Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! Today Sierra and I will trick or treat after she puts on her "bloody" costume. She has decided to make the most of her cast and her not quite healed face by being a bloody patient, so $2 of fake blood and some old pajamas later, (and the cast that probably cost much much more- the bill hasn't come for that one yet, LOL!) we have the world's easiest costume ever! Luckily she likes to be scary things for Halloween!

After trick or treating, have some friends over for some spooky Halloween witches brew! A little dry ice will not only scare up some attention, but keep your punch cold as well! You can buy dry ice at any ice cream shop, just ask.

Witches Brew

In a punch bowl, combine:

2- 2 Liters of Mountain Dew, Sundrop, or similar soda
1 tub lime sherbet
1/2 fifth of clear rum- my favorite cheap rum that is super yum is Heaven Hill, but use any!
dry ice

Now the only problem will be making sure the kids don't see this punch and want some! You can make them some of their own with 2 cups pineapple juice instead of the rum, and Lime Kool-Aid or Sprite instead of the Mountain Dew if you don't want them up all night-but don't confuse them!

Have a safe, spooky, and happy Halloween!

Dreams

My online friend Michelle asked recently on her blog, Michabella Creations, what people's unfulfilled dreams are. Dreams are a funny thing, since really, they are only dreams while they are unfulfilled. But if they all came true, it takes the fun out of DREAMING for something. If I had nothing left to hope for, no matter how great life was, I would get bored and feel unfulfilled. Ah, what a vicious cycle! Anyway, its a lovely sentiment, wanting to hear other's dreams, so I'll continue it. Tell us all some of your dreams. Some of mine:

1. I want my daughter to grow up to be happy and thankful for the childhood she had, hardships and all. I dream of her becoming the vet she wants to be, or anything else she decides that will complete her.

2. I have this ongoing dream of finally remodeling the outbuilding/ detached garage/ whatever you call it into an art studio I can have classes for children and affordable workshops for grown ups in, not to mention space to actually be able to work and organize my art supplies. It would be so much easier than teaching out of my home like I do now, and so many more could enjoy it.

3. I used to dream of moving the NYC in some artsy loft apartment where my yard would be my lone potted flower on the windowsill and I would be surrounded by the art world everywhere I went. Now, as an adult, I know how crazy expensive New York is, and after having slum lords in much smaller cities, I have NO desire to find out how that would work out for me there! Oh, and I like my neighbors actually knowing my name, even if small town life means they know all my business too.

4. I also used to dream of being a ballerina and model, for most of my childhood in fact. Until I learned food is my friend. Especially cheese and ice cream.

5. I dream of never hearing another bigotted or racially slanderous word again, where ignorant, prejudiced people see the error of their ways and how silly they have been, and stops using words that make me cringe. I tell everyone I hear saying anything rascist how I feel and that it is not ok to act and talk like that, and I honestly believe if everyone did this, the world would be a better place.

These are just my dreams off the top of my head. What are yours?

fly away...

So after a long weekend of hanging out with good friends, between a dinner party catching up with old friends and celebrating Josh's birthday, I was very tired, but in a good, loved way. Then yesterday evening, we went to get new tires on my car and an alignment, which I was happy about considering its needed both badly since I was hit from behind like 2 years ago. I was even getting some performance tires (hey, the guy at Sears said they were the only ones on sale) that Josh kept singing some rap song for- something about Sumitomo tires-but whatever, I just wanted to have it all done and not have my car go crooked on the road. I did decide I love the way autoshops smell, with the new tires and all that- is that totally wierd? Anyway, we ended up finding out the car was worse than we thought and had to pay twice as much for some wheel bearing thingie, argg, but hey, at least now it is finally all done and I will be safe...

So in the meantime, I just figured I would list something in my shop that wasn't car related since I'm over it. I'd rather fly like a bird...

Both sparrows are cool hand cut pendants that come with a necklace and are way cool. I love 'em anyway!

Irish Car Bomb and Tag!

This week for my drink of the week, I'm giving everyone an Irish Car Bomb! So there!

Irish Car Bomb

1 pint Guinness

1/2 shot Irish Cream liqueur

1/2 shot Jameson Irish whiskey

Pour the Irish Cream into the shot glass first, followed by the Jameson. If you pour the whiskey over a spoon, it won't interrupt the denser cream liqueur and have that cool layered look. Pour the Guinness into a beer mug maybe 3/4 of the way full, and let the foam settle. Drop the shot glass into the beer mug and drink fast! Trust me on this.

I have also been tagged by my friend Annette on her blog, so I am supposed to tell you 7 random facts you don't know, and then tag 7 more people. Here goes:

1. I was in the Army for a whole 2 months.

2. I have a secret desire to be a showgirl. Even though I'm pretty sure you need to be larger than a B cup for that.

3. I also secretly want to be a roller derby girl. Even though I'd get hurt-badly-for sure.

4. I have always been sort of an entrepreneur. I went door to door singing Whitney Houston with a friend when I was 7 or 8 for tips, I made extra money in middle school selling leather keychains I stamped people's names in, and I sold condoms for $1 a piece in high school to shy kids.

5. My first dance recital was to "Thriller" and when they turned on the strobe light, which we weren't warned about by the way, every one of the girls froze up on stage, except me, who thought it was so cool I was doing anything just to see my hands move.

6. I have a secret love of OLD songs that I think are just heartbreakingly beautiful. You know the ones, the Moon River-esque songs they play in nursing homes and old movies.

7. I once figured out it takes 265 licks to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop. Seriously.

Tag you're it! I'm tagging these people cause they all live in Kentucky too, and also cause they make me laugh and I want to see what they say:

1. Miya

2. Libby

3. Laura K

4. Mari

5. Jama

6. Bad Kitty! Heather

7. Creative Eye Kim

The Best and Worst of Strangers

Yesterday was a crazy day that showed me the absolute best and worst out of strangers. I recieved in the mail by surprise a package from my dear online friend, Libby, (ok, not exactly a stranger, but I have never met her in real life, so it counts). Anyway, after seeing my blog about Sierra and the pictures of her poor little face, she sent me this feel better package complete with unrefined shea butter that is supposed to work miracles on scars and heal sores quicker than neosporin, some 100% pure vegan all natural lavender soap that is super gentle on wounds and smells so good even a ten year old can appreciate it, a hot and cold pack with chamomile and rice inside that is so soothing right out of the microwave, and a nifty wrist cuff just because it is pretty. Sierra is always so excited just to get something in the mail, but this was especially cool. The wrist cuff wouldn't fit over her cast, much to her dismay, so she has been wearing it above it. She has quite the decorated arm now, even the cat and dog "signed" it:

Sierra looks a lot better now, and is happy about all the kindness that has been shown to her from "strangers" I have made friends with here.

Later, though, I got to see, once again, the terrible things strangers can do to each other. For the second time in 6 months, my husbands debit card number was stolen. The first time, it was used online, on our wedding anniversary mind you, to join four different dating websites. We only got some of that money back, because when someone steals your credit card number, they don't care if it is a credit or debit card. When its a debit card, not only do they take the money right from your bank account, they can withdraw your account and leave you with hundreds of dollars in overdraft fees before you even know what has happened. Which is what happened this time when someone was able to use the new debit card number to charge hundreds of dollars in gas stations in Florida, mind you while I am here in Kentucky tending to my injured child, overdrawing our account and stealing all the money we had. Money for medical and dental bills for my daughter. Money for the mortgage payment and for Christmas presents. Money for my husband's birthday, which by the way was the day half the charges were made. I actually had to cancel his gift because of this. I felt so bad.

So, to anyone that thinks stealing credit card numbers (on the internet or however you do it) is a victimless crime, let me tell you- it isn't. I'm guessing so many of these numbers are actually debit cards, not credit, which means you are stealing money right out of people's accounts. Money from hardworking people that are trying hard to make ends meet, especially in this economy. If you have rationalized that it gets paid for by some bank or the place you steal from, let me tell you, it isn't. We have to fight, hard, to even see any of that money again. So shame on you! Didn't your mother ever tell you not to steal?

And to the perfect strangers that give and give out of the kindness of their hearts, expecting nothing in return except a new friend, your kindness goes a long way on a day when it would be easy to lose faith in humanity. Thank you, Libby, for letting me see not all people are bad, there are just some that do bad things. I can see from new friends like you that people are kind and want to make the world a gentler place.

Please visit Libby's shop on Etsy and show her the kindness she has shown me. She makes amazing super lathery vegan soaps: www.mayleesgarden.com

All in the Family

It occurred to me today what a talented family I have. It's no wonder I have been obsessed with the arts my entire life, disappearing outside with a sketchpad and pencil for hours, or locking myself in my room as a child making tiny food and furniture from clay for my doll house. I see my daughter doing the same kinds of things now, without ever having known that I used to do the same thing. She spent the second half of week on bedrest drawing and coloring, disappointed she couldn't get back to her fashion design and sewing her doll clothes. My own mom had an arts and crafts room stuffed to the gills with every imaginable supply, some of them passed down to her by her mother. It's memories like that that inspire me, and stay with me and my daughter.

I also have incredibly creative and talented people on my other side of my family, who have combined that with modern technology to share that with the world. My uncle Mark has an amazing website resource of flower pictures. His fresh flower scans are gorgeous, high resolution images he obtains from local flowers he finds in sunny southern Florida, where he lives (lucky guy!), and then scans and does his magic to with photoshop. It doesn't hurt that his first love and job are in biology/ botany something or other, so he knows his flowers and scientific names. Uncle Mark, if you're reading this, forgive my ignorance of your actual job title...

Check out his site here and see some of the most beautiful macro shots of exotic flowers on the web:

Then cruise on by my Uncle Bill and Aunt Nancy's website, Starfish and Dreams. From their large warehouse and office in sunny southern California (are you seeing a pattern here?), they, along with other family members and a small staff that is like family, they have created gorgeous stationary, scrapbook papers and stickers for years under the name NRN Designs. Now Starfish and Dreams, their focus is more on cards now that the scrapbook craze is slowing down, and they make the most fun and wonderful cards! One of the coolest things they have added is an option to personalize and print cards straight from the website. They come in many different style options that you see on the front page:

But my favorite cards aren't the print at home ones, but rather these holiday diva-ish cards:

Gotta love 'em! You can visit their website here.

New works

Sierra is finally feeling better, enough so anyway that I can sit down and take a break from playing nurse long enough to actually chack my email and such!! So this weekend I worked long and hard updating my blog for Bluegrass Etsy, my Etsy shop, and my website. The website was long overdue and was the most work, so take a look and let me know what you think! I am pretty happy with it, although I am almost blind now from a weekend at the computer, so its hard to tell!

I also added this painting, Damage, to my etsy shop, http://daydreamartstudios.etsy.com/, in honor of the "damage" Sierra sustained last week on her bike, with 100% of the profit going towards her medical bills for her injuries.

Visit my website, daydreamartstudios.com, and let me know what you think!

xoxo, Corinne

Good Friends, Great Drinks!

This week has been exhausting for me and Sierra as she heals. When you are living off "soft" food, and keeping clean and sterile is a battle, it seems like everytime I turn around I am feeding someone or cleaning something. Of course the cat and dog add to that too. It was Wednesday before I realized the fish hadn't been fed since Saturday! But after a long week, and a lot of prayers (and baths!), she is healing nicely. I also realized how many good friends I am blessed with. All week we have been recieving well wishes via phone calls, emails, comments on various things online, and visitors. Everyone I know close to here has offered to run errands for me and get whatever I needed. Yesterday, when I literally washed away scabs that have already healed in almost miraculous time, it occured to me every prayer that has been said for us has made a difference, so for that I thank anyone reading this! Every prayer and kind word has helped!! All there is to do now is offer good friends a good drink! How about an Apple Crazed Martini?

Apple Crazed Martini

1 oz Apple Pucker
1 oz apple vodka (like Smirnoff Twisted Green Apple)
1 oz apple juice
1 oz sweet and sour mix

Shake over ice, strain into chilled martini glass, and garnish with a maraschino cherry. Yum!!

What a Weekend!

Hunter's Moon this weekend was busy and well attended as usual. I love doing this fest every year because the weather is gorgeous, the people come out in droves, and this year they added live music (and it was even close to my booth, which was awesome), to liven things up. I also got interviewed on the radio, on country 94.7 or something like that, which was very spur of the moment and without warning, but I think I did ok NOT sounding like a fool! LOL The DJ guy said I looked 29, so we became fast friends. It was fun, irregardless! All that, and children's activities and a parade, which makes it the only craft show Sierra actually wants to go with me to. See?

Unfortunately, the next day was also beautiful weather, which made it a great bike riding day. The wierd thing about October in this part of Kentucky is that is is often still summer weather, with leaves on the ground. So summery in fact, you can forget the leaves are there. Which is what happened when Sierra's bike flew on the leaves coming down the hill on our road like she's done a million times before. My dad always warned me about driving on leaves, and how they can be slicker than ice. Apparently, dad was right once again, because down she went, and man, was it ever scary! With the help of my neighbors, we got her taken care of and to the ER immediately, where after getting her calmed down and cleaned up, were able to see the extent of her injuries. Three head (face actually) wounds with a total of around 15 stitches, chipped teeth, head to toe deep scrapes, road rash and abrasions, and a broken wrist later, Sierra is at home on bed rest. She looks and feels pretty rough, but is a real trooper and her spirits are still high.

Poor baby!! Keep her in your prayers as we battle infection and try to get her healthy!!

Hunter's Moon Festival (and the drink of the week)

Tomorrow, Saturday October 11th is Hunter's Moon Festival here in Grand Rivers. I have been a proud vendor at this super fun event since moving to Grand Rivers in 2005. From the parade full of great floats and even decorated golf carts, to the rockin' street dance at night, this event filled day is fun for everyone. This year the lovely Kim Kraemer, the head of tourism for Grand Rivers, has also put together a huge storytelling event Friday and Saturday nights at the Badgett Playhouse, featuring nationally known storytellers!! There are also dozens of art and craft vendors, several food vendors with local yummy foods, and kids events including those huge inflatable things all kids love. I, for one, am all about getting a funnel cake and some kettle corn. To make things even better, the weather promises to be beautiful at around 86 degrees!

Look for my booth and my show specials while you're there! Mention "octoberfest" and get 20% off. When you get home, get in the mood for fall with some chocolate. Make this Chocolate Martini!

Death by Chocolate Martini

1 1/2 oz vodka (I like Stoli)

3/4 oz creme de cacao

3/4 oz Godiva Chocolate Liqueur

Chill martini glass by filling martini glass with ice and water. Let sit while measuring liquors into strainer. Dump out ice water, and drizzle chocolate syrup around inside of chilled martini glass. Shake ingredients over ice, strain into glass.

Rad Rockin Recycled Gift Boxes On the Cheap

I have been working all week making sure everything is all ready for the Hunter's Moon Festival here in Grand Rivers. One thing I have been working hard on all year is trying to look more pulled together and "professional," while sticking to a tight budget and maybe even being a little earth-friendly too. With the holidays coming up, I have been searching high and low for affordable gift boxes for my jewelry, but boy oh boy, are they expensive! I would have to charge more for my jewelry to afford the silly boxes. Then I found this fabulous tutorial video on Etsy shwoing how to make boxes from paper. A few calendars and Rolling Stone magazines later, I had these:

While I was at it, I cut up a stack of old (probably vintage by now) greeting cards into 1 1/2" x 2" pieces that are colorful on one side and blank on the other, and made gift tags out of them. By the time you fold up the boxes or cut up the cards for tags, the original pictures don't matter, all you see is a super rad, modern colorful look that I find irresistable.

From now until the end of the year, buy something from my Etsy shop or come visit me at the Hunter's Moon Festival this weekend and get a free handmade box, tag, and a fun bow with any purchase, just in time for the holiday season! The Hunter's Moon Festival is a great time, has tons of food and craft vendors, along with inflatables and kid's activities. Add to that a big parade (and a golf cart parade afterwards, since we are a golf cart friendly resort town, lol), a street dance with the wonderful Tabitha of Southern Fry'd (a great local band), and funnel cake, and it is a great day for the whole family!! We hope to see you there!

Seaside Dreams and the great blogs

Its a charmed life! Ever go to the beach with your kids, collect boxes full of shells that you lug back, only to wonder a week later what to do with them? Anyone with kids is probably faced with pocketfuls of rocks shaped like things, pretty shells, and other outdoor treasures all over the house. After our recent trip to Clearwater, Florida, visiting my grandmother. We brought back tons of shells from the number one rated beach in the US, Caledesi Island. One look tells you why it's so highly rated:

Not to mention it's one of the few beaches left with great shelling. We found probably 50 unbroken sand dollars alone. So upon our return, I decided to start making things with the shells, in the grand tradition of grandma, whose house boasts a vast assortment of shell crafts. One of my favorite things I have made so far is this charm bracelet with shells we found:

The greatest thing about this bracelet is that not only is it the newest thing in my shop, it is one of the 50-plus things on sale for 20% off from now until October 19th, for Bluegrass Etsy's Octoberfest Sale! Check out my shop for awesome deals, or go to the Bluegrass Etsy site for a complete list of great sales in tons of shops.

As long as you're browsing the web and reading blogs of artsy people, check out Cherished Dreams. She writes about tons of interesting crafts, mainly showing off beautiful quilts she makes. We're keeping it Bluegrass this week, since I am in the quilt capital of the US!

Drink of the Week, and a Big Big Sale!!

I'm really feeling fall this week. The crisp fall air, sleeping with lots of blankets and the windows open, leaves almost too pretty to rake up, and the wonderful smell of cookies baking in the kitchen. Mmmm...

Since we've been baking cookies today (hey, homeschooling means I can teach fractions by doubling recipes, and eat the results!), I've decided to make the drink of the week today an Oatmeal Cookie shot.

Oatmeal Cookie

1 part cinnamon schnapps or Goldenschlager

1 part butterscotch schnapps

1 part Irish Cream liquor

Shake over ice, strain into shot glass(es), enjoy!

While enjoying cookies, be they actual cookies or these yummy shots (or both), hop skip and jump over to http://www.bluegrassetsy.blogspot.com/ and peruse some awesome huge Octoberfest Sales, just in time for holiday shopping!! Most shops are offering 20% off AND free shipping, including me!! Just enter in the code, "BEST OF" in the message to seller in checkout, and wait for a revised invoice before paying. Sale goes until October 19th, but at these prices, handmade, one of a kind items will go fast! Check out my shop here!

Enjoy!! xoxo

Fall Beauties

Today is another beautiful fall day and I cannot get enough!! I finally get to open the windows this week, after a summer of captivity to the air conditioner thanks to Josh, whom I swear sweats in the snow. Yesterday I even took a long walk with my mom and Sierra, hills be damned! Of course my mom, visiting from Illinois and not used to hills at all, was not as gung-ho about the walk through the neighborhood as we were. But, at least it was just cool enough to not sweat about it.

It was also nice enough for me to take plenty of pics of my new jewelry, just in time for the team wide sale the Bluegrass Etsy team is having in a few days. One of my favorites is this necklace I made, using coral, slices of shells, and freshwater pearls:

Super big news about a super big sale coming up!! Details announced Sunday, October 5th!

new work on a beautiful fall day

It's been a beautiful week here as fall has, well, fell, and we've all been enjoying the gorgeous 70-something degree weather. Even the cat, Tramp, as he chilled while I snapped pics of some new jewelry, soon to be appearing in my Etsy shop, daydream art studios:

Here is my newest piece, a lovely turquoise and silver necklace featuring gorgeous, high polished turquoise nuggets in a beautiful blue-green perfect for fall:

This necklace is completely one of a kind, all handmade, and very lightweight and easy to wear.

Available in my Etsy shop tomorrow!