Family Serving Our Country

Today's post shall be a little more close to home and close to the hearts of many. Whether it is/was your Grandfather, Father, Mother, Husband, Wife, Friend or even yourself, I think we all have known or know someone who serves in the United States Military. These special individuals put their lives on hold and their life at risk so that we may live with no fear. Live with freedom everyday.

This hits home for us. My brother in law serves with the United States Marine Corps. He has a beautiful, supportive wife and 2 young children. They recently made a huge move from the heat of the desert to where it snows and gets quite cold. With this move, came the knowing that he would have to be deployed again at some point. Too soon he leaves again for Afghanistan, leaving his family for a long term.

We had the privilege of visiting with them when they came to attend our wedding August 2010. What a fantastic family. They helped us out more than we could have ever asked for.

photo by Dawn Alderman Photography

His wife has more patience and strength than I could ever imagine. To be able to handle his absence while he is gone is something that I know I could not endure sanely.
Please take a moment to say thank you for those serving and who have served for us.
Thank You Will for all that you do!

PaulaHiga Jewelry Designer and the Benefits of Networking

Who today, isn't on Twitter or Facebook or even both? I am on both and from the last post, you can see a great benefit from using Twitter. Last fall I won a giveaway from a blog via Facebook Fanpage by PaulaHiga  Jewelry Designer. Her style and shop always has something I love. You have to see her creations with Cameos.

I am privileged enough to now own a set of earrings by her and I hope to one day own one of her Cameo Chokers.

This brings me to the overall benefits of Networking. Through Facebook and Twitter you have to opportunity to meet wonderful people. Add Etsy and you have the perfect combination. Etsy you can inner network in the forums and their chat. They have virtual labs, which are addicting and extremely useful for all Etsy shop owners. Then they have Teams. This is something I am still learning but have joined a team for each of my shops. The Carnival of Curiosities is for my FeatherAhead and Etsy Crochet Lounge is for my CreationsByCReid shop. Here I have discovered great talented people who share my interests and aesthetic style.
During all of this networking, I have gained a great friendship with shops owner of TatterPunk and AngelicPenguin. She is so very multi talented and I will reference her talent often throughout my blog journey. I feel we inspire each other and keep our focus in the right direction. This is a very important part of a crafters life...the people who are there to keep them focused and balanced.  She was listening when I mentioned my that my favorite stones were amber and turquoise...and surprised me with these beauties when she sent her business cards I had requested.

Next post shall be family orientated and as more followers join in my journey here, I will work on a challenge...

ShabbyNChic

I am not one who wins alot of contests. And YES, I do enter..I just have never been very lucky. Yesterday(technically Thursday-photo uploader glitches), checked the mail and in it was a wonderful surprise.

Many of you are on Twitter. There, many Etsy shop owners post details to giveaways or even hold "Twitter" only giveaways. Last week, as I was scrolling along the tweets, I came across ShabbyNChic's tweet about a giveaway. All you had to do was be the 10th ReTweet, so of coarse I Retweeted. Never thought I would win with so much competition. I WON! I couldn't belive it. Her shop is great for vintage and antique lovers. When we are able to buy our own house, I shall have some of her items to adorn my home.
http://www.shabbynchic.etsy.com/

The cards I received from the giveaway are gorgeous. I took pictures of them in my rock garden which has no bright life due to winter. It was the perfect touch of color to bring life to a dreary setting. I received them just in time for Valentines Day but I am thinking they are also great for Thank You cards, Get Well or Congrats cards...I know many who are expecting this year!

Next post will be about another shop giveaway I won last year. She is an amazing jewelry designer and then it will lead to another shop feature!

Inspiration from Buyer to Seller on Etsy

For any of you who are married, you know how crazy the wedding planning can be. So many choices, decisions, options. If you are like me..very untraditional..your options become limited. After spending hours of wasted time on the internet, I decided if I was going to get exactly what I wanted, I would have to make it myself.
I started buying hat bases and buckram forms on Etsy. I then fell in love with some gloves from ZenAndCoffee that I would wear on my Wedding day. I then expanded to making my Bridesmaid's hair pins. After much creating, recreating, found a vintage featherband that I added touches of "me" to. It was perfect.

Photos by Dawn Alderman. Gloves by ZenAndCoffee.

After this, I realized that there was other brides out there experiencing the woes that I was going through. From there, I started experiementing with day to day pieces as well. Thats how CReid0409 was started. A buyers account turned shop.
TIP to anyone wanting to open a shop-DO NOT USE YOUR BUYER NAME! A lesson I learned the hard way. My name was horrid. The banner reflected a totally different name. Even so, I had a few sales and 200 shop hearts. A shop name was a desparate must. So, I made the change to FeatherAhead for my bridal, hats, feathery..nontraditional-outside the box pieces and CreationsByCReid for my crocheted pieces.
Crocheting is something I orginally learned from my mom. I found out later on that she taught me the wrong way. lol. For me, its a great way to work out frustrations in a positive way. I can follow most simple patterns but find that I like to alter them to fit my style more. It has taken off locally. It is very hard to get noticed amongst all the talent and variety of Etsy Crocheters.
The shop changes have been slow. I have kept my original shop open as a closeout shop. There is a coupon code listed in the announcement. If you see something here that you would like, please feel free to make me an offer.
Being apart of Etsy has been a learning process everyday. It is teaching me patience too. Something I desparately need more of! I have met wonderful and talented people along the way as well. I hope to feature many of these shops as I aquire more followers.  Here is a sneak peak of one of the shops that will be featured:

Newest piece listed in FeatherAhead. It was inspired by another Etsy shop owner, TatterPunk. She helped me with the initial creative process, the title and description. She is amazing! Check out her shop! She has started a curiously wonderful hat line! Did I mention she was amazing?

The OTHER side of me..

Hello. How do you start your day? I MUST have coffee to start my day. In my house, the kids and hubby knows that I will do nothing until I have some coffee. Gabe is really good about having my coffee ready for when I get up. I dislike mornings to say the least. Getting up before Noon should be against the law. Anyone who knows me, knows that calling before 9am is a big NO NO.  With that said, I love my sleep.
Who has pet peeves? I'm pretty sure everyone. Mine include men who leave the toilet seat up. Gabe has always been great about putting it back down when he's done. When I lived in Hawaii and was still living at home, my parents had a friend that would come over. He was notorious for leaving it up until I told him I was going to start charging him a quarter everytime he left it up. He quit leaving it up. LOL
Other pet peeves include, smacking and slurping when eating/drinking, grinding teeth, nail biting(my hubby likes to spit the nail or cuticle out where ever), when my kids run in the house and my 6yr olds need to argue and back talk.
Housekeeping is not my strong suit. I am disorganized to say the least. My crafting/work area my hub and I joke that its my organized mess. Dishes and laundry are the worst, mostly because no matter how much you do, there is still more to do. I would rather scrub the toilet.

I took this while on a family trip to Forks, Wa. I used the reflection of the movie poster in the Chamber of Commerce's window to capture Bella's truck. Image is Copyrighted by Creations By CReid Photography.

I have a crazy obsession for vampires. NO not the sparkly kind but I do enjoy the books of Twilight. My favorite vampire movie of all time is Interview with the Vampire. I rented it so much on VHS from a small video store that they just gave it to me. Lol NO joke.  I often joke that I should have been born one. If I could, I would get permanent fake fangs. I watch True Blood on HBO, read the books and watch the Vampire Diaries.  Which leads me to my favorite colors….red and black..I collect frogs. Stuffed animals, figurines, art, jewelry. I have loved them for as long as I can remember. Am thrilled that my oldest loves frogs too.  I have a couple tattoos of frogs too, among many other tattoos as well. They are very very  addicting. If tattoo school didn’t require so much money and time, I would go.

Hoh Rainforest..AMAZING! This is an acutal Sleepy Hollow tree! Another great movie :)

Photography. I love it.  Love being behind the camera..looking at life through the lens. I believe that you haven’t seen the beauties of the world until you have looked through a camera lens. I started out with a point and shoot  Kodak camera, then upgraded to the Nikon D60 with the 18-55 kit lens.  This was great for a couple of years and then I fell in love with the D90 and a 35mm lens. It is so awesome! I am currently in the market for some new lenses and a flash. Portrait photography is awesome. Engagement Sessions a blast. Love working with people.

Amazing couple. I will have the pleasure of shooting their wedding in May. Bonus-They are family :) 

I have expanded to weddings as well. This will be a learning experience but I know it will be great!

I think I shall end here so the next post I can pick up where I left off and go into how I got started with etsy.

HI Everyone! Get comfy, pay attention, you might learn something about me you didn't know

This shall start about 10 years ago. I was living in Hawaii at the time. Met a man at a bar and after a very short time of a month or so, I moved in with him. Less than a year later, we were married. There were NEON signs along the way shouting "DON'T DO IT!" But I ignored them, as I thought I was in looooove...needless to say, a few short years later I left him. The events that led up to this were multiple beatings and endless psychological abuse. It wasn't easy but it was the best decision I have ever made. Oddly enough, I am very grateful for everything that happened because without it, I would not be where I am today.
After I left, I slipped into a bottle and didn't want to come out. It was very difficult even though I knew I did the right thing by leaving. Again, I met a man at a bar..see a pattern..lol..the drinking was a big part of my life at that point. After a few months, I ended up pregnant with a beautiful little girl who saved me from myself. It was a scary and lonely journey.
This is where my now husband came into my life. 7 months pregnant and Gabe was the greatest friend. We were inseparable from that point on. He was there for the birth of my daughter and has been by our sides since then.
It was a long 4 years of trying to figure out what we both really wanted in life. During that time we had many ups and downs. Then I made a trip to the ER. There was a "clicking" in my heartbeat. After many tests and medications, it was found that I needed heart surgery. 28 years old. WOW. Talk about knock you on your butt. As I was waking up from anesthesia, I remember having to tell myself to breathe. Very scary and confusing to say the least. When Gabe was finally able to see me, he was a changed man. For the better. Everything we questioned, argued, bickered about in the last 4 years didn't matter. It was at that point we knew we wanted to marry and have more kids.
10 months later we welcomed another beautiful girl to our family and this past August, we said, "I do" in front of our family and friends.

Photo by Dawn Alderman. Follow her blog, you won't be sorry.

Over the past 10 years, I have learned better than most that everything..yes..everything, happens for a reason. I believe a regret is only a mistake in which you did not learn and grow from. It has been an amazing journey that is sure to only get better.
My next post will be about the other side of me. What quirks I have, pet peeves(its sure to include men who leave the toilet seat up), my interests, hobbies and most importantly..what inspired me to become apart of the Etsy community as a seller..not just a buyer.
I hope that i haven't bored you too much..Have a question...ask away!

Hello and Please Forgive Me

This is my first attempt at this. Not sure what I am doing really. I would like to do shop features of my fellow Etsyans, share my crazy thoughts, recipes, etc and hope to hear from you as well. This is also where I will share my progress on long projects and my sneak peeks before they get listed. It may be slow going at first but I hope to keep you entertained long enough to make "following" me worth while :) For now I will share with you a few pieces from my Etsy shops to get an idea of what kind of creations I come up with.

Hat in my CreationsByCReid shop. This shop is more of a seasonal shop. I will try to add season specific shop but will add more during the months of August through Febuary.

Bridal Mini Top Hat from my closeout shop CReid0409. If there is anything you like in this shop, feel free to make me an offer. My goal is to have it completely closed by summer 2011. It was my original shop that as you can tell, had an aweful name.

Last but not least...Cancer tribute... FeatherAhead. This shop is my main focus. I like the untraditional "outside of the box" the "grey area" of things.

Now that you have a sneak peek into my mind you will be ready for my next post to come..