Poor Flufferbutt

Our big orange and white bicolor felt left out after Spider and Tallis got their blog debut, so here is His Fraidycatness and all his chickeny glory hiding under the pool table -


He's a big cat but also a very big chicken. And talk about a drama queen! This one won't eat without company half the time. If one of the other cats isn't eating he'll whine at one of us to stand there and keep him company. He also expects ice cubes in his water dish. What a diva.
He loves to be brushed though and will come over and sit still like a good boy while we do it.

His name is actually Grendel but that's such a misnomer, we usually call him Flufferbutt.

I joined a new Etsy team today, the Etsy Freethinkers. Very interesting group of people, so many wonderfully talented artists. Here's the team blog -
Etsy Freethinkers. Tough group if you're on a diet, though. The chat thread frequently turns to food, very tasty food.

I finally sold a Christmas in July piece! I've had sales since it started but this is the first marked down item. I think I have a sales jinx, they never seem to work. Maybe it means people love my work SO much, they can't bear to pay less than full price. Bahahahahahahaha! Riiiiight. (Hush. You pretend in your world your way, and I'll pretend my way in mine. :p )

Meet Kris

I'd like you all to meet a friend of mine, Kris of Lisianblue. We met through Flickr (I think, maybe it was MySpace), chatted a few times, got to know each other, and exchanged goodies. Kris is an artist, photographer, and grandma to one of the cutest kids out there.

Anyway, she sent me a gorgeous 8 by 10 of one of her pictures for my birthday.

used with permission

It's called A Rose For Lily and yep, you guessed it, I'm the Lily. Cool, huh? I have a niece, an fine art photograph, and a car named after me. (Seriously, another friend named her car Silverlily.) You can see more of Kris's work in the right sidebar. She just recently added wonderful ornaments to her shop. This one, Ocean Blue is my favorite.

used with permission

Many of her ornaments comes wonderfully gift wrapped, perfect for gift-giving. Just the thing for your handmade holiday! She's running a Christmas in July sale right now, stop by and get yours before someone else does.

Why are you still here? Go!

Cats and cans

We have three cats, two males (Spider and Grendel) and a female (Tallis). For the most part they get along alright but they're not especially chummy. So you can imagine my surprise when I walked into the family room and saw -

No way those were my cats! Tallis (the chunky washed out tortie) usually doesn't let Spider (the black one) anywhere near her without hissing and swatting at him. Spider however feels the chair is his and was going to sleep on it even if it meant sharing. I can only guess Tallis was cold.

Now about the cans. I'm working on a trashion line as I've mentioned. Well I finally have a picture of one of the brooches.

It's made from a recycled soda can, a shell bead, and a few findings. I'm really excited about this line. So far I have earrings, necklaces, and a few of the brooches. I talked to a friend tonight and got information about scarf pins and plan to add those too.

We haven't given up on the cards. They're just proving trickier than expected. Glue is not my friend. Double sided tape isn't much better. Still in the end, they didn't come out too badly. Practice, practice, practice. We're going to try the bigger cards next.

Cheesecake and warm fuzzies

Yesterday we went over to my in-laws for my birthday dinner. Quick note - my in-laws are wonderful people. I have a better relationship with my father-in-law than I ever did my own father. This is NOT a monster-in-law post.

Anyway, we had cheesecake! Let me rephrase that, I had cheesecake. I'm the only one who likes it. Not that I really wanted to eat a whole one, but *le sigh* I do what I must. ;) I got my #10 Troy Smith away jersey (it's white) too. Now I have two home, one away, and one alternate. Three more and I can forget Purple Friday and make it Purple Everyday.

The real warm fuzzy moment though was the card from my girls. It was just a normal card, but I didn't have to pick it out. It's kind of strange having a child old enough to go to the store without mom. It was even stranger having someone else (other than my FIL) remember it. I love my husband but he has to head for dates. He'd forget his own birthday if it wasn't on his license.

The super yummy soap I ordered arrived today. I bought it from Soothing Rituals and it was Lemon Pucker. It smells SOOOOO good. She included a very handy wooden soap dish. I'm still finishing up a bar of Grapefruit Granita so the soap is in my office leaving a nice, lemony scent.

I could easily become addicted to soap.

Seriously.


(I feel like an idiot. I just now noticed this thing has spell check.)

Movies!

I took the girls to the movies today. Now I will be the first to admit, I'm not much of a movie goer. It really takes a lot to get me to stay in one place that long. The last movie I saw that I felt was worth it was Stardust. (LOVED it! If you haven't seen it, you should.)

Anyway, we saw WALL-E. We had planned on seeing Journey to the Center of the Earth but traffic was hideous and we didn't get there in time. Both of my girls had alreadys seen WALL-E though neither minding seeing it again. It was a cute movie. Like every other movie I've seen I felt they could have sped it up a bit, but all in all I give it an A-. I was very impressed with how they did the characters, especially the Captain. The play between WALL-E and EVE was very cute. It made me very happy that the female character was the strong one without making the male wimpy and helpless. The interaction between the "awakened" people made a nice little counterpoint too.

Definitely worth the $24.


On an unrelated note - I finally did a pair of earings with these fabulous green glass beads I have.

They're in my shop -

Sea Green Glass Squares earrings

Christmas In July sale

Well it's finally here! The Etsy wide Christmas In July sale, running from July 20 to July 31. Over 200 artists and crafters offering all sorts of goodies, not just holiday items. Get a jump on your shopping or pikc up a little something for your self.

My shop - http://slvrlily.etsy.com/ will be offering 20% off plus free shipping on select items. Just look in the Christmas In July section of my shop. Sale prices are already entered, no waiting for a revised invoice!

You can find many more goodies by searching christmasinjuly (all one word) on http://www.etsy.com/

Some of my personal favorites who are participating -


DesignedByLucinda

silverriverjewelry

BAKidAgain

AspenSpa

DoubleDippedSweets


Don't miss this!

Birthday and business plans

My 39th birthday is coming up. As fate would have it, the day after is the first day the Raven's training camp is open to the public. Any guesses what I'll be doing that day? Getting up at the crack of dawn to drive halfway across the state to McDaniel College to watch my favorite team practice. No, I'm not crazy... well not completely. It's certainly better than what we did last year - a scrimmage between the Ravens and the Redskins in 110 degree heat. THAT was something.

I know my in-laws are getting me a #10 Troy Smith away jersey. Very nice and much better than the usual dark purple in the hot July sun. I'm hoping to get it signed. Considering it had to be custom ordered, I'm guessing it will be the only one there. Silly as I'm pretty sure Smith will be our starting quarterback. I like Boller but I just don't see it. Smith is making terrific progress if you believe the paper. If Cam Cameron can get him up to speed, I'll forgive him for ever being associated with the Dolphins. Heh, I might even send Wayne Huizenga a thank you card for firing him.

(I wonder if I use one of the cards we're making would it be considered marketing?)

Speaking of cards, Em's done a few designs for me. This is my favorite.

I'm really looking forward to getting these cards made. Em's got some incredible ideas. She's a good business partner (even if she does try to stop me from buying beads).