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!

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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?

Antique Mall Madness

We love antiques! Big surprise. So yesterday we visited Olde Towne Antiques in Dublin, CA. Wow! This is a place has a lot of good stuff. A huge selection of old magazines (great for papercrafts), old advertisements (suitable for framing), and vintage kitchenalia. We were super excited by the old beads, buttons & notions. Great for crafting!