it's been a while, hasn't it?

wow, it feels like i've been away for a long time! i thought about blogging so many times in the past week, but i have been trying to get other stuff done that i had to focus on before blogging. and then yesterday was thanksgiving, how was yours? mine was good...it was pretty relaxing, not a huge get together like we usually do- just dinner at joe's parents and then we swung by my aunt's house to see a few cousins and hang out for a bit.

alright, now that i talked about thanksgiving, it's time for a time warp......so, for halloween every year, we do a DIY gift exchange with our good friends rod and tricia. (i know i know- we were past due for halloween by about 2 weeks!) anyway, we decided to make them this bar from readymade magazine. i've had an RM subscription since issue 5, and this is the first thing we've ever made from the magazine (although i have about 534 more readymade magazine projects that i want to conker!)

anyway, this is what we came up with (inspired by a custom journal that i made for somebody last spring):

this is the inside, it opens up and turns into a bar. joe made it and helped me paint it black.

i illustrated it with india ink and painted the red and grey part. this is the view from the front:

so that's that. it was a fun project, a nice break from the journals and stationery stuff. but now i'm ready for journals and stationery again. the holidays are right around the corner, can you believe it?? i'm really excited because the first holiday season that i get to share the things that i make with others. etsy is finally being a little bit more user friendly, i'm hoping that it holds out till christmas. etsy v2 is a great thing and the staff is working extremely hard to keep everything running smoothly, but wow are there ever a lot of bugs! i'm sure everything will be good to go soon, though.

this is my newest card:

i released it sometime last week and sold a few yesterday. i was having/am having a sale yesterday and today in honor of thanksgiving and black friday and i am thrilled because i am using the few dollars that i made to go shopping today. yes friends, i am going out in public on this crazy day. i mean, its 4 a.m. right now, the stores open in an hour and i am awake, so why not catch some killer deals? last year i did some christmas shopping on this day. this year i think i am just going to try to buy myself a couple of things. i really need new clothes, but pier 1 is calling my name too. i am going to try very hard to avoid it, though!

okay, that's all for today. for now i am going to go finish a journal to post on etsy sometime today. are you doing any holiday shopping on etsy this year? i sure am! i am buying about 90% of everyone's gifts from etsy and other handmade places. cannot wait!

take care everyone! and if you go out today, be careful!