Glitterstar Designs

My Garden!

2009-07-09T23:15:00.005-05:00

That is my garden! Ok I know to any real gardener I'm sure it probably looks like crap, but I'm happy it is actually growing! The space we have for it is tiny. Our yard is not very big at all and it is hard enough keeping the kids out of the garden as it is. I have carrots, lettuce, radishes and beets. I have some onions growing in another area.
I think my radishes might actually be ready for picking. My daughter and I ate some of the lettuce as we thinned it out a bit. Yum! So far the rabbits have left it alone (knock on wood) I think they are too busy eating the neighbors garden.

Weekend Fun

2009-07-05T22:11:00.005-05:00

We had a pretty good fourth of July this year. We were all pretty lazy until 3:30 or so and then we headed over to a friends house. There was a lot of people there we didn't know, ok we pretty much knew about 4 people out of 20 or so. Our friend was grilling out with his neighbor and the neighbor had a bunch of friends over as well. There was also a crap-ton of kids running around. Which was good because it gave someone for our kids to play with. Keep them out of our hair for 20 mins. :) We decided to not go to the big fireworks in town. They have been really crappy the past few years. We did however have a lot of fireworks at the cook-out and actually some pretty good ones. We ended up staying to about midnight. Lia passed out around 11:30 while sitting on daddy's lap. She was so pooped from running around all day.

Fun with sparklers!

Today we grilled out as well. This time it was just the fam though. My husband mows the neighbors yard so he gives us salmon that he catches himself up in Alaska. So we grilled that today. Along with some potatoes, brats and the best portabella mushrooms I've had in a long time. YUM!

Hanging out waiting for food to cook.

TNTsales

2009-07-02T15:37:00.003-05:00

It's Thursday again and that means time for another round of TNT sales. TNT or Thursday Night Temptation is a sale sponsored by the DIYscene Street team. Anyone is welcome to hold their own sale. For more information please visit http://tntsales.wordpress.com/
My sale today is FREE SHIPPING!

Fun with paint

2009-06-24T17:05:00.004-05:00

My 3 year old daughter has discovered the joys of painting on the computer.

A lot less messy, but she still enjoys painting on paper as well. :)

New ideas new items

2009-06-10T19:39:00.010-05:00

I've had these foam beads for quite sometime now. I finally decided they might just make some super cute bracelets. I was right! They are also very soft on your wrists.

Here is the other idea I've been playing with.

I've also had these animal beads lying around. I wanted to make a necklace that had a message. Something that a person could wear and show off their love for the animal. I finally went out and bought some heart buttons to use as beads and this is what I made.

Crafting with the wee-ones

2009-06-09T21:17:00.010-05:00

I was making some bracelets and things the other day and the kids decided to help.

My daughter decided to make her own bracelet.

She picked out the beads herself

and started stringing them on.

I decided to hold the end of the string for her.

Here she is modeling her creation.

I was also wrapping up some metal wire to make some coils.
(sorry about the blurry pic)

My son decided he wanted to try.

Look at that concentration.

He ended up making about 10 of them.

Local Shout Out world record holder

2009-06-07T12:42:00.003-05:00

I found this video while checking out the local entertainment magazine VolumeOne. This guy is a world record holding whipcracker. Check out the video.

Fishie Fishie

2009-06-04T16:04:00.004-05:00

I thought I would post an update about our baby fish. I'm pretty sure there are still two babies in there. It is hard to tell because I never see them at the same time. There is one baby that has about doubled in size and another that isn't quite as big. Here is a picture of the big one.

Biking for bread.

2009-06-03T20:36:00.008-05:00

The kids and I took a walk today through the cemetery. We like to walk there because it has little traffic and you can just loop all around. It's quiet and peaceful. I find it interesting in a way. Looking at the grave dates and such. Seeing which graves have flowers and which do not. In a way it amazes me that graves from the 50's and 60's still get flowers from their loved ones. Then you see some from 5 years ago and they have nothing. Kinda sad. Of course it could just be someones job to put flowers on random graves to make the cemetery look better. Then you see the graves of people who are not dead yet. I guess they like to plan ahead. Sometimes I'll calculate how old the person was when they died. You start to notice that a lot of people in the 1800's didn't live much past 35. Which I guess we kinda already knew. You'll see a lot of gravestones that have someone dying in the 1980's but their spouse is still alive. Sad. I probably sound like a loon but I guess I'm more interested in the person's history than the fact that they are all dead.

So as were taking this walk that we usually go on once or twice a week, some guy on a bike comes up and starts biking right towards the kids and I. (I've seen this guy before but he's never stopped me or even tried to talk to me) So I was a little creeped out by this and started to walk around him. He says, " Bet you are wondering how far I have biked" I said.. "uuhh.. yea sure" He starts to figure it all out by getting a paper out of his pocket. I stand by the kids and part of me was thinking good god is this guy going to knife me to death. He finds his info and says, "986miles"(I can't rememer the exact number) I said.. "how long did that take?" "since April" I said.. Of this year? He says, " yeah, I do it for feed my people" (which is a food bank) He said he was about to reach 1000 miles. I said.. "well great job, good luck with that" and we went on our way.

I get home tonight and I look up the food bank online. I go to the programs section and what do I see at the bottom?

"Biking for Bread is done by Larry Everson with support from St. John’s Lutheran Church in Eau Claire. Larry collects pledges for the food bank while biking thousands of miles each April through October."

I wondered why I always see that guy.

Cookies!

2009-05-27T21:44:00.009-05:00

Decided to bake some cookies tonight!
1. I fail because they were box cookies
2. I win because they are organic cookies
3. I win because I bought them onsale for super cheap
4. I fail because I didn't use organic butter
5. I win because the kids helped
6. I win because now I get to eat cookies! nom nom nom!

mmm Lets make some cookies!

Stir stir stir.

Stir a little more.

Time to make perfectly round cookies! haha Just kidding!

Patience my dear children...

Waiting waiting waiting..

COOKIES!

Nom nom nom!

Chocolate face and fingers!

Fishies!!

2009-05-26T15:38:00.005-05:00

A couple of weeks ago my son was feeding our fish. We had just gotten them about 2 weeks before that. He got all excited because he said he had just seen a teeny tiny baby fish. My husband and I tried to look for it, but we never saw anything. We told him it was probably just a flake of something and wasn't actually a fish.

Jump ahead to three days ago and I'm feeding the fish and what do I see swimming around in the sunk'n ship!?!? A baby fishie!! Of course I hop online to see what I can find out about our fish. Apparently they give birth to live fish. (kinda cool) and if you have a female fish she is most likely pregnant because they can store sperm in their uterus. Which may have been nice to know when we got them. The fact that we would most likely end up with babies.

I've only seen two, I'm guessing that if there were any more they probably got eaten. These two seem to be doing well. They spend most of their time hiding though.

Old ugly buttons

2009-05-24T23:34:00.003-05:00

So what do you do when you have a pile of old ugly buttons, that most likely would never sell as destash? Even if they did sell it probably wouldn't be worth the trouble of listing them. You string them together and turn ugly into fashion. You make a new bracelet out of them! Although it is still kinda ugly, but in a fashionable kind of way.

A little more green

2009-05-21T22:07:00.006-05:00

I was recently visiting a friend who uses cloth napkins. I try and do my part to be more 'green' but for some reason I never really thought about using reusable napkins.

We always just ripped the napkin or paper towel in half to make them go a little farther. After using the cloth ones for the weekend, I realized how much paper and money we were wasting. So I made my own! Right now I only have some green and pink ones done. The kids love them! At dinner time it is my daughter's job to count out enough napkins for everyone. I didn't make them fancy or anything. Just used some cheap fabric and serged up the sides. I have more colors to make, but my serger went wonky on me.

Don't forget the TNT sale!!

2009-05-20T21:11:00.003-05:00

DIYscene's TNT sale happens tomorrow from noon to midnight EST! This is a weekly event. We have many awesome shops featuring great deals!!
For a list of participating shops go here: TNT shop deals
TNT stands for Thursday night temptation and is run by the DIYscene team.
You do not have to be part of the diyscene team to participate, any Etsy seller can hold a TNT sale. If you would like to join the diyscene forum go here: DIYscene.com
You can go to http://tntsales.wordpress.com/ to be added to the list of participating shops.
Just add a comment.
After you spend the day shopping stop in our chat room and meet the sellers. Anyone with a TNT avatar is having a sale.

Marketing tip for today

2009-05-19T15:31:00.002-05:00

If you drive like a douche, don't advertise your business on your vehicle. Also If you can't park right the first time, perhaps you should back it up and adjust. It just looks bad for business. Why would I use someones business who can't even take the time to park within the boundaries of their parking space. I went to the bank today and I was pulling into a spot, but I ended up having to circle the lot again because the car I was going to park next two was a foot into my space. Ah.. yes really not that big of a deal, but to me it's careless and looks bad. Hey if you want to park like you own the world then don't advertise your business on your vehicle.

Look Look!

2009-05-18T23:17:00.002-05:00

I just added a social bookmark to all of my postings. It was super simple.
I got the tutorial from Allover Art. You can read it here!
Was that the worlds shortest post ever? yeah pretty sure it was!!

Just listed!

2009-05-14T10:32:00.002-05:00

Just listed on Etsy!

New Curtains

2009-05-11T16:05:00.006-05:00

After living in our house for over 3 years, I finally broke down and replaced these ugly-ass lace curtains. Ok I guess they are not soo ugly, but I was really sick of looking at them.

Before (livingroom)

After

Before (dinning room)

After

I still need to sew them. Right now they are pinned up with safety pins.
Maybe the are still ugly,
but at least they are not lace.

Another treasury

2009-03-05T23:09:00.003-06:00

I'm in another treasury! YaY!!

I'm on the top row in the middle.
Thank you primsbyandrea

New Computer!

2009-03-04T23:41:00.006-06:00

A few months ago my computer stopped working. Luckily my husband has his own, so I started using his. This quickly became an issue when we realized we are both addicted to the net. After a few weeks we worked things out but he didn't want any extra programs on his computer. Soooo... I got my own. I feel slightly guilty that the money I spent could have went to the road trip I am trying to save for this summer. I guess I'll just have to sell a few more things.

Here she is.. hanging out in the box

and here is her new home.

and Yes I rock so hard I got her hooked up to the internet. Go Me!!

New bracelet

2009-02-27T10:16:00.004-06:00

Buttons, buttons and more buttons!
I just listed this new bracelet on Artfire.

Treasury

2009-01-09T23:11:00.003-06:00

I'm in a new treasury!

That's my bracelet on the bottom. Thanks Glamasaurus!

Look what I made!

2008-12-09T00:41:00.005-06:00

I decided to try combining this

and this.

I wasn't sure how it was going to work out, but it did!

I have this one listed on artfire.

DIYscene Team sale!

2008-12-04T14:56:00.004-06:00

Today the DIYscene is having our TNT sale. Thursday night temptation!
Search "DIYscene team" on Etsy.com to find lots of great deals.

To Artfire or not to Artfire?

2008-11-26T22:10:00.003-06:00

I'm choosing to Artfire!!

Artfire.com is another new place on the web to sell your handmade, vintage, and supply items.
You can list 10 items for free or you can become a verified member for only $7.00 a month for life.
If you list one item a day on Etsy or relist for 30 days that comes out to $6.00. So paying $7.00 a month really is a great deal considering you get shop stats!!
Of course that is only being offered to the first 5000 sellers. After that it'll be $20.
I haven't been able to add anything to my shop yet, because of my broken computer. So I can't really say if listing is easier or not. There is one thing I'm not to fond of though and perhaps it's simply because of my computer, but I can't fit the whole screen on my monitor. I have to scroll to see everything. Minor, but yet still annoying.
You can also pay your bill through paypal. YaY!! I went ahead and signed up for the verified account. Maybe I should have tested it out a bit before I took the leap but I really think the site has potential. Plus at $7.00 a month perhaps it'll give me the motivation I need to actually do something with my shop. Oh and here's a plus if I can get 10 people to sign up for the verified account by the end of the year, I can have a free lifetime verified account. The odds of this happening? eh not very good but it's worth a shot.
If you sign up please SIGN UP HERE!!

Perhaps with a little competition Etsy will get their butts in gear and add the features that the sellers have been asking about for years.