The Weather Outside is Frightful..

But winning is so delightful! I woke up to a rare sight of snow! yes, snow, all over the ground and shivered at the thought. Since we don't even own a shovel or scrapers or anything else, I had nothing else to do but check my email and get caught up online, and discovered today that I won (by popular vote) the holiday ornament contest hosted by the Bluegrass Etsy Street Team with this ornament:
Thanks to everyone who voted for me and visited my store and my teammates wonderful shops as well! I am honored to be on such a cool team with talented Etsians from all over Kentucky. You can visit their blog here.

Now I can go back to watching the neighbor kids use an old tire and broken skateboard as a sled and sled down the middle of the street, er, I mean hill. Cause that's how we do it in Kentucky!

A little fun to start your week...

I have been busy posting all sorts of new pendants to my shop this past week, with more additions everyday this week as well! Some of my favorites are the newest in my sillhouette pendants, these rockin' mudflap girls:

Even though they're a little gross on a sweaty trucker's mudflaps, they're a lot sexy on jewelry! I just adore them, but couldn't find much jewelry like this, so I decided to make them. I made both an afro mudflap girl and the traditional girl because I couldn't decide.

I also have lots of other sihouette pendants coming soon, so keep your eye out! Remember, if you are clever, and have a better name for them, be sure to let me know for your chance to win a $20 gift certificate if I use the name you come up with! Just visit my shop, name any sections you want, and send me your suggestions in a convo. If I use any, I will send you a gift certificate fo every name I use. So get naming!

After the storm, a dark and stormy...

It's been a long week of cleanup for many in Kentucky after Ike swept through last Sunday. We have yet to get the top half of our biggest tree the rest of the way down and cut up. I'm still grateful we didn't have it worse. On that note, our drink of the week is the:

Dark and Stormy

2 oz Gosling's Black rum
8 oz Ginger beer

I already think every drink is better with rum**, but nothing is quite like a strong, super gingery ginger ale and a great, dark rum!

While you're drinking this weekend, and feeling a little creative, be sure to think of some good names for my shop sections, and win at least $20 in gift certificates! See yesterday's post for more details.

Enjoy a (hopefully) wind free weekend! xoxo

**consume responsibly, don't drink and drive, tattoo, hurt yourself or others; five o'clock somewhere does not always apply; yada yada yada...

Big Contest, Big Prizes!

To celebrate the launch of my new line of pendants, and my 120th blog post, I am having a big sale for readers of this blog only! From now until September 26th, enjoy 20% off all orders $12 or more (including shipping). All my new pendants come with your choice of a necklace, complete with silverplated hardware, so you can completely customize your experience!

I am also woman enough to admit when I need help. Readers, I need your help! My talents apparently do not extend into naming stuff and even writing descriptions. I see witty, clever names in other shops, and I want that too! So, from now until the end of September, if you can come up with a clever name for any of my shop sections (on the top right side of www.daydreamartstudios.etsy.com), and I use it, I will give you a $20 gift certificate! Name them all and win big! Thanks all, and happy naming!

The Birds Part II

I've gotten a little braver in the past few days. I watch the baby cardinals out my bedroom window several times a day, waiting for the right moment to throw open the window and lean in for some closeups. Everyday they have a little more feathers and open their eyes more. So ugly they're cute! Here are some pictures from yesterday.

Eyes open:

Eyes closed after the flash scared them a little:

So, in the spirit of all this magic and wonder, I am having a contest. Comment to this post with which day you think my babies will first leave the nest. Everyone that is right will win a free mini painting, bird earrings, or a bird pendant. The pictures above were from yesterday, so make an educated (or wild) guess. Thanks for playing! Good luck!

Pollen, tattoos, earthquakes, and contests

What a week! My head has felt like a balloon all week, thanks to this beautiful spring weather and all that blooms. I have never in my life seen pollen actually cover the earth like it does here in Kentucky. Everything actually turns yellow from the layer of pollen that falls from I assume, some devil tree. Its so bad, I don't even have a runny nose. Oh, no, my snot clings for dear life as high up as it can. I can actually hear it screaming, "nooooooooo," as it grabs on and won't let go. So I have been trying to stay motivated this week even though I am dizzy, and have eyes that look like this:

Good thing Zak wanted me to draw me to draw him another tattoo. A real good thing he wanted a bugged-out eyeball. Cause that's exactly how I feel. Arggg...

On the good side, though, I have finally started selling stuff online, thanks to you! :) Two friends called me this week I haven't heard from in a few months called to catch up. There was an earthquake this morning, and despite all the buzz about it, nothing was damaged or even moved. My dog learned, "that's my seat," and moves out of my way. Everything I had to go to court for is over for good, thanks to hard work, patience, and prayer. I made a friend that also homeschools her daughter online and met her and her daughter IRL at Chuck-E-Cheese's, so the girls could play together. Best of all, despite the nasty pollen cloud that seems out to get me, I opened my windows, because it is finally warm out!!

Sierra also entered a drawing/ painting contest for kids from our mortgage company. They were supposed to draw our house. I'm really proud, she worked really hard, and it looks great! See: