Weekend Blog Hop!

I just entered the Friday Blog Hop over at Give it to me Tara! Visit the post and find some great blogs to peruse.

Toasted Almond Brittle Bars-So Yummy!

Normally, chocolate and peanut butter sweets are my weakness, but this year I tried a new recipe I found called "Toasted Almond Brittle Bars" from McCormick. They are absolutely delicious, they taste exactly like almond extract smells; a little like marzipan, just nutty and sweet. And despite the word "brittle" being in the name, they aren't hard at all, due to the softer crust. Here's the recipe, hope you enjoy them like I do! Photo below is my own.

Toasted Almond Brittle Bars

2 1/2 cups flour
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened at room temperature
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar (powdered sugar)
1/4 teaspoon salt

Almond Brittle Topping

1/3 cup light corn syrup
1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 cup sliced almonds
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract


1- Mix flour, 1 cup butter, confectioner's sugar and salt in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until coarse crumbs form. Press firmly and evenly into greased 15x10x1 inch baking pan. Bake in preheated 350 degree F oven 20 minutes or until golden brown.
2- For the topping, mix corn syrup, brown sugar, 1/4 cup butter and cream in medium saucepan. Bring just to boil on medium heat. Remove from heat. Stir in almonds and extracts. Pour over hot crust, spreading evenly.
3- Bake 15 minutes or light golden brown and until filling is set. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars. Makes about 3 dozen bars.






Enjoy!

Easy Oreo Truffles, Easy AND Delicious!

Last Christmas, I made these truffles and they went FAST. The recipe is insanely easy and makes a decent batch, depending on how large you make them. I would suggest no larger than the recipe states, 1" balls, as they are rich. I've made these myself this weekend so below the photo from the Kraft foods website is my own photo. Also, please see my notes under the recipe to make it a little easier for you.


Easy Oreo Truffles

Ingredients
1 pkg (8 oz.) cream cheese
1 pkg Oreo cookies, finely crushed (about 4 1/4 cups), divided
2 pkg. (8 squares each) Baker's Semi Sweet Chocolate, melted


Instructions
Mix cream cheese and 3 cups cookie crumbs until well blended
Shape into 48 (1 inch) balls. Dip in melted chocolate; place on waxed paper-covered baking sheet. Sprinkle with remaining cookie crumbs.
Refrigerate 1 hour or until firm.


My notes:
1- Upon crushing the cookies, I suggest placing a few cookies in a large zippered baggie and crushing them with a rolling pin. You will want to crush a few at a time because in my experience, it's a little to hard to try to crush them all at once and you need really fine pieces.
2- It's much easier to mix the cookie crumbs and the cream cheese with your hands (yes you'll be sticky, just have paper towels handy) and then scoop out the balls with a melon baller.
3- While dipping the balls, you can use 2 forks to roll them around in the chocolate and coat them better. This way, it's also easier to remove them from the chocolate and place them on the baking sheet.





After making them this weekend, here are my own!




Enjoy!

JRandall, Christmas Style *Updated*

I've been enjoying JRandall's music lately, it's such a breath of fresh air from all the repeats on the radio lately. I am still so excited looking forward to a whole album from JRan. Truthfully, I haven't been this excited about a new artist since Adam Lambert and prior to him, Britney Spears. I remember being in 7th or 8th grade, running around to every record store I could find, asking for the new Britney Spears album. All I'd get in response was, "Who?" and a blank stare. Now it's hard to find someone who hasn't heard of Britney and I just know this will end up being the case with JRan.

Anyway, Mr. Randall has bestowed this little gem called "Santa Gimme" upon our speakers for the holiday season. Some may not like it and yes, it's for the younger crowd, but it's hilarious and is a very catchy song; I've had it on repeat since I first heard it! The video is coming soon and I can't wait for that either. Thank goodness for twitter so I won't miss anything! This blog site is offering a free download of the song, once you click over to the site, right click on the link that says, "Free Download" and then either "Save Target As" or in my case, "Save Link As." Or if you don't want to download it, you can listen to it right from the site.

Enjoy!
http://clizbeats.com/j-randall-gives-the-gift-of-free-music121104/


*Update!*
The video is now available, view it here!

Haunted House Follow Up!

I saw this video of Ellen DeGeneres' writer getting sent to the SAME haunted house I went to a couple of years ago (and referenced in my Halloween post here). Basically, her reaction is me to a T, with less screaming! Though I'm always with someone (would I go in there alone? Heck no!), I end up pushing them in front of me, hiding behind them or um...swatting at the people who are there to scare you. I'm not a violent person by any means but for some reason, I have a tendency to throw punches at them like I'm going 10 rounds. Luckily, I've never actually hit anyone. Hah. If you saw Modern Family's Halloween episode where Gloria punches Mitchell when he scares her while wearing a scarecrow costume...it's like that. That's also me. Lol.

Anyway , enjoy the video of Ellen's writer below, it's always much darker in there with just a strobe light to see by...the camera light makes it seem much brighter than it really is. I would say my favorite part is where she screams, "How rude!!"

Happy Birthday to Me & Reflections...

Well, not today, but tomorrow. And I'm going to be 25. Ack. I don't feel 25 and to be honest, I feel like I haven't accomplished a lot of things I figured I would have by now. I did graduate college and got my degree in psychology, but the true challenge for me has been finding a job where I can actually put that degree to good use. In many of the jobs I've been searching for, it seems that Master's degrees are now what is most desirable, that the Bachelor's degree has become the new high school diploma. In other words, nearly everyone has them nowadays so it's not "special." Ideally, I would like to work in human resources, or if I had to go all out and be unicorns and rainbows about it, I'd love to work in the entertainment industry somehow, possibly at a record label or a movie studio doing some of the background work.
Luckily, until I find that dream job, I have my Etsy shop and jewelry/accessory business to pay the bills. It allows me to make my own hours and express my creativity and still be a kid!

But I digress, back to my birthday since this post wasn't meant to be a downer!
I remember when I was little, birthdays were SO much fun. I'd go to school and we'd all have cupcakes or whatever my mom brought to class and try to pay attention through the school day. Then once we got home, the living room table would be all ready with my cake and lots of colorfully wrapped presents, most containing Barbies, art kits or Polly Pockets. Weekend birthdays were so much fun too; at my old house, I could stand at the top of the stairs and see straight down to the table done up in all its birthday fun. Unfortunately, our hallway creaked so my parents always knew when I was awake trying to get a glimpse of my presents and quickly told me to go back to bed.

Nowadays though, I can't see anything from upstairs except more stairs. And with each birthday comes the "So when are you going to..." questions that I just don't have answers to. But that doesn't make it any less fun. There are always surprises and unexpected fun things happening that I love. The day is just the same as when I was a little kid, but on a more adult scale; for example, my friend gave me Hello Kitty Rosé wine (which I've been looking for everywhere, I might add)!

So yes, while the pink, sparkly birthdays filled with Barbies are in the past, my birthdays today are still pink and sparkly, but filled with Hello Kitty Rosé. And cupcakes. What else?

Halloween, Anyone?

I love Halloween, mostly just the cute aspects of it since I despise being scared. Seriously, I hit the haunted house at Universal Studios a couple of years ago because my brother told me it was just a set display from the movie, "Van Helsing." Stupid, stupid, stupid. I had tall, ugly things hovering over, popping out and grabbing at me and monsters shouting at me and all in all, I was NOT amused. I don't mind thrill rides, gory movies, gross costumes, etc. but put me somewhere where things are supposed to pop out at you and you'll have me running for the exit.
If you like that sort of thing, here's a video I found on youtube of that Van Helsing haunted house, click the "play" button below to watch, or click on the box and it'll take you to a larger version on youtube. Remember, when you go through it, you can barely see anything so when you're walking, you have no idea what's coming:





Anyway, my Halloweens have gradually gotten more boring every year. Last year I was a fairy, I found THE cutest short blue prom-style dress with lots of layers and got a huge pair of fairy wings literally 2 days before Halloween. We had all planned on either going to a huge party or to something downtown called Monster Bash. One of our friends then got sick so we ended up sitting at another friend's house and chatting. While I was wearing aforementioned gigantic fairy wings. Lame, lame lame.

This year, we're having a huge party ourselves and it will be amazing! I'm planning on wearing this adorable sailor costume I got today:




Unfortunately, they make these costumes for people who are TALL, not 5'2 like I am. So I'll need to hike it up a bit and secure it with some of my trusty fashion tape (such a lifesaver, that stuff) and it'll be perfect. I'm already excited and can't wait to wear it!

And in keeping with my whole "Wear something I made, it's great advertising," I'll be wearing one of my gold glitter star rings, like these:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/58799839/red-or-blue-glitter-resin-star-ring


Yay!

You Need This Guy in Your Life: JRandall!

I usually don't write posts about music but I just recently heard his single, "Spirit of the Radio" on the radio and loved it immediately. At first, I thought it was by some well known artist like Jay Sean or Jason DeRulo, but it was only when I heard the song a second time a couple days later, they introduced it as being by a new artist named JRandall! Being the curious person I am (I pretty much research everything I'm interested in), I wanted to find out about him so I searched around on Youtube and found the video to the song, which is from the Step Up 3D soundtrack. Again, I LOVED it. Anyway, I'm so looking forward to his album which is supposed to drop next year and I feel like he has the potential to knock the Biebs off of his musical throne. Plus, JRan is a better dancer and has songs you actually won't mind getting stuck in your head all day, so there you have it. Who says the teenyboppers are the only ones who can have a hot new singer?

You follow him on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/JRandalland

And see his "Spirit of the Radio" video here:






UPDATE as of 10/6: You can now hear JRandall's new song, "Oo La La" which features Akon, via the Just Jared blog:
http://justjared.buzznet.com/2010/10/06/jrandall-oo-la-la-song-premiere-with-akon/


Or here on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CE28bOT14QU


Oui, oui!

Absolutely Delish- Grecian Party Squares!

This appetizer has been one of my favorites for a few years; my mom used to have Pampered Chef parties and the sales lady that would be there would always have these for everyone to try. Normally I'm pretty picky about food and refuse to eat spinach (Popeye, I am not!); but these are amazing and the spinach just blends in so well with the other flavors, I don't even notice it. We made these over the weekend when we had family visiting and I've been enjoying them!

Here's the recipe (do note, they are telling you to use specific cookware or baking items, this is just because they want you to buy them at the parties. Your normal cookware will be just fine):

Grecian Party Squares

2 packages (8 ounces each) refrigerated crescent rolls
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
1 envelope (.9 ounce) dry vegetable soup and dip mix
1 package (10 ounces) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained
1 can (14 ounces) artichoke hearts in water, drained and chopped
1 can (8 ounces) sliced water chestnuts, drained and chopped
1 package (4 ounces) crumbled feta cheese
1 garlic clove, pressed
1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated fresh Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 375°F. Unroll one package of crescent dough across one end of Stoneware Bar Pan with longest sides of dough across width of pan. Repeat with remaining package of dough, filling pan. Using Baker's Roller(TM), roll dough to seal perforations and press up sides to form crust. Bake 10-12 minutes or until light golden brown; remove from oven to Stackable Cooling Rack.

Meanwhile, in Classic Batter Bowl, combine mayonnaise, sour cream and soup mix; mix well. Drain spinach in small Colander, squeezing out as much moisture as possible; add to batter bowl. Drain artichokes and water chestnuts in colander; chop with Food Chopper. Add artichokes, water chestnuts, feta cheese and garlic pressed with Garlic Press to batter bowl; mix well.

Spread spinach mixture evenly over crust. Using Deluxe Cheese Grater, grate Parmesan cheese over filling. Bake 10-12 minutes or until heated through. Remove from oven; cut into squares with Utility Knife. Serve using Mini-Serving Spatula.

Yield: 24 appetizers

Nutrients per serving: (1 square): Calories 150, Total Fat 10 g, Saturated Fat 3 g, Cholesterol 10 mg, Carbohydrate 12 g, Protein 4 g, Sodium 360 mg, Fiber 2 g

Cook's Tip: One-half of a 1.7-ounce envelope dry vegetable soup and dip mix can be substituted for the .9-ounce envelope, if desired.

Source: Pampered Chef




They will look like this once you get them all cut up and ready to serve. This is not my picture, it was found on a Google search so credit goes to that person!

Etsy Holiday Boot Camp!

This holiday season will be the first that I'm fully invested in my Etsy shop! I opened in 2008 and made a few sales right away, then took most of last year off, so was not really involved in the holiday happenings. This year, I want to make the most of it and of course, make sales! Below is the pledge from Etsy, now I can't wait for the holidays!

I, RitzeeRebel, pledge to participate in the Etsy Success Holiday Boot Camp to the best of my abilities. I vow to check in every week, do my homework and support my fellow Holiday Boot Campers. I will read the weekly newsletters and blog posts, check in on the weekly forum thread, read the weekly blog post, check off the checklists and salute the mascot. I promise to share what I've learned with those who need it, support my fellow Etsy indiepreneurs and, most of all, have a positive and persistent attitude. I understand that together we can spread the word about our handmade and vintage goods, making this holiday season a more unique and meaningful one to gift givers and give-ees everywhere!

Tulle!

Tulle is a great site with fun, seasonal clothing. I've seen some of their beautiful peacoats at Nordstrom and always want one, but being in California, I don't wear them much!
My favorite purchases from Tulle are definitely their checked shirts, I ordered one in green/white and one in black/white and the fit is amazing. They actually look similar to the shirt in the icon below but mine have shorter sleeves and a tie at the waist.

Check their site out for some great, vintage-inspired clothing!

Hearts & Hands United Blog Feature!

Not long ago I was interviewed for my Etsy Hearts and Hands United team blog! The post was published today and you can see it here, I'm so happy with how it turned out and a special thank you to Lisa from designsbyjakemi for the interview!

http://heartsandhandsunited.blogspot.com/2010/08/team-spotlight-ritzee-rebel.html

Elephants, Oh My!

I have a soft spot for elephants...love watching them at the zoo and I just think they're adorable. Yesterday I added a little elephant necklace to my shop and was notified today that it was included in a really fun treasury! I LOVE everything here, I can't pick a favorite!





Here's the link so you can click and comment until it expires!
http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c3fbcda92dc6d915435c853/march-of-the-elephants

Hoot Suite for Twitter- Love It!

Once again I've been neglecting my blog; I haven't abandoned it totally though! Twitter is an interesting thing to me, this time last year, I had NO idea how to use it or what "retweet" meant. Now that I do, I'm fascinated by it and am amazed by how fun it can be.
One tip I found incredibly helpful for my Etsy shop was a recent article on the Handmade Spark blog about setting up automatic tweets from Hoot Suite. It's so helpful for scheduling future tweets, but my favorite part is how you can set it up to automatically tweet your newest listings!
I try to list something new, or renew an item once a day, so I won't bug people with frequent updates since I don't add things all the time. It's especially helpful for me because I post my new item links on a few threads I frequent on the Etsy forums, this is one less place I have to worry about doing so since it does it for me!

To read the article yourself and get step by step instructions on how to do it yourself, just click below, hope it helps you like it did for me!

http://www.handmadespark.com/blog/automatic-etsy-shop-updates-on-twitter/

Ice Cream Pins on Must Have Cute!

I submitted my mini ice cream pins a long time ago to this website, Must Have Cute, and I never heard anything or saw them on the "finds" page so I figured they weren't accepted.
Well lo and behold, I was on the site's voting page today and saw them waaaay back on page 18! As more items are added, they'll move further down, but for now they're on page 18. Please check them out and give them a "thumbs up!"

http://musthavecute.com/vote/page/18/

UPDATE as of 9/28: You can vote from here instead! http://cheezburger.com/View/3231431680

Two More Treasury Easts!

I love finding my items in Treasuries when I'm not expecting it, and it's so fun as well when they're made by people I don't know. It means I'm being found!
Here are the two latest I've been featured in....

Junk Food pins are in this fun "Diet Food" collection:
http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c0878e2ab056d919ac8eece/diet-food

And my baby whale pin is in this great "One Fish Two Fish" grouping:
http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c0be46b68f48eefd553e121/one-fish-two-fish


Yay and thank you to the curators!

My Dress Form Pendants Featured And A Friend's Contest!

Yesterday, I woke up to a convo from the owner of the I Dreamed I Saw blog, letting me know my dress form pendant(s) were a part of her dress form entry! I love how it turned out and I'm so honored to have been included in this great blog. Please check out the entry (and the rest of the I Dreamed I Saw blog) here:
http://www.idreamedisaw.com/2010/05/28/dress-forms/


Additionally, a friend from one of my Etsy groups is having a contest for a pair of her great crochet gloves. You can enter here: http://crochetize.blogspot.com/2010/05/custom-crocheted-gloves-give-away.html
Good luck!



Hope everyone is having a nice Memorial Day weekend!

Oregon Trail!

Now, a total departure from my usual posts...
Many of us remember this fun game from computer lab day when we were in elementary school. There was a topic about this on Etsy today and someone was nice enough to post a link to where you could play the game!
I played and finally made it to the end, something I never did way back when. My final score was 5055 and I made it to the top 10 lol...not sure whether I should be proud of that or ashamed that I wasted that much time! Playing this game again, you'll see how low quality the graphics are, almost Atari-like, if you remember that. I had forgotten how to play but then it all came back and I was fording rivers and hunting like there was no tomorrow.
Anyway, without further ado, here is the link where you can install a small plugin (it's safe, don't worry) and play Oregon Trail! http://www.virtualapple.org/oregontraildisk.html


Here's a screenshot of my 3rd place spot, since I'm sure I'll get ousted soon lol.

Late But....Wordless Wednesday Bunny!

New Features! I'm on Cuteable!

I was notified by Lynsey at Cuteable today that my torso pendants are part of her Flickr Friday feature! Check them out here:
http://cuteable.com/flickr-friday-part-1-10/8485

Additionally, my cranberry torso pendant was featured in this fun "Pink Tropicana" treasury; one of my Etsy friends notified me that it was on the front page of CraftCult this afternoon too! Wow!



Enough about me for now, hope you have a great weekend and to everyone celebrating Mother's Day, hope it's a wonderful one!

Bonnie Hunt Dog and Cat Adoptions!

There are SO many dogs that need to be adopted, but today's segment on the Bonnie Hunt show really tugged at my heartstrings. One dog in particular, Trailer, a black Pit/Lab mix, has appeared on her adoption segment three times now and still has not found a home. I would love to adopt him myself but I'm not in the area. I do want to see him go to a good home though, as with all of the animals who still need to be adopted. If you're in the Los Angeles area and want to find out more about the dogs and cats who have appeared on the show, just go to Bonnie's site here:

http://www.bonniehunt.com/adoptions/

Gold Glitter Resin Torso Pendant!

It seems like lately I've been prefacing every post with how busy I am, I feel bad about it! But sometimes life has a way of sneaking up on you and piling everything on at once; the last few weeks have been no exception.

I did manage to get lots of my new absolute favorite items poured, my resin torso pendants! I think these are the most unique things I've seen in a long time, hence the reason why I was so excited to get the mold and get started! I was a tad hesitant at first because as resin jewelry makers know, different molds can affect the curing process of the resin. For example, the mold I use for these torso charms is silicone (rather than the non-stick plastic of the Castin Craft/ETI molds) and will sometimes give the resin an opaque appearance. I fixed this by using a layer of Diamond Glaze over the piece which works out really well, as it brings out the sparkle and color more!

Here's a group picture of all of the pendants I've completed so far:



And my first one I'm trying out on Etsy, hopefully people like these as much as I do! I have many more ideas for colors and things to embed in this particular mold, I might just have to buy more molds to try all the ideas I have in my head; I can't wait a whole day for them to cure before wanting to try something else haha.

Gold Glitter Resin Torso Pendant!

Semi-Wordless Wednesday!

Etsy Treasury East...Interesting Concept

By now you've all heard of Etsy's new Treasury East, that allows everyone to make treasuries that never expire, any time you want. I like the idea, but I do think they should expire after a certain amount of time and there should be a limit as to how many T Easts a shop can create. Otherwise, I feel as though everyone will try to promote their treasuries like crazy in order to get noticed...and with the abundance of T Easts, they'll get buried quickly. With that said, for a little while, there wasn't a way to tell if you were in any T Easts or not, until now. There was a link that was active, and has since been removed, however, Craftopolis has updated their site with another feature where you can type in your shop name and see which T Easts you appear in, if any. Here's the link: http://www.craftopolis.com/#com=tt

I'm in these!

Cotton Candy- http://www.etsy.com/treasury/de24b47b5d19c94b10540800

A Little of This and a Little of That- http://www.etsy.com/treasury/e085ea1dc2e4cb4b1e3a9a00

Colors That Warm You- http://www.etsy.com/treasury/b385ea1d1ec9c84ba8a13700

Cute as a Cupcake!- http://www.etsy.com/treasury/7f24b47b77dac84ba3bce100

April Showers Bring Spring Flowers- http://www.etsy.com/treasury/0524b47bc094c84b6c156d00

It's in the Details for the HHU Team- http://www.etsy.com/treasury/0524b47bc7a8c84b1d586e00

Tweet! (A grouping of items from Twitter friends)-
http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4bdb6d7787808eef65c2a5ea/tweet

Here Comes the Sun- http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4be38566138d6d91822b2f00/here-comes-the-sun

In the Pink- http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4bf1cee04d168eef48c212ea/in-the-pink

Fruit Salad- http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4bfe40de3bd46d91449b6cf8/fruit-salad

Happy Treasury East Hunting!

Spam Spam Spam

I had a lovely morning trying to figure out why my mom's email was sending out spam to everyone. Think I got it figured out, hopefully it was a one-off and it won't happen again. If it does, then I'll delve into it more but I hope I won't have to. *fingers crossed*

Other than that...here's a newbie I posted yesterday, a fun "Sorry...closed" sign resin pendant. I think it's pretty funny. Click the picture to be taken to the listing!

New Stuff!

In the midst of lots going on, I've been able to make a few new things. I've been making lots more resin pieces and finished a few that I am REALLY happy with. The heart is kind of an "oops" because there are 2 pieces of glitter in it that shouldn't be there, but it's still cute. I'm partial to all the sign pieces!
Additionally, the felt pieces are of a nesting doll/matryoshka and one of the well known "We Are Happy to Serve You" takeout coffee cups.




I did get my very first resin piece listed on Etsy today, just click the picture to be taken to the listing!

Earthquake!

In the middle of what was a relaxing Easter Sunday, we were all sitting around enjoying the day when the earthquake hit. Well, at that point, my mom and brother were in the backyard, I was in the house and my dad was upstairs. Being a California native, I'm used to little shakers and can usually sit here and just wait until they're over, but this one was MUCH bigger. After about 6 seconds of progressively worse shaking and rolling, I ran to a doorway and stood there until it was over.
Luckily nothing broke or anything, but every so often I'll be passing by a room and see a picture askew on the wall or something on a shelf that fell over.

At first, it was categorized as a 6.9 earthquake; they usually downgrade them afterward, but this time it was upgrade to a 7.2!

They've been showing similar video on the news quite a bit, this one is from one of CNN's ireporters, showing water splashing out of someone's pool!

Yum! Cupcakes and more!

Busy day cooking today; I was inspired by a delicious picture of Peeps cupcakes I found when browsing Google images the other day...so I went a little crazy and made Peeps cupcakes! More goodies I made today include deviled eggs and apple bars! I so can't wait to dig in lol.

Trying Something New...Resin Jewelry!

I've decided to try making resin jewelry! I love how quirky the pieces are and I also love the idea of embedding practically anything in the resin to be preserved forever! I tried to make a few pieces last year but it was one disastrous FAIL after another. So after making cloudy piece after cloudy piece, I gave up and put my resin away. It wasn't until my mom was looking for something a few weeks ago that she found my resin and molds and it sparked my interested again so I tried to give it another go.
Oddly enough, it was on my second attempt that I realized it was actually the mold release that was making each and every one of my pieces come out cloudy in some spots. Plus, I didn't have my hardener/resin mixture exactly evenly measured so everything was turning out sticky. Unfortunately, when you don't get the resin mixed properly, you're wasting a good chunk of money (depending on your brand, I use Castin' Craft) on failed batches of resin and hardener. So needless to say, it makes me wince every time something comes out less than perfect. *Fingers crossed* that I have it figured out now! Here's a little progress timeline:

Here was the first batch, before I realized the mold release was making them cloudy...



Then the second, no mold release, trying out separate layers of glitter with the sticker in it's own layer in the front!





And third...trying transparent color resin dye...another thing that kills me to waste..too much and the resin will not fully cure, but turn out flexible instead. Too little and the color is barely visible. These turned out great!




And just a few of my latest! I actually colored a couple with just a touch of tempera paint to make them opaque and did more layers of glitter on the others since I'm a sparkle girl. I already put necklace findings on the rectangular ones and a ring back on the green glitter one. LOVE them, may list them soon. Or not. ;)




Any thoughts?

Lots Going On, But a Surprise Feature!

Lots of things have been going on this week, some not so great (relationships, car troubles), others, REALLY great (a friend is engaged!).

Today, Garrick over at the Senioritis/Itmakesyoulazy Blog was kind enough to feature my shop in the Friday Finds blog post!
http://itmakesyoulazy.blogspot.com/2010/03/friday-finds-32610.html


As for the Senioritis Etsy shop, it's one of the most interesting, fun shops I've seen. They have great prints featuring well-known historic figures like Albert Einstein, Lewis Caroll, Dr. Seuss and Babe Ruth in fun ways and including a fitting quote on the print. I guarantee you that you've never seen a shop like this!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/senioritis


I have to say, my favorite is the Jean Harlow print:





Thanks again to everyone at Senioritis/Itmakesyoulazy for the great feature!

Hearts and Hands United Team Project

For one of my Etsy teams, Hearts and Hands United, our latest team project was to create something to fulfill two of the the "Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed and Something Blue" categories for the upcoming wedding season.
I decided to make a set of 2 bows, one in white and one in blue, to fulfill the old and new categories.



See what other items the team has come up with here!
First installment:
http://heartsandhandsunited.blogspot.com/2010/03/team-project-no-1-something-old.html

Second installment:
http://heartsandhandsunited.blogspot.com/2010/03/team-project-no-1-something-old_19.html

Owl Cam- So Cute!

I've been addicted to this owl cam since the other day. Everyone is waiting for the baby owls to be born and watching the mommy (Molly) and the daddy (McGee) in the meantime. It's definitely addicting, I'm taking forever to write this tiny piece because apparently one of the babies, whom the owner of the owl box and camera are calling "Max," has been born!
Here's the website or you can just give it a second to load and push the graphic of the arrow on the picture to stream it below (great if you don't want the annoying chat that goes on from the main site):
http://www.ustream.tv/theowlbox

Free TV : Ustream

Peeps Ice? I'll Take One!

I'm probably the biggest sucker for different drink creations. I love all the new flavors Starbucks comes up with (ok, except for gingerbread and eggnog, not my favorite), love the variety of drinks at Sonic, flavored Coca Cola, etc. So imagine the squeal I let out when I got an email from the Peeps company advertising the new Peeps flavored Ice at Rita's! I quickly checked out the site for more information and to find out where I would be able to buy one of these interesting sounding concoctions. Unfortunately, there are NO Rita's locations in California, Nevada or Arizona, places where I would be able to check them out before they left the stores. I would love to know how these things taste, I'm imagining probably just like sugar ice but it's the idea of it all! And yes I know it looks like yellow snow but we all know it isn't. Lol.
Someone please try this for me when they come out, I'm desperate!




Another thing I was missing out on this year was my beloved Shamrock Shake from McDonald's! Apparently no locations near me were selling them (do people in California only eat bland, diet-y stuff?) and don't try to ask employees about the shakes, lest they think you're a lunatic. Upon reading several blogs though, it seems that this year's shakes were nothing short of disappointing, lacking the classic minty flavor and including {shudder} whipped cream and a cherry??? Just...no.
So I got out my ingredients (thank you, Restaurant Secrets cookbook!) and made myself a Shamrock Shake that was just as tasty as I remember from when I was little.



Ahh, pure delicious-ness!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! (Psst, Cupcakes Here!)

Lol, sorry for the weird title. I've been trying out some new stuff besides my felt items, this time I'm trying resin jewelry! I've just been practicing making pieces that are clear, bubble-free and now I've experimented with color! Anyway, I've been meaning to post more but haven't because of that. So sorry!

Just also wanted to say Happy St. Patrick's Day and post this yummy picture of cupcakes from Sprinkles (Dark chocolate with Bailey's Irish Cream frosting)! If you're in the area of one, have one for me please!

Golden Girls as Inspiration? How Random.

I've done a few blog interviews and one of the most common questions is, "Where do you find inspiration for your pieces?"
Oddly enough, I just realized that one of the things that seems to do it for me is watching Golden Girls on the Hallmark channel at night! For example, I was watching it a few minutes ago and happened to look to the right of the television and saw a pretty little arrangement of faux sunflowers. That arrangement has been there for at least a year now, and lo and behold, it inspired me to make a sunflower hair clip! Not the most wild of ideas, but still, for some reason, finding inspiration seems to come from watching this show at night...I wonder what the correlation is?
Possibly because the clothing they wear on the show is so brightly colored and very 80's, something I would say the majority of my items also are. Granted, my items are geared towards the younger crowd, but I think the bright colors and prints of the decade inspire me quite a bit!
Wow was that a random entry but it just occurred to me and I had to put it out there!

Here's to the Golden Girls!

Ah, Another Blog Feature and Treasury!

A sweet friend from the Will Craft for Food Etsy team I'm a part of asked me last week if I'd do an interview for her blog. Of course, I said yes and she posted it today! Besides the fact that my interview is up there, she has a great, fun blog that I'm sure you'll enjoy. Be sure to read the older entries as well!

Here's the link to my interview on her blog: http://craftyhorror.wordpress.com/2010/03/14/sunday-quickie/


Additionally, another friend from one of the Etsy threads I participate in included my bunny hair clip and Easter basket pin in her Easter/California Girls treasury! It's so fun and well put together, definitely makes you long for Spring!

My Handmade Spark Interview

Not long ago I was contacted by a friend on the Etsy forums who wanted to interview me for a blog post on the great handmade resource site, Handmade Spark!



This is a wonderful site for buyers and sellers, in the case of buyers, it's got an easy search function to look for items you want to see and learn about sellers, and for sellers, it's a great advertising tool.
I was so excited to see that the article was up, I thank Tiff for taking the time to interview me and Handmade Spark for posting it up!

Here's the link to the interview: http://handmadespark.com/blog/handmade-feature-with-ritzeerebel/

Blog Feature and Another Treasury!

This morning I received a convo from TheGreenHaven letting me know my shamrock hair clip was included in her "What a Find Wednesday" blog post!
Here's her post and I'll link you to her shop as well, she has some fun items!

http://thegreenhaven.blogspot.com/2010/03/what-find-wednesday.html

Her eco-friendly Etsy shop, has great reusable sandwich/lunch bags and more!:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/thegreenhaven



And my squirrel pin was featured in this great treasury from DesignsStainedGlass!
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=118877

My Pretty Glass Heart Necklace from Neelrad!

Awhile back, I entered Cokie Pop Paper's giveaway on her blog for a pretty glass heart necklace from fellow Etsian, Neelrad. I received it today and I love it, it's on a nice ribbon and cord and hangs just right. I love the colors in it, it'll be perfect for a night out!




Please visit her shop here, she has some lovely items to choose from!:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/Neelrad


Thanks again to both CokiepoPaper and Neelrad!

Hearts & Hands United Blog Feature! //Treasuries

I'm a member of 3 great teams on Etsy, one of them being Hearts and Hands United.The members are so amazing and lovely people from all over the world to talk to; I took a hiatus from my shop last year and jumped back in back in January. I was welcomed right away by a great group of people who are not only interested in promoting their own items but in getting to know YOU as a person (not to mention fellow crafter). There is such a diverse group of talented individuals, some knit or crochet, some sew, some make jewelry out of various mediums, etc. All have amazing shops and I have spent a great deal of time in all of them, getting to know their items. I would like to share the team blog with you:

http://heartsandhandsunited.blogspot.com/

And our team thread on Etsy!
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6458861


If you're a crafter (or a buyer) and want to pop in on either, please don't hesitate! No matter what time you check in, someone is sure to welcome you with a kind word. :)


Additionally, one of the sweet members, WomanWithTools, was kind enough to include me in her "Luck Be A Lady" treasury!



And Shoshipo was also nice enough to include my panda pin in her "Black and White" treasury!

Alice in Wonderland Movie- Loved It!

I don't normally watch Dreamworks type movies anymore because they're not really my thing now. But, this is Alice in Wonderland so I HAD to!
Knowing how popular the movie is and all the hype around it, I got tickets last night online for a showing today just in case it was a sellout. Luckily, we went to an earlier showing so it wasn't too crowded.
It was a REALLY great movie, the roles were case perfectly, I loved Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter and I actually really liked Mia Wasikowska as Alice. I saw the regular movie version but if you have the stomach for it and have the chance to see it in 3D, go for it! There are many scenes that I'm sure would have looked amazing in 3D; it makes me wish there was a ride like that at Disneyland! It would be great if it was like the "Soaring" ride at California Adventure or even like the Simpson's ride at Universal Studios Hollywood.
But I digress...the movie was very good and if you're on the fence about seeing it due to negative reviews, hop off and catch a showing of it. You won't be disappointed!

Great Giveaway from BB*Jayde Skincare!

I'm posting this giveaway on behalf of a friend at BB*Jayde Skincare on Etsy! She has an excellent giveaway going on her blog for the ever pricey and wonderful hydraluronic acid serum! She has all the details of it on her blog post which is linked at the bottom, but suffice it to say that this giveaway is totally worth entering!

http://bbjayde.blogspot.com/2010/03/huge-giveaway-140-value.html

Here is the item you're trying to win: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=41885260%C2%A0


Enter, enter, enter! It costs nothing to enter and you could win a wonderful skincare item from a sweet seller!

My Beautiful Necklace from Beegrl88!

About a week ago, I was notified by Steph at the OC Weekly blog that I won the giveaway for one of Etsian BeeGrl88's beautiful "Love in Bloom" necklaces! I chose the pink/red version and I received it yesterday; it's gorgeous and so well made. I will definitely be back to her shop to buy something in the future! I've provided a couple of pics and a link to her shop so you can check it out for yourself; it's not hard to find something to love!

Her cute packaging!




And how it looks when worn!





Here is her shop link:
Etsy Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/Beegrl88

Dessert Time! Chocolate Brownies!

I've had an obsession with brownies lately, I hadn't had them in a long time so now I've already made 2 batches lol. I barely got any out of the first one!
This is a super simple recipe, makes the brownies moist, not dry or chewy like some are.

You need...
1/2 cup butter or margarine -- softened
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups chocolate syrup
4 eggs
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

And the steps:
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 13x9x2-inch baking pan.
2. In large bowl, beat butter and sugar.
3. Add syrup, eggs and flour. Beat well.
4. Stir in chocolate chips.
5. Pour batter into prepared pan.
6. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from sides of
7. pan.
8. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars.


Enjoy!!

(Picture from apartmenttherapy.com)

New Treasury!//Tsunami Warning?

Today's post will be short since my thoughts are a bit scattered. I was just notified that I was featured in a treasury, here's the link if you have a second to click and comment: http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=116377

And here's the picture for when the link expires.





Lastly, I was shocked to hear about the earthquake in Chile, now I hear there's a tsunami warning in Hawaii and here in California. My thoughts are with those who were affected by the earthquake and I hope that all the Hawaiians and Californians stay safe.