One more week!!!

Can you believe another year is almost over!!  One more week and Christmas will be here....and gone again!  I remember when I was a little girl and it seemed like it took forever for Christmas to come each year.  Now as an adult...the older I get the quicker it seems to get here :-)

I guess, I am as ready as I will ever be for Christmas.  Earlier in the week, I spent some time decorating my house.  Nothing wild and crazy...just some garland and bows, Christmas towels in the bathroom and kitchen, and using the cards that family and friends have sent to decorate the mantle.  Just enough so that I started to 'feel' Christmas-y.  This year has been weird here, weather-wise, and it has not quite felt like Christmas.  Then last night, we went and got a Christmas tree (it must be 8' tall!!!) and I spent the morning decorating it.   So it is, at last, beginning to feel like Christmas finally!  I guess, sometime this week I will have to get motivated and wrap some gifts to put under the tree too!

And as I can't help but thinking of Christmas, when it is only a week away...here are some holiday finds from my fellow BESTeam members.

This adorable little vintage Santa from Redemption Art.  Such a cute Santa of Days Gone bye...yet in perfect shape! He measures approximately 4" tall. His arms open when you squeeze his back, so that he can be clipped on to your tree or gift or desk drawer or given as a gift, squeezing some "greens".

Vintage Clippie Santa

Gmaellen made this beautiful 3 inch satin ball ornament adorned with lace, flowers and ribbon. This beauty will last forever and will surely become a family heirloom!  This would look so beautiful on a Christmas tree!

Handmade Crochet Lace Flowers and Ribbon Christmas Ornament

And these very pretty rainbow colored wine charms from Absolutely Kismet.  These would bring some color and be ornaments for your holiday beverages :-)

Rainbow Wine Charms w/ Focal Beads - Set of 6

Merry Christmas to all!  And to all a Happy and Prosperous 2012!!!!

I feature an etsy shop weekly as part of my commitment to the BESTeam.  We are a group of etsy artists, vintage curators and crafters whose purpose is to support and promote each others etsy business via features and mentions on our personal blog sites and any on line communities where we are involved.

If you are an etsian and an avid blogger who is serious about your shops' visibility and success, I would like to invite you to click on the BESTeam logo above to learn more about our mission, purpose and requirements.  If the BESTeam appears to be an opportunity that fits for you, please contact us and a team administrator will get back to you promptly.

Colors! Colors!!

I love this time of the year for many reasons.  But one of my favorite things to do is drive around looking at all the colorful lights and decorations every where.  So many different ways that people decorate....some have all white lights; some have a 'color' theme; some a few 'choice' pieces and then there are the people that go all out and it looks like Christmas exploded all over their yard!

With that being said as I started researching for my BESTeam feature this week, I think I was still thinking about all the pretty colors and lights!

First up, is Empty On the Inside with this colorful String of Lights card, which of course, is 'empty on the inside', that reminds us all of years gone by, way before those tiny little Christmas tree lights we have now, when all we had was these strings of lights with big bulbs that came in red, blue, yellow, orange and green.  And although they may not have looked as refined as our Christmas lights are today...they made a very happy and colorful looking Christmas tree!

Christmas Lights, Blank Christmas Card, Colored Lights, String of Lights, Holiday

Next, the way the light catches in this Dragon's Tear Drop crystal from Poison Garden, caught my eye, as I imagined the way it would catch the lights from a Christmas tree or Christmas Light display.

Dragon's Tear Large Multicolored Glass Crystal Style Pendant or Suncatcher

Blue and White Wear has some amazing blue and white things, as well as some other surprisingly colorful items!  Four funky colorful discs are strung with silver toned spacers as a horizontal pendant. The colors caught the eye of the artist and creator behind Blue and White Wear in a market in Peru, so she bought them and came up with this great pendant!

Olive, Burnt Orange, Fuschia, Deep Blue Necklace

And lastly, Knitful Dezigns, has this adorable and colorful caterpillar!  Such a cute little stuffed toy and such happy colors, it will make kids of all ages smile!

Charlie the colorful caterpillar

I feature an etsy shop weekly as part of my commitment to the BESTeam.  We are a group of etsy artists, vintage curators and crafters whose purpose is to support and promote each others etsy business via features and mentions on our personal blog sites and any on line communities where we are involved.

If you are an etsian and an avid blogger who is serious about your shops' visibility and success, I would like to invite you to click on the BESTeam logo above to learn more about our mission, purpose and requirements.  If the BESTeam appears to be an opportunity that fits for you, please contact us and a team administrator will get back to you promptly.

Just In Time for Holiday Cheer!

Wow!  Time flies when we are having fun!  Life has been pretty busy this fall.  I took a little time off from my BESTeam features to try and catch up on 'life'....except I don't really think I got all that caught up...but was good to have some time off to enjoy this 'weird' fall season.  We have had crazy cold days....days that are unseasonably warm....and we had our first snow storm of the season....on Halloween!

But with all that, I am ready to jump into this year's holiday season!   So here are a few thing from some of our BESTeam  members that are perfect items to get into the holiday mood. 

 From Ourhometoyours and handmade by Debbi herself is this Santa Claus scarf and mitten set that is perfect to help little ones get into the Christmas spirit.

These festive holiday Christmas Fantasy Sterling Silver Earrings  are from cksilver and would be just the thing for a holiday outfit.

Or there are these Christmas Drop Earrings as well from Beader Bubbe.

Lastly, there is this Leather Journal.Leather Journal, Embossed Red, Hand-Bound 4.5 x 6 Journal by The Orange Windmill on Etsy ...in red of course...from The Orange Windmill. 

For all those in your life who each year make resolutions to start journaling each year....maybe this will be the year that it sticks.

All of these items are from fellow BESTeam members.

I feature an etsy shop weekly as part of my commitment to the BESTeam.  We are a group of etsy artists, vintage curators and crafters whose purpose is to support and promote each others etsy business via features and mentions on our personal blog sites and any on line communities where we are involved.

If you are an etsian and an avid blogger who is serious about your shops' visibility and success, I would like to invite you to click on the BESTeam logo above to learn more about our mission, purpose and requirements.  If the BESTeam appears to be an opportunity that fits for you, please contact us and a team administrator will get back to you promptly.

BESTeam Feature - BeaderBubbe

This week my BESTeam Feature is Beader Bubbe's Shop.  Agnes is a mother of five and grandmother of six.  She loves crafting and hopes to retire soon and start concentrating on jewelry making.

She loves to create using any medium - whether its crystal, paper beads, polymer clay, stamping...she tries it all. Much of her jewelry never gets to her Etsy store because it is snapped up by co-workers and family.

Her one wish is to have more time to create....

FREE RIBBON.....Rainbow Necklace

Butterfly Necklace

Evil Eye Bracelet

Hearts of Glass Pendant

Blue Trees Earrings

Stop by her blog at: http://www.beaderbubbe.blogspot.com 
"Like" her Facebook page...http://www.facebook.com/beaderbubbe.

I feature an etsy shop weekly as part of my commitment to the BESTeam.  We are a group of etsy artists, vintage curators and crafters whose purpose is to support and promote each others etsy business via features and mentions on our personal blog sites and any on line communities where we are involved.

If you are an etsian and an avid blogger who is serious about your shops' visibility and success, I would like to invite you to click on the BESTeam logo above to learn more about our mission, purpose and requirements.  If the BESTeam appears to be an opportunity that fits for you, please contact us and a team administrator will get back to you promptly.

BESTeam Feature - Our Home To Yours

This week my feature is on Our Home to Yours.  This shop is a "mother/daughter" team operation. They love to create things, and the shop is an outlet where they can make some money doing what they love best!

Debbi (the mom) is a "professional" mother. She has biological kids, foster kids, and a newly adopted kid. Art is her stress reliever and favorite hobby. Her mother was an exceptional artist and Debbi only hopes to be half as good as she was. She is thrilled and proud to be having this shop with her own artist daughter.

Amanda (the daughter) is a stay at home mom of a toddler and life is never dull. She has a Bachelors in Graphic Design and is currently in a Masters program. Fine Art is her background and hopefully she will be able to offer her drawings for sale along with her crafts one day.

Here are a few things that jumped out at me while browsing their shop...

This necklace may be called "Feeling Blue" but it makes me smile...my favorite color is blue and these blue daisy just look so happy!

Feeling blue flower necklace

 And being a knitter I can't help but notice fine handmade fiber items!  This Eternity Scarf looks so cozy and is just in time for the change of seasons!!

Crochet Skinny Eternity Scarf in Creamy Beige

Black teardrop earrings with white pearl accents

retro 70's mood beaded bracelet 

You can find out more about Our Home to Yours by following their blog at:  http://www.ourhometoyourscrafts.blogspot.com/

I feature an etsy shop weekly as part of my commitment to the BESTeam.  We are a group of etsy artists, vintage curators and crafters whose purpose is to support and promote each others etsy business via features and mentions on our personal blog sites and any on line communities where we are involved.

If you are an etsian and an avid blogger who is serious about your shops' visibility and success, I would like to invite you to click on the BESTeam logo above to learn more about our mission, purpose and requirements.  If the BESTeam appears to be an opportunity that fits for you, please contact us and a team administrator will get back to you promptly.

BESTeam Feature - KC Dragonfly

This weeks BESTeam Feature is on Kristine at KC Dragonfly.  A shop of handmade Goth & Cosplay accessories including Parasols, Jewelry, Beaded Memory Glass Bottles, Card deck and Gift Bags, Cell Phone Charms and Stockings.

The mission of Kristine and KC Dragonfly is to bring us quality, hand-crafted designs that romance the soul and inspire our individuality to take flight. She hopes you find that inspiration in the things that she creates. Images of dragonflies, the moon and water tell an ancient story inherent in our love for all creation…how it celebrates and nurtures us. 

Dragonflies never rest and are always darting about their environment as if in an eternal search for something. Kristine feels that she is the same way. Her crafting studio is crammed with books, beads, lace and fabrics. There is always a new parasol, jewelry or purse design to be found out there and she is on a never-ending quest to hone her skills 'til she finds it. She says she will know when she has that perfect design when we can't resist buying something from her shop.  She realizes that we can never reach perfection but she enjoys the process of trying and she just wants to have fun and make things that make people say, "Ooooo, that's pretty!"  And when that happens, she knows she has done her job.



Here are just a few things that made me say, "Oooo, that's pretty!" 

Cellphone Case Little Black Bag Dragonfly Cloisonne

Earth, Moon and Sky earrings

Golden Dragonfly Cell Phone Charm Jewelry

Electric Blue Card Deck, Dice and Gift Bag

Beaded Memory Bottle - Bottle Collar in Peacock Metallic Teal Iris

Check out KC Dragonfly for your self and you may find something to inspires you!

You can also check out Kristine's blog at http://kcdragonfly.blogspot.com/

I feature an etsy shop weekly as part of my commitment to the BESTeam.  We are a group of etsy artists, vintage curators and crafters whose purpose is to support and promote each others etsy business via features and mentions on our personal blog sites and any on line communities where we are involved.

If you are an etsian and an avid blogger who is serious about your shops' visibility and success, I would like to invite you to click on the BESTeam logo above to learn more about our mission, purpose and requirements.  If the BESTeam appears to be an opportunity that fits for you, please contact us and a team administrator will get back to you promptly.

BESTeam Feature - Gmaellen

This week I am featuring Gmaellen.  A cute little shop filled with wonderful crochet items!  Hello, and thank you for visiting my little shop, which is growing every day. So, come back often to see what's new.

 Ellen loves being crafty and creative and keeping busy outside of work.  She really enjoy creating things that are not only nice looking, but are functional.  She has tried and enjoyed many different types of crafts, but always stay with her old friend crochet!  Some of her fondest memories are of watching both of her grandmothers creating so many beautiful things when she was growing up. They both gave her so much inspiration.
 

She, like many other fiber-holics (including myself!) are fond of the expression 'So much yarn...so little time!' The possibilities are absolutely limitless!  And Ellen (and I) want to explore them all!

Here are some of the things that caught my eye while browsing through her shop....

As I have just become an aunt again to a little preemie baby boy....and another sister is about to have another baby boy....I couldn't help but notice this baby boy blanket!  As a knitter, I don't have the patience to make large projects like baby blankets...but if I was better at crochet, I hear it works up much faster and maybe my new little nephews would get a baby blanket :-)

 

Round Baby Blue Crochet Baby Afghan with White/confetti accents 

 

 

And I love hand made washcloths and market bags....

 

Tutti Frutti Cotton Crochet Dishcloths, set of 2, 7 x 9"

Natural Cotton Crochet Mesh Shopping Bag 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And there is still so much to see...

 

Handmade Crochet Powder Blue Shell Stitch Nesting Baskets, Set of 3

Glass Beads and Leaves Wine Charms, Set of Two

Crochet Lace Bookmark with Green Ribbon and Blue/Black Ribbon Rose

Such a great shop full of beautiful things!  To find out more about Ellen you can also check out her blog at http://gmaellenscraftycorner.wordpress.com/

I feature an etsy shop weekly as part of my commitment to the BESTeam.  We are a group of etsy artists, vintage curators and crafters whose purpose is to support and promote each others etsy business via features and mentions on our personal blog sites and any on line communities where we are involved.

If you are an etsian and an avid blogger who is serious about your shops' visibility and success, I would like to invite you to click on the BESTeam logo above to learn more about our mission, purpose and requirements.  If the BESTeam appears to be an opportunity that fits for you, please contact us and a team administrator will get back to you promptly.

BESTeam Feature - ck silver

About a year ago I featured this great shop, ck silver.  And I loved it then and now when I have come back to check it out...there are even more great things.  A talented mother and daughter team,Cindy and Marilyn, love creating classic pieces of jewelry that you will be proud to wear anytime and anywhere.  Both mother and daughter love creating from the beauty of nature and the amazing richness of God's creation all around us. Primarily focusing on colors found in earth and ocean.


As the days seem to cool off (I have actually had to put long pants and socks on!) I am naturally drawn towards the great fall colors in this shop.

Warm Brown Sand Sterling Silver Bracelet or Anklet

Autumn Winds Gemstone and Sterling Silver Earrings

Pink Fancy Jasper Sterling Silver Hoop Earrings

 I am sure there are still warm days to come and summer is not quite over so indulge yourself with some colorful creations from ck silver.

I love this pendant!!

Sweetheart Wire-Wrapped Sterling Silver Pendant

Pearl Wrap Sterling Silver Dangle Earrings

Sunrise on the Lake Turquoise and Pearl Sterling Silver Bracelet

You can also check out what is going on with Cindy and Marilyn by checking out their blog at:  http://cksilver1.blogspot.com/

I feature an etsy shop weekly as part of my commitment to the BESTeam.  We are a group of etsy artists, vintage curators and crafters whose purpose is to support and promote each others etsy business via features and mentions on our personal blog sites and any on line communities where we are involved.

If you are an etsian and an avid blogger who is serious about your shops' visibility and success, I would like to invite you to click on the BESTeam logo above to learn more about our mission, purpose and requirements.  If the BESTeam appears to be an opportunity that fits for you, please contact us and a team administrator will get back to you promptly.

BESTeam Feature - Release Me Creations

Another week of renovations and pet sitting craziness!!  Time flies when you are busy trying to stay out of the way of the contractor and all his noisy tools and keeping up with the many different dogs and cats and ponies (Oh my!) that I am looking after that another week has flown by.  Before I know August will be over and September will be here!

This week's BESTeam Feature shop is Release Me Creations.  A shop full of necklaces, rings, bracelets, cuffs, earrings, cuff links, tie tacks, money clips, and more all with a little bit of glamour, a little bit of funk, a tiny bit of cuteness, with a smattering of punk! 

Maureen is the creator behind Release Me Creations.  She was inspired to create during a tough time in her life, when her Dad was diagnosed with Stage IV Cancer.  Her crafting was a way to channel her energies in a positive way while staying with her parents during her father's last months of life.  Crafting became a distraction from life during this difficult time as well as a release.  Creating jewelry for her has become her meditation and her peace.  She puts so much of herself into each and every piece, that it creates an incredible release for her heart, mind, and soul. Thus, the birth of Release Me Creations.


Here are just a few things that caught my eye while checking out her shop....

Silver Guitar Charm Post Earrings Rock and Roll Style

Silver Cuff Bracelet Sky Blue Paper Airplane Whimsy

Tiny Hand Bound Book Pendant Necklace Vintage Almanac Pages Brass Heart Swarovski Crystal AB Pendant

Necklace Nautical Dive Helmet Brass Pendant Light Pink Rose Charm

Love Letter Necklace Fully Openable Pink Resin Rose Surprise Hidden Heart Inside

To find out more about Maureen and what she is up to:
Website:  www.releasemecreations.com
Blog:  http://releasemecreate.blogspot.com/
Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fort-Worth-TX/Release-Me-Creations/187693621254709
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/releasemecreate

I feature an etsy shop weekly as part of my commitment to the BESTeam.  We are a group of etsy artists, vintage curators and crafters whose purpose is to support and promote each others etsy business via features and mentions on our personal blog sites and any on line communities where we are involved.

If you are an etsian and an avid blogger who is serious about your shops' visibility and success, I would like to invite you to click on the BESTeam logo above to learn more about our mission, purpose and requirements.  If the BESTeam appears to be an opportunity that fits for you, please contact us and a team administrator will get back to you promptly.