Homecoming Event!

This comes right from the Etsy Twitter Blog! Check out the great recipes and awesome sales!

Fall air as crisp as a freshly picked apple, blue skies, the boom blat of the band, and of course, legions of fans all awaiting the big game- what could be more fun in the fall than Homecoming?

For our friends in other parts of the world, a little information on Homecoming is probably in order!

Homecoming is an annual tradition in the United States. The Universities of Missouri is often given the credit for establishing this tradition as far back as 1891, and it has evolved ever since.

People, towns, high schools and colleges come together, usually in late September or early October, to welcome back former residents and alumni. It is usually built around a central event, such as a banquet, and a game of American football or, occasionally basketball. Activities vary widely among schools, but usually consist of a football game played on the school's football field, activities and dances for students and alumni, and the coronation of a Homecoming Queen and King.

So come join us on the gridiron for a little tailgating party with drinks and great food, then dance the night away with specials and goodies designed to finish Homecoming in style.

For those who like their drinks with a little style, this Tailgate Mimosa is just the ticket:

Prep Time: 1 minute
Ingredients:·

• 1 oz Orange Juice
• 3 oz Champagne
• 1 oz Chambord Liqueur
• * If you are at a tailgate, just eyeball it!*

Preparation:
Pour Chambord and Orange Juice into a tall flute. Add Champange. Add a rasberry or strawberry for garnish and enjoy!!!

and for an awesome tailgate appetizer, this dip will have your guests preferring food to football ;)

GUINNESS AND CHEDDAR DIP

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 2 ounces Guinness stout
• 6 ounces grated sharp Cheddar
• 2 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• Salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
• Assorted crackers and crudités

Preparation

In a small skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add shallot and sauté until soft, 3 minutes. Add garlic; cook for 2 minutes longer. Transfer to a food processor and let cool.Add Guinness, cheeses, caraway and paprika to food processor and blend until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Place in a serving bowl, cover and chill for at least 4 hours. Sprinkle with parsley and serve with crackers and crudités.

Serves 8


Everyone can wrap up warmly for the game and still look good with these:


Jaybird Designs
15% off all custom orders, 10/8 - 10/11 with code "Go Team" in message to seller at checkout.


But there's more to Homecoming than good food and football! There's a dance to prepare for, and a chilly night to think about as you party with friends after winning (hopefully!) the game. Ditch your varsity jackets at the door, and wrap yourself up in elegant hand-knits so soft you'll want to keep them on all night long.

Foxy G Knits

HandmadebySandi

Mindy G Jewelry Boutique
Free Matching Pair of Pink Swarovski earrings the purchase of this bracelet. Use "Homecoming" in message to seller at checkout.

My Sassy Glass

Smutopia Jewelry

Southpaw Studios

Funky, cool and casual? Then guitar string bracelets, chunky natural stones or carefree flip flops may strike just the right note:

Pretty Cheap Jewelry

Free Journal with any purchase of $25 or more. All journals are handbound, hardback and perfect for notes, phone numbers, and appointments! Just ask for it when you check out.

HandmadebySandi

Show off your natural goddess away from the gridiron with these feminine pieces, from Linda B 142 Jewelry

Or, for those who love their jewelry "green" as well as truly unique, try an upcycled circuit board pendant that will get you compliments long after the dance is over:

Beadwork By Amanda

Get 5$ off any $20 order (not including shipping ). Use HOMECOMING in msg to seller at checkout. Discount refunded via Paypal.

And creating a special scrapbook of the day's festivities is a perfect way to remember it:

Scrap With Style

20% off on everything in the shop 10/8 - 10/11 with coupon code HOMECOMING in msg to seller. Shipping fees not included. Refund made via Paypal after purchase.

More to come tomorrow, with great main dish recipes, some Homecoming trivia and more fabulous finds from the Etsy Twitter Team, so be sure and check back!

Kristen

Life in General

I have been so busy! I'm a full time student, taking my last quarter of classes before graduating in November with a bachelors in chemistry. I'm also working at Xerox on a research project, and I'm working for my research adviser at school, plus I'm running my Etsy shop and doing craft shows! I'm signed up to do craft shows for the next 4 weekends in a row. Crazy! I know :)

I just brought my plants inside the other day for fear that I would forget to bring them in before a frost. To my surprise, one of them was flowering! Any guesses as to what plant it is?



A bug was also the source of my amusement. He was just sitting on a stop sign post.


The Etsy Twitter Team will be having a homecoming event October 8-11. I'll be running a special deal so if you want in on the sweet sale, check out the BLOG.

Swarovski Crystal

Who doesn't love a healthy dose of Swarovski crystal?! Artbeads has tons of beautiful, sparkly beads and components to choose from. I got a whole bunch of different beads to give them a try. I really like the crystal rivolis because they have so much depth and dimension. The funky polygon shape in padparadscha is also really neat!



Here's what I've made with the Rivolis and a little bit of bead weaving with size 11 and size 15 seed beads:

I had a lot of fun incorporating Swarovski Crystal bicones into bead woven bracelets. The wavy lime bracelet is inspired from a bracelet in the most recent Bead and Button magazine, and has lime crystals in the center. The deep blue bracelet makes use of dark sapphire bicone crystals.



Check back here in a week or so and I'll show you what I've done with some more of the Swarovski Beads that I have, and to get some inspiration!

School Supplies

As mentioned in a previous blog post, I promised to use 10% of my sales during the Etsy Twitter Team back to school sale to purchase school supplies to donate. Although the sale is not yet over, I've purchased many of the supplies already. I followed a lot of the ads to make sure I could get the most supplies for the money. I purchased 2 backpacks, a scientific calculator, and bunches of protractors, rulers, pencils, pens, paper, folders, binders, highlighters, notebooks, and erasers. I also purchased a bunch of supplies for the artsy kids including crayons, colored pencils, markers, scissors, glue, and sharpies. I was rocking the free after rebate deals, the penny deals, the nickel deals, and the plain ol' freebie deals! I still have a little bit more that I have to purchase, but what I do have covers my entire dining room table!

Busy Bee!

I've finally made enough pendants to fill my shop to normal capacity again! Here's a cool collage of all the goodies that are now available (or soon to be available) in my shop! Notice I've added some cuff links to the mix so your geeky guy can get his geek on!

Oh, and don't forget to get them now while they are 15% off (use code "back to school" at checkout)!

Back to School Blitz!

The Etsy Twitter Team is having a Back to School Blitz! I am offering 15% off my items. When you check out, write "back to school" in the message to seller box. Pay as usual. When I receive your order, I will send a refund for 15% of your purchase. I'll also be keeping track of my sales for the 2 weeks so that 10% of that can be used to buy school supplies for children in need. I've already begun to collect school supplies to donate to Staples by filling an entire box! I mean, a whole box! I've gotten over 50 folders, packs of filler paper, 66 zillion pens (yes, zillion :P), 6 protractors, a really cool scientific calculator (I love rebates!), crayons, glue, scissors, and colored pencils for the artsy kids, and a lot of notebooks. I've made it kind of a challenge for myself to see how much I can get with a small budget by following the sales. Check back on September 8 to see all of the goodies I will be donating! Also take a look at the Etsy Twitter Blog to see what other sales are going on as part of this event!

I'll be returning to school September 7 too (Yes,I'll be at school on labor day)! It will be my last quarter (10 weeks + finals week) before I graduate with a bachelors in chemistry! Soon, I'll be looking around at colleges to apply to for graduate school. Sometime during the back to school event, I'll be putting together a post for the Etsy Twitter team about applying to college and what to expect in college. Keep an eye out if you are a teen or a parent because I'll have the honest look at all of that (I'm not being paid by a college, lol) as well as helpful advice about anything I can think of that will help nervous teens and parents.

Return of the Tomatoes!

In an earlier post(<-- click to see!), I showed photos of my tomato and pepper plants. That was about 6 weeks ago. Now look at them! They are GIGANTIC! I measured, from the soil level, them to be just over 5 feet tall. I had to bring out ye olde closet rod since it was the only thing long (too long actually) enough to hold up the plants.
My peppers are coming along nicely too. They are about the size of my fist right now. I'm interested to see what color they turn since I bought a seed pack that had green, red, orange, purple, and white peppers in the mix.

Out of the ten or so cosmos seeds I planted, two of them actually sprouted. One finally bloomed and it's a cheery orange color!

Last, but not least, my petunias are going nuts as well and there are purple and white blooms everywhere! I thought my hibiscus would have bloomed by now, but there is a bud ready to pop in about a week.

Etsy is Awesome!

I had Beth of BPR Designs make a custom soap dish for me. The package arrived today and it was awesome! The soap dish is absolutely beautiful (and didn't sit without soap for long).

The package came with a really cute glass dragonfly magnet. Can you tell I love lime green?


Even more goodies were tucked inside with samples of soap from Lost River Rags and Candle Lights. You should check both shops out!

Welcome to Miami

A couple of weeks ago, I flew down to Florida (from Central NY) to visit my boyfriend's cousins (and do some sightseeing). It's been more than 12 years since I've been to Florida, so it was basically all new to me! We stayed in Pompano beach and drove to Orlando, Miami, Key Biscayne, and Key West. I had great fun with my new camera since it can take under water photos (those are coming...)! Here are a few from driving through Miami.


Really cool building!


This one was really cool just because it looks like it's wrapped in a rainbow!


I was having fun with some longer exposures...


This has nothing to do with Miami, but I thought it looked cool! After being on vacation, I had a bunch of Resin Kits to send out!

Bridal Jewelry

A local woman called me last Monday when I was on my way to Key West. That's a whole other story, but she needed jewelry for 5 bridesmaids and 2 flower girls by this Friday! I came up with a design in "pool" and "butter," express ordered beads, made an emergency run to a local bead store, made them, and packaged them.

It was quite fun to work with so much crystal! Everything was done with Swarovski crystal and sterling silver, with the exception of the one gold filled set. I had fun designing the packaging with the wedding colors in mind. (Names have been blurred to protect the innocent!) (I have to give credit for the idea to UnderGlass's beautiful packaging.)
I can't wait for the day that I can design my bridesmaids jewelry!

Giveaway Winner Announced!

Andrew, a buyer on Etsy, has won my giveaway for a gift certificate to my shop! The giveaway was part of my Birthday celebration and the Going Green with the Etsy Twitter Team event. Congratulations!

Keep looking for upcoming giveaways and promotions and you may be the next winner!

Going Green with the Eyst Twitter Team

This week I'm participating in the Etsy Twitter Team's Going Green Event. All of my items are 15% off and I'm running a giveaway for a gift certificate to my shop! Below in an excerpt from the Etsy Twitter Team blog which highlihts small changes that can make a big difference for the environment.

The truth is that most of us would love to be “greener” on a daily basis if we knew exactly how to do it. The old “paper or plastic” question we used to get at the grocery store has become far more complicated and it can be difficult to know what choices are truly better for our planet. A good example of this is the actual answer to paper vs. plastic, which is NEITHER as both cost the planet in terms of resources, landfills, and energy use. A better choice is to buy or make reusable grocery or market totes, like these here.

But reusable market totes aren’t the only answer to a greener life. Below are some tips and suggestions that anyone can do on a daily basis that contribute to the well-being of our planet as well as ourselves. The best part about living greener is that one small step combines with the small steps of others to make a huge impact for the better.

USE IT UP, WEAR IT OUT, DO WITHOUT

This 1930s and 1940s saying was the equivalent of “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” and it was a wise mantra to live by. The more we consume (buy) the more of our natural resources are turned toward providing us with the things which we consume. Yet many of us find ourselves without the time or ability to stop buying the things we need on a daily basis. Fortunately, just changing what you buy, where you buy it, how often you buy it, or how often you use it can make a difference!

1. Buy REUSABLE - when you buy things like pens, paper, or other items that we think of as disposable, choose to buy those that can be refilled, are made of recycled materials, or can be used multiple times. Better yet, replace items like disposable napkins with fabric napkins you can make or buy yourself. They wash with the family laundry and can be made economically from salvaged fabric or remnants easily and quickly. If sewing is not your gift, you can find adorable ones here.

And while you are at it, ditch all the bottled water and buy a reusable water bottle (and a filter for your faucet like Brita or Pur if you’re worried about water quality). Single use bottled water bottles land in the trash heap at the rate of 845 a second!*

2. Think LOCAL – When buying food, changing the location of where you buy, and the type of item, can have a big impact. Look for locally grown vegetables and fruits at farmers’ markets in your area. These are generally smaller farms, grown without many of the pesticides and chemicals of food we buy in grocery stores, and have a much smaller ecological impact because we don’t have to use so much energy transporting, storing, and preserving the produce. It is also good for your community because it supports your local economy.

Etsy makes it easy to buy locally made handmade items through their Shop Local feature. Just type in your location and you can find local artists in your area.

3. Make a change in your HOME – The items in our homes such as cleaning supplies, laundry detergents, even light bulbs are a great place to begin changing your habits to create a greener life. There are many more choices on the market now for consumers looking for greener products. A good laundry detergent to try is Seventh Generation Laundry Detergents (I buy mine at Target) which are vegetable based, nontoxic, biodegradable, and work fantastically well.

There are also tried and true simple cleaning formulas you can make yourself from everyday items like vinegar and water, baking soda, lemons, even Hydrogen Peroxide, which works like bleach without the danger and also deodorizes.

Using cold water to wash your clothes saves 85% of the money and energy used to wash a load of clothes*. Use the sensor option on the dryer so it shuts itself off when the clothes are dry, or skip the dryer and hang clothes to dry on a rack or a line.

Change just the THREE most-often used light bulbs in your house to energy-saving compact fluorescent bulbs saves 300 pounds of carbon dioxide a year*. These bulbs also last much longer, saving you money.

Since 1/6th of all the energy produced in the US is used for air conditioning, just turning your thermostat up two degrees can make a difference! Using fans, opening windows for ventilation, as well as keeping ducts clean and filters replaced all help lessen the stress on the environment, as well as reducing costs. The same is true in winter, when lowering your thermostat just two degrees has a similar impact. If you made the adjustments both winter and summer, you would save 2000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year*.

4. Think about PERSONAL CARE – This is an area that has true potential for a horror movie. One in every 100 personal care items on the market contains known or probable carcinogens. The industrial chemicals that are part of the basic ingredients include pesticides, reproductive toxins, surfactants, degreasers, and endocrine disruptors. What’s more, with the exception of color additives, the FDA does not review or regulate personal care items, even for children, before they go to market. The importance of this piece of information becomes obvious as soon as you start counting up the number of products you use every morning while getting ready for work or your day.

To begin changing, CUT BACK on the products you use or how often you use them. As you USE UP products, switch to an organic or all natural soap, cleanser, shampoo, or toothpaste. Organic mineral makeup, which doesn’t have talcs and chemicals, is an awesome way to help your skin, your budget (mineral products last much longer and require you to use less) and the environment. Etsy is an amazing resource for finding all natural soaps, cleansers, shampoo, toothpaste, and make up.

5. COMMIT your closet to buying less and reusing more- shopping thrifts, vintage, swapping clothes that don’t fit with a friend, or simply having less clothes to begin with are also important ways to help the environment. When you do buy, avoiding trendy, one-season only clothes is a good idea, especially if you invest instead in quality clothes that will last. Look for organic cottons, wool, and sustainable fibers like hemp and bamboo, as well as recycled fibers that use less energy than creating virgin fibers. One of the best ideas? Repairing and taking care of the clothes you do have. Just doing that alone cuts down on landfill volume!

You can find some great deals on clothing on Etsy. You can buy new handmade or vintage clothing of all kinds!

These are just some of the tons of ideas out there for those looking to go green! Three very good books, which served as the sources for the facts included in this article are:

*Ready, Set, Green - Eight Weeks to Modern Eco-Living From the Experts at treehugger.com, by Graham Hill and Meaghan O’Neill.

Going Green, A Wise Consumer’s Guide to a Shrinking Planet by Sally Kneidel, PH.d and Sadie Kneidel

The Salvage Studio by Amy Duncan, Beth Evans-Ramos, and Lisa Hilderbrand

Online resources and jumping off spots for more information include www.treehugger.com and www.webecoist.com, both of which are jammed full of ideas for greener living!

Information is only useful if we use it, so here’s the challenge for all of us -

What one thing will we change today to help ourselves and our planet?

- Kristen of FirebirdHouse.etsy.com

Birthday Bash!

My birthday is this week on Bastille Day! I'll be the ripe old age of 21. To celebrate, I'll be offering 15% off all items in my shop from July 13th - July 19th. The sale also coincides with my feature on the Etsy Twitter Team Blog.



For every $5 that is spent in my shop, you earn an entry into a giveaway for a $10 gift certificate to my shop! To make it even better, orders over $50 earn double entries.

Additionally, return customers will receive a free gift! Just use the code "RETURN CUSTOMER" and tell me what you purchased.

New Line!

I've been playing around with some beads I bought from a show some time ago. For some reason, I've been obsessed with making tons of these! They are an affordable way to wear beadwoven jewelry!

They're available in a myriad of colors and I'd be happy to make custom pendants and earrings!

Tomatoes!

I'm determined to get a decent crop of tomatoes and peppers this year! I live in an apartment complex, so my options only include planting in pots. I have some things planted in the lawn outside of my terrace but I don't think those are supposed to be there...

Anyway, last year I harvested all of 7 grape tomatoes. I've switched things around this year in hopes of getting a better return. I have larger pots, better soil, and more plants. Probability alone says I should get at least 21 grape tomatoes! Everything is already flowering. I'm hoping to get a pepper this year.

I'm pretty proud of my 2 foot tall plants! Unfortunately, my parents aren't having as much luck. Chipmunks apparently love tomato plants. They have planted at least 2 separate tomato crops due to the insatiable appetite of the chipmunk family!

All of my houseplants are outside and loving the humidity. My hibiscus should bloom in a month or so. I can't wait to photograph that!

Keep an eye on my blog - I'll be releasing more photos and details on an up coming sale and giveaway!

Hooray!

I have finally made it to the front page of Etsy! It was quite a surprise since I was just heading to Etsy to mark an item as shipped and there I was! Here's the item that was featured...
As an aside, I'm going to be having a huge sale/giveaway rolled into one next month for my birthday so keep a look out!

New Camera!

My boyfriend got me a camera as an early birthday gift. My old camera had been suffering for quite a while. Ever since the trip to Grand Cayman Island, it has not been the same (it doesn't like sand much, I found out). Anyway, I visited my parents this week and took a stroll through the yard to see what I could do with the new camera. It turns out that quite a lot is going on in late May!

Baby Robins in the front walkway - I guess mama Robin didn't realize my parents have a dog...

He loves corn!

Baby Peaches! Those are going to be really yummy!

He must be stuffed since lunch is sitting right next to him!