Last Day of The Month Special

It's the last day of September. The sun is shinning. Yay! There is a slight breeze. The humidity is low. Double YAY!! I'm getting a late start to the day, because I had to make some green salsa first (Mama Ninfa's). Then I had to taste test it. Now, I'm feeling giddy, so I dropped in a happy picture.

So, here is the special. All silk items - even the flubs - will be 15% off today (until midnight eastern time). Here's what you need to do to get your discount:

1. Pick out a lovely silk for yourself or as a gift

2. Add it to your cart and proceed thru Etsy's checkout

3. This one is important: In 'note to seller' put LAST DAY. I like to know where you're coming from :)

4. Now, pay (via PayPal) and I will refund the discount via PayPal. OR, wait and I will send you a revised invoice reflecting the discount. If you are paying via cashier's check/money order, please wait for me to send you the revised invoice.

Not a good enough special? Well then, if you purchase (before shipping) $50 or more, I also will refund the shipping cost! Triple YAY!!!

Guess I should now mention that all my yummy silks are located at http://www.expressionsinsilk.etsy.com/

Now for the exceptions. Don't worry it's not bad. Here goes . . . Only completed silk items are included in this sale, meaning custom orders, gift certificates and Silk Addicts Plans are not included. That's it! See, not so bad.

Forecast: A Weekend of Steaming

Monday was a pretty day. A little bit of sunshine, not too humid. So, I stretched some silk and painted. Tuesday, the dripping wet humidity (with rain) moved in. The humidity and rain stayed for Wednesday and Thursday because it was obviously having fun. Although, there was a little bit of sunshine Thursday afternoon . . . but still humid. The kind you can cut with a knife.

Humidity (especially the wet kind) is not a friend to silk painting. The silks I painted on Monday were still wet yesterday. Frustrating! Frustrating because that halts the painting and delays the steaming. The photo to the right shows one of the silks -- still wet, of course.

Thankfully, today still has some sunshine and supposedly will be low humidity and cool temps. That means, I'm back in production! I'm staring at a weekend full of steaming and photographing to get 'em ready to sell.

A relaxing weekend is over-rated anyway . . .

The Festival Is Over . . .

. . . now it's back to work.

Yeah for local festivals! I love seeing the repeat customers. And I love the chance to bring newcomers over to our side. My sister and I (as usual) shared a booth space this past weekend. The weather was perfect and the crowd was wonderful. And our sales were 50.3% over last year's sales at this festival. Very pleasing in a sluggish economy :D

Since I spent last week finishing up a few customs and packing up for the festival, I had no time to spend on replenishing my silk inventory. Hopefully, I'll get back to that later today. In the meantime, I'm sharing a new piece that will be added to The Beaded Edge today. The blue and green one sold this weekend.

Also, be on the lookout for details on an upcoming blog giveaway. The details are currently being ironed out, but I will giving away a hand painted silk scarf and my sister will be giving away a bead woven beauty!

Yes, I'm Cranky . . . but aren't the autum silks so pretty . . .

Another late night . . . and my allergies are killing me! I so want to crawl into bed and drift into dreamland, but I have to stay (at least) semi-upright so I can continue to breathe. It makes me so miserable and cranky. A little bit of shaky juice might help ease my attitude, but I have to stick with the cow juice.

The other day, I pulled some of my autumn-themed silks off the steamer. I'm so very pleased with them. I'm sharing three of them here, but one is already spoken for. Yeah! Hope to get them listed on Etsy this week.

The one on the far left is very similar to "Spice It Up" (See September 4th Blog - A Spicy Showing). Only this one is a 22" x 72" (approximately) silk wrap. The other two are very similar in color with all the hues of the autumn rainbow. The colors remind me of the changing seasons. I love a colorful autumn!

Sapphire Treasury

I have a wonderful customer, cindylouwho2. She included me in her sapphire treasury. She is so wonderful! THANK YOU, CINDYLOUWHO2! Take some time and click over to her Etsy shop. She has some beautiful paua shell jewelry. I'm a big fan of paua shell . . . the colors are so vibrant.

And, now, for that gorgeous sapphire treasury . . . I would so love to design a silk wrap for that amazing dress. And I would love to wear that glass heart pendant.

A Spicy Showing

Some of my fall silks came off the steamer Wednesday, and I'm so very happy with the results. Well, except for one. Her colors are rich and yummy . . loving the copper and burgundy colors . . . but she is the sole victim of a little steaming mishap. Thankfully, everything else came out perfect.

The problem? Small areas on the back side (the non-shiny side) along the rolled hem edge are too pale. Too pale meaning some of the color steamed out. I have no idea how it happened. My guess? She evidently touched the side of the steamer . . . it was a windy day. Until fully steam-set, even the smallest, tiniest droplet of water (or condensation) is damaging.

She is still very lovely. I would even say beautiful, but I'm biased. I listed her as a flub because of her tiny flaw. Just because she's not "Miss America" beautiful, she's still got a great personality. Plus, she's loyal and will do everything within her power to make you look great!

P.S. Want stats? Click on the picture.

Displaying My Amateur Skills

In my spare time (what little I have), I "play" at being a photographer. The camera goes with me many places and sees a lot of beautiful things. I am not a professional photographer. I just like to take pictures. Out of 100 pictures, I usually get a couple that are worthy.

When I'm out with the camera, no butterfly, bird, flower, sunrise, sunset or cute animal is safe. If at all possible, I will capture it. Here are three of my recent sunrises. I rarely miss a sunrise. Can't remember if these three were taken on the same day or different days.