Short-sleeved dress

Short-sleeved dress by maggiesuedesigns featuring stainless steel watches

Dream It, Wish It, Do It

Dream It, Wish It, Do It by maggiesuedesigns featuring drop earrings

Be Confident

Be Confident by maggiesuedesigns featuring a leather shopping bag

Peach Tulips

Peach Tulips by maggiesuedesigns featuring tote handbags

Weekend Wear

Weekend Wear by maggiesuedesigns featuring heart jewelry

Wednesday Welcome: eganiase

Each week I'm using Etsy's Pounce feature in order to discover new items "from undiscovered shops waiting for their first sale" as the Etsy site states. This week's welcome is extended to eganaise in Chicago. Shop owner Paula Egan creates jewelry that is made out of handmade paper that has been treated with resin. These pieces are moisture resistant and durable so go ahead and pick some out to wear this fall! You can see more of her creations on her blog.

Espresso For Ears?!

YES, If you're talking about these earrings I just won :) They are made by Sofia Masri and they're called Espresso Swirl Earrings.


I'm feeling very lucky that I was the randomly chosen winner of these beauties in a giveaway offered by April of SecondSister Jewelry. April's blog is called Suaviloquy, meaning "sweetness of speech". She must also be sweet of character to have arranged giveaways of TEN of her favorite things! THANKS April and THANKS Sofia~ I'm looking forward to wearing these earrings! Sofia was Etsy's featured seller this time last year, you can read her interview here.

Cookies Behind, Gifts Ahead

Whew! The second and final cookie exchange was a lot of fun. I always enjoy visiting with my friends and neighbors but I'm glad the baking is done. THANKS to Diane for hosting! With all of the great treats I picked up at the two cookies parties this past week; the cookies are literally "behind" me. And on my thighs and belly too, not just my behind I'm sure...

The gift giving season (not the true meaning of the holidays, I do realize) is upon us. Ours is a family of mixed religious beliefs so we get to celebrate Hanukkah AND Christmas. Last night we brought in Chinese food from a very good local restaurant called Pen's. We had a huge dinner with Rob's sister, her husband, their adult son who was visiting from NYC, their daughter and her husband and 1 year old son. If was a fun night and when they left after dinner it was nice to know that we'll see almost all of them again on Christmas Day in Gettysburg, PA. My parents took part as well since they were here visiting from Maryland this weekend. We said goodbye to them this morning after a big brunch at home complete with potato latkes. The kids got some Hanukkah presents and have begun speculating about what might be under the tree on Thursday morning. Tonight we'll start lighting candles on a menorah. Between the flames of the candles and the lights on our tree, we'll have a bright holiday season for sure!

The CREST group has already started celebrating by taking part in a gift exchange set up by Mary Ellen. I sent a purse made of Joel Dewberry's red and black manzanita fabrics to Mandie of Dear Sophie. Sophie is her cat/assistant, they make nice jewelry together.
The gift I received came from Judy Kaplan of Silver Dot Jewelry. She made me a wonderful pair of everyday earrings that are just my style. They are made with vintage Swarovski crystals and they'll go with everything. A BIG THANK YOU goes to Judy for this generous gift! In addition to visiting her shop, you can see her talking about her jewelry on Good Morning America Now. Just click here for the link. Oh, she and I also noted the fact that my maiden name is Kaplan.
With a Hanukkah/Christmas card in the background I took a photo of them:

I Won!

Thank you to Jen of Issue Girl for offering an earring giveaway~ I was one of the winners of a pair of Cosmos earrings. They are made out of spiraled wire cages with lever-back hooks and each has a light purple faceted glass bead inside. Jen's blog is a fun one to read and who knows, maybe you'll be her next winner!And look at the great packaging they arrived in!