Mystery Solved

I got my necklaces!!!  Do you remember the necklaces I have been obsessing over since Renegade Craft Fair?  The awesome polaroid necklaces?  Of course you do!  I haven't shut up about them since I saw them!!  ;-)  

Velma figured out that the shop that makes and sells them is Kailo Chic.  She has an Etsy shop, too!  And the best part is she's in Austin!  I love to support local Austin artists.  She has a lot of really pretty accessories in her shop and the prices aren't bad!  Very reasonable.  She has amazing taste in fabric!  I have a feeling I will be purchasing more from her in the future. 

Here's the picture that started at all.  I just wanted to take a picture because they were so cute!!  When I got home and started looking through my pictures I just had to have one!

So, Velma tracked her down and contacted her throught Etsy (I didn't have my account at the time) and ordered them for us.  I got the Austin mural for me and the UT tower at night for my mom and sister.  Velma ordered the necklace of the UT tower during the day.

This is the picture from the order on Etsy.

{Kailo Chic}

Here are some pictures of the little lovelies in person!

This is mine. It's not in the package anymore.  I had to put it on immediately!

This is the UT tower necklace that my mom and sister got.

Pretty in pink!

I am so glad we were able to track these necklaces down.  They are so fun and unique.  I can't wait to wear it around and show my Austin pride!

365 Project - Week Four

Week four is done!  I am happy to report that this week went a lot better than last week.  Since I was sick last week I had to improvise pictures for most of the week.  I was feeling much better this week so I could actually go somewhere outside my house to take pictures! 

Here's week four...

Day 22

I went to see A Midsummer Night's Dream with a 60s twist last Saturday at the Zilker Park Hillside theater.  It was so great!  The weather was wonderful and the show was fantastic!  My favorite character was Puck (of course!).  I loved it when he came into the crowd to search for the flowers for Oberon.  He took a cookie off someone's plate in front of me!  I guess he was hungry!  :-)

Day 23

I finally stopped to take pictures of the knit graffiti at the Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar Sunday after church!  It's awesome!!  I love the idea of taking something normal and making it pretty with craftiness.  This awesome creation was done by Magda Sayeg, the creator of the group called Knitta, Please.  I think it would be fun to do some sort of community art project like this one day.  I think everything could use a little more color!  :-)

Day 24

I know what you're thinking...WHAT IS THAT THING???  Yeah, I don't really know.  They have these sculpture things all over the office park where I work.  I decided that it's a rest stop for birds.  That little bird sat up there the whole time I was taking pictures.  I took a lot, too!!

Day 25

This little geranium bud sits on my front porch.  Isn't it pretty?  I took this picture on Tuesday.

This is what the flower looks like today!

Day 26

This pretty sunset actually looked really green in person.  You can't see any green in the picture.  Weird!!  This picture reminds me a lot of my picture from day seven!

Day 7

Day 27

This little bridge is behind the church that's behind my house (that's confusing!).  There are a lot of churches within a couple blocks of my house.  A lot!!!  I had never really seen this bridge until a couple of weeks ago when my mom and I drove down that street.  I'm really glad we did.  :-)

Day 28

I got to leave work a little early today so I headed over to South Congress to get a picture of the awesome knit graffiti at Jo's Coffee.  It's another beautiful creation by Magda Sayeg!  Since I was there I got some yummy iced coffee, too.  It's so hot today!!! 

Happiness is...Happy Mail

Getting mail is so fun!!  Usually all we seem to get in the mail is bills or junk mail, but then sometimes we open up that mail box and find some great surprise inside.  That's the best feeling!!!

I love the great feeling when something I ordered finally comes in the mail and I open the mailbox to find it waiting there for me!  I think sometimes the anticipation of the package coming is actually more exciting than the thing I ordered. 

I can't even imagine how excited PostSecret creator Frank Warren must feel when he checks his mail!  He is very lucky!

I saw these really cute necklaces at The Renegade Craft Fair but I was trying to not spend a lot of money there so I didn't buy one.  Silly me forgot to get her card, too!!  Luckily my friend Velma found the shop on Etsy and she was able to order the necklace.  I got one for me, my mom and my sister!  I went a little crazy!  Velma was so awesome and kept me posted on the status of the package the whole time.  It was so fun!  The necklaces came in on Tuesday so I will get them from her when I see her on Sunday!  I'll post pictures when I get them.  I'm so excited!!!

The real reason for this happiness post is to tell you that I signed up to participate in this amazing thing called Happy Mail.   I found Happy Mail on the creator's blog called Inspired Mess.  It's a really great blog.  You should definitely read it. 

The basic idea of Happy Mail is this...

You sign up and fill out a survey.  Your survey will be given to someone and you will get their survey.  During that month you send them one post card and a fun little package of goodies that you pick from the information on the survey.  They will do the same thing for you.  Doesn't that sound like so much fun??  I'm supposed to find out who my partner is this weekend.  I can't wait!  I'm going to buy some Austin postcards from my coworker Glade.  She makes cards and sells them in her Etsy shop Glademade.  I am so excited to start searching for goodies for my Happy Mail partner.  And I'll be watching my mailbox all month long to see what my partner sends me!

Have you gotten anything special in the mail lately?  :-)

{weheartit}

Makes me happy!

Craft Academy

{voices.com}

I have big news...

I enrolled in Craft Academy today!!! 

{Craft Academy}

Craft Academy is a seven week video tutorial course with lots of fun craft projects that I heard about from AJ the Purple (she's one of the creators of the course).  I thought it sounded like so much fun! 

I think it will be good for me to have some set projects for a while to help get back into regularly crafting again.  I have been so scattered lately and I want to re-focus myself.  And why not have fun while I'm doing it?  ;-)  I'm excited to share the awesome things I learn to make here on my blog, too!

{weheartit}

Weekend in Austin

Since I was sick this week I wasn't able to work on any craft projects.  Luckily it's a Whatcha Makin' week so hopefully tomorrow I will have time to work on something and post it this week.  I feel like it's been forever since I worked on a craft project!!  I am having serious craft withdrawal!

I spent most of my day Saturday laying around recovering (being lazy) and catching up on Lost and Castle.  I have gotten so behind on my shows this season because I have trouble focusing on television when I'm crafting.  I got all caught up just in time for the final episode of Lost tonight!  It was nice to just watch tv and not work on anything else.  I think my brain needs a break like that sometimes. 

My mom and I went with some friends to the Zilker Park Hillside Theater to see A Midsummer Night's Dream (with a 60s twist) on Saturday night.  The show was put on by Austin Shakespeare. 

The weather was perfect!  We picked up chinese food at Firebowl and had a little picnic while we waited for the show to start.  I didn't take any pictures during the show because we were sitting in the back (it's so much more comfortable in chairs than on the ground!) and I didn't want to use my flash during the show.  I got a couple of pictures before and after for my 365 project (I alwasy take a lot of pictures and hope that at least one will turn out good enough to use.).

We got there really early because we thought it would be as crowded as the summer musical.

We got to hear the band rehearsing.  I'm kind of a music nerd.  I like that kind of stuff.

I just thought this was cute.  It's the place where Titania, the queen of the fairies, sleeps.

People finally started showing up closer to the start of the show.

I tried to get a picture of the bows but they were all bowing and waving and stuff so they came out blurry.  I mainly wanted the picture because I loved the colors in the background anyway.

It was a really fun show. I am already a fan of that play, but when they started singing 60s style music I fell in love! Puck was hilarious!!  In one part of the play Oberon sends Puck out to find a flower so he ran up into the crowd to "search for it". He came up right where we were sitting and grabbed a cookie off the kid's plate in front of us. I don't think the kid ever figured it out. It was pretty funny!

On Sunday I went to church at The Well.  It was a really great service.  After church they had a little party for the kids with jumping castles and pizza.  I enjoyed it because I got to eat yummy pizza and sit and talk to my friends for a little while.  It always seems like we are so busy with setting up and tearing down church that we never really get to talk on Sundays.  And during the week?  Everyone is so busy that it's hard to find time to just hang out and talk. 

I stopped at the Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar on my way home to take a picture for my 365 project.  I took a few pictures so I wanted to share the rest since I can only have one for my project. 

Okay, I may have gone a little crazy with the pictures.  I wanted to get a good view of all of it.  I took more from other angles but you get the idea!  ;-)

That was my weekend!  I think it was pretty good.  Gotta go get ready to go to my friends' house now.  We're watching the Lost finale!!!

Have a great week!

365 Project - Week Three

I have been sick for the majority of this week so I have not been able to work on any projects or post any blogs.  Such a bummer!  My pictures are kind of pathetic this week, too.  Luckily I got a couple of really great ones before I got sick. 

Hopefully this weekend I will be feeling well enough to work on some craft projects so I have some fun stuff to share in the coming week. 

For now, here are my pictures for week three...

Day 15

This picture doesn't even begin to do justice to the amazing sky this on Saturday.  My mom and I went for belated birthday ice cream and she humored me and pulled over more than once so I could be a crazy picture lady and take pictures of the sky.  This cloud looked like a rainbow in person.  By the time we were able to pull over and get pictures the cloud had spread out and the rainbow was harder to see.  I think it's still beautiful!  (Looking at this picture now, I think the picture I posted on the sky post I wrote to share the other pictures was better.  Oh well.  I love both!)

Day 16

I went to the Renegade Craft Fair in Austin on Sunday.  It was so great!!!  We almost didn't get to go.  I'm so glad we decided to go at the last minute.  It was sooo worth it!!  There are some really creative people out there.  I'm feeling very inspired after seeing everything people had there.  The craft fair was at the Palmer Events center.  We saw this fountain on the way out (we went in the back and left at the front).  I wanted to take a picture of it and my friend Velma suggested I stand at the end and take a picture of the entire thing.  I like it!  Thanks Velma!

Day 17

I had absolutely no inspiration or time for my picture on Monday.  My friend was coming over that night so I was in a bit of a time crunch.  This is a picture of the pretty little walking trail outside my office.  Isn't it lovely?  If you stand there and turn around you will see a huge, ugly office building.  It's so weird!  I love to look at this little trail on my lunch break.  I should probably quit sitting around admiring it and go for a walk!  One of these days...  ;-)

Day 18

I am so excited about this picture!  I was talking to my coworker about this mural on Tuesday and I wanted to take a picture of it.  I found out it was on South 1st Street so I knew there was no way I was going to get this picture until the weekend.  So, I decided to go to the Bouldin Creek neighborhood to get a picture of this cool sculpture thing I remembered.  I thought I could get a view of the whole thing but I couldn't.  Frustrating!  Then I decided to wander the neighborhood and see what I could see.  I accidentally turned onto 1st Street and decided to turn down Annie to get back in the neighborhood because I recognized that street name (have I mentioned I have no sense of directions?).  As soon as I turned onto Annie it was there!!  AND there was a spot to park right by it!  It was meant to be!  I love this picture!  It makes me happy!

Day 19

This is what happens when you are sick and you still have to take a picture.  I spent the whole day in bed asleep.  I didn't want my project to be incomplete just because I was sick, so I decided I would rather have a not so great picture than to have no picture at all.  :-)  This is a picture of my day!

Day 20

I was finally able to get out of bed and go into the living room after being stuck in bed for an entire day.  I was trying to keep myself up so I would sleep at night and go to work on Friday.  Plus, Buffy is the best medicine for everything!  Yep.  That's my tv.  I had to improvise again!

Day 21

"M" is for MARCI!!!

I tried to go back to work today but I think I needed another day to rest after being sick.  I ended up leaving early.  I still needed a picture so I stopped at the giant M outside my offices on the way home.  They just put Met Center at the bottom so the other employees wouldn't feel left out.  I know it's really for me! ;-)

Renegade Craft Fair

I was able to spend a little bit of time at The Renegade Craft Fair on Sunday.  It was amazing!!  I was in craft heaven!  I wish I could have spent more time there (and bought more goodies).  At first I didn't think I was going to make it at all so I'm happy I got to walk through and see it.  My church is just down the street so I had lunch with friends and we walked down for a little while.  Next year I will plan ahead so I can go for a whole day so I can see it all...and buy more stuff!! 

It was so cool to go and see the people who have blogs I read every day.  It was like they were famous or something (yeah, I'm a dork).  And to see the projects I read about in real life...I was a total craft geek!  The few people I was brave enough to talk to were so sweet.  The crafting community is wonderful!

Since it was last minute and we couldn't stay for too long, I didn't get to take time at every booth.  I didn't get a lot of pictures, but I thought it would be fun to share the few I did get.

I really like the huge fountain outside the Palmer Events Center so I wanted to take a picture.  My friend Velma suggested standing at the end and taking a picture of the whole thing.  Great idea!!

This booth was awesome!  I can't remember the name.  We were just passing through and I just had to take a picture.  As you can see, it was a popular spot.  I didn't get to stop and look for very long because it was so crowded.  If anyone knows who it was, let me know.  I would love to give them credit for their amazing work.

It's WonderCraft!  I discovered WonderCraft a few weeks ago.  It is such a cool idea!  You should definitely visit their website.  They have mobile classes and parties so people can hang out and be creative.  They have a boutique in their airstream trailer and an Etsy shop, too.

Airstream trailers are so cute!

It's Etsy Austin!!

This one came out a little blurry.  I took it really fast as we were leaving.  This guy does all of the posters and artwork for The Renegade Craft Fair.

These are the cutest necklaces!  Unfortunately, I saw them early in our wandering when I was still telling myself I wasn't going to buy anything.  Then, when I finally gave in and bought something I couldn't buy something else.  Sad.  I thought I got their card but I didn't!  OH NO!!!  So, if anyone remembers who sold these I really want to find them.  :-)

And here's my little treasure.  I'm a sucker for a great purse or bag.  I can't help it!  Velma even pointed out that any time there were purses in a booth I always went straight to them.  I guess it makes sense that my one and only purchase was a purse!!  It's pretty great!  I love it!  This is going to be my new philosophy! 

I bought it at Rainbow Swirlz.  They had a lot of fun stuff!

I had so much fun yesterday!  I wish I could go every day!  I can't wait for the next Renegade!  I hope that one day I can become a real crafter and do something like this myself.  :-)

I Think to Myself, What a Wonderful World

Okay, I am going to be crazy sky picture lady for a few minutes.  Can't help it.  The sky was just so amazing today.  My mom and I drove to Kyle to have some belated birthday ice cream (her birthday was May 2nd) and on the way home the sky was just so beautiful.  My mom humored me and pulled over more than once so I could take pictures.  Thanks Mom!

These are a few of the pictures I took...

(I tried to embed a song with Grooveshark again and it didn't work.  This video will have to do for now.  It has really pretty pictures for you to enjoy!)

Iz, Somewhere Over the Rainbow It's a Wonderful World

☮Tee iZ Me | MySpace Video

The sky could not decide if it wanted to be blue or cloudy this morning so it just went with both.

I realize this isn't a sky picture.  This picture was originally intended to be my 365 picture for today but it was replaced.  I thought it deserved to be on the blog anyway.  You can still see the sky in it!  I think it counts.

This is what started the whole crazy picture extravaganza this evening.

Then it turned into this.  I love the rays of the sun shooting out from behind the cloud.  Sunsets are so pretty!

This was originally a mess up picture but I thought it looked pretty cool.

Here's the magic picture!  This isn't the one I picked for today, but it's one of the many I took.  At first this was just a white cloud.  As we drove it started to look like flames in the sky.  Then it turned into a rainbow!  By the time we were able to pull over it had spread out a lot so the rainbow isn't as clear, but it's still amazing!  I can't believe we got to see it!  So lovely!