Friday, December 19, 2008

Snow Day and Christmas Goodies!

Around 10.30 this morning the winter storm that has been making its way across most of the northeast arrived here in northern NJ. The weather channel says snow is falling at a rate of about 1 inch or more per hour. Total snow expected 7-12 inches. As an optimist i prefer to look on the bright side of things, that is instead of saying %*&#%* about having to shovel the snow i just say- It's great cardio! and if you use the squat and lift technique its just as good as an eliptical machine! The photo was taken around 4.15 pm from the front door.

Between snow shoveling this afternoon i made my chocolate dipped pretzels to give out to everyone. I hope we can all stay out of them so there is enough to give as christmas gifts :/ I bought 2 bags of UTZ pretzels and a bag each of white chocolate and milk chocolate chips. I made up my usual double boiler (glass bowl on top of a pan of water) I did all different combinations white with chocolate drizzle, chocolate with white drizzle, chocolate with hollyberry sprinkles etc. Although my white chocolate and crushed reeses cup idea didn't work out too well im very pleased with everything else. You are no doubt jealous right now? Don't be! Next time your picking up some groceries pick up a bag of pretzel rods, some chocolate chips, sprinkles and don't forget the waxed paper! Put on some christmas carols and enjoy the sweet, sweet smell of being able to create some delicious treats to share with your friends and family this holiday season.
xoxo
Julia Catherine

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

And the winner is...

Kari of Wide Eyed Musings! The winner of a pair of my famous apple green drop earrings. Thanks so much to everyone who joined my mailing list and this giveaway. My next giveaway will be announced the first week of January. If you joined my mailing list you will be receiving a short email the day when it is announced.
xoxo
Julia Catherine

Monday, December 15, 2008

Drawing Today for My First Blog Giveaway

The winner for my first blog giveaway drawing will be drawn this evening at 8pm Eastern Time. The winner will receive a pair of my famous apple green earrings free. The winner will also receive free shipping on any other purchases they would like to make from my shop. If they spend over $25 that shipping will be upgraded to priority mail for no extra charge. Keep in mind that all items received from Julia Catherine Jewelry are boxed and wrapped with a gorgeous burgundy ribbon, ready for gift giving. Wrapping paper can be added as well at your request, for free. So its really effortless holiday shopping, the easiest this whole season!

So how do you qualify for this giveaway? Simply join my mailing list to the right of this post. By joining you will be entered to win tonights giveaway, notified of other giveaways as well as future amazing sales and upcoming events in my shop. So make sure you join and check back later on today to see if you won, also take a peek at my shop to peruse my amazing handcrafted jewelry, i have a ready to ship section and orders over $25 before shipping get a free upgrade to priority mail.
xoxo
JuliaCatherine

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Cha-Cha-Cha CHIA- Cat grass planter

As tacky as it might sound I have been thinking of buying a chia pet for some time now. So this year when i saw the advertisement for the new Chia Pet Cat Grass Planter i was very excited. See we have this cat who likes to go outside and walk on a leash and eat grass. Since winter is here that is just not an option for him. This planter costs $15 and i found it at my local rite aid while picking up some cold medicine. It comes with everything. The planter is made from ceramic and has tweety bird and sylvester the cat on it. (looks a bit like our guy mittens!) It comes with just the perfect amount of dirt and two packs of seeds. The grass itself is a mix of oat grass and wheatgrass. The only thing it does not come with is the plastic they ask you to over it with after you plant your seeds. So tonight in about 10 minutes i planted my cat grass and it says the seeds have an 80% germination rate in about 4 days. How exciting! I will let you know how it turns out!
xoxo
Julia Catherine

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Mosaics!

My mosaic candle holders are finally completed! I think they came out amazing. I made them by color. I did reds, oranges, yellows and a hint of purple and those are my 'sunset' colors. Then i did shades of blue and green. It only took me a couple hours each day for about 3 days to complete these projects. I bought the glass holders at walmart for barely $1 each and the glass is scrap glass from my moms stained glass. I think what took the most time was 'prepping', which was cutting the glass into small mosaic type pieces. The next step was gluing them onto the candle holders with an adhesive. The one i used was specifically for mosaics, you can use E6000 if you have that. I let them dry overnight after placing the mosaic pieces on the glass candle holders. Then it was time to grout.
I have tried grouting both ways. The first one i spread out the grout with and old butter knife and squished it into the crevices and scraped the excess away. On the packges it says to put on a glove and do it with my gloved hands. I must say the gloved hand was ALOT easier, and goes by much quicker. Then you wait about 20 mins and come back with an old green scrubbie pad and kind of buff off the excess. Wait overnight and go back with a moistened sponge and voila!
I think when the 3 are lit they look a bit like christmas lights but they will be given as separate gifts in a gift set to different people. Looks amazing!

xoxo
Julia Catherine

(P.S. Don't forget to sign up for my mailing list to the right! To get amazing sale notifications and qualify for my giveaway in only 5 days!)

Monday, December 8, 2008

A gift for the musician in your life & what i did on my day off.

So today I created the perfect gift item for the musician in your life. It's a guitar pick necklace. The guitar pick is handsawn from thick 20 G sterling silver. Then it goes through a series of filing and polishing to round and smooth the edges and create a near mirror shine. This particular item can be engraved with 'let the music guide you' or can be made plain, with or without the 16 inch sterling silver cable chain. I chose for this one to hang from its side to be a bit different from your average guitar pick necklace.

Yesterday i decided to take a day off and work on some little gifts for friends and family. I bought these little glass votive holders in the crafts section of my local store for about $1 each then took some scraps from my mothers stained glass projects and sorted them by color. I decided to do blues, sunset colors and greens. I spent quite a bit of time selecting colors and cutting them into little rectangle and square shapes. Then using tweezers and some adhesive i carefully placed each shard into place. I let them dry overnight and i plan on grouting them with white grout later today. I will check back in with more photos as i complete them.
Thanks for stopping by! Dont forget to join my mailing list to the right of this post to be entered in my giveaway for a pair of my most popular apple green earrings!
xoxo
Julia Catherine

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Etsy Shop Review: Spoiled Kitty Cat Toys & Accessories

Every year for Christmas I like to get a little something unique for my fur babies. You know- the four legged ones with pointed ears? I had been looking at SpoiledKitty and the crochet cat ball toys for a week or 2 and i just decided i HAD to have them or rather, THEY had to have them. It didn't really matter the color, i dont think they are picky. I decided on the peacock purple. I chose these toys because

#1 They are handmade by a cat lover who I know is looking out for my pets!
#2 They might cost a bit more but are well worth it because its not mass produced crap, that may kill my little loves.
#3 Im supporting the handmade movement
#4 They are made from 100% acrylic yarn which I knew my kitty kids would love because it gets stuck on their little claws.
#5 Packed in is 100% certified organic catnip!

I recieved my package in the mail today. My cats knew EXACTLY what was up the second I set the package on the table. They all showed up! I cut the envelope and took out the little organza type drawstring pouch with the catnip and toys inside and started distributing them. My cats did exactly what I had thought they would. First they investigated, then they played! Miss Anne did that little put the toy into the mouth and kick it deal. Big Lou is more of a toy flicker. And Callie is a trouble maker because while i was taking this photos she was right behind me spilling the catnip is the baggie all over the floor. Typical! I highly reccomend you visit Sonya over at SpoiledKitty and get some of these for your fur babies this holiday.
xoxo
JuliaCatherine

Oh Yes The Holidays Have Begun...

Yesterday afternoon into the evening I printed shipping labels, set up and packed the second half of my orders from last weekend. I was so happy my sale was such a success. Thank you everyone! So That was my task yesterday afternoon and evening.

Next for me it was making thank you notes for my orders. A long time ago I decided to start making my own instead of buying them. It's alot less expensive especially when you have a high order volume. I like to buy something called "luxury stack" which is a smaller size stack of pearlized gorgeous papers from my local craft store, ACMoore. These measure 6 1/2 inches by 4 1/2 if i remember correct. I use my cutter and scorer that I have purchased a long time ago for my personal use for making cards for friends and family as well as scrapbooking! I cut them in half lengthwise around 3 1/4 inches then score them across the middle at about 2 1/4 inches. I then take my nifty stamp, ink it up and stamp the entire stack with the word 'thank you'. After they all dry i go back and fold them in half and put and elastic around them.

The entire stack of 'luxury papers' costs me about $10. This last time i managed to be at my local store on a day they were having a sale, so this last time they were $6. Just a little time and effort on my part and voila! I have about 300 thank you cards. Lasts me awhile!

Last night was a busy night for me! For dinner I hadn't put out anything for the meat eaters earlier that day so it was going to be a meatless dinner (yay) I wanted a baked potato but that wouldn't have been enough of a full meal for the meateaters. I thought if i made it a soup that would count!
Baked Potato Soup!
5 large russet potatoes
1 rib celery diced
1 medium sweet onion diced
2 cloves garlic, smashed and diced
1 tsp kosher salt
3 dashes ceyenne pepper
half a brick of cheddar shredded
Boulion cube for 1 cup- chicken i guess for meat eaters? I use Vegetaable
a small bag of broccoli-cook in the micro till done
3 cups milk
3 Tbls flour
3-4Tbls oil (olive i love)
1 cup reserved potato cooking liquid
Cooked and crumbled fake or real bacon
I peeled, cut and cleaned all my potatoes and cut them into bite sized pieces, then put them in a pot barely covered with water. Boil till potatoes are tender to your liking. In another larger pot i heated my oil over MEd hi heat then put my diced onion, celery and garlic. Sautee for a couple minutes then add your kosher salt. If your using regular salt use less. When your onions are translucent add your flour and mix it all together, break up the lumps. You will start making a roux this way. Slowly add your milk. It will be really thick till you get nearly 2 cups in the pot, i would say. Adding it slowly will prevent lumps! Once you have it all incorporated and brought to a light bubble (keep stiring frequently!) then reduce your heat to med. Add your cheese. Stir it all in. Add your boullion cube to your 1 cup of potato cooking liquid from your potatoes. mix it up. add it to the pot! add in everything else including your cooked broccoli (cut in bite sized pieces) Mix it all up. bring back to med hi heat till its bubbly and then when all your cheese is melted your done! If you like a vitamin B boost add about 3/4 -1 cup of nutritional yeast flakes!
Hope you all enjoy my recipe, im not exactly a recipe writer but im good at coming up with them! Dont forget to sign up for my mailing list to the right>> to receive notifications of great sales and be entered for my giveaway!
xoxo
Julia Catherine

Friday, December 5, 2008

Announcing My First Blog Giveaway!

If you have already subscribed to my mailing list there is no doubt your enjoying the little coupons and tidbits about upcoming sales and new products. But if you haven't subscribed! Your really missing out. Especially now. This month I will be taking all the people who sign up and have signed up for my mailing list and picking one lucky one to win! Enter NOW to the right of this blog post. My mailing list is a double opt in- so you will have to click a link to the email that is sent to you. Once you do that, your smooth sailing! You will also be notified of any future sales and giveaways.

This months giveaway item will be a pair of my most popular Apple Green Drop Earrings. They are a $16 Value. This is absolutely free including free shipping and free shipping on any additional purchases you wish to make from my shop. Just join my mailing list to the right! Winner will be drawn this December 15th!
xoxo
Julia Catherine

Cheshire Cat

I just had a couple photos i took last night of my amazing cat- Big Lou. In the first photo you can see he has a little smile on his face. Hes quite the Cheshire Cat! Enjoy!

xoxo
Julia Catherine

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Applied and Accepted- To Trunkt!

Im very excited to report that after thinking about it for awhile I finally applied to Trunkt- The Wholesale Directory of Exceptional Art and Design And was ACCEPTED! Although I have thought of applying in the past, this was my first application and I was accepted. A little more about trunkt. View my portfolio here.
Below are the 3 photos I used on my application, which become your first 3 portfolio photos if you get accepted.


xoxo
Julia Catherine

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Romantic Things...& A Big Thanks!

How romantic are these 2 new items I just listed in my shop today? The first is this 'love note necklace' It is handcrafted from sterling silver and has the word "LOVE" engraved on the front. Its a sweet necklace on its own. My thought/design process before I created it was thinking it would be even more amazing if the back was actually personalized with a love letter or better yet, something like "Will you marry me?" and a date on the back. She could wear her marriage proposal on her neck and remember that moment every time she looks at it. Or maybe something not-so-serious like "Thinking of you always"

The second item is these earrings I call "snow white earrings" they remind me the first real snow of the winter. A certain serene, calm, quietness. They are made from sterling silver handmade findings, 10mm rock crystal beads and white freshwater pearls. They are perfect to wear with nearly everything as they are clear and white.

On a side note! I would like to thank everyone who stopped by Nov 28th-Dec1st for my Black Friday 4 Day Sale. It was an amazing success! To be notified of future sales beforehand sign up for my mailing listing to the right here on my blog! In the future I plan on scheduling giveaways each month for my mailing list members, so get on the list!
xoxo
Julia Catherine