May 11, 2009

FURminator?












With the sale of our house pending, we may soon be moving into a much smaller space. Having two cats, my husband recommended shaving them or getting a FURminator.

Well I just got an Amazon rewards certificate in the mail today (for using my credit card), so I thought I'd use it to buy a FURminator before I come home to "naked" cats one of these days.

So has anyone ever used one of these things? I hope they work!

May 5, 2009

What if we just took the paneling down?


Awhile back I posted some photos of what our kitchen looked like when we bought our house eight years ago.

It was sold "as is" so this is actually what it looked like when we moved in.

We had no intention of doing anything but painting the paneling and cabinets and doing something about the floor. But the countertop (what little there was) and tile backsplash had a little bit of a retro feel that we could live with.

Fast forward to the remodeling we did on the rest of our house. We had removed paneling from a bedroom and that went pretty well, so my husband thought he would do the same in the kitchen. Yeah....that didn't go so well. So as we stood there staring at the exposed lathe and chunks of plaster falling off, we went over our options. Spend a bunch of money fixing the damage we'd done. Or spend a little bit more and get a new kitchen.

So here's what we ended up with.

Five years later, we are trying to sell our house and I'm glad we re-did the kitchen since now I know what I will want and not want when we do the kitchen in our new house.

May 4, 2009

Wild West

My most recent pierced work......a custom request.
Using my jeweler's saw, I cut the pendant from 18 gauge sterling silver sheet. I then soldered a small piece of sterling silver tubing to the back for the hidden bail.

I did a lot of sanding around the edges to remove any saw tooth marks and to smooth over the sharp points.  I then tumbled it overnight to further smooth the edge.

I used Liver of Sulfur to create a dark patina, and then removed most of it while applying a matte, scratched finish. 

I was really happy with the end result -- what do you think? 

May 1, 2009

Giveaway Winner!

And the winner of
the sterling silver
stacking rings
is...





ANGELA!

who liked my sterling silver MOONDANCE necklace. :)

Thank you to all who entered! I'd like to offer all of you FREE shipping on your first order from my shop. Just convo me so I know to refund the cost.

Angela, I didn't see a way to contact you--please e-mail me to claim your prize!