After reading the crazy history of burnt down capitals and the various arguments over where to house the capital, I wanted to make a pendant that features Salem and it’s rich history.

So here it is, a tiny little recreation of the Oregon State Capital. With a fun blue cloudy sky and even the blooming cherry trees, I’ve painted the captial the way I envision it in my head, in spring! Makes me wish spring was here now! I’ve also added it to my Etsy store. Take a peek there if you have time. I am be making other landmark necklaces and putting them up there soon! And let me know if you have any landmarks or necklace ideas that you think would be cool!

My friend Cheryl, aka TinkersShop has given me an amazing opportunity to sell one-of-a-kind vintage jewelry and supplies. These items are from an estate of a woman who owned pieces of broken jewelry and repaired it or re-purposed them into original creations. I would think she would be very hip today, possibly an upcycle queen. She created hundreds of necklaces and I’m so very happy to be lucky enough to share them with you!

If you need that perfect accessory for an outfit, looking for bead supplies, or are in need of a gift for a friend, stop in at Northwest Nest. Also pass this on to your friends who love treasure seeking and/or beads. I also offer free pick up in Salem/Keizer!

Here’s another necklace I’ve been working on. This is for a wife who’s hubby is serving our country overseas. May our thoughts and prayers be with all of these heroes as well as their families at home missing them so much!

Note: This picture was taken before the soldering was completed on the cork.

I’m so excited for my friend Jen Haas of Bittersweet Baking. She will start selling her cupcakes from Jack Rabbit Cafe right here in Salem. If you’ve never been to Jack Rabbit, you’re truly missing out. Their coffee is really good, they have a friendly staff and really cute little gifts for purchase too. So, needless to say, cupcakes at Jack Rabbit will just make the escape for coffee all the sweeter!

Here are some promotional cards I came up with announcing the news.

So, do you have a favorite postcard design? I’ll let you know soon which one Jen Haas liked the best.

Also, make a drive out to 2420 13th Street Southeast, Salem or give Jack Rabbit a call and order some sweets (503) 371-9400. I know I will!

I’ve been so lucky to work with an amazing woman from Kentucky making custom Valentine’s Day presents. Beth wanted something special for her mom, sister as well as herself, and was kind enough to send the project my way. I’ve never met Beth, she found me on Etsy, and sent me wonderful descriptive text about her loved ones so I could come up with themes for them. I let her know what I was thinking, sent pictures and in return she let me know about minor changes and ideas. I love this kind of collaborative work and find it challenging and so very rewarding to create something that a customer will truly love.

To see these necklaces in action, visit my jewelry video page!

In hopes of encouraging myself to post more as well as get things done around the house, I’m going to blog about “Tackle it Tuesdays” every week. I’ll show you before and after pictures and keep you updated how the project is going.

To kick off “Tackle it Tuesday” this week, I thought BIG! Now let me tell you, I try to appear organized, well prepared, and presentable, but really….I’m a very messy person. I HATE cleaning, despise making my bed and have a hard time following systems. I love having things clean and tidy but would much rather jump right into another project rather than cleaning up after myself. So there, you see my vulnerable underbelly. I’ve revealed my huge flaw.

Stay with me now, if you can. If you have a weak stomach though, you may want to look away. What I’m going to reveal may shock you or even make you feel ill. Are you ready?  …………

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The Storage Room, dah, dah, DAAAHHH!

Isn’t this just a horrible mess? One of the reasons why we bought our 1920’s home was that it had lots of storage for such an old house. There is tons of storage in the garage, a large closet in the basement and this big walk in closet in the basement as well.  So you think we’d be organized right? Wrong. This is the space we throw everything we don’t know what else to do with. It’s supposed to house fabric, extra entertaining gadgets and cooler, wrapping paper and picture frames. Instead it has been packed full with crap (sorry, I can’t think of a better word for it right now).

It took me the better half of the day cleaning this out and organizing. I found fabric I forgot about, my business cards that I have been missing and other random junk. Here’s what I have now…

Organized Fabric by type and color. So much better!

And a FLOOR! Isn’t that amazing? Now my shipping supplies are organized. I wish I would have done a long time ago!

No not with the girl silly! I just love this cute little ukulele! Isn’t it so clever? Celentanowoodworks makes this as well as a series of other charming little instruments. I would love to see how this cute apple sounds.

I’ve been playing the ukulele for a few months now and it has made me so darn happy. I can’t say I’m an amazing singer or player, but something about picking it up and strumming a few chords makes my day a bit brighter.  One of my most favorite people, my daughters preschool teacher, played the ukulele, and ever since then I’ve wanted to learn. Hubby encouraged me to play and I gotta say, it’s really fun! My fingers don’t hurt like when I’ve tried playing the guitar, and chords are super easy to make. Plus, the best part is that ukuleles (the boring kind, who’s pictures are not shown here) are really affordable.

But who knows. Maybe I’ll work up to playing good enough for a cute little apple of my own? A girl can dream can’t she?

I’m getting some projects done for my daughter’s 7th birthday. She wanted a fairy theme yet wanted boys to come as well so we incorporated gnomes and decided to make it woodland themed. I’ve sewn the gnome hats out of fleece (I actually used blankets since it was cheaper than getting fabric by the yard) and the boys will also make beards at the party. The girls will make fairy wings and I still need to complete the head wreaths out of flowers.

I painted a watercolor picture of a gnome in the woods for the invite. I’m really happy how this little guy turned out.

One of the things I worked on today were to toadstool terrariums. They were simple to make and really affordable. I’ll take you step by step and let you know how I did it!

1. First I started out with some wide mouth canning jars. You can use any clear jars you have, I just had these laying around.

2. Add about .5 inch of gravel. I used natural looking aquarium rock I found in the pet store.

3. Add 1 heaping tablespoon of activated carbon, also found at the pet store in fish supply.

4. Add potting soil till the container is 1/3 full.

5. Add moss (I gathered this from around our neighborhood…living in Oregon, we have lots of it!)

6. Add rocks and a toadstool.

To make my toadstools I used Ultra Light Sculpey. This works super well since it’s light and won’t be too heavy. Simply roll some between your palms to make a stem. Roll out a ball to make the top of the mushroom. Then set the top on the stem and squish them together till they resemble a toadstool. The cool thing about mushrooms are that they are organic, so they don’t have to look perfect.

After your little toadstools are sculpted they will need to be cooked. Follow the instructions on the label.

Then you’ll want to paint these after they are out of the oven and cool to the touch. My 4-year-old called these mushrooms “naked mushrooms”. I guess you can think of the paint as clothes in a way. I used a orangey red for the tops and left the stems white.

I decided to add a toothpick (cut in half) to the bottom of the mushroom so it would stay in play in the terrarium. For the toothpick to be inserted, I used my drill to drill a pilot hole. After drilled, simply insert the toothpick and add your cute toadstool to your terrarium! So cute and super affordable! Plus the great thing is that you can use them as decoration during the party and send them home as favors after wards.

Drum roll please…..

The winner of the Fortune Shaker Necklace is…..

Molly from New Mexico!

Congrats Molly. And for those of you who didn’t win and want to purchase one of these cute little necklaces, visit my Etsy shop. And thanks to everyone who entered! I was overwhelmed at the amount of comments…took 7 pages, double column and tiny type to print so I could add everyone into the drawing! I felt the love and the response was incredible!

Also check back soon. I think I’ll have another promotion for February. What will it be? Oh, wouldn’t ya like to know? I’m not going to tell you since I feel a bit feisty tonight.

Sail Into the Sunset with this charming creation. Everyday can be a vacation when you wear this necklace. Simply pull the pin and watch as the boat sails off to paradise.