Zoey 101

I got an email from a ETSY friend who had made a previous order from me.

She had a rush order for a birthday this weekend.

She is a great gal, so I didn't mind working overtime to get it done for her.

It was a bracelet for her niece, Zoey.  She is in middle school and sounds like a great gal.

Her initial obviously is a Z, so the cute sleepy Z z z z z's were a perfect fit.  But according to Zoey's aunt, she loves to sleep, so this little charm has a double meaning.
Her favorite Friday and Saturday night activity is roller skating!  How fun!  Sounds like the old weekend nights of the 80's.
She loves Aerosmith, too, so I added an album cover from the band.

Zoey is from Kentucky, so I found an old voting button from the 60's. 
I hear she goes nowhere without her Starbucks, so I attached a cute little coffee cup from the monster chain.
Sophie is her tiny little dog, so what better way to represent her than with a tiny little picture of her?
It's Zoey's favorite pic.

The signature scrabble letter monogram, anchors the charm bracelet.
The picture of Zoey is another one of her favorites.

Her drink of choice?  Why, Mountain Dew of course.  Nothing better than a shot of caffeine!
I found this tiny Zoey charm and I placed it by one of her favorite horror movies, Friday the 13th!

Zoey is a fan of Junk Food, so I found the vintage t-shirt logo JUNK FOOD.
Her school mascot is a bulldog.  GO BULLDOGS!!

Again, another fun project for one of new friends from ETSY.

And a great idea from a very cool aunt!

Enjoy, Zoey!

My True Blood Encounter

I love True Blood. 

I became obsessed over a year ago, when I was given a set of Charlaine Harris books by my aunt.  I read all seven of them in a heart beat.  Its how I spent that summer.

Fortunately it was the second season of True Blood, the coordinating show on HBO.  I had not even seen one episode of the first season, when I saw one episode of Season 2.

I was hooked.  I remembered alot of the info from the books and it really was put into the TV show.

I rented all of season 1 and watched it religiously.

Then, I watched season 2.  Its the only reason I have HBO.

I have cancelled it and will order it again next June when True Blood starts again.

One of my favorite characters on the show is Jason.  Played by Ryan Kwanten.

He is truly delicious.  And he is an Aussie.  Too cute.

Steamy.  Oh boy.  And popular.  They even have a paper doll after his character.

I would love to play with this paper doll.

I digress.  Anyway, I was at the airport Friday picking up the hubby from a trip.  I took Tiny T with me and we were doing the usual people watching, waiting for dad to get there.

I told him offhand to watch for stars, as they frequent Austin to come to all the festivals held here.  I never thought we would see anyone, just knew that he was getting bored and needed something to keep him occupied.

Low and behold, coming down the escalator, I spotted someone.  And I couldn't just stand up and give it another look.  Oh no, I had to follow the poor guy down the escalator.

And sure enough, at the bottom of the stairs, was my favorite True Blood Star, Ryan Kwanten.  I wouldn't have believed it, but his limo driver was waiting for him with a sign saying "Fantastic Fest", which is a movie festival here in Austin that showcases new Horror and Sci Fi films.

I had read that the guy that plays Eric Northman was here last year, so I knew that meant it was Jason Stackhouse.  Here in Austin.

And I am a weanie, so I didn't want to follow him out to his limo, asking for a picture. 

But it was my lucky day, and he sauntered back in the baggage claim, just beckoning me over.  hee hee.

I did go over and asked for a pic.  With his cute aussie accent, he said "sure" and I had my hubby take it with my phone.

Oh, did I forget to mention my hubby got in?  Yeah, he was there.  Ready to take the picture for me.

Here is what he took:

                           

Yep.  That is what I got stuck with.  You can only imagine my disappointment.  Oh, heck, who am I kidding?  I put my hubby on the next plane to Siberia.  Yes I did.

But cute little Tiny T, seeing his mother's disappointment, ran outside to the curb side parking, found the guy, and told him our plight. And could he please take another picture for his mother?  Such a nice guy, he said sure again and this is what Tiny T came out with:

Moral of the story:

When coming across a movie star in an airport, never ask your husband to snap the shot.  Give the camera to an eight year old.  Especially if it is of a hot guy. 

It will always be better.

Cute Mommy necklace from the Pioneer Woman Posting

This ETSY customer is a mom of twins!!  WHEW!!!  I can only imagine!

She also works full time and so does her husband.  Plus they do lots of outdoor stuff.  Which is really cool!  But I can only imagine how hectic her life is.  Which is why I couldn't wait to tackle her project.

She loves Chicago, and since my in laws live there, I was familiar with a lot of the landmarks there.  But the cutest Chicago landmark for a charm is the Chicago Theater.  I love all the bright colors. 
Look at the two cuties next to the Chicago charm.  A little boy and a little girl.  Super sweet!

Her hubby is a doctor, so I used the typical stethoscope to represent his career.  She said he loves his job, and look how cute they are.  They are out on a boat in this picture.

A vintage "K" block signifies the initial of the little boy, as well as this teeny baby in a blue diaper.  There he is starting to walk, in the tiny photo charm next to the baby.

She loves to cook, which is why she was on the Pioneer Woman website to begin with.
The green patina bookplate gives good color to her initials on scrabble pieces.
They live in California, so I included the vintage California license plate.

This is the little girl section  of the necklace.  A tiny photo charm sitting next to the pink-diapered baby. 
Her initial is "V", so I figured an old baby block charm was perfect.

The twins look ready for a Christmas card in this photo!
And I added a boat charm, since they love to be out on the water.
She has a love of turquoise, so I found this intricately designed turquoise stone to represent this love.

Some people think every mom runs around in sweat pants, all disheveled and covered in cheerios.  And that actually may well be.  At least for some time, anyway.

But, at some point, all us moms want to get dressed up and go out on the town.

I hope this mom of twins gets all sassed up and  throws on this charm necklace to take her hubby out for the evening. 

It definitely is a conversation piece.

And hey, if she wants to wear it with sweatpants, and peel a few cheerios off it at the end of the day, who am I to judge?

Who Says Bronze Always Finishes Third?

I am really into charms.

I love bracelets.  And more recently, necklaces. 

Once I started getting really into the charm necklaces, I made this one for myself. 

It is made a bronzy-coppery color.  The first charm on the left is a tiny bronze schooner.  Super tiny.

There are charms of my youngest two:  Tiny T and the Bull.  I found this cool copper charm of a buffalo that I love because it reminds me of Woolaroc.  I LOVE this copper cuckoo clock.  It has so much detail.

I had to do my initials, out of scrabble pieces, and I enclosed them in a copper bookplate.

The bird on a limb is the same charm I put on my Mom's necklace.  And there is Big A.  What a cutie.  I put a copper tea cup.  I don't drink tea.  But I liked the cup.  I guess it could be a coffee cup.  I definitely drink coffee.  Every morning.  Can't live without it.

The copper butterfly is sweet and I love the tree of life.  But the cutest charm on this necklace is the copper telephone.  It has a working rotary.  Not really working, but it spins.  Cute.

I like the chunky chain on this necklace.  It really makes the copper pop.  You can find it on my ETSY site. 

If you're looking.

It's something different.

I like different sometimes.

Don't tell my kids.  It will really mess up my schedule.

Ladybug

I love ladybugs.

I hear they bring you good luck.

My grandmother loved ladybugs.

I think of her when I see them.

Tiny T loves ladybugs.

Ladybugs love Tiny T.

Every once in a while, he will bring in a bug or two. Sometimes he brings in gecko lizards.  If he can catch them, that is.  One time he caught a june bug.  He tends to avoid wasps, bees and spiders.  But everything else is fair game.  I have learned to live with it.  There is something about  boys and bugs.

He often catches ladybugs, brings them in to show everyone, then lets them go outside.  He never wants to release them.  Oh, don't get me wrong, he never means them harm, he just wants to collect them.  We discuss their families waiting for them, and their need for fresh air.  Finally, he gives in, but it is always a production. 

This particular ladybug was different.  It was the biggest one I have ever seen.  And FAST!!  I couldn't even snap the picture, he was running up Tiny T's arm so fast.  He didn't seem to mind playing inside the house.  Like he was on a mini vacation.  A ladybug getaway.

And I don't know why I keep calling it a him.  I mean, its a "lady" bug for goodness sakes!!
Anyway, he/she clung to Tiny T's hand, his arm, his shirt, our pool table.  He was not discriminatory.

And he never fell off.  Those clingy little legs stuck to everything.  In fact, when we put him on our pool table, we couldn't get him off for about 5 minutes.

But all good things must come to an end.

And so, we let him/her go.

Maybe she will bring us some good luck!

Sooners #1

We love the Oklahoma Sooners. 

We are "sooner born and sooner bred, and when we die, we'll be sooner dead".

RAH Oklahoma!

Ok, enough cheering.  My whole family went to OU.  My kids think they are going to OU.  And during football season, we can never find enough Sooners regalia. 

Can there ever be enough?

Not in our house.

So, I made a charm bracelet.

Big surprise.

I collected all the things that made me think of the University of Oklahoma, and threw it on a bracelet/necklace.

Ok, since it is football season, and OU is a big football school, I might have gone heavy on the football memorabilia.  Guilty as charged.

You can't talk about the Sooners without talking first about a schooner.   It is all over the place in Norman, Oklahoma, and very representative in this bracelet.
The shape of the state of Oklahoma also looked incredibly unique, as well as the blue of the Oklahoma state flag.  I always thought our state flag was the prettiest.
The tiny football cleat charm is really for Homecoming bouquets, but I love it on this bracelet.

Again, scavenging the Homecoming aisle at Michaels craft store, I found this cute plastic helmet and I glued the interlocking O and U to the top.

The University of Oklahoma seal and a copy of an OU class ring, were just some of the unique finds I made while researching the university.

I found a red bookplate to put my traditional OU scrabble letters in.  These bookplates are really better suited to a necklace, since they are quite a bit bigger than the other charms.  But hey, at OU, its "go big, or go home" so I didn't really mind.

A vintage 1978 Oklahoma license plate in red is nestled by a vintage Oklahoma felt banner.  Its funny they have an indian head on the banner.  Not sure they could get away with that these days. 
I had to throw in a plastic football, just for kicks.  No pun intended.

Keeping with the vintage theme, I found an old "Greetings from Oklahoma" postcard.
The Oklahoma Sooners scoreboard is something all too familiar from the Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.

If you have never been to a home football game at this stadium, it really is a sight to see.  The sea of crimson and cream is absolutely breathtaking.

This was such a "near and dear to my heart"  bracelet for me to make.  It's cool because it can be made for any team.  Any college.  Or pro.  Or kid's teams.  Anything. 

I plan on wearing it every Saturday come game time!

I might even wear it all the time. 

Out in the open.

In front of Longhorn fans.....

Sister Charm Bracelet

This bracelet was ordered off my ETSY site.

My client ordered it for her sister.  What a thoughtful gift.  Sometimes sisters are hard to shop for.  You feel like you know them so well, there really shouldn't be a problem getting them something they want, right?
Well, kind of.  You know them well, and know what they want or need, but you also want to get them something unique.  Something that shows how well you know them, but not just anyone could get it for them. 

That's why these charm bracelets are a great idea.

Her sister cooks, so the copper pan is a perfect touch.  She really wanted to note their sister "friendship", so  I added this sister charm.  On the back is a cute quote about sisters.  The copper bird on a limb is in reference to her love of nature.

She also likes to bake.  Who doesn't?  So I found this tiny muffin pan from a dollhouse shop.  We found out her favorite author and then selected the cutest book she wrote.  Her little girl's picture fit perfectly in this round silver photo charm.

The single scrabble tile charm fits the bracelets much better than my usual double scrabble letters in a bookplate.  I like the silver square pendant.  Her little boy rounds out the picture on the opposite side of his sister.

I LOVE these vintage license plates!  She is from Illinois, so I found one from 1965.  Too cute.  The copper butterfly ties in the copper pot and bird.  She truly enjoys gardening, so the vintage seed packets, one side roses, the other side peas, were very representative.

This bracelet was a gift for her 40th birthday, so I had to note the number 40.  Their favorite concert?  Why, Sting, of course.  I added her favorite Sting Album to celebrate that memory.

What a great sister to capture all these great things about her sister and slap it on a bracelet for her to wear every day.

Makes me want to make one for my sister.

After I finish the rest of my orders.

And feed my kids.

And go to four soccer games this weekend.  And a baseball tournament.  And a football game.

Actually, I think I am going to go take a nap.