Beachcombing At The Flea Market

It's summertime and the shores of the flea market are awash with seaside treasures! Vendors wait all year to haul out their beachy bounty, from life preservers and crab trap buoys to abalone shells and coral. So on this trip to the flea market, we were on a quest to help transform a friend's guestroom into a breezy coastal retreat. Kitty was looking for a few authentic ship lanterns with red glass and a pretty patina that would be handsome on the bedside tables. Maritime artifacts like these go for hundreds at auction, so she was happy to find a pair for only $50!

As we ventured on, we spotted a weathered "Private Beach" sign that would add a whimsical touch to our island look. A galvanized bait bucket caught Jennifer's eye. She thought it would make a clever storage container, and at $24 it was a steal. The find of the day was a collectible sand pail in near-mint condition. Lithographed, children's beach buckets like this one are often scratched and dented after years of sandcastle making, but this particular pail looked like it had never seen the sun! This vibrant goldfish pail would probably sell for over $100 online, so we paid the $65 asking price and saved our haggling skills for another day.

Bouncing Beauties
Scalloped, metal lawn chairs from the fifties (sometimes called "motel bouncers") are as popular as ever and can cost over $100 in the real world. Fortunately, these classics are regulars at the flea market and go for a fraction of the antique store price. Old metal chairs are great makeover candidates if they don't have too much rust. Just sand any rusty spots, wash and dry the chairs thoroughly, and then give them a coat of fresh spray paint. We found a pair of these chairs for only $30! They'll be stylish with a coat of Krylon's Blue Ocean Breeze and cabana-striped cotton throw pillows.

Seashell Chic
The perfect finishing touch for a beach retreat has got to be seashells, so stock up on these natural home accents. Look for colorful, affordable shells like speckled sea snails or lion's paw scallops to display in an apothecary jar. Starfish, sand dollars, and sea urchins make attractive objets d'art for only $5 each, and those you find at the flea market will have lost their fishy smell! An abalone shell with its mother-of-pearl finish makes a naturally glamorous soap dish. Spectacular finds like a sea fan ($5 to $15) or a nautilus shell ($15 to $30) can stand alone as amazing organic pieces of art. And look for peachy, king-sized conchs, which run between $10 and $20 each–they make dramatic bookends.

Buoy Crazy
Glass fishing floats in blue-green and aqua evoke that ocean feeling in any room. These vintage glass buoys are still washing up on the shores of the Pacific Northwest. Baseball-sized floats sell for between $10 to $15, and larger grapefruit sized floats go for $15 to $20. Genuine floats are hand-blown, have bubbles in the glass, and have no seam. Authentic glass floats should also show serious signs of wear and tear–after all, that breakable buoy has been battered by the waves for who knows how long. Plus, the frosted effect is beautiful!

What To Shell Out
Sea Snails 50¢ to $3
Sand Dollars 50¢ to $4
Starfish $1 to $10
Sea Urchins $1 to $10
Abalone Shells $3 to $5
Scallop Shells $3 to $6
Sea Fans $5 to $15
King Conch Shells $10 to $20
Nautilus Shells $15 to $30
Ruffled Clam Shells $15 to $30

Flea Style Birdhouse

Give an unfinished birdhouse unflappable curb appeal with a colorful flea market makeover!

YOU'LL NEED
Materials
Unfinished wood birdhouse, 9" tall.
RIT dye, Kelly Green.
Clear topcoat spray paint.
Screws, 1/2", 2.
Little nails, 1/2", 38.
Big nail, 2".
Eye screw, 1 5/8".
S-hook.

From The Flea Market
License plate.
Big washer, 3/4".
Small washers, 1/2", 8.
Small nuts, 1/4", 9.
Sawtooth picture hangers, 6.
Wooden yardstick.
Bottle caps, 6.
Small buttons, various colors, 6.
Medium buttons, various colors, 6.
Keys, 6.
Post office box number plate.
Old jewelry chain, 12".

Tools & Supplies
Pyrex measuring cup.
Sponge paintbrush.
Light-duty hand saw.
Liquid Nails glue.
Teaspoon.
Chopstick.

WHAT TO DO

1. Use a chopstick to stir 11/2 teaspoons of the Kelly Green RIT dye into 1 cup of steaming hot water. Over a drop cloth, use the sponge paintbrush to stain the wooden birdhouse with the green dye. Let dry. Seal the birdhouse with a coat of clear spray paint.

2. Start adding gingerbread trim by gluing one nut to the peak of the eaves. Using the small nails and a hammer, attach the saw tooth picture hangers to the eaves of the birdhouse. Then glue the rest of the nuts and washers in a row beneath the eaves, alternating the nuts and washers.

3. To make short flowers, glue a small button onto each key. Glue the short flowers onto the sides of the birdhouse.

4. To make taller flowers, glue a medium button inside each bottlecap. Snip pieces of the chain into two-inch lengths. Using the small nails and a hammer, attach the ends of the chain lengths to the sides of the house, stretching the chain out to form the flower stems. Glue a bottle cap to the top of each chain-stem.

5. Create a fence by sawing the yardstick into 4 pieces that fit around the bottom of the birdhouse. Using the small nails and a hammer, attach the ruler pieces to the base of the birdhouse.

6. To make the roof, punch a hole in the center of the license plate using the big nail and a hammer. Bend the license plate in half over the edge of a table to form a peaked roof shape. Place the license plate on the roof of the birdhouse, then screw the eye screw through the hole in the license plate and into the birdhouse. Use small nails to nail through the sides of the license plate securing it to the roof.

7. To finish it off, use the screws and a screwdriver to attach the post office box number plate onto the birdhouse over the door.

Crafty Shopping Tip: Don't have a license to drive to the flea market? There are plenty of license plates to choose from on eBay! Whether you find one online or at the swap meet, you can expect to spend about $5 to $10.

Secret Garden Beaded Bracelet

Capture the beauty of a summer garden in full bloom with an easy-breezy beaded bracelet.

YOU'LL NEED

Materials
25 Ruby Czech glass bell-shaped flower beads, center-drilled, 8mm
7" length Sterling-plated chain, medium wide cable
25 Sterling silver 1" head pins, 22 gauge
50 Faceted Swarovski crystal bicone beads, 5mm, various colors
1 Silver lobster clasp
1 Silver jump ring

Tools & Supplies
Round-nose pliers.

WHAT TO DO
Step 1: Place 2 different colored bicone beads on a head pin. Then place a bell-shaped flower bead on the head pin so the opening of the bell faces the beads.

Step 2: Push the beads all the way down until they rest on the end of the head pin. Bend the wire 90-degrees where it exits the top of the bell-shaped flower bead. Grab the bent wire at the very tip with the round-nose pliers. Rotate the pliers to curl the wire into a complete loop. You may have to reposition the pliers halfway through.

Step 3: Repeat steps 1 and 2 to make 25 beaded flower head pins.

Step 4: To attach each flower to the chain, open the wire loop at the top of each flower with the round-nose pliers. Hook the wire through a link in the chain then close the loop again. Continue adding the flowers to links in the chain, making sure they are evenly spaced. Leave a ½" tail on one end of the chain.

Step 5: To finish the bracelet, attach the lobster clasp to the other end of the chain using a jump ring.

Crafty Shopping Tip: Consider buying your beads online. Beads are so small you can often get free shipping! Try www.artbeads.com.

Dazzling Detail: For a professional-looking finish, get 2 or 3 extra bicone beads and place them on a head pin, leaving off the flower bead. Then make a loop at the tip and attach it to the end of the bracelet.

Sweet Cupcake Ring Boxes

These mini cupcake ring boxes are so scrumptious, you'll want to whip up a whole batch! We made them for Crafts 'n Things magazine.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED
Materials
Sculpey III Oven-Bake Clay:
Chocolate #053
Dusty Rose #303
Spring Lilac #1216
Sunshine #1274
Pale Pistachio #1221
Translucent Liquid Sculpey Bakable
Transfer & Color Medium.

Tools & Supplies
Studio By Sculpey Super Slicer.
Studio By Sculpey Style & Detail Tools.
Sculpey Clay Gun: clover shape & small circle shape.
Circle cookie cutter, 1 1/8" diameter.
Rolling pin.
Wax paper.
Masking tape.
Cookie sheet.
Aluminum foil.
Old deck of playing cards.
Packing tape.
Ruler.
Fork.
Sponge paintbrush.


WHAT TO DO
1. Before you get started, cover your worktable with wax paper and secure it with masking tape.

2. To make the bottom of the ring box, slice off half of the Chocolate clay block, then condition it by working it in your hands until it is soft and pliable. To ensure your clay is rolled out evenly to the right thickness, make two stacks of playing cards with 7 cards in each stack. Tape each stack together with packing tape. Lay one stack on each side of your Sculpey. Roll out the clay with the rolling pin until the ends of the rolling pin are on top of the stacks. Your clay will be the same thickness as the stacks of cards.

3. Cut a rectangle 3¾" long and 1 1/8" wide from the rolled out Chocolate clay. Press a fork gently into one side of the rectangle to create the illusion of cupcake paper, repeating along one side to cover the piece. Use the cookie cutter to cut a circle out of the remaining rolled out clay. Stand the rectangle on its side and butt the bottom edge up against the outside edge of the circle. Curve the rectangle around the circle, pressing the bottom edges together to make a cylinder. When the sides of the rectangle meet, press them together. Burnish all the seams with the large metal ball end of the detail tool until the seams are smooth and nearly invisible.

4. To make the frosted lid, condition and roll out the Dusty Rose clay using the rolling pin and the same 7-card stacks. Cut out a circle with the cookie cutter. Make the circle slightly smaller than the bottom of the ring box by pressing the cookie cutter around the circle's outside edge, shaving off about 1/16" of the circle's diameter. Roll a snake ½" thick and 7½" long. Taper the ends with your fingers. To build a platform for the frosting swirl, roll a ball ½" in diameter, then mold it into a Hershey's Kiss shape. To make the frosting, press the end of the snake onto the outside edge of the kiss and coil the snake up and around the kiss, finishing with a swirl.

5. To make delightful sprinkles, use the extruder with the clover shape tip. Condition the Sunshine clay and press out a thin clover. Slice off with the slicer. Repeat until you have 10 Sunshine clovers. Next, use the small circle tip and the clay gun to make sprinkles in Spring Lilac and Pistachio. Press the clovers and sprinkles onto the frosted lid.

6. Bake all your pieces in a 275º F oven for 15 minutes on a cookie sheet covered with aluminum foil.

7. After the pieces have cooled, coat them with a layer of Translucent Liquid Sculpey to remove fingerprints and create a professional finish. Crumple a sheet of aluminum foil and press it out again to cover the cookie sheet. Place the coated pieces on the cookie sheet and bake again at 275º F for 15 minutes.

Tasty Twist: We adore a chocolate cupcake covered in pink frosting, but these little ring boxes also look sweet in other flavors. Try Vanilla Crème with Spring Lilac frosting or Sunshine yellow with Chocolate frosting. And don't forget the sprinkles!

Sew A Sweet Purse For Spring

Here's a fun little pocketbook to make for spring. It appeared in Crafts 'n Things.

Pretty Petite Purse

Make a mini cocktail purse perfect for a night out on the town.

YOU'LL NEED

Fabrics & Embellishments
Cotton fabric: floral, ¼ yd.
Cotton fabric: polka dot, ¼ yd.
Pellon Fusible Interfacing, ¼ yd.
Patterned red ribbon, 7/8", 60".
Gold rings, 1¼", two.
Ornate button, gold with shank, 1½".
Sew-on snap, ½" size.

Tools & Supplies
Iron & ironing board.
Pressing cloth.
Sewing needle.
Sewing machine & matching threads.

What to Do
Step 1
Place the rough side of the fusible interfacing to the wrong side of the floral fabric, cover with a damp pressing cloth, and steam the pieces together for 15 seconds.

Step 2
Cut two 7½" x 7¾" rectangles from the floral fabric and two from the polka dot fabric. Cut the 7½" sides of each rectangle so they angle inward and the top of the rectangle measures 6" and the bottom measures 7¾".

Step 3
Cut a curve into the top edge (6" side) of each piece of fabric so the center of the arc is 1" below the top. (Cut one to use as a pattern so all the curves match.)

Step 4
Place a floral and a polka dot piece together, good sides facing in. Machine sew just the curved edge using a straight stitch with a ¼" seam allowance. Repeat for the other pieces of fabric.

Step 5
Open the two pieces of fabric and place together, good sides facing in, making sure the floral fabric faces the floral fabric and the polka dot faces the polka dot. Pin all the way around the edges. Machine stitch the pieces together using a straight stitch with a ¼" seam allowance. Leave a 2" opening in the side of the polka dot fabric.

Step 6
Create "boxed corners" by pulling the fabric at one corner apart and creating a triangle with the seam line down the center. Measure 1" from the point of the triangle along the seam line and mark a straight line perpendicular to the seam. Machine stitch along this straight line. Repeat for all 4 corners.

Step 7
Turn the piece right side out. Hand sew the opening closed. Stuff the polka dot end inside the floral end to form the purse lining.

Step 8
Cut the red ribbon into two 23" lengths and machine sew together with the good sides facing out. Then cut and sew two 11" lengths of ribbon together in the same way. Center the longer ribbon on the bottom of the purse and pin it to the bottom and sides. Hand sew the ribbon into place being careful not to sew into the lining.

Step 9
Fold the end of the ribbon over 1/8" and feed it through one of the gold rings toward the inside of the purse. Pin the folded end of the ribbon to itself below the ring. Machine stitch to secure. Repeat for the other side. Attach the 11" ribbon handle to the gold rings in the same way.

Step 10
Sew the snap to the inside of the purse ½" from the top edge, being careful not to sew through to the outside fabric. Sew the glitzy button to the outside front of the purse over the snap.

Craft and Hobby Show Fun!

We just got back from this year's Craft and Hobby Show in LA! We got to see all the latest and greatest new craft goodies coming out this year. One of the highlights was the Epiphany Crafts Button Studio. You can make your own custom buttons with this cool hole punch/sticker tool. And we loved meeting Tricia Barrett, the gal behind the idea! Her booth was loaded with flea market finds, so we knew we were kindred spirits!

Cookie Party!

Our crafty Aunt Kay made us these super cute frilly aprons. So we wore them to the annual cookie party. We were voted best dressed!

Bead Heaven!

We just got back from the Bay Area Bead Extravaganza in Oakland where we finally got to meet the delightful Christi Friesen. She is a creative genius with polymer clay and author of the book Steampunkery which is not only inspiring and artistic, but also hilarious. Totally recommend!

We saw some terrific jewelry at the show and tried to restrain ourselves from buying too many sparkly things.

Some of our favorites:
Barb Switzer's wire work: http://www.beadswitzer.com/
Christi Anderson's PMC creations: http://www.elementaladornments.com/
Mikia Angel's seed bead pendant kits: www.buythekit.com/04/nikia.html

Happy beading!

Turkey Day Fun!

Check out Turkey Day Crafts For Kids, a slideshow we did for Parents Magazine's newsletter. They are all activities to keep the kiddos busy while you're prepping the Thanksgiving Feast. Happy Turkey Day!

This Topiary Is Bats!!

We made this batty topiary using black wrapped candies glued to Styrofoam. It came out so hilarious and cute! Check it out in this week's Woman's World magazine.

Jump Into Fall

Check out this piece called "8 Easy Fall Makeovers" we did for Family Circle's online newsletter. It's loaded with inexpensive, simple, and even free ideas to put your home in the fall mood!

Chinatown Girls!

What to do on a sunny day in San Francisco? Have a delightful lunch with Annie Niemiec, Editor of Pack-O-Fun! Annie was visiting from Chicago so we headed to Chinatown, had yummy Beef With Broccoli and Mao Pao Tofu, then we shopped like crazy! It was the bead store that really did us in. Can't wait to see you again, Annie!

Fall Fabulous!

The October issue of Crafts 'n Things is on sale now and it is Fall Fabulous! We love the cover craft and inside there are wonderful projects! We especially love the pretty Hankie Tote, the Birdhouse Bell Ornaments, and the embellished Towel Gift Set. Great gifts, and plenty of time to get started and finished by the holidays!

Steampunk Style

Are you loving Steampunk? Never heard of it? Here's a great introduction to Steampunk style. Look for cogs, dials, gears, watch faces, and watch hands at garage sales and flea markets. Or just buy a batch ready to be turned into cool pieces of jewelry. Only $7.85 an ounce at FireMountainGems. Steampunk rocks!

Designer Chic Cheap!

We found a pair of designer sandals for $975, then made our own for less than $20! We got the plain sandals at Payless and made the roses out of satin ribbon. See how we did it in this week's Woman's World magazine.

Beachcomber's Bath Salts

We love spa gifts. They just smell so good! We made these Beachcomber's Bath Salts by topping a jar lid with shells and sand, then filling the jar with aromatic bath salts. Our sea shells came from a trip to the beach, but you can buy shells at Michael's or the dollar store if you don't live near the shore!

Happy Birthday, America!

Get crafty this weekend and make a folk art flag using 13 yard sticks from the hardware store. (Less than $1 each!) Have a great Fourth of July!!

Steal This Palette!

Whether you are making a jewelry project, redecorating a room, or just putting together an outfit, creating a palette that works can be a little daunting. So here's a tip. Find an object you love, a painting, a scarf, or even a plate and just borrow its color palette! The colors already go together. And if the piece is current, so is your color scheme!

To see this in action, check out our latest article on HGTV.com, Color Palettes Made Easy.

Country Antiques and Folk Art Show

The Country Antiques and Folk Art Show is this Sunday in Los Altos, CA from 10am to 4pm. We went last year and were amazed at the quantity and quality of the antiques. You can expect to see wonderful folk art, samplers, and quilts. We loved last year's tramp art and hope to see more. Plus there should be lots of rustic stuff for your garden! We'll be there. Join us!

Whitewash!

We love whitewashed pieces for the garden. And guess what? You can whitewash wooden flea market finds in a snap. Just dilute white acrylic paint with water and sponge it on. You might have the urge to seal it, but leave it alone. We want that weathered look. Now we just need to make some lemonade. Pink, please.

We'd love to hear how you've decorated your garden. What are your favorite flea market finds?

Tea Time!

We can't resist vintage tea cups. We pick them up for $5 or less at garage sales, flea markets, and thrift stores. When we're not having a fancy tea party (complete with hats!), we like to turn them into pretty tea cup candles. They make great hostess gifts or a sweet thank you for someone special. And you can't believe how easy this craft is! Check out this week's Woman's World magazine for step-by-step instructions.

Make The Hottest "Mom" Necklace In Hollywood

Check out the May 3rd issue of Woman's World Magazine to see how we made a glitzy, personalized necklace perfect for Mother's Day. We think ours is prettier than Britney's!

Everything's Coming Up Rosettes!

Everywhere we turn we are seeing roses! Prima has released a garden of amazing fabric flowers. You can use them on your scrapbook pages, to make dimensional cards, or even to create jewelry. We love this gorgeous bib necklace featured in their Idea Gallery. Plus, you can buy the flowers by the tub! We love a tub of flowers.

Hedgie!

The forest friends get cuter by the minute. We found this darling decal on etsy. It's meant to be a wall decoration, but we think it would be super cute to use it as a stencil on a cigar box purse. Place Hedgie on the wooden surface then paint right over him using the decal as a mask. Then remove the decal. We'd give him a rhinestone to add a little glitz!

Hoot! Hoot!

The woodland creatures trend continues with some of the cutest owl rubber stamps we have ever seen. Hero Arts has loads of them. Just go to their web site and type "owl" in the search box. Then just try to decide which one to get! (Is this a rare Spotted Owl?! What a sighting!)

Squirrel Crazy!

We love the woodland creatures trend. At the winter Craft & Hobby Show, we saw deer, birdies, porcupines, bunnies, and owls on everything from scrapbook papers and stickers to rubber stamps and embellishments. It made us want to add cute critters to all our crafts. Check out this cute squirrel charm we found. We just might have to order a forest full!

Miracle Memo Board

This magnetic memo board from The Paper Source has changed our lives! Okay, maybe that's a little strong. But it keeps our to-do lists front and center on our desks. Kitty even made fancy magnets for hers out of glitzy vintage brooches. So pretty!

Key Discovery

We went to the flea market looking for skeleton keys and discovered...furniture keys! They are like small skeleton keys and were used to lock cabinets and drawers in old furniture. The best part is, they are abundant and cheap! You can find them for as little as $1 each! We plan to use them in jewelry and home dec projects. Steampunk style!

White Elephant Sale

Wow, what a sale! We previewed the Oakland Museum Women's Board's annual White Elephant Sale on Sunday. They describe it as, "the biggest, the best and certainly the most enjoyable rummage sale in Northern California." It is huge, the prices are crazy low, and the stuff is amazing. From everyday household goods to vintage collectibles and antique furniture. We picked up sheet music, old buttons, skeleton keys, and bags of wooden spools. Plus we found a working brass chandelier to makeover for Bead Unique. Only $10!

The White Elephant Sale will take place on March 6th and 7th in Oakland. It's a must!

www.whiteelephantsale.org

All American Craft Gals

We just got back from the Craft and Hobby Show in Anaheim. Highlights included visiting with Beverly Hotz (yellow scarf), editor of Create & Decorate magazine, and Pamela Hawkins (holding magazine), editor of Bead Unique magazine. It was so much fun to see them in person and brainstorm ideas for our columns. Look for steampunk-style flea market makeovers coming soon!

Contain Your Clutter For Free (Or Almost Free)

Seems like New Year's resolutions always include getting organized. But shopping at The Container Store is so expensive! Guess what?! You already have great containers at your fingertips.

Turn empty oatmeal canisters into craft containers - just cover them with scrapbook paper and make cute labels. Hang an extra canvas tote in the garage to corral your gardening tools, hat, and gloves. Since you never really use your picnic basket, put it to work in the bathroom to hold hairbrushes, curling irons, and your blow dryer. If you don't have one, they are cheap at the flea market and come in all sizes!  Just get creative and get organized!

Get A Jump On Your Christmas Shopping

This weekend we will be participating in the annual Holiday sale at A Room With A Past. We made Venetian glass earrings with Swarovski crystals which we displayed in darling silver cupcake cups stuffed with pink shred. We placed the delicious looking treats on a three-tiered cake stand made from flea market china and crystal candlesticks. We thought the look would go well with all the fabulous shabby chic flea market finds they have at A Room With A Past. Great prices too. If you live in the Bay area, come by and check it out!

And if you don't live in the Bay area, you can buy our crafts at www.RunningWithSisters.com

Card Tricks

It's Christmas card time. And...surprise! We like to make our own. Provo sent us their new Yudu to try out. (Thanks Provo!) It is a personal silkscreen printing system and worked well for making dozens of cards with the same design. We made the image in Photoshop using clip art from ClipArt.com. Then we started printing just like a tiny sweatshop! We finished the cards off with sparkly Swarovski rhinestones.

Check out the how-to video from ProvoCraft.

Bead Babe Bargains

We just ordered a slew of great beads and toggles from www.BeadBabe.com. We especially love their clasps. And best of all...the prices! Only $2.24 for two sets of this lovely copper-plated toggle. Great for us Recessionistas who can't stop beading no matter what. Thank you Bead Babe!

On The Cover Of The Rolling Stone!

Check out our new column in Bead Unique. We make crazy beaded things with flea market finds. We are so excited to be part of this awesome magazine. Plus our names made the cover!! "Make a Noteworthy beaded purse with the O'Neil Sisters." Almost famous!

Halloween Chic!

This Friday we are headed to A Room With A Past. This shabby chic flea market is open four days a month and has room after room filled with antique furniture and vintage delights. And this month they are all dressed up for Halloween! If you are in the Bay area, check it out! www.roomwithapast.com

Bead Soup!

We had the pleasure of visiting the Seattle area last week to celebrate our great aunt Lilli's 100th birthday. (Hope we got those genes!) We took the chance to drop in on one of our favorite bead stores. Beads of Bainbridge is located on the main shopping street, Winslow Way. Wonderful gemstones and lovely staff. We were there for hours!

Flea Market Masterpiece

We had a blast at the Alameda Antique Faire this past Sunday. Jennifer bought watch faces and apothecary bottles. Kitty splurged on a Chinese calligraphy brush with a carved jade handle. But the find of the day was this charming painting of these cute little dogs. It wins Best In Show!

Crafts and things.....

We just got back from the summer Craft and Hobby Show in Orlando. One of our favorite new items was Plaid Simply Silkscreen, a cool stencil printed on a fine screen for silkscreening without the fuss. And a highlight was definitely dinner with Abby Foster, Editor of Crafts 'n Things magazine. She's a doll!

Flying Colors

We are seeing in Technicolor! We just returned from a mind-blowing training course in color design with color guru Leatrice Eiseman. We learned about the psychology of color and how to forecast color trends. (The color of the year is Mimosa!)

If you can't travel to beautiful Bainbridge Island for her class, you can check out her book Color Messages and Meanings.

Hit The Beach!

It's summer time and the living is easy. Easy as a no-sew towel tote! Check out our cute canvas beach bag in this week's issue of Woman's World magazine. On newsstands now!

Whoo Can It Be Now?

We love how trendy owls are right now -- we are seeing them on everything from t-shirts and totes to pillows and pendants! We remember when they were popular in the 70s (who could forget a macrame owl necklace with dangly rhinestone eyes?). The owls we see today are so much cuter. What a hoot!

Sculpey Day!

We just got a bunch of Studio by Sculpey polymer clay from the folks at Sculpey. (Thanks Polyform!) So we decided to have a Sculpey Day! The colors are amazing. We hand sculpted beads and made focal pendants with rubber stamps. Gorgeous!

Happy Easter!

.

Flea markets have the best old school crafts!
Don't these little egg cups make you want to break out the glitter and chenille chicks?