a fun interview!

Today my interview with Journal Modiste is up. They were so nice to ask if they could feature me and of course I said YES!!! So click here to read the interview, I always feel silly reading what I said later!

I know, I know, all of my posts lately have been "work work work"! I promise to post some fun "play" posts later!

Lil Piggy Relisted!!!

I love this bracelet and just had to relist it, once again starting at .99!!! Find it HERE!!!

*BLESSED*

Find it HERE!!!

LOTUS Fabric Bracelet

These are so fun, I had to make another!

Started at .99 with no reserve :)

Find it HERE!

***Free shipping to my Blogging friends (cuz I love ya'll so much, you keep me oh-so entertained!)***

Touchdowns & Tackles

Caleb has his first football camp next week! Today we went shopping for ALL of his equipment and cleats. It's an expensive sport, sheesh!


He is SOOOOOOO excited!!! (so am I!)

Now I just need to find Tessa a matching cheerleader outfit :)

Bit's n Pieces

This triple strand bracelet is so FUNKY!!! It's made with summertime scraps, beads that were never made into anything and have just been hanging around my bead box! Find it here!

~girl time~

Ryan took the boys golfing tonight which gave Tessa and I some "girls only" time. We went for a walk, played at the park, she rode her Dora bike, played soccer...she loves getting the chance to be "the leader" with no one else making up the rules.

Fresh Cut Bracelet ends TONIGHT!

Started at .99, and it ends TONIGHT! Click HERE to find the auction!

"Here Comes the Bride..."

Ryan's cousin is getting married in August and I made her and her Maid of Honor these bracelets. They are full of sterling silver, pearls and crystals, which all said "wedding" to me. Hope they like them :)

~STAMPED name bracelet~

My first stamped piece, you can find it on eBay or Etsy, click the link you prefer on the right :)

2 Moms and 7 kids...

We are nuts :)

But we have lots of fun at Christmas time!

Good Mail!!!

Today I received my first Good Mail package from Mique!!!


She sent me these super cute labels to put on my Good Mail packages, cute hair bling (she must have read THIS POST!!!), a Take 5 bar (YUM!) and a sweet little note. Thanks so much Mique!!! I so enjoyed getting some fun mail for ME today :)

If you want to participate in trading "Good Mail", email Linda: lholland78@comcast.net.

breakfast in bed

Look what my 6 year old Caleb brought me this morning :)

silly spiders!

Kids are asleep, Ryan's out of town and I am attempting to get some late night work done with a pot of coffee at my side. House is quiet except for my quiet "Enya" music in the corner. Suddenly- blood curdling SCREAMS from Tessa's room. I bolt in there and after calming her a bit I can understand what she's saying- "spider is in my room!" She points to her wall and shows me this:



He's tiny, like the size of a dime. I had to chuckle.

I gave her my silver bangle bracelets I was wearing to play with to distract her while I went to get the camera, I couldn't miss the opportunity here to photograph him. He has been removed from the premises and she's a happy girl again, hopefully on her way to dreamland.

wiggly but not giggly

Tessa modeled for me today. *snicker* It was quite an experience. She refused to smile for a long time. Made me so glad I don't have to do that very often for photographing jewelry. It pretty much just sits there where I put it and stays, and no attitude, and no candy bribing.

I'm collaborating with Jona from cactusblossomdesigns and let me tell you, her 3 outfits are amazing. I think I'm just gonna keep one cuz I love it so much, sorry Jona (JK!) The launch is tomorrow, here are a few sneek peeks:


I know, I'm a tease.

I made some matching jewels and my friend Lindsay from haircandybows made matching bows and clippies.

Funky LOTUS Ponytail Holders

Had so much fun with these! Find them in my STORE.

~something new~

Flea Market Fancy fabric button bracelet, my first button bracelet :)

Starts at .99 with no reserve, click HERE to see the auction.

In the Mood for Something Vintage

I made 2 pieces this week that have the "feel" of vintage (which I love!)
Vintage Sweet Bracelet:

Vintage Fun with Dick & Jane fabrics from Michael Miller:

This bracelet was made to match Simplee*Weea. Thanks Nancy!

how boys play with a kitchen

Fashion Forward Friday “UP Tight”

This week's "Fashion Forward Friday" challenge from Amelia on Boutique Cafe is up-dos, she wants to see our ponytails!!! She also wants to see our Etsy hair accessory picks. I love ponytails, my hair is up alot, especially in the summer. I part off the left side and sweep it back, sometimes I leave my bangs down and tuck behind my ears. I naturally have very curly hair that I straighten about 90% of the time. I don't use any cute accessories, usually just a plain hair band and I'm "stylin'" if it actually matches my clothes. I'm pretty low maintenance, maybe a little TOO low sometimes! So here's my 'tail:

I found some super cute hair accessories, I'll have to buy a few to jazz up my "do"! Here are a few faves~

from The Magpies Nest: I am loving these ponytail holders especially and I LOVE owls right now!



from GreenThumbDesigns I love these colors, they just POP!


Thanks for the fun challenge!

lil Chicks

Find this cute necklace for your little chick HERE!

Lucy and the Kitchen

Lately Tessa has been concerned about our cat Lucy. Tessa thinks that Lucy is sad because she doesn't have a Mommy or Daddy or Brother or Sister. I told her that we are Lucy's family to which she replied, no we are not a cat. Lucy needs a cat family. This has been a topic of discussion for a few weeks now and she's trying to talk Ryan into getting another cat for Lucy, I think he might be starting to cave in to his little princess :)


In the meantime, Tessa has made sure that Lucy is comfy and loved by tucking Lucy in with Tessa's blanket and baby when she's sleeping. These aren't just any ordinary blanket and baby, they are Tessa's favorites. She sleeps with them every night and I'm surprised she shares them with the cat. I've found Lucy asleep "all tucked in" many times and managed to snap a few pics before she scampered off. She almost looks embarrassed when I catch her :)

Tessa loves to "make" us food and brings me "foffee" (coffee) all the time, so today I found her a little toy kitchen in a consignment shop. I went to the shop to sell some of the kids' clothes they've outgrown, but I think I can get alot more for them by selling them on eBay, so I left with my 3 tubs of clothes, no check and ended up buying things. *sigh*


Did you notice who her first customer was?

Just havin' some camera fun!

Fancy a Trade???

I was soooo excited my Flea Market Fancy fabrics showed up in my mailbox today! I'm sure you can guess what I plan to make with it, maybe one of these or one of these. It's an older fabric line but I LOVE it!!! I have my eye on more of these farics in the other colors, cross your fingers that I win them :)

So now for the TRADE. If any of you incredible seamstresses out there would like to do a trade with me, please email me- thevintagepearl@gmail.com. I would LOVE LOVE LOVE a flea market fancy outfit for Tessa, who is a 3T. I'd like to pick out the fabrics, and I'm thinking either a strip skirt or capris and a simple top. In exchange I will make you some jewels of your choice equal in price. You can see samples of my jewels here, here and here. I look forward to trading with you!

Some Friendly Rejuvination & Pearly Whites

My friend Jennifer (not this Jennifer, a different one!) and I played raquetball this morning and it was very therapeutic for me! For several reasons, but 2 major ones:

1. There is something about just chatting and laughing with a girlfriend that makes all stress go away, at least temporarily! This friend and I have alot in common, we're the same age, we have 7 kids between the 2 of us and one of every age from 2-8, and we love to just chat about whatever. Somehow between the chatting and laughing at each other's raquetball form we managed to squeeze in 3 games. I am blessed to have several really good friends and I am so bad about hanging out with them as much as I should, I always feel better after some time with the girls.

2. There is also something very therapeutic about hitting that raquetball with all of your might over and over again! It's a major stress reliever and it feels so good to clobber something and it's okay to do it! I haven't hit Jennifer (yet).

Then this afternoon it was Denist time, here are the boys showing me their CLEAN pearly whites!

They were soooooo excited to go to the dentist! Caleb has been a few times before, but this was Jonah's first time and he loved it. I hate going to the the dentist, glad they don't take after me! The boys were very good and love their new toothbrushes. Jonah has already unraveled his floss thinking it was some pretty cool rope.

We discovered by x-ray that Caleb inherited something from Ryan- they are both missing their bottom 2 middle adult teeth. It's genetic and actually pretty common. Ryan is 32 and still has 2 baby teeth!

Sleeping in our own beds tonight!

We had a great week in Nebraska, but as always after a vacation, we're happy to be home! Ryan grew up in this really small farm town that is so fun to visit. His grandparents still live within blocks of each other and we're able to walk back and forth alot. Which is good, we need to walk off the calories from all of the yummy food!

The kids LOVED it there and tried to talk us into staying longer. They had a week of swimming (even Tessa went down the BIG water slides at the town pool!), fishing, fireworks (of course! We let some off and watched a show at the golf course), golfing with Daddy on the course he grew up on, eating lots of great home cooking, more swimming...they had a fun time! I even got to go on a girl's only shopping trip with Gma E and found some great stuff!

Gma E's house is ALWAYS immaculately clean. She is unbelievably organized and always makes me want to come home and scrub my house down- we got home just a few hours ago and I have already dusted the whole house including my blinds and ceiling fans! Ryan's hoping my cleaning will continue :)


On the 4th of July we went out to the golf course for games, food and fireworks. They gave out raffle tickets to each of the kids and Jonah won a brand new John Deere bike!!! We also won a set of Tonka trucks with motorcycles, 2 ice cream cones and a certificate for hamburgers! We were having a lucky night!

To see more pics from our trip click HERE!

We are already planning a trip to the Grand Canyon in the fall!!! Any tips would be great! :)

We are off to Nebraska!

We leave in the morning on an 8 hour car drive up to Nebraska to visit Ryan's grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. for the 4th of July week. It should be a week of swimming, fishing, golfing, shopping, just lots of fun!


Before I go I have to show you a picture of Tessa's new "tick tlocks", or flip flops. They were on sale at Target (a total impulse buy- oops!) and the girl HAD to have the purple ones. They also had pink and blue, and I tried talking her into the pink, but her reasoning to me was "but my swim-soup (swimsuit) is purple." Remember that fashion chat we had not too long ago? I was wishing in the store that it hadn't happened so we could buy the pink ones. So purple it is, who am I to get in the way of my 2 1/2 year old daughter's fashion sense? She absolutely LOVES them...I don't think she's taken them off since we bought them, she even napped with them on!

Have a safe, fun and happy 4th of July!!!

Dear Anonymous

I have decided to end our rude-comments-on-my-blog relationship. In your honor I have changed my settings so that all comments must be approved first, therefor your annoying little words can no longer surface on my blog. If I have in any way offended you, let's chat and work it out. Otherwise, it's time to part ways, maybe there's another blog you can troll for awhile. I hope you understand, it's not you, it's me.

Sincerely,
me

Easy Peasy and Low Fat Too!

We had these "Cinnamon Chips" after our beef quesadillas yesterday and the kids (and hubby) loved them so much I had to share!

You just take flower tortillas or pita bread (I used left over tortillas), cut them into triangles with your pizza cutter, spray a little bit of Pam on the tops, then shake on some cinnamon and sugar. Bake for about 10 minutes at 300 degrees (keep an eye on them just in case) and when you take them out sprinkle just a bit more sugar on top if you want extra sweetness (I did!) Once they've cooled they are crisp like chips but cinnamon sweet- YUM!

this Lil Piggy bracelet

This bracelet was so fun to make!

Starting at .99 on eBay, no reserve! Find it here!

Cocoa Lemon Drops

I'm so excited to have learned a new technique! I turned these ordinary sterling silver earring hooks into this yummy dark metallic brown! I love how they look with yellow, yellow has been one of my favorites this year. Don't you just love when you figure something out all on your own? It's a very unusual process :)

Check out these and more here!