Quick hello.

I've been a very busy girl. I got a whole bunch done tonight, and am looking forward to 3 more days of work and then a quiet Halloween weekend with my fiance.

I've just listed in my etsy shop 2nd version of my "Anne the Queen" pendant necklace, similar to the first but not identical. The design and colors are a tad different and to be honest, I don't think I could make them identical if I tried. I also listed another portrait necklace, this one a silver and gold frame detailed with a fish scale pattern, containing a small print of "A Mermaid", one of John William Waterhouse's beautiful paintings.

Off to bed now, probably for dreams of knotting pearls (considering how long tonight I spent doing it!)

Soldier's Angels

Not that I have so many readers, but I want to highlight a very worthy cause which is in need of support.

Soldier's Angels is a wonderful nonprofit group which supports members of all branches of the armed forces through a series of projects and events. There are a number of crafting teams where for example, you can donate handmade blankets to veterans recovering in military hospitals, or bake homemade treats as part of the Angel Bakers to send to the troops.

Then there is adoptions. You sign up, and are given the name and address of a deployed soldier. You are asked to write about once a week, and send a care package once a month. You do this for the remainder of the soldier's deployment.

I am on my 4th adoption, with sporadic additional activities with the group and I have to say, its a great feeling to be able to help. Whatever your political stance is, the fact is that our guys and girls are away from home, in harms way, and whatever we can do to assist them is a worthwhile effort. Remember when those "support our troops" ribbon magnets were showing up on every car? I used to laugh because while people were slapping magnets on their cars and feeling like they were doing something so useful, I was actually supporting our troops in my small way.

So if you've got a moment, browse through the website. They're short on angels for adoptions right now, and the other groups can use all the help they can get.

Brushes

First off, I want to make sure to give credit where credit is due. I don't know where or when I will use these, so I'm doing this right now...

If you use Adobe Photoshop, head over to Obsidian Moon and check out their selection of absolutely amazing brushes. I discovered some of them on the computer at work and had to download them at home. I haven't the slightest how a brush is made, but these are just incredible.

The quality of this isn't so hot, but heres a little sample with the pixie brush, foliage brush, and a few other which I forget which sets they came from. Awesome!

I just made up some really cute promo items for my shop, for well, promotional use as well as sending out with orders. They combine pretty scrapbooking paper and one of my favorite things!