My Sneaky Santa!

I've been receiving lots of awesome gifts in the mail from my sneaky santa and I finally figured out that it was all from the lovely Stock! She sent me a huge lot (over 1 pound!) of salvaged vintage earrings, facial scrubbies from LaRue Fashions, a fabulous bracelet/cuff that she made, and a sweet note on a card by HappyHoundCreative. I thought I'd share some photos of my awesome gifts with you guys!

Oh, the fun I will have with these babies!

Facial scrubbies, bracelet, and card! 

Coolest. bracelet. ever. 

I'm sending loads of love to Stock,
the greatest, sneakiest santa ever! 

I'm officially ready to play sneaky santa again. Is it Christmas 2011 yet? :)

- She

Handmade Gifts!

I've been trying to step out of my jewelry bubble for the past week and work on some fabric projects. I've seen several felt and fabric flower brooches and I thought they would make great gifts for my girlfriends! I've been using some beautiful fabric scraps that I purchased from Sandi at Sandi's Stash and vintage earrings that I received from my Sneaky Santa! Here are a few of the finished projects:

This one is for my best friend Chelsea.
Her sorority colors are purple and pink!

For my other friend Chelsea!

I'm not sure who this one is going to yet..
possibly my best friend Bryghte! 

For me! I pinned this little guy on my
favorite winter coat. 

Here's my flower pinned on my ever-so-linty
black pea coat!

As I said in a previous blog post, handmade gifts are perfect to give to those who mean a lot to you. Not only do they reflect the recipient's personal style, but the fact that you spend lots of time finding fabric, meticulously cutting out circles by hand, and stitching these babies up really shows how much you care.

Are any of you giving handmade gifts this year?

- She


P.S.
To whoever my Sneaky Santa is, thank you SO much for my gift. I have already used several pieces from it and have about 500 other ideas for it. You're the best!

FREE Gift Ideas!

I found these tips for positive thinking in one of my textbooks and I thought I'd share them with you guys! I hope you enjoy these and try to give some of these free gifts this holiday season. Don't let their price fool you, they're worth much more than any Christmas gift! :)

1. Give a smile to everyone you meet (smile with your eyes)-- and you'll smile and receive smiles

2. Give a kind word (with a kindly thought behind the word)-- you will be kind and receive kind words

3. Give appreciation (warmth from the heart)-- you will appreciate and be appreciated 

4. Give honor, credit, and applause (the victor's wreath)-- you will be honorable and receive credit and applause

5. Give time for a worthy cause (with eagerness)-- you will be worthy and richly rewarded 

6. Give hope (the magic ingredient for success)-- you will have hope and be made hopeful

7. Give happiness (a most treasured state of mind)-- you will be happy and be made happy

8. Give cheer (the verbal sunshine)-- you'll be cheerful and cheered

9. Give encouragement (the incentive to action)-- you will have courage and be encouraged 

10. Give a pleasant response (the neutralizer of irritants)-- you will be pleasant and receive pleasant responses

11. Give good thoughts (nature's character builder)-- you will be good and the world will have good thoughts for you

- She 

Positive thoughts found in:

Social Work with Groups: A Comprehensive Workbook, Seventh edition, Charles H. Zastrow. 

My Busy Mind.

I've got a problem. I generally have about 368 different craft ideas going through my head, but lately I've had at least 423. My latest craft endeavor? Felt flowers. I've been making these like nobody's business. Here's a little creation I made for myself. Maybe I'll make some to share with you guys on Etsy! (unless, of course, I move on to another idea..)

(Please excuse the terrible quality. I was too lazy to get my "real" camera
and used my phone.)

Does anyone else have creative ADD? Please tell me that I'm not alone in this! :)

- She

Christmas Favorites

Or ornaments, to be exact. 

My very favorite ornament. It's vintage, too!

Peace seems to be the theme of my tree..

Hoot! Hoot!
My mom got me this a few
weeks ago at K-Mart of all places.
How cute!

A glimpse of my fab tree skirt, which is
actually just a scrap of fabric!

These remind me of huge chandelier earrings.

I got a few of these at Hobby Lobby a few years ago.
I've got some in green, too!

I made the bottom ornament with
paper scraps and Mod Podge a few weeks
 ago. You can't see it well, but I also made
the huge bow!

This reminds me of a candy
cane with a modern twist!

Earth! It says "Peace" on it, too!

My cute penguin ornaments, tree skirt,
 and antique painted frame!

Who's ready for Christmas? I sure am! 

- She

Monday Treasury

My teardrop necklace been featured in this treasury created by BaghdadBum! Come check out all the other lovely featured items! Also, don't forget that you can save 20% on all of the items in my Etsy shop by simply entering GIVETHANKS20 in the coupon code box at checkout. Happy shopping!

'Something wonderful for your Monday.' by baghdadbum

NFL Bottlecap set-SHIPP... KompletelyKahn $22.50	Rose Patterned Jello Mo... NannysRose $10.00
Blue Christmas - chainm... DoBatsEatCats $15.00	Ice Blue - handmade nec... BlackSheepBead... $33.00
5x7 Photography-Heart S... CreationsAnew $15.00	Street Lamp A La Blue 8... ShoppeVonShult... $15.00
Handmade Silver Bracele... laruefashions $14.00	Teardrop necklace accordingtoshe $12.00
Light Blue and Silver L... JewelsbyTrish $34.00	Christmas gift tags, sn... chocolatedogst... $3.50
Decorative cheese box H... inspiredbymari... $30.00	Spinning Control Card a... yarn2spin $14.00
Kanzashi Fabric Flower ... HoldsIt $10.00	Continental Breakfast I... Culinarychiqco... $10.00
CHRISTMAS Decoupage Orn... twig2nestStudi... $10.00	TICKLE YOUR FANCY blank... PaintedMemorie... $3.00

Generated using Treasury HTML code generator by Whale Shark Websites.

Holiday BNR!

I just found myself in this BNR, or buy and replace treasury, created by BooBooZoo! Come check it out, buy some holiday goodies, and get yourself featured in the same BNR! What fun!

Sunday shopping BNR OPEN Something for everyone inside!' by BooBooZoo

Itty Bitty Cards - Chri... happyhoundcrea... $4.00	Snowflakes ponytail hol... CourageForKris... $2.50
Rudy the Reindeer BooBo... BooBooZoo $6.00	Custom Holiday Toilet P... SpunkyDiva $6.00
Merry Plaid-Filled Chri... bethmac2186 $4.00	Dark Red Glass Pearl Be... unicorn4960 $3.00
Felted Soap Holiday Cri... Engelfelt $8.50	Orange Swirl Fused Dich... IntoTheLight $8.00
Christmas light earring... accordingtoshe $7.00	Reindeer ornament/bottl... Corkycrafts $1.75
Christmas Kringle Kooki... MynskiandLibel... $14.95	Handspun Husker Pride C... javajesscroche... $7.00
Printable Handmade Than... TheArtOfJoy $6.00	Personalized PET Orname... littlechampart $5.50
Oatmeal Peppermint Body... kalmscents $5.00	Clip Play Earring - Lad... UUendyandFrien... $4.00

Generated using Treasury HTML code generator by Whale Shark Websites.