Rainy days in Georgia and other ramblings.

We have had the rain. All outdoor sports were cancelled, so my son was bummed about missing baseball. Daughter's volleyball game was on and they won! All in all, not such a bad weekend, we got several games of Monopoly in. My seven year old played his dad a few times and kept winning. He also bragged about it. My husband thought this very funny, especially that he came to me to tell me how badly he was beating his daddy.

Lo and behold, I beat everyone on Sunday for our one hour time limited game. Such fun playing board games with children. You learn a lot by doing this.

I also found time to work on my Happily Handmade Giveaway page that will be up on Wednesday, April 1st. No joke!
Be sure to stop by Dee-Zigns' website and register to win.

My daughter wanted to create a logo for her jewelry business, yes the apple doesn't fall far from tree. She's been making earrings like crazy ever since she got her ears pierced. This is the logo she came up with.

This Saturday, April 4th, I will be at the Sweet Apple Village Market, in Roswell, Georgia for a soft opening from 11am-5pm. I will have a lot of one of a kind jewelry for Spring and Summer, including my new metals collection. I don't know what other vendors will be there, but when I find out, I'll post them. The Sweet Apple Village Market will officially open June 6th, with a market every Saturday and Sunday. All the neighborhoods around have been anxiously awaiting the opening.

Going now to ask the rain gods to skip this Saturday, so we can have a fun and beautiful day!

My mom, the blogger.

I know so many family bloggers, usually moms and daughters, or sisters. We women are the creative ones and love to talk, right?

I have learned many "new" things about my mom from reading her blog. She swears she's told me these little stories before, but I guess my memory has gone to the toilet, because I swear, I've never heard them before.

Take for example her recurring dream, you can read it here. It gave me the heebee, geebees when I read it. I wasn't surprised, she's always telling me things that send goosebumps up my arms. Like the fact that there's a poltergeist living in her house, it's a huge 100 year old house with creeky floors. My sister, who lives there as well (my mom and sister share this huge old house in Kinston, NC), says the same thing. This drives me nuts! I don't want to know! They think its funny and fascinating, I don't.

I'm the chicken that still cannot look at a fly the same way, after seeing the original movie "The Fly" when I was a tween. If I remember correctly, mom and dad were out for the evening, and my aunt was babysitting and she loves scary movies. So we watched it. OMG! That was the most horrific movie I had seen up to that point in my young life. I've had nightmares ever since. It took me years to get over seeing "Alien" when I was 18. Now, it fascinates me and I've seen all the "Alien" movies with Sigourney Weaver.

Happily Handmade Giveaway begins April 1st

The Happily Handmade Giveaway is back, woo-hoo! If you haven't heard about it before, the HHG, is a massive giveaway created in appreciation of indie shoppers everywhere. They took a much needed break for 2 years, regrouped with a new website and new logo and are back and better than ever! As a shopper, you can be generously rewarded for your continued support of indie businesses. You can feel good about making the conscious decision to shop indie and limit your big box purchases.

The Happily Handmade Giveaway began in 2004 as the result of a brainstorming session among several indie artists looking for a unque way to promote their businesses and reward their customers. The last event gave away nearly $15,000 worth of indie merchandise to 51 lucky shoppers around the world.

The 8th event begins April 1st with entry forms easily found on each sponsors' website. Mark the date and go to Dee-Zigns Handcrafted Jewelry & Accessories to enter to win fabulous prizes (all handmade, of course) worth around $250!

Since I'm one of the sponsors, I'll have the huge sponsor list posted on Dee-Zigns website. The Farrah Earrings and the Sun Necklace are two of the eleven items I donated. Check back often for additional details.

Going on a Blog Hunt!

I saw this on Scoutie girl and decided to put my list together. I enjoyed visiting blogs that I haven't (I'm sorry to say) visited in a while. Be sure to stop by each one and see for yourself what incredible writing there is to be read out there in cyberspace. And please let me know what you think of my list!


{image + game via marta writes}
play along if you please.
link it up. spread the love.


link a blogger who...

has an online shop: The Pear Project
has flawless taste: just beachy
has admirable qualities: purplepinkandorange
has awesome links to other blogs: scoutie girl
is an artist: Peggy Li Jewelry
is intriguing: Mimi Love 4 ever
is a daily read: youlookfab
is an old favorite: fashionista
is creative: Orange you lucky
is a designer: the material girls
is wildly prolific: indiefixx
features fabulous layouts: modish
features loveliness: MissMalaprop
features fantasticness: Indie Collective
lives far away: Mixed Plate
lives pretty close: Funky utopia
lives pretty far: desire to inspire
takes fantastic photographs: heather bullard
tells great stories: Gaston Studio
crafts up a storm: Craftster
writes about life: blissfully caffeinated
gives fabulous recipes: the pioneer woman
gives fabulous tips: Modish Biz Tips
makes me want to be her best friend: laurenandkellytalk
makes me believe in the goodness of people: dollar philanthropy
makes me laugh: dooce

March Clearance Sale

Its time to take advantage of the serious March Clearance Sale going on at Dee-Zigns Handcrafted Jewelry. Seriously, I am cleaning house and making room for new items for Spring and Summer. More than 70 handmade jewelry treasures are on sale with earrings starting at $10.40.

This is a perfect opportunity to rack up on the deals, before Easter and Mother's Day rolls around, to give your loved ones a one of a kind gift. If you've had your eye on anything on my website, now is the time to buy!

Animals are creatures of habit.

Whoever said, "Animals are creatures of habit" sure knew a thing or two.

Case in point, after I kiss my kids and send them to the bus stop, my dog, Collins, and cat, Kitty go running to the kitchen. They are expecting their breakfast. I got into the habit of feeding them after the kids left for school and I had my second or third cup of coffee.

Collins is my male comrade and office/studio companion. He is truly a male in every way. Once he finishes his meals (two a day), he wants to go do "his business". I can set my clock by him. (she pauses) Sorry, had to go let Collins outside. He got ancy and gave me a quick "ruff" which means, stop typing now, turn around and come let me outside - now!

Kitty is our male cat, yes a male cat named Kitty. My daughter named him, after a visit to my mother's house, which led to us adopting this sweet little guy. At that time, my mom had three cats of her own, and didn't want a fourth. Mom acquired Kitty after rescuing him from several large dogs. The timing couldn't have been more perfect. Fresh victims were about to enter the adoption zone... my kids and I! Erika fell in love immediately and wanted to take him home. Mom had no offers, so after several days of Kitty cuddling with me, I caved. See the picture of Kitty sitting in the light box I set up to take jewelry photos for my website. Click on the photo to enlarge and you'll see the necklace peeking out from under his bottom. He's a typical male, always trying to get my attention. :)



After Kitty eats, he is ready to aggravate Collins! He's such a tease and dances around my legs which makes Collins nuts. So they start the game and eventually must be sent out of the room. The chase is on, up the front stairs, down the hall, down the back stairs. That 9 lb. cat sounds like a herd of elephants. Collins, at 82 lbs. always sounds like a herd.

They crack me up and make me smile. Animals, you gotta love 'em.

Erin go braugh!

It's 7:33am and I know first hand the Irish party-goers in Savannah, GA have been going at it for sometime.

How would I know? Many years ago, as a young Lass growing up in Savannah, my friends and I would begin the day with green eggs, green bagels, green beer and any thing else dyed green to begin a fun filled St. Patrick's Day. We would make our way to Riverstreet and meet up with other friends and family members. If you weren't wearing green, you'd be pinched! I was covered head to toe! It's all about the wearing, eating, drinking and celebrating of the green.

St. Paddy's Day is an event not to be missed in Savannah, it is one of the biggest celebrations in the United States. The parade is something special every young child should witness. Have I taken my kids to Savannah for St. Paddy's day? No. Maybe next year. Even though Savannah literally shuts down for this special day, other cities don't and its hard taking children out of school to go party on Riverstreet with their parents.

According to the Savannah Visitors and Convention Bureau, 400,000 visitors are expected for the 3-hour parade on March 17, traveling from all over to celebrate this month long event. No, its not a one day event, Savannah celebrates all month.

Get free priority mail shipping at Dee-Zigns all day today, use coupon code GREEN at checkout.

How much dirt is too much?

I don't walk around with a dust buster behind my kids (anymore) so I'm okay with a little dirt and a little mess. I want my kids to have fun and I am not going to stress over every little thing out of place and the house not in perfect order. I have chilled tremendously about keeping a perfect house! Life's too short, right?

And I realize how great it is to have children that want to play outside. The stream (maybe its a lake) behind our house fascinates my kids. They find various items around the water and have made secret hideouts with the neighbor kids. But water is water, and there is something alluring about putting your hands in the water, next comes the feet and before you know it, they are filthy and wet.

My big complaint - the dirt! The amount of dirt they collect on their bodies, shoes and clothing is mind boggling. The process just to get "clean" to come into the house is truly exasperating. Take off your filthy shoes, (whine) now the socks, oooh, they are wet and filthy. Okay, son, you are so disgustingly dirty you must strip down in the garage. Go scrub your hands and fingernails (more whining). I need one of those outside showers you see at the beach. Daughter fusses, telling me she's not that dirty. Uh-huh.

I have friends that would love to see their kids play outside instead of sitting in from of the tv or computer or even playing on the Wii, X box or any other gaming device. These kids are probably clean and neat.

The shoes are a huge problem, I have purchased boot scrapers (you know, the cute animal kind) to help them clean their shoes off before coming inside. Well, a boot/shoe scraper doesn't work if you don't use it.

Don't get me started on the laundry. I have tried every stain remover to remove said stains. The clothes are so bad they need cleaning before they go into the washer. What's a mother to do?

So seriously, how much dirt is too much? Any suggestions on ways to control the dirt before it is deposited into our house will be happily noted.

Green for Spring

I was happy to see this post titled "Green is trending for Spring" as anyone who knows me, knows I love the color green. I especially love the green trench coat Angie featured on Nordstrom website priced at $128. There is a red one featured on the same page that caught my eye because red is my all time favorite!

I'll never forget a night a neighbor stopped by to purchase a gift, naturally I had all my jewelry on display in the dining room (the life of a WAHM selling her wares from her house). After Janie (not her real name), perused the jewelry, she commented with a giggle "You really like the color green". I cracked up, walked over and sure enough, I had many one of a kind jewelry pieces in various shades of green. Not everyone likes green.

When we moved back to Atlanta, I decided on a fresh grass green, Baize Green from Sherwin Williams, for my 2-story foyer, up the stairs and down the hallway. In this dining room I went with a slightly darker shade aptly named Great Green, above the chair rail and a darker shade, Leapfrog, below the chair rail. I love it and will probably never tire of it. My husband, not so much. After 20 months, he's never said he likes it. He's more of a blue guy!

You can find many shades of green in my handmade jewelry at Dee-Zigns. One of my favorites is the Josie Necklace shown below.

Goody bags at birthday parties.

This has bugged me for years, what insane mother started giving goody bags to their child's birthday guest when they leave the birthday party? Are you kidding me? This has never made sense to me. The birthday child is the guest of honor. The children invited to the party should not be given gifts for attending a friend's birthday party. The "gift" of friendship should be enough. Are we teaching our kids they should for friendship? Think about it.

I especially don't like the junk that is typically in a goody bag. Usually plastic trinkets and candy that probably cost the parents a small fortune. How, pray tell, do I know filling goody bags can cost a small fortune? Because I have been there, done that! I have purchased little crap from the party companies and taken great pain choosing neat stuff and have spent upwards of $15 per bag. Kid's birthday parties are so outrageously expensive (read - over the top) why spend additional money when it isn't unnecessary.

Why did I do this? Because everybody does it and I didn't want anyone thinking less of me for not doing it. Well now I say, forget about it! And if you are going to think less of me, so be it. You and I probably wouldn't have been BFF anyway.

So enough with the goody bags! Kids are already on a sugar high when they leave the party, they don't need extra candy from the goody bag. The children may play with the plastic trinket for a minute, or less, then the parents are left picking up plastic trinkets from the car floor or pulling them out of the vacuum.

Okay, I'm finished with my rant, what do you think?

Snow storm and jewelry market in Atlanta.

Last Sunday, I participated in Spruill Center for the Arts 1st Annual Jewelry Market (Dunwoody, GA) and offered my new Metals collection. The day began cold and rainy with the weather people predicting snow, severe winter weather, they called it. Yeah, sure, the day before it was almost 70! But as we finished setting up our space, we saw a few snow flakes. Nice.

Atlantans go nuts when they hear the word snow, so the organizers and the participants at Spruill's jewelry market were not expecting many shoppers. Boy, were we wrong! Surprisingly, people began flowing in doning galoshes, snow boots, hats, gloves, scarves and umbrellas! I looked outside and saw that it was snowing heavily. It wasn't keeping them away. In fact, people were excited about the weather and didn't want to stay home as recommended by the weather people. They had been anticipating Spruill's jewelry market and wanted to see the many artist displaying their handcrafted jewelry. A lot of gorgeous jewelry went home to happy people through-out Atlanta. It turned out to be a wonderful event and a successful one at that.