Stocking Stuffer Mix and Match!

Now thru midnight on Wed., 11/25, earrings, bookmarks, and key chains are mix & match, BUY 3 GET 1 FREE! Bookmarks and key chains are the perfect thoughtful gift for a teacher, babysitter, nanny, pet sitter, or just about anyone else on your list! They don't have to match anyone's wardrobe and they last forever. Here are just a few samples!


Shop Earrings
Shop Bookmarks and Key Chains


Enjoy!
~Lori

Offer is valid at all shops and may not be combined with any other coupon or discount.

15% off your order thru Monday, 11/16 + FREE GIFT!

Take 15% off your order thru Monday, 11/16 and choose your free gift!

Lots of new bracelets in stock!




Need a gift for your child's teacher, pet sitter, or nanny? Key chains and bookmarks make great gifts!




Your choice of a FREE gift with purchase! Choose between these 2 floating heart pendants, a $14 value!**




Hammered Copper Floating Heart Pendant
Silver Plated Floating Heart Pendant

I can customize the wording on either of these pieces for you if you'd like to have your own message on it. Mention this blog post in notes to seller with your choice of free gift!

Happy shopping!

**free gift comes with purchase of jewelry; supplies are excluded from the free gift offer.

Gift Certificate drawing takes place tomorrow!

~Lori

P.S. Did you know that mailing list subscribers get an extra 5% off? It's true! Sign up here.

Puppets! The perfect gift!

Anytime I'm buying a gift for a child, I always buy handmade! There are just too many incredible toy makers in the handmade world not to. Today I'm going to show you some puppets! I love puppets! When I was a preschool teacher, I had 2 puppets in residence in my classroom who were part of our little community. Puppets are a fantastic, open-ended gift for children because they can control the action. Give a child a couple of puppets, and you'll be amazed at what you'll learn about them as they play. Here are some of my favorite handmade puppets. First up, finger puppets!

Finger puppets rock. Period. They're the quickest, funnest way to put a smile back on your child's face.

Fun With Wildlife Finger Puppets, With Hugs and Kisses, $19.99

and now for some Hand Puppets!! Get a few fun hand puppets and practice role playing with your child. Let him be the grown up while you pretend to bet the child. Look at these adorable and affordable hand puppets from Puppets by Margie:



How about Vintage Puppets? Rekindle your lost youth! Featuring Miss Piggy from Plum Berry Vintage, Vintage Alf Puppets from Dilly Dally Vintage, and Vintage Pelham puppet or marionette by Wooden Donkey.

We can't forget Stick Puppets!

Set of 3 Stick Puppets in Carrying Case from Lemons and Lollies

And don' t forget your Puppet Theater!

Personalized Doorway Puppet Theater from Rue Design

Well, that's all! If anyone's looking for me, I'll be hanging out at Fraggle Rock!

~Lori

Still plenty of time to sign up for my giveaway and win a gift certificate to my shop!

Mesmerizing Miniatures

Lately, I've been pining for my childhood again... Oh, doll house, were Etsy only around back then...

Custom Family of 5 plus dog and cat, Wee Me, $45

Dollhouse Miniature 1/12 1/12 Scale Chocolate Trio Mousse Cup Desserts, Pei Li's Dollhouse Miniatures, $29.50

Mom, can I get an advance on my allowance...like for the next 2 years?

Dollhouse Miniature Wood Turning Faux CRUSHED SHELL Vase, Bertie's Miniatures, $12.50

Cheese Board - Dollhouse Miniature Food Handmade, Sarah Maloney, $20

Bold and Bright Bunk/ Twin dressed beds, dollhouse miniature,Deb's Minis, $34.95

I call top bunk! It's mine. I called it before you did.

1/12 Scale Dollhouse Miniature Autumn or Fall Handpainted Crates Set / 3, Jenjoop, $6

If I had storage crates in my doll house... would my organizatoinal OCD shown up a bit earlier?

Hope you enjoyed!

~Lori

Still plenty of time to sign up for my giveaway and win a gift certificate to my shop!

It Always Happens in Threes...

Okay, by some cosmic oversight, I'm somehow in 3 Treasuries all at the same time, lol. I figured I better document this in my captain's log before I find out I'm living in an alternate universe or something!

First, Little Red Riding Hood Lost in Manhattan is making a very contextual appearance here thanks to A Knit-Thing.

Check out her adorable stuffed toys! Like Zora:

Zora the handspun, handknitted, eco-friendly wool bear

Next, Nicole from MagneticallyYours (a fellow hitchhiker :-)) showcased some beautiful blues, including my Ambition earrings, from the Handmade Highway.

Check out Nicole's Christmas Tree Lanyard!


Finally, my Key Lime Freeze earrings made it into VaDaVelle's Lime and Chocolate collection!



VaDaVelle has the cutest decor for a child's room! Check out this Polka Dot Bug!

Well, that's it! I don't think I've ever been in 3 Treasuries as the same time before, so now it's documented for all eternity. Thanks so much to the sellers who featured my work!

~Lori

ETA: Still plenty of time to enter my giveaway!

Win a $20-$40 Gift Certificate to Risky Beads! (Ends Sat., 11/14 at noon)

**WINNER CHOSEN BY RANDOM DRAW ON 11/14**

Well, it's been awhile since I've done a giveaway for my shop, and this time I decided to do a gift certificate. But here's the awesome-nest part.... you get to determine the amount!

Here's how it works:

The base gift certificate for this giveaway is $20.00, redeemable in any of my shops. All you have to do to sign up for that is visit my shop and comment below with your favorite item AND your email address so I can contact you if you win.

Want more than $20? You can do any or all of these things and earn more money for the GC if you're the winner!

Add $5 if you tweet this giveaway for me - tweet must mention my store and link to this post. (It's just $5, not $5 per tweet.) You must comment back here with a link to that tweet with your email address.

Add $5 if you purchase from me during between now and when the giveaway ends next Saturday, 11/14. Comment below with your order # and email address.

Add $10 if you do a blog post that features my shop, shows a picture of at least 1 item, and mentions the giveaway. You must comment back here with a link to that blog post with your email address.

So a $40 gift certificate is up for grabs if you do all 3.

Entries will be accepted until noon, next Saturday 11/14!

Have fun and good luck!!
~Lori

Winner chosen by random draw on 11/14!

Talent Envy - Volume 1-Wood

I'm going to start a new series on my blog called Talent Envy. I'm doing this because this because I have a severe case of it that's exacerbated on an hourly basis as I visit handmade venues and blogs . If you're a handmade seller, I'll bet you have it, too. Sadly, there is no cure; a little bit of envy just multiplies over and over! And now the first installment of Talent Envy... dedicated to wood!

Our first victim of Talent Envy is Daphne from The Wood Shoppe's. Check this ribbon organizer out: Get Those Spools of Ribbon Out Where You Can SEE Them.... . I wish I could be trusted with power tools; I'm a hazard every time I pick up my blow dryer! I have so much ribbon, twine, cord, oh my! I need at least 2 of these!


Victim 2 is Rob Greig from Made in the Hudson Valley. I LOVE this Tea Light holder. I have neither the skills nor the patience to spot 'tea light' friendly branches. I'd probably set a forest on fire trying to make one.


Victim 3 is Tom Roche. Look at this adorKable kitty cat cutting board! It makes me want to cut cheese all day long. (If you took that the wrong way, shame on you, lol.) Can you think of a better hostess gift for the holidays? No, you can't! He even makes...Mittens to go with your Naughty Kittens!

And finally, victim 4 is Mark Taylor from Southern Craftsmen. Look at these fly boxes! He even does custom engraving on them. If I survived the actual fly fishing, I'd be too pooped to do the engraving!


That's it for the first installment of Talent Envy. Stay tuned...next week's pics will come from my own discipline...jewelry!

~Lori

The Audacity of Expectations-An Open Letter to President Obama

Dear Mr. President,
Today, I'm struggling with many mixed emotions about your Presidency. I have been a fervent supporter of you since the night you spoke at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. I looked right at my television and said, "That guy's gonna be president." And make no mistake, the win you pulled off was beyond inspiring. You made me believe that 'Yes, We Can' really meant something...finally. I never doubted your ability to lead this country...until now.

My disappointment isn't so much with the speed of reform; I realize that Washington, DC is a proverbial rock pulling everyone to the bottom over and over and over again. My disappointment is with you because when you told us, "Yes, We Can!" I assumed that you meant you'd still be a part of that 'we.'


We who 'can,' can do anything. We can pass healthcare, make a dent in global warming, discipline Wall Street so that it doesn't become a leach on our collective self, repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell asap, deal with our ridiculous wars, and create jobs to stop the heartbreaking foreclosure and unemployment rates. We can, but not without YOU.

Everyday, I receive at least 1 email from liberal groups requesting donations to keep everyone's feet on the public option fire. Your base is out there trying to finance the true message about health reform, and you're not helping us. Money is very tight, Mr. President. Can't you help our dollars go a little further in this regard or better yet, step up so that those of us struggling in this economy don't have to finance your back bone?


You were carried into office on a mandate made and yet you don't champion it. Health care is the defining 'issue' of your Presidency, and you're content to blend in with the Senate leadership. No one wants to hear about bi-partisanship or compromise. Sure, we can all get behind those ideas, but NOT when you're not out there defining them. I feel a bit cheated--like we elected you assuming you could stay front and center, and then watched as you got to White House and began treating your Presidency like a pre-existing condition.

The elections held last night in Virginia and New Jersey... I hope you paid attention because your base didn't turn out. We're still here, but why should we be compelled to fight for Democrats when you're not fighting for us? Like it or not, you're our leader. Don't try to hide behind the curtains. This isn't a puppet show; these are people's lives. If the Democrats fail on health care reform, it will start a mudslide and pull down every other issue you promised to addressed. Show up, Mr. President. Please-before it's too late.

Respectfully,
Lori Ward

Artwork is The Hope Mobile by CarrieTaylorPhoto, YES WE CAN clasp from corinegrant, Rosa Sat Blue by risamay.

Wowza! I'm in 2 Treauries today!

Many, many thanks to cynmb and JemmDeeCreations for putting my work in their Treasuries today! JemmDeeCreations is a new shop to me... look at this gorgeous jewelry!

Rhodonite Chips Woven Bracelet, $30

And here's the Treasury she made featuring our NC Triangle Team. Click Treasury picture to visit each one.

Isn't that Leaf Pile yarn BEAUTIFUL!!! *wishes she could knit...*

The second Treasury I'm in today was made by cynmb, a beloved member of our Etsy community!



Check out that Secret Stash bracelet! It's made bluepiedesigns and it's GENIUS!

Please click and comment if you like!

~Lori

P.S. My BOGO sale is still going! Great opportunity to stock up!