Victorian Era Cuff

A delicate, golden cuff full of filigree details and accented with a period cabochon and pearl. One of a kind, found at Etsy here.

Dragonfly Time

A new, steampunk inspired slave bracelet. One of a kind, only found here. :)

Tuesday's Top Pick

Want to help map neurons? Of course you do! No seriously, this is really cool.

EyeWire is an online game that helps you map neurons (without any knowledge of biology!). Now folks everywhere are helping change how we understand the brain. This kind of pattern recognition is very hard for computers to do, and the human brain can recognize the patterns much faster, which was why the game was created. It's pretty addicting too, so go check it out!

Fairy Magic

A jewelry/trinket box I hand altered. I'm quite pleased with how it came out, as this was my first time doing something like this. It came out pretty close to the idea in my head, so I think I'll start doing more of these (you can find the Etsy posting here).

Cause We All Need Funnies

Quick and no fluff here. Mainly because I haven't posted in forever. ;)

Something funny to brighten your day... I give you, Your LL Bean Boyfriend.

Eek!

Eek! I've missed two (or three, I've lost count!) weeks of posting due to the Furry 5K craziness. But I'm back!

Here is a set of earrings I recently created called "Silver Christmas". You can view more pictures here.

 

Tuesday's Top Pick

First, to make your day better, check out what is possibly the best letters to the Tooth Fairy ever over here.

Then (I actually found this while looking for a picture for this post), check out this site (which btw isn't working probably but if you can get to the home page, you get the idea) where you can upload a photo of your child sleeping and they'll edit the Tooth Fairy into the photo.

Tuesday's Top Pick

So this week's pick is a little silly. But it's so awesome! I wish this could be my screen saver at work. I won't spoil the fun for you, just go here.

Tuesday's Top Pick

This week's pick is a fun video that will make us all down memory lane. It's a montage of some of many (exactly how many are there?) famous celebrities that have appeared on Law & Order.

Tuesday's Top Pick

Growing up, I used cameras that required film, had a manual focus and quite often, due to imperfect camera bodies, crafted unusual vignettes on my photos. Now everyone just uses Instagram. And that's just cheating.

So, this week's pick harks back to the good old days where if you didn't know about cameras, it showed. It's 20 Photography Gifts for Expressing your Analog Love.

Dancing Sunset

 

Dancing Sunset, a new, handcrafted necklace in my Etsy shop. For more details and pictures, go here.

Tuesday's Top Pick

 

Isn't this decorated paper lantern gorgeous? I just know that one day I'll find the time to do this. ;) It's a simple concept, take a plain paper lantern and add cut our butterfly and flower shapes, but the end result is stunning. You can check out the how-to over here.

Autumn Eyes

Autumn Eyes, a new handcrafted silver bracelet found in my Etsy shop.

Tuesday's Top Pick

This week's pick comes from one of my favorite places in North Carolina, Asheville. Last year I found out about the Weekly Fall Color Report from ExploreAsheville.com and I've been hooked ever since. Not only does the site give up weekly updates on where to find the best fall foliage in and around Asheville, but they also give you tips on what do to in the area as well.

There's not a whole lot of fall coloring popping up just yet, but as we're getting closer to the end of September, it's time to be on the lookout. You can also get updates on Twitter by following the FallColorHunter.

Birthday Breakfast

My breakfast for my 27th birthday. That is a vanilla cupcake from Blue Moon Bakery (thanks to greatest people ever over at Second Chance), some petits fours from Williams-Sonoma (the orange one is caramel!), coffee, and 'Birthday' by The Beatles playing on my iPhone.

Bit of history here, I've played 'Birthday' while eating breakfast on my birthday for the past eleven years. That's just how I roll. ;)

Don't forget! You can still donate for my birthday to Second Chance Pet Adoptions here.

Blue Moon

Necklace made with a photo from last month's Blue Moon, more pictures here.

Tuesday's Top Pick

Image from http://www.vtwonen.nl/

So, if you know me, you know that I A) love plants and flowers and B) have cats who love to eat said plants and flowers. This has meant never having plants in the house and coming up with elaborate ways to bring plants indoors for the winter (read: cold, dark garage) and to start seeds while the ground is still frozen (again read: cold, dark garage).

I've always wanted a way to have plants indoors and keep them safe, without having to keep my cats out of an entire room.

Recently I found this wonderful DIY tutorial on how to create hanging rope shelves, which could definitely work for my needs as long as I keep the shelves high enough that the cats can't jump up to them.

So, I'll do a little more Googling, but I think I could make this work. I'll keep you up to date on the progress and, hopefully, success, of my project.

Turquoise Fall

Turquoise Fall, a one of a kind necklace available now in my Etsy shop. See more details and pictures at: https://www.etsy.com/listing/108545223/turquoise-fall-necklace-and-earrings-set

Tuesday's Top Pick

It's September! And that means lots of things, including: fall leaves, mountains, cool air, apple cider, football, and Halloween.

This week's top pick is actually two picks, one Fall related and one just pretty darn awesome. Why two? Because the past month or so has been so crazy juggling Second Chance Pet Adoptions, Bella deLuna Designs AND McCormick & Moore Photography that I missed a few weeks here and there and thought you need something extra.

First, the Fall related pick.

A variety of unique campgrounds sites over at Poppytalk almost makes it feel like 60 degree October instead of 90 degree September.

Second, the really awesome pick. A video of how some planets would look if they were the same distance from the Earth as the Moon.

Autumn is Coming!

A few around my house signs that it's September...

  Root veggie storage bin for potatoes is out of storage and ready to work!

Autumn Owl is out on the mantle.

Patchwork harvest pumpkin in the living room.

Kitty laying on his football pillow.

Oil warmer with autumn leaves tart from Yankee Candle.

And, of course, my birthday!

Tuesday's Top Pick

This week's pick is extra special. Not only because it's the first Tuesday's Top Pick in a couple of weeks but it's also because it's near and dear to my heart.

Sam and I have decided to officially launch McCormick & Moore Photography. I'll still be posting some pictures here, the kind of everyday snapshots. But the professional pictures will all be posted on our McCormick & Moore Photography site. Currently, our main focus is pet photography but we'll slowly be branching out into wedding and family photography. Have pets you'd like us to photograph? We'll be doing free sessions for a few months as we build up our portfolio, so just let us know!

Check out our site and let us know what you think, and be sure to follow us over there for new photos.

Outdoor Adventures

Running in Place

 

Feeling a lot of this lately.

Tuesday's Top Pick

 

This week's pick was a site I stumbled upon in a (very) happy accident. The site is called Design Seeds and it is a collection of colors and palette combinations with inspiration photography to match. The site is coming in very handy for a super special, secret project I'm working on. :) It's also great reference and inspiration with room design or even color schemes for my garden.

Tuesday's Top Pick

Yep, it's that time again. Shameless self promotion. Second Chance Pet Adoption's 12th annual Auction for the Animals is this Friday, August 10 - it's a great night out full of wonderful food, entertainment and items to bid on and everything goes to help the homeless cats and dogs of Second Chance! Follow the link through the pic above if you want to purchase auction or raffle tickets (and you don't have to attend the auction to win a raffle prize!).

So because of the Auction and my Dad being in the hospital over the weekend, I haven't had much time to come up with my normal Tuesday picks. Hopefully you'll forgive me.

But I did get a new lens for my camera today. So there's hope after all. ;)

Morning Light

A couple of weeks ago early in the morning (read: 6am) light was streaming perfectly through the window in the upstairs hallway where the cats were lounging. I snapped a few pics before work and really tried to play with the light and I'm pretty happy with how things turned out. Best part? I think I captured each cat's personality perfectly. What do you think?

Tuesday's Top Pick

This week's pick is a fun project - turning your photos into a lantern! You can get the entire how-to from Photojojo. These are great for an outdoor patio or just to decorate a fun room. You could use pictures of someone throughout their life and have these hanging about on their birthday. All you need to make them are the photos you want to use, a paper lantern and a few tools.

Black and White Study