Penpal Party!

I love getting mail, especially when it's pretty! Sorry the photo isn't stellar.
I joined in on Susie of boygirlparty's letter-writing daisy-chain. Such fun!
For more info, check out http://boygirlparty.com/penpalparty/
xxo.

Tonight's Playlist

The Milk-Eyed Mender - Joanna Newsom
In Our Bedroom After the War - Stars
LIFTED or The Story is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground - Bright Eyes

Upcycle!

I've been busy with magazines, as you can see! The envelopes at the top are for letters and perhaps as little bonuses for Etsy packages. The origami boxes are mainly what I'm using to package up jewelry purchases made in person. The bottom photo is of used bubble mailers I've prettied up with magazine images to use for sending out Etsy orders.
Wheee!

New Moo business cards & postcards!

I ♥ Moo. The postcards are for personal use or as bonus gifts for larger orders on Etsy, and the business cards are of course for my Etsy shop!

Prettiest girl ever.

Black Friday - Cyber Monday Sale!

Free Shipping to wherever your heart desires on all items in my shop!! (Nov. 27-Nov.30)
Shop on, there are stockings and wishes to be filled and fulfilled!
XXO.

New Bedding!

Maybe you don't care, but I sure do! I've been wanting some new stuff for awhile and finally came across some pretty perfect things! The duvet cover makes me think of fairytales (the red is embroidered!) and the sheets are the coziest of flannel sheets, reminding me of lumberjack shirts and cabins and coziness. They make me want to hop into bed, curl up and never leave. I feel like I am in the coziest cocoon now when I go to bed.

Buttons!

They are finally finished! I plan on posting some to Etsy soon.

Faerie wings!!!

Oh my god you guys, I want these so bad!!! If you buy me these we will be best friends for ever n after! They are made by Etsy seller Atala and can be found in her shop here.

I'm serious you guys.

Christmas is coming.

Upcoming Holiday Sales!

[envelope seals by KisforCalligraphy]

Hello hello,
just wanted to give you a heads up on the sale that will be on in my Etsy shop from November 15 - December 15.

Between those dates, if you buy 2 items or more you will get free shipping: either let me know before you make your purchase and I will adjust the listings, or I will refund you through Paypal afterwards. Buy three items or more and you get %10 off your purchase, the same method as above.

I always wrap items so that they are ready for gift-giving, and I can include a gift tag with "to & from" at your request. I can also ship purchases/gifts directly to the recipients. Please leave any such requests in the "message to seller" space upon checkout. If you want your purchase sent directly to the recipient, please enter their address while checking out on Etsy as well as making a note about this, including their address, in the "message to seller." Failing to do so may result in your package being sent to the wrong address or in delayed shipment. Purchases may only be sent out to one address.

I will also be participating in the Free Worldwide Shipping sale on Etsy between Black Friday and Cyber Monday (Nov. 27-Nov. 30), so any purchases made during that time will automatically get free shipping.

As always, feel free to contact me with any questions!
Hope you are all staying cozy.
xxo.

Happy Hauntings!

Tonight's 'haunted/weird' playlist:
On Time Travel and Romance - Agent Ribbons
Sharpen Your Teeth - Ugly Casanova
Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone? - The Unicorns
Slippers & Parasols - The Winks
The Soft Bulletin - The Flaming Lips

Now go talk to some ghosts, feed candy to children and read or watch spooky stories!
xxo.

Pretty Shiny Things!

I bought some supplies last week. Here are the goods!


So pretty, so shiny :) I had to drive my dad around all day (long story), so luckily we were in the bead stores neighbourhood. I went to Bead Works on Granville Island (I love you sooooo much Granville Island. Let's get married! Please?) planning on buying more little pewter goddess pendants, and whatever other little shiny things caught my eyes. They didn't have any!! I really like those ones and no-one seems to have them. I was very unhappy about this. Apparently they cut down a lot on the metal charms etc that they carry, and even though the goddess charms were very popular, the employee informed me, they haven't had them in about a year. Sounds like bad business sense to me! Anyhow, I got a few things there and then headed to Country Beads on W. 4th. I went in planning on buying just a few things, but just like EVERY OTHER TIME I bought a bit of this and that and some of those and spent a bunch of money. Big surprise. I also thought I would be quick, buying my "few things" and only payed for about 15 min of parking, so after waiting for chain to be cut, thinking about shiny things, waiting in line, etc, I was longer than that and got a parking ticket. I was very unimpressed!! Anyhow.

I love the look of these beads together. I don't want to put them away or use them, they look so sweet just hanging out together! I really like those scissor charms and regret only buying 4. *Sigh*


I will have to scour Etsy supplies again to see if I can find any goddess charms that will do the trick.
Think that's all for now.
Keep cozy.
And stay tuned! I'll be announcing a new sale for November soon.
XXO.

There's a first time for everything

Looky here! I'm in my first ever gift guide!! This is also the first screenshot I've ever taken. I'm so proud :)

Pumpkins and Sales and Love

I am terribly disorganized these days and have neglected to blog about many things that I meant to. Maybe I will get to them later - in the meantime, I would like to let you know that there are many new shiny things in my shop, and even better, I have a sale on right now! I lost my job a couple weeks ago due to restructuring and don't have a new one yet. What better time to hold a sale? It's a great time to snap up something for yourself or buy a few gifts for your loved ones for the holidays. Hop on over to the shop to check it out.

Birthday Presents!

I couldn't share the photos before as the gifts hadn't been received yet. But now they have! So photos of some earrings I made for friends' birthdays are now on flickr.

I ♥ pretty mail

A couple of recent orders that I sent out...

lovers and strangers

I have been a horrible stranger to this blog. For that I am sorry.

I want to go on an adventure. Take photos. Sparkle. Wonder. Taste the air. Love the sea. Get away from everything and everyone I know. Forget who I am. For a little while.

I have been a stranger to many things. My jewelry. My journal. My room.
The things I love, the things that make me me. I am disappearing and rearranging.

I just hope I come out better in the end.

Summer Seashore necklace

Summer Seashore necklace
Originally uploaded by Stina.belle

Coming to my shop real soon!
XO.

Naming game

Here's a link to a better picture of the watercolour painting Star did, the first print of which is proudly displayed in my house!
If you have any ideas for a name, she's taking suggestions!

Starry-eyed

One of my favourite people, Star, and I did an exchange of handmade goodies, and when I opened my package from her I was squealing like a little girl. It was so exciting, she sent me such beautiful things!!




Here is her wonderful little shop, and her blog lives here!

The package had beautiful stickers and labels on it, and seriously, just look at those two things of beauty that came inside!! That painting is one of my new favourite things ever, I can't get over it. When I first saw it it blew me away. It makes me think of growing up: we had a forest out our backyard, and I used to go play in the creek, and we had deer out there too (and she didn't even know any of this until now! I think she has a 6th sense). It was perfect, and so is this painting. She even framed it in that gorgeous eco-frame!! And the workmanship on that bird - gorgeous. It stands up all on its own and now overlooks my jewelry work from the windowsill.

Thank you thank you thank you Star for these beautiful creations, I can't express how amazing they are and how wonderful they make me feel ♥
XO.

Packaging

Mixed Company Handmade on Facebook!

mch
Originally uploaded by Stina.belle

I have made a new Facebook page for my creations!! Mixed Company Handmade is the name I have registered for my business. I haven't got that all set up yet, but it's the umbrella for all of my projects, which is mainly just my jewelry on Etsy right now. Anyhow, I hope you will become a fan of it: as added incentive, I'll be messaging everyone who becomes a fan for the next while with a special offer for my Etsy shop! Hope to see you there...
XO.

Star Princess

Star and I did a handmade exchange: here is what I sent her.






[sterling silver, freshwater pearls, Czech glass]

My surprise from her is in the mail and I am sooo excited!!

Francesca, my heart is still broken

Just looked at that passage below and my heart crumbled all over again. Oh my. Anyhow.

I was at pottery tonight (last night as well). I have been too tired to have much patience for the wheel though (I've barely used it and obviously haven't quite got the hang of it yet. I am positive I will come to love it tho). I wanted to smash the piece I was trimming today. Although I already knew I was sleep deprived - I laid down on the ground with my pup for a few minutes before class and fell asleep...

Anyhow, I was in Victoria this weekend (Oh my god time off?? What's that?). My mom and I went to the Royal BC Museum and checked out the Treasures exhibit, which was pretty sweet! It had art & artifacts from the British Museum from different cultures throughout the ages. I picked up some new beadings supplies, as well as a sweet new jacket. I hope to have a few new necklaces made soon with some of my new goodies!

Please bear with me though. I work Tuesday through Saturday 10:00-5:30, do pottery once or twice a week after work right now, have my Little Sister Monday afternoon/evenings and will now be nannying Monday mornings until I pick up my Little Sister. This leaves me little time for much else, including: cleaning, walking Josie, eating, reading (hahaha right I wish), making jewelry, sleeping, having a life (what's that now?).

In the meantime here's a peak at earrings I've been meaning to list on Etsy for a few weeks now.
And oh! I hope to make a nice picture-filled post soon about my birthday :)
XO.

"If you were a mermaid, I was the sea."

Francesca Lia Block's "Wasteland" is beautiful and just broke my heart, broke my heart into little bitty pieces.

"You were just a boy on a bed in a room, like a kaleidoscope is a tube full of bits of broken glass. But the way I saw you was pieces refracting the light, shifting into an infinite universe of flowers and rainbows and insects and planets, magical dividing cells, pictures no one else knew."

Apologetic Update

I have been a bad girl. I've been busy and let many things fall by the wayside. I have been up to all sorts of things that I've neglected to blog about, I've forgotten to reply to e-mails, and I have new things for my shop that I'm really happy with but haven't made listings for yet!! My apologies.

So: I am now a Big Sister, and my Little Sister is awesome! Her birthday is right after mine, which is coming up soon, and she will be turning 10. She's really easy going, fun, full of ideas and super positive. She is a great influence on me. Hopefully it goes both ways :) I pick her up from school on Mondays and we hang out. So far we've taken my dog to the beach, gone for walks, coloured, made crafts, made cookies, made earrings, watched movies and played Wii fit.

I've also just taken up pottery! I started taking a class at the Rec Center on Wednesday evenings: I've had three classes so far, and I love it!!! The first night we made square plates/dishes, the second night we used molds - I made two bowls and three shells (shallow dishes made with molds of real shells) and the last class I was cleaning up the pieces I made with the molds. It was such a great night: after work that day I was so exhausted and super cranky for no good reason. I was ready to bite someone's head off for looking at me wrong. Then I got to the studio and started trimming my pieces and I felt so zen. It was so amazing. By the time I finished cleaning up my five pieces there was only half an hour left of class, so I started cleaning up. My teacher asked me if I was heading home or if she could show me something new: um, Yes!! So she showed me pinch pots. I did two - they're really rough, but I was happy. I was the last to leave the studio with my teacher. I think pottery just might be my new favourite thing. She said this week we'll be glazing some of our pieces, and then we'll be learning the wheel!! Oh my, I can't tell you how excited I am.

Also, it was Mother's day on the weekend! I made a big effort for my momma. I bought her this gorgeous mutlicoloured bouquet of Russian spray roses - I've been dying for someone to buy them for me, so I thought they would be nice to get for her. I bought cinnamon buns from Cobs, since she said that's what she'd like for breakfast. I got up at 7 am !!! on a Sunday!!! to make her latté for her, as she gets up at the crack of dawn (by my internal clock) every day. I also bought her some sweet little silver earrings from cherrycreek on Etsy, and some personalized stickers that she can use for bookplates, or to seal letters, or whatever else she comes up with, from prPictorials on Etsy.

*breath*

Ok. I think that's it for now. Sorry to throw a big block of text at you with no pretty pictures. Much love n such.
XO.

Cupcakes for a Cause!

If you live in the Vancouver area, be sure to support Big Sisters (and me!) by buying a delicious cupcake! If you buy the above delightful and adorable cupcake during May (come on, it's topped with an edible butterfly!) then part of the proceeds of the sale go to Big Sisters, so that a little girl can hang out with a Big Sister and hopefully have some fun & build her confidence and all sorts of other lovely things. Satisfy your sugar craving and support a great cause.
For more info on the cupcake, the title of this post links to the Cupcakes website. For more info on Big Sisters, click here.

Dream a little dream

A love story in pictures: items from Etsy.com (the name of each links to it on Etsy)


Gone With The Wind by sasiko



Chuck by ashleyg



Twig Ring Set by esdesigns



So Very Happy by dazeychic



Tweet Pair of Love Birds by feltmeupdesigns



Team Spirit Dress by Parsimony



A Day at the Museum by janeheller



There is a time by yvetteinufio