Amazing World of Beads and Gems

Most of you who read my blog know that I deal with felt and fabric and love vintage. Metal, gems and jewelry making are not my areas of expertise but I sincerely appreciate those talents. I'm blogging in this post about an amazing proprietess of a site full of information! She is Sylvia of Silver Rose Beads. Her site is huge, she is a wholesaler of gems and beads.

Her blog, http://www.silverrosebeads.blogspot.com/ links to her shops, and a wealth of other information. I really believe in the power of color, properties of metals and gems and the way they can affect your life. Sylvia has a section on metaphysical properties that I found really interesting.

TURQUOISE – BRINGS A DEEP SENSE OF PEACEFULNESS TO THE WEARER, A GLOBAL FEELING THAT EVERYTHING IS RIGHT WITH THE UNIVERSE. A SOOTHING SENSE THAT LIFE IS UNFOLDING IN A DIVINE AND PERFECT PLAN.....

Click on the picture to read the rest of the turquoise description and those of other gemstones too.

And for all you jewelry makers she has a huge assortment of beads, stones and other jewelrymaking products and inspiration!

Halloween and Fall Things......

As evidenced by the etsy front page yesterday all things Halloween are soon to be in everyone's mind (including my own). So I took a stroll through the UWIB etsy shops and decided to showcase a few of the items here. It is amazing the variety of things I found. Elena's knit items are amazing and she has just the right one for October.

Click on the pic to visit this listing and her etsy shop.

The sexy witch gets all the attention at Halloween, this little necklace from Susy at earthexpressions lets us all show our inner sexy witch!

And you can always rely on PolishedTwo for accessories that fit any occasion. Classic and simple pumpkins.......

And leave it to heartsnlaserbeams to have these classic felted fall leaves.........

So while it may be hot most places our minds are thinking "Fall" and that crisp weather that accompanies "Halloween".!

Kandace of Kandio Designs

Today I'm blogging about a fellow etsy seller, Kandace of http://www.kandiodesigns.etsy.com/ . She is soooo much more than an etsy seller though! I feel like I don't do much after reading her profile. Take a visit to her blog, http://www.kandiodesigns.blogspot.com/ and you will find out about the wonderful variety of talents she has. Fine art, jewelry making and interior decorating are all areas that she works in. Here are a few of her jewelry designs.

You can see why Kandio-o is such an appropriate name with the brightly colored candy looking drops she uses in her jewelry! I hope you enjoyed seeing her designs and projects as much as I did, have a great day!

Late Movie Reviews!

Okay I know it isn't Monday, but I've been super busy. We did find time as always to go to the movies though and continuing with the romantic comedy theme we say "The Ugly Truth" and we saw a kind of comedy, "Funny People".

First "The Ugly Truth". This was a cute show, very predictable but well done. Katherine Heigl has quite a following and she has a scene that really updates the famous "When Harry Met Sally" "I'll have what she's having" situation. Very funny stuff. Gerard Butler is cute in a kind of tight t-shirt but messier Simon Cowell sort of way. Cheryl Hines and John Michael Higgins area super funny too. Bottom Line - Harmless show to see with your husband that will make you both laugh.

Funny People, I either love or hate Adam Sandler movies but this one just kinda left me lukewarm. Don't get me wrong, some of it is very funny and touching. But when they try to deal with the messy parts of life it gets tedious and painful. The ending is predictable and unsatisfying. I loved Seth Rogen and some of the other more minor characters. Eric Bana in particular plays a schizo husband very out of character from his past roles. Soooo I'm of the opinion that unless you are a fan of this gang, apatow, sandler, rogen, wait until DVD. Oh, and by the way it is extra long, 2 1/2 hours.

Vintage Finds This Week

Posted last week on twitter that I was going vintage shopping and well, you know it got put off, but I did get to go yesterday and found some wonderful housewares! Here are a few of them.

Wonderful Russian Nesting Porcupine! I saw one of these on www.apartmenttherapy.com .

A mint set of glass bowls with such sweet pears on them and octagonal bases. I also got this set of 4 Irish Coffee Mugs below, such great items and as with vintage they have so much more character than many of the new things you find in the stores today. I love Vintage! I posted these and many other new items in my etsy vintage shop, www.retrochique.etsy.com .

Monday Movie Review - Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist

Thanks to my 19 year old son I finally got to see Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. I had it here at home from Netflix, but my husband was procrastinating. My oldest is here at home for the summer and when he saw it he said "Oh, I'd like to see that I heard it was good". And so my husband relented, seeing an opportunity to sit with my son for more than 10 minutes!

Being a person who spent most of the 80's along with my friends obsessing about different bands, I love the premise that moves the story along; finding the afterhours secret gig of a band that the two lead characters really love. The story only encompasses the span of one all nighter and follows them from club to club, place to place while they try to find the band. Michael Cera, the boyfriend/father from Juno is the male lead who is struggling to get over a popular girlfriend who has thrown him to the side. (For those of you who watch entourage the girlfriend is played by Alexis Dziena the new flame for E. ) Kat Dennings is the female lead, a romantically insecure but spunky and fiercely loyal friend. They spend the evening finding themselves, resisting temptation to take the easy path and eventually finding each other.

I personally loooooved this movie, but my husband found it a little young I guess you'd say. My son really liked it. So, I'd say see it. It is funny and sweet, well worth the DVD rental!

When We Played Little League........

......or any other sport when we were kids it was different.

There were no year round sports, you played whatever was in season.

There were no select teams. (you tried out and got on a team according to your ability to play, not pay).

"Intense" parents limited their participation to the stands.

It cost $30 or so to register for a team and maybe you had to buy a shirt or uniform. Not hundreds of dollars for home, away, and practice uniforms, plus travel bags, etc

Pressure was limited to that which your teammates might put on you.

Coaches were unpaid volunteers.


Some of you know my kids play competitive tennis. When they were about 8 years old we had them choose a sport to concentrate on and play since their friends were all starting to play on year round select teams in soccer and baseball. Both the time commitment and money made it impossible to play more than one sport. While tennis has been a blessing for them (I would never change that) and helped tremendously with their self confidence and taught them important lessons on perserverence, staying positive and self control; it is a comment on how sports has evolved that kids can't just go Play casually anymore. Or maybe it is just a comment on a mom reminiscing, after all my kids don't know any other environment than what they have grown up in !

Have a Wonderful Day!

Do you have a comment on kids sports? Leave it here, Thanks!