Something else

About a month ago, I decided that I was tired of looking at our front door.  I hopped on the painted front door wagon after a quick chat with the hubby.  He's colorblind, so he decided to trust me - our door needed painting anyways, and he approved of my choice.

Here's the "before" picture.  This was taken several years ago, but the front of the house looks essentially the same.

Here is the "after!  I didn't get across the street because there was too much glare, but I really love it!

I have black to paint the shutters, but I haven't gotten to that yet because it's gotten really hot in the past few days.  I think the blue door will be even more noticeable after we trim the hedges way back in the fall/winter.  I plan on doing the inside of the door too, but that's waiting until the boy is in school in 2 weeks.

Something new

So I was reading through some other polymer clay blogs a couple of months ago, and saw these great molds from Best Flexible Molds.  I decided to go ahead and get the turtle mold, and the other day, I made my first turtle!!!

Isn't it sweet?  I used some scrap clay for the shell, and plain turquoise with silver mica powder for the body.  Unfortunately, now it's too hot to do much clay work.  :-(  But I love my little turtle, and have some plans for more!

And we have a winner!!!!

Using Random.org, I set my parameters between 1 and 9 (1-7 were blog comments, and the other two were on the facebook post, unable to post a comment here). 

Random.org selected 5.

Sooooo....

CONGRATULATIONS to VEL CHRISTE!!!

Send me an email at pattysprettythings@sbcglobal.net and I'll give you your certificate code.

Thanks, everyone!!


UPDATE 7/6/13:

Vel Christe!!!  I haven't heard from you yet - if I don't hear anything by Monday morning, I'll re-draw for someone else.

Summer jewelry and a giveaway!

So I have to make a confession.  I don't wear a lot of jewelry in the summer.  It's just so warm and humid, and I'm running around a lot with my little guy... but when I do, I try to wear stuff that's lightweight and casual, like these bracelets.

 

 

 

 But my favorite things for summer are anklets.  I have a pretty decent selection that I choose from, and sometimes I'll wear more than one at a time.  For whatever reason, anklets don't seem to bother me much when I'm hot and sweating (I said I had a confession - it just isn't pretty!  It gets hot and humid here in Oklahoma, and we sweat).

So what do you like to wear during the summer?  Leave me a comment and in one week, I'll choose someone at random to get a $5 shop credit for some summer jewelry!

Blog slacker

I know, I KNOW!!  My only excuse, if you can call it that, is that since I last blogged, I was consumed with the boy's medical care after his fall, and then all of my and his end-of-the-school year stuff.  My poor Etsy shop has suffered from my busy schedule, and now that it's summer, I've lost pretty much all of my time to work on stuff.  I did manage to make these cute little leather link bracelets a few week ago.  I have some other stuff ready for listing, too, but need time to photograph and get that done.  I'm trying.

Those leather link bracelets are fun, right?  I made two for myself, ha!  My husband is out of town working right now, and my 6 year old is running me ragged, so I have a lot of ideas for new pieces, but no time or energy to create.  I guess I'll just have to find some time, because I really want to get back to work.  So stay tuned!  All of these pieces are listed in the shop.

Radio Silence

Sorry about the radio silence over here.  For those of you that follow Patty's Pretty Things on Facebook, you saw that we had a bit of a family issue a couple of weeks ago.  You see, my six-year-old son took a bad fall and landed on his face.  I actually closed up shop for a couple of weeks so I could wrap my brain around everything that had happened, and come up with a plan to deal with all of his injuries.  But he's doing well, and recovering nicely, with very few lingering effects.  The only ongoing issue will be a number of orthodontic/dental procedures because of his permanent tooth extraction.

I have been doing some shop stuff...  I have a few pairs of earrings, and an adjustable bracelet.  I got some emerald jade that I'm enjoying, as well as some other bright summer colors, and I used some for a pair of earrings.

I really love those mosaic agate beads with the jade - they have flecks of gold and shimmer in them, and are simply gorgeous.

The bracelet is made with large fancy jasper rounds, and Czech glass, strung on white cotton cording.  I really love it, and it's so easy to wear!!

I have some plans for some really dainty wrap bracelets.  I have the beads all picked out, and the cord cut - I just need to put them together!!

The WINNER!!!!

The winner of the lovely earrings is Cindy L!!!!  

Please email me at pattysprettythings@sbcglobal.net with your address so I can send them out ASAP!

Thanks to everyone who entered - be sure to check back soon for another one!

Giveaway!!

I think it's been quite a while since I had a giveaway here on the blog, so here goes!  I have these lovely little earrings.  I'm not sure what the beads are, though... I got them as a freebie with an order, and they were unlabeled.  I've tried unsuccessfully to get in touch with the seller, so they could be glass, amethyst, or even something else!  At any rate, they are lovely, and they COULD be yours!

The earrings are about 1" long from the bottom of the hooks, which are sterling silver, with a sterling silver spacer.

Aren't they pretty?

So, to win... just leave me a comment here, and tell me your favorite thing about spring.  I am ready for spring, for a variety of reasons, the most pressing being that I am ready for winter illness season to be OVER!  My 6 year old is home from school today due to a cold, and I am more than ready to be germ-free.

Leave a comment, and if you share on facebook or your blog, leave another (and link if you can) for an additional entry (you can only get 2, but if you want to share multiple times, that's fine with me!).  This contest is only open to US residents, and ends on Sunday night!!  Have fun, and good luck!

Where I'm headed...

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I'm having a little creative block.  I thought that once I got back to designing a few things that it would let up, but so far it hasn't (or perhaps it's this nasty cold that's holding me back... I'm not sure!).  At any rate, I've been working on things, and enjoying it, but there's just something missing.  And I think I know what it is.

Clay.

I miss working with clay.  I feel like I've been so focused on making ornaments with polymer clay, that I've been stuck not doing as much as I want with it in other areas.  SO, this year, I'm going to do MORE.  I'm going to try some new techniques, and really try to expand myself.  I hope you all will stick with me on my journey - I think it's going to be fun!

In the meantime, I made this bracelet yesterday, and it's available in my Etsy shop.

Those are vintage lucite barrels that I picked up at a local bead shop, with a big pewter toggle clasp - pretty, huh?

Before and After

So one of the things that I really wanted to work on this year was streamlining my business.  I'm taking another class this spring semester, and may be headed to graduate school in the fall, so being organized is really a necessity.  As you can see from the photographs, this was NOT happening.

The first thing I did was replace that white drawer set with something on wheels.  This is right next to some built in cabinets, and with those drawers there, we were not able to get into that cabinet whenever we wanted, without dragging those drawers out, which was a pain.

Then, I had to go through all of the old drawers, and figure out what to keep or toss, and then organize.  They had kind of become a catch-all for various other craft projects that needed a home too.

In this first drawer, I have most of my shipping and packaging supplies in the front basket, and some miscellaneous craft supplies in the back basket.

In the next drawer, I have stringing materials, and wire - fiber products and ribbon in the front, and beading wire and regular wire and tools in the back basket.

In the bottom drawer, I have all of my completed products.  I have five storage boxes for all of my jewelry, and I have everything separated out by seasonal, earrings/rings, bracelets, and necklaces.

I also cleaned off the desktop, as you can tell.  I sorted beads, findings, etc, and tossed some trash.  I was able to move all of my tools in to that built in drawer on the desk, and was able to get rid of the green drawer unit that I had in the "before" pictures.  All of the stuff that is sitting out on top of the desk is stuff that either needs to be photographed, listed, or remade completely.

I'm using that mug to hold my paintbrushes that I use for my clay stuff - that's not all of them, certainly.  Part of the reason I have them there, instead of with my clay stuff is because they often just fall to the bottom of my clay supply bin.  I'll dig out the rest here shortly.  That mug was given to me when I graduated college (the University of Arizona - hence the big A), but the handle has a big crack in it, so it's not suitable for holding drinks anymore.  The little bowls in the corner there are good for holding beads while I'm working.

So, there you go!  It took me about a week, but I got it done, and I'm really happy with it.  Maybe someday we'll live somewhere where I'll have a little more space, and I can organize my beads better, but for now, I'm happy with this work space.

Creative block

Hey, everyone!  As you can see by my post title, I've had a good reason for being quiet around here... I have had a serious creative block.  I think I was a little burned out... I think I mentioned that my son had to have surgery at the end of November, and between that, finishing my class (with an A, thankyouverymuch!), the boy's 6th birthday, Christmas prep, and all of those ornament orders, I was just toast.  But I'm slowly getting back into the swing of things, and I'm hoping to try out some new stuff this spring.  In the meantime, I'll share a couple of bracelets that I hope to have listed soon.  Well... the agate and amethyst bracelet will have to be re-strung - the clasp won't stay shut, and I'm waiting on some new ones that I ordered.  I was pretty bummed, since the clasp was super cute, but these things happen sometimes!

I really love this second one, lol!  I almost kept it for myself.

Glitter and Feathers

Evidently, my son has inherited my love of glitter.  I don't know where he's gotten the feather love from, though!  This was a homework assignment - this was his turkey feather!  The class put all of them together on a turkey.  I haven't yet seen it, but I hope I will soon!!

I finished up all of my custom orders for the year, and this was my favorite by far:

This was for a friend, and she wanted it to represent the fact that they are expecting a new baby - we decided to add an EGG!!!!  Isn't that darling?

I have to say, using the molds for the penguin bodies this year helped SO much with my turnaround time!  Being in school, and then my son's surgery 1 week and a half ago really made it hard to manage my time, but I think I've got the hang of it now.  :-)

Cyber Monday!

So today is Cyber Monday...  You probably already knew that, though, unless you live under a rock.  So I'm having a sale today - originally, it was for my Facebook Fans, but I'm opening it up to everyone!  You can enter FBCyber at checkout, and get 30% off your purchase of any ready-to-ship item!!  Like these:

Matte Onyx Earrings

Russian Amazonite Earrings

Faux Granite Bird Ornaments

Dragonfly Seed Bead and Jump Ring Bracelet

Ruby Quartz cluster earrings

Triple Strand Coral Bracelet

Turquoise Seed Bead and Jump Ring Bracelet

So head over today and do some shopping!  There are a lot of good deals to be had today!

Black Friday

If you want to shop in your pajamas, and avoid the crowds, I have a coupon code that's good through Monday.

THANKS20

This will get you 20% off your entire purchase!

I've had to stop taking orders for custom snowman and penguin ornaments a little earlier than I had planned. My son is having surgery on Thursday this week to address his sleep apnea issues, and I have a lot to do ahead of that to make sure I can give him my full attention while he's recovering.  I still have a few left to finish up, but should have those shipped out Monday or Tuesday.  In the meantime, here is an order that I sent out last week!

New Ornaments!

I've just been plugging away at ornament orders this week and last - these two went out yesterday!  Now I just have 3 left... I guess I'll be pretty busy this weekend and next week.  Fortunately, things have slowed down at school a little bit, so I'll have a little more time to get caught up.

Seeing how busy I've been with just one class has made me thing about my plans for 2013.  I'm going to hopefully be attending an accelerated graduate program next school year, so I will be VERY busy.  I'm letting you all know NOW, so you can start planning your ornament orders, if you want one for 2013.  I'll only be accepting a limited number of orders, and it will likely take a lot longer for me to get them shipped out, so with that in mind, I'll take orders for 2013 beginning in January, and ending mid-November.  I'll keep reminding everyone, but please know that it's not because I don't want to make them!  With my son in school full-time now, it's time for Mommy to head back out into the work force, and this is the first step!

Friday Shop Update

I got a few new things listed in the shop on Friday...  I went to my local bead shop on Thursday for a wholesaler trunk sale - it was FANTASTIC!  I especially loved this first bracelet - matte onyx, gray jade, crystals, and sterling silver.  I really loved the onyx as soon as I saw it, and I just had to have it!

I also picked up these little spiders at the bead store - perfect for Halloween, don't you think?

Happy Holidays!

It is my pleasure to introduce you to the newest member of the Custom Family Holiday Ornament family - the Penguin Family!!!

As with the Snowmen, you can choose the colors for hats and scarves, as well as for the year plaque if requested.  Be sure and order yours by the end of November!!

Kindergarten

It occurs to me that I forgot to blog about Stephen's first day of school! Sorry - this picture was taken before I took him to school. Normally, he rides the bus in the morning, but my mommy heart just couldn't take NOT walking him to his classroom on his first day of Kindergarten. And I totally didn't cry!

It has been 2 weeks since Stephen started school, and as expected he loves it! He is playing with the other children, and enjoys the addition of P.E., art class, and music class. This is not to say, however, that this has been a smooth transition. For the past 6 months or so, Stephen has been waking up early with increasing frequency. And by early, I mean 5am, and sometimes earlier. For the record, a 5-6 year old should be getting 10-11 hours of sleep in a 24 hour period. Stephen is sitting on 9 most days. This started to become a daily issue over the summer, but we were hopeful that all-day kindergarten would wear him out enough to sleep longer, as he is really suffering from being so tired all day. We finally had enough, and took him to the pediatrician about this, and she suggested that we give him melatonin, and try to keep him up later. This is easier said than done - Stephen is ready to go to sleep usually between 7 and 7:30, instead of the 8pm that the doctor suggested, but we are keeping him up as best as we can. Unfortunately, it's not working very well after 1.5 weeks... Sadly, this has affected his behavior at home and school, as well as his school performance, but we are all working proactively to help him as much as we can.

Despite the sleep issues, Stephen's teacher reports that he is really a wonderful boy, and a joy to have around. That's what we love to hear!

New Schedule

Well, it's been back-to-school time around here!  My son started all-day kindergarten, and my husband is back to teaching as well... lest you think this leaves me to sit around all day eating bonbons, let me tell you what I'M up to!  I decided to go back to school too!!  I'm only taking one class this semester, since it's been 11 years since I was last in a college course, and frankly, it's taking a bit of extra work to remember how to study again.  Hopefully once I get back in to the swing of things, I'll be able to get a good blogging schedule set up too.

I have managed to make a few things over the past couple of weeks, though!  Everything can be found in the shop, of course.

I'm ready to pull out my clay here soon - I have a lot of ideas in my head right now, and just not much time for implementation.  So stay tuned!!

Still no photos

Sadly, 2 months later, I still don't have a new window in my dining room where I take my photos.  One was ordered, but evidently the contractor didn't measure correctly, so they had to order a second one, which should be ready in a couple of weeks.  In the meantime, I HAVE to find somewhere else to take my pictures today.  I currently have 3 pairs of earrings, 5 bracelets, and a necklace waiting to be photographed.

I did get a picture of this, though:

I've been holding off on working on Christmas ornaments because it's really hot, which makes it hard to work with my clay, and also because they are time-consuming, which makes them very daunting to me right now.  I am planning on making a mold of the bodies for the snowmen AND the penguins so that I can cut down on at least a little bit of the time to make these.  Hopefully my master plan will work, lol!