Saturday Link List

Here is this week's edition of the link list.  Enjoy!

Beaded Bezel With a Cabachon Instructions from Salamander House Studio

As part of a larger set of instructions for an opal collar, Melody included directions for making a beaded bezel with a cabachon.  I haven't attempted this technique yet myself, but I regularly find gorgeous cabachons browsing on Etsy.  One of these days I'll cave and buy one and be forced to figure out what to do with it.  For now, I'm still in awe of those who have mastered this awesome technique.

youcanmakethis.com

You Can Make This is a wonderful place to find inexpensive patterns for a wide variety of crafty projects.  Most patterns are $6.00 or less.  There is a freebie section as well.

Pantone Seasonal Color Reports

Every season, Pantone publishes a color report with the top colors in women's fashion.  I've linked the most recent report I could find for spring 2011.  It's a great to stay on top of the current color trends and if you choose, carry them into your business line.

Breaking Down Your Costs from Handmade Business

http://www.etsy.com/listing/77610419/vintage-flashcard-notebook

I know that many of us have a hard time figuring out how to price our handmade items.  If you have no idea where to begin, consider using a formula like the one mentioned here.  It's really important to factor in things like Etsy and PayPal fees when you price items.

Sweet Potato Ravioli with Lemon Sage Brown Butter Sauce

I found this recipe through foodgawker.com a while back (which if you're like me and enjoy browsing recipes is a dangerous site).  I haven't attempted it yet, but I did have pumpkin ravioli for the first time this summer.  It was pretty amazing.  I imagine that this would be similar.  The author breaks the recipe down into easy to follow steps with very nice photo illustrations.  I love the idea of using wonton wrappers for ravioli.  I do know how to make pasta and own a machine, but this ingredient cuts out a major amount of work in an already somewhat time consuming recipe.

Friday Feature: Christmas in July

The 4th annual Christmas in July Etsy sale is in its final days!  You can still find lots of sale items by searching ChristmasinJuly or cij on Etsy.  My sale items are here and will stay marked down until the end of the month.  I decided to feature some green items from the sale for this week's post.  Enjoy!

SALE Custom made Emerald Merino and and Mohair Shawl by SimplyAroha

Christmas in July SALE - The True Romantic Pouch in light blue/emerald green by aylla

Patchwork Fabric Wallet with Hand dyed green fabrics by toriska

ON SALE Rich Emerald Green Czech Glass 5x10mm Droplet - 20 pieces (ST444) by SweetTranquilJewelry

Emerald Green Handmade Pottery THE ORIGINAL Green Star Candilera / Handmade Ceramics / Fun Birthday Gift by blueroompottery

Apple Necklace in Fine Silver and Green Resin by DestinysCreations

ON SALE Green Pebbletone Colony Square Footed Vintage Bowl by bythewayside

update: house organization

It's been a while since I posted any pictures of what we've been working on around the house lately.  I thought that everyone would enjoy a little update.

When my mom was in town earlier this month, we painted the living room and main floor bathroom.  The living room was Packer yellow and terribly done.  Whoever painted it didn't tape the woodwork and painted right over the light switches and whatnot.  The bathroom color somehow escaped me when we were first looking at the house.  It was the most dull shade of light purple that I'd ever seen.  I'd been thinking about painting the purple bedroom first, but the bathroom had to change.  Secretly (or not so secretly anymore) I love the purple bedroom so it's staying.

We were promised this dining room table from my in-laws 3 years ago or so.  Now that we have a dining room, we made a big push to get it.  I just ordered some new seat cushions.

The previous owner left this candle holder behind.  I got a tip to look for candles at a dollar store.  Normally I don't shop there, but it is an excellent place to find very inexpensive candles.

For now, I'm using the purple bedroom for my craft storage and photo staging.  When we have kids, I can transfer a lot of this to the basement (where there will be tons of room when we've finished unpacking the remaining boxes).  I say storage because I do the vast majority of my jewelry making while sitting on the sofa.  This room is large enough that I may get motivated to do some of my other craft projects like button magnets and card making in here.

The previous owner left all of these wire storage units behind in the second and third bedroom closets.  Can you believe that there are empty spaces in them right now?  I may try to transfer some of what is on the desks right now into these units so I have some real work space in this room.

The previous owner also left a computer desk behind so this spare one is in this room.  I'd like to use this space for my other crafty projects.  Right now it mostly has my future project ideas as well as one of my my button gluing trays. Both desks in this room have slide out keyboard trays so I can move a lot of this stuff onto those.

This set up isn't too different from the condo.  Isn't it great how much light this house has?  I shot these pictures in natural daylight with no lights on.

This is the one corner of the room that I haven't done much with yet.  I'd like to get a bookcase for the empty space.  Jake is using the small table that I used for my keyboard for something else right now so I haven't set it up yet.

These final cubes have my card making supplies as well as a few other random craft supplies.  I have a lot more stamps, stickers, etc. elsewhere, but this is what I'd organized before we left so it's what's here now.  I'll keep adding as I keep unpacking.

Finally, in case anyone was wondering, Angel is pretty relaxed here now, especially in the basement.

EtsyBloggers Carnival: Summer Recipe II

Before I get to the carnival topic, I have to post this picture that I forgot to include in yesterday's post. A few of you mentioned how nice the trees are in our neighborhood, which is definitely true.  There are lots of large trees.  This is something else that I missed in our newer neighborhood in Iowa.

Moving on, Deb (storybeader) also picked the topic of favorite summer recipe for the Blog Carnival.  I posted earlier this summer about how I love iced tea when I did my tea feature.  I also love iced coffee.  I don't drink it very often because I don't want to start a caffeine addiction.  But it's a wonderful treat once in a while, especially in the summer.  My brother stayed with us over the weekend and made coffee.  There was a little left over so I jumped on the chance to make some iced coffee at home.

I don't keep a lot of beans on hand.  We used some Hy-Vee brand beans that I got back in Iowa.  I stuck the leftover coffee in the fridge so I didn't need to add a ton of ice.  I also added a little bit of milk and a couple spoons of sugar.  Recipe Girl has a wonderful iced coffee tutorial with photos here.  I came across it through foodgawker a couple weeks ago.  I was going to use it for a future link list but you all get to enjoy it a little earlier than that for this carnival.

why I love my new neighborhood

The neighborhood that we lived in out in Iowa was functional.  Most importantly, it was clean and safe so it was a good place to live.  We liked the area because we weren't right next to the university but were only about a 15 minute drive from downtown Iowa City.  However, the neighborhood was very boring.  All of the houses and condos were built within the last 10 years and most have no character whatsoever.  We were lucky to live in a brick building with the view of a pond.  That's about as exciting as it gets.  The other things that drove me nuts were that 1) the garages could face the street so you constantly looked at rows of garage doors and 2) there are whole stretches of the same type of building (i.e. 10 townhouses in a row).

Our new neighborhood is also clean and safe.  It's much more urban so we can't take the long, winding, quiet walks like we did in Iowa, but we can take city walks instead.  And the neighborhood has so much more character.  With that being said, I thought it would be fun to take pictures during one of my walks and create an inspirational walk post.  Any of you who craft know that inspiration can come from a wide variety of places.  Architecture and nature are definitely included.  Enjoy!

There are lots of houses with bay windows.

There are also lots of houses with rounded doors.  How cute is that?  I don't think I'd ever seen this before.  And there are tons of them.  There are at least 7 within 4 blocks of our house that I didn't photograph.

There's a lot of awesome stone work as well.  Bricks are great but the stone work is even cooler.

Some houses have both bay windows and round doors.

great corner lots

There are a few random houses that I love for no particular reason.

 How adorable is this?

 I love these little windows.

This house looks a lot like ours.  I hope that they have the awesome layout inside that we do.

EtsyBloggers, does anyone remember the fence posts?  Most fences in the neighborhood are chain links or plain woods, but this was different.

We live pretty near a big city park.  I know that this still looks very urban (and it is), but it's nice to have that little touch of nature nearby.

lawnmower patterns on the grass

 I also took a couple funny pictures.  Green Bay fans, we hope?

This house belongs in Iowa City!