Those Pier 1 Bunnies…I Haz Them

If you haven’t seen them yet, you will. They’re making their way around blogland. I first saw them on Haley’s blog, The Autocrat, and then again at Jenn’s blog, Rook No. 17 ( where she may or may not be giving some of these away but you’ll have to go to see!) .
Had. To. Have. Them.

I went to one Pier 1 only to find they hadn’t yet unpacked theirs and of course they were in the bottom box of a ceiling high stack of boxes and the stock people weren’t in yet. Curses. They called another store that had unpacked theirs. Had to wait a day. Not patient. I explained to the first store that craft bloggers are going to be looking for these and they better get busy. “Oh OK crazy craft lady…whatever you say”
Jenn did hers in painted clay pots that sit in a crate. I was going to copy then I remembered a container Mr. Chocolate had given me flowers in ( awwwww) that had three frosted glass short vases and sat in a crate like thing. Knew I saved it for a reason. I say that a lot but you really have not seen me on an episode of “Hoarders”.

Wanted it lighter and less contemporary so I slapped some white paint on it ( not perfectly…going for a shabby look) and then dry brushed it with taupe:

Much better I think. Filled each of the vases with Spanish Moss and floral foam and plopped the bunnies in. I bent the stems of the ones on the end so the middle bunny would be higher. I also tied pale yellow ribbon around their necks. Not too tight. I’m not mean!

I decided to keep things simple, but remembered I had a key I’d picked up in Michael’s dollar section ( now their $1.50 section grrrrr) so I tied that to one end of the crate with a torn piece of scrap muslin. Why? Dunno. Maybe the bunnies will get locked out and need a key.

Probably on a watch list at Pier 1 now.

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Pottery Barn Inspired Easter Egg

I hate it when I start to question my sanity. Like when I assume that something I see at PB will be on their website and it isn’t and then I start thinking well maybe that’s not where I saw it! I  know I saw some floral eggs at PB last week. I was short on time so I just figured they’d be on their website and I could take a closer look. Well no. But I wanted to make them! (insert big stamping foot pout here).  Here’s my take on a “I Know I Saw This @ Pottery Barn  / Don’t Have A Picture to Show You Egg”:

I started with a package of styrofoam eggs from Michaels. $4.49 before 40% for a package of 4.

And a stem of these silk cherry blossom things for $1.49

Other materials, straight pins and a ginormous bag of “pearls” from my bead stash.

I inserted a screw eye into the top of the egg. Then I popped one of the blossoms (they’re two layers each) off of the stem and threaded it onto a straight pin with a pearl and stuck it into the egg. Went around the whole egg until it was covered and threaded a coordinating ribbon through the screw eye.

So the next time I’m in PB I will remember to sneak  pics on my phone! And even though I don’t remember how much PB wanted, I know it was more than the $1.86 my egg cost me to make!

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March Open House Link Party Wrap Up and Giveaway Winner!

Thanks to everyone who participated in my monthly link party! It’s always so much fun to see everyone’s projects and Spring has most definitely sprung in blogland! It’s always hard to highlight just a few of the features but here goes!

I fell in love with this beautiful sign from Vivienne at The V-Spot

And she has a tutorial showing how she made it! In another great tutorial, Suzy, from Suzy’s Artsy Craftsy Sitcom shared her doodling ( this is not what my doodling looks like AT ALL) :

on this no longer plain wooden frame. More signs of Spring from Theresa at All Is Well, who showed how to make use of a frame when the glass breaks:

And hippity-hoppity Easter’s on its way over @ Rook 17 with these enchanting DIY moss bunny topiaries made by Jenn with a little help from her daughter:

I am definitely headed to Pier 1 soon for some of these mossy bunnies! Please feel free to post a featured button if you'd like:

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I hope you’ll all come back again next month on  April 15 for my next link party! Sometime this year I hope to make this a weekly thing. 

Drumroll please……I was also fortunate enough to have a giveaway from my friends at 

who offered one of my wonderful followers a chance to win one of their Swarovski crystal or crystal and pearl rings. 

And the winner, chosen by random.org is:

Yep #1 who happens to be Bev from :

Congrats Bev! You can pick out a ring to match one of your amazing Anthro knock-off necklaces! I'll share your email with Chunky Bling and they'll be in touch with instructions on how to proceed. For those who didn’t win, Chunky Bling is offering a 15% discount on any jewelry on their site using code CAROL439 through April 1.

Guest Where I Am Today?

Here, that's where! Holly over at 504 Main  invited me over to guest post and share my Ballard knock off wall art today! Thank you so much Holly!! 

Take Your Blogger to Work Day!

I’m so excited to be participating in this fun event thought up by Gina over at her blog hiya luv.

 Today, a bunch of us will be sharing a bit about ourselves, in particular our non-blogging jobs as SAHMs,WAHMs, those of us who work away from home etc.  and how that relates to our blogging.

Gina  was great enough to give us some questions ahead of time to get our thoughts flowing so I’m going to keep that format and insert my answers underneath each. I hope you’ll go visit Gina and see who else you might know who’s “Taking Their Blogger To Work” today!

1. When you were growing up, what did you hope to become? What was your dream career?

This will sound like an odd combination and I don’t think I wanted to be both things in one, but I  remember wanting to be a Nun and a Supreme Court Justice. Maybe because  they both wore black robes, made  rules/laws, and people tend to stand up when they enter a room?

2. Through the years in elementary school, high school, college, etc. did your dream career evolve? What influenced you?

Not totally surprising that my interest in being a Nun went away about the same time as my interest in boys started! I was still very intrigued by the law and wanted to be a lawyer. I think this may have had something to do with Jimmy Smits, Harry Hamlin, and Blair Underwood on “LA Law”. 

3. What is your career today? Is it your dream job? How did you get there? What do you hope for your career in the future?

I feel like Batman..."Craftwoman"? I have alter egos. By day, I'm an Operations Manager for a very large Fortune 500 company. Spreadheets, financials, inside baseball business jargon etc. It wasn’t what I set out to do but when I finished college, a job opportunity presented itself and faced with the choice of earning a salary straight away, vs three years of law school debt... practicality won. My career has grown at the pace of my choosing and I’ve balanced working my way up to a leadership position for a company that’s been recognized repeatedly by Working Mother Magazine for its workplace flexibility and opportunities for women. I could be in a full Executive position at this point in my career, but have made choices that have allowed me to put my family first and keep balance in my life which is something for which I am so grateful! My husband's done the same. We knew when we got married that neither of us was interested in being CEO of our companies and making the sacrifices that come with that. We both made decisions that allowed us to progress in our careers and enable us to do fun things together as a family with our son. 

4. What is your day like? What are your typical tasks? 

One of the things I love most about my job but which takes some getting used to is  I get to work from home and have for several years now. I have the flexibility to set my own schedule. Some days that means a 6AM conference call in my PJs and not showering until noon.  My interaction w/ peers and my direct reports is all via phone, email, and our internal IM system. It’s not for everyone but I love it. I work with people in different US time zones and other countries so I can respond to things when I’m able or start the day with answers already provided vs having to rely on everyone being on the same time schedule (and not scared off by bed hair and no makeup). It works for what we do. The actual work is not probably that exciting…it’s a lot of internal operational stuff but our organization ensures that what our Sales force does gets through the internal workings of the business. The great thing is, I have a dedicated home office which is also my craft room. The hard thing is, I have a dedicated craft room that's in my home office! 

5. What do you love about your job? What is challenging?

I love that I get to run my team very independently. My manager is several states away from me as hers is from her. None of the people who report to me are in the same state as me. So we all have to rely on our ability to work independently, meet our deadlines and obligations, and focus on the end result. Sometimes it’s challenging not being able to read someone’s body language, especially when I have to deliver a tough message like a performance review but it’s doable.

6. Do you hope to stay in this job forever? Where do you see your career self in the future?

In part, the answer to this question is why I started my blog! I want to stay with my company, if not in this exact job, until my son is through college at least. There’s that practicality again.
My company like so many others is in constant change mode so the next few years will be interesting. But at some point, I know that what I want to do day to day involves my creative side. I have no idea what that is! Whether it’s maybe representing a company whose products I love or just selling my own things or both, I don’t know yet. So I started my blog to have a creative outlet and start to figure these things out.

7. How does your blog/shop/creativity contribute from your career? Or does it distract? 

The good thing about having worked from home for as long as I did before starting my blog is that I had established boundaries and time management skills so while yes, there are days when I might be able to multi-task between the two worlds, I'm disciplined enough to keep them separate despite them sharing the same space. I have a work computer and printer and a personal computer and printer. My blogging time fills the time I used spend driving my son to and from school, sports, events etc. So I use that time plus a lunch break to blog / tweet / FB / Stumble / email/run to Michaels. After dinner and weekends are when I usually make stuff and sometimes I will take a vacation day just for a creative play day. The ability to schedule posts is perfect for me so I can write them when I have the time but still have a steady flow on my blog.

One thing I know is that without a creative outlet I think my job performance would suffer and likewise I'm able to release stress from my job through creating. Bad day at work? Nothing like ripping some paper and hammering some eyelets! 

If you read this whole thing, thanks! It was really fun to stop and think through these things and in the end, affirm the great joy, satisfaction, and balance that blogging has brought into my life.

Welcome Spring Printable

I thought it would be fitting to celebrate the first day of Spring with two favorites…tulips and a printable! Click to bring to full size and right click to save as. Would love to see if / how you use and would appreciate a follow if you download.

Happy First Day of Spring!

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Time for Cocoa and Bling!

The March Open House Link Party is still going on ==>here<==

You may have noticed that I have a thing for bling. Specifically, self adhesive rhinestones which I stick on everything. I even picked one off the dog the other day although I didn’t intentionally put it on her.
But as with other craft supplies, you open a package and don’t use the whole thing and need some way to store the leftovers. I’d been keeping the plastic cards these come on in an envelope, but when I used up a container of cocoa powder the other day, I got an idea!

Started by peeling off the label from my Hershey’s dark cocoa powder. I didn’t care about the stuff around the top of the rim since I was going to put the lid back on. I had just picked up the prettiest contact paper at $1 Tree so it was the perfect excuse to play with it:

Wrapped the container in the contact paper and also covered the top of the lid with it, leaving the rim exposed. Went to my sticker stash and found a clock face, and since this was going to hold my bling, a Making Memories blingy border!

Thinking there’s another roll of this contact paper in my future.

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