Bead Show Haul

I went to a bead show today and come home with lots of lovely goodies!



From left to right:
Black Cabochon
Labradorite
Lampwork glass
Carved Yellow Chalcedony
Pink Chalcedony

I also got more not pictured, including some ridiculously sparkly black spinel rondelles. Oh yeah!

Handmade Highlight - Savor Soaps

This week's Handmade Highlight feature is on Savor Soaps!


S'mores - Chocolate and Oatmeal Soap

Lisa from Savor combines her love of cooking with a passion for soapmaking, and the results are spectacular!

I've had the pleasure of ordering from Savor a few times in the past, and it's always been a great experience. Lisa offers flat rate shipping, so you can buy as many items as you want and not have to pay exorbitant shipping fees. She also has always included a generous sample with all of my orders.

I love her creme fraiche whipped soaps!


Sex Appeal - Creme Fraiche

Creme Fraiche means fresh cream, and this soap is like scented whipped cream that turns into cleaning bubbles. So awesome. I've used other brands of handmade whipped soaps in the past, and savor's is my favorite.

Be sure to stop by Savor's Etsy shop, Website, and Flickr!

Birthday Sale!

Today, May 14th, is my birthday! I'm turning 22.



To celebrate, I'm having a sale in my etsy shop!

Take 22% off your entire order, for one day only!

Put "Happy Birthday" in the notes to seller upon checkout and wait for a revised paypal invoice before paying.

Thanks much!

<3 Jessica
http://redpanda.etsy.com

Flooded lake oh noes!

This past weekend my boyfriend and I decided to go eat lunch at the lake. We got there, and it was FLOODED! As in, the bench we were going to sit on was completely submerged.

It was okay though! I took lots of pictures.
Look how far out this normally land-based tree was.



See the sidewalk there? It was crazy.

I did get to see a ducky family though!




And a few nights ago I took this picture of the full moon.



That pic made it to explore on flickr. Yay!

How to make a quick, easy pliers holder

Today I was cleaning my workspace, and I decided I needed a place to hold my recently used pliers. I considered getting a wooden desktop holder, but then decided that a hanging option would be idea to conserve precious desk space. I almost went and got a few fancy hooks, but then an idea struck me! Magnets!

I went out and rounded up some supplies, and my idea worked out great. Here's a picture tutorial so you can make your own, if you're so inclined.

1. First off, gather your materials. I wanted something easy to hang on my wall, and this cake pan already had a hole in it, was magnetic, and it was the size I needed for 4 pairs of pliers.



You'll need:
Shallow cake pan or cookie sheet if you have a lot of pliers
Strong magnets
Glue. I used jewelry glue, because it's what I had around. Make sure the glue you get can glue metal to metal.


2. Position your pliers where you'd like them to hang on your cake pan and make note of where the "join" of them are. This is where you will glue the magnets.




3. Glue down your magnets and let them dry.




4. Hang your new magnetic pliers holder on the wall, and put your pliers on. Voila! You are done!



Not the prettiest hanging pliers holder out there, BUT it's super quick to make, super cheap (my total cost was about $7.00 for cake pan and magnets), and it works! It's a little big for my small space, but I'm not worried about aesthetics so much as getting my pliers off my desk. Good to go!

You might want to secure both the bottom and the top holes, so it does not come loose from the wall when you pull off a pair of pliers.

Hope you guys have fun making your own! :)

<3 Jessica