Our Handmade Gifts

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! Our family sure did. My husband and I created most of the gifts for our family this year. It was  rewarding and fun.

My husband silk screened t-shirts with his Yudu machine for everyone in our family, a total of twelve t-shirts. It was fun watching him find and create designs tailored to each person. He put a lot of thought and effort into it and everyone loved their shirt.

I made my Mom and Mom-in-law crocheted Mary Jane slippers with this really great pattern I purchased from sylver on Etsy. My Mom has a fondness for Mary Jane shoes and when I came across this pattern, it was a definite must! My Mom-in-law loved hers and kept saying "This is just the best Christmas!" She really loved the small thoughtful gifts she received.

I made my parents each a glassy gift, as if they need more knick-knacks, I know!! They have quite the collection going. This tutorial from Aardvarks Art Glass was just perfect. Dad got a little fish bowl with two fishies and Mom got some crazy Cacti! I had a lot of fun making these and really enjoyed the tutorial Cathy of Aardvarks is a hoot!

It was really enjoyable giving handmade gifts, I definitely felt like a little part of us went into each one. They were all made with love :)

Merry Christmas!

Things have been busy in our household as we get ready for Christmas. Our family has been hit hard with the recession and this year we are giving gifts that we have made ourselves. Both my husband and I have been busy planning and creating and it's been a pleasure working together. It has been a lot of fun thinking of what to make and give each person and I really feel it has enhanced our holiday spirit.  A lot of thought has gone into each and every gift and I am really excited to share but it will have to wait! I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise for anyone, so check back after Christmas, I'll post pics.

I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! Please be safe, healthy and happy!

Our 1st ButtonArcade Dress!

Our 1st ButtonArcade Dress!, originally uploaded by EmbellishYourself.

Not only does Button Arcade make fine quality, custom buttons to promote your business, Klye is also a very creative seamstress of Blythe doll fashion. Her dresses are extremely popular and don't last but minutes in her shop. If you are quick with nimble fingers, or just downright lucky you too could own one of these adorable dresses.

You see, we have been stalking her flickr and Artfire shop in hopes of snagging one of these beauties for a while. Always a day late or a dollar short, I was losing hope. Then a few months back I noticed she takes commissions and so I immediately got on the list. The list is long but well worth the wait!

I had just finished redesigning my shop logo and business cards to better capture the feel of what I sell so I asked Kyle if she could make a dress to match. The dress turned out wonderfully, I couldn't be happier!

The girls of course had a little fight over it, Thank God Kyle sent a little rubber chicken in the pocket of the dress, it helped Jesse calm down a little once she realized the dress wasn't for her. Little does she know that there is a surprise coming for her soon from frenchpants shhh! don't tell her!

The cool little comic above was created by me on my iphone with an app call Strip Designer. I LOVE this app and highly recommend it. 

A Christmas Treasury

My friend Lauren of Maybeads always makes the best treasuries! She featured my little gingerbread man in her latest one. It's a fun festive treasury with a lot of great items, please check it out, click and comment :)

I hope you all are continuing to have a long, wonderful holiday weekend! I actually have another update planned very soon! I received a special order in the mail today that I would love to share with you all. So please check back!

I have been featured on Zazuta.com

Tara from Zazuta.com has a section on her blog called Fabulous Friday Feature. She contacted me recently and asked to feature my work. I feel very honored that she chose me! The feature came out great, she asked me questions about how I got started and my inspiration and advice to others. If you would like to learn more about me please check it out here! She is a jewelry designer herself and makes unique beautiful jewelry, Thanks so much Tara!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. If you are shopping this weekend, I wish you great finds and fabulous deals! Be safe out there!

Holiday Shop Update and Happy Thanksgiving Wishes!

From sweet treats and Christmas trees to your favorite kitties and bears in Santa hats, holiday goodies are now in the shop. Just in time for you to treat yourself or your girl with a festive necklace for the holidays!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. I can't wait for some delicious food and family time. My husband does most of the cooking, yipee! I'm really lucky (I hate cooking)! After dinner we will all sit around the table for our favorite card game Nertz. Have you every played it? It's a crazy fast paced card game similar to speed and solitaire that you play in teams of two. Teams try to get their cards out the fastest and the first team to run out of cards first yells Nertz! It's fast and so much fun! Check it out on Wikipedia if you would like to learn how to play.

For family gifts this year, I'm thinking of putting my digital scrapbooking skills to use and creating each person in my family their own special deck of cards to play with. You can send your design to Bicycle to create a personalized deck. Wish me luck, I have a lot of work ahead of me!

Look at this gorgeous pendant!

Recently on Facebook, a new friend of mine, Chad of SC Beach Beads, announced a giveaway of one of his pendants. I jumped at the chance and I won! All I had to do to win was guess his favorite flavor of ice cream, how fun is that?! It happens to be Chocolate Peanut Butter by the way. I am amazed at how beautiful his work is (this picture doesn't do it justice) and will truly treasure this pendant.

Chad and his wife Heather, own a glass studio in Surfside Beach, South Carolina, where they offer classes and sell their work. Believe me, if I lived nearby I would be there in an instant. If you are ever in the area I totally recommend stopping by, you won't be disappointed. Please visit their website  at www.scbeachbeads.com.

Thanks Chad! I really love the pendant! :)

Tom the Turkey Necklace

Tom the Turkey Necklace, originally uploaded by EmbellishYourself.

Since Thanksgiving is right around the corner, I thought Tom would need some one on one promotion. He's itching to find a home before Thanksgiving! For more info please check my Etsy shop.

Recent Orders

Recent Orders, originally uploaded by EmbellishYourself.

I had a few orders come in over the weekend and I was busy making them and getting them ready for the mail. I couldn't resist taking a picture of them all in their tins. Don't they look fun? With the holidays right around the corner, the shop is keeping me busy and I love every minute of it!

Today, I spent the day at the torch and made some beads I'm pretty excited about. The best part is, I can't wait to do it again tomorrow. I have ideas swimming in my head right now and it's such a good feeling!

Getting ready for Christmas!

The gang is getting ready for Christmas. I have listed a few new necklaces of my bears and kitties with their Santa hats and soon will be listing other holiday necklaces in my Etsy shop. Christmas trees, angels and snowmen are on the list. Is there something special you would like to see? I love a challenge so please let me know and I will do my best to create it

Have a happy and safe Halloween everyone!

Where the Magic Happens!!

My creative crib! I've been watching too much MTV lately!

There have been a lot of threads in various forums lately requesting people show their work spaces. I recently cleaned up mine and thought I would share it with you, for a more accurate depiction just look at the pic of me making beads on the right side of my blog to see how creatively messy I get!

I have my torch set up in the corner of the garage.  I think I need some more artwork on the walls, it looks a bit plain don't you think? I want to put little ACEO's all over the wall for inspiration. If anyone makes them or knows of some really neat ones, please share!

When we moved in my husband painted my spot purple, with a dragonfly on the ceiling.  The rest of the walls he painted with blue flames on them, you can barely see them though with all the junk in there now, LOL!

Here is a picture of Pepper sporting her flame pants next to my pyromaniac sign. I had to include her after all, she is my muse!

No Tricks! Just Treats!!

Daily, I check the Etsy Blythe category for fun fabulous finds for my girls. I don't want to miss a thing! My wish list is long and grows quickly but I just could not pass up these cute and clever Halloween dresses when I saw them. These candy corn and Hostess cupcake dresses made by Pistachiolibby come complete with matching hair accessories. They are the best quality and you can't beat the price. I will definitely be back for more!

Jesse's New Coat

I recently traded with Jenny the Artist, another Etsy seller, for this awesome coat for Jesse.  I have had my eye on her coats for a while and they are adorable, from clouds and fawns to mushrooms and skulls, it was a difficult choice to make! I picked the skull coat for Jesse, and it's perfect for her.

I hesitate sometimes to ask other sellers to trade because I don't want them to feel obligated if they aren't interested in something I make, I just couldn't resist this time and luckily Jenny loved the eyeball necklace she chose just as much as I love the skull coat. Perfect trade!

Halloween Goodies Treasury

Look at this gorgeous treasury on Etsy by my friend Lauren of Maybeads! She's picked some wonderful Halloween items and one my Blythe necklaces is one of them!

Lauren is a fellow lampwork glass artist and makes the cutest critter beads. Her beads have such personality, they always bring a smile to my face. I admire her dogs especially, they really DO look like Chihuahuas and Boston Terriers and Beagles etc. how she does it with glass is true talent!

I was just realizing the other day that I haven't been in as many treasuries as I used to, but then again, I haven't been commenting on them like I was. So my tip today for fellow Etsy sellers, is to get out there and get involved, comment on treasuries and people will notice you!

Please don't forget to click and comment on Laurens treasury, the more clicks and comments, the higher the rating!

My Etsy shop is featured on the Kawaii Punk Blog!

Have you heard of Kawaii Punk? It's a really fun blog that aims to bring kawaii goodies to the world. It's fun, upbeat and a pleasure to read. If you love kawaii then you'll love Kawaii Punk!

I've been following it for a while now and really enjoy it. Who woulda thought my shop would be featured there?! I'm excited! So go read it already!! :P http://blog.kawaiipunk.com/2009/09/embellish-yourself-and-blythe.html

MyShoppingConnection: Add Some Boo to Your Bling

MyShoppingConnection: Add Some Boo to Your Bling

Shared via AddThis

I am excited to have my eyeball necklace included in this wonderful Halloween collection at My Shopping Connection. This is a wonderful site that promotes handmade! For daily featured handmade items check out IndieSpotting which is part of My Shopping Connection.

Want to add your Etsy shop to Facebook? You can with Wishpot!

Have you heard of Wishpot? It's a wonderful tool for both shoppers and indie shop owners alike.

Wishpot is an online service that lets you add anything you want to your Wishpot wish list or registry. It's perfect for your gift list, birthday wish list, wedding registry, honeymoon registry, baby registry, Christmas list and much more.

When you sign up for Wishpot and become an Indie Expert and you can add your shop to the Wishpot website and with their new Facebook application, you can also add your Etsy shop to your Facebook Fan Page, not profile, but FAN PAGE!

I have been a Wishpot member for a few years but recently signed up to be an Indie Expert. Not only can you post your shop to Wishpot and Facebook, when you update your blog it automatically posts it to Wishpot. Wishpot is another social networking site that is valuable for your shop and yet another great way to get yourself out there. Here is a list of reasons why every handmade artisan should sign up for Wishpot;

Share your blog and website

Get your badge, add it to your blog, Myspace and more

Share your shop on Facebook

Share your products and wishes on Twitter

Guest post on the Wishpot Blog

Submit an item to be featured as a Daily Featured Product

Promote your giveaways and contests

I have only scratched the surface on some of the features Wishpot offers. They keep adding more great things, I totally recommend them and I am happy to be a member.

Even if you aren't a seller Wishpot is a wonderful tool to keep track of things you want all over the web. My family has been using Wishpot for a few years to keep track of the kids wish lists for birthdays and holidays, it's so easy for them, we have added the "add to Wishpot" button to our browser and the kids can add anything they find online to their wish lists, even Etsy items!

Here is a link to get the most out of wishpot as an Indie Expert. It goes into details and includes links about the features listed above.

Click the button below to go to my Wishpot and see my profile, I would love some more friends so please add me if you like!

Let me know if you have trouble, I have an email for a very friendly, very helpful lady at Wishpot that can help you set everything up.

*** UPDATE *** It's not very clear on the site as to how to become a  vendor or indie expert. Once you have created your Wishpot account, please email merchants@wishpot.com to request a vendor account,  when I requested mine, I included links to my shop and blog. It may take a few days before they get back to you. In the meantime, explore the site and get started creating lists, it will help you to become more familiar with everything.

Personalized Necklaces for Your Girl

Introducing perfectly sized personalized necklaces for your girls! Each necklace is a hand stamped metal charm with your girls name or small saying on it. You choose the name, or saying and the design of your choice, check out my Etsy shop for more details! I made the price affordable so all your girls can have one!

Introducing Jesse

Jesse, originally uploaded by EmbellishYourself.

Jesse arrived today, I'm so excited. She's beautiful and will soon be modeling for the shop. I have a few new designs I've been holding off on releasing in anticipation of her arrival. Please check back this week to see them!

A Present for Pepper

When I came across the Etsy shop WeeKnit, I just knew I had to get something for Pepper. WeeKnit makes the cutest little finger puppets and they are the perfect size for dollies too!

They offer all kinds of sets including your own family, storybook sets, Scooby-Doo, pirates, you name it! They even have birthday party favor sets.

We all know I love Pippi Longstocking so I contacted Jenny from WeeKnit with my request and she whipped Pippi right up. I was so impressed with her quick, friendly response. I told her I wanted her for my Blythe doll and she even made her a little smaller than normal to accommodate me.

Pippi is the cutest little puppet, made with care and great quality and the price is a steal. So if you have kids, or your dolly needs a friend, I highly recommend WeeKnit!

Once Pepper saw Pippi, she immediately went to change her clothes. Don't they look cute together?

I won a giveaway!

Last week on twitter I stumbled across the Aussie Handmade Giveaway. It's a blog featuring the work of Aussie artisans. I entered the giveaway featuring these wonderful hair clips by Vanilla Pixie on Etsy. I was surprised and happy when I heard I won. It's the first time I've won a giveaway. It was just in time too, Pepper's new hair needs some taming and what better, cuter way to do it?! Thank you to both Carley of Vanilla Pixie ans Jess of AHG. I love them!

Cool Promotional Video Tool

I was catching up on my blog reading last night and came across this link on Silja Erg's blog. It's for a site called Animoto.com You can make slide shows of your art or photo's and upload them to youtube, your blog, facebook or twitter. It's a really neat promotional tool and I had a lot of fun making my slide show. Check it out!

Thanks for sharing Silja!

Halloween Necklaces in the Shop

Halloween Necklaces, originally uploaded by EmbellishYourself.

It may seem early but I have added some Halloween necklaces to the shop. Now you will have plenty of time to wear and enjoy them.

Stay tuned for more new designs plus a new line of Blythe necklaces coming very soon!

And the Winners are.......

Congratulations to Taffyyarn for suggesting the winning name of Pepper. I really like that, it fits her and makes me think of chilli peppers. It also brings back memories of the movie Annie because one of the orphans names was Pepper. Pepper it is!

I have to say, out of everyone's suggestions, there was at least one name from each person that I really liked, making it a difficult decision. You all are so creative and suggested names I never would have thought of.

Because of all the great suggestions, I decided to have a drawing for a second necklace. My husband drew the name this morning and the winner is.....

Congratulations to Suzanne!

I will contact each of you ladies to get your choice of necklaces and addresses. Thanks to everyone for participating. It was a lot of fun!

Doll Buns!

A few months back, I discovered these cute little buns on Flickr and fell in love. I HAD to have one! Tammy aka Frenchpants on Flickr makes these adorable little buns for dollies. No two buns are alike! I love checking out the Doll Buns group on Flickr, not only do you get to see the latest buns but there are a lot of clever and creative pictures of their adventures once they make their way to their homes. If you are interested in one, you can adopt one for 10 bucks (an absolute steal) but you better get on the waiting list, they are quite popular!

Happy Customers

new necklace, originally uploaded by steph.peachey.

I really enjoy when my customers post pictures of their girls wearing my creations. Steph has a few of my necklaces and always posts pictures and blogs about them, it makes my day! Doesn't her girl look adorable wearing her new panda necklace?

I started a flickr group to showcase the girls and their jewels and would love it if you would join and post pictures of you or your girls wearing the jewelry I create. The group is open to everyone, even if you don't own any jewels from me yet, please stop by and browse.

On a side note, please don't forget the giveaway for a dolly necklace in the "Name that Girl" contest featured in my last post. The contest ends Sunday August 16th at midnight Pacific time. There are so many wonderful entries so far, it's going to be a tough decision, so I've changed things up a bit, the winning name will receive a necklace and I will also have a random drawing for a second necklace! Thanks everyone for your participation so far, it's been a lot of fun!

A New Do and Name That Girl Contest and Giveaway!

My girl finally has on her new wig from Sleeping Elf. I've had it here for a week or so but was a little hesitant to put it on her. The way these wigs are made doesn't leave a lot of room for hair so I had to give her a haircut first. I found out, I am not very good at that. She had frizzy ADG hair anyway and it was starting to look really bad. Luckily, I don't plan to change her hair anytime soon. I love wild, curly, red ragamuffin hair and that's exactly what she has now.

So with her new do, she needs a name. I was thinking of having a little contest. I am not very creative when it comes to names and thought that I would ask you all for help.

To give you some insight, I will tell you a little about how she has inspired me and how she has evolved. You all know I make glass beads on a torch, I had always wanted to sell them but didn't really make anything that stood out, then I discovered Blythe and was so inspired to make tiny necklaces, I finally took the plunge and opened shop. So with that in mind, and her crazy orange hair, anything fire related is a possibility. Also, as a kid, I loved Pippi Longstocking and Orphan Annie, both are red headed ragamuffins. I like quirky names for dolls, but am open to any and all suggestions.

If I choose your name, you will win a doll necklace. If you don't own a doll, I will give you a coupon good for $10.00 off any item in my shop and free shipping. If for some reason, I still can't decide on a name, I will enter everyone into a drawing to determine the winner.

Please post a comment with your suggestions along with your email address.
The contest will run through next Sunday August 16th, midnight. I will announce the winner Monday August 17th by 12 noon Pacific time.

Shop Update!

New Necklaces 08.05.09, originally uploaded by EmbellishYourself.

I have a few new necklaces in the shop. I wanted to add a few summery style necklaces before summer comes to a close. There is also a matching apple necklace set for back to school!

A Pleasant Surprise!

I recently found the blog Fashion Doll Review. It's interesting, has a lot of great links I want to explore and it's about dolls of course, all kinds of dolls! I was pleasantly surprised to find that Alison reviewed my doll necklaces. It made my day, thank you Alison!

Tool Time!

I make my doll necklace beads as tiny as possible. Consistency in size is often challenging for me. In order to be more consistent I asked Darrell Tapley of Tapley Handcrafts, if he could create his lentil tongs in a custom size for me. The smallest size he offers is 10mm. I asked if he could make them as small as 6mm and thankfully, he was up for the challenge! I had my custom tongs within a week, and they work great. His tools are well made and affordable and he provides awesome customer service. I am one happy customer! You can find Darrell through his website or tapcraft on ebay.

The picture above shows the 3 sets of tongs I own. They are 16mm, 10mm and now 6mm, I made some apple beads to show you what the finished beads look like.

Punkaholic People! Check her out!

I am so excited! They released pictures of the new Blythe doll Punkaholic People. She is already inspiring new ideas for new necklaces designs, I absolutely can't wait. Her release date is August 28th so it's going to be a long month for me!

Meanwhile I am still putting the finishing touches on my other doll. I sand matted her face, gave her freckles, blush, a Licca body and changed 2 sets of her eye chips. I just received a new wild orange mohair wig for her that I ordered from Sleeping Elf. After I ordered the wig, it dawned on me that two of my favorite girls as a kid were Orphan Annie and Pippi Longstocking, I guess they have been the inspiration for my girl. It's funny how I didn't consciously realize that until the very end. I will post pictures of her in a few days once I put the finishing touches on her.

New Necklaces in the Shop!

My creation, originally uploaded by EmbellishYourself.

I have been busy creating new items for my Etsy shop. A lot of these were suggestions made from the wonderful participants of my last giveaway. I have had a lot of fun creating these designs and have more on the way.

Coming soon, Halloween themed necklaces for you and your girl!

The Reject Jar

I went on a mission to try and find those first grape cluster beads I mentioned in my last post and immediately went to my reject jar. It holds all of the beads that don't pass inspection, whether they're wonkie, ugly, cracked or broken, you name it, I saved them. For some reason I can't seem to part with them, but you know what? I had a great time looking through them, it was like a trip down memory lane. Each one has a story, memory or goal attached to it and it was a positive reminder of how my skills have progressed over the years.

We are often our own worst critics and I found while looking through my jar that there were some beads in there that shouldn't have been. It shows that you shouldn't throw out that project that didn't come out quite right, put it aside and revisit it another day. You will most likely have a different perspective!

Beadmakers are lucky, our failed attempts are small and can enhance other items, like my cute house shaped jar, others sprinkle their beads in fish tanks and gardens. Think of a creative way that you can re-use or store your attempts, who knows, it might inspire something new.

Inspired!

Grape Cluster Necklace, originally uploaded by EmbellishYourself.

I am very fortunate to live in a beautiful place. I live on the Central Coast of California surrounded by beautiful vineyards. They have always been an inspiration to me and my artwork.

I started out getting certified in Artclay Silver, and wanted to learn to make glass beads to compliment my work. One of the first beads I ever tried was a grape cluster. What a disaster that was!

The most important skill you need to master as a lampwork artist is heat control and making a base with a lot of little dots all over isn't easily done when you are just starting out, the dots would touch each other and then melt into big blobs or some would melt all the way in etc. I was very frustrated!

I am happy to say that I have come a long way since then. This grape cluster is a huge improvement from those days!

A New Girl!

I am excited to share that I will soon have a new model on board! I pre-ordered Blythe Punkaholic People and she will be here in August! I have been wanting another Blythe doll and couldn't really make a decision so I was dragging my feet. I am glad I did because as soon as I saw the sketch for her, there was no question, I HAD to have her. She is just my style too.

I mentioned her to my husband and he said he would make sure I could get her. He is so supportive, he has even been helping me with creative ideas for new necklaces. I am one lucky chick! So definitely keep an eye out in August for some fun new necklace designs.

Until then, I will be listing some new designs from the ideas generated from the participants of my giveaway. I really enjoyed reading everyone's comments and it has inspired my creativity. I am always open for ideas, if you have more, please share them with me.

Wow! Three Treasuries!

One of my favorite things to do is view Etsy treasuries. I love seeing how creative people are when they put them together, the unique themes, different color combos, and the wonderful pieces they choose. My favorites list grows each and every time I do this. Etsy is definitely the place to find something for everyone, even those that are hard to shop for.

I am always delighted to find myself in a treasury, I checked craftopolis this evening and found myself in not only one, but three wonderful treasuries!

The first treasury created by a fellow Blythe fan Suzanneb2, features my all time favorite Blythe accessories theme, must-haves for your girl!

The second treasury is a "U Pik It" theme, the curator, JazziesJunque, let people leave comments with links to something in their shop and she included it in her treasury, what a fun way to make a treasury.

The Third is this wonderful treasury titled "small BUT MIGHTY". Created by my friend Lauren of Maybeads on Etsy. She is a fellow lampworker and makes fantastic lampwork beads of adorable little critters. Her beads always make me smile. Thank you Lauren!

If you want more exposure for your shop, I encourage you to check out the Etsy treasuries often and click and comment. People take notice and will often include you in their future treasuries!

We Have a Winner!!

Congratulations Stephanie!!

I wasn't able to get everyone's email to complete the drawing over at random.org and I didn't want to keep you all waiting so with my sons help, we did it the old fashioned way.

I want to thank everyone who participated. This was a lot of fun and I will definitely do it again. For everyone who entered I am offering 20% off your next purchase from my shop through the month of July. Please convo me and I will set up a special listing for you. If you see something you like that has already sold, I will be happy to make one just for you.

Have a wonderful day!

Ooops!

I decided I today that I would use random.org for the drawing and in order to do that I need everyone's email addresses, I have some but not all. I should have posted that in the original giveaway post. If I don't receive them by 9am pacific time, I will push the drawing out a few hours. Sorry for the inconvenience. I should have researched it sooner. Thank you for your understanding and good luck to everyone!

Last day to enter!

Hi everyone! You can still enter up until midnight tonight (pacific time) for the giveaway tomorrow. I hope you are as excited as I am! This is the first one I've done and it's been fun. I just want to make sure that everyone who has participated has commented in the actual giveaway post and listed each entry. I have had comments on twitter and other places and I want to make sure that no one misses out. I am going to use Random.org's 3rd party draw service and will post results for the giveaway tomorrow morning at 9am pacific time. Good luck everyone!

Blog Giveaway!!

Ok everyone, I need more exposure for my shop and I thought I would do a giveaway! The winner will receive anything in my shop up to a $30.00 value. That could be a blossom necklace, or a matching necklace set for you and your girl, or choose a combination of Blythe pull charms or necklaces. All you have to do to enter is....

Follow my blog here on blogger

Fan my Facebook business page

Friend me on Facebook

Follow my blog through Facebook (click the blog tab, then click the follow button)

Follow me on Twitter

Add a link on your blog to mine

Add a picture of your girl wearing a necklace or pull charm you have received from me to my new Flickr Group

Include an item of mine in a treasury on Etsy.

Add a comment to this post telling me what items in my shop you like or what you would like to see.

You will receive an entry for each thing you do, if you already do one those things, I will still include it as an entry.

The drawing will be on July 1st!
Everyone that participates will receive 20% off of their next purchase.

Please leave a comment listing your entries and your blog addresses if you choose to add a link (I will reciprocate with a link on my blog and follow you back!)

Thank you and good luck!!

Girls on Film Treasury

Girls on Film Treasury, originally uploaded by EmbellishYourself.

Here is my latest treasury on Etsy. Titled "Girls on Film" it's all photographs of Blythe. Part of the fun of having a Blythe doll is taking really fun, creative pictures of her. Flickr is a great place to go to see all the clever pictures people take. It's fun to look at them and comment on them and make new friends. Here are links to just a sampling of some of the fun groups on Flickr to see more....

Blythe Blythe Blythe
Blythe-almost human
Blythe Rocks!!!

Matching necklaces for you and your girl and Etsy Yart Sale!

Matching necklaces for you and your girl, originally uploaded by EmbellishYourself.

First and most important! I am participating in the Etsy Yart Sale. Everything in my shop is currently on sale for 20% off regular price (prices have already been adjusted). Sale runs from June 10th through June 14th. Now is the time to buy that necklace or pull charm you've had your eye on! If something is already sold, please convo me before the end of the sale and I will make one for you and honor the sale price!

I have recently started a new line of necklaces made to match my Blythe doll necklaces. Right now I have 3 designs available and will be adding more. In the works is a Black Kitty Chococat inspired necklace, a Cute Little Monkey, some matching cupcakes, is there a particular design you would like to see? I would love your input, please leave a comment with suggestions.

I also have a few ideas for new Blythe necklace designs so please check back!

Special Feature!

Last week I was contacted by Marcy Lamberson from StudioMarcy on Etsy. She asked if she could feature me and my Etsy shop on her blog. I am so flattered! I have admired her and her work for years now and it's such a wonderful compliment that she would want to feature me.

I had been frequenting Etsy long before I had a shop there and Marcy's beads always stood out. They are fun and endearing and I admired them from the start. Every time I went there I would always come across her beads and I would say to myself, "who is that?" and every time I would check and it was Marcy. In my opinion, she is the first lampwork artist that was really successful on Etsy. I remember thinking, if she can do it so can I.

I truly enjoy reading her blog, to be featured on it, is an honor! So please stop by and take a look. Tell me what you think!

Make Your Blog a Book!

I was recently reading my friends blog, she blogs about her family. It's such a wonderful thing because she is able to capture her kids lives so conveniently. Blogging is so easy, she can immediately post the funny things they say and she won't forget them. She blogs about the wonderful trips they take, milestones and special days, and her whole family, even her distant relatives, can keep up with how they are doing.

While searching the internet recently, I came across Blurb.com. They will print your blog in book form. How wonderful is that!?! It lays everything out nicely and even prints the comments people leave on your blog. You can edit it as much or as little as you like and it's really affordable. I sent the link to my friend, what a wonderful keepsake for her!

As for me, I am still getting the hang of blogging so I am not sure I will be turning my blog into a book yet but I might someday. I think it would make a great portfolio for artists and craftspeople and a great dolly diary!

You're Buggin' Me Treasury

You're Buggin' Me Treasury, originally uploaded by EmbellishYourself.

I just created this cute bug treasury on Etsy. There are so many talented artists on Etsy and making a treasury is so much fun! Stop by and click and comment if you like.

Go Etsy!!

Since recently deciding to put all my energy into my Etsy shop to earn income for my family, I was really inspired by this article featured on Good Morning America about Etsy and some very successful sellers. With a lot of dedication and hard work, I know it can be done! Please take a moment to check it out, it's very motivating!

New Items!

New Items!, originally uploaded by EmbellishYourself.

I hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day Holiday! I have been busy this past week and want to share the new Blythe accessories I have added to my Etsy shop. Take a moment and stop by if you like! www.embellishyourself.etsy.com

Not only have I been adding to my shop but I finally got the courage to do some dolly surgery this weekend. She is getting 2 new sets of eye chips , a sand matte and some freckles! I can't wait, I will post some pictures of her when I am done. It has taken me forever to get the courage to do it, I have had the supplies for months. I have been so afraid of messing her up, come to find out, it was so much easier than I thought! Now I'm ready to tackle the hard stuff, like opening her up and rerooting her hair I am also saving up for an Obitsu body so she will be posable and better able to model for me, how fun!! I feel like a mad scientist! Dr. Frankenstein better watch out he has some competition!

Trying to make a go of it!

I was recently laid off from my job as a city goverment employee, it was a job a really liked and I was sad to go. My husband being wonderful and supportive has told me to try to make my Etsy shop a success so I won't have to find another job. How awesome is that?! So I will be working diligently making beads and necklaces to try and get things going. This is something I have always wanted to do and I am very excited about it! Any prayers and well wishes in my endeavor are greatly appreciated! So, without further ado, I have listed 4 new "Jewelry for you" necklaces in my shop and have more coming so stay tuned!

8 Things

I saw this list on my friends blog. In an effort to make my blog a little more interesting I thought I would give it a try! She said it's harder than it looks so here we go.

8 things that I am looking forward to:
1. Seeing my husband when he comes home, he works out of town a lot and I love spending time with him.
2. Going out for a drive to see wild flowers and taking a family picture amongst them!
3. Completing some creative projects that I keep putting on hold.
4. More sales in my Etsy shop, they truly make my day!
5. Listing more things in my Etsy shop.
6. Taking more creative pictures of Shawna, they are so fun!
7. Getting over how embarrassing it is going out for photo shoots of her (I'm a 38 yr old woman who plays with dolls!)
8. Yikes!! this is hard! Umm.....getting my back yard weeds cleaned up (I am not looking forward to doing it but can't wait till it's done!)

8 things I did yesterday:
1. Took my son to school
2. Promoted my shop online
3. Re-listed some Blythe necklaces with better pictures
4. Laughed quite often at my new twitter friends and their witty tweets!
5. Looked at my beads to try to making something, didn't get very far
6. Played Montezuma on my phone, I am hopelessy addicted to it!
7. Cooked dinner, I hate cooking so that was pretty major!
8. Spent some quality time with my husband

8 things I wish I could do:
1. Go on a really cool vacation
2. Move closer to where my husband works, he works 2 hours from home
3. Stay home forever to be a homemaker
4. Make my Etsy shop so successful that I don't have to worry about going back to work
5. Make my husband happy with his job
6. See my parents more often
7. Get an Apple computer and laptop
8. More creativity, I can always use that!

8 shows I watch:
1. America's Next Top Model
2. What not to Wear
3. Amazing Race
4. Tori & Dean Home Sweet Hollywood (starting at the end of this month, I just love Tori, she makes me laugh!)
5. Project Runway (starting again in August I think, I love that show!)
6. TLC's multiple kid shows Jon & Kate plus 8 and 18 Kids and Counting (I have a morbid curiosity)
7. Real World/ Road Rules Challenge
8. Weeds

This was challenging! Why don't you try it, I love learning about people!

Recent Outings and Belated Happy Mother's Day!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day! I recently bought this tutorial from one of my favorite lampworkers Cynthia Tilker. She is an incredible artist and I absolutely love her beads and talent! I have been trying my hand at making some of her Keeper beads and let me tell you, it's a lot harder than it looks. My mom loves celestial things so I put a spin of my own on the technique and created a smiling sun for my mom for Mother's Day.

We spent the day in Solvang, California with my parents. It is the half-way point for both of us and we met there for lunch and some shopping. It was a beautiful day and we had a really nice time. I even brought my Blythe doll Shawna with me since I knew it would be a great place to get some pictures of her. No one batted at eyelash when I brought her out, I was afraid they might! I have more pictures over at Flickr!

Earlier this week, my family and I went to the drive-in to see Wolverine and Taken, both excellent movies! I didn't want to go at first because I am more of a chick flick kinda gal but I am glad I did. I really did have a good time. Can you believe there are still some drive-ins in existence? I love going there, it's inexpensive and really casual, no worries about bothering people or them bothering you. Plus you can wear your PJ's!! Once again, I could not resist a photo opportunity and brought Shawna with me, isn't this the cutest picture?

One of my blossom necklaces is featured on IndieSpotting!! I'm excited!