Friday Etsy Treasure Hunt (Late :\ )

If You Want To Join The Phantom Blog Hop, PLEASE Go HERE! Sorry the normal Friday Etsy Treasure Hunt is so late. Had a wedding to attend over the weekend and, between that and Life, I didn't get to do ANYthing. You'll get two Treasure Hunts this week: today to make up for Friday and this coming Friday at it's regularly scheduled time. Enjoy!

'Dog Days of Summer' by CrazyCreativeCorner

What do you remember from your childhood Summers? This treasury will appear on my blog: http://crazycreativecorner.blogspot.com/

Summer Sea & Sand- Aqua... arlenemarie91 $27.00	Ocean necklace, Ocean w... JewelrybyDoro... $29.00	Mermaid's Magic &qu... Clover13 $34.00
Crochet Baby Sandal, Su... Crochet4Babie... $18.00	Hermit Crab Ocean Lampw... moonrakerbead... $11.00	Baseball Mom Custom Han... mygoodie2shoe... $25.00
Baseball Uniforms for P... terilyn44 $59.99	ON SALE Vintage Basebal... shawnstpeter $5.25	Blue baseball birthday ... PhoterrificCa... $15.00
Summer Blonde Yellow Be... GloryGift $18.00	Picnic Invasion CakesbyAlison $48.00	SUDDEN SHOWER - Origi... ARTbyDanaC $225.00
Water fountain playing ... kristenlacey $15.00	Beach Fun in Hawaii 11... susansphotoar... $35.00	Boys by a Stream, The R... DancingBugPho... $25.00
An original watercolor ... worleystudios $750.00

Treasury tool by StylishHome.

THE TOOL BOX OF DEATH!

If You Want To Join The Phantom Blog Hop, PLEASE Go HERE!


Okay, okay, it's not a tool box of death.  But you might kill to get one and there isn't another like it on this Earth!

Beadalon Beading Station
found at Amazon

The idea came from this beading station by Beadalon. I tho't it was totally cool and wanted it (I have more tools than places to put them!) 
Well!  It just so happens there's a lady in my church who's the craftiest of crafty ladies.  She can see a picture, sit and ponder it for awhile and eventually figure out how to make it.  Or something like it. She sews. She crochets. She tiles her own floor. She paints. She works with wood. I don't think there's anything she can't do if she wants.  Call her a crafting savant.
So I went to her with the picture you see above and asked her if she could possibly make me something similar. 

Did I mention she's a crafting savant?



A shelf with holes for my tools,
holes drilled in the ends for the tinier tools
(i.e., my wire smoother... don't remember what it's called)
Are you Jealous, yet? (you will be!)



Yeah, here's what she made for me based on the original.  Be jealous! You can buy the original at Amazon (link below the pic) but you'll never get one as cool as mine with it's cool tool holes and other adjustments she made. (and it's bigger, nyah!)  She moved the wire dowl to the top (as you can see) and made it a giant screw. There's a nut on the end so I can keep it fixed in place until I'm ready to add or remove wire rolls. 

I love my new tool box of death!



Plenty of space beneath as well as above
I could also use the dowl the stringing wire's
on for more tools if I so chose. Room to change and grow!











See the nut on the end? Below the
lamp clasp? Yeah, I can undo that
to add/remove stringing wire. MUCH
more secure that way!



THE TOOLBOX OF DEATH!
See how she added a shelf and drilled
various size holes for my tools? LOVE
that so much more than the original from Beadalon.
Admit it, you're jealous!! (stop drooling on your keyboard!)



Excitement Abounds

If You're Looking To Sign Up For The Phantom Hop, Go HERE:

I am, to say the least, excited about this blog hop!  I've never hosted one but I am SO looking forward to this.  I've had good responses and several people have signed up from both my blog and from Face Book.  I also extended an invite to Dr. Brassy Steamington and, thru her FB page, others in the steampunk venue. I'm hoping some of them will accept because I'd LOVE to see what steampunk could/would do with the Phantom. How wild and awesome would THAT be?

So, if you haven't gotten brave, yet, go ahead and click on the link at the top of this (short!) post and join the fun of a Phantom of The Opera blog hop. We've already got one or two who are joining in who had never heard of it before so, if you haven't either, don't worry. This is SUPPOSED to stretch you. 

So stretch a little!

Phantom Blog Hop

After some tho't about the complexities of being a blog hop hostess, I have decided to give it my best shot!   I have had The Phantom of the Opera rolling around in my brain for the last week (I blame Erin and her Challenge of Literature blog hop).  Anyway, I've decided to offer a challenge of my own and it will be around... yup, you guessed it ...The Phantom of the Opera.

Here are the rules (and if someone with more knowledge of hops than me has a suggestion, please feel free to contact me):

1) Choose a song from the Opera to create your piece of jewelry around.  It can be any song, just be sure you tell us which song it is when you reveal your creation and why you chose that one.

2) You can include the mask and/or rose in your piece, but you can't make it the only focus.  That's too easy.  This is meant to streatch and challenge us.

3) The reveal date will be August 31st.  Yes, that's a ways out, but I also know a number of you have shows and such you're participating in during the summer months.  I wanted to give you enough time so that as many of you as wanted could participate without getting too bogged down.

4)  Have fun. This is a must!  Play the Opera for inspiration as you work and have fun. It doesn't matter if you're inspired by the movie version or the Broadway version (I, myself, am particular to the stage play where Davis Gaines played the Phantom ~sigh~)

Feel free to contact me with any questions (or suggestions) you may have. 

Looking forward to seeing who plans to join in. Until then, remember, "the PHAAAAAntom of the Opera is theeeere, Inside your mind!"

ADDENDUM:
I meant to make it known, if you want to join but don't have a blog of your own, there are two options:
1) you can email me the pics of your project and I'll add them to my blog
2) if you have a FB page that's public, you can give me the URL to that and I'll post it to my blog on the reveal date.

Friday Etsy Treasure Hunt... A Day Early

Since I'll be posting about a blog hop I plan to host tomorrow, I decided to move my Etsy Treasure Hunt up a day. I know, I'm just Crazy! :D

'I'm a Little Tea Pot....' by CrazyCreativeCorner

Love tea, love unique and interesting tea pots. (sense of whimsy, sense of humor *G*) p.s., now you're going to have that children's song running thru your head all day! (...short and stout! Here is my handle, here is my spout!)

original ceramic teapot... stoneblossoms... $8.00	One Dozen Teapot Teacup... sugarplumtea $21.50	Green Pumpkin Teapot TerraKiTeawar... $165.00
Sip and See Baby Shower... swankypress $30.00	Teapot Lamp, Two Teapot... ThistleandJug $95.00	Teapot cup 107 - silico... Minimolds $5.00
Floral teapot and teacu... BeUniqueJewel... $10.00	TARDIS Teapot: Made-To-... jadeflower $120.00	blue teapot great for ... brookhousepot... $45.00
Teapot and Teacup Cooki... DaintyDelight... $42.00	Dragon Teapot PorcelainDrag... $250.00	Have a Tea Earrings. Si... PolliniAtelie... $15.00
Grinny Teapot - WITCHY ... PixieDustMini... $21.00	Olde English Rose Victo... GardenOfWeedi... $15.00	Raikou, Lightning Teapo... ocpottery $125.00
Teapot with crystalline... AdelineWysong $45.00

Treasury tool by StylishHome.

Earring Swap, Take II

Okay, so Crazier Sister had one of her crazier-than-normal moments when she tho't the earring swap reveal was back on May 31st and jumped the gun a bit. Don't know WHY I tho't that, but I did.  What can I say? There's a very good reason I chose the name The Crazier Sister (cue manic laughter).  Anyway, toDAY, Thursday June 7th, is the actual reveal date so you're getting a semi-review.  It's okay, tho', because (if you recall from my previous post here) I didn't originally have both sets of earrings.  If you also recall, I mentioned that, knowing Life's sense of humor, I'd receive the 2nd pair that day when I got home from work.

Life laughed in my face. They were waiting when I got home.  I guess I'm either a prophet or the daughter of one! (or Life's sense of humor is even more warped than mine!!)

ANYway, here, once again, are the earrings I received from Amy at Copper Diem and (for the first time) Lisa from Whimsy's Wonders.

Thank you, ladies! I loved them! :)

Amy's are feminine and flirty ~ very dainty
they're a perfect accent for a solid colored outfit

love red and these are just enough red to make me happy :)
they're also light and swingy
yup, lovin' 'em!

A different shade of red from Lisa!
(how did they DO that!?)
Love the asymmetry.
(did you two get together on the color!?!? ~suspicious glare~)

Gorgeous and I've actually got several outfits I can wear
these with (I'm SO not a clothes-horse! Saner Sister despairs of me)
love the wire wrapping job, too. (did you make your own wires?)
(I gotta get out my torch and play pyro!)

Again, thank you, ladies. Not sure how you two managed to both send me red (even if one is a reddish/pinkish/brownish red) but I just so happen to love red. It was my Mimi's favorite color and makes me think of her.

(quick addendum): I forgot to show what I sent each of my ladies so here's a quickie peekie:




The ceramic discs were made by Chinook Jewelry for a
challenge by Michelle Mach and I loved them so much I
went to Chinook and bought a few more. Hope Lisa enjoys them.

I wanted a Moroccan/Middle Eastern slant
on this pair. The orange beads at the bottom
were made by Sue from Sue Beads and I've
been hoarding them for MONTHS!
(rock the Casbah, Amy!)

... and here are the other participants. Please, enjoy!

Diana Ptaszynski  http://www.suburbangirlstudio.com/  (blog hop hostess!)
Jan Onipenco  http://moltenmayhem.typepad.com/
Patti Vanderbloemen  http://myaddictionshandcrafted.blogspot.com/
Mary Harding  http://www.maryhardingjewelrybeadblog.blogspot.com/
Diane Hawkey  http://www.dianehawkey.blogspot.com/
Lesley Watt  http://www.thegossipinggoddess.blogspot.com/
Jenny Davies Reazor http://www.jdaviesreazor.com/blog
Melinda Orr  http://www.orrtec.blogspot.com/
Cilla Watkins http://www.tellyourgirlfriends.com/
Stephanie Haussler http://www.pixybugdesigns.blogspot.com/
Sally Russick http://www.thestudiosublime.com/
Susan Kennedy http://www.suebeads.blogspot.com/
Amy Freeland http://www.copperdiem.blogspot.com/  (my swap partner)
Marla James http://marlasmudmoments.blogspot.com/
Pam Sears:  crazycreativecorner.blogspot.com/  (YOU ARE HERE!)
Tania Spivey http://www.moobiegracedesigns.blogspot.com/
Kathleen Lange Klik http://www.modernnaturestudio.blogspot.com/
Lori Bowring Michaud  http://artfullyornamental.blogspot.com/
Erin Prais-Hintz http://www.treasures-found.blogspot.com/
Gail Barnett http://www.atlastanewyearsresolution.blogspot.com/
Linda Landig http://www.lindasbeadblog.com/
Sharleen Newland http://www.shaterraclaystudio.blogspot.com/
Dee Elgie http://cherryobsidia.blogspot.co.uk/
Mary Shannon Hicks  http://uptwnsh-fallingintothesky.blogspot.com/
Lisa Johnson http://whimsyswonders.blogspot.com/  (my swap partner)
Shelby Foxwell http://sundownbeaddesigns.blogspot.com/
Keri Lee Sereika http://www.pinklemonade.typepad.com/
Cheryl Brown http://www.dragonflybeads.ca/
Linda Younkman http://www.lindysdesigns.blogspot.com/
Kari Asbury http://hippiechickdesign.blogspot.com/
Fay Wolfenden http://www.torchfairy.blogspot.com/

Patriotic Poetry

I received so many positive comments on the poem I used to inspire my jewelry for the Challenge of Literature that I'm thinking either, a) there are a lot of folks with military members in their family, b) a lot of folks really do support our military - both active and Vets - or, c) both a & b.  I'm going with c).  (hee) 

I tho't I'd give you all a link to a site where I publish a lot of my writings, poetry included, so that if anyone wishes to, they can read more of my military poems.  All are intended to convey gratitude to our service men & women and, in some cases, what I imagine their mind-set might be.  Please understand, I would never presume to speak for anyone. These are merely my words of appreciation as well as what I've gleaned over the years from the military personnel, active or retired, that I've interacted with as well as their families. (plus, I'm sure my retired Air Force cousin would have something to say if I stepped out of line! HA!)

Again, a HUGE thank you to all our active Military as well as our Vets.

We can never say it enough.

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