Valentine's Day UnStrungSisters Special

Time for another UnStrung Special - buy a $20 UnStrungSisters gift certificate and we will add some Valentine Love to it and turn it into a $25 gift certificate. We will also take care of everything - mail the gift certificate in an appropriate card, include your message, and we will include instructions on how to make a purchase on Etsy.

This special starts today and runs through Sunday, February 8, 2009. Need it even faster we can e-mail a copy directly to you or your recipient. How does this work?!? Go to our Etsy Shop - Gift Certificate Section - buy a $20 gift certificate (you pick the style) and in the message to seller add "Happy Valentine's Day" or you can "convo" us after you complete your purchase. We will also need some information from you - the full name of the recipient, who the gift certificate is from, type of card (Valentine, birthday, or everyday), a message for the inside of the card and where you would like us to mail the card and gift certificate. We will be happy to add a "Do Not Open Until ..." to the front of the card.

We do have a few gift certificate rules -
***Gift certificate only valid at UnStrungSisters Etsy shop.***
***Gift certificates bought through this special will expire on February 15, 2010***
***Gift Certificate is not redeemable for cash.***

A Quick Trip Down Memory Lane

Hi, Erin here -These pretty lampwork beads immediately caught my eye on my very first visit to Sassy Glass Designs and of course they had to be mine - at least until I played with them and decided to pass them on to someone else. (I've blogged about my lampwork bead problem in the past!) The little flowers remind me of a huge Lilac bush in the side yard of the farm Amy and I grew up on - the flowers were such a deep purple they looked black from a distance. I can remember the wonderful fragrance of these delicate little flowers, the joy I felt bringing a bouquet to my teachers and the people who would stop to ask for a small bouquet (there were plenty of blooms - we always gave huge bouquets) or even better a cutting so they could have their own Black Lilac Bush. Thank you Sandi for the great walk down memory lane.

A Little Press, A Lot of Fun

Amy here- As I mentioned in a previous post I was interviewed for a local newspaper article. The article appeared in The Chesapeake Clipper which is distributed twice a week with the Virginian-Pilot. The focus was how Erin and I are able make our jewelry business, UnStrungSisters.com work despite living on opposite coasts.

Sandra Pennecke is a free-lance writer and made sure my first interview was fun. I turned the camera on Sandra and captured the photo below of her in my craft room.

Blog Special - Proud to Be ... Bracelet and Necklace

In honor of our newly elected President, Vice President and all of our newly elected officials everywhere we are offering our Proud to Be ... Bracelet for $6.25 and our Proud to Be ... Necklace for $10.00 - yes, that is half off! Okay, so the price won't stimulate the economy but hopefully it will help stimulate us to become more involved and make sure all of our voices are heard.
To "cash-in" on these savings just add "BLOG SPECIAL" in the comments to sellers - DO NOT PAY - we will send you a revised PayPal invoice (be sure we have your PayPal e-mail address). This special runs through Friday, January 23, 2009 and is limited to one per person.

~*~ E Pluribus Unum ~*~

This is so fun and kind of addicting!

Amy here- I splurged recently on some metal stamping supplies and had so much fun today trying them out. I made this pendant with my kiddos names stamped on it. I added a few design element stamps, textured the whole thing and buffed it to a nice shine. Look for some new items like this on UnStrungSisters soon.

On another note, I was interviewed about a week and a half ago by a reporter from our local newspaper. The story ran today and covers how Erin and I are able to make UnStrungSisters work despite being on opposite sides of the country. As soon as I can find a link to the story on line I will add it here to our blog.

Hello Little Birds!

Bird garland made by Amy and 6 YO daughter Sadie.

Cure Your Mid-Winter Blues with Some Color

It is so nice to have my craft space reconfigured. I can finally take some pictures without shuffling everything around! Need a little color in your life? Check out our new Colorful Pearl Cluster Necklace.

My daughter, Sadie, is enjoying some space at my worktable also. Below is a picture of some thank you notes she made. It warms my heart to see how much she loves to create. We all need crafting buddies after all!

Craft Space Makeover Costs

Below is the final accounting of my craft space remodel. Luckily, I had a lot of items that I reused in my space and that helped to control costs. Overall, the end result was worth the cost and effort!

Paint (I splurged here on a good brand) $46.19

Stain for table (left over can from kitchen chair project) ----

Misc. Paint Supplies $10.50

Shelves

~new shelving over work table $60.17

~brackets for new shelves $125.16

Total for Shelves $185.33

White 4 shelve cubes $44.08

Light Fixture $57.52

Wood Hollow Core Door (added to the existing for work table) $22.05

Grand Total $363.57

New Efficient, Beautiful Craft Space ..............................................Priceless

Craft Space Makeover SUCCESS!

Yes! My craft room remodel is complete... and I am SO happy with the results. Please see previous posts in December for the before and in- progress pictures.

The above photo shows my main work area. By installing larger shelving on the walls, I was able to move my bins of sterling silver and gemstone supplies off the table to free up more workspace. The shelves supporting the table (hold over’s from the before time) allow me to store and organize completed jewelry in boxes that are easily accessed. Two desktop organizers help to keep my tools, pens, scissors, and other items nearby.

Here is another view of the same area. The top shelve holds beautiful items that I love but use only sporadically. Colorful ribbons, threads, buttons, dyed silk cocoons, and mulberry bark provide a burst of color up high and I love to look at them. Here and there, I have used mini easels to display fiber art postcards I have made over the years.

The shelves above the left side of the table hold bins of supplies. The metal scroll supports are the perfect place for a dowel rod and hold spools of ribbon, beading wire, and cotton cording- again, all close by. A Christmas themed mini- art quilt, made by me a few years back, adorns the wall above.

Just below the shelves, I have used a magnetic white board for additional storage of small items. By applying magnets to the bottoms of clear-lidded metal tins, these items can be stored vertically freeing up additional space while keeping the items handy and visible.

This picture also shows how I dressed up my table. After applying several coats of celery green wood stain I decoupaged flowers cut from scrapbook paper to the surface. The front edge of the shelves is decoupaged with coordinating striped paper (shown in the top picture). Hand thrown coffee mugs (made by others) that are chipped and can no longer be used in the kitchen hold my pens and scissors.

As I mentioned in a previous post, my new table runs across the whole wall on one side of my small room. On the right side, I have placed my photo box (more on that another day). When not in use it will be slid underneath the table and out of sight. The small chair on that side is where Sadie, my six YO daughter, will have her space to create- we are both pretty excited about that!

The bulletin board, shown above, holds mini UFOs (unfinished objects) and other little pieces that provide me with art and inspiration.

The existing built-in shelves needed little redoing other than a good de-cluttering on my part. They are the perfect place for my art and craft books, small pieces of art I have made or collected, and some supplies. On the wall to the right is a small art quilt I made a few years back. .
To the left of the built-in shelves and pictured above is another art quilt from some time ago.

A white storage cube that I purchased at the craft store provides the perfect place for me to slide trays of work in progress items. Previously these "projects" cluttered up the tabletop. Now I can slide them out of the way when I need to work on something else.

Now that most of the work is behind me I am so glad I tackled this project. My space is bright and inspiring. Being able to decorate it with my own art and art I have purchased from others makes it all the more special! Now it is time to get back to making jewelry! Check in tomorrow for the final accounting of how much my space redo cost.

I Want it All Treasury

My timing was perfect and I was able to grab a treasury on Etsy. Please check it out on Etsy and each of these talented artists shops as well!

My new Work Table

Quick update.... I stained my work table a gorgeous celery green. Here it is in place in my craft space.

It was looking a bit plain so I decided to dress it up a bit.




Decorative paper in stripes and floral motifs were applied with good old Modge Podge. It still needs a coat or two of polyurethane and I need to join the two pieces with some hardware. Aaaaah over 9 feet of work table, actually 9.92 feet. That's over 3500 square inches of work area. I'll have better close-up pictures soon.