My Secret Guilty Pleasure - MIOBI

Now, I know this is totally ridiculous, but I am SO excited because Make It Or Break It is starting up again on March 28th.  Don't ask me why I like this show.  The girls are obviously too old, too heavy, and too tall to be Olympic hopefuls by current standards.  The "stunts" are obviously being done by "real" athletes who don't really look like the actresses.  The plot lines are predictable and contrived.  But I still love this show!!!

That being said, it's a little scary to think of all the pressure on girls who really are Olympic hopefuls.  When I was a little kid, gymnastics enthusiasts were always approaching my mom about starting me in gymnastics.  It always interested me, but there was only one coach in town.  My friends hated him, and when a one showed up to school with two broken arms (in the first grade), that sealed the deal for me.

Who knows what might've happened, had I decided to give it a go?  Eh.  I probably would've sucked.  Falling hard is not my idea of fun.  But, it's cool to watch other people flipping through the air.  (Yes, I also watch figure skating.  Shhhhhhh...)  And the show is actually interesting- at least, it is to me!

So now you know my little secret!  There went any cool points I might've had.


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Eh, you FBI??

There's a T-shirt that's pretty popular around here, if you're from the Big Island... I thought it was kind of funny, but I'm not really into wearing T-shirts with silly sayings on them these days.  I feel like I'm a bit too old for that kind of thing.

To make a long story short, I was playing around with my butane torch the other afternoon and came up with a fine silver link in the shape of the Big Island.  I'm super stoked about it!!!

I might just have to invest in a jewelry tumbler to get these polished up and work hardened...

Please visit our Etsy store for all kinds of upcycled accessories and jewelry, created in Hawaii!

Adventures in San Diego, Part I

During soccer season, one of my son's teammates' parents said she pulled her kids out of private school in order to travel and homeschool for a year. She got the idea from another friend (their family blog here). At first, I thought the idea was a bit unstructured and a little crazy, but it grew on me after I had some time to absorb the concept. Trust me, we are not rich by any stretch of the imagination. Our home is very old and small, and while we don't scrape by to pay our bills, we do have to keep an eye on where our pennies are going. But although we can't afford to take a year and travel the world with the kids, I still think it would be great to take the kids on shorter trips...

When the reserves insisted on sending me to San Diego for a week to do some admin processing, I decided it was an opportunity for the kids to see something new. Personally, I wouldn't mind being stationed in San Diego. It's been a long time since I've been there, and I was never there long enough to see anything beyond the Gas Lamp Quarter. :) So this time, I was determined to take the kids to hit all the major high points, with the help of my parents. On our first full day in San Diego, we hit Legoland.


My two year old was an inch shy for most of the smaller kid things. My nearly 12 year old wasn't able to make it into the one workshop he wanted - the Mindstorms. However, we did have a nice day.  Both kids enjoyed driving the cars and boats, and checking out the Lego sculptures around the park.

There's also a great little toddler playground in Duplo Town... so it wasn't a complete loss for the 2 year old, but I think the older one was a little old for Legoland. (He might've been ok if he liked rides, but he doesn't.)

Anyway, I think we might bring the little one back again someday, but leave the older one to do something else.

Stocking up on Etsy Listings

I snagged this tidbit from the December Etsy Mom team newsletter.  If you are a mom and have an Etsy store, here's how you can join the team.  (I highly recommend it!)

Etsy Tips
Stocking Up on Listings
By Jenny of loulou tutu

I love Etsy, and I love selling on Etsy, but as a busy Etsymom I certainly don’t have endless amounts of time to create, list, and post. Sometimes I feel like it takes me just as long to list something as it does to create it. Thankfully, a friend of mine gave me the best tip ever: stockpile your listings!! She told me to create a file of unfinished listings that would allow me to “stock up” so that I wouldn’t be losing time listing and posting every day or so. Of course I was confused, but after a very easy phone tutorial I was in business.

To stockpile your own listings, create a listing as you normally would. Fill out all the sections, including descriptions, materials, tags, price, shipping, and photos. When you get to the final page before you post the listing to your shop, instead of clicking “Finish,” copy and paste the URL into a word or text document and save it to your computer.

I like to save mine as a Microsoft Word Document, but depending on your operating system you could also use Notepad or Text Edit for a Mac. When you are ready to post your listing, just copy the URL from the document, paste it back into your browser, review the listing, and click “Finish!”

This is a great technique for those with seasonal shops or just a great way to stay on top of things!

Good luck stockpiling!

As a working mom with two jobs, two kids, two dogs, and a hubby off running around somewhere hot and sandy (and not the beach) for the next couple of months, this tip is a real life saver.  I can work on my listings in batches and have them ready to go so I can maintain a steady level of activity within my shop and have better control over my Etsy fees.

I hope this helps you too!

Please visit our Etsy store for all kinds of upcycled accessories and jewelry, handcrafted in Hawaii!

KumiLoom (Kumihimo Disk) Braiding with Beads

The Bead Gallery has some really great classes and kits for learning various jewelry and beading techniques. The problem I have is that it takes me 35 minutes to get to their store and parking is a little tough since it's in town.  So with Bead It! Kailua only a few minutes down the road, I have yet to find the time and motivation to make it all the way over to The Bead Gallery for their classes.  Fortunately, they were at the Soft Flex Bead Show this past weekend and that's where I learned that they're now producing DVDs of their classes.  Their Kumihimo with beads DVD looked super interesting.  Unfortunately, my 2 year old pitched a fit just as I was about to purchase one at the fair and with my eyeball rolling, grounded for not doing his homework 11 year old sighing every 3 seconds, I had to leave...

But, they do sell the DVD's online... so I ordered one.   I wanted to order the 3mm Swarovski crystal kit to go with the DVD but it's not available online yet... but that's easy enough to fix since I have tons of 6/0 seed beads and those are less expensive to practice with anyway.  (Maybe I'll get their kit when I'm ready to try braiding over $65 worth of 3mm crystals!)

What is kumihimo?  It's a Japanese style of braiding cords... it's decorative as well as practical.  The most often quoted use is for lashing together samurai armor, but I see it around most often with kimonos.  There are multiple techniques, but I snagged this video off of youtube so you could see why this is so interesting...



So anyway, the challenge here is twofold- not losing track of 8 different strands when plaiting, and keeping them all weighted evenly so the pattern works out correctly. We'll see if I am able to figure it out!

Playing around: Vintage Swarovski

A couple of years ago, I scored a small strand of vintage Swarovski crystals at a bead show... they were so expensive I haven't used them until now... I love the color pop and the really edgy style.  Tons of fun to make!

Please visit our Etsy store for all kinds of upcycled accessories and jewelry, handcrafted in Hawaii!

Repurposed and Rehomed - Earring Cards from Business Cards

So what do you do with those business cards when you revamp your image or move on to the next venture??? Don't throw them out! Using paper punches, you can make a variety of new items... confetti, scrapbooking cut outs, gift tags, and even earring cards:

These sold out of the shop on Friday and are on their way to their new home!

Please visit our Etsy store for all kinds of upcycled accessories and jewelry, handcrafted in Hawaii!

Inspirational Cell Phone Charms...

It's been a crazy week around here, so not much to say... but here are some cell phone charms I made out of shells from a lei that I pulled apart:

What do you think?  Do you use a cell phone strap?

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Where'd Monday Go??? HF community: Monday Meetups

As you know, I'm part of the Homefront Team on Etsy... and every other week or so, we do a question and answer thing called Monday Meetups.

This Week's Questions come from 

Deb of Lilac Ave 

 

  Oatmeal and Honey Soy Candle Jar - 10oz

1. Are you an Urban, Suburban, or Rural living fan?

I think suburban.  I could do rural and be happy most of the time but I like having other people around me.  I definitely would NOT like living in a high density area, though.
2. Do any of the above types of places inspire the creative side of you?

Well, I'd definitely have to say I'm more creative in natural settings rather than big cities.  Big city living is suffocating to me.
3. If you could live anywhere (jobs and money not a factor), where would you live?

I would REALLY love to have a beach house somewhere between Kaneohe or Kailua.  I love this area, but it would be even better if the beach was our backyard!  :)

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Cheap Earring Frames for Craft Shows

Here is a video I found while looking for ideas on how to display items for craft fairs. It's a great idea, and the audio is a little rough in spots, but I love that this girl is working with her dad on this!!! How awesome is that?