What I've been doing...

I've been neglecting Patty's Pretty Things, and I know it. It makes me sad, but sometimes, life takes over and the fun stuff has to be put on the back burner. As I've said before, I try not to "work" when my son is home, unless he's sleeping, and I've had another project come up, and it has really taken a lot of time. I've been PAINTING my house. So far, I've painted walls and cabinets in 2 bathrooms, including this one:

The color used to be kind of a taupe-y yellowish color, which wasn't bad, but it looked tired and blah. Since we had the new tile put down for the counters, it really needed a new paint job too. And since I was painting THAT bathroom, I needed to finish up the cabinets in the other bathroom too (just white), where I also replaced the hardware.

Next up, was the hallway (same color as the bathrooms, so no pics - the color is Classic Taupe, by the way), and THEN, the kitchen. We recently had quartz counter tops installed, and I wanted to continue to lighten up the kitchen by painting the walls a lighter color. They used to be a darker sea-foam green color, and now they are "Turtle Dove," which is a very pale mint color.

Why am I doing this? Well, it was just time. Our house looks dingy, and new paint is sprucing things up. I have 3 bedrooms and 2 living spaces left to paint, but those should be much easier than the kitchen and bathrooms (I hope!!!!). I hope to get started on a bedroom next week, but for now, I'm resting my arms a bit - painting is a WORK OUT!

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My Etsy-versary is coming up on March 1 - I've been on Etsy since 2009! I have a couple of fun things up my sleeve to celebrate, and to apologize for ignoring my pretty things. So stay tuned!

Some new stuff

I finally had some time last week to sit down and play with my clay again, and I decided to play with some chalks and ink treatments, and came up with this sunburst pendant! I like the rustic and "unfinished" appearance, and the colors are just so bright and lovely!

For a little more color, I added some orange howlite and red web jasper, and hung it from brass chain. I'm really happy with this little necklace, and fingers are crossed that it finds a good home!

Happy 2012!

After I closed up shop, I cranked out some ornaments for gifts. These stars were for Stephen's teachers. I also made 4 in gold - 8 in total. They were all well-received, from what I hear. :-)

I made this little bird for my Aunt, who LOVES birds! She had purchased 3 custom bird ornaments earlier this year, and this one was just a little bit different. I realize the photos are a bit blurry - I was about to package them off for shipping when I remembered that I wanted to take a picture!

This is the other side of the ornament. It's hard to tell, but the color is kind of a light blue-granite color.

I really liked making that bird! I'm planning on writing up a little tutorial for it in the next couple of weeks, and I'll probably make some for sale for next holiday season. I also came up with my idea for new family ornaments for next season too - PENGUINS!

I have a lot of new ideas for this year, but I'll probably take a little longer getting everything created than I'd like. I've undertaken the project of painting the interior of our house, as well as tiling a back splash in our kitchen after we get our new counter tops in a couple of weeks. It should be a busy spring here!

How about a giveaway?!?

I'm making up for my bloggy absence with TWO posts today!!

On Wednesday, my precious baby is turning 5. FIVE! I can hardly believe it!! I am so lucky to be his mom, because he is such a great kid. And he's just so handsome, too, isn't he? :-)



So, in honor of this momentous occasion, I've decided to celebrate! I'm going to give away TWO $5 gift certificates to my shop. All you have to do is leave me a comment and tell me a birthday memory from when you were a kid, or about your own kids. Simple, right? That's all you have to do! And on Wednesday morning, I'll put all of your names in a bowl and let the birthday boy pick two out. All I ask is that you leave your email address in your post.

Ornaments EVERYWHERE!!!!!

I've been very busy cranking out custom Christmas ornaments this season! And there are a few that I didn't manage to get pictures of before I sent them out the door.

(Yes, I know this last one says 2010 - the customer said that they forgot to get one last year!)

And if you can believe it, I still have 2 more to finish up before I close up shop for the holidays next weekend. But stay tuned for all of the neat things I have planned for 2011!!!

Psssssst!!! Want a coupon code?

In honor of the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend, I'm offering a coupon code for 20% off your purchase through Monday, November 28 - just enter "turkey2011" at checkout for your discount! This unfortunately does not include custom ornaments like the one below...

But it DOES include everything else, like these earrings!!!

Also, I'm extending the ordering deadline for family ornaments by 1 week, so please get your orders in by December 7 to ensure timely delivery!!!

I confess... I'm a DIYer

We're on a tight budget over here right now, with the holidays coming up, but I REALLY wanted a new wreath for the front door this year! I had a nice one that I'd gotten at a craft store a few years ago, but it's kind of bulky, and we really have to push the front door to get it to close fully, since we put the wreath between the wood door, and the storm door.

I kept seeing these really sweet, yarn-wrapped wreaths all over the Internet, so rather than BUY one I thought I'd give making one a try! And the best part is that the materials I used only cost me around $6! I started with a LARGE skein of dark red yarn, and wrapped it all around a Styrofoam wreath form. My son is modeling that part of the project - he thought it looked nice as a necklace.

Then, I made some little felt rosettes out of white felt. I didn't take any pictures of that process, but you can find very easy tutorials all over the Internet for this. You basically cut a circle, and then cut a spiral in the circle, and roll from the outside end. I glued the rosettes on to the wreath. I'd also painted a letter H white, since that's the first letter of our last name, and I attached that too. Have I mentioned that I LOVE my glue gun?

But I wasn't DONE! It really needed some sparkle, so I took some silver and gold "shatter-proof" ornaments, and attached those around the rosettes. If you do this, make sure to remove the tops of the ornaments before you glue them - they adhere better!

And there you have it! My brand new, easy-peasy Christmas wreath! I haven't yet decided how I want to hang it, if I want to use ribbon and a small hook, or hang it from our wreath hanger, but I'll be sure to take a good picture once I have it up on the door. I'm not "allowed" to decorate until Friday, but you can be sure I've been crafting many fun little things!

I'll be back tomorrow, hopefully, with a few pictures of some new things in the shop. I have several custom orders that I'm working on right now, so I'm pretty busy!