Rescue your banners with My Helping Hands!

MY HELPING HANDS AVATARS BANNERS AND ADS

This weeks Featured Shop is My Helping Hands Graphic Design. Custom Avatars, Banners and Ads!

You can find My Helping Hands Graphic Design at:

Website

Artfire Shop

Blog

Facebook

Twitter

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

What is Breast Cancer? from http://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/About-Breast-Cancer/

    Breast cancer is a disease in which malignant(cancer) cells form in the tissues of the breast. It is considered a heterogeneous disease—differing by individual, age group, and even the kinds of cells within the tumors themselves. Obviously no woman wants to receive this diagnosis, but hearing the words "breast cancer" doesn't always mean an end. It can be the beginning of learning how to fight, getting the facts and finding hope. 

But that wasn't the case for Kristi.

    Kristi Lowery Lim lost her battle with breast cancer last summer mere months after being diagnosed. Kristi was a dear college friend of my husband and a fellow physical therapist. To honor Kristi, and support her family, my husband has set up college saving funds for her three young daughters. Nothing will replace the loss of their mother, but we hope to help them carry on with positive memories and a successful future.

    100% of all sales go to 529 State College Investment funds for Kristi's three young daughters. Items listed in this shop are donated by other generous Etsy sellers.

    This is our second year honoring Kristi. Last year we blew our $300 goal out of the water by raising $1,400. Thank you so much for all of your wonderful support and love!

    Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Jewelry by KP Designs

This weeks Featured Artisan on Share the Love.. Blogger's Unite is KP Designs! Kathy has wonderful creations. You can find KP Designs at:

Madeitmyself

The Gift Shop Handmade

Facebook

Twitter

On Fire for Handmade

HERE for code

Featured on another blog today

The Mystic Wynd's blog post today was all about hurricanes. She collected a wide variety of pieces to characterize the turbulance of such storms.  Mystic Wynd is an awesome blog, one which I suggest you follow if you don't already.

I suggest that you take a look and see how swirls and whirls are integrated in today's designs. Here's a few to get you going. But to see more, you'll have to go to her site!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/45981560/storms-and-swirls-mug

http://www.etsy.com/listing/27948304/storming-the-beaches-mermaidish-witch-in

http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=Shop&op=listing&product_id=1896349

Lizbeth's Garden Interview

Recently I was able to catch up with a fellow Etsy DTeamer, Lizbeth's Garden and found out just how busy this lady is! It's amazing all the things she does. Please read on.

Who is the woman behind Lizbeth's Garden?

    I am in my early thirties, living in Idaho, and staying at home with my children. I started Lizbeth's Garden as a way of sharing the things I make with a wider audience. I also write, and garden. You can find some of the flowers from my garden in my store, as potpourri and pressed flowers, along with my tassels.

Is it true you are writing Dragon Land:The Novel and The Cabin? What are they about?
    Yes, it is true. Dragon Land is about an empire on a fictional planet, with humans, farming dragons, and winged hive women. The main story is about a woman who wants to challenge the empire, and in order to create a base from which to do so, has drugged a clan of dragons. A young dragon is trying to rescue her family with the help of a young human woman and the son of the local envoy from the empire.

    The Cabin is about a young woman from Los Angeles, California, and the adventures she has when she inherits her grandmother's cabin in northern Montana.

So that must mean you are a reader too. What do you enjoy reading?

     I'll read just about anything that isn't bloody or gruesome. I especially enjoy mystery novels, historical fiction, and contemporary fiction. Some of my favorite authors are Charles De Lint, Maeve Binchy, and Rita Mae Brown. I recently discovered Rebecca Shaw, who writes fiction about a tiny village in Britain.

And you find time to do that and create tassels? Wow! That really keeps you busy. What's your secret to relaxing?

    Writing is my relaxation. If I spend a few minutes spinning words into a poem or story, I feel calm and ready to get on with the day. Also, every once in a while, I ignore my to-do list, sit down, and read.

Tell me, what inspire your creations?

    I am inspired by the colors I see in my garden, the changing seasons, and the beads I find in the wonderful store where I buy my beads. Usually I buy with a specific idea in mind, but sometimes I see beads so beautiful I buy them just to create a tassel for them.

Do you work with the customer's ideas and customize?

    Yes, I will. I will make a tassel in any color or with particular beads, upon request. I can also change the topper on an already created tassel, so an ornament can become a keychain, or a fan pull.

What sizes do your tassels come in?
    1 inch, 2 inch, and 4 inch.

What's in the future for Lizbeth's Garden?

    I am going to be focusing a lot more on beaded tassel keychains and ornaments. Everybody loves the keychains because they are a little piece of art for your pocket or your hand. The ornaments add sparkle to a Christmas tree.

    Also, look for more flower products in the future. I'm going to be offering lavender potpourri soon (in addition to roses and geraniums), more pressed flowers, and note cards with pounded flowers. Pounding flowers is a technique to hammer flowers onto paper or cloth. They are very pretty. Springtime will bring bouquets of dried flowers. I use only flowers I grow myself, so the flower products are more seasonal than my other items.

You are such a fascinating woman. Thank you for sharing your time with us. One last thing: Where can we find out more about your writing and purchase your beautiful tassels?
    Thank you, it has been a pleasure sharing a little bit about myself and my store. My writing is on my blog, Lizbeth's Garden, http://lizbethsgarden.wordpress.com/.
    My beaded tassels and other crafts are available in my Etsy store, http://www.etsy.com/lizbethsgarden.
    You can also find me on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lizbeths-Garden/180426967818?ref=nf.

Lizbeth's Garden is one of my Etsy friends that will take part in the Thanksgiving Sale that the DTeam is sponsoring in November. But don't wait til then to stop by and say "hi" to her.

Girls vs. Boys

My six year old daughter. Her life is in such turmoil! lol! Not trying to belittle her woes but it's so refreshing to have problems you can see resolutions for. It's not I want to fix things for her but to enlighten her to the possibilities.

See, little M is a tomboy. Serious tomboy. She plays with nerf swords, loves power rangers, and enjoys being the heroine as opposed to the damsel in distress and digs playing basketball, softball and soccer. Shoot for Christmas, she's getting a go-kart to run around the track that her daddy recently made for her.

So, now she's in 1st grade and the kids are just now realizing the difference between boys and girls. She wants to hang with the boys but they are telling her no because she's a girl. She came home recently wishing she could be a boy. I asked why and she said because they play guitar better and they can make things like Daddy does.

Whoa, what?

As you can guess, it's now my personal mission to make my daughter understand the value she had being female. I'm trying to think of women of worth, mentors for her to see to understand what her capabilites are.

First off, Danica Patrick came to mind. Then Orianthi, she's awesome to watch. And so is Jennifer Batten. But the female mechanic/technician. Hmmm, that's a hard one. Paige Hemmis? She's on Extreme Makeover but does she weld? No, but Jessi Combs does!

I'm having a sale!

I'm having a sale! 15% off everything in the Etsy shop. Get ready for the upcoming season with the great selection you'll find here! Sale ends 12 midnight Sunday night.

No one jumped on the free shipping that I hid in my last post so that opportunity has been replace with this one and no longer available. My apologies to all the late-comers.

Seriously, I have a lot of inventory and need to move some of these items.  So, come on by and check it out. Remember, Christmas is not that far away and you can't go wrong with jewelry!

Things that go Boo! with a Surprise at the End!

Halloween is right around the corner you know? Don't let the September on the calendar confuse you. It's just 7 weeks away. Better get planning!
To help you to that end, I've come up with some spookalicious treasuries to get you in the mood.

Also, make sure you read to the end for a surprise!

Click or Tweet!

Halloween Hunting...

Midnight Dark, Midnight Fire......A Midnight Tea Party

And now for the surprise. I'm having a bit of a sale. A test-run you might say. All items in my shop will ship free IF you tell me you found this announcement. Just convo me in the order and the shipping fees will be reimbursed to your paypal account.

Courage for Kristi

Please visit this site.

Etsy Treasuries

Here are some beautiful treasuries I wanted to share with you. First comes fall, or autumn, and in less than two months its Halloween!  I hope you enjoy these.

~My Sweet Autumn~

Warm bowl of oatmeal.

Cold Grey Morning

  One Evil Eyed One Eyed Monster

 Horror for Halloween

 

 

Acorn Earrings -the story of their birth

So I was at my favorite store, Goodwill, last week and I saw this most excellent necklace. Unfortunately, a couple of stones were missing. I was undaunted and bought my newly prized item. The first thing I did was break apart the components. There was a total of five. Three looked great so I remade them into a bracelet that is now on sale at Etsy.

The other two were the ones with missing stones. After shuffing through a few different stones and talking with my DTeam on Etsy, I decided to go with a couple of faceted glass beads.  They were a bit translucent and needed a punch up.  I glued them into place and waited for them to dry. Then flipping over to the back, which was open, I painted a dark grey blue over the crystal. Once that was dry, I used Diamond Glaze over the paint to seal it all in.

By now, most if it looked good. The only part of the pieces that didn't fit well was the area where once there was a connector. So, I used 20 guage wire and wrapped that area to build it up to the same thickness as the rest.

This is the final piece.

These will be on sale on Etsy real soon!

Affordable Halloween Assymetrical Earring and Pendants

Recently I added to Etsy and Artfire my Halloween earrings and pendants. Each is sold separately so you can mix and match to your liking for an assymetrical earring set. Or you can get one to wear with earring you have already. Also, you can wear any of these as a pendant on your own chain.

When you order, just convo me. Tell me whether you want to have the dangle made into an earring or bailed for a necklace. This will be done at no additional fee.  These are priced to move so come check them out!

Witch's Broom (insert cackle)

Scorpion

Black and Orange Glass

Crosses with Black Glass

Red Dyed Quartz and Hematite