More Chairs, Part Five

This Chair is from Midnight Snack.


This chair is from Ferrochie.

See previous chair posts here.

Tomorrow is the Day!

The 4th Annual Jingle Bash is tomorrow! So excited! This is my fourth year participating and it is always such a great show! If you're in town, c'mon by and check it out! All the details are here. You're invited to join in all the fun!

Wordless Wednesday: Chocolate

A Very Windy Day

I was at the White Rock Local Market yesterday and it was incredibly windy. From the weather reports, sounds like we had 35 mph wind gusts through the morning. Wow!

Thank you to all the cooperative people who helped hold things down during the big gusts and helped us all keep a sense of humor. There were many Wizard of Oz jokes.

I was delighted to get home and have a hot cup of tea!

See you there next month hopefully sans wind! :)

Saturday Search: luchadors

This little guy made me giggle. I hope he makes you giggle to. See him in his home shop here.

More Chairs, Part Four

This chair is by The Pig and The Peacock. A little birdie told me the peacock's head is made from soap.

See previous chair posts here.

Wordless Wednesday: Musical

More on the Chairs, Part Three

Here's a peek at another chair from the Etsy Dallas charity event.

This one is from Rachel of ReGeared.

I love the unique interpretations each artist gave their chair.

See previous chair posts here.

Wordless Wednesday: Magnolia

More Chairs, Part Two

This chair from Anne of Modest Ambition.

This chair from Cindy of Yellow Bug Boutique.

Check out the previous chair post here.

Third Thursday: Owl-O-Ween

Third Thursday at the Trinity River Audubon Center was so much fun this past week! Third Thursday is like an open house kind of evening once a month where fees are waived and the public is welcome to explore the center.

I love this cool owl costume, don't you? The person wearing it made it themselves! Nice work!

The Center was celebrating Owl-O-Ween! They had several types of live owls there on display and experts were talking about the differences between many kinds of owls and answering questions.


There was a group lead on an "Owl Prowl" and all kinds of fun owl-centric activities.

They were all beautiful and I wanted to take them all home with me.

Wordless Wednesday: Birdcage

A Quickie Update

I posted an invitation to the Etsy Dallas Charity Event recently. I just wanted to give a quick update that we raised $1326 for the Dallas Children's Advocacy Center. YAY! As soon as they are available, I will post some pictures of the chairs that were sold to raise these funds going to a great cause.

Here's a sneak peak of one of the chairs from Regal Cottage called The Sweetest Matryoshka and her Regal Chair.

More photos to come soon!

Wordless Wednesday: Spain

Sign up to win a Pair of Eco Chic Bobbies!

Be sure to stop by DarcyandBrian.com to sign up to win a pair of my Eco Chic Candy Wrapper Bobbies. These are a lovely treat for Halloween without sugar! :)

Good Luck, I hope you win!

Friday Finds: Magenta

It's Tonight! Hope to see you there!

Wordless Wednesday: Cowl

EcoMonday: Farmer's Market

This weekend, I had a booth at the White Rock Local Market. Many vendors were concerned about the possible traffic because it was a huge sports weekend in DFW. Although traffic was a little lighter than usual this month, I think the buzz is building for the next couple months and we had a great time. Have you thought about where you might do your holiday shopping this year? The Farmer's Market is a great place to find fresh produce and herbs, handmade soaps, wines, olive oil, and handmade goodies of all kinds.

I love selling at the WRLM -- everyone is SO nice! I can meet other vendors, get first pick of awesome produce and learn what other small businesses are in town. Being there builds a sense of community and it's great to see the same faces each month. There are always babies, kids and animals -- a true eye buffet that keeps things light and entertaining.

It's so important to support your local Farmer's Market and local economy. Find a Farmer's Market close to you by entering your zip code at localharvest.org

Happy Eco Monday!

Friday Finds: Watercolour Bird

Wordless Wednesday: Peaceful

What About Anniversary Gifts? Year One

Anniversaries are the celebration of a date when something special happened. The founding of a country or date of a wedding. For wedding anniversaries, there is a set tradition of what makes an appropriate gift. I'm starting a special series here to discuss the traditional and modern twist suggestions with options of handmade items that would make lovely gifts that mark a special occasion.

The first year gift tradition is paper. So, something like this personalized stationery would be a thoughtful and beautiful gift.

ColorBoxDesign has a beautiful array of letterpress monograms to choose from - I'm partial to these Victorian Notecards, $20/set








A more modern twist on first year anniversary gifts is clocks.

This Recycled La Villajoyosa Bonbones Espana Tin Clock $38 is available in my etsy shop, La Alicia. Something like this would be perfect for a couple that loves Spain and Bombones.

What are your favorite kinds of anniversary gifts?

Over Abdundance of Plastic Bags

I do my best to use my reusable bags but every once in a while, one of these pesky plastic bags sneak home with me. Greenwala has 18 great suggestions on how to reuse them. Read all about it here.

Friday Find: Custom Stamp

My friend Anne of Modest Ambition recently raved to me about a stamp that she ordered on Etsy. I'm always delighted to hear raves about Etsy sellers, especially from other Etsy sellers.

It wasn't until a month or so later that I found myself in need of a new stamp. I asked if she would share her source and she did. Her stamp came from hugfishandorange, a cute little shop on Etsy located in Hawaii. I sent a convo to them to see if they could do a custom stamp for me and to get an estimate. Their response time was quick and the estimate was reasonable. Hooray! So I sent my art and placed my order. The stamp (pictured above) arrived the following week wrapped so cute. YAY! I love that you can see, if you look carefully, how someone carved it by hand. I'm currently deciding what to mount it on - acrylic, wood, etc.

I've been stamping it on all my packages and on my thank you notes! Thanks, hugfishandorange, I love my stamp!

Treasury Thursday: Music

Wordless Wednesday: Texas

Do you have an ICE CARD?

Recently, a friend asked me if I had an ICE card. "What the heck is that?" was my response. It's an "In Case of Emergency" card. It has some basic information on it about you in case for whatever reason you cannot speak for yourself. People also keep ICE documents on their phones and tablets as well. Feel free to downoad this template and fill it in and put it in your billfold. You never know, it could save your life.

Do you Know About Felt and Wire?

If you don't know about the Felt and Wire site, let me fill you in. This is the Mohawk Paper website filled with all kinds of fun stuff to explore -- it's for paper lovers. They have a blog that has fun articles that inspire. One of my recent faves is this one all about ampersands.

My fave section of the site is the Shop Section. I can't make a quick visit to this section. I'm like a kid in a candy store and I want to see it all. There are so many beautiful paper things to see, read about and buy. I could spend hours on the site seeing it all and being delighted by it all.

Check it out here. You won't be disappointed.

Friday Find: Cobalt Blue

Wordless Wenesday: Bell

Treasury Tuesday: The Music of My Heart

Treasury Thursday: Amber Waves of Autumn

Wordless Wednesday: Autumn

EcoMonday: Paper

Rik Rak Studio Giveaway!

This excellent birthday giveaway is open for entries until September 15, 2011. One of my necklaces is included in prize pack C! Enter here.


Update: My necklace winner is in Greece! :)

What Shall I Do With All This Newspaper?

I love to reuse materials as much as possible. I recently came across this great article on 15 ways to reuse newspaper. Read all the details on Greenwala here.

Treasury Thursday: Eco Fall

Wordless Wedneday: House

EcoMonday: Pull Toy

Meet Oil and Cotton

Oil and Cotton has a fun selection of classes to choose from -- you can see them all here. They just wrapped up their summer camps and from the pictures -- it looks like they had a ball. Stop by and check them out at 837 W. 7th Street, Dallas, Texas 75208

Wordless Wednesday: Poncho

Getting back to Organized

Are you dreading the lost math book, missing sock or running out the door late? With the new school year right around the corner, it's time to streamline and simplify. Read More here>

Eco Monday: Clean 15 & The Dirty Dozen

I found this really good article about what produce is worth buying organic to avoid the abundance of pesticides and which ones aren't sprayed or are safe in their conventional form.

Because we all have tons of information cramming our brains, I made it into a business card size that you can print out and put in your wallet for easy reference. Or skip the paper and just send it to your phone!

Treasury Thursday: Trick or Treatsy

Wordless Wednesday: Pear

Saturday Search: Honey Comb

Tax Free Weekend in Texas

Mark your calendars -- it's coming this weekend -- August 19-21st. There's a complete list of what is available tax free here. Stimulate the economy as you get ready for back to school -- happy shopping!