Valentine's Day Jewelry

Valentine's Day is just around the corner, and whether you've met the love of your life or simply want to celebrate how much you love yourself - I've got some perfect jewelry choices in the CraftyHope Etsy shop. 

The most obvious option from my shop are the Red Tin Heart Earrings.

Coming in as second most obvious is this Art Beads Necklace with the heart bead and pink accents.

For those who are a little bitter toward the whole V-day thing, my Tarnished Heart Earrings might be more your style. 

If hearts are just too literal for you - how about a nod to cupid's arrow with these Bone and Arrow Earrings. 

There are also quite a few "Key to My Heart" pieces available. Here are a few of my favorites:

Delicate Key Necklace

Rhinestone Key Bracelet

Skeleton Key and Garnet Necklace

And, if you live in the South Alabama area; there are a few options available in my booth at Southern Antiques and Accents (Greeno location).

Of course, anything from either shop might do the trick as jewelry is always a popular gift for to show some love for yourself or someone else. Valentine's Day is fast approaching so make sure to get your jewelry now so you'll have it in time for the big day!

Vacation and My First Art Show. . .wrapping up

We're back from Spring Break and all the excitement of the Art Show. This week is already starting off with a frenzy of activity so I'm up early and thought I would share a little more about this past week with you.

We enjoyed several more sunrises from our location on Perdido Bay

The HUGE wrap around screen porch was our favorite 'room' in the whole place. There were oodles of rocking chairs, three hanging beds, a hammock, and a porch swing. Heaven!

I even got a little work done from one of the hanging beds. I just pulled up a table and set to work making these stacking rings.

This was my view while I worked!

As for the art show this weekend. . .Y'all!! I was so, so anxious. I was a bundle of nerves and excitement and tense energy. I was able to go and set up a few hours before the show, which helped get out some of that energy.

This was my table all set up for the show. Pat laser cut me a few busts that I altered with some paper but the rest of my displays were made with items from the dollar store that I spray painted and glued together. The large baking sheet on the back right didn't work out so well as the necklaces kept sliding off.

Here's a closer look at the left side of my display. You should be able to click the photo for a larger image.

And, this is the right side. It's a bit harder to see since the door was on that side.

I'll admit that I was clueless about what I needed to do. I tried smiling and saying hello to each person that looked over my pieces. I told them to let me know if they had any questions. But, I have such a hard time speaking to others that this took every ounce of my willpower. I ended up selling a few items, making a trade with one of the other artists, and garnering some attention as quite a few people took my cards. I even talked with the owner of a local boutique who gave me some tips and said she might be in contact with me. I went home happy but extremely exhausted.

This event was only a few hours long and it was a perfect starting point for me for something like this. I'm relieved to finally have some experience doing it and that makes me happy. Pat and I have some tweaks to make with the displays, but it went well all in all. I gained so much from it.

I'd love to know if you have any tips on doing an art show: presenting yourself and your product in the best light. 

Now. . .to face this frenzy of a week!! Here's hoping you have a great one.

A Webby New Year

Has your New Year been Happy so far? I sincerely hope so!
Today is another version of "Wild Wild Web Wednesday".Are you ready for it? It is quite a long list today as I have been just adding and adding to my list without posting. Now, I'll be able to clear something else off my TO DO list. Since the list is so long, I have broken it down into categories (see how organized I can be?)

ARTICLES

• You've always heard the fairy tales, but apparently, there has actually been found (and lost) a boy who was raised by wolves.
• Karma has finally reared on Paris Hilton's inappropriate behaviors. Her grandfather is as ashamed of her as the rest of us.
• Check out this list of the Top 10 Life Affirming Moments in Movies. #9 gave me chill bumps - one of my favorites.
  

INTERESTING PAGES

• Want to know the news on a particular day, who shares your birthday, important deaths by the day of a year? All this can be found at Brainy History.
  
• Looking to do some drinking and movie watching? How about some drinking games for 2007's movies.

MERCHANDISE

• If you are just that lazy or just that much of a perfectionist, here's a tool to make perfect snowballs. Hopefully, this will never be a tool I need.
• For those who need a little kick to their morning routine, there's the jet engine toaster. But, I ask you, WHY? WHY?
• For those individuals (like my husband) who prefer to eat hot pizza with a fork, rest at ease - the Pizza Fork has arrived.
  
• Ladies, thinking of getting bigger breasts? Well, for the reasonable cost of one dollar, fake breasts can be yours.
  
• Pancakes and waffles have never been easier than with batter blaster. Apparently, you just spray it out and cook it up. It is supposedly organic and tastes good too.
  

VIDEOS

• One man took a picture of himself everyday for 8 years. Check out the progression, it's pretty cool.
• We've all had bad days at the office when the electronics and people with which we work just grate on our VERY LAST nerve.
• This guy must have WAAAAAAY too much time on his hands. He learned to sing a song backwards. (On the video he sings it backwards first and then the video is played in reverse so you can hear what it is.)
• If you like optical illusions like I do, you'll love watching this magical moving book being displayed.
  
• Can you believe that a shank was found in a Polly Pocket toy. No, really!
  

That's all for this Wednesday.