Week of 11/30 to 12/06 Features Buy Handmade, Make an Artisan Happy

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Don't forget to vote! (Click to vote)

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12/06 Buy Handmade, Make an Artisan Happy

Today's shop is togs4tots, over 55 years sewing experience and specializing in childrens clothing sizes Infants to Size 8. There, you will find perfect gifts for families with kids.

I encourage you to contact the artisan above if you see an item you love, even if just to let them know how much you like their work. Show us your favorites in the ArtFire thread too and twitter, plurk, blog, etc. if you find something you like!

togs4tots's condensed studio sections are:

Girls Dresses / Capri / Pants per size
Girls Jumpers and pinafores per size
Girls Skirts / Girls Purses
Childrens hats/Childrens accessories
Baby shoes/Baby items
Household / Aprons

togs4tots's Lowest priced item is $3.25. The highest priced item is $36.97.

Here is one of my favorites:

What is YOUR favorite? :)

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12/05 Buy Handmade, Make an Artisan Happy

Today's shop is mattsart, specializing in beautiful colorful paintings and prints. There, you will find perfect gifts for those who appreciate fine art.

I encourage you to contact the artisan above if you see an item you love, even if just to let them know how much you like their work. Show us your favorites in the ArtFire thread too and twitter, plurk, blog, etc. if you find something you like!

mattsart's Lowest priced item is $25. The highest priced item is $499.

Here is one of my favorites:

What is YOUR favorite? :)

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12/04 Buy Handmade, Make an Artisan Happy

Today's shop is SiblingStew, a 4-siblings studio, specializing in being jacks of all trades. There, you will find perfect gifts for everyone on your list. Check out their pretty Christmas Wreaths!

I encourage you to contact the artisan above if you see an item you love, even if just to let them know how much you like their work. Show us your favorites in the ArtFire thread too and twitter, plurk, blog, etc. if you find something you like!

SiblingStew's studio sections are:

Jewelry
Cards
Lighted Wine Bottles
Competition
Wreaths
Ornaments

SiblingStew's Lowest priced item is $1.20. The highest priced item is $48.

Here is one of my favorites:

What is YOUR favorite? :)

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12/03 Buy Handmade, Make an Artisan Happy

Today's shop is alibalijewellery, specializing in contemporary handcrafted silver and copper jewellery using eco friendly recycled silver and copper. There, you will find perfect gifts for those hard to please ladies and gents on your list.

I encourage you to contact the artisan above if you see an item you love, even if just to let them know how much you like their work. Show us your favorites in the ArtFire thread too and twitter, plurk, blog, etc. if you find something you like!

alibalijewellery's Lowest priced item is $26.73. The highest priced item is $113.85.

Here is one of my favorites:

What is YOUR favorite? :)

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12/02 Buy Handmade, Make an Artisan Happy

Special feature for today: kraftouchtreasures, donating 25% of her proceedings to help her daughters' 8th grade class - Graduating Class of St. John the Baptist Catholic School, Honolulu, Hawaii. Check out her store, there are a lot of very pretty, reasonably priced designs. Show your support or share some kind words in the ArtFire forum thread too.

Vote! Vote! Vote! :)

All the undiscovered shops as of this morning have been moved to the poll at the bottom of this page. Please check them out and vote for them! The top 5 will be featured next week, and the top winner will be widely advertised. So if you are, know, or like one of these undiscovered studios, vote, and tell all your friends to vote too! It's fun! :)

We will now return to our regularly scheduled program. Thank you so much for participating in the poll!

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12/01 Buy Handmade, Make an Artisan Happy

Today's shop is clayology, specializing in one of a kind pure silver jewelry and art made from Precious Metal Clay (PMC). There, you will find perfect gifts for those hard to please people on your list.

I encourage you to contact the artisan above if you see an item you love, even if just to let them know how much you like their work. Show us your favorites in the ArtFire thread too and twitter, plurk, blog, etc. if you find something you like!

clayology's studio sections are:

Beads
Bracelets
Earrings
Rings
Necklaces/Pendants
Polymer Clay
Vessels

clayology's Lowest priced item is $15. The highest priced item is $175.

Here is one of my favorites:

What is YOUR favorite? :)

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11/30 Buy Handmade, Make an Artisan Happy

Today's shop is roxysrox, specializing in handmade fashion jewelry. There, you will find perfect gifts for those young at heart.

I encourage you to contact the artisan above if you see an item you love, even if just to let them know how much you like their work. Show us your favorites in the ArtFire thread too and twitter, plurk, blog, etc. if you find something you like!

roxysrox's Lowest priced item is $14.11. The highest priced item is $61.74.

Here is one of my favorites:

What is YOUR favorite? :)

I am DA GRRREAT THREADKILLAH!

Behold my awesome threadkilling powers! Just you wait, you'll see... I shall be DA KILLAH of this thread and many more MWAHAHAHA!

Kidding aside, that is one funny thread and I'm so grateful to nanations for starting it. If not only for the reassurance that I'm not the only one who feels threads stop after I post to them LOL

Lesley (aka Rhiannon) has generously built a list of wannabe threadkillers, and graciously included the real threadkiller (me!) on it. I thought that was a very sweet thing to do, so I'm going to copy her list here too:

* nanations - Handmade Native American inspired jewelry and crafts
* LicaLee - Handmade Recycled Jewelry and Art
* A Me Design - Handmade Purses, Cards, Ornaments, and More.
* ButtonWilloe - Babies, Baubles, and Blessings.
* SpiritDance - The Studio of Little Altars for Anywhere
* mv aka ThreadKiller - One-of-a-kind Jewelry Made with Love and Fun.
* KICKINSKREATIONS! Cool Candles Galore, at Kickin's Store.
* Timely Impressions - Tick Tock Clocks. Never be late again!
* Uga Buga Bowls - Mugs, Bowls, Goblets, Cups, Incense Burners!
* TheDiogenesClub - Wait and See!
* Hill Country Collection - Lace, Bibs, Magnets, Ornaments, Jewelry
* deStashNotTrash - Beads, Pendants, Findings, and More!
* Bead All About It - Gemstones, Beads, and Jewelry Galore.
* Designs by Patricia Hall - Natural Stone,Lampwork Glass and Shell Beaded Items.
* SotocapMania - Bottle Cap Art, Steampunk, Unique, and Whimsical
* Kibbles - Primitives, Quilts, Pillows, Papercrafts and 1/12 Dollhouse Miniatures
* Flame Fly Creations - Custom Design Pendants and Leather Goods.
* Creative Critters - Polymer Clay Scultures. Can you say wow?
* Scarlet-Impressions - Handmade Jewelry Crafted in the UK
* Retro Renegade Vintage - Authentic Vintage Clothing for Women and Men.
* Creativity Awakened - Beautiful Hand Painted Glass Items.
* Alisuns - Custom Crafted Jewelry
* MeMeBev Creations - Quality Handmade Stuffed Animals, Handbag Totes.
* Catfluff - Custom covers, Recycled Sweater Wine Bags and More.
* Suzanne Stevens Creates - One-of-a-kind Jewelry and Accessories.
* Yours Truli - Vintage Jewelry Creations.

Check these studios out, they are all awesome artisans!

Week of 11/22 to 11/29 FeaturesBuy Handmade, Make an Artisan Happy

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11/29 Buy Handmade, Make an Artisan Happy

Today's shop is talicreations, specializing in high-end handmade jewelry. There, you will find perfect gifts for those picky ladies on your list.

I encourage you to contact the artisan above if you see an item you love, even if just to let them know how much you like their work. Show us your favorites in the ArtFire thread too and twitter, plurk, blog, etc. if you find something you like!

talicreations's studio sections are:

Necklaces
Bracelets
Earrings
Two Piece Sets
Three Piece Sets

talicreations's Lowest priced item is $12. The highest priced item is $90.

Here is one of my favorites:

What is YOUR favorite? :)

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11/28 Buy Handmade, Make an Artisan Happy

Today's shop is craftypetstuff, specializing in dog signs and other cute pet crafts. There, you will find perfect gifts for those owned by a pet.

I encourage you to contact the artisan above if you see an item you love, even if just to let them know how much you like their work. Show us your favorites in the ArtFire thread too and feel free to twitter, plurk, blog if you find something amazing!

craftypetstuff's Lowest priced item is $12. The highest priced item is $45.

Here is one of my favorites:

What is YOUR favorite? :)

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11/27 Buy Handmade, Make an Artisan Happy

Today's shop is burnishandbrush, specializing in wall decor and handmade stationery. There, you will find perfect gifts for all ages.

I encourage you to contact the artisan above if you see an item you love, even if just to let them know how much you like their work. Show us your favorites in the ArtFire thread too and feel free to twitter, plurk, blog if you find something amazing!

burnishandbrush's studio sections are:

Boxed Christmas Cards
Girls Wall Decor
Boys Wall Decor
Welcome Baby Cards
Fill In Invitations
Blank Cards
Mixed Media Art

burnishandbrush's Lowest priced item is $4.50. The highest priced item is $175.

Here is one of my favorites:


What is YOUR favorite? :)

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11/26 Buy Handmade, Make an Artisan Happy

Today's shop is NorthernLightsStudio, specializing in beautiful glass works since 1977. There, you will find perfect gifts for someone who appreciates unique decor.

I encourage you to contact the artisan above if you see an item you love, even if just to let them know how much you like their work. Show us your favorites in the ArtFire thread too and feel free to twitter, plurk, blog if you find something amazing!

NorthernLightsStudio's studio sections are:

GLASS MOSAICS
STAINED GLASS

NorthernLightsStudio's Lowest priced item is $18.75. The highest priced item is $1125.

Here is one of my favorites:


What is YOUR favorite? :)

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11/25 Buy Handmade, Make an Artisan Happy

Today's shop is Rosie_Rowe, specializing in original art and unique gifts. There, you will find perfect presents for that person who has everything.

I encourage you to contact the artisan above if you see an item you love, even if just to let them know how much you like their work. Show us your favorites in the ArtFire thread too and feel free to twitter, plurk, blog if you find something amazing!

Rosie_Rowe's studio sections are:

Mixed Media
Paintings
Handmade Books
Wearable Art
Art Pins
Arty-Farty Bags/Purses
Shabby-chic Bags/Purses
Textiles
Puzzle Pieces
Art Quilties/Wall-hangings
Altered Dominos/Tiles
ACEOs

Rosie_Rowe's Lowest priced item is $9.95. The highest priced item is $110.

Here is one of my favorites:


What is YOUR favorite? :)

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11/24 Buy Handmade, Make an Artisan Happy

Today's shop is dingusdan, specializing in hand carved or scroll sawn woodwork, as well as customized rocking horses. There, you will find perfect gifts for all ages.

I encourage you to contact the artisan above if you see an item you love, even if just to let them know how much you like their work. Show us your favorites in the ArtFire thread too and feel free to twitter, plurk, blog if you find something amazing!

dingusdan's Lowest priced item is $15. The highest priced item is $275.

Here is one of my favorites:



What is YOUR favorite? :)

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11/23 Buy Handmade, Make an Artisan Happy

Today's shop is BlueSerendipity, specializing in bold and colorful eclectic jewelry. There, you will find perfect gifts for all your lady friends.

I encourage you to contact the artisan above if you see an item you love, even if just to let them know how much you like their work. Show us your favorites in the ArtFire thread too and feel free to twitter, plurk, blog if you find something amazing!

BlueSerendipity's Lowest priced item is $6. The highest priced item is $65.81.

Here is one of my favorites:


What is YOUR favorite? :)

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11/22 Buy Handmade, Make an Artisan Happy

Today's shop is marykerran, specializing in glass items such as jewelry, wall hangings, and much more. There, you will find perfect gifts even for people who have everything.

I encourage you to contact the artisan above if you see an item you love, even if just to let them know how much you like their work. Show us your favorites in the ArtFire thread too and feel free to twitter, plurk, blog if you find something amazing!

Her studio sections are:

Belt Buckles
Mosaic Light Switch Cover
Stained Glass Mosaics
Earrings
Pendants
Beads & Buttons
Bracelets
Bolo Ties
Fan and Lamp Pulls
Housewares and Bookmarks

marykerran's Lowest priced item is $3. The highest priced item is $399.

Here is one of my favorites:



What is YOUR favorite? :)

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Wonderful artisans featured during the week of 11/22/2009 to 11/29/2009.

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Buy Handmade, Make an Artisan Happy: Artisans featured from 11/14 to 11/21

This is a list of artisans featured during the week of 11/14/2009 to 11/21/2009. Go ahead and click on their studios. These studios accept all major credit cards to make it easy for you to obtain that gorgeous item you just must have :)

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NeldasVintageClothing, specializing in vintage clothing and accessories. There, you will find perfect gifts for the picky ladies in your entourage!

WatchesbyHelen, specializing in beautiful handmade watches and matching earrings. There, you will find perfect gifts for the busy ladies in your entourage!

MaxLovesCleo, specializing in beautiful handmade jewelry. There, you will find perfect gifts for the hard to please ladies in your entourage!

samsstuff, specializing in vintage and handmade art and gifts for the home. There, you will find perfect gifts for the hard to please folks in your entourage!

lillies, specializing in beautiful handmade jewelry. There, you will find perfect gifts for the elegant ladies in your entourage!

quirkydame, specializing in quirky fine art. There, you will find perfect gifts for the fine art nuts in your entourage!

KaysK9s, specializing in custom Needle Felted pet portrait sculptures. Can you imagine how perfect a gift this is? Get a picture of your grandma's favorite pet, send it to KaysK9s, and it will be the BEST gift ever!

Buy handmade. Make an artisan happy :)

11/21 Buy Handmade, Make an Artisan Happy

Today's shop is NeldasVintageClothing, specializing in vintage clothing and accessories. There, you will find perfect gifts for the picky ladies in your entourage!

I encourage you to contact the studio above if you see an item you love, even if just to let them know how much you like their picks. Show us your favorites in the ArtFire thread too and feel free to twitter, plurk, blog if you find something amazing!

NeldasVintageClothing's Lowest priced item is $13. The highest priced item is $265.

Here is one of my favorites:


What is YOUR favorite? :)

11/20 Buy Handmade, Make an Artisan Happy

Today's shop is WatchesbyHelen, specializing in beautiful handmade watches and matching earrings. There, you will find perfect gifts for the busy ladies in your entourage!

I encourage you to contact the artisan above if you see an item you love, even if just to let them know how much you like their work. Show us your favorites in the ArtFire thread too and feel free to twitter, plurk, blog if you find something amazing!

WatchesbyHelen's Lowest priced item is $10. The highest priced item is $55.

Here is one of my favorites:



What is YOUR favorite? :)

11/19 Buy Handmade, Make an Artisan Happy

Today's shop is MaxLovesCleo, specializing in beautiful handmade jewelry. There, you will find perfect gifts for the hard to please ladies in your entourage!

I encourage you to contact the artisan above if you see an item you love, even if just to let them know how much you like their work. Show us your favorites in the ArtFire thread too and feel free to twitter, plurk, blog if you find something amazing!

MaxLovesCleo's Lowest priced item is $14. The highest priced item is $48.

Here is one of my favorites:


What is YOUR favorite? :)

11/18 Buy Handmade, Make an Artisan Happy

Today's shop is samsstuff, specializing in vintage and handmade art and gifts for the home. There, you will find perfect gifts for the hard to please folks in your entourage!

I encourage you to contact the artisan above if you see an item you love, even if just to let them know how much you like their work. Show us your favorites in the ArtFire thread too and feel free to twitter, plurk, blog if you find something amazing!

samsstuff's Lowest priced item is $5. The highest priced item is $27.

Here is one of my favorites:


What is YOUR favorite? :)

The creepy human-sized rabbit thread

A short creepy bunny story.

It all started with a call for help from MountainMaggie. She had accidentally deleted her favorite hotlist item and was frantically trying to find it again:

[...] I accidentally deleted one of my hotlisted items and I haven't had any success relocating it. I'm hoping someone here might have come across it in their wanderings or in a category they are familiar with.

It's a Black and White print of someone in a rabbit suit walking up an interior flight of stairs. It was rather odd, but very intriguing.
[...]
I'm seriously obsessed with re-finding this print, so any help would be appreciated.

Fortunately, the print was located and MountainMaggie was very happy:

That's it!!! That's my weird bunny. I was so busy composing my sob story, I didn't know you had found it.
Thank you. Thank you, thank you. I'm re-hotlisting and bookmarking that critter.

How did you find it?

Now, I can resume obsessing about why I like it so much and wanting fiercely to buy it one day while being completely mortified with the thought the next.

Oh, my precious, precious human-sized bunny....

And this is where the story started unfolding... Now we were all wondering why that photo was so mesmerizing.

[...] it has a lot of story to it. Why is he dressed in a bunny suit? Why in a building that looks abandoned? His hand is on his knee... is he tired? Is he actually moving or resting? What does the graffiti say? Is that a can or a camera? ... ...

Oh, I hadn't even noticed the can, (camera?). That really amps the creepy/cool factor! That almost puts me over.
Where would I hang it and would anyone ever come to visit me again?

It's plenty creepy, but I can't look away![...]

[...] I'm trying to think of who I could get it for as a Christmas present, (to justify spending the $). It needs to be someone that would totally hate it, so that they would give it back to me as a birthday present, because I admired it sooo much every time I visited them and saw it on the wall, where they had quickly hung it up, when they heard I was coming to visit.

Then I could hang it in the room I secretly want for myself, but have to keep open for guests who usually stay too long!

Bad bunny thoughts, like that!

Sometimes it looks scary to me and I hope everyone upstairs has locked their doors. Other times it looks sad, like it just got off work after a long week of hiding eggs amongst dumpsters, bus benches and sign posts. Other times, I think it's the funniest Ithing that I've ever seen, for no reason whatsover.

Maybe he spray painted the door & then used the chair to hide the spray paint in the window sill and is slowly walking away from the scene chuckling to himself.....

OMG! I didn't even see the chair! This is getting more and more interesting!

::shiver:: The chair... The chair...... What if... the red paint is not paint, but... BLOOD! Creeeeeepy!

dun dun duuuuuuuuuuuuuu

Then we all hid under a blanket and tried to sleep without having nightmares :)

If you'd like to make an artist happy and purchase this print, it is available here for $25. Check the rest of FrankenKitty's studio for other cool items.

What do YOU see in this print?

11/17 Buy Handmade, Make an Artisan Happy

Today's shop is lillies, specializing in beautiful handmade jewelry. There, you will find perfect gifts for the elegant ladies in your entourage!

~~~ 10% of all sales will be donated to the BRITISH ARMY BENEVOLENT FUND ~~~

I encourage you to contact the artisan above if you see an item you like, even if just to let them know how much you like their work. Show us your favorites in the ArtFire thread too and feel free to twitter, plurk, blog if you find something amazing!

lillies' lowest priced item is $9. The highest priced item is $135.

Here is one of my favorites:



What is YOUR favorite? :)

11/16 Buy Handmade, Make an Artisan Happy

Today's shop is quirkydame, specializing in quirky fine art. There, you will find perfect gifts for the fine art nuts in your entourage!

I encourage you to contact the artisan above if you see an item you like, even if just to let them know how much you like their work. Show us your favorites in the ArtFire thread too and feel free to twitter, plurk, blog if you find something amazing!

quirkydame's Lowest priced item is $13. The highest priced item is $65.

Here is one of my favorites:



What is YOUR favorite? :)

11/15 Buy Handmade, Make an Artisan Happy

Today's shop is KaysK9s, specializing in custom Needle Felted pet portrait sculptures. Can you imagine how perfect a gift this is? Get a picture of your grandma's favorite pet, send it to KaysK9s, and it will be the BEST gift ever!

I encourage you to contact the artisan above if you see an item you like, even if just to let them know how much you like their work. Show us your favorites in the ArtFire thread too and feel free to twitter, plurk, blog if you find something amazing!

KaysK9s' Lowest priced item is $1. The highest priced item is $250.

Here is one of my favorites:



What is YOUR favorite? :)

Chocolate on my mind...

ArtFire is such a great community! Professional, yet knowing how to have fun and be silly. There are always game posts going on, a lot of funny artisans, and plenty of interesting topics.

OneWord is one of my favorite threads. Often funny and witty, and always interesting to see what someone thinks of first. Some artisans see the noun, some see the verb, and some see an unexpected connection that will take you by surprise.

I love parsing and analyzing data, so it's only natural I'd ask myself what are the most popular words in the OneWord thread. What is on ArtFire's mind? So I've set out to gather all the one-words in the thread and reduce them to their root form to find the most thought of word. So what is it?

Chocolate.

I love chocolate and so does ArtFire it seems. Chocolate appears 12 times in the thread, as of today. It was associated with the color brown, candy (thrice!), valentine, pleasure, cravings, deprived, morsels, calories, sweet, and dessert. What do people think of when they see chocolate? Kisses (twice!), drink, candy, bon bon, cake, caramel, perfection, calories, bunny, and sundae (twice!). Quite fascinating!

The next popular word is snow, mostly associated with white and cold. It appears 10 times, and most of them are recent. Are people getting a lot of snow this year?

What's next? Love, red, and water at 9 each. Hmm, I guess we need some water after all that chocolate.

Red (9) and green (8) are the most popular colors to think of by association. The third ranking color, at only 4 thoughts, is blue. So they may say that blue is the most popular color, but this society is built on red and green :)

I've had a lot of fun with this! Here is a list of words that appeared 6 times or more - a window into ArtFire's mind:

12 chocolate
10 snow
9 water
9 red
9 love
8 work
8 sleep
8 queen
8 horse
8 happy
8 halloween
8 green
8 family
7 music
7 movie
7 money
7 hot
7 home
7 dream
7 beach
6 you
6 warm
6 tree
6 pie
6 joy
6 house
6 football
6 fire
6 drink
6 cheese

I hope you've enjoyed reading about my little fun adventure into OneWord thoughts. Leave a comment with your thoughts, or email me. I'd like to know what's on YOUR mind.

Over and Out.

The AndreaDesigns Effect

I feel so honored to have been featured on Andrea's blog! She puts so much effort into promoting handmade and always picks really great items to showcase. She is, in a sense, handmade's angel :) (AND on her way to becoming a Master Knitter and an accomplished artisan to boot!)

Having just opened my online studio, this has been my first time being featured, and it's SO exciting! As an artisan, I am always happy to hear what people think about my work. My jewelry pieces are like my babies and I like to know they are loved. It may sound corny, but I do spend a lot of time thinking about how to make them beautiful and interesting. They are all "born" from my mind.

So. Today I got to experience the AndreaDesigns effect. What happens when you are featured on her blog? Wonderful things! I saved my stats right before the feature, and checked them again tonight. Almost 100 new item views! The Velvet Fire necklace in particular seems to have gathered quite a posse, considering the number of clicks.

It is also interesting to see the world map after the feature. Look at all the pretty greens! Kind Internet surfers from these countries have visited my studio. Isn't it wonderful?



Andrea, thank you for offering this opportunity to your fellow artisans, and thank you for investing so much of your time into promoting handmade!

I need stickers

Boxes. Check. Ribbon. Check. Tissue paper. Check. Stickers. Stickers? Gaaaah! Stickers! I need pretty mv stickers and I've run out of color ink. Time to either shop for ink, or buy some stickers online.

Speaking of stickers online, I found a store that looks very professional and sells customized stickers. So I've been looking around said ButtonDivas shop and what do I see? A mirror. A very very pretty mirror. I can't stop thinking about it...



I wonder what it would look like if it were earrings... Love those colors.

Over and out for today.