Ritzee Rebel's Resin Jewelry & Felt Accessories!

My Own Take on the Galaxy Nails!

2011-12-07T14:38:00.001-08:00

Since joining Pinterest, I've come across all kinds of fun things to try out, from recipes to nail art. One that particularly caught my eye was "galaxy" type nails, where you give your nails an ombre effect, going from light to dark. I wanted to try it out and obviously I knew I wouldn't get it to look this good (picture courtesy of spoki.lv via beautylish, click on the picture to go to the site):

Obviously I'm by no means a nail art expert, I just like trying different looks. So I have quite a few choices to use for this look, didn't realize I had so many shades of blue!

And I decided on using NYC's "Skintight Denim Creme" as a base, quick splotches of Sinful Color's "Gorgeous" over that, OPI's "Happy Anniversary" fine glitter and Sinful Color's silver glitter followed by a topcoat. And for the white dots for "stars", I used Nailene's tip pen but you can use any white. I think if I did it again, I wouldn't do the white dots.

Here's NYC's Skintight Denim Creme (one of my favorite shades!) with Sinful Color's "Gorgeous" splotched over it. Some sites say to use a makeup sponge but I just barely had any color on the brush and dotted around in random places.

Then the final look with the colors I used:

And a daylight shot since I took the other pictures last night and the light wasn't the greatest!

So for a first try, I'm actually pretty happy with how it turned out, though as I said, I probably wouldn't do the white bits next time.

Just a PSA regarding the "Baby Polar Bear"

2011-11-19T22:05:00.000-08:00

I've seen this picture passed around the internet for quite some time now and it's quite popular on Pinterest at the moment:

People claim that it is a baby polar bear, however it isn't! It's actually a very detailed little handcrafted bear made by a seller on Etsy. Had I not been on Etsy, I probably wouldn't have known where the picture originated. But I think this seller needs more exposure, she's super talented and you can buy the pattern to make the bear from Tatiana's Etsy shop here:

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

And the direct link to the bear's pattern to see the listing in case she doesn't currently have it listed (she often sells out):

http://www.etsy.com/listing/52683885/miniature-bear-pattern-flocke-by-tatiana

You're welcome. ;)

Candy Button Resin Necklace Project!

2011-10-24T15:05:00.000-07:00

If you're a DIY-er like me, you're always seeing inspiration everywhere. I'm going as Katy Perry for Halloween this year, probably my most involved costume yet. I'm altering my costume (I got a white tutu and am putting sparkly dots on it) and making my jewelry. So if you want to make your own candy button jewelry too, here's how I did it!

Get your Candy Buttons (the kind on the white paper) and clean them up a bit, as they have a tendency to take some of the paper with them when you pop them off.
You'll want to seal the candies so they don't disintegrate in the resin and the color doesn't bleed. In an area with lots of ventilation, spray them with at least two coats of an acrylic spray, I used Krylon. Let dry between coats.

They'll move around a bit but make sure they're coated well!

Make sure they're completely dry, mix up your resin (I use Castin Craft's clear epoxy) and only fill your molds about 1/4 of the way full, just enough to cover the candies. Put your candies in the resin the way you want them. I wanted them to look just like the real thing so I went with the pink/yellow/blue situation. Let cure for as long as required, most require a day to cure.

Now for your final resin step, you can do this in many ways. You can use more clear resin in the last layer and put glitter in it, sprinkles, whatever you want! I used a resin type that cures white, just because I wanted it to look like the candies were on the white paper tape.
Additionally, I wanted some sparkle, so I used a glittery varnish over the piece.

And just because I wanted something fun on my own piece, I put little crystal hearts on the chain and made myself a ring too!

You can make these your own in so many ways, so as long as you have time (and the patience!), you can make tons of fun, unique pieces!

P.S., if you don't have the patience, I have one made up for you to buy in my Etsy shop!
http://www.etsy.com/listing/84580068/sweet-tooth-candi-button-resin-necklace

A DIY Vintage Inspired Necklace!

2011-10-13T16:14:00.000-07:00

I recently came across my grandma's old vintage rhinestone and crystal jewelry from the late 50's and 60's not long ago. I've been wearing the various necklaces a LOT and am now hunting for different colored pieces to complete my color spectrum. But what I really wanted was a piece with stones in different shapes, sizes and colors, which has proved nearly impossible to find anywhere online despite my constant search.

I considered making one and thought it would be impossible until I got myself into Michael's the other day and searched for supplies. I somehow found myself down the sticker aisle and found these great, vintage style stones, even in settings, in different shapes and colors! I then hustled back to the jewelry area and found clear rhinestone chain just like so many vintage pieces have, my only dilemma was how to attach said stones to the necklace.

Lo and behold, I found flatback head pins and figured I could glue the head pins to the stones then attach the stones to the necklace! Granted, this necklace is very lightweight in comparison to real vintage pieces but it serves my purpose and has gotten many compliments so far!

Below is a picture of the supplies I used, obviously not shown but needed are small pliers (I had two pairs of needle nose pliers, round pliers and cutters to cut the wire) and some super glue (I used Gorilla brand super glue). Next to that is the final product!

New Molds Can Be Hard to Get Used To!

2011-10-02T21:04:00.000-07:00

I've been taking LOTS of custom orders lately, hence my lack of blog post updates! I had quite a large order for 12 of my dress form necklaces, then another 12 after that. Normally that would have been no problem except BOTH of my lovely, high quality dental grade silicone dress form molds (made by my dad; thanks dad!) decided to basically crumble as I was pulling the pieces out of the molds. Any mold will break down after a certain amount of uses and unfortunately, these molds chose the middle of my large order to break.

Now as I mentioned, the dental-grade silicone my dad had made my molds with is VERY expensive and he ran out of it, so I decided to try out Castin Craft's Silicone Mold Putty. The directions seem simple but the working time is VERY short, about 5 minutes, if that, so if you don't get the putty mixed quickly and press your item in it, you end up with a dried up, rubbery ball. I managed to mess up the first two so again, my dad helped me with making the molds and I used up all the material but I got four molds out of it.

I have to say, I'm not TOO happy with this material, it may be okay for clay pieces but with my Castin Craft epoxy resin, it creates bubbles all over the piece even if you let the resin sit and de-gas itself for a few minutes before pouring it.

It looks like this, you mix the purple and white until the color is uniform.

I Googled for a good hour and didn't find a thing about how to get rid of the bubbles other than not using a wooden stir stick as it introduces moisture (didn't help) or to pop the bubbles with a pin (only helpful for a few bubbles, not hundreds as I had in every piece).
I finally found something somewhere that suggested using baby powder or talc and powder the mold to get rid of some of the moisture in the material. It helped to an extent but not a whole lot. I did have some bubbles but at least the pieces no longer looked like a freshly poured glass of Sprite.

Final piece:

If you have any ideas or know of anything that works for sure for keeping bubbles out of pieces made in the Castin Craft Silicone Putty molds, please feel free to comment!

Huge Supplies Contest at Julie's Bits Blog!

2011-08-19T22:58:00.001-07:00

Julie's Bits Blog has a huge contest going on until the end of August! She's giving away lots of great supplies such as what's shown in the picture below. Can't you just imagine all the fun things you can make with your winnings?

Photo above from Julie's Bits Blog

Here's the link to the contest, there are tons of easy ways to enter, good luck!!

http://juliesbits.blogspot.com/p/august-2011-huge-supplies-giveaway-over.html

Semi-Wordless Wednesday for my Artsy Friends!

2011-07-27T12:36:00.000-07:00

Sprinkles Galore

2011-07-23T15:18:00.000-07:00

Because I love all things sprinkled and delicious, I was taken by the blog theBERRY's post which includes 34 (!!!) pictures of sprinkle-y confections today.
Here's one of my favorites but let's not kid ourselves, I love so many of them it's hard to choose.
Click the picture below to be taken to the colorful, delectable post. Be prepared to crave something sweet afterwards!

Dancing Gummi Bears!

2011-06-30T20:56:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I find an adorable picture or something and want to post it somewhere. Way back when, I'd post it on Myspace (ah, memories) and my page was like a photo album of cute graphics. Nowadays, I don't have anywhere to post those things; facebook? No...especially since you can't see moving pictures and that's the whole point! I can't print them out...twitter? Nope.
Then I remember that I have a blog lol. So this is a really random post, but I wanted to share this adorable dancing gummi bear picture. I love all things candy and cute and this fits perfectly!

And the link for future reference:
http://picsauce.com/post/5946602506/gettin-jiggy-with-it

Loving Google's Logo Again. It's Murakami!

2011-06-21T12:11:00.000-07:00

I was introduced to Takashi Murakami's art because of the first Louis Vuitton collaboration in 2003 (the candy colored Multicolore line.) From there, I immediately liked the adorable Cherry Blossom line, Cerises (cherries), Panda and the elusive LV Hand logo that appeared on pieces exclusive to the MOCA exhibit in Los Angeles. So of course, I am loving the Google logo today, which features KaiKai and Kiki as well as lots of the adorable smiling flowers! Murakami does do more...shall we say...risque work (Hiropon is quite odd and makes me uncomfortable) and they have their own dedicated fans, as expected. But I'm into the adorable big-eyed characters like the ones on the logo today!

Here's the logo:

And to find out more information on Murakami, click the link below (site is available in English)!
http://www.kaikaikiki.co.jp/c-murakami

Skinny Cow Sweets...You'd Never Know They're Low Calorie!

2011-06-17T20:43:00.001-07:00

I cannot, for the life of me, give up sweets! I've tried and I just can't, I get irritable and annoyed. Peanut buttery chocolate candies are my absolute favorite; I found some peanut butter chocolate truffles at Costco awhile back that are so insanely delicious, it has taken me a lot of restraint not to finish the container already.
So rather than eliminate sweets altogether, I either eat a favorite, regular treat and just limit my portions (i.e. one cupcake for the day, then no other sweets), or I have something low calorie yet still yummy, like a Skinny Cow product!
I've tried quite a few of the varieties, I particularly like the Chocolate Truffle Bars or the Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream Sandwiches. And their new candy (Heavenly Crisps and Dreamy Clusters) is amazing as well. Basically, I haven't found a single treat that I don't like and I'm quite picky about how I want my sweets to taste (i.e., can't stand grocery store cupcakes around here, as the frosting is way too sweet.)

I think my only complaint, which I really had to think about for awhile because I couldn't come up with anything, is that the ice cream goodies are pricey. Around here, they're about $6 a box, so I try to get them when they're on sale, which is rare. But they're super yummy and taste like full-calorie treats!

Some of the ice cream treats:

And the new candies!:

The Most Amazing My Little Pony Cakes!

2011-06-11T23:07:00.000-07:00

When I need a laugh, I adore checking out the Cake Wrecks blog. With all the misspelled words (i.e. congradulations instead of congratulations) and just overall DUMB writing (i.e. actually writing "Happy Birthday with Sprinkles" on the cake rather than just writing Happy Birthday and putting actual sprinkles on the cake) it always makes me wonder if anyone proof reads anymore. Writing on a cake without checking what you're writing is like doing a crossword puzzle with a pen!
However, sometimes they take a break from the stupidity and showcase some absolutely amazing cakes. I'm always envious that people can do such amazing things with fondant and create such gorgeous cakes!
Recently, there was a post of some great 80's themed cakes and,because I love all things cute and still have a soft spot for MLP, my favorites by far were the My Little Pony cakes. I'm just in awe of these, especially the standing pony!

Cake below was created by: Courtney's Cakes

Cake below was created by: London Cake

To see these and other amazing cakes in the 80's theme, please see the Cake Wrecks website!: http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/2011/06/sunday-sweets-back-to-80s.html

New Banner and Logo provided by Onyx Design Factory!

2011-05-20T22:02:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share my brand new banner (seen on my blog and on my Etsy shop), done by Shannon at Onyx Design Factory/frecklefoxboutique! I love how it turned out, especially the little starbursts on the letters. And of course, it's pink, definitely perfect for me!
She's just getting her Onyx Design Factory site set up and will have lots more examples up soon. For your own graphic design needs, you can visit either one of her sites and get a price list as well. She's a sweetie to work with so don't hesitate to email her if you would like something for your own site!

Onyx Design Factory:
http://onyxdesignfactory.tumblr.com/

frecklefoxboutique (for her fun wine glasses, flip flops, ornaments and more!)
http://www.frecklefoxboutique.com/

Favorite Feel-Good Movies?

2011-04-30T23:47:00.001-07:00

There are some times when I'm feeling down or just blah and need a pick-me-up. I have a few favorite movies that I can just watch over and over again and will always feel better! A common theme I notice that I really seem to enjoy is when I can root for the underdog; I'm always happy when that person comes out on top over the rude jerks they encounter. Below are some of my favorite movies, what are some of yours? I'm always looking for suggestions!

-Legally Blonde 1 and 2- I enjoy the whole "Ha! You didn't believe in me but look what I did!" feeling of these movies. It may be a bit over-the-top and unbelivable but it's still fun to watch Elle (Reese Witherspoon) succeed. And the fashion and accessory lover in me is crazy about the fun things Elle wears in the movies. Both movies are just. So. Pink! Favorite item? That sparkly rainbow pastel scarf she wears in the second movie. I searched all over for a scarf like that, now I have one just like it and a bunch more in all colors!

-Mean Girls- Not to be confused with Mean Girls 2, which, in my opinion was a dud as this movie needed no sequel!
I really enjoyed Lindsay here, playing Cady Heron, before she went off the rails. After seeing this movie in the theater, I went crazy buying fun accessories in candy colors as well as the incredibly flattering Splendid brand thermals like Cady wore. Plus, the eye candy in the form of Aaron Samuels (Jonathan Bennett) doesn't hurt, either.
"Four for you, Glen Coco, you go, Glen Coco!" If you've seen the movie, you'll know that line...if not...watch the movie and you will!

-House Bunny- A fluffy movie about a girl named Shelly (Anna Faris) who gets kicked out of the Playboy Mansion for being too old. She just turned 27; which is apparently "59 in Bunny years." She has no experience in doing anything else so she ends up taking over as house mother for a dweeby sorority of unpopular girls. Of course, it's pretty predictable as she turns the sorority into one all the girls, even the popular ones, want to belong to.
I was never popular in high school so I appreciate the turn in this movie! Plus, Anna Faris and Emma Stone are too cute, as usual.

-The Wedding Singer- Aw, Robbie Hart (Adam Sandler.) Such a simple movie but so cute. You have to root for Robbie to win Julia's (Drew Barrymore) heart after she is set to marry that no-good cheater Glen. And who really wants to be Mrs. Julia Gulia anyway?

-13 Going on 30- Another movie where I died and went to heaven looking at the clothes and accessories! Plus, it's set in the 80's and, being a baby of the 80's, I obviously don't remember anything about them so it's fun being transported back to that decade. Another far-fetched idea to believe that Magic Wishing Dust could grant your wish, like what happens to Jenna (Jennifer Garner) but I think the whole do-over is so sweet. Plus, Matty (Marc Ruffalo) is adorable in this movie.
I rarely tear up at movies, but the end always gets me.

Katy Perry Concert? Okay!

2011-04-20T22:20:00.000-07:00

A friend has been wanting to go the Katy Perry concert, her sisters are going but when they offered her tickets awhile back, she didn't want to go. Well, she changed her mind and needed a companion, so I'll be going! I'm not a huge fan but I know it'll be fun seeing all of Katy's costume changes. All the crazy cute food clothing and accessories she has worn are things I'd love to wear but don't have the guts to do it!
The concert isn't until August but I know I'll have fun figuring out what to wear myself. I'll definitely be making some jewelry pieces, obviously something fun with sprinkles inside!
I was looking around on ebay for different ideas and came across this seller with this adorable costume! If I had the nerve and some money to blow, I would SO wear this because it's too cute.

If you want to purchase it yourself, just follow the link!
http://cgi.ebay.com/WOW-Katy-Perry-California-Gurls-Candy-Dress-Costume-/150593663922?pt=UK_Women_s_Dresses&hash=item231014f3b2

Google's Ice Cream Logo- Love!

2011-04-03T21:39:00.000-07:00

I love all things cute, so today's Google logo celebrating the 119th anniversary of the first documented ice cream sundae is right up there! Here's the logo and if you want to read more about the history of the ice cream sundae, just click it!

Santa Claw Update!

2011-02-14T15:22:00.001-08:00

I said I would update when I got my prize in the mail (see my previous blog post: Santa Claw, World's Largest Claw Machine) and as promised, I'm updating! I got the envelope decorated all nicely with fun stickers and a label advertising where it's from.
Here's the envelope:

And the yellow bouncy ball I grabbed out of the machine when I played! Of course, it was deflated so I had to blow it up; I can't wait to use it in the pool this Summer.

Here's the label that was on the package, along with the little certificate inside!

Some may not be so excited by this but I love my bouncy ball, I never win anything from claw machines, so this is my first win ever!

Pre-Valentine's Day Blog Hop!

2011-02-13T21:05:00.001-08:00

I just joined the Monday/Valentine's Day blog hop hosted by Tara at Give it to me Tara and Just Married with Coupons blogs! Click below to enter your blog in the blog hop!

Santa Claw, World's Largest Claw Machine!

2011-01-21T22:55:00.000-08:00

I like to think I'm ahead of things and find out about awesome new stuff before other people do. Apparently I dropped the ball on this one. No pun intended and you'll see why!

I was bored, surfing around some blog posts and I found this one from GemCityTiffany, which interested me greatly; a post about the WORLD'S largest claw machine!
Read her post for some great background info and pictures!:
http://gemcitytiffany.wordpress.com/2011/01/06/what-is-the-santa-claw/

So of course, I had to try it myself! The wait times are really long, each time I've been on, the wait time was about 6 or 7 hours, so I would sign on and go about my day. I played unsuccessfully twice, didn't even get close to grabbing anything, then I lost my turn a couple of times because I forgot about it and came back to the computer too late, oops.
So this afternoon I signed back on and just got to play a few minutes ago, let the live feed show (yes, you can watch people as they're playing, it's kind of addicting!) and looked around for which one I wanted to try to grab. Well, the weird thing is that the camera view you see while in line isn't the camera you see when you're playing; instead, you see a view straight down from the claw and another from the side of the machine. It's kind of hard to get your bearings the first couple of times.
But tonight, I centered the claw over one of the larger yellow balls, grabbed, the claw got it and...it got all the way to the area where it drops it down the chute and it bounced off the side and back into the machine. I thought for sure I lost yet again.
Then a video played and it gave me a congratulations message showing that I won!! I was so amazed that they counted that as a win!

Anyway, I will update with the prize that I get (probably a fun bouncy ball!), it should show up in about 2 or 3 weeks. You only get one prize no matter how many times you win and you can only receive your prize if you live within the U.S., but you can play as much as you want!

Go here to play and good luck!:
http://www.thesantaclaw.com/

Photo via thelaughingsquid:

Making of...JRandall Resin Necklaces!

2011-01-10T20:07:00.000-08:00

Being a JRandall fan, I wanted to make something for myself and other fans to help spread the word about JRan! Naturally, I figured a resin jewelry piece. I really need to get another mold because these take FOREVER as I only have one square mold and can only do one at a time. Once you see the steps, you'll see why this is frustrating. So, next step for me is to get another mold! The steps below can be used for any paper item you want to preserve in resin.

Step 1- Find pictures you want to preserve in resin. (Since these are printouts on computer paper, I gave them a little more thickness by gluing them to cardstock first.) Coat the pictures, back and front with at LEAST 2 coats of Modge Podge. I did the first two coats, then cut out the pictures, then did the backs and the edges.

Step 2- Mix your resin according to the instructions. I use epoxy resin, so I mix equal parts of resin and hardener. Fill mold just enough to hold the picture in, then place picture in and gently push down to force out any air bubbles. It looks goofy but I have the stir stick anchored to hold the picture down until the resin has thickened enough and I don't need to worry about air bubbles anymore (usually about 4 hours.)

Step 3- Wait...and wait...and wait until the resin cures. If it was mixed properly, you can usually feel that the piece is solid the next morning, but wait at least 24 hours to be sure that it really is cured.

Step 4- I wanted to use a solid colored back but didn't want to wait another 24 hours for the second layer, so I mixed my quick-cure Alumilite polyurethane resin (again, equal parts A and B), with a bit of shimmery white powdered color (I use powdered eyeshadow, works perfectly!) and quickly poured into the rest of the mold. This resin sets up FAST so you have to work FAST. The fun part of Alumilite is that it cures completely opaque and pastel colored depending on the powdered pigment you add to it.

In 10 minutes, the piece is ready to pop out! After that, I superglued a bail to the back and here is the finished piece!

Weekend Blog Hop!

2010-12-30T18:45:00.001-08:00

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!

2010-12-22T17:44:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-12-17T21:27:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-01T21:41:00.001-08:00

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!

2010-11-07T21:58:00.001-08:00

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...

2010-11-03T16:02:00.000-07:00

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?

2010-10-16T21:41:00.001-07:00

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!

2010-10-05T11:05:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-10-03T19:27:00.001-07:00

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!

2010-09-23T15:44:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-09-21T15:51:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-08-05T16:45:00.001-07:00

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!

2010-07-15T19:24:00.001-07:00

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!

2010-06-29T15:26:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-06-10T15:37:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-06-06T18:26:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-05-29T18:41:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-05-27T20:31:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-05-19T22:43:00.000-07:00

New Features! I'm on Cuteable!

2010-05-07T12:33:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-05-06T15:01:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-05-04T10:44:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-04-28T16:22:00.000-07:00

Etsy Treasury East...Interesting Concept

2010-04-21T21:52:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-13T12:57:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-04-08T18:04:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-04-05T11:05:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-04-03T17:29:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-03-31T22:51:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-03-26T19:38:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-23T10:13:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-03-21T12:05:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-03-18T12:09:00.000-07:00

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!)

2010-03-17T10:17:00.000-07:00

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.

2010-03-16T00:00:00.001-07:00

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!

2010-03-14T18:04:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-13T20:11:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-03-11T15:18:00.001-08:00

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!

2010-03-10T16:49:00.000-08:00

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

2010-03-08T14:08:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-03-05T16:44:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-03-03T16:31:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-03-02T13:56:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-02-28T18:47:00.000-08:00

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?

2010-02-27T14:49:00.001-08:00

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.

To Make More iPhone/iPod Cases...Or Not?

2010-02-25T16:53:00.000-08:00

I'm in a bit of a conundrum as to whether I should make these a part of my shop. I made one case as an experiment last night and just finished it a little while ago. I wanted it to fit around the clear plastic iPhone cases as well since I want to keep my phone covered but still keep the protective case on it too. Anyway, here are the pictures...any opinions would be great!

5 Treasuries Today/// Feature: teeheeproductions

2010-02-24T10:23:00.001-08:00

Imagine my surprise when I woke up after a rather bad morning, to find that I had been featured in 3 treasuries on Etsy!

teeheeproductions's Hearts and Hands United Green Treasury

LafesHiddenTreasures' Emerald Treasury

ConfectionsinGlass' "Simply" Treasury

And I also wanted to take this time to feature one of the lovely Etsians who included me in their treasury, teeheeproductions! She's a very gifted artist and has gorgeous items in her shop ranging from prints to notecards and will also do other custom items such as pet portraits or even paintings of your home. She's a sweetie and does amazing work. Here is an example of one of her lovely creations, just click on it and you'll be taken to her shop!

Update: I'm in 2 more treasuries tonight!

ShoshiPo's Hearts and Hands United treasury:

And HeatherSweet's Alice treasury!:

5 Minute Necklace Project

2010-02-23T15:40:00.000-08:00

I love browsing Michael's and other craft stores, getting ideas for things I'd like to do. I saw a lot of the beads and findings were on sale so I went through them, just KNOWING I'd find something. I dug out these cute sparrow spacers that I suppose are meant for using as dangles or in between beads. Looking at it further, I realized if I left them just as they were and added a clasp, I'd have a necklace!

Here were the materials I used:
Sparrow spacers
Spring Rings and Jump rings (came together in the blue package)
Pliers

I attached the clasp and tightened all the other rings on the sparrows...

and voila!

The necklace is about 20" so you can add rings to make it longer if you wish. They have quite a few other fun designs too, teapots and frames, though they're larger. There's a myriad of great necklaces to be made using the findings!

Monday Recipe- Strawberry Banana Bread

2010-02-22T12:38:00.000-08:00

We made this bread over the weekend and it was delicious. There are also some variations of the recipe where you can take a shortcut and buy pre-made strawberry muffin mix, but to me, it tastes better to use real strawberries, if possible. It's really easy and SO yummy, either for breakfast, a treat at night, or just anytime you want a snack!

1 c. fresh strawberries
1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 c. sweet butter
1/4 c. plus 2 tbsp. sugar
2 eggs
2 very ripe bananas, mashed

Toss strawberries with 2 tablespoons flour and set aside. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg in small bowl. Cream butter slowly adding sugar, beating at medium speed; add eggs, beating well. Add flour mixture and bananas. Mix until dry ingredients are moist. Gently fold in strawberries. Spoon batter into loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

{{Picture from the Culinary Infatuation blog}}

Latest, "Happy Weather" Pins//2 More Treasuries!

2010-02-21T14:00:00.001-08:00

I've really been feeling the creativity bug this weekend and have been coming up with lots of ideas for new things! It mostly happens in my twilight stage of sleep lol, so I have to remember the ideas in the morning.
I made these up last night and then had to get pictures taken quickly today since it has been raining on and off!

My "Happy Weather" pins, as always, click the picture to be taken to my Etsy listing!

And I'm featured in 2 more treasuries, TheEverydayDiva_Co's "Spring" treasury:

And WomanwithTools' "Sunset" treasury:

Catching Up On Suggestions...Squirrel and Leaf Pins

2010-02-20T20:13:00.001-08:00

I've been trying to catch up on the suggestions previously given to me here on my blog. I had a bit of extra time yesterday so I made 2 pins, a squirrel and a leaf. These are super cute and great for anyone who loves nature. Click the picture to be taken to the link!

Friend's Blog Giveaway & New Items

2010-02-18T10:45:00.000-08:00

First off, I want to promote a friend's giveaway for some of her adorable pinwheel business cards! She is giving away 10 of these, can't you just imagine setting up a table at a craft show and having these cute cards spinning in the breeze?

Click here to go to Jessica's blog and follow the super simple instructions to enter: http://craftyblabberings.blogspot.com/2010/02/pinwheel-business-cards-giveaway.html

Secondly, here are 2 new items of mine, I made a custom order for a friend yesterday, a pink elephant coin purse. Contact me if you'd like your own!:

And a dice pin, which is now available in my shop! Click the picture to be taken to the listing. ^ . ^

Rainbow & Clouds Card Holder// New Treasury!

2010-02-17T12:39:00.000-08:00

I've been wanting to make this one for awhile now, but I knew it was going to take some time (2.5 hours to be exact lol). So while watching American Idol last night, then The Good Wife, I worked on my rainbow and clouds coin purse/card holder! I LOVE how it turned out, it's probably my favorite one so far. Of course, it's the one that takes the most work haha. Anyway, I've listed it on Etsy already, click the picture to be taken to the listing.

And I woke up this morning to a convo on Etsy from a sweet friend who included me in their treasury!

Also just an update, I FINALLY got another "accepted" notification from Craftgawker, this time for my mini ice cream cones. Yay!
http://craftgawker.com/post/archive/ritzee-rebel/

New listing- Alice in Wonderland Hair Clips!// New Packaging!

2010-02-16T12:30:00.001-08:00

I've been working furiously on these hair clips all weekend, it took me long enough to even find the clips in the first place! I tried 3 different salons and they had NO idea what I was talking about, they guided me to the ones that were already bejeweled and fancy, not ones I could craft with. I finally found them at one salon and then eventually in Michael's with the quilting stuff. They call them "quilt clips." Um ok. That's a new one to me.

Anyway, without further ado, here's my newest listing for Alice's dress, the Mad Hatter's hat and a black bow hair clip. I modeled the bow in the listing so you can get an idea of the size. I'm so happy with how they turned out!

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=40839771

Not only that, but rounding out my extremely productive weekend, I made a flamingo pin since I sold one on Etsy, then decided to create some fun new packaging for my items. I previously just attached a little tag on the back of the item that had my site address on it, but now I came up with a card to attach the item to. Love!

Adding to this, my fishbowl pin was featured in a treasury!
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=87564

Great Giveaway from shijewels' Blog!

2010-02-15T20:45:00.000-08:00

I was made aware of a great giveaway for a beautiful labradorite necklace from ShiJewels! It's her first blog giveaway so check it out and enter to win her gorgeous necklace, good luck!!

http://shijewels.blogspot.com/2010/02/giveaway.html

{{Picture is courtesy of shijewels}}

Happy Valentine's Day!

2010-02-14T10:58:00.000-08:00

No long entry, just wanted to say...

Business cards from Moo.com!

2010-02-13T17:51:00.000-08:00

I've been mulling over getting business cards for a LONG time, since last year, sad to say. I had signed up for a bunch of sites and went as far as creating them, but never took the plunge and ordered them. I don't really know when I never ordered any but the other day I decided to MAKE myself order some. I used to just include a little tag on the back of my pins with my Etsy site name but this makes things look more "official." From reading the Etsy boards, it seemed that Moo.com's 50 free plus shipping promotion was a pretty good one, I can say I'm really happy with how they turned out!

Treasury Time/// New Listing on Etsy!

2010-02-12T17:39:00.001-08:00

I snagged a treasury last night and featured some of my friends from the Hearts and Hands United group. I named the treasury "Animal Instincts" because I found lots of nice animal-related items to include. Just click the picture to the left to enlarge it and take a gander at all the great items!

Secondly, I've been inspired by the upcoming Alice in Wonderland movie as many of us have! I decided to use a well known icon from the movie rather than using a picture or direct graphic in my work; that icon I used is the Mad Hatter's hat!

See the listing here for more info: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=40536876

Alexander McQueen, RIP

2010-02-11T15:30:00.000-08:00

Today's entry is short, I was shocked today to learn of the death of Alexander McQueen. His eclectic designs were amazing, even if many of them weren't something I personally would wear. You have to admire a person for having such artistic visions. So with a heavy heart I have to say, Rest in Peace, Alexander. The fashion world will never be the same without you.

I'm in 2 Treasuries!// KellySchwarkDesigns Feature

2010-02-10T10:23:00.000-08:00

I found out yesterday that I was in one treasury from a group I'm in on Etsy called "Will Craft for Food." Ksilo featured my pink frosted heart cookie pin and the whole thing looks great.

I also found out this morning that NancysBagsEtc included my tropical bird pins in her treasury called "Bright and Shiny." I was so excited when I found out, this is the first time I've been featured in 2 treasuries at once!

Second order of business, a very kind Etsian is donating all the proceeds from her shop to sponsor her cousin in the Go Distance walk. This info comes directly from her shop: "Funds raised by 2010 Go the Distance Participants will help fund the development of a new, free-standing Ronald McDonald House as well as a new in-patient unit or 'neighborhood' at Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital of Westchester Medical Center. Alone, the new neighborhood will enable the hospital to care for more than 400 additional children each year!"

If you need some beautiful invitations or announcements, please check out her shop and make a purchase from her!: http://www.etsy.com/shop/kellyschwarkdesigns

Valentine's Cupcakes from Sprinkles

2010-02-09T10:43:00.001-08:00

The marketing emails from Sprinkles just make me wish we had a Sprinkles here. My closest one is in Newport Beach, still pretty far to drive for a box of cupcakes! I just got an email that they have a Valentine's themed box of cupcakes. The flavors are red velvet, chocolate marshmallow (which I LOVE), dark chocolate and vanilla.
The last time I had Sprinkles was nearly 2 years ago when I was in LA, so sad lol.
If you love cupcakes like I do, this picture will tempt you like it did to me!

Here's the Sprinkles site so you can peruse the offerings. :-D
www.sprinkles.com

Bunny and Heart Felt Coin Purses & Link to Kim Smith Bracelet Giveaway

2010-02-08T14:31:00.000-08:00

Here are my newest listings, bunny and heart felt coin purses! You can use them as mini wallets or card holders as well so they're multi-use. I'm just getting started with these, I think I may end up doing more of these than pins, since pins haven't been selling that well.
I suppose I'm getting a late start for Valentine's Day and a REALLY early start for Easter lol but I like how they turned out anyway.

See the listings here:
Bunnies- http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=40309548

Heart- http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=40310179

Additionally, I found a giveaway on a blog I follow, she's giving away a beautiful Kim Smith bracelet of your choice:

http://melaniescrafts.blogspot.com/2010/02/kim-smith-charm-bracelet-giveaway.html

Visit and enter, good luck!!

Oh.My.Gosh. Chili's White Chocolate Molten Cake!

2010-02-06T17:40:00.001-08:00

We had some errands to run today and ended up at Chili's for lunch/dinner. After trying the new-ish mini chicken tacos which were great, we all split a White Chocolate Molten Cake. I wanted chocolate originally, but me being the only real chocolate lover, I lost lol. So we got the white chocolate but it was SO delicious! It's something like a butter bundt cake filled with white chocolate, topped with vanilla ice cream and a bit of white chocolate shell topping. And for decoration, there was a little strawberry sauce on the plate. I can't say enough about it other than that it was SO good and now I want to go back and try the chocolate lol. But beware, it's LARGE, so you'll need to share it with someone. We split ours between 3 people.

If you want to learn how to make something similar, there is a very close, pretty simple one here: http://www.recipelink.com/mf/14/33376

And to tempt you further, here's a pic of it that I found from restaurants.uptake.com!

Friday Listing- Tropical Birds!

2010-02-05T14:58:00.000-08:00

I just listed these bird pins on my Etsy site, there's a parrot, toucan and flamingo. I can make the parrot in other colors as well because I know there are other colors of parrots out there. I'm quite happy with how they turned out since I'm more used to making food pins!

See the listing here: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=40105601

Adorable Video- Orangutan and the Dog!

2010-02-04T11:27:00.000-08:00

One of my mom's friends emailed the link to this adorable video a few weeks ago and I swear, it is THE cutest thing. It's about an orangutan who "adopts" a stray dog. They're friends now and the orangutan even walks the dog on a leash and feeds him. If you need a smile today, watch this video!

Sunshine Award!

2010-02-03T10:37:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Nancy over at Lafe's Hidden Treasures and Julie at Sesenarts, I've been given the Sunshine Award!

The award tradition has the following for sharing it with others:

- Put the logo on your blog or within your post.
- Pass the award onto 12 bloggers.
- Link the nominees within your post.
- Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
- Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award

I've given the award to:

BB*Jayde/EveryDayDivaCo.- http://bbjayde.blogspot.com/

The Clack House- http://theclackhouse.blogspot.com/

CokiePoPaper- http://cokiepopaper.blogspot.com/

Country Windows- http://countrywindows.blogspot.com/

Go2Girl- http://go2girldesignsbykilarohner.blogspot.com/

MooreMagnets- http://mooremagnets.blogspot.com/

Ocean Kisses- http://oceankisses-gratitude.blogspot.com/

Petitfoureyes- http://petitfoureyes.blogspot.com/

Pretty Little World Fashion- http://prettylittleworldfashion.blogspot.com/

She's Batty Designs- http://shesbattydesigns.blogspot.com/

Sweets and Hearts- http://sweetsandhearts.blogspot.com/

TresBelleKnits- http://tresbelleknits.blogspot.com/

For the Ice Cream Lovers...Mini Ice Cream Cone Pins

2010-02-02T15:16:00.001-08:00

I've been dying to post these because I'm so happy with how they turned out. I actually wore them on my jacket today when I went out and got lots of compliments on them! They're 2 little ice cream cone pins and I can make them in lots of "flavors" if you have another you prefer. A "mint chip cone" (minty green with brown beads for chocolate chips) would be so cute too! If you love ice cream or just want to be reminded that you already HAVE ice cream so don't need to eat it, these are perfect for you! Just click the picture to be taken to their link on Etsy.

Monday, Monday: Feature- Lafe's Hidden Treasures!

2010-02-01T12:28:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone is having a good Monday so far!

I wanted to feature a blog today from a sweet friend, Nancy, over at Lafe's Hidden Treasures!

Today she posted a delicious recipe for Chicken Pot Pie which my family has tried and loves as well. It's super simple and you can really load it up with the good stuff, unlike those frozen pot pie dinners.
http://lafeshiddentreasures.blogspot.com/2010/02/easy-and-yummy-fried-chicken-pot-pie.html

While you're there, peruse her other posts, there's lots to see and read!

Additionally, she has a fun Etsy shop with lots of good stuff, I featured her "Butterflies in Flight" block in one of my treasuries (see previous post about the treasuries I made).
http://www.etsy.com/shop/lafeshiddentreasures

Sunday Feature- Etsian BeeGrl88

2010-01-31T16:58:00.000-08:00

I wanted to do another feature one a fellow Etsian, I need to do more of these and help promote people! Here is a pretty necklace from Beegrl88 and even better, a portion of the proceeds go to a charity called "Homeward Bound Pets."

Please visit her shop for more great items; she has some Amigurumi (crocheted items) and cute bottlecap and tile pendants as well! http://www.etsy.com/shop/Beegrl88

Also, here is a sneak preview of my newest pins, mini ice cream cones. I'll be listing them on Etsy this week.

Mini Petit Four and Bow Pins! Wahoo!

2010-01-29T13:18:00.000-08:00

I've been finished with these pins for a few days now but haven't been able to list them because of my whole computer issue. Anyway, I FINALLY got a chance to list them and take real pictures, not just ones with my phone, hehe.
Without further ado, here they are, my mini bow and petit four pins! You can click on the pictures to go directly to their listing on Etsy.

Oh my gosh, I won something!

2010-01-28T14:01:00.000-08:00

I'm like a lot of people and really NEVER win anything...then you hear about people who constantly win contests, lotteries, etc. and get envious, wondering how they get so lucky.
I think the last thing I won was a coloring contest when I was 7, I remember I won a $25 gift card to the now defunct Mervyn's store.
Anyway, I opened my front door today to see this envelope on the porch with Glamour's logo, obviously I was curious as to what was inside. I remember did a product trial not long ago and after doing the exit survey, was entered to win a $25 gift card to beauty.com/drugstore.com. And that was what was in the envelope!!

Now to figure out what I should buy with it...

Crickets Still No Computer//Etsy Feature: funnyfuser

2010-01-27T20:01:00.000-08:00

Well, I got my laptop part today, installed it and....while the screen is a tad brighter than it was, I'm about 99% sure that it's the backlight that's burnt out. So I can either replace the backlight and have to go through hours of work, or just replace the screen. Sigh. I suppose I can deal with this for a little while longer. Now where to scrounge up the $100-ish it's going to cost to get a new screen...

ANYway, enough about me, I wanted to feature another sweet Etsian, funnyfuser!
I especially LOVE this gorgeous pastel bracelet:

You can click the picture to see the item on her Etsy site, or here's the link to her store: http://www.etsy.com/shop/funnyfuser

Have a look at her shop and make a purchase or two! I just know you'll find something you love. :)

Mini Petit Four Pins Completed

2010-01-26T15:30:00.000-08:00

I've been working on these mini petit four pins for a bit now. I decided to make a couple of different colors and am happy with how they turned out! My regular computer still isn't back yet, so I am only able to take pictures on my phone, then email them to myself and upload them. So anyway, here are my newest, my 3 mini Petit Four pins! I won't be listing them on Etsy though until I can get my regular computer back and can take real pictures.

My first (and second) treasuries!

2010-01-25T21:04:00.000-08:00

I've been trying like crazy to create a treasury but am always too late. I finally was able to make one and I titled it, "Kawaii Means Cute!"
I featured a variety of my favorite items and my own Valentine's Day heart whale. Here is the link to my treasury and a screenshot is on the left of the screen for when it expires:

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=108280

And here is the second treasury I just snagged, I featured a lot of people whose blogs I follow, it's called "Inspired by Nature."

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=84668

Nooo...laptop is broken :(

2010-01-24T20:07:00.000-08:00

I was so looking forward to blogging and starting my week already by posting some new items on etsy and featuring a shop, but a wrench was thrown into my plans. Apparently, the inverter (the thing that illuminates the screen) went out on my laptop, so while the computer turns on, my screen is black.
So in the meantime I'm "borrowing" my mom's laptop, unfortunately, my online time is much more limited now. Just a little update, in the meantime I can hopefully make more of my petit four pins in more colors. But for now, here is a picture of the one I made last night!

Fun, Relaxing Weekend in Progress!

2010-01-23T20:17:00.000-08:00

This is my dad's and brother's birthday weekend, so I haven't been blogging as much. I finished my last custom order last night (see previous entry) so I'm going to start working on the ideas suggested to me by some of my followers! I think first will be some small petit-fours in a couple of different styles (see picture below), those should be cute. Then possibly some smaller bow pins. So many ideas, so little time! ^.^

Newest Custom Order- English Bulldog!

2010-01-23T00:49:00.000-08:00

Here's another of my newest custom orders, an English Bulldog! I was sent a picture, then sketched him out and worked from there. Without further ado, here he is!

If you'd like a custom order for one of your own pets, just let me know. I've never made any of the orders I've gotten in the past, so everything is new and I'm willing to try just about anything!

Yikes, Hail, Power Outages, Craziness! And Feature--- lterrill9!

2010-01-21T23:25:00.000-08:00

So I wanted to blog today about something interesting, but alas, the most interesting item of the day is the weather, yet again. It has rained all day and around 6pm, we had a power outage! Just as I was about to try to get into the Etsy Treasury West lol. Oh well, must not have been my time for it I guess.
Anyway, power is back now, but I don't have too much to blog about at the moment, except a request: to please check out a sweet Etsian's shop, lterrill9, and comment on the treasury she's featured in! She makes the nicest travertine tile (amazing, heavy stuff!) coasters with practically any design you could want on them. They'll make a great gift and are very nicely priced!

Here's her shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=8230298

And the treasury she's featured in (her item is the love coaster set shown above): http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=83914

New listing- Kitty Cat Pins!

2010-01-20T11:34:00.000-08:00

Hope all my fellow Californians are staying safe and dry in this crazy rainy weather!

I've been doing a LOT of custom orders lately so haven't been working on new designs. I love doing custom orders though, it makes me happy to know that people like my work. ^.^
Anyway, I got a custom order a couple of days ago for one cat pin and she ended up ordering two more, here is my listing where you can custom order your own kitty pin, just click on the picture or link below.

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=38931922

RAIN and a Yummy Cocoa Recipe!

2010-01-19T17:18:00.000-08:00

Tons and tons of rain today! We've been needing it here, now we're having a deluge! But what better time to catch up on indoor activities than when it's rainy? Too bad I had to go out in it today to get sandbags and do some other errands, I managed to hit the absolute rainiest parts of the day while I was out. But no matter, now I have a fire going, am under a snuggly blanket and am sketching out some new designs as suggested by some of my blog followers! I also made this delicious Peanut Butter Hot Chocolate, which is super easy and perfect for cold, rainy days. By chocolate syrup, they mean the Hershey's kind that you add to milk or can use as ice cream topping. And of course, you can omit the whipped cream because it does tend to cool the hot chocolate down pretty fast.

Peanut Butter Hot Chocolate

Ah, a recipe for the kid in all of us. A sweet and delicious way to have some peanut butter that won't stick to the roof of your mouth. This hot chocolate is quick too, because it uses syrup instead of melted chocolate.

8 oz milk
3 tsp chocolate syrup
1 tbs peanut butter, smooth
Whipped cream

Heat milk in a saucepan until hot through. Add chocolate syrup and mix well. Stir in peanut butter and stir until melted. Serve and top with whipped cream.

Recipe from: http://www.steaming-cup.com/peanut-butter-hot-chocolate

If you'd rather skip the work and make some instant cocoa, at least use milk if you are able, rather than water; it makes the cocoa so much creamier. :)

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Business cards from Moo.com!

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