December brings festivities!

I am so excited about December this year...not that I'm any richer than last year (cuz I ain't) but I'm happy about Christmas movies (Elf, The Santa Clause, You've Got Mail...just to name a few), the holiday music (lots right here on my blog!), lights on my shrubs (getting ready to be lit tonight), a decorated Christmas tree (yup! it's all done!), our holiday parade (where my girls walk with the scouts, i'm not sure if the donkey is coming with us this year tho, lol), baking festive cupcakes with red and green sprinkles, hot chocolate, warm muffins, cozy blankets and the anticipation of Christmas "Eve" morning when we open gifts (that's when my kids open their gifts).

Right now I'm looking for fun small things to put in their stockings. I do this every year and it's so great! I used to put matchbox cars and tiny barbies in there, but now they're asking for other items (life saver mints and lip gloss) so it's going to be fun for me to go looking.

This week is very busy for me, not only with work but with festive things too. My dear friend Jenny is getting married this Saturday evening and it's going to be a reunion of sorts because many of our high school friends will be there. I'm excited! Then on Sunday my kids are in our church Christmas production (can't wait!) and then later that night we have a Red Neck Christmas party to attend. What does one wear to such an event? Well, I've been told that you can come pregnant while dressed up in a house coat or a mu-mu. lol (niiiice) I'll keep you posted.

Well I need to scat! I'll talk to you soon!

Love Is Now Earrings

I hope you're enjoying your Sunday!

At our church, today we celebrated the start of Advent (the preparation of the Second Coming of Christ). And Purple is the color to represent this event, as it was the most costly dye in ancient times and was therefore used by kings to indicate their royal status. Purple also signifies the repentance of God's people as they patiently await the arrival of their Lord. I wore a purple shirt and sweater today to honor this time. :) And so in honor of today, I'm putting up a pair of earrings that are perfect for this celebration.

We're going to decorate our tree today. Last night I put the glass Christmas ball ornaments on it but tonight we'll put the various other things that we've collected throughout the years. I'm thinking I'll make hot chocolate and maybe the girls and I can bake cookies or muffins and of course we'll be watching Elf, no better movie to watch this time of year. "The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear." :)

Jeff and Nathaniel have Youth Group so they won't be with us. I hate that they'll miss it but the girls and I will have a wonderful time together without them. ::giggles::

Click HERE to purchase Love Is Now earrings.

We can celebrate now!

Hello! It's officially Christmas on my blog! :)

Deanie has style.

How is everyone? I hope you're enjoying your Saturday. :) We're getting ready to decorate our tree this evening, but right now I'm mailing all the items that were purchased in the last few days.

Did anyone do the crazy morning shopping? I didn't. I've done it in the past and have found that I'm very tired when it's all over and I can't say that I came back with anything that was really spectacular. How about you? Anything good? Big screen television or a new toaster? (they were 3 bucks somewhere, lol)

On Wednesday Nadine came bounding out of the neighbor's house wearing the frilly knitted scarf and poncho that my mother made for me when I was her age. Nicole wears it too but Deanie's the one who found a new "style" for my poncho. The off-the-shoulder look. She cracked us up when we saw her so I quickly snapped her photo before she realized that I was giggling AT her and not WITH her. :) lol I think she's adorable actually and very chic.

I have work to do, so I better get at it. Talk to you later.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone

From our family to yours.... Happy Thanksgiving.

View your card. :)

Gift Certificates!

Here are my Holiday Gift Certificate cards. Now through November 30th, all gift certificates will come with Priority shipping. So whenever your loved one makes an order, their purchases will be shipped Priority mail at no additional cost. This way your Gift Amount will go further and will be a nice extra detail.

To purchase, click HERE.

New Earrings in the shoppe!

Good afternoon! I hope this day finds you cheery and bright! :) I'm working on getting some orders out the door, but thought I would show you some new things I added to the shop. Thank you so much for the wonderful comments, it always makes my day. If you send me notes, I might add them to my Customer Praises page in the shoppe, but you can always add your own note too. :)

All of these can be found in my Earrings section.

Thanksgivings Past

This Thanksgiving will be different than others we've had in the last seventeen years. We usually spend Thanksgiving with Jeff's family but this year his Mother will be coming to spend it with my family, and I'm looking forward to that. :)

With this change, it brought to mind a year some time ago when Jeff and I were alone in Washington, DC on Thanksgiving. We weren't going home that year because in Ministry you can't always get every holiday since you're spending it with your church family. Usually what happens is you take Christmas instead of Thanksgiving, which was what we did that year. So we were alone on this family-centered holiday. We didn't have kids. Just the two of us.

I wasn't cooking a turkey (I still, to this day, have never cooked a turkey... what about a chicken? does that count?) and Jeff hadn't realized his masterful skills in the kitchen so he wasn't cooking one either. That left one thing.

Chinese take-out.

You know, like on the movie, A Christmas Story where they all (after ruining their Christmas dinner) end up going to a Chinese restaurant for their big meal?

We decided to do something similar (only not)... there was a movie out that we wanted to see, not sure what, I have no idea (must not have been too great, huh?). We set off for the Chinese place, put in our order "to go" and I smuggled it into my big movie-purse-bag and headed for the theater. :) We got through "security" with no problems and patiently waited for the lights to dim before opening our square cardboard boxes with their wire-hinged lids so we could eat without incident. I brought forks and spoons from home. (smart huh!?) And napkins. We bought drinks from the concession stand at the theater so we weren't complete cheaters. ::wink wink::

I can't remember what we ate (lo mien, fried rice, stuff like that) but I do remember someone behind me whispering to their companion, "Do you smell Chinese food? I smell Chinese food!" Which made me giggle and want to turn around to offer them a bite, but I didn't.

It's one of the best memories I have of Thanksgiving with Jeff. I think because we had no worries of being anywhere on time, we just did our own thing. No kids. We were fancy and free (well, maybe not so fancy).

I can't say that I would like to do that every year, once was enough. I would rather enjoy sitting amongst my family members talking constantly about who-knows-what and eating good food. My brother, hubby and nephews all watching the game. The girls sitting at the dining room table having coffee. Stuff like that. This year we're making cookies (Lord help me. I am NOT a good baker. Wish me luck!) I'm looking forward to our day together. Whether you're enjoying food with family or alone having Chinese food, I hope you find joy in it.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

One more day!

Hello! Happy Thanksgiving Week! I am so glad that tomorrow is Tuesday. Do you know what that means for me? It means that it's the last day my kids will go to school before Thanksgiving break! :) I am always excited for them, knowing that it's very annoying to get up at 6:40 in the morning every. single. day. and be cheery about going to school. lol So, they're really looking forward to their break from work. :) Yay them!

I'll post more later but for now I'm working on this and that. :)

Deep In My Heart "Pop Up"

Hello Everyone! Happy Saturday!

First, I have to tell you that New Moon is completely awesome and I plan to see it at LEAST two more times in the theaters! :) It was far better than the first movie, but even a true fan loves that one (like me). I just have to say that I loved it and you have to go see it! Don't be a Debbie Downer and think that you're not someone who likes Vamps. Give me a break. Take a chance! You might just find out that it's the escape you needed from this ol' boring world of ours. lol I personally had no idea that I would be this school-girl-giddy over an actor (at my age), but here I am wearing the necklaces and t-shirts showing my love. :) lol My husband thinks I'm nuts. ::giggles:: Ooops. There I go again with the giggling. ::sigh:: It was just spectacular. I loved every minute. It was better than Cats.

I have work to do, and must get my day started (i know what you're thinking...it's only 8:30 on a saturday...yeah yeah duty calls) but I wanted to let you know that I put a Pop Up on my home page. :) It's a steal of a deal! Hope you love it!

Enjoy your day!

Tired. Scrooge. New Moon. Pop Ups!

Hello! Aren't you glad it's Friday?! Jeff said to me this morning just before we pulled ourselves from our warm waterbed, "wow. I'm running out of steam." I sure know what he's talking about too, because he's been up early every morning and going to bed fairly late (midnight or 1a), then to turn around and be at work at 8:30a. Thankfully his day is rather short, but with all the other things going on in our lives, it's just making us cranky and tired. So, I'm hoping that this weekend we can do some fun things amid all the chores, my work load, and other activities so we can have some time to ourselves. I'd like to get our tree up. Wish me luck on this. :) I have a great deal of work to complete before I can think about it, but Jeff said he'd do the major work and I could do the rest. (that means, he'll assemble the tree and then he'll watch the kids and me affix ornaments onto it, lol)

I have my radio set to Christmas music already. Is it too early? I don't think so. This season is so short, that I want to savor each minute of it. Moon was with me the other day and she said she's not ready for it yet. lol I told her she's a Scrooge and she replied with Bah Humbug. :) lol Funny girl.

Tonight I'm going with Moon and a bunch (!!!) of her friends to see New Moon (at 9:45p). I'm looking forward to it. My niece Ashley was bragging yesterday about how good it was. lol She got early tickets to see it on Wednesday, I need to ask her how she did that. She said it was fantastic and plans to see it again. :) The greatest thing is, that next Summer, Eclipse comes out and HELLO!!!! how awesome is that people!!!? I know right!? :)

It's been a mess around my house (literally and figuratively). Last week I made an error and sent a bracelet to someone who was supposed to get earrings and earrings to someone who was supposed to get a bracelet. ::sigh:: Yesterday I received someone elses beads and they received mine. lol So, it seems like a lot of us are busy and making little blunders. Please forgive us! :) I am checking and double-checking every package now just to be on the safe side.

I am doing some Pop Ups, which basically means that I'm picking things in my shop that are currently available to reduce for the Holiday Season. They'll "Pop Up" without notice and will be boxed and ship the same day they are purchased.

I started with my Winter Song bracelet and earrings. It's drastically reduced, perfect for a gift for a special someone who adores Boro. The lovely thing about these pieces is that they can go with anyones tastes since the neutral colors are so pleasing. :)

Check them out by clicking HERE.

Enjoy your day. I am waiting on my charm order to arrive so I can complete some orders that have been ready to go for weeks. Some of my favorite charms have been out of stock so I get to "wait wait wait", which I really dislike. lol I hope they come by Monday. Anyway, you all take care, I have a big day planned for myself (beads, beads, beads) and will catch up with you later. :) xoxo

Cookies again? Really? Yes really!

It's dreary here. Blech. I have a Girl Scouts meeting today so I actually have to go out IN this weather, which I'm not thrilled about since I detest driving in rainy weather. It's just gross. And wet. And people don't drive well in the rain. And it's wet.

If you're just joining me (are new to byLGD), I do our County's Cookies for the Girl Scouts Organization and it's a slightly big job. No where near as big as managing other countys, because our's is smaller with about 35 troops total. My neighboring county has more than double so I'm glad I don't live there. lol The campaign runs from January to mid-March and we begin preparing for the entire thing in November (as in now). Can you believe that we're nearing cookie season again? Ugh! I'm surprised too since I felt like I just did cookies yesterday. ha. I'm hoping it will be a wonderful selling season for our county. So, today I'm going to go see the new things and enjoy some friends and food. Oh and I get a sweatshirt! How awesome is that? Small perks, gotta love it.

Several of you asked for some gemstone bracelets in the red and green style for gifts. I'll see what I can do. I know you want them for Thanksgiving since you are celebrating your Christmas... I will do my best! And yes yes, I know that you want earrings that aren't cream. lol Sorry! I was trying to create things that go with anything and use colors that everyone enjoys. Your emails cracked me up! I have a new batch of beads that are red and blue, but with a gorgeous twist to them. I'll do my best, like I said. :)

You all have a great day, enjoy the rain. Boo hiss. Talk to you later!

Happy Tuesday!

Hello! Happy Tuesday!

It's somewhat chilly here today and it looks like our string of "fun November" weather is on its way out. Secretly, I'm thrilled because it means that I can get in the Christmas mood. Not everyone is happy about the Holiday Season but I am. It's just a festive time of year, and I love all the hustle and bustle (as long as I'm not in the middle of it!).

Thank you to all who came to check out the Thanksgiving Specials, there's only a few things left if you want something fun for your Feasting Day. :) Everything is ready-to-ship so take a look.

My Holiday Open House is just around the corner and I'll have bunches and bunches of fun things. As you know, from previous years (this is my 8th Holiday Open House!) I always put up a lot of "gift-giving-priced" items. Many will be easy bracelets in the 50 to 75 dollar range and I'll have many earrings at the 25 dollar amount. So come early and take a look. And, thanks for all the wonderful comments about the check-out cart on my site. It was the best decision I have ever made, going to that method of operation. I love how easy it is to manage.

My last batch of orders is going out today and tomorrow. I'm so happy! If you're in the last batch, don't worry, it was because I ran out of packing materials! I have never had that happen before and I had to go to my local shop and get some. ::sigh:: Paying 65 cents for a mailer isn't thrilling (per piece). Normally I order them online and get them at a reduced wholesale rate. Anyway, I don't want to bore you with that...

You all have a wonderful day! :) I'll catch up with you later!

Thanksgiving Specials Sale!

At 7p I'll put up my Thanksgiving Specials! :) That's in less than 10 minutes! :)


GO HERE!!

Stupid Animals.

Why do I have animals? I keep asking myself. Really. And it has nothing to do with the Little Dogs either, it has to do with Jeff's dog, Sallie. She's a wonderful dog (for the most part) but she likes to chew on odd things (ie: pencils, eats crayons, tubes of lipstick, containers of lip gloss, plastic cups). Who eats this stuff? We've actually known for a long time that this was her drug of choice, especially crayons, because we would find the "evidence" in the yard. ::wink wink:: I've complained about it for a long time too, but I have to admit she is a sweet dog so I try to overlook her flaws.

This morning I went down to my studio room, which is across from the girls room. It was early. And the girls are sleeping. I look in and see Sallie covered (and I do mean covered) in red lipstick. Red. Lipstick. Her nose, her paws. Covered. Aside from the fact that she looks ridiculous, the girls carpet, which my mother JUST cleaned and looked wonderful, now has red lipstick on it. A large spot. Large. Like the size of my butt, large. I'm furious. I wasn't even going to mention it but it has me so livid, that I need to tell someone. That's you.

Jeff just said, "I guess I could find her a new home". Um. No. That is not an option. People who do that sort of thing upset me. It's like turning your child over to an adoption agency and saying, "I don't want you anymore". So that option isn't an option. She is our responsibility and she'll die with us, whether she does it on her own due to old age or we kill her during one of her eating sprees. Nah. I'm kidding about that last bit, right? lol Anyway, I just don't agree with finding her a new home. This is her home. Whether we like it or not, we picked her and we have to take all of her. She is after all, kind to everyone.

So, does anyone know what can get Lancome Red Lipstick out of white carpet? Help if you can.

Miserable in Kentucky,

Yay for less stress!

Phew. I have a few more to do. I cannot, absolutely cannot believe it. I feel good. The wind is at my back and everything that I've been stressing over is nearly over.

Jeff's new job begins on Monday. Yay! Our lives will change (quite a bit) because his new schedule will have us turning into morning people...to say the least. He asked me several months back about whether I thought it would be okay if he applied for a job as a bus driver for our county. Of course it's alright! I was thrilled. It meant that he would be close by, working here in Woodford County, and he could continue being Youth Pastor at our church. What better opportunity could there be? I know. Awesomeness. (that's a word.) The job is low-stress, minding that you don't have to contend with bratty teenagers but in my fifteen years of being married to this man, I know without a doubt that he'll have absolutely NO problem dealing with those creatures. ::snort:: I'm super excited!

Well, I thought I would surprise everyone with some new things before the Thanksgiving Specials but it doesn't look like that's going to happen. I got so engrossed in finishing orders, that I didn't have time to upload any photos. Sorry. It will just make you excited for Monday night @7p. Be there or be square! :) Look for the link "Thanksgiving Fun" in my categories section of the Shoppe's site.

Alrighty you! Have a great weekend. We have a fun day planned for tomorrow. We're headed to see Scrooge (in 3D) with some friends. I'm not entirely thrilled because I'll need to wear either my contacts or "enjoy" wearing two sets of glasses to see the screen. Ahhhh, the fun of poor eye sight! lol Contacts it is, I spose. Anyway, everyone's looking forward to the day. Me too!

Have a lovely evening. :)

just a note...

I've started this blog post three times. I just can't seem to write what I need to just now. My mind is spinning with a new idea and yet I haven't even created it yet...it is however, built in my mind.

I want to tell you the name. But I can't. You'll have to wait.

I'll talk to you soon. :)

New things...

Good Evening! Just wanted to let you know that my Circle of Life earrings are back in stock along with a new style that's slightly similar but different! :) To purchase, go HERE.


And here's one that I meant to post some time back... I can only duplicate this one time. To view more photos of this SET, go HERE.

I hope your evening is going well, we're late with dinner and Jeff is making breakfast food. My kids are thrilled! lol Talk to you tomorrow!

Old is New.

Hello!

I snagged one of these vintage circa 1923 Aqua glass Ball jars from Etsy, complete with vintage lid and all. It's beautiful. I'm on a mission to find more of them at yard and rummage sales later this Spring. I have a plan for them. They're fairly pricey so finding one at a decent price is tricky. Mine was about 8 dollars with free shipping, so that's not bad, but some of them can be super expensive (like 20 bucks each. um? no.) I'm all for the whole vintage-costs-more thing but I also like a bargain. When it came in the mail the family looked at me like, "seriously Mom? a old jar?" lol And I told them to mind their own business, that not everything that's wonderful is brand new and shiny. :) Some things are beautiful because of their age. Appropriately enough, the aqua glass jar arrived on my birthday. ::wink wink::

Isn't this little Gnome cute? It reminds me of the Amazing Race Travelocity Gnome, doesn't it? :) (we're Amazing Race fans here) These little glass terrariums are easy to make, and the girls want one in their room. So cute!

In other news... I'm home today...

Thank YOU all so much for the wonderful, wonderful comments about my work. Everyone's packages are arriving now, and thankfully my overseas customers are finally getting theirs too. If you haven't gotten your box yet, it's coming! I finished twelve yesterday and off they went. Today's batch will be about sixteen, possibly twenty, it just depends on how much I can accomplish without my phone ringing. lol Lots of calls came into my house yesterday. Jeff will handle them today, he's working from home today and hopefully he'll work on the laundry. ::sigh:: It's always looming. Boo hiss.

Enjoy your day! :)

Everyone Waits.

Moon took this photo of me and did a Vintage coloring to it. She knows how much I adore Vintage. My next family photo will be done in this style. It's not too bright, not black and white, not sepia, just somewhere in the middle...slightly softer, I just love it. We're still waiting on the rest of our photos from the shoot. Argh! The waiting is killing us! lol It's worth it though so no complaining from me. I know how long it takes to edit photos. A long time!

My silver order arrives tomorrow. I cannot wait. It's like waiting for Christmas morning and none of the silver is for me, but I don't care... I just love unwrapping it and touching it and seeing all the shiny-ness and how wonderful it will make you when combined with other wonderful things. :) So I wait. And wait.

In the meantime, I'm working on the very very last of the orders. It will be so nice for everyone to have all their things. My mind aches for a clean slate, with nothing swimming in my head, no loose ends to finish up. My overseas orders have taken extremely long to arrive and my post office assures me that they will get there just fine but that they're very behind at the moment. My part-time mailman (the fella who takes over when our regular mailman is off), said that they are down several mailmen. I asked why he was so late (it was almost dark when he got here!) and he said that he hoped to finish the route before the sun went down. Ugh! So I know they're working as best they can.

I guess everyone is doing the waiting game at the moment.

I'm off. I have so much to do! And I just can't chat! Enjoy the beautiful weather and I'll yack atcha later!!!

Happy Sunday.

Natalie. :) She's so pretty.


I love this face.

A sneak peek. Holiday News.

At our Sunday photo shoot with Moon, my folks had their pictures taken, the first for them in many years. We almost didn't do this event because it was very sunny, but in the end, it worked out well and although we have a few more sun rays than Moon would have liked... I love what I've seen so far.

Didn't this come out nicely? I think so too. :) And here's one of my Mom. I think this is fantastic! Her best color is Royal Blue. Love it!

There's more to come but I'll have to wait until next week to show you. Moon hasn't posted them yet. :)

In other news... I changed my Holiday Open House to December 14th @ 7p because of recent emails, asking me to. People are busy with events that weekend and you know what, I am too! I didn't realize it so I felt that Monday night would be a better time. I hope that works out for everyone. All of the bracelets will be pre-sized to an "average" length. If your wrist is larger or smaller, I will resize them but the time for that will be an additional 5 days. I won't be taking any orders on any of the Holiday items until AFTER Christmas. Well, let me back up... I will take orders on them, but I will not be working on them until AFTER Christmas. Make sense? My last several holidays with my family have been filled with stress and I just decided that this year I'd spend it with those I love and take some time off. I will resume work on January 7th.

However, that's not to say I won't be in my studio all that time. For me, I think that's virtually impossible since I adore working with beads and glass. So, if I post a "spontaneous special" it will be ready-to-ship that day. I'll make sure that if I post a special it will be in the morning so that it can be mailed off on the same day.

Okay my peeps! I hope you have a wonderful Saturday! My little girls are off to their BFF's house so I can get ready for our Boyd Orchard's event tonight with the Girl Scouts, Natalie is on her own Girl Scout two-day camping trip (she left last night at 5p) and Nathaniel is spending the night with his friends. lol So that's it! :) Happy Weekend everyone!

Happy Friday!

The Mums in my yard.


The pumpkins at our local orchard.

Happy Friday!

Working.

Hi. I'm working. I'm here and will be working until about 11p. So if you have questions, just email me. :)

Also, I won't have anything new for a little while. I have so much work to do (thank you so much!!! Yay!!!), that I want to finish this stuff up first. I have some things I made a few weeks ago but I'm going to save them for the Thanksgiving Day Specials. There's not much, just some fun things you might like for gifts. The Christmas Open House will be as big as I can make it. :) I'll do my best, promise. However, if there are things I can take orders on I will... but after the Sale I will not be working until the second week in January.

Talk to you later! :)