Saturday, April 30, 2011

Saturday Show Offs # 9 My Finished Craft Room/Photo Studio Remodel Part 2

This is day 2 and the finish of my craft room/ photo studio remodel. :)
If you missed the disaster that was part 1, check it out {here}
So here is where I left off... there was A LOT of improvement...
but still lots of work to be done, and much to be organized!
 
I cleared space on the left side of my desk for the ribbon holder
I made on day 1.

Then I had to work on the mess that was the right side of 
my desk!

My sister gave me this very comfy double size chair!
I love it!

So much clutter to go through and organize!

I think I mentioned this in the last post, but I have some
plans for this ugly red dresser!
Hopefully it will turn out as cute as I imagine! :)

Organizing photography props...

And voila finally finished! 
You will have to click these pictures to get a better view...
with them so small they still look a little cluttered..
but it looks great in person, I promise! :)


Alrighty.. so here are up close pics of the desk:



View from the door:

View from my desk:

The door:

Organizer bins:
Ive got props and backdrops and such organized here:

And thats about it! :)
I love how my craft room/photo studio looks now!
Its so inviting and welcoming now!
Im pretty proud to have a more professional working space now!
And look forward to more photo shoots in here!
What do you think?

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Happy Easter! And Peek-A-Boo Pattern Shop WINNERS!!!

Hello all!
Hope you had a wonderful Easter!
We definitely did... besides celebrating
our Lord and Savior Jesus' rise from the dead,
there were a couple other exciting things that happened:
My precious daughter Kiah accepted Jesus into her heart and was baptized!
The hubs and I sang a song special in church.
The song is called New Again (by Brad Paisley and Sarah Evans)
Click the link to go to the original song on Youtube.
Our church records our Pastor's sermons, so our song was recorded
as well.. and Im going to try to put that sound in a video so you 
can hear our cover of the song. :)
We had a wonderful day with family!
But this week has also been extremely busy!
Im still catching up.. so I may be a little MIA on the blog for 
a while, until I'm done catching up!

But I figured I better get on and announce the winners 
of the Peek-A-Boo Pattern shop giveaway!
There are THREE winners and here they are:

Please email me at agapelovedesigns@yahoo.com
to claim your winnings!! 
Remember you get to pick THREE patterns! :) 


Thursday, April 21, 2011

New Winner of the Custom Digital Portrait!

So the last winner never contacted me :(
So I have picked a new winner!
Ashley Congratulations!!
Please email me {at agapelovedesigns@yahoo.com} within the week!
If you do not contact me by Thursday the 28th, you will no longer be able to
claim this prize and another winner will be chosen. Thanks!


Thursday Things {I LOVE} #8...Permanent Baggage Earrings

Have I ever told you about my love for purses/bags?
Ive recently been told by The Hubs that I am no longer aloud
to buy any more.. he claims I have too many!
I really dont! I have about 4 or 5 that I 
switch out every so often through out the year.
But I guess to a man.. that is a lot. :)
Sigh
Well a few months back while searching etsy for
some cute hand made hand bags (Shhh.. we wont tell the hubs)
I happen upon, Permanent Baggage!
I instantly fell in love!

Have you heard of  Permanent Baggage?
If not, you need to check it out!
This etsy shop is wonderful, its full of the cutest
ECO-FRIENDLY bags, wallets and NOW earrings!

Check out the adorable earrings I received from Kamryn,
(Founder/owner/designer) of Permanent Baggage, from participating
in her Pay it Forward Challenge.

Are they not the cutest things ever!?
Purposely made to resemble little bags, going perfectly with
the theme of Permanent Baggage.

Here is what Kamryn has to say about the "Bouchie Bag Earrings"
Taken from the listing, description of one pair of her new earrings:

"I have a great fondness for materials, textures, colors, and process. Though I love creating my handbags and they hold the majority of my attention, I sometimes find myself feeling a bit restricted by them. This listing is of a new collection of earrings where I have quite simply taken some time to play and delight in the diversity of materials both new and old.

These Bouchie Bag earrings are small puffs of fabric coaxed into the shape of your favorite slouchie bag. Each bag is approximately 1" tall, wide, and high. They hang from a 2" long gun metal toned chain and land mid neck. They are soft and light weight. Ear wires are antiqued bronze over stainless steel. The perfect gift for your favorite purse collector. A definite conversation piece."
 

Check out the cute little box my earrings came in:

I loved them instantly!
I love how delicate and feminine they are!

I wore them to Church the next day that I got them, and they were
an instant hit. EVERYONE noticed them, and were very
interested in the fact that they looked like miniature purses/slouchy bag! :)

I get so many compliments on them, every time I wear them.
Its because they are so unique. I LOVE unique.
Ive never seen anything like these before, and that's a good thing.
Unique is good, unique gets you noticed.
Every time I look at them I smile.
Seriously, they are just too cute!

Here are a few of my favorites from 
Permanent Baggage:







Eco Chic Wristlet Grey and Fuchsia Puree

Eco Chic Wristlet Damsel

Eco Chic Wristlet-Jane Goodall

Are you not totally coveting these!?
Cause I know I AM!
When I know I can away with it from The Hubs
I am definitely going to be getting my hands on one
of those bags and another pair of earrings!! :)
How about you?
Be sure to check out Permanent Baggage on FB

What are you totally loving this week??


Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Mother's Day Birds Nest Neclace {Tutorial}


So remember on Saturday when I shared the painting of Myself and
my sisters, that I painted and gave as a gift to my Mom for Mother's
Day 3 years ago?
If you dont.. feel free to go check out {that post}.
Well I also mentioned thinking about making her something
special again this year! I said I just had an idea in mind.. and I'd let you 
know how it panned out... well Here it is.. panning out. LOL
See ever since I had seen the Wire Bird Nest Tutorial over at
Shabby Soul, I KNEW I wanted to make one, and turn it into
a necklace for My Momma.

Only I had just a couple slight changes from how she did hers. 
Im going to show you what I did.. but please read the tutorial on Shabby Soul first
so you can see a full tutorial and understand what I am talking about. 

Here is what I used:
~Silver wire
My wire is a lot thinner than the one Shabby Soul used..
I would have used something thicker.. but I didnt feel like
running out to the store.. and just used what I already had.
~6 Pearl Beads each a different color
Shabby soul used 3 pearls the same color, for the eggs which looks great.
I however planned on using 6 different pearls to represent
each of my Mom's Children. :)
Purple-My Older Sister Mona
Green-Me 
Blue- Younger Sister Alea
Pink-Younger Sister Sammy
(I chose them based on our fav colors)
The White pearl is for my Step Sister Fallon
and the Brown is for my Step Brother Kenny
Who my mom raised since they were very young.
So each "egg" represents each Child.
~18 in of silver chain
~2 Large jump rings
~1 small jump ring
~Lobster claw clasp

I started out by sticking each pearl on a long strand of wire.
I tried my best to form a neat cluster (Kinda hard with 6 "eggs")
I twisted the two wire ends together, and started to wrap
a few circles around the eggs.

As you can see though... my first strand of wire didnt get me very far.
The "nest" was looking pretty sparse!
So I took another long strand of wire and started forming
a circle wrapped around several times.. separate from
the nest and eggs, as in Shabby Soul's tutorial.

I then set the nest on top of the new separate wire wrap circle, and cut 
another long strand of wire, and begun weaving it around the nest to
bring them together and create a fuller nest.

I did that two more times, until I got the look I wanted.

See much better and fuller, and more nest like:

I decided to add some felt, since this was going to be a necklace pendant,
to soften up the back that would be laying  against skin. 
I just simply used hot glue to attach it.

Now onto making the necklace:
Next step is to use the small jump ring, to attach the lobster claps
to the chain... I typically cut my chain to 18in... but you can
make yours longer or shorter, depending on the style you want.

Secondly, the big jump ring goes on the opposite side of the chain.

The second jump ring is attached to the nest, to make it a pendant.

Add it to the chain and voila you have a necklace! :)

I thought it was great... but felt it was still missing something.
It needed one more special touch!
Then I remembered about these feather/wing pendants I bought
a while ago... and knew that would be perfect!
So I grabbed one wing, and another large jump ring...

And simply attached it to the nest!
Now it was complete... and perfect for my mom!
So each of the eggs are a different color to represent each of
her children, and the large feather/wing represents the Her.
The Momma bird, with her babies. :)

I Love it!! 
And I am just going to have to make one for myself now! :)
Only problem is.. Mother's Day is still several weeks away...
Will I be able to keep myself from giving it to her early? LOL
Im just so excited... Im not sure! :)
 


I'll Let you know how that goes.. 
and I'll have to post pics of her when she gets it! :)

Hey if you end up making something like this for yourself
or to give as a special mothers day gift.. I would LOVE to see
pictures! Come back and share them with me!
I love to feature fan and follower photos on Fridays! :)

Monday, April 18, 2011

Did You Know {Monday} How to Feature Sites On Your Facebook Page


Did you know that you can chose the sites that show up under
your "likes" on your Facebook Page??
This means you can feature who you want people to see
when they visit your page!

To me this is exciting to me, because it means its another way for
me to advertise my Sponsors!

So I wanted to share with you a quick tutorial on how you
can do this too.


If you are visual learner, like me,
 you can click these images to view them larger.

So what you want to do, click edit page...

When it brings you to this next page, click the featured tab:

It will bring you to this next page where you can chose
the pages you want to feature.
Click the "Edit Featured Likes"
 Then you can click on the pages you want to feature.
Ive clicked on the pages that belong to my Sponsors!
So now the only pages that show up in my "likes" are my sponsors.

Now each  of my sponsors rotate spots each time my page is
looked at or refreshed!
I think that is pretty neat! And I am beyond proud
to show off and feature my amazing sponsors
now on my Facebook too! :)

Cool right!?  
Did you know you could so that?!?

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