After the Hiatus....Truffles and Angels...

After a long haitus, I finally started crafting again. I've been so busy with our move that everything else has taken a back seat. Now, that things are fairly in order at our home, I can start thinking about crafting again.

My sister and I recently signed up for a Christmas bazaar and I've been consumed by thoughts of what to sell... I have two things in mind. First, I plan to sell my homemade chocolate truffles & fudge

I have 3 flavors so far...the classic truffles

Peanut butter Truffles 

and Oreo Cheesecake Truffles

I want to add more flavors but, these are my main or regular flavors. I'm thinking of adding coconut truffles, hazelnut or almond truffles, caramel truffles, liquor truffles....the list goes on....

I need to work on the packaging still. I have yet to design a logo and name for them so I can start making the calling cards and stickers. I plan to package them in the tins cans as pictured for the 24 and 30 piece packages and include a pretty ribbon too. 

Oh what do you think of the name...Truffles from Heaven???

Second idea....Beaded Angels!

I'm still working on the final design....but here are some ideas that I've been playing around with.

Here they are:

Earthly Jewels' Guardian Angles 

The Wire Angel

Here she is with her wings all spread out

After taking the picture, I just realized she needed praying hands...so I tweaked the design a bit, took one of the wing wires on each side and twisted it into hands that are praying...

The Beaded Angel

Still working on this one too. Perhaps make the wings a bit bigger and more ornate? I really wasn't so sure about the halo as well???

I want to sell both the chocolates and the angels...but I wonder if I can still create a booth that looks cohesive.  I also wonder if I can somehow get them "blessed". Do the churches accept requests for blessings with holy water and a prayer...anybody know?

At any rate, I only have a couple of weeks to whip out more of these beauties. Today, I'm off to find some more suitable materials....

When I Need a Dose of Cute and Crafty...

I have been neglecting my blog lately...only because I've been so busy lately from packing, to moving, to going on a trip then coming home to a house full of unpacked boxes. It's been weeks since I've crafted so the feeling of withdrawl is starting to sink in.

Of course on days that I need that craft jolt, I always turn to the internet and visit one of my favorite blogs....and I decided for this feature Friday, I wanted to share it with you...

Here is:

Paper-and-String

Paper-and-String is an online shop that offers many cute creations made of felt, as well as, wonderful crafty supplies and ready to make kits. It is run by the wonderful, Ms. Sarah who lives in the seaside town, Worthing, United Kingdom.

Ms. Sarah  personally designs everything and creates each of her wonderful products using only wool felt. She uses a lot of ribbon, brads, buttons and beads for embellishments.

You can find a lot of goodies on her website. From home wares & storage

Giant Pin Cushions

Felt Boxes

To crafty embellishments

Mini Felt Cupcake Embellishment

To sweet softie friends

Walter, Little Scarf Monkey

Penguin Decoration

To Christmas decors

Scallop Fir Tree

Reindeer Christmas Decoration

A wonderful range of craftty supplies

Small 4 in Felt Rainbows

Box Full of Ribbons

And ready to make kits

Make Your Own Cupcakes

To so much more!

She has several online shops you can visit:
Paper-and-String Website - http://www.paper-and-string.co.uk
Etsy shop - http://paperandstring.etsy.com/
Folksy shop - http://www.folksy.com/users/paperandstring
Wholesale shop - http://www.paper-and-stringwholesale.co.uk/
Ebay shop - http://stores.ebay.co.uk/paper-and-string/

I encourage you to browse through her products, I'm sure you'll find something you will absolutely love!

And last but not least, I'd like to mention her blog - http://paper-and-string.blogspot.com/. It is a very lovely & inspiring blog that I love to visit. She was the one that inspired me to create my own blog. Don't forget to be a follower too because every first Thursday of the month, she has a freebie! Oh and what generously lovely giveaways she has!!!

So, whenever I need my dose of  cute & crafty, I drop by and see what's new at paper-and-string!

Happy Feature Friday!

Away on Vacay

Sorry I won't be able to post a feature Friday this week. My hubby and I are on vacation at the moment...we are in Vietnam. Just stopping in to let my readers know that I won't be posting tomorrow. I'll make it up when I get back with all the exciting stuff happening here...

For now, I wanted to show you these really great wooden dragonflies that can balance on your finger (or any other surface)...wonderful colors!

Happy Friday!

What Better Inspiration?

Here's a little fact about me...I am a notebook buyer! I have many many notebooks in my apartment. Some of them empty, some of them half filled and others even, full! I love buying any notebooks and better yet pretty and interesting journals.

Ever since I was young, I loved to keep diaries. I would write in it everyday, every little detail of my life. Sometimes, I write about my secret crush other times, I get inspired to write poetry or do a little drawing or insert a special keepsake. I used lined notebooks and sometimes those diaries with cute little locks. Nowadays, I still do enjoy writing...its so easy to write a thought or two online (in my blog) but other times  I still love the traditional way of pen and paper.

This week's feature Friday is about journals. I found a wonderful Etsy artist that creates the prettiest journals. So, come and take a look at our guest artist this Friday :

Here is

Kreativlink

Fairy Tree - Notebook, Journal, Diary

The wonderful journals of Kreativlink are created by Renate Ikinger. She was born, raised and is  currently living in Austria. She initially started working as a self employed web designer/programmer but dropped most of the virtual work to become a full time crafter! 

Golden Leaves - Leather Journal, Notebook, Diary

Renate talks about her creative process in her etsy profile...

"I often think about times long gone. When life was full of secrets and mysteries and magic. And I imagine the people, what they did and what they thought about life. And then – now I reveal a big secret – I make books for them. Yep. Now it’s said. My ancient books are for the ancient people. But as long as time travels are not possible, I’ll continue to sell them to you, modern people. No problem …"

Oh, what a wonderful statement...and what a wonderful inspiration! 

            

                  

Fairy Tree - Journal, Notebook, Diary

Renate takes special care making each of her journals by hand, ripping the papers herself and sewing them together too. Her journals are made of fabric and leather, carefully sewn together using her sewing machine (called Diva). She has different hand painted designs like the fairy tree above. But her prints have a wide range from cutesy...

                 

Butterflies - Leather Journal, Diary, Book

to steampunk...

   

Time Flies - Leather Journal, Notebook, Diary

and beautiful fabric prints...

Dots - Journal, Diary, Notebook

Etsy Shop (English) - Kreativlink.etsy.com

Dewanda (Deutsch) - http://de.dawanda.com/shop/Kreativling

Blog - http://www.kreativling.at/

Email - ri@kreativlink.at

Twitter - http://twitter.com/#!/kreativlink

Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kreativlink/95911376648

Gallery - http://www.kreativlink.at/gallery/sitefiles/gallery3.php

So many designs to choose from so, check out her shop and you'll be sure to find one that suits your style. I already have a favorite myself which I will put on my Christmas Wish List! By the end of the year...I plan to get one of those beauties as I'm sure writing in it will bring me a lot of inspiration!!!!

Happy Feature Friday!

Treasuries Update

Thankful for being in 3 wonderful treasuries!!!

SOUNDS OF THE OCEAN

by jamielizbetheart

I WANT! I WANT! I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS!

by Rosebud101

HEARTS, HANDS & FEET

by soulsongcreations

THANKS SO MUCH EVERYONE!

Craftless...

I haven't been crafting the past few weeks. Not because I am without inspiration...but because I need to pack all my supplies and tools away. My hubby and I found an apartment to move to and have slowly been bringing our things a little at a time to our new place, carefully arranging things as we bring in box per box.

I am excited for the final move...which is this coming weekend. But, I still have tons to pack so I really have to get moving!!!! Hopefully I can get back into my craftiness after that.

Of course, there is still the matter of getting my craft area set up. I claimed the extra room as my craft area and started loading all my beads on the shelves. I'll definitely need a couple book shelves and I plan to get my supplies more organized.

In the meantime, I am enjoying finding stuff that were previoiusly hidden away, like my latch hook WIPs and hidden stashes of cloth. But most of all, I was delighted to find my rock collection. I have been collecting pretty rocks the past few years from beaches I frequent during summer times here in the Philippines (like Puerto Gallera).

These ones were from my most recent trip to Puerto Gallera in Mindoro, Philippines. Here they are all dry and unpolished. I picked out a few to highlight.

I washed them off and took a picture of them wet so you can get an idea what they would look like once they are hand polished.

Closeups (click on the pictures for an even closer zoom) - 

See the amazing white stone that's shaped like a tooth? It was naturally shaped by mother nature!

Do any of you out there know how I can identify if any of these are semiprecious stones?

 I can't wait to get started on these beauties! Dreaming of crafty days....

Happy November - Winner of My First Raffle

I wanted to greet everybody a Happy November!!! Last night, my first raffle draw ended and today I used the random number generator from random.org to pick my very first blog contest winner.

There were 160 entries from all over the world!!! I want to thank everybody for participating in my contest, for those of you who became followers in my blog, twitter and facebook, for those of you who shared my giveaway to others in one way or another, and for those that featured me and this contest in their own ways. THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH! I had a lot of fun hosting it for everyone and I hope you come back for this November's raffle contest!!!!

NOW...onto to the winner....

I entered the numbers in the random generator 1 ... to ...160.....

And the grandprize winner is.....

drum roll please.......

Entry number 137 on my raffle entries list (in excel):

CONGRATULATIONS TO:

JASMINE1485 (Ms. Kate Ryan)

who became my FB friend!!!

You have 2 days (48 hours) to respond to my email to claim your prize! Thanks so much for participating!

I am also selecting a second prize winner, the gets free shipping when purchasing any of my items from the shop. (plus automatically get a free consolation surprise along with your purchase). 

2nd prize winner is 

409scope 

who became a blog follower!

You have 2 days (48 hours) to respond to my email to accept your prize! Thank you so much for participating!

If in case the grand prize winner fails to reply to the prize, you will become the grand prize winner and a new second prize winner will be selected. I will notify you if this happens!

THANKS AGAIN EVERYONE FOR ENTERING!!!

PLEASE COME BACK FOR NOVEMBER'S RAFFLE CONTEST!!!!