Can you keep a secret?

Can you keep a secret? I've always thought of myself as fairly good at keeping a surprise but I almost blew it tonight. Crossing my fingers that I can share it here on the big ol' world wide web & hope it doesn't get back to the person I'm from whom I'm hiding the surprise.

Here's the surprise! Shhhh! I made this necklace with a really cute hummingbird charm & a few little crystals for someone who loves hummingbirds.

A beautiful day in San Diego

It's been another lovely day in San Diego! It was about 80 degrees according to the thermometer in my car (haha!). The kid & I went to lovely touristy Seaport Village today. My ulterior motive was to hit up the Village Hat Shop & pick up a hat to wear outside while of course providing the kid with a fun day out. The kid loved the carousel aka merry-go-round (she calls it a "merry-go-around") even though she reported it was a bit "bumpy" when going up and down. I found myself a bucket hat in sort of a dusty denim at the hat shop (it will be so cute when I pin on a flower...maybe even the one from ThiliBlooms). We shared some popcorn. Several random birds including a duck seemed to think we were rude for not sharing more since they kept moving closer every time it looked like we were going to drop a bit of popcorn. The kid kept trying to "shoo bird" them away with only a little luck. We wandered around a few other stores including the kite shop before calling it a day.

It's a Fabulous Friday!

I received a surprise in the mail a few days ago! A lovely bloom from ThiliBlooms on Etsy! It can be used as a hair pin or a brooch. Isn't it darling?

New at The Whimsical Muse!

I'm just starting to add a few new things at The Whimsical Muse! "This is a muslin gift bag set. I love these little muslin bags. They are so nice for packaging & to store a few little treats when no longer used as a gift bag. I'm offering them as a small set with a hand cut gift tag & kraft heart envelope seal. There's a bit of the new burgundy baker's twine on the tag that I will be offering in my shop soon. Here's the link to the set in the picture: muslin love gift bag

Thrilled!

The lovely(oh, hello friend) you are loved blog is doing a "lovely packaging" giveaway & there is, among many other things, a $10 gift certificate from The Whimsical Muse in the giveaway! The giveaway features many fantastic shops from Etsy that offer a beautiful array of items to dress up those lovely packages.

When life gives you lemons, make something

Tonight's Scrapbook Club was rescheduled at the last minute. I didn't check the phone for messages & almost didn't check my email. I was annoyed at first, thinking 'what if I drove the more than 30 miles which takes at least an hour during rush hour and arrived to nothing?' Then I was disappointed. I sat. I moped. I checked out Facebook & stopped myself before getting sucked into surfing Etsy (& spending out of frustration). I wanted to make something new & different but felt glued to the chair until I got this idea while looking at the Martha Stewart website (I never thought I would reference her site here, but I really do like it). There was something on her site about embroidering & I though, 'that looks like fun, I could do that.' I didn't have any interfacing or a sewing machine but I did have plenty of embroidery floss, a drawing, tracing paper and a bunch of these cute little muslin bags. The tracing paper didn't work out quite as well as I would have liked so I ended up filling in the spots with pencil onto the muslin.
I'm not sure if this bag is quite done. I do like it the way it is but sometimes I just have to add a little something to make things even better. I'm happy I was able to take advantage of having some alone time to do something creative.

Hope all is well with everyone!
Pam

New at The Whimsical Muse!

New at The Whimsical Muse on Etsy.com, glitter heart stickers - envelope seals in red, gold, pink, lavender (not shown here) & a set of all four colors. They are perfect for Valentines day, anniversaries, weddings & just to say "I love you." Great to seal an envelope, make a simple card, dress up a present, add to a mixed media project, embellish a scrapbook page...