Jackie is a medical technologist in Upstate New York. Her full-time day job is working in a hospital lab, but that’s not where her heart is — she’s hiking in the Adirondacks.
And she’s turning the inspirations of nature into jewellery, twisting wire around beautiful stones and pearls and beads to create striking bracelets, necklaces, earrings.
You can find them for sale on Etsy and get a peek at projects in progress at Jackie’s blog, A Keeper’s Jackpot.
Like most beaders — like most craftspeople, in fact — once Jackie started creating her own jewellery and found that others love the pieces too, she starting exploring new ideas and new materials. From basic beads, she went to wire and stone, then branched out into working with polymer clay, and now she exploring decoupage techniques on some of her pendants…
But you know what? It’s the stone necklaces that really get me.
And I’m not even going to try to explain the emotion effect, the thought process, the “how come” of why I was so immediately taken with Jackie’s work, when her mother-in-law told me about her — I’ll just let the jewellery speak for itself:
Tagged as:
artist,
beads,
craft,
etsy,
jewellery,
stone,
wire
So, you never touched a drop of vile alcohol last night — and sure, I believe you! — but still, this morning, somehow, you woke up looking and feeling like something Shrek barfed up?
Let’s review what went wrong, shall we?
Too much sugar!
For many of us, last night we experienced the North American cultural phenomenon known as the Halloween fancy-dress candy binge…
If you’re not reading this on November 1st, maybe you can’t blame Halloween — but do a quick memory check: was there a sugar binge in there somewhere? Maybe your night involved a box of chocolates and a chick flick indulgence. Maybe it was an awesome dessert buffet table that called your name once too often. Maybe it was a box of donuts just sitting there, calling your name, on a side table in a dull meeting.
Whatever.
The point is, too much sugar goes into your system — buzzz!! you’re revving on all four cylinders, fast and productive and jazzed with energy!
And then what? Crash!
See, sometime or other in the middle of a sweet-centered evening — maybe just slightly queasy and with the beginnings of a headache — you’re going to have to stop stuffing your face with candy and go to bed. You go to sleep. And through the night your sky-high blood sugar levels start to naturally drop… and drop…
[click to read more...]
Tagged as:
hangover,
health,
sugar
True, it can cost a lot to give candy to all the neighbourhood kids on Halloween night. But if money’s tight, and you simply haven’t got the budget to buy off the pranksters (some of whom really will splatter your home with rotten eggs — or worse — if you don’t “shell out” ), there are a couple of things you can do to save money.
First, here’s what not to do:
- 1. You could be really careful with the candy hand-out — giving each child one single lollipop, say. Stretch the budget by being kind of, well, stingy.
- But don’t you recall what it’s like to be a little kid on Halloween? — the excitement (even before the sugar high kicks in) of staying up and going out after dark, running around the neighbourhood with your friends, actually taking candy from strangers!! Don’t go raining on that parade. It’s not easy being a little kid, you know. Give ‘em the candy.
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Tagged as:
candy,
Halloween,
product recall,
thrifty,
treats
As for decorating your place for Halloween on the cheap —
Decorate your home and yard with everyday items and almost-trash, like leftover candle stubs and toilet-paper ghosts, the glossy magazines tell you. Right. Not.
What genius was the first to suggest that lighted candles and paper products could be a safe mix? Now throw in gangs of rambling trick-or-treating kids wearing capes and robes and all manner of flammable costumes? Uh-uh.
Not only that, it has been known to rain on October 31st… So what happens to your elegant glowing lights and drifting ghosts, if it rains? Soggy toilet paper draped over trees. In the dark. Not so chic and clever after all, is it? And you’ll just have to clean it all up the next day…
You can do better, even on a tight budget.
[click to read more...]
Tagged as:
craft,
decorating,
decoration,
Halloween,
idea,
thrifty
Part handbag, part animal (and I do mean, Animal… Do you recall the crazy-wild drummer from the Muppets Show? Like that) — here’s an accessory with a difference.
“Feathers” — This Bag that Bites will be a natural fit to perch off of your shoulder! Faux fur that has the appearance of an olive-colored finch will create a buzz wherever you two will go. Warm golden hand-painted eyes keep this sweet bag soulful, while the fat purple tongue will make sure that you give the right message whenever you need.
The best feature?
The tongue has a zipper in it, to be your secret change purse!
Unique, handmade, and hungry Bags That Bite are the handmade creations of Justine Pallace. She’s actually a jeweller by training and trade, but finds both “satisfaction and fun” in making these cuddlesome monsters. Justine lives and crafts in Rochester, New York, but you can find her furry character handbags at BagsThatBite.etsy.com… if you dare!
H/T to WordVixen and her Hand Crafted Bags and Purses obsession for sharing this great furry find.
Tagged as:
animals,
bag,
etsy,
monster
