trends post at the Artisans Collective team blog for some 2011 trends

Team EcoEtsy's 2nd Green Giveaway is up and HERE - it features an eco spa package valued at almost $75.00- you gotta be in it to win it folks!


And today, November 12th is To Write Love on Her Arms Day which my friend Rachel of the amazing GetReadySetGo has been spreading the word about for weeks.

TWLOHA is a non-profit organization dedicated to offering hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide.


So write a little LOVE on your arms today and have an amazing weekend everyone!

Upcycled Tutorial - Wine Cork Dog Leash (yes, I am totally serious) Recycled Holiday Gift Countdown - Week ll

If there is a special pooch in your life and you have collected a few wine corks for yourself

(and if you haven't maybe you should get working on that one)

you can easily make an adorable leash that special pooch will be proud to walk the neighborhood with!

Now, I should add that this is probably not a good leash for your rottie or any pup that needs more than a small amount of control

(although this is surprisingly strong and I cannot pull it apart - your rottie is probably stronger than I am though)

Someone incredibly wonderful sent me these corks not realizing they were not made from actual cork, but I knew I would eventually find a great use for them (these are synthetic corks, but your wood corks will work equally well).

You will need:

some corks
slip rings
eyehook and washers
spring hook
key fob for the hand grip
(these were puchased on Etsy from loveyduds)
super glue



Easy peasy instructions - Make a starter hole in the center of the cork with your eyehook, remove hook, add a couple drops of super glue to the hole, screw in eyehook and a small washer, add slipring, repeat, add a fabric key fob handle to one end and a latch hook to the other which will attach to your pup's collar.

Just be prepared to deal with a big-headed pooch from all the attention she/he will receive - Olive has become impossible to live with and is even demanding breakfast in bed ...

There are also lots of amazing doggie goodies on Etsy for your holiday shopping like these amazing finds here:


1. leashes from hollywoofstyles
2. leather dog collar from thecoolpuppy
3. mosaic dog leash holder by Raquel Stanack
4. Molly collar and leash from murphyandgert
5. turquoise dog collar by ChloesCollars
6. love to fart dog tag by hugapug studios
7. striped dog sweater by beantownhandmade