Some bathroom pictures.

Keep an open mind until you see the finished result. We're making a transition from roses and bows to masculine faux leather walls. It looks awfully dark at this point but like I said, we aren't done yet.

BEFORE

I saw this technique on HGTV for covering papered walls and not dealing with the hassle of removal. We were able to remove the top of the paper- in some places- but not the adhesive residue beneath, so this was a great option for us.


The first thing you do is "paint" a section of the wall with wood glue and apply tissue paper that was wadded up and then un-wad, leaving as many of the crinkles and wrinkles as you can. Yes, tissue paper like gift wrap tissue. :) You end up with something that looks like the picture above.

DURING

Next we started in painting the papered walls brown, or coffee bean to be exact.


Here's DS Caleb painting the peaks where it is cathedral. Thank goodness he doesn't mind being on a ladder!
A shot of the corner wall completely painted.



Then we went in with the next color which was coffee. As in coffee with creamer color. We thinned the paint with water and wiped in on with cloths. After that we used the same color undiluted and just slung paint all over for the splatter effect. (Those white spots are where light fixtures and outlets go to go after we finish.)

AFTER

So that's all I can share for now. It really looks like leather in real life. Albeit paint splattered leather. LOL I will try to get a better picture of the texture once we are done. I can't wait to get this finished and decorated!

When Hubby Is Away...

the mom will play. LOL- HAHAHA- evil laugh.
I've been wanting to totally redo our master bathroom for quite a while now but every time I bring it up Chris shoots my ideas down. See, Chris can do anything he puts his mind to but he really, really didn't want to tackle the bathroom because it is wallpapered and has real high cathedral ceilings. If you don't know, wallpaper is a nightmare of all nightmares to get off. Chris just wasn't ready for that and never was going to be ready! But me, I was beyond ready for a change.

So what's a girl to do? Well, first she waits till dear ole hubby is out of town for like 2 solid months. LOL Then she watches a lot of home improvement type shows and learns of an awesome way to give wallpapered walls texture and new color without having to actually remove the old paper! Perfect, I thought to myself. How wonderful!
The wheels in the mind begin to turn. Notes are being jotted down. Instructions absorbed like a sponge. A list of materials needed is compiled. And finally a trip to town to make the leap and buy the suppies. Too late to turn back now. I'm in too deep. The money's been spent. Renovations have begun.

As I am gutting the room I smile with glee as I threw out the old light fixtures. I can hear hubby in the back of my mind telling me not to throw them out. Telling me those might come in handy some day for something else. Never mind that two of the globes are broken! Sheesh. I felt 10 years younger when I took down the old mirror with the intention of never hanging it back up again. For I shall buy new light fixtures and a new fabulous mirror. Gutting the bathroom I liberally toss things that I know hubby would want to keep. Things like rusty screws that are just laying around with no purpose. The bathroom mat that will no longer come clean no matter how much I wash it! An old jar that used to have one of his pipes in it.

What was old is rapidly becoming new. The bathroom is looking great, and there's nothing dear hubby can do to stop me. I am a woman mad with power and the freedom to let her creative mind run wild. Bwahahahaha. :)

Pictures coming soon.

What I've been up to.

Edit: A few people have shown interest in purchasing some of my new goodies. I never dreamed anyone would want to buy them. Just goes to show you never know what may happen in blog land. lol
If anyone else wants to buy some of the gift baggies or the soap clothes just send a convo to me here and we can discuss price, and I can make a listing just for you in my etsy shop.

It has been so hot here the past couple of days. Between laundry and the usual housework I've been trying to keep my mind focused on something other than the heat by being creative. Instead of making jewelry I wanted to "play around" with some of my other many hobbies.
So... I thought for today's blog post I would share those things with you.


I started off making 64 little silky fabric gift baggies. They are 5" X4" and I cut some cotton ties for each one. I love how every color of the rainbow runs through this fabric. I may use them to pack my jewelry sales. I may list them as a supply in my etsy shop. I really haven't decided but I had a blast making them. I'm glad I know how to use my sewing machine! :)

I call these Soap Cloths. You might look at these and think I am completely crazy, but bear with me and hear me out.
I really love these because each family member gets their own bar of soap and their own "washcloth". They are filled with Peggy's goat milk soaps which are just super for your skin! They lather extremely. You never have to stop mid wash and re-suds your washcloth, and you never drop your soap because the coasie acts as a grip.
Each one has a loop on the corner to hang your bar to dry between showers. The coasies are made of 100% cotton. They are refillable. Still think I'm crazy? lol
If you thought I was crazy with the Soap Cloth idea then you may really think I've flipped my wig on this one. It is a coffee filter memory book. Or at least it will be when it is finished. When the pages are open it kind of looks like a butterfly.
I am using #2 cone filters for the inner pages and a #4 cone filter to tuck the book away in. My hubby bought the wrong size filters one day so they've just been taking up shelf space ever since. Coffee filter books aren't new. They've been around about a s long as the paper bag albums, or so. I hope to finish this project tonight.



So there it is. I've been a sewing, crocheting, scrapbooking fool lately. Needed a little break from making jewelry. ;) If you made it this far, I thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a bit of feedback and let me know what you think. Yes, even if you think I'm crazy. lol

Meet Spike

EDIT: We know what he is! He is a Cecropia Silkmoth and he is right at a month along in his journey to becoming a moth. We've decided to observe him and with any luck we will see the full transformation within one more month. Totally cool.

Cabin Vacation

You will need to stop the music on my playlist. Otherwise you are about to get bombarded with a two different types of music. LOL

Moo Moo Moo Cards!

Click to enlarge.

I am officially a member of the Moo card cult. LOL

I hear a lot of people are upset that it is hard to get much of a picture on the Moo's. To me that is a plus. I feel that having just a peek leaves potential customers wanting to see more. How do they see more? Look on the back of the card, visit my etsy shop, and wahlah.

I will be using mine as tags for my jewelry. (See the bracelets on the right side.) For earrings I find it is best to have them on the back of the cards so that the picture on the front doesn't distract from the jewelry on the tag.

One thing you should know if you are considering placing an order for Moo cards is simply this; make for SURE that your pictures are very good quality. The pictures on your cards will only be as good as the quality of your photographty skills.

I give them two happy thumbs up! I've already placed a second order. :)

My CVS week 7/13

I didn't take a picture of the haul this week. Bad me. I put most of it away before I remembered that I forgot to. lol
Anyway it was GOOD!
I got:
* 25 FREE bottles of Dawn
*1 Excedrin Migraine 50ct.
*2 Maalox Max
*1 Speed Stick
*1 Neutragena Mascara
*6 Air Wick Freshmatic mini starter kits.
*2 Bayer w/ Heart Advantage 30ct.
* 1 bottle of Tide
* 1 bottle of Gain
and the BIG jackpot was these MONEY MAKERS!
Seven! hardbound photo books. I used this freebie to my advantage by filling them with pictures of my jewelry and attaching a business card in each one.
What a great free promotional tool for me.

My total was $158-ish but I paid less than $5 for everything after ECBs and coupons.

Now the only question is what to do with this mountain of Dawn?! Before you start to think I am REAL BIG hoarder I should tell you that I GAVE away 25 more of the Dawn coupons that I had. So see, I do share. ;)

THEN, as if that wasn't enough to make my day, a girl at the Burger King drive-thru (Alex had to have a Whopper fix!) she saw my car door magnet ad and asked me for my business card.
She said she had been looking for someone that hand makes jewelry. She seemed as excited as I did. I hope she looks me up and likes what she finds in my etsy shop. :)
And here I thought the door magnet was a waste. I only took it because it was free. Guess you just never know, eh?

Pictures of the mini paper bag album.

Ohana means family. :) It's a family themed book.
No pictures yet because I don't know if I'm going to keep it or give it as a gift.

Page 2 has a place for 3 pictures. Page 3 is for 4 cropped photos for the "window", or pictures & journaling.

Another swing open for more pictures page.

On this page the flower swings up. When down it hides a pic. or notes.

The tag on the left page is raised but you can't really tell in this picture. The butterfly is also 3-D.
Next page is same as the one above but with the flower down covering the photo box.

The page on the right side is a pocket page that hold two large tag shaped photo mounts. You can add pictures to the front and the back, making room for 4 pictures + one on the actual page itself behind the tags.

The only bad thing about pictures is that you can't see all the textures. The black silhouette of the butterfly and vines is felt. I used a lot of button mini brads, crystal brads. There's some stamping, tons of inking, a ton of Prima flowers that I inked with my catseye inks. Just a crapload of attention to detail. lol I also made tags that I put in each one of the "pockets": the opening of the bags.

If you want to see a larger view just click on each picture. They all enlarge.

So there it is. I would appreciate any feedback on it, unless you don't like it. In that case keep your opinion to yourself. ;)
Just kidding!

What is this?

Does anyone have an idea what kind of tree this is? I've searched but all the photos and descriptions I've come across are all *off. Either the leaves will be different or the berries won't be exactly the same. This is a tree that is in my yard. It is covered in these berries. I am really wanting to know what it is. If you think you know, please educate me. :)

I scrapped!

Can you believe it? I can't. How long has it been?? AGES!

I've amassed a lot of pictures since the last time I made any layouts but none of them were inspiring to me so, I decided to make a little album instead.
It's made out of brown paper bags and it's about a 6.5X7" size. Ten inner pages, front & back, and three pocket pages to fill with mementos and such.

I am doing it all in the Stella Ruby patterned papers by Basic Grey. I started on it around 8:30pm and worked on it straight through until about 3:30AM. For my seven hour investment I got the book almost completely finished. All that's left to do is decorate the front of the book, make a few tags and note cards for the pockets, and tie fabric and ribbons on the binder on the side.

My scrapping style is vintage Shabby Chic and that is why I think I have a hard time getting inspired to scrap all guy stuff all the time. I am visually and creatively drawn to the floral, inked and aged papers soo much more that masculine papers.

Anywho, I will take pictures and come back and edit this post so that you can see the book later today or tomorrow. -If anyone is interested.

Not going to garden. LOL

In years past my attempts at a real garden failed. Many of you have heard me mention over and again that I do not have a "green" thumb. I am just utterly cursed when it comes to getting plants to grow and flourish.

You might also remember my earlier post about the volunteer pumpkins coming up? Well those are now triple the size they were! Doing most excellently with tons of blooms.

Then there was a tomato that I threw out during the "great tomato scare" about 3 weeks or so ago and guess what. Yep, tomato plants have shot out of the ground.

I also threw out cantaloupe seeds and now have shoots of cantaloupe plants coming out of the ground as well! GO FIGURE! All just discarded. No prepping of the soil, no fertilizer, no nothing, and boom, they grow!

Silly, silly me. All that wasted time when I all I really needed to be doing was just chucking the seeds on the ground. Screw proper spacing, proper watering, proper sunlight to shade exposure. HA. Nature knows what it is doing way better than any growing instructions I've ever tried.
So I've decided that I am not going to go to the trouble of planting a "real" garden. I'm just going to discard my seeds as usual and what volunteers to grow is fine with me. LOL

This weeks CVS trip.

Not very much of a deal this week but that's how it goes some weeks.

10 bottles Dawn
4 cans Pringles (ate one on the way home) lol
3 18oz. bottles Olay w/Ribbons body wash
2 3ct. packs Gillette razors
2 Hershey's
2 pks. CVS pantyliners (for my mom)
2 pks. CVS tampons (for SIL)
1 Olay cosmetic wipes 30ct.
1 Maybelline Define A Line eyeliner
1 32 load bottle of Tide
1 Arizona Green Tea (Not pictured cause it was drank on the way home- lol)

Total: $79.04
Total I paid after coupons and rolling ECBs: $2.04

Just checking in.

I took the gang to see fireworks shows this past Thursday and Friday night. Our town does them a night early so that families can be together for barbecues, picnics, or whatever, instead of being out fighting in the heavy traffic. Isn't that thoughtful? Too bad my hubby couldn't be here.

Then this morning I finally got to the farmers market. I bought some farm fresh eggs, some blueberries, and some home made peanut butter fudge. I can't wait until the corn is ready later on this month. That is next on my list for the market.

And well, that pretty much sums it up for now. I hope you all had nice 4th!

July Customer GC Entries List

On the last day of each month I draw a name from the pool of customers that have shopped with me.

I'll be doing this on the 30th day of each month throughout the year.

The name I draw will receive a $5 or $10 gift certificate, or free item of their choosing from my shop!

*Only actual purchases count for the drawing. PIFs and trades are not entered to win unless a regular purchase was made at the same time.

*You can see the list of winners on my shop home page under announcements.

Entries for July:

angelbabe6333

GabbriellasCloset2

New Shop Section

Since money is tight all over I decided to open a new section in my shop for $5 earrings.
Now, these are NOT bottom of the barrel junk jewelry. In fact there is a lot of sterling silver, keishi pearls, cultured freshwater pearls, and just loads of beautiful designs.
I assume those mentioned will be the first to go so get your look on now!

$5 earring section!

And the winner of the June drawing is...

And the winner of the June drawing is...

GabbriellasCloset2
Congrats! Your gift certificate will be arriving soon! :)

On the last day of each month I draw a name from the pool of customers that have shopped with me that month.

I'll be doing this for each month throughout the year.

The name I draw will receive a $5 or $10 gift certificate, or free item of their choosing from my shop!

*Only actual purchases count for the drawing. PIFs and trades are not entered to win unless a regular purchase was made at the same time.

*You can see the list of winners on my shop home page under announcements.

Entries for June:
GabbriellasCloset2

angelbabe6333

janeisplain

voleurdebijoux

QueenOfAllTrades

DesignsByG

littlemisstatertot

SparxsDesigns

cooneyjm

JazziesJunque

marydmf1939

AngelHeartBeads

Raevyn77

elsiee

jenhintz

cr1105

ABeadConnection

TheSoapBuffet

brownbagboutique

necessity123

sadeyes1959

My thrift store finds.

I took the day off from etsy promoting and jewelry making to go thrift shopping. I went to a couple different ones but the best one is always the Habitat for Humanity. They are the cleanest and have the largest selection. So but anywho...I thought some of you might enjoy seeing the treasures I scored on my hunt. I do love me some thrift shopping!



This gorgeous bowl, never used mind you, still has the original tag on the bottom and it reads: The JCPenny Home Collection Fruit Multi. It's a nice size bowl at 11" wide at top and 7" deep. No price tag and my item search at the dot.com came up empty. That might be a sign this is a discontinued line. My cost for this bowl $2.00

Then, score number two was the nester boxes that I found in the basement of the thrift store. A grape/ivy theme and each box has a different Bible verse on the lid. Again, these do not appear to have ever been used at all. They have the original price tag of $14.95! Thrift store price tag: $0.50 for all three!

That cloth thing you see in the bowl is actually a table runner. It is a long table runner at that! This item appears to have been previously loved but has no stains, rips, or frays. Great condition. I paid $0.50 for it as well.

$3 for a perfectly matching set of goodies. Not to bad, eh? And I just LOVE the colors of purple and ivy. Some day I am going to have to paint my kitchen in these colors wether Chris likes it or not. lol
The reason I am showing you this next item is to give a little decorating tip. Thrift stores usually have piles and piles of scarves. This is one of those long skinny ones that you can wear in your hair, wear as a belt, drape across your shoulders, or tie around your neck and let the extra length drape down.
ANYWAY, my decorating tip is to change up your baskets and make them look fresh and new all over again by simply weaving these long skinny scarves around the handle. I don't know about your thrift store/s but these scarves are only $0.25 at mine. I will fess up that I did buy this basket today for $0.50 and the scarf. Pretty cute for $0.75 don't you think?
I bought 4 other scarves in different colors so I can keep it fresh. :)



I hope you've enjoyed the pictures and have been inspired to drop in at your local thrift store. :)

Wanna help me out? Want some FREE earrings?

Have you been to my shop lately? KristieGK.etsy.com Stop in would ya? I've listed so many new things. If someone buys something for $15 or more and they tell me you sent them I will send YOU a pair of earrings FREE. You can pick from these designs. Limited to the first 10 people to send business my way. Thanks!

I can do these two in several different colors.

Farmers Market

I called up the local blueberry farm to see if we could come blueberry picking and found out that they won't be ready for U-pick until mid July this year. Then I learned about a farmers market here in town. We haven't had a farmers market for very long- that I am aware of.

I'm sure I went to them as a child? Had to. But I have not been to one as an adult. Isn't that sad!

There was a list to sign up for notifications, so I did. Then today I got an email saying it will be open tomorrow from 4-7pm. YAY! I thought they were only open on Saturdays since that is what their website said.
Tomorrow I hope to come home with some fresh tomatoes, blueberries and who knows what else. I can't grow a garden myself right now, so I am happy to support the local farmers. Looking forward to it.

Update Entries List for June

On the last day of each month I draw a name from the pool of customers that have shopped with me that month.

I'll be doing this for each month throughout the year.

The name I draw will receive a $5 or $10 gift certificate, or free item of their choosing from my shop!

*Only actual purchases count for the drawing. PIFs and trades are not entered to win unless a regular purchase was made at the same time.

*You can see the list of winners on my shop home page under announcements.

Entries for June:
GabbriellasCloset2

angelbabe6333

janeisplain

voleurdebijoux

QueenOfAllTrades

DesignsByG

littlemisstatertot

SparxsDesigns

cooneyjm

JazziesJunque

marydmf1939

AngelHeartBeads

Raevyn77

elsiee

jenhintz

cr1105

ABeadConnection

TheSoapBuffet

brownbagboutique

necessity123

sadeyes1959

Twenty Years of Bliss.

Today is mine and Chris's 20th wedding anniversary. Without getting too mushy I just wanted to say that marriage can be bliss. It can be a blessing. And yes, there are times when you just want to strangle each other! Thankfully the good outweighs the bad and I could not imagine my life without Chris. He is a great husband, wonderful father, untiring provider, and the truly the best man I've ever met.

So here's to us. Happy 20th Chris. I love you!!

Would Ya Look At That!

Last fall after we finished carving pumpkins I threw the seeds out on the ground. Then this spring when I was walking around the yard I happened to notice these plants growing that weren't there before. Closer inspection revealed that there were pumpkin seeds on the tips of the leaves. WOW! I got some volunteer pumpkin plants coming up here, I thought to myself. How cool! At that point the plants were hardy and thick but only about 4" tall. I thought to myself- they'll never live! But look at them now. They are spreading up and out, and you can't see them but there are orange blooms! I have blooms! LOL I guess they are camera shy, but trust me they are there. I think we might have some pumpkins this fall! :)


I guess I got natures stamp of approval because this little guy came right on in the house the other day. I guess it is a moth of some kind? He is sitting on a little wooden latter that Caleb made for me. It sits next to our piano and has some fur draped on it and some candles. It must have felt right at home and probably did not even know it wasn't outside.


I've never been guilty of having a "green" thumb but amazingly this little evergreen has been with me for quite a while now. Chris brought it home back at Christmas time. Back then it was only about 5" tall. It's at least 1.5 feet now, though it's hard to tell from that picture. I replanted it in this larger pot today at took it outside for the first time. If it doesn't croak on me it will eventually be put in the ground. Cross your fingers.

And last but not least some pictures of flowering plants that Chris and I planted beside the walkway today. We've still got to add mulch but I wanted to get the pictures before the sun went down any farther.
I hope you've enjoyed the pictures. :)

June GC Entries list.

On the last day of each month I draw a name from the pool of customers that have shopped with me that month.
I'll be doing this for each month throughout the year.

The name I draw will receive a $5 or $10 gift certificate, or free item of their choosing from my shop!

*Only actual purchases count for the drawing. PIFs and trades are not entered to win unless a regular purchase was made at the same time.

*You can see the list of winners on my shop home page under announcements.

Entries for June:
GabbriellasCloset2

angelbabe6333

janeisplain

voleurdebijoux

QueenOfAllTrades

DesignsByG

littlemisstatertot

SparxsDesigns

cooneyjm

JazziesJunque

marydmf1939

AngelHeartBeads

Raevyn77

elsiee

jenhintz

cr1105

ABeadConnection

Gemstone Pendants or Zipper Pulls

Sales have been dead this past week and my shop already has too many items in it. Which brings me to my dilemma. I made these last night. They are made from real gemstones and could work as pendants or zipper pulls. I want to list them but I don't want my shop to get any bigger than it already is. Each pendant will be listed separately- eventually! Just not today. LOL

Each one has its own different little charm hanging down. One has a flower, a cross, a circle, a leaf, etc.

You asked for it...

A few people asked me to post a pick of my CVS trip tonight, so here you go! This is my plan plus DS Alex's plan in with mine. If you click on the picture you can get an exact count of what we bought.
Here's the breakdown:
Total for everything pictured $190.69
Total we paid $2.59
A very good trip. I love CVS!!!

FREE SHIPPING Saturday has begun!!! And sharing my CVS plan for today.

You should know by now that a few etsy shops offer free shipping every Saturday. What? You didn't know?! We call it FSS for Free Shipping Saturday.
It is just after 1AM and I've got all shipping charges removed from my shop now through 11:59PM tonight. Please do drop in and see if anything tickles your beauty bone. :)

Some Saturdays I am not able to participate because my schedule won't allow it. Even then if you don't mind shooting me a convo requesting FSS I will still honor it. It just might take me a few hours to get back to you, is all.

OK enough about that! Who wants to hear my CVS plan for tonight? Huh? Huh? Huh? OK!
Tonight I will be getting:
20 candy bars (Reese's, Twix, Kit Kats, etc.)
7 Atkins nutrition bars
6 boxes cereal (Honey Nut Cheerios, Lucky Charms, etc.)
2 bottles Caress Exotic Oil Infusions body wash
2 Listerine Smart Rinse mouthwash
1 Oral-B twin pack toothbrushes
1 Dove body wash
1 Gillette Fusion Phenom razor
1 Schick Quattro Titanium razor

Grand total: $82.94
My OOP (out of pocket) for all this stuff: $1.55!!

And there you have it. :) I love my CVS and can't wait for Saturday to roll around now. Funny- Sat. nights used to be clubbing nights. Oh how times have changed. LOL

Does any one like Garnet besides me?

Genuine Garnet Set

It's my birthstone and even if it wasn't I still love the deep shade of red. I love it so much that I painted my kitchen in garnet, as some of you may remember.
I probably should've kept this set for myself but I listed it anyway. Sales have slowed down over the past few days so it's not like it's going anywhere. lol

Just call me Mrs. Lonely

First, Chris was supposed to have a week home between this rotation and the next. Then Wednesday it was, "I just found out that I have to leave back out Friday morning!"

OK, so it went from a week home to one day. Not happy about that but one day is better than nothing. And now, on Thrusday, the ONE day I should've had with Chris he finds out he has to go to the office (75 miles away) and work ALL day on paperwork. I literally saw him for 10 minutes as he came in the door and dropped off his laundry on his way back out to the office.

He has already been driving all night, now he will work all day only to turn around and drive the additional 75 miles home tonight. Can you say exhausted husband???
I know I'm not supposed to complain and I'm supposed to keep my chin up, but this really BITES yo!!
So when he does get home he will collapse in the bed to be ready to shower and leave out bright and early tomorrow morning. We are but two semi familiar blurs to each other these days.

June 19th will be our 20 year anniversary. I just hope he is able to be here for that.
If he isn't I am really going to need a shoulder to cry on. He is almost never home for birthdays or our anni. Not his choice, but that's life.