~ New Swarovski Crystals Encrusted Strawberries and Mushroom Jewelry ~

It's been a busy and productive weekend!  I made about 20 pairs of mini star studded earrings, 3 bracelets and 3 necklaces.  By the time I got to the pictures, I was tired!  So, I only took pictures of a few of the star earrings.  Being a color freak (is there such a thing?), I took the pictures in order of the colors...yes, I have issues.  Some are new colors and some are the classic colors.  Now there are 3 shades of blue!  I will be slowly listing them all in my shop.

As much as I love stars, my favorite from this weekend is this Swarovski encrusted strawberry bracelet.  So super cute!  I listed a red one before and it sold very quickly.  I only have one so if you want it, get it now!

I also have 2 bigger pink strawberries so I made a necklace with one.  The red one I listed before sold within 24 hours of listing!  I was so proud!  Hopefully, I'll be able to get more of these later because I really love these strawberries.

I also happen to have some Swarovski crystals encrusted mushrooms!  I only used the small ones for bracelets.  I am not sure if I want to do a plain necklace or something more usually for the bigger mushrooms.

Here are the other necklaces I made.  This one has butterflies and dangly round crystals.

This one is to match the cute little flutter earrings. I think they'll be so cute together!

For all this, I neglected to do one thing that my mom asked me to do on Friday.  I know I am a bad daughter!  I need to do that sometime tomorrow I guess.  Always so much to do and so little time!  Hope you had a nice weekend!

~ Taste Buds: Chicago Food Tour ~

Did you know you have over 10,000 taste buds?  I didn't know either, but I found that out when I went on a food tour in Chicago through Taste Buds.  I love food tours!  You can to learn about the city and eat!!!  My friends and I went on the Gold Coast food tour.  Now, some of us are locals.  You don't need to be a tourist to enjoy these tours.  The Gold Coast tour has 6 stops:

• Pizano’s A family tradition, serving “World famous gourmet deep dish pizza” for over 60 years.
• Heaven on Seven The best Louisiana Cookin’ outside of New Orleans, serving Chicago for 30 years
• Purple Pig Cheese, Swine and Wine.  Featuring house made Charcuterie, cheeses and classic Mediterranean fare plus extensive yet accessible wine list.
• Downtown Dogs Chicago Style Hot dogs served 1 block off the Magnificent Mile.
• Billy Goat Tavern Grill World famous tavern is a historic Chicago landmark with the famous “Cheezeborger, Cheezeborger. Cheezeborger.,  Est 1934
• Sarah’s Pastries and candies.  Sarah’s Wedding cakes were featured in March 2010 Brides Magazine

Sarah's

My favorite was Sarah's Pastries... they have the best brownie I have ever had!  My husband who doesn't eat much sweets loved it too!  We even purchased other items for after dinner desserts.

Check out this brownie... it's a little bit crunchy on the outside and super moist and gooey on the issue. Tasted awesome and not too sweet!  I took so many pictures there that I am going to write a separate post about this place.

Pizano

Now I will go over the restaurants in the order that we visited.  First, yummy pizza at Pizano.  We had a slice of deep dish and a slice of thin crust, which was supposedly Oprah's favorite.  According to the tour guide, Pizano's pizza has the same origins as the famous Uno's pizza.  The crust is specially made unlike Uno though.  It was great pizza!!! The sausage was so good!!  I actually had an extra slice too 'cause they had extra.

Downtown Dogs

Next stop....Downtown Dogs for the famous Chicago hot dog.  I was so full by this point that I couldn't even eat my hot dog and just took it to go.  It looked good though.

Heaven on Seven

After walking for a lil bit to get some appetite back, we went to Heaven on Seven.  I took a lot of pictures here too because they have so many different kinds of hot sauces.  Just for that I need a separate post too.  Here's a picture of the food.  We got small portions of Jambalaya and gumbo , which was great.  Not spectacular though.  I expected more.... flavor from Cajun food I think.

Billy Goat's Tavern

Next, it was Billy Goat's Tavern.  Great history and stories for this place.  The burger was yummy too.  No fries though.  How can they not serve fries?  I love fries!

They gave me a hat to wear though so that's a bonus too I guess. :)

The Purple Pig

For our last stop, we headed over to the Purple Pig, named one of the best 10 new restaurants in America.   

We had the strawberry ice cream drizzled with balsamic vinegar.  What?  That sounds weird right?  But it was not bad.  The first bite was shocking.  Then, it just tasted like....refreshingly tarte and fresh strawberry ice cream.

The Purple Pig was a tiny little place, but looks very cozy.  They have outdoor seating too.  And...some interesting dishes like pig ears and pig tails. 

Tourists Stops

We stopped by Drake's hotel to use their bathroom and checked out the famous powder room. We got a piece of chocolate from Drake and a coupon for high tea. The chocolate was very good! It was a little bonus in the tour.

It is a Chicago tour after all so we got to stop by the John Hancock building and the Water Tower.

Overall, it was a great experience!  Most of the food was excellent and only some are mediocre.  The tour guide was great too.  He had many entertaining stories.  For a 3 hour tour and all that food, $44 was not bad at all.  We were all very full, even the big boys.  We were also allowed to buy products at every stop, which we weren't able to do on other tours.  Ordering the tickets online was very convenient too.  Just thinking about the tour is making me hungry!

~ Good Deals for Business/Thank You Cards ~

I am completely out of business cards for my supplies shop and needed to get more. I have always ordered from VistaPrint for the free 250 business cards, but they charge $5 for each design upload. I wanted to have a back side too and that's $10 just to upload! They usually send out a promotional email for free uploads but I haven't gotten one in a while.  They also charge for the back side.  Color is $12.99 I think.  Black and white is $6.99.

So, I googled and found printsmadeeasy.com. The first order is free! It's only for 100, but for $3.95 shipped, it's not bad at all. Their website is kind of weird though.  It has all these weird animations.

I also ordered from overnightprints.com.  250 cards, free design uploads, front and back for $7.95 shipped.  One thing I worry about with overnightprints.com is that it says "business cards with front and back" in the cart, but the discount code is for "single side cards only".  I hope that's just a misprint on their part and they send me double sided cards.  That's why I ordered from printsmadeeasy.com too even though it's not as cheap per card.  Just in case overnightprints give me single sided cards....

I am using these as business cards as thank you cards to be included in my packages.  I really have no use for business cards.  I only include them in my packages anyway so may as well write "Thank you" on them so I don't have to.  There's the back side.  I also added a link to my Facebook page.

Here's the front side.  It is simple but took me an hour to "design".  At first, I really wanted to have individual products float up from the clouds like bubbles.  But, it just didn't look right.  It's easier just to take a picture of a bunch of my favorite items.

Anyway, just google for "free business cards" and these sites will be in the "sponsored links" area at the top.   Let me know if you find other good deals!

~ New Supplies and Popular Items ~

I just got a new shipment of supplies and restocked some of the most popular items in my Etsy supplies shop. I think the most popular item is these unique earwires with pinch bails.  Just add some pendants and you'll get gorgeous earrings!

I also got these new earring findings.  They are little hoops with a simple loop on the bottom.  They are super shiny and I have seen so many great earrings made with these hoops.  I usually don't use anything but sterling silver, but I am tempted to use these!

I got a bunch of cool clasps too.  These magnetic clasps are good enough to be a focal point of any bracelet or necklace or can add a little sparkle to a strand of pearls.

These clasps are big and fun and perfect for big key chains and purse charms!

I also got a few favorites back in stock!  Crowns in new colors, mushroom beads in new colors, strawberry bells and more!

Here are a couple of my favorites...there are a lot more in my shop so go check it out!

~ Photography Session: Flowers, Bees and Flies ~

I was playing with my brother's Nikon D90 in the summer heat. Here are a few of my favorites! Please lower your expectations now. I am not even at the amateur level :)

Did you know flies like honey too?  I think I want to title this one.... "The Stare"

My favorite...I like the depth and the contrast in this one.

Now my lesser favorites....

There's a lot of stuff I need to post about this week!  Food tours in Chicago, Ramen in Bethesda, new supplies and new jewelry!  Stay tuned!

~ Swarovski 2011/2012 Autumn/Winter Innovation ~

Guess what? It's that time again! New Swarovski crystals are coming out soon! I am very excited about the 2011/2012 Autumn/Winter Innovation. I think this is my favorite since the 5714 star beads came about. First, let's look at the new colors, beads and pendants...

Colors

This new color has such a pretty name! Crystal Silver Night...is it me or does it remind you of twilight?  It's actually an effect instead of a new color, like golden shadow and red magma.  It looks like it is a darker than black diamond but has a silver sheen like silver shade.  I would pair it with fuschia, aquamarine or violet I think.  My mind is already working on new pieces!

I am so excited that there's a new yellow! It's called Sunflower and it's such a rich, warm yellow! It's like light topaz but more golden and bright. Love it! It comes in star shape too so I am super excited!

Beads

This is the 5752 Clover bead.  Love it.  Looks like 4 little hearts!  I think this will be a very popular bead.

This oval bead was inspired by chinese lanterns and called 5030 Lantern.  I am thinking chunky bracelets with these.

Pendants

I love this 6240 wild heart pendant! It has an attitude and it is so much more interesting than the normal 6202 heart pendant. Just can not wait to get my hands on this!

6040 Helios Pendant will look amazing with just a ribbon tied to it.  The facets mimics sunrays and will sure be a sparkly focal piece.

This 6128 mini pear pendant is going to make very pretty princess inspired necklaces!  I am going to attempt some more complicated necklaces for the holiday season and this will come in handy!

Prints

What?? Really?? These are going to be interesting! Swarovski has applied 3 different motifs in black to clear crystal pendants and beads.

There's going to be a big Swarovski crystal haul once these babies come out!  It's time to get ready for the holiday season!  Let's see if I can make it to 200 items in my Etsy jewelry shop by Thanksgiving :)