Peek at My Week - April 15-21

I better get this post up before I let this week slip away from me! Let's get to it and have a peek at my week.

This little guy was one of my experiments for The 100 Day project. Actually, he didn't have the eyes originally, but I added them once I realized it looked like an elephant. (It was NOT supposed to look like an elephant, but I went with it once I realized it wasn't just me who saw it.)

Here are all the pieces I made for the project last week. 

They're mostly jewelry bits with a decorated envelope thrown in.

On Sunday, my wild blackberry (Dewberry) picking began in earnest.

After some yard work, Pat and I took the puppy out for a walk along Mobile Bay - stopping for coffee on the way home. 

Monday is almost always about running errands.

I had to re-organize the booth at Southern Antiques and Accents before Ladies' Night, do the grocery shopping for the week, and stock up on some books at the library.

Tuesday was a mixed bag of activities.

I started the day with some outside activities, including trying to collect eggs (that was waylayed by a laying hen) and spotting a still dragonfly while out collecting berries. 

I listed a pair of earrings in the Etsy shop (which are now in the hands of their new owner.)

Deciding that Tuesdays will now be my "baking day", I made a half batch of my Easy Granola along with Double Lemon Poppyseed Muffins to cover several breakfasts for the week. 

On Wednesday, I was at my mom's but was able to list this awesome Tin Edge bracelet (it also sold). Y'all should totally hit up the Etsy shop!

Thursday was all about making earrings for We're all Ears.

You can see that my first pair went through several versions (I kept trying to make them jellyfish) before settling on the more simple version I revealed. 

I also decided to bake just one more thing - this Mocha cake. 

I spent Friday cleaning house and working on projects in the craft room. That's where I was when I spotted a weird bug formation outside the window. On closer inspection, I found termites all over a stump. It was so freaky-cool. They were gone by the next day. (no worries.)

The pool's been looking better and better. Despite it still being quite cool, we worked all Saturday morning on getting the area around it in better shape. 

After lunch, we took Zoe down to the Earth Day Mobile Bay festivities next to the Bay. It was an absolutely beautiful day.

Since the pool area was in good shape, and it was a gorgeous day; we invited friends over to grill out. I didn't get a picture of all that but did capture the beauty of the Japanese Maple tree off our back deck. Check out the spectrum of colors!!

So, that was my week in a nutshell. This one is already nuts and it's starting to get away from me. What filled your week?

Paradise Calling Challenge for We're All Ears

Each month, Erin at Earrings Everyday poses a challenge for the readers. It's called the We're All Ears challenge. This month, she chose "Paradise Calling" as she was about to leave for the Humblebeads Bead Cruise and a paradise of her own. Today's reveal day! 

I suppose each person has their own vision of paradise, but mine has always, always been the beach. It's the water that calls to me - the weightless bliss of floating in it and the rhythmic sound of the waves. I will never get enough. It's lucky that I live so close to Alabama's beautiful Gulf Coast. 

And, while our beaches are superb, images from our vacation to Aruba many years ago are what sprung to mind. First and foremost, that crystal clear water was not to be missed.

I wanted to evoke the translucent quality, the blue, and the peacefulness of water with this first pair of earrings. 

I used fairy flowers from Mermaid Glass and lampwork glass spacers from StudioJuls. Silver-tone wire was chosen for its fresh feeling. These pieces were paired with bead caps from Patina Queen. 

Thinking about vacation and spending time at the beach makes me long for a rum drink or two. While in Aruba, we tried mojitos for the first time. They're definitely one of my favorite beach-side beverages. 

Made of rum, simple syrup, mint, soda water, and lime and served over ice; they are crisp and clean-tasting. I let the colors and feel of a mojito inspire these next earrings.

Green was an obvious choice, though I had a hard time deciding what shade, finally setting on these Czech glass ones to represent the lime and mint. Simple clear faceted glass rondelles were stacked on the top as the simple syrup and soda water. It needed a little something more, so I chose pewter-colored blanks from Vintaj and embossed them with squares to signify the ice. 

While mojitos are wonderfully refreshing, bushwackers are much heavier and more decadent. 

They're also made with rum, but include cream and/or ice cream, coffee liqueur, cream de cacao, coconut milk, and chocolate syrup. These are blended with ice and often served with whipped cream and a cherry. They're like a milkshake, with alcohol.

I used mother of pearl buttons because they're as heavy and creamy as the ingredients blended together. Deep brown glass pearls are silky and remind me of the chocolate. I topped the pearls with little white beads like the whipped cream on top.

Even after a full day at the beach, at the end of the day, I can hardly resist a beach sunset. My phone and camera are full of sunset photos. Here are just a few of them.

But, the one I let guide my inspiration was yet another photo from Aruba.

I really love how the colors just meld together. It's hard to make beads meld, but it was easy enough to stack the colors. 

I used faceted glass beads in orange, yellow, and deep blue to represent the sky of a sunset. Then, I embossed dark Vintaj blanks with a pattern that looks like moving water. 

I have to admit that I made all of these within an hour or two in a very rushed manner. But it was so nice to just think about the beach for a little while. Thanks for that bit of a mini vacation, Erin. 

I'm looking forward to seeing how everyone else interprets this challenge. Make sure to head over to Earrings Everyday and see for yourself. 

DIY Junk Drawer Wind Chimes

Earth Day is just a few days away, and enjoying the outdoors seems the right way to celebrate.  Making a wind chime from "junk" to honor the day and brighten your own outdoor space could be the encouragement you need to get out there. This project uses materials that might otherwise wind up in our landfills. I hope it reminds you that istead of polluting our environment, we can enhance it! 

While preparing my Earth Day Project Inspiration post last week, the upcycled wind chime caught my attention (and many of yours too). I did an image search to find the original post but to no avail. Being inspired by my own inspiration roundup, I decided to make my own wind chimes to share.

It was as simple as gathering junk drawer items: keys, broken jewelry, buttons, crystals, hardware, etc.; stringing them together; and attaching them to a base. Since I wanted to use recycled items as much as possible, tuna cans were the base. Of course, any kind of can would work, or you could use cookie cutters like the original image. 

Spring has finally sprung here in South Alabama (I think). While it's still a little chilly in the mornings, the afternoons are sublime. And, I've been finding it hard to stay inside when it's been so glorious outside. These windchimes have brightened up my outdoor space and made it even more inviting. 

I'd love for all of us to find a way to recycle some of the junk we have in our homes and enjoy nature, so I made a video of the process used to make the wind chimes.

If any of the steps are unclear or you have any questions about how to make your own, please don't hesitate to task. And, if you do make one, please share it.

These were so very simple to make. I can't wait to create more and try to use up all the excess supplies I have collected. What a wonderful way to upcycle!

Now, go outside and enjoy our Earth! I plan on it.

I've linked this up at Home and Garden Thursday on A Delightsome Life, Saturday Sharefest at The Sway, Friday Frenzy at Trampling Rose, Sweet Inspiration Link Party at Vintage Southern Picks, Saturday Sparks Link Party at Pieced Pastimes, DIY Salvaged Junk Projects at Funky Junk Interiors, and the Recipe and DIY Linky at The Sway. 

Southern Antiques and Accents - April Ladies' Night

I stopped in at Southern Antiques and Accents in Fairhope (Greeno location) to update the booth a little and make sure it's ready for Ladies' Night. 

Hey! That's tonight! If you're in the Fairhope, AL area this evening, you ought to drop by SAA and take advantage of the sales. Everything in the shop is usually 10% off and some of the booths have even more savings!

As for what's in my booth, I only added a few new pieces from last month and swapped around a couple others. Mainly, the top display was changed out. 

Here's another shelf where the changes are noticeable. 

If you want to see more, you ought to head over to Southern Antiques and Accents to check it out!

Peek at My Week - April 8-14

This week seemed to totally fly by, but I got tons accomplished for the most part, and that's a really great thing. Unfortunately, prolific picture-taking wasn't one of the things I accomplished. In any case, here's a little peek at what went down in my corner of the world. 

First off, I continued working on #The100DayProject with my goal of altering something every day for the 100 days. My personal hashtag on Instagram is #altering100 where you can see not only the end results (above) but also pictures of the before and some of the processes. Some of these were pretty quick projects while others took over my whole day (Days 11 & 12 were huge time sucks, but so much fun).

As for what else I did during the week; 

On Monday, I took several items up to the booth at Southern Antiques and Accents before tackling other errands like grocery shopping.

I also listed these Pineapple-Quartz and Chain Earrings in the Etsy shop. 

Tuesday was a full day, but I can't remember what it was full of. 

I re-listed this Pearl Sphere Long Necklace.

And, there were a few minutes for Art Journaling while my broccoli roasted. But, that's about all I can recall. I think I worked on quite a bit of jewelry but somehow forgot to take pictures of any of it. 

Before leaving for my mom's house on Wednesday morning, I made listed the beautiful Rusty Filigree and Rosary Bead Earrings.

And, I got product photographs taken while at my mom's. It was a really beautiful day, perfect for picture-taking. 

Thursday was another lovely day. It began with my discovery of the first ripe blackberry of the season. What a happy surprise! Of course, I've been out every day since picking berries as they ripen.

Later in the day, I found myself just sitting outside and soaking in the gorgeous weather. It was really sublime. 

The majority of Friday was spent on working on that day's contribution for #The100DayProject. After posting about fun projects for Earth Day, I was inspired to try the upcycled wind chimes. I used a tuna can as the base and even made a tutorial (be sure to keep an eye out for that in the next several days!)

These Teardrop Clay and Filigree Earrings went up on Etsy. 

We took it easy Friday evening, even the animals were way chill. 

Of course, they weren't in there at the same time, but that would have been nice (One day maybe!)

Saturday was consumed with watching this storm. We had planned to go to the wedding of some friends, but I'm a wuss when it comes to bad storms and being in the car. So, we stayed home. And, I obsessed instead on my #Altering100 project. But, I did get to see another new episode of Trading Spaces. Y'all, that was my favorite show back when it was new. It's fun to watch some new episodes of it. Are you a fan?

That about sums up the week: not too much excitement, but full. 

What did you do this past week?

Project Inspiration: Earth Day

I'm working on keeping up with the Project Inspiration series that showcases inspiring projects for each season/holiday. I've only made two of these previously for St. Patrick's Day and Easter, but I think they're a great way to give and get a little crafty motivation. Today I'm focusing on Earth Day.

The observance of Earth Day occurs on April 22 each year, and according to the Old Farmer's Almanac, the observance began in 1970 to gather attention about environmental issues. The Earth Day Network has made this year's focus on putting an end to plastic pollution. There are loads of links and information on their site about this endeavor and the harmful effects of plastics on our environment. 

Of course, you can also make your Earth Day about planting a tree or collecting trash or any other activity that makes our world a cleaner place to live.  Here are some of the crafty projects I've found for Earth Day. 

This first one is all about recycling AND planting. What's better than a two-for-one? Chelsey at Buggy and Buddy shares how to Make Seed Balls out of Recycled Paper. Spreading green and reducing waste will make your heart happy.

I've always dreamed of having a greenhouse made from old windows like this one from Apartment Therapy. Again, it's not only recycling old windows but also promotes planting. Win-win!

If repurposing and recycling in a quick project is more your speed, you've come to the right place - that's my speed too. 

Upcycling tin cans into something functional has been a popular project for ages, and it just never gets old. This Rustic Recycled Tin Can Organizer from Homeroad showcases a new take on the tin-can organizer.  

I've even made my own versions of the simple project, integrating a little mixed-media art to jazz up my organizing. 

There's something really special about these junk drawer windchimes I found on WallaceGardens. Think of all the little bits and pieces you can wire up and upcycle into these. And, even better - use one of those tin cans as the base! Yeah, I may have to make one (or two or an army) of these.

Take a look around your home and find ways to improve and re-use something you might otherwise throw away. I made these Upcycled Mixed Media Magnets from advertising magnets that were destined for the trash. The were fun to make too.

How about repurposing some of those finds from the thrift store?

I know I've found embroidery hoops, lace and ribbon, and old doilies at my local thrift stores. In fact, I've bought them. There's a distinct possibility I may make a Vintage Style Crochet and Lace Dreamcatcher like this one from Flamingo Toes. It's dreamy, isn't it?

You can also use those thrift store finds to help others, like the birds. Sadie Seasongoods has gathered 20 Upcycled Ideas for Birds. These projects are not only eco-friendly, they're also pretty cute too. 

Of course, if you want to make something that's specifically for Earth Day, you can download this Earth Day Cross Stitch Pattern from Serenitas Designs. 

That's just a few of the ideas out there for projects you can make to embrace Earth Day. I'd love to know if you have any ideas or projects you turn to to help the planet. Let me know in the comments!