I Won a Pair of Eyes!

After spending too many hours surrounded by mourning and too many days on the road, I was delighted to come home and find a package from Estonia waiting in my mailbox. There were two original oil ACEOs in the envelope, my prize from a giveaway I found at Heather Knitz. It was a standard giveaway, I had to check out the 5erg shop on etsy and comment about my favorite item there. I love Silja's art so much I had to shop! I can't show you what I purchased because they're gifts and I don't want to ruin the surprise, but I will say that her mixed media metallic greeting cards are amazing. I can't imagine not wanting to frame these! If you've got a minute, check out the 5erg blog. It's always interesting!

Road Trip (and a Driving Trip Too)

The snow has melted enough to drive now, but not enough to keep me from going airborne on my way to the mailbox. I grew up in Ohio with plenty of snow and ice, so you'd think I'd know how to walk on the stuff. The flying part was kind of fun, but landing was not. In a few hours I'm going to drag my bruised self into my car and drive to Ohio for a family funeral. I hope to beat the next big storm system and get back home before Monday. In the meantime I'm leaving Mr. LuckyGirl to ship out orders, and most everything else will have to be put on hold. I've got a ton of comments to catch up on, and I'll miss my Entrecard buddies! I'll do my best to get caught up next week.

A State of Emergency

While not exactly a blizzard, or even a severe winter storm for many parts of the county, this four or so inches of snow has put North Carolina into an official state of emergency. And while we have some snow-removal equipment, for the most part we just wait until the sun comes out and clears the roads naturally. So I'm stuck in the house until Thursday or so, with no way to ship the orders I have sitting here. The happy news is that I did get to watch the inauguration, and now maybe I can get a few odds and ends cleared up. Or maybe I'll launch a new project. Depending on how long it takes the sun to do its job, maybe I can do both.

I'm on Bloggy Giveaways Today!

Go check out Bloggy Giveaways! I'm giving away one of these gorgeous gold cross necklaces over there. I love the blue topaz and the tiny diamond chip accents on this piece, and wish my metal working skills were good enough to make something with this level of detail. In the meantime I'll have to settle for finding beauties like this to stock in my eBay store. If you love this piece as much as I do and don't want to take a chance on the giveaway, I've got a couple of these and you can get your own blue topaz gold cross here.

Pretty in 2009: My New Pillow

I want to show off one of the first things I've purchased as part of my theme for this year. After all those physical therapy appointments last year I knew I needed something to help support my neck. I'm the proud new owner of a pretty pink neck-support pillow. Although this U-shaped pillow was designed to make traveling more comfortable, it's the perfect thing for sitting on the sofa and even in my office chair. I got this pillow from Randumosity Designs, where you'll also find a variety of purses, eyeglass cases, and reusable sandwich bags and personal pads.

Make Something Mondays: Meatball Soup

It's January, it's cold, and we live in what must be the coldest house on the planet. It's perfect for making soup! This meatball soup is easy, filling, and yummy, so if you've never made soup before it's a good recipe to start with.

Ingredients
1 lb. extra lean ground beef
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/3 cup dried parsley
8 cups chicken broth
1 15-oz. can petite diced tomatoes
1 10-oz. package frozen chopped broccoli, thawed
1 8-oz. package ditalini or large orzo

Put chicken broth and diced tomatoes (with liquid) in a large soup pot and bring to a low boil. Mix ground beef, parmesan cheese, and parsley; shape into tiny meatballs (think canned spaghetti size meatballs).
Drop meatballs into simmering broth and cook for about 5 minutes. Stir in broccoli.
When soup has resumed boiling, add pasta. Simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring often, and add salt and pepper to taste.

Happiness reigns.

This post was inspired by Jolly Mom and Go Graham Go!, the ingenious moms behind Make Something Monday. We'd love for you to join us next Monday!

Help Me Decide How To Paint My Workshop

I finally have some good progress to report on my new workshop/studio space! We've got walls now, a big step from this past summer. There's another day or two of finishing work to do, and then I've got to buy paint.

I know I don't want plain white walls. Do I go bold and bright, maybe yellow and green? Do I try to be a little creative and add some stripes or splatters to a solid background? Sponge paint with lavender over purple? Large circles in primary colors? Stencil a few aliens and/or zombies on the walls? Suggestions are welcome. Please!

So many choices, so few walls.

Happy New Year Giveaway Winner

I'm excited to be able to announce the winner of my Happy New Year Giveaway: it's Diana D! I'll be sending you an email soon Diana D, but please feel free to look over my Etsy shop and pick out what you'd like.

I've got more terrific giveaways planned--many to be hosted on other sites--so check out the links to the right to subscribe to this blog and make sure you don't miss a single chance to win pretty sparkly things!

Make Something Mondays: Square Glass Donuts

I've been making donuts. They're not edible, and they're not round. But they are fun! I've been reading about jewelry trends and the continuing popularity of circle jewelry. I love the concept of the circle of life, but life is rarely smooth, balanced, and perfectly shaped. I've made these square donuts to reflect "real" life: a bit bumpy, with some thick spots, and a few corners to turn. And just like life, they're in a variety of colors and sizes.

I cut short pieces of glass, arranged them into the outline of a square, glued them at the edges, and fused them in my kiln. Some of the pieces include the ends of a sheet of glass which are usually wavy and a bit uneven. It's a great way to use up glass that isn't straight, and the finished pieces are lovely and unique.


This post was inspired by Jolly Mom and Go Graham Go!, the ingenious moms behind Make Something Monday. We'd love for you to join us next Monday!

One of Those Things You Didn't Know You Needed Until You Had One

Now that my family has opened all of their gifts I can share a couple of the cutest things I found for them. Does anyone really need a holder to carry around their lip balm? I didn't think so, but once I saw how much fun these are I think I may need a couple of them for myself!



We have a 13-year-old penguin lover, and this penguin lip balm holder was a perfect stocking stuffer for her! I got lucky and found a monkey lip balm holder for our 24-year-old monkey fan. These also work as holders for lighters and USB drives, and have key chains attached. Get yours from Mindy's Embroidery, where you'll find a huge selection of really cute embroidered things.

Happy New Year Giveaway!

Do you make New Year's resolutions? I used to, many years ago, until one year I realized that I was just setting myself up to fail. Judging from all the jokes about resolutions and long we can keep them up, I'm not in the minority on this one. Instead I like to come up with a theme for the year. One year was my year of taking risks, another was a year of creativity. There's no way to fail at a theme, and I've learned some very cool things this way.

As I was thinking over the different things I want to increase in my life, I realized that everyone around me has been encouraging me to put more attention on myself. Mr. LuckyGirl kindly calls me "frugal," but what he means is that I don't buy myself anything. Ever. I probably shouldn't tell on myself like this, but last June when I visited my daughter and new grandson, my daughter complained about my everyday shoes. They had a few tiny holes, and she thought I should replace them. She even phoned Mr. LuckyGirl and asked him to make me go shoe shopping. Here we are a good six months later, and I have not replaced those shoes. The holes are a bit bigger now, and they are not the least bit attractive.

So my theme for this year is Pretty. I will replace the shoes with pretty ones. (No real time limit here, I have 365 days, so I can't fail!) I'll make myself a few new pieces of jewelry. I may even do a bit of decorating. Or I may not. But whenever I'm stuck on making a decision, I'll ask whether a choice improves the prettiness factor around me, and if the answer's yes, then I have my decision.

I'd like to help you with your plans for 2009! The prize is $15 store credit toward anything in my Etsy shop. Take a look around Lucky Girl Trading on Etsy, then come back here and post a comment telling me which item will fit into your plans for the year. I'll accept entries until midnight (Eastern U.S. time) January 7. On January 8 I'll use the randomizer thingie to select a winner.

For an extra chance to win, post about this giveaway on your blog, including links to this post and my etsy shop, then come back here and post a second comment letting me know where to find your post.

Happy New Year!