paying to play... my first foray into blog advertising!

in my perpetual quest to be able to make enough money through my metalsmithing to be a permanent stay-at-home-crafty-mom, i purchased my first block of PAID blog advertising. i looked into other blogs as well as Project Wonderful, but finally decided to buy ad space on my friend tia's blog.

i just love tia's blog and the way she writes about things. it also helps that her blog totally rocks, her rates are really reasonable, and she gets tons of traffic. so, if you look to your right, you can see the beautiful little graphic that she made up with my knotted ring stacking set.

thank you tia! and yay for handmade craftiness!

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trying to convince myself... reason #1 to go back to work

so everyone knows that i'm anxious about returning to work. in an attempt to convince/console myself, i've been compiling the positives (in no particular order) about going back - besides the financial reasons. and here is reason #1. i've slowly been collecting jewelry from julie ellyn designs, whose wire wrapped creations are just stunning. the three pieces above are sitting in my jewelry box right now, just waiting to be worn! it will be lovely to wear something pretty without worrying about the mini ripping it off and eating it. at least if i have to go back to work, i'll look sparkly and blingy!

speaking of blingy - enjoy this treasury of bling!

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bye bye, little pink snowsuit...

the mini received this fabulous fluffy pink bear snowsuit from her aunt lori at her baby shower. i thought that she could wear it as a hallowe'en costume this year, but it was too big. she has worn it every time we've been out this winter though and i just love it - especially the ears on the hood and the little paws as feet.

but now it has to be retired. sob. on tuesday i tried to put it on her, and it was so tight that her arms and legs stuck straight out. so now it's washed and folded and put away with all the other clothes she's outgrown. as nice as it is to watch her grow, some days i wish i could freeze time.

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totally twisted! a stacking ring giveaway!

i haven't done a giveaway in a while - thanks to the lovely julieellyn and epicureanstyle who hosted two for me!!!! but i think it's time again!

up for grabs this time is YOUR CHOICE of either a pair of twisted and shiny copper rings, or one delicate twisted sterling stacking ring. all you have to do is become a "follower" of my blog (if you are already, that's fantastic ) and leave me a message here saying that you are following! in honour of my not-so new twitter account, you get an extra 2 entries for following me on twitter. if you tweet and/or blog about my giveaway, you get another entry! AND if you purchase something, you get 5 extra entries! (just remember to leave a comment for each thing that you do.)

make sure you leave details (a link to your blog, an email address, etc.) so i can find you! so go enter! now! i'll be picking a winner on march 24th via random.org so make sure that you leave a comment for each entry!!!

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