I would wear this...

1.  American Vintage cotton shirt, $28 / 2. Floor length skirt / 4. Leather shoes, $95 / 5. Flat sandals, $52 /
3.  Ocean Necklace Fire Crackle Agate and Amazonite by ikeandco

I was indecisive about shoes.  Because I liked both of them.  And I would wear both of them.  I would probably throw on a navy blue cardigan (perhaps striped) or a denim jacket with it.  Just in case you were wondering.  I am ready for summer {if you couldn't tell}.

I would wear this...

4.  long sleeve top / 2. Cream shirt / 1. Dsquared , $305 / 3. TOMS suede wedge heels


And I would wear these IKE & CO accessories... 

Czech Glass necklace {with this outfit, I would wear it either as a doubled necklace or a wrap bracelet} 
//
 palest pink opal Czech glass earrings

I would wear this...

1.Tshirt dress / 2. J.Crew jean jacket / 3. Isabel Marant suede ankle booties/ 4. Clutch



 And I would wear these accessories from IKE & CO with it...

white czech glass earrings  //czech glass necklace {can also be worn as a wrap bracelet!}

an MLK story and one year ago...

There are a few things (ok, quite a few things) that I love about teaching children.  And I love talking about MLK and Civil Rights.  I especially love these topics with small children.  This past week in the library I read some nonfiction books about why we have MLK Jr. Day and talked about what his "dream" was with 1st grade students.

These are some of the things that I learned...

+ a lot of kids think that his last name is Jr.  {makes sense if you think like a 6 year old}
+ they don't know what the word "minister" means
+ his dream, in its smallest form, is translated by six year olds as, we all get to drink from the same fountain  {I hate to rain on this parade, but I've seen how six year olds drink from a fountain and I think I sit that one out}

In one class we had this conversation...  {names have been changed}

 Max:  He said it was ok that I'm black and you're white.  We can still be friends.
 Me:  Yes!  Absolutely!  We can definitely be friends!
Autumn:  And I'm peach!
Me:  Oh, ok!
Sam:  And Isabelle's peach!
Isabelle:  No I ain't!
Drew:  She's not peach, she's mixed.  Jose's peach!
Brian:  He's not peach.  He's Mexican.
Me:  Okay, so let's go back to our story, shall we?

Sometimes, little kids are like a runaway train.  Just sayin.

**************

Last year on MLK day, I slept in, woke up without an alarm, came downstairs, Chris made a pot of coffee for us and pancakes for the kids.  I checked my email at the kitchen table and I already had 4 sales in the shop (kind of a lot of a Monday morning in January) with a ton of traffic from The Pioneer Woman.     She had written a post about earrings from my shop...

...and then I did a little dance in my kitchen...in my pajamas.  Just sayin.

Thank you, truly, thank you, to all of you that were around before PW and to those of you that are still here.  :)

**************

If you have the day off, I hope your three day weekend was wonderful.  Quinn has an eye doctor appointment today and I'm getting my haircut.  The girls have declared it to be a crafting day.  Chris (I'm sure) will be staring at some spread sheets.  And tonight at dinner we'll talk about how the world has changed...for the better...because of this man...

Race Day {and some extras}

So Chan talked us into taking her to a race this morning.  (When I say "us" I mean Chris in this case.)  This made for her 4th 5K.  

Here she is (with her sweet friend, Katie Grace) pre race....

And here she is coming into the finish line...

And here she is when she stopped running to pose for the camera (what the what???  who stops running at the end of a race to pose for the camera???  Um, yeah, Chan.  That's who.)

After the race...

She's so awesome.  Really.  She finished in 36 minutes...which would have been 35 if not for the posing.  Sheesh.

In other news....

This room has.got.to.get.cleaned this weekend.  Today.  Seriously.  It's beyond ridiculous.  (That's why I am blogging though, to procrastinate.)

Gah!  Such a terrible state of a craft room.

I took this picture yesterday after a class left the library.  I hate it when this happens...

I am all for book browsing.  I am not for book browsing and then leaving them on the floor.  Just not for that.  *shakes head*

And this baby is about to be introduced to the world...

I am so in love with it!  Bracelet?  Yep.  Opera length necklace?  Yep.  Double strand necklace?  Yep, it can do that too!  I've wore mine a billion times since I made it a couple of weeks ago.  So in love.  {I'm thinking it will be posted...tomorrow?  Monday?...we'll see!}

Fall Into Color Collection {Part 2...the purples}

Fall Into Color Collection {Part I...the oranges}

The Mommy and Me Collection

Wow, Weekend!

Wow!  This weekend was a whirlwind!  A serious whirlwind!

I spent massive amounts of time making jewelry...keeping up with regular orders...working on the very jane orders...and putting the finishing touches on my new fall and holiday collections.

I had my first real photo shoot this weekend.  And it was surreal.

I'm not gonna lie.  By Saturday afternoon, I was freaking out.  I was wishing that I was a recluse.  I get that lifestyle, I really do.  Hermit-dom doesn't sound like a bad plan most of the time.  Saturday afternoon I was having panic attacks and meltdowns.

My friend, Abby (the photographer), said at one point, "What is the worst thing that could happen?"

And I thought about that and then tried to describe it to her...

Imagine that your photographs are in a show and you have to stand there next to them.  In the middle of the show the pictures start peeling and melting and the easels won't stand and by the end of it people are laughing and pointing.  At you.  At your work.  At something you spent hours dreaming of, planning for, creating, and it breaks and people laugh.  And what if they don't like it...and worse, if they don't like it BUT say that they do because I am standing right there???  Ugh.

But none of those things happened.  Everything went splendidly.  Swimmingly.

Yep, that's right...you see a kid.  Such a sneak peek, right????

And here's me, snapping from the next room over...

And that's when I started to tear up.  You see, I see my jewelry on my mom, on my family and friends, but to see it how I imagine it, to see it like it's in a catalog...to see this sweet lady and her precious little girl modeling my jewelry...the pieces that I dreamed about and made with my own two hands...big sigh...it was a little overwhelming.

Kia and Abby, I never could have imagined a more perfect day!  And the models!  Such troopers!

And there's more.  I've made almost 75 *new* pieces of jewelry for collections this fall and the holiday season.  I have never made that much to stock pile before.  I am so in love with these things and I hope that you will be too.

So, that was my weekend...and this week has the potential to kick the Pendley's booties!

Monday night we're home.
Tuesday night I have PTO and Chris is teaching a class.
Wednesday and Thursday nights are dance nights.
And on Friday, I am leaving to go out of town for the weekend.  A girls' weekend in the mountains.  I am both nervous and excited.

My Weekend Review {three days??? what the what???}

Three day weekend, where did you go???  Oh, wait.  Yes.  I do know what happened to you...

1.  Friday night...I ate hibachi...again.  It's my weakness.  I love it so.

2.  Saturday I worked like a maniac (maniac, I tell you) cranking out jewelry.  I have some BIG (really big!) things coming up in the next few weeks and I am busy, busy with it.  I also have 52 earring orders to get out from my very jane deal.  Woot!  Woot!

3.  Saturday afternoon we headed up to CB and Drew's for a grown up/kid play date.  I say that both jokingly, but not jokingly...yes, our kids all love to play with each other, but we (Chris and I) also really love hanging out with them.  Drew smoked chickens, Christy Beth made awesome cheese dip and a turkey sandwich something or other (that I can't wait to do the weekend after Thanksgiving) and I brought up a pasta salad....

This is how I make pasta salad (which I learned from my stepmom)...  I buy the marinated mozzarella balls from Trader Joe's.  (Sometimes I get the ones at Super Target, but they're not as seasoned as the TJ's ones.)  Then, I cook a box of pasta (bowties, penne,  spirals, whatever - just not long noodles).  I rinse the pasta with cool water and dump in the whole bowl of mozzarella - oil and all.  And then you can add whatever you want - cucumbers, tomatoes, black olives...you get the picture.  And that's that.

4.  We watched The Lucky One.  Does it make me a dirty old lady that I think Zac Efron is hot?  If so, then I am okay with that.

5.  Sunday morning we headed out to my parents' house.  It was the last swim of the season.  The kids played water balloons and bouncy balls and Q swam with just water wings, no vest.  My mom made a new potato salad - dill and lemon and dijon mustard instead of mayo.

6.  Everyone, including Ike, snored on the drive home.

7.  We are almost finished with Breaking Bad.  We started watching it  this summer and we are almost all caught up.  Do you watch?  Yowza.  That's all I can say about that one.

8.  Today I did the grocery shopping and forgot to buy any meat.  I guess we're all going to be vegetarians this week.  Big sigh.

9.  Jewelry.  Jewelry.  Jewelry.

10.  Laundry.  Laundry.  Laundry.

11.  I ran another 5K.  On the treadmill.  In our living room.  And I do use the word "run" very loosely.  My definition and your definition might not be the same thing.

12.  Chris is making scallops for dinner as I type this.  Hooray!

13.  I pray this four day week is...uneventful, productive, stress, er, mild?  (free might be asking too much), positive (I am going to look for a way to make someone else feel good every day.  And maybe not yell at my children so much.  Just sayin.)

Game Day Collection

Y'all, I live in the South...just outside of Athens, GA (which is where I work) and football (specifically  SEC/ACC college football) is HUGE.  Like, a way of life, HUGE.

So when I started planning out my fall/winter/holiday lines, I knew that Game Day HAD to be a part of it.

Part 1 is in the shop!  Yay!  If you don't see your team colors yet, let me know...there is a part 2 being posted next weekend.

Happy Football Season, Friends, happy football season!

What the what??? That's a HUGE sale!

So every summer, right before going back to work, I have a Back to School boutique night.  And then I give a coupon code to online buyers...

Well, this year I decided to try something a little different.  I went into my shop and ran an etsy on sale update to automatically change all the prices to SALE PRICES!!!  Yay!  So, no coupon code needed.  :)

Everything (I repeat, everything) is on sale in the shop from 20% to 50% off regular prices.  The sale started late last night and runs through July 31!

{just a sampling...}

New!

New necklaces that are perfect for summer!  Lightweight, fun, statement pieces.  

Colorful, mix of vintage and wood.

And this one just might be my favorite!

New and well, NEW!

So, if you don't already know, Picnik is closing {big sigh} tomorrow.  Do you know about Picnik?  It was a photo editing site and as a blogger it was (in my opinion) one of the easiest ways to create picture collages.  Like, super, super easy.

So when they announced that they were closing, I cried a little.  (Ok, not really...but sorta.)  I tried a few other photo editing sites and they just didn't measure up.  BUT, tonight I messed around with picmonkey and I must say, I am impressed with it.  Right now they don't have a collage tool, but it says that it is on the way.  If you haven't tried it...perhaps you should.

So, that's new for me.  Picmonkey.  Kind of a silly name.

And here are some things that are new for you...to be posted later tonight...(photo editing in picmonkey)

And here are some goodies that will be posted later this week... {love, love, love}

Finally

Oh, Friends, finally, some new things, made with my own two hands that have been consuming my thoughts for almost 2 months now, have been made!

I had challenged myself in January to only make things with supplies that I already had on hand.  I was saving shop money to pay for Blissdom and I often fall into the "I love it and have to make something with it" camp when it comes to beads (and the such), buy it, bring it home and then become distracted by something else.  Does this happen to you???  So I have a ton of supplies and I need to use them.  And so, I had all these ideas of things to do with supplies on hand for January. 

But then the latest PW post happened and I have spent the past six weeks filling orders {super grateful!} but not getting my projects any further along...just stuck in my head...and six weeks is much too long for projects to be thoughts instead of realities.

{AND, just want until you see some of the other things that I have in the works!!! Sooooooo excited!  But those are Spring Break projects...}

These were this weekend's projects...I will be busy listing them in the shop tonight...

Whew! Coming up for air...

I am nowhere near being finished with making/packing orders, but have definitely made LOTS of progress!  I am still waiting on quite a bit of supplies that I've ordered, and you know, if I didn't have a full time job (which I do love and am grateful for) and 3 kids (I love them too and am grateful for them also) this process would be a whole heckuva lot easier. 

That being said, here's some progress that you can see for yourself...

That's Thursday's and Saturday's outgoing packages.  (I failed to take a picture of Tuesday's!)  I'll be shipping again this week on Tuesday and Thursday...probably twice as many packages!

Prior to last Monday, my table was a disaster.  I worked on top of the disaster all week and then after my post office run this morning I had to take a cleaning break.  Usually I have to take a break from cleaning, but today I had to take a break from jewelry to clean.  :)

Not perfect (by any stretch of the imagination) but definitely better!  Lots of light?  Um, yes please.  And that is an Ott Light in the right hand corner.  Have you heard of these?  They are FANtastic!  Truly.  I bought mine on Black Friday for $17 at Michael's (they're normally around $80).  Watch for the sales and pick one up for yourself!

I spent the majority of my day at the table....working on one thing or another and the children kept begging to help.  So I let them.  And now I can honestly say that I've run a sweatshop.  I paid them waaaaaayyyyy less than minimum wage.  :)

Casey was putting stickers on the boxes and Quinn was handling the return address stamping.  Then Chan wanted to get in on the fun, so they decided to tackle the WHOLE box of uline mailers.  All 200 of them!  They had an assembly line going and when I asked who started the assembly line, Chandler responded, "George Washington!"  Um, no...Perhaps she should have been studying some history instead of stamping envelopes.

I have been (prior to this week) thinking about some things that I want to include in my spring line and thought I would share some with you...

Cloisonne beads and some color block pieces will definitely be some staples in the spring line!!!  Can't wait to get started on them!  {and what you see above will be in the shop at some point over the weekend}