Recycled Flowers

I've got a soft spot for recycled pretties, and today I found a beautiful assortment of flowers made from plastic bottles, plastic bags, and vintage neckties.


These Stemmed Bottle Blooms are made from discarded plastic bottles and individually hand painted. Available from BaublyBeth's Boutique. Pop a few in a vase or scatter them around your garden for a spot of bright color all year long.


Five vintage neckties gave up bits of themselves to create this large flower brooch. The perfect thing to brighten up your jacket, it would also be pretty pinned to a purse. Available from Sage and Daisy Apothecary.



These Everlasting Daisy Hair Pins are so retro and cool! I remember having some sort of loom to make something similar from raffia in the 70s. These are made from used plastic bags, so they're eco-friendly and eco-chic. Available from Strewth!

Blogging for Blood Cancer and a PRIZE!

The first annual “Blogging for Blood Cancer” event will take place from August 11-18, 2008. This first time event will bring bloggers from across the United States together to raise awareness for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and its mission to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease, and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families.

The event is being hosted by Goodies for Mom in conjunction with the Friends of Heroes (FOH) National Light The Night Team. They are asking bloggers to post on your blogs throughout the event about the importance of the LLS mission, share your personal stories of those you have come to know who have been affected by blood cancer, or share some of the stories you read here and on the FOH site during the week that have touched your hearts.

All bloggers participating will have the opportunity to be entered to win prizes donated by event sponsors by leaving a Mr. Linky link on the Goodies for Mom post for the event. The event post will go up there on August 11, 2008 at 8:00 am. Even if you do not have a blog, visitors to the Goodies for Mom and Friends of Heroes blogs during the week will have opportunities to win as you learn more about the importance of LLS’s research and patient services in the fight against blood cancer.

I'm donating a fused glass pendant for this event. I've got a couple of kiln loads of glass ready to fire, and should have a photo of the prize posted in the next few days.

36-inch Chains are Really Long!

I added a 36" sterling silver diamond-cut rope chain to my inventory today. This is the first chain I've sold that's a full yard long--and it's so cool I had to keep one for myself! You can wear it full length, or double it, or double it but sort of stagger the lengths so that it looks like you're wearing two chains of different lengths. This is such a versatile chain I plan to add longer chains in more styles soon. Click on over to my Etsy shop to get yours!

Two New Temari

I decided to follow the same pattern to make two temari balls in a row. It was faster for me because I didn't have to review the instructions so many times for the second one. It was also fun to pick out the colors for both balls together (although I could have fun picking out colors no matter what!). Want to know more? You can read my last post about making temari, and see all the temari I currently have for sale. Fall and winter are the prime temari shopping seasons, so you can expect to see new balls available soon!