Goodies!!!!!

I enter a lot of giveaways on blogs and Facebook and every now and then I hit a lucky streak.  I recently won a strand of beads from Happy Mango Beads .  

Instead of breaking them up to use in separate projects, I decided to string them all into one necklace.

Then I won this awesome strand of Christmas themed bracelet beads from Krafty Max Originals, also on Facebook.

That moment you walk into your fave store and overhear them 

discussing your comment on Facebook

My fave shop in town posed a question on Facebook:  "What do you collect?"  I commented, "the question is really what don't I collect?  Marbles, beach glass, beaded purses, postcards, glass of all kinds, craft supplies...shall I go on?"  The day it snowed, I walked down to that shop and as I opened the door, I heard a woman telling her colleague, "We asked what do people collect and this one person commented, 'what don't I collect' and she listed all the stuff she likes!"  I said, 'That was me! I'm Joanne!'  We all had a good laugh.  

So what did I find this day?  A jar of marbles with a cute store label on it.

A mason jar full of beach glass.  Since I won't use my own stash for crafts, I have to purchase it.

Not too bad!

This bag used to have velour or velvet on it, as you can still see it around the microbeaded designs.  It was really reasonably priced at I think $10.

A ruby red 'chicken in a basket' and a pretty cut glass pyramid that turns all colours depending on the light.

Then my dear sisterfriend Jaime's mom asked me if I would give a home to a vintage German shepherd figurine that she had and I was happy to!

I was given these books by author Pamela Foster in appreciation for using a comment I left on her blog, Wounded Warrior Wife, for her book.  I have read both and they are excellent reads.  Ms. Foster married a a man who suffers horribly from PTSD from his service in Vietnam in the mid-60s.  He takes her on a wild ride through life and as a result, she has done and seen some amazing things, all the while trying to survive her husband's PTSD symptoms and triggers.  

A few months ago I treated myself to this amazing beadwork hairpiece.  The price was so reasonable and I know how much work went into it.

Then Butterflies of Cape Cod posted some butterfly wing pendants they had available on Small Business Saturday.  I was dying to get the Madagascar Sunset Moth one so I jetted down there.  I asked if they'd sold any of my jewelry and she had $79 to give me! I was so excited because now I could also get a Blue Morpho butterfly pendant too!!!!  These are real wings, harvested from insects that have already passed away naturally.

Russell & I stopped by McDermott's Glass Studio and they had a bargain table outside, which contained 2 large marbles that aren't quite perfect.  One is a beautiful cobalt blue.  It's so dark it looks black.

And another unusual marble with a hole in one side where you can see inside.

It, too, is very dark but in the bright light there are lots of cool colours in it.

Recently I was looking around for some Victorian house design stitching patterns.  I didn't mention it to anyone, so imagine my utter surprise to receive this in the mail from my dear friend Debby out in Washington! Along with pretty window crystals to add beads to!!!!!!!!!

But the absolute BEST gift of all, that my sweet amazing man got me...and us....is a generator!!  We fell bass ackwards into a really good deal on a Champion brand one and I am so relieved that we don't have to cope with a multi day power outage this year.  As long as I can have a space heater, a light and the fridge plugged in, that's all I need.  It kind of looks like this one I snagged off the internet.

How lucky and blessed am I?!  VERY!!!!!!

Update!

Update loooong overdue!!

I've been so busy the past few months, preparing for craft shows that took place at the Bourne VFW in mid-November and Upper Cape Tech the weekend of 11/23 & 11/24 that I haven't really updated on what's been going on.  I was a crafting maniac and to be honest, towards the end, I started to get reeeeeeally tired of making stuff specifically for the fairs. So I made some stuff for myself too!

I worked on a craft kit of the month project of cross stitch ornaments.  They really should've sent this kit out months ago instead of November.  They are small but time consuming.  Right now I have the Santa stitched but not outlined, and the Christmas tree almost finished.

Added beaded hangers to the blue and purple window crystals I got over the summer.

Couple bracelets which are a little too big for my wrist unfortunately.

Got the pendant at the King Richard's Faire and made a necklace.

But then it was back to crafting for the fairs.  It was next to impossible to find acorn caps this season.  I hope that means an uneventful winter.  This time I used marbles because I couldn't find beads to fit the caps.

These are so much fun to make!

Memory wire bracelets.

More of these.

Beach themed ornaments.

The VFW show was OK.....the best part was hanging out with Marsha, seeing my school bus driver, Elaine, from the 70s who makes beautiful dyed scarves, and my inlaws were there selling their homemade soap.  I made my table fee back, but my total earnings that day were under $100, which was disappointing.  

The Upper Cape Tech School sale was huge; 150 vendors!!  I had a great spot in the cafeteria and sooooo many friends stopped by to say HI.  That was the best.  Marsha, my partner in crime, was there the first day working the show with me. I think the highlight of that weekend, besides seeing my friends, was seeing one of my kindergarten teachers, Mrs. Winslow!  I probably haven't seen her since the early 1970s.  Sales were kinda slow...I made my table fee back and a couple hundred dollars profit.  My photo cards and glitter ornaments didn't sell well at all which was very disappointing.  Lots of people stopped by and admired my items, esp. the button caterpillars, but I only sold one.  There was one little girl who had $10 to spend and returned to my table after going through the whole school because she wanted one of the magic wands.  She couldn't decide between 2 of them so I sold her 2 for $10.  How could I not?  I've signed up for next year and I am going to have to rethink what I make.  There is just too much jewelry at these shows; I can't compete.

This is the view from UTC.  I'm gonna have to go up there for sunsets!  That's the Bourne Bridge, and behind it, the Buzzards Bay water tower.  It was a less than 5 minute drive from my house.

My birthday was the day before Thanksgiving and the best gift I had was that Russell was home.  It was a very windy, rainy day and I would have been worried sick if he was driving home, especially with an empty trailer.  Tons of my friends wished me Happy Bday on Facebook and that gave me the warm and fuzzies.  I am FB friends with a couple of celebrities, and I was stunned to see this one show up on my Timeline!! I've been a fan of Bill Mumy's since the 60s when I first discovered 'Lost in Space' when I was about 4!!!!!

And because I have blogger and gmail accounts, I had my own personalized Google Doodle!!!

 We visited my mom first then went out to eat at 99 for lunch.  After I got home, I baked a funfetti cake.  

The storm moved through by Wednesday evening and we woke up to a gorgeous crescent moon and sunny day on Thanksgiving.

We visited with our families in the early afternoon, then we came home and finished cooking the turkey dinner for the kids who came over around 3 to eat with us before heading over to their mom's for their second dinner at 6.  All in all a lovely day! 

Happy Thanksgiving and Chanukah

Goody Bags!!!

One of my friends gave me a baggie of old jewelry she didn't want.  When she first told me that she was giving it to me, I pictured like a sandwich-size bag with a couple of broken necklaces, maybe some costume jewelry.  Needless to say I was pretty stunned to get a rather large & heavy bag full of stuff.  

 I poured some of it out on the table...so much great stuff!!!

There's bone

Stone

Bangles

Kitsch

Crescents, charms and coins

Wood

Crystals

Costume

Beads of all kinds

HELLO!

I was surprised to find a box of shells & sand dollars that my pal Karen sent me!  She went to Sanibel Island last winter and brought them back for me.  Along with....

This.  Oh my god.

Yeah, just slightly stoked.