she sells sea shells...

Funny how a little girl, born in Utah, was destined to be a beach babe.

Or maybe it isn't strange at all. Her family is beachy through and through. She must have picked us with this in mind. It's still a little chilly at the seaside, but that doesn't stop us.

It's been a while since I had a give away. Let's have another, just for kicks. Waddaya say?

Leave a comment to enter to win the above necklace. It is made with rough cut aquamarine beads and silver. The center stone is amazonite. If you take a fancy to this piece, and really pine to win, twitter about the giveaway and I'll throw your name in the hat twice. Blog about it and you are in it thrice. Make sure to let me know your doings so you get your rightful comeuppance.

And if you aren't lucky, don't despair. I'm unlucky too. You aren't alone. Pop over to the shop and see what lovelies are to be had there.

Beauties such as these "Mermaid Earrings":

Oh and FYI, embroidery patterns coming soon to a blog near you. In keeping with today's theme, here's the mermaid from my High Seas set.

curiouser and curiouser

The Alice in Wonderland movie comes out on Friday. In his true fashion, Tim Burton has creeped it out sufficiently. That guy can't ever leave good enough alone.

Why he was allowed to lay a finger on this story is beyond me. I guess he has money.

But then again, my mother has always been creeped out by Alice in Wonderland. When I played the Cheshire cat in the third grade that's all she would say, "I don't know why the are doing that story. It's just plain creepy. Creepy!"

And then there is the business about Lewis Carroll being a drug addict and pedophile, which I don't believe and neither does Lenny- a veritable Alice expert.

I personally always liked the story with it's white rabbit and tea parties. I thought it was charming.

I drew the rabbit the other day. I think I will use him to make Easter cards. He makes a pretty good Easter Bunny stand-in.

Found these while I was up in the middle of the night. Aren't they cute?

You can buy them here.

I got started drawing rabbits and I couldn't stop. If only I owned a letterpress. I could make some awesome Easter cards.

I've had some Alice charms in my stash for a while now. I think I'll put them to good use and have a give away.


I'll pick two winners. Randomly, of course, for fairness sake.

You know the drill. Leave a comment, just one. I'll pick on Friday when they release the creepy movie.

Also, I'll be loading this little delight into my shop later today. It's called "Alice".

And last but not least, check this out. What a fun party idea!

the winner and a freakin' awesome offer

Okay, do you see why Ebsi and the Brothers Record are AWESOME? Sorry to shout but, THEY ROCK!

This is a seriously amazing offer and if you don't do it, quite frankly, you're a silly fool.

So go. Go now my little friends. Scurry away to claim your piece of the Ebsi magic.

And then come back to me.

Oh and spread the love, spread the word. To sweeten the deal, if you refer a friend and they buy a package from the brothers, I'll hook you up with fifteen dollars off any Secondsister product.

Were givers, us Carlsbad people.

the d.l.

Hello Feburary!

Only sixteen posts in January! Whoopee! I'm starting 2KX off with a bang.

I know I've been a little MIA as of late.

Here's the DL on my absence.

I went to CHA for a little R& R. Turns out there wasn't much R&R to be had. MRA had her minions working away like mad turning her booth into a pink wonderland. She rocked the cazba at the show and thanks to her FHO she had the best booth around. We saw a few SW's and LOL alot.

So I did the CHA thing with Margie then I came home and worked like MADD on my Spring jewelry line. Margie, Rhonna and Liz all wore my necklaces at the show and they passed out a cabillion business cards for me so I thought it might be a good idea to at least, you know, add a few new items to ye ol' shoppe.



Meanwhile...

My minions were working feverishly at pimping out my new website and giving this here blog a little TLC. Oh yeah. They rocked. Don't you think?

The Brother's Record, AKA Ebsi, are good friends of mine ( not quite BFF, but along those lines) that just happen to own an awesome website/blog design company. Now isn't that just convenient for me?

Seriously, check these guys out. I am excited to be working for Ebsi, helping them design blogs for girls like me. SAHM's who should have, nay, deserve, blogs that pop.

Oh and BTW, Ebsi is giving away a

free custom blog template

to one of my readers. A template that no one else will have. It will be yours, all yours. Here's the catch. You must leave a comment, just one please, telling the Brother's why they should pimp your blog. If you blog about this giveaway, we'll give ya more consideration than the non-blogger abouters. Fair is fair. A winner will be selected on the morning of February 10th. You'll be SOL if you don't get your comment in by then.

In between working in my art room, talking and texting and emailing the Brothers like crazy, trying to get our adoption finalized, drawing illustrations for the Brothers to use, changin' butts and takin' names and generally TCB, I've not been blogging.

So there you have it. The DL on my DIYADD life.


P.S. VCO's stay away. If you leave a comment correcting my use of acronyms I will publicly poke fun of you. At this time I'm only accepting drawing entries and accolades for my new blog and jewelry line. Thank you for your cooperation.

JIC:

Just in case you aren't one of the cool kids that stays abreast of urban acronyms I'll help you out a little.

DL: Down low
CHA: Craft and Hobby Show
MRA: Margie Romney-Aslett
R&R: Rest and relaxation
2KX: 2010
FHO: Friends helping others
SW: PJ
PJ: Personal joke
BTW: By the way
BFF: Best friends forever
LOL: Laughed out loud
MADD: Mothers against drunk drivers
TLC: Tender loving care
SAHM: Stay at home mom
VCO: Vocabulary corrections officer
AKA: Also known as
DIYADD: Do it yourself attention deficit disorder
SOL: (if you don't know what this means, you're better off not knowing)

TTYL...

where's the love????

Haven't been around these parts lately and evidently neither has anyone else. That, or not that many of you liked my Spotty creations. Where's the love people?

Anyway- enough poor me crap.

The winners are:(and I would have picked these same people even if a thousand had entered)

Laura- the cuff must go to you because not only do you have a wrist that it will fit, you also deserve a reward for your irreverent, smart ass attitude and faithful readership.

Domestic Katie- you must have the brooch because you are just crazy enough to wear it to church and because I'm using this as a bribe to get you to come to SPARK!

a gaggle for the girlie

Little Miss Barfs-a-Lot has kept me doing load after load of laundry the past seven weeks and we all know how much I adore laundry.

Yesterday I snapped. I hauled out my sewing machine, which I inherited from Ben's grandma when she died. I think it was made in 1968. True story. It still works. Kind of.

I made Birdie a gaggle of bibs to sop up all the spit-up. I bet you didn't know that a group of bibs was called a gaggle.

That would be because I just made that up.

Anywho, I sewed for a good four hours and made enough bibs to last at least a week without doing wash.

I also sewed a couple for little Sam who has been sick these last few days and the doctors keep poking him with needles and the like. Poor Sam.

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

AHEM.

The winner of the Summer Photo Contest, by three votes, including Tommy B.'s, is Elizabeth who took the photo of the boy in the sand. The judges said that this photo most epitomizes Summer. Congrats Elizabeth. Please contact me about customizing your rings!

to capture a slice of summer

Here are the pictures that were submitted for the Summer photo challenge. If you submitted more than one, I picked the one I liked the best to go to the judges.

To keep all judging fair and square, I have left off all names and credits. The judges panel consists of two professional photographers, two professional scrapbookers, and my son. After all, who knows Summer better than a five-year-old boy?

atención you photo people!

Okay folks, I'm getting some seriously great summer photos emailed to me for the ye ol' contest. I decided the winner must have something muy especial. Sooooooo. . .

The winner will receive a custom set of Secondsister rings with personalized names or words (up to four rings). I'm going to enlist some of my uber talented photo friends to vote for the winner. I will try to have a panel of about four professional photographers. I will give everyone another week to get their entry to me and announce the winner next Monday.

On an unrelated note, sometimes I look at Amelie and she looks just like Boss Hogg on the Dukes of Hazard, but cuter.

Happy Monday! We're off to the beach!

bon voyage!

gabrielle kai

Well.

Evidently the Earth has been turning after all. Here we are, our bags are packed, we're ready to catch a jet plane to meet our daughter.

I feel as if I'm standing on a ship deck, setting sail for a great adventure. I'm waving goodbye to all my arts and crafts for a while. I'm waving goodbye to sleep. I'm throwing kisses to afternoon runs on the beach and long showers. And I'm wearing a really good hat.

Goodbye old life. We may meet again somewhere down the road.





And I will be a bit clandestine for a while. You may not see a new post until I have have fully recovered from the ugly cry and snapped some really great pics of my little birdie.




BUT.




I'm not leaving you high and dry. No, no. That's not my style.




I'm giving you a chance to win these precious little crib shoes which were recently featured in Parent Magazine, made by Laurie Minick of Old School Acres. Laurie is a retired reporter who lives on a farm in Iowa with her two daughters, her farrier (horseshoer) husband, 13 horses, 2 dogs and a bunch of cats. These little shoes are only available through The Baby Gardner.



I bought Amelie her own pair. They are so sweet they make my hair curl.






To win the shoes, you must leave a comment guessing how much Amelie is going to weigh. If there is a tie, I will put your names in a hat, or bowl or maybe call in a witchdoctor to read some chicken bones.




See you on the other side of life.

winners a go-go

I was a little frazzled yesterday and I didn't announce the winners of the Go Girl stuff.

The random number picker choose #21 Danielle, and (this is hilarious) comment #15, Shawn, who is the first ever MAN to post a comment on my blog. HA!

Shawn, I know you will find a use for your Go Girl. Wear the t-shirt with pride.

because sally tomato said so

I can't believe that I've been at this for an entire year. I've written so much, given a fair amount of things away and complained a little. Here's to many more years of having my own daily soap box.

Do you have a favorite Suaviloquy post? I'd like to know which one it is. Leave it in the comments.

"I've got to do something about the way I look. I mean
a girl just can't go to Sing Sing with a green face." -Holly
Golightly

I mentioned not to long ago that I had found some ear plugs. I didn't want any old ugly orange ones like Sugar Daddy used to wear in law school. A girl like me needs fashion.

So I turned to the Queen of Fashion herself. Holly Golightly.

She never steers me wrong. I found the sweetest little tassel ear plugs around. And girls, they were only $6. You must check out JenGen's little shop on the web. Sally Tomato gives it two thumbs up.

I've been wearing them around annoying the living daylights out of my family. When they ask me to do something I just point to the tassels and mouth "I CAN'T HEAR YOU" and give a shrug.

You know me. I can't keep something this good all to myself. I have to share the love. I have five, yes five pairs of ear tassels in varying designs to give away. Leave a message and you will be in the drawing. And don't forget to tell me if you have a favorite post from 2008 if you had one. I will pick a winner on Wednesday. If you aren't lucky enough to win a pair, for heaven's sake, go to the website and buy some. They are only $6!

P.S. If you don't know who Sally Tomato is, I don't know why you are still reading this post. Go rent the movie already!

dangling the carrot

I think we all know that I am not above bribing people to get them to do what I want. To coax all you lurkers out, (I know you are still out there, I even know where you live- well, generally). I offer you a little bribe that you will hopefully be unable to resist.

My good friend Wendy has started a business selling hats. Evidently, hats are the chic accessory these days. I'm not in my twenties anymore so I can't be expected to know what is hot in modern society, but I have friends. I have friends who keep up with trends and they fill me in. In this way, I am really in the loop and super hip.



Any lurker who is willing to reveal themselves by leaving a comment will be in the drawing for this darling little jockey cap donated by Wendy of Swanki Hats. I chose to give away the blue one because that is the one I liked the best. If you aren't so much of a blue gal, click on over to Swanki Hats and order it in another color.

Survivor man just bought me a knit cap for Christmas, but if he hadn't, I'd be ordering up one of these. I guess I could always have two caps, but I think I might feel a little ridiculous, you know, with the weather being 85 degrees and all.

Okay kids, comment away. I'll use my random number picker to select a winner on Friday.

P.S. Check out Swanki Hats list of shows. There will be a party in my area next Wednesday. If you live close, stop on by.

and my favorite things go to. . .

Okay all- here are the results! I used this random number picker to select the winners of all the drawings. Please contact me asap at secondsisterjewelry@yahoo.com with your shipping info.

#10 Space Monkey baby gift set winner- Paper Girl Productions

#9 J. AUSTINRyan "Red Red Fox" winner- ChelMo

#8 Lewa's Designs Dandelion wall decal winner- Melissa

#7 Bellasera Baby Mod mini winner- S and E Frazier

#6 Papered Together Calendar winner- Lona

#5 House of Telsa Hair flower winner- Phil and Shanna

#4 Sophia Marsi earrings winner- Maggie Sue

#3 Sugar Loop Art Print winner- Crazy Lifferths

#2 Art Goodies Tea towel winner- Beeb

#1 Whitney Smith Dogwood plate winner- Bella Valentina Photography

Phew! There they are. Congratulations! The sooner you send over your shipping info, the sooner your item will be in the mail to you!

I'm sending out a HUGH thank you to all who entered. I will continue to do giveaways here and there so don't be a stranger!

Also, if you want to swap addresses and Christmas cards, let me know. I've sent a few out to internet friends from all over the world. I'd love to get to know you.

See you back here tomorrow morning!

space monkey- "favorite thing" #10

Can someone tell me why it is that I can never get enough skin care products? Is anyone else out there like this? I mean, I have a menagerie of lotions, balm and cleansers and yet, when I see products that smell and feel great I buy more. And the packaging! I'm a huge sucker for packaging. That's how Angie got me.

Simply put, I love the space monkey. That, and the sound of her fragrances. Warm ginger peach, strawberry limeade, dulce de leche. Hummmmmm.

Space Monkey was established in 1975 by Denver based mom of three, Angie Golden. Well , maybe 1975 is a stretch, but Angie has been dreaming up and concocting potions since she could hold a spoon. Officially open for business in 2007, Space Monkey offers up natural body care products with a modern aesthetic.

The lovable monkey, drawn by Angie's mom, that adorns almost all of the line has taken up an extra special status this year. Angie's mom passed away May 25, 2008 after a 2 1/2 year battle with lung cancer.

"Now whenever I am working my business, it is a tangible way for me to connect with her and I will always cherish that little monkey." - Angie

Okay guys, this is it. This is numero diez. The last of ten amazing giveaways. Angie is going to send the winner of tomorrow's drawing a gift set of her baby products. It contains powder, lotion and diaper balm. It is worth $25. Click on over to her shop for some really great stocking stuffers for your family.

Okay, we have been through this before. . . just leave a comment yada yada. Tomorrow is the big day. I will be listing all the winners in the evening. Check back in to see if your name is on the list. I will allow a week for winners to contact me with their shipping info and then I will re-pick a winner. Soooo, you snooze you loose. Make sure to come back and check.