New header

The header is up! Go have a look? I made the pieces in the header with beads from my honeymoon. Do you like?

Playing with a lightbox

I picked a few of the pieces I've made for myself to use as a new header for the Etsy shop. So, this is what we produced while playing with the light box. These are unrefined.

The carnelian necklace background came out a little yellow. I think we can fix that though.



These lovely green strands came out nice and bright though. I think the repositioning of our bendy clip lamps really helped.



These pieces are specifically mine because I made them with beads purchased while on our honeymoon. We found a beading shop called Beadazzled in downtown Baltimore right near Mick O'Shea's Irish Pub! How fortuitous! The fresh, new hubby had the idea to make me purchase beads (as I am a huge cheapskate) in order to make my own souvenirs from our honeymoon! That hubby, he's a genius. I love wearing these pieces. Both have matching earrings too!

What do you think?

Great Photos

My honey wanted to help me take better photos for my Etsy shop, so he made me this....


It's a homemade light box. In order to take photos like this.....


Now how cool is he?!

What a day!

What looks wrong about that photo? HAHA! That's my almost 30 year old television on the flat screen stand connected to the TiVo, but NOT the XBox because there aren't enough connections on such an old TV. I'm almost amazed the TiVo works. And the remote is so bad that we can't change channels or use the volume controls. So, we've been using the buttons on the front of the TV. When was the last time you got up to turn up the volume on your TV?! I feel totally retro.

As you can see, the good TV is still out for repair. The freezer, however, seems to be working. I have a pint of Ben & Jerry's in there just to see if it will survive. The hubby is calling it our "canary" since the ice cream was the first indicator that the freezer was going out both times it's died. Does this mean I need to keep a pint of ice cream in the freezer at all times now? Yeah, I think so.

And in other news......MY SHOP IS OPEN! Please go check it out on Etsy. I only have two items listed, but I hope to keep adding to it. Also, I know that the header needs to be resized. That's happening tomorrow. Just in case the link above doesn't work, the site is:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/2ndchancehappiness.

Do you Etsy?

I'm strongly considering selling my beaded jewelry on Etsy. I started making it solely for the wedding, and it seems I can't stop! Since the wedding, I made a thank-you gift for our photographer, a birthday gift for hairdresser bridesmaid, and another birthday gift for maid of honor. A coworker commissioned a piece for our banquet, and I made it specifically to match her dress. I even bought beads for myself on my honeymoon at a quaint shop in the heart of Baltimore. It seems I am firmly addicted to my new craft. I've never considered myself creative AT ALL. So, it's oddly exciting when I come up with an idea for a piece of jewelry and actually manage to make it work!

I opened an Etsy account and named it for this blog: 2ndchancehappiness. I'll let you all know when(if) I have some wares to sell!