Sunday, Bloody Sunday

I just realized that I hadn't blogged AT ALL this past week. Oops! To make up for it, I'm taking some photographs today of my two newest lip balm additions, Brigid and Honeysuckle Nectarine. I made them a week or so ago, and wasn't able to photograph them because it's been so dreary and rainy here. Not to mention cold and windy! But lo and behold, this morning is sunny without a cloud in the sky, birds are chirping, and the wind isn't blowing a continuous 40 mph. Look for these to be listed soon (tonight, hopefully!) in my Etsy and Art Fire shops!

SNS

It's about that time again. What time, you ask? For Saturday Night Specials of course! And without any further ado, here is tonight's special!

Free shipping in my Etsy and Art Fire shops! Make your purchases as usual, and I'll refund your shipping, or you can wait and I'll send you a revised invoice without the shipping. Just be sure to put SNS in the notes to seller. Sale goes until I wake up Sunday morning. :) Happy shopping!

Friday Feature

Drum roll please.... Today's Friday Feature is mirthreverence! Mirth & Reverence offers OOAK jewelry, altar dolls, and photography. Here are a few of my favorite items in Kate and Jamie's shop.

Kate and Jamie offer many gorgeous altar dolls in their shop, but their Hekate doll is one I keep going back to just to look at it. The doll they used as a base is Elphaba from Wicked. Very appropriate, I think, to become a representation of Hekate, who was called the Queen of the Witches. What I'm always impressed by when I browse through Mirth & Reverence is the detail work on every doll. Not only did they clothe her the way you would imagine her to look, but she has beads snaking around her arms (snakes are one symbol of the Greek goddess) and bare feet that appear dusty from all of her travels. Even the stand she comes with is detailed--they painted it to be a crossroads, another of Hekate's symbols. These altar dolls are definitely worth every penny. (Hekate, $350.00)

I had a really difficult time choosing one piece of their jewelry to feature. They're all beautiful, so when you browse through Mirth & Reverence, definitely go through all of the jewelry. The Dream Castle necklace is a two-strand necklace of tiny seed beads and accented with Snowflake Obsidian. My first thought when I looked at this necklace was that it would look great wrapped to make a bracelet. Lo and behold, when I read the description, they suggest the very same thing! :) (Dream Castle, $15.00)

Last summer Ben and I took a trip to San Francisco to attend his college friend's wedding. While we were there we took a guided trip up to Muir Woods. On the way up we kept hearing about all of the wildlife we might see in the woods. When we arrived, we all went our separate ways and met back at the bus later. Other people on the bus saw deer, but we sure didn't! So when I saw this photograph in Mirth & Reverence's shop, I knew I had to include it here. I sure do wish I could've seen her in person! (Doe in Muir Woods, $15.00)

Thinking About Selling on Art Fire?

Well, if you're not, you should be. Art Fire is a great community of talented artists of all kinds. The site is in beta, so get in on the ground floor and help build and shape this wonderful community! You can sign up for a free account that allows you to list up to 10 items in your studio. Or you can upgrade to a verified account to list unlimited items. There are many great things about selling on Art Fire, but the best one to me is that there are no fees. That's right, no listing fee or selling fee. To have a verified account, you pay a flat rate monthly fee. And if you act quickly, you can have a verified account for only $7 a month. There are only 427 of these left, and then the price goes up to $20 a month.

Click here to read more about Art Fire.

Click here to set up your $7 a month account! (Thanks for letting me refer you!) ;)

Weekend in Austin

I just love going to Austin. Did I mention that before? :) Not only because I get to spend time with friends we don't see often enough, but because Austin is so incredibly veggie-friendly! Whenever we go out to eat in the DFW area, people always ask me where I can eat. When people ask me that in Austin, I say I can eat anywhere! It's Austin, there's going to be *something* vegetarian on the menu.

I had said in my previous post that I hoped we could eat at Trudy's and Dog Almighty this weekend, and we had the chance to eat at both!

My absolute favorite thing to order at Trudy's is the Veggie Flaquita dinner. Imagine an enchilada-sized flauta stuffed with spinach, pinto and black beans, corn, pico de gallo and cheese. The flaquitas are fried and topped with your choice of sauce. Usually I get the suiza sauce, which is a verde sauce mixed with a little sour cream. Saturday night I was a bit daring and had the caliente sauce, which was a spicy verde sauce. (Yes, I do love verde sauces...) The veggie flaquitas come with rice and your choice of bean--they have six different kinds of bean. I had the refried black beans, which are a little spicy. Yum!

Today on our way out of town we stopped in for lunch at Dog Almighty. What I love about this little place is that you can order anything on their menu vegetarian. Anything. The first time Ben took me there years ago I ordered the chili dog, just because I'd never had a chili dog. And you know what I learned? Chili dogs are ridiculously messy! :) Today I had the Broken Spoke Dog, which comes topped with BBQ sauce and sauteed onions, but I had them add sliced jalapenos too. So good! Ben always orderes the Jalapeno Corndog (with a regular ol' beef hot dog). He loves it because the batter is spicy with bits of jalapeno peppers in it. Every time we go, I'm tempted to try a veggie one. Maybe next time!

What Am I Up To?

A lot! The week before spring break is always a bit crazy at school... But I've been busy at home, too! On the curing rack alongside my Brighid soap (that's Guiness and blackberry soap) I now have some Irish Tweed soap. Irish Tweed is based on a scent that Carey Grant used to wear. *swoon* It is one of my all-time favorite scents! I also have a batch of Brighid lip balm made up, just waiting for labels and pictures before I list it in my Etsy and Art Fire shops. You can look for the lip balm to be up next week!

In the meantime, I'm leaving this afternoon to go out of town. A friend of ours is having a housewarming party down in Austin this weekend. I love going to Austin, and will be very upset if I don't get to eat at Trudy's or Dog Almighty at some point this weekend. :)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Friday Feature.... on Saturday?

Yes, I know today is Saturday and not Friday. Yesterday I got home from school around 5:00, showered, and went to Ben's cousin's house to babysit her little toddler. By the time I came back home just before 11:00, I pretty much went straight to bed. Fridays are always so tiring!!! So here I am on a Saturday afternoon writing up my usual Friday Feature. Oh well, better late than never, right?

Before we get to Saturday's Friday Feature, you should take a gander at an Etsy Treasury that my cuticle balm is currently in. This treasury is full of great items from some very nice sellers I've spoken with on a Buy and Stay thread on Etsy. In fact, I've sold so many cuticle balms to people on that thread that I need to make another batch of it this weekend! Woo hoo!

Alright, on to our regularly scheduled programming. Today's Featured Seller is YouniquelyChic. She has the most beautiful Swarovski crystal jewelry in her shop! I've been eyeing several of her earrings and necklaces, but I really need to wait a week or two... I have to admit I've gone on a bit of a shopping spree on Etsy lately... Anyway, here are a couple of my favorites from her shop!