A MIRACLE

So today, I've been really busy taking photos of my new jewelry and doing ebay stuff and running errands. After I got home, I logged on to my etsy and checked my shop stats to find I had over 700 views and over 100 favorites for my tribal pouch. I was like OOOh MAH GAAAH!  I spent about 20 minutes trying to figure out how that happened with no luck so I decided to post my question on the etsy forum. Within 2 minutes, I received 12 responses. Thank you everyone who responded and congratulated me! I found out my pouch was featured in etsy finds!!! I am so excited and happy. I normally get about 40 to 50 views on etsy so you can see how 700 is a big deal to me :)

RINGS 'N THINGS

Hope everyone had an awesome long weekend! We didn't make much plans for the weekend but it ended up being fun and productive. On Saturday, after meeting up with our buddies for brunch, we went to get our wedding bands. I'm getting mine custom made to clip into my engagement ring, it is so lovely and I cant wait for it to arrive! If you know me,  I am probably the most easy going girl when it comes to all things wedding related. I haven't planned a thing or shopped for a dress or set a date. I am so easy going that I am letting my groom have the wedding of his dreams! :) What I do care about is the honeymoon. I have 2 places picked out. One of which was originally going to be my wedding destination (it might still be, we'll see!) Back to rings n things, I recently ordered these dainty rings to wear everyday. They are light and pretty and so versatile. I normally love wearing statement cocktail rings but since I wear my beautiful engagement ring everyday, I wanted something subtle with a bit of sparkle to wear on my other fingers. I ordered these from Kristin of SISTER LUCY. You'll find a lot of shops on etsy that will offer the same or similar rings but I chose Sister Lucy because she has reasonable pricing and who wouldn't want a piece of something from Hawaii?! Kristin was so helpful and ships very quickly. I will be ordering from her again! After ring shopping, we went and walked all over downtown, hit up the fashion district, little Tokyo, ate spicy ramen, took the metro down to Hollywood and highland and ate some more! By the end of the day we were both tired from all the walking. I feel like I lost 5 lbs (but i didn't). The rest of the weekend was full of lazy afternoons, Starbucks breaks and home maintenance. I am well rested and ready to start another busy week!

We wondered around downtown and passed by this area several times but I cant believe I never noticed this! We rode the trolly up and down. Fares are 25 cents if you have a metro pass. We bought an all day pass to wonder all over LA, like tourists!

these rings are hammered to give it the sparkle. Sister Lucy will make any size you want including half or quarter sizes

Since my wedding ring will be custom made, I had to leave my engagement ring with the jeweler. Its weird not having anything on that finger and a few times, I freaked out thinking I lost the ring so I've been stacking 2 of these on my ring finger until I get my ring back. Four leaf clover ring is from a boutique in Manhattan beach.

FIZZIES- bath time

One of my favorite indulgences is taking a nice warm bath that smell good and feel good. My sore neck reminded me that its been a long time since I took a bath which then reminded me of the wonderful bath bombs I use to make all the time. Its so much fun to make, just like playing with sand at the beach and building sand castles except you get to keep it in a pretty little jar until you use it for your next bath. If you love Lush bath bombs, you will love making these and using them just as much for a whole lot less $$$! I am no pro at this so I will send you over to this video with step by step instructions on how to make it. I've made these a few times now and from my experience, you can adjust the ingredients slightly to your taste (i don't mean eating it!). I tend to use a bit less kaolin clay and a bit more citric acid (more fizzing action!) and extra fragrance oil. I feel the kaolin clay, though good for your skin, did something to the length of time it fizzes in my bath water and I didn't like that. I want my bombs to fizz like crazy! Also, the ingredients called for alcohol but you can replace that with witch hazel, much gentler for the skin. You can buy most of the ingredients you need at coastal scents or elementsbathandbody.com, which I prefer. You can add extra toppings to your fizzies like dried lavender or rose buds (be sure to have a strainer in when draining your bath). The first time I made them, I used glitter. I was so excited about the sparkles and how pretty and magical my bath water will look but I highly DO NOT recommend this! they will stick to your body due to the oils used in making these. Your skin will be nicely moisturized but the glitters stick to you and are very hard to wash off. You will get glitter all over your house, your car and you will take them with you to your work! My wonderful fiance was such a good sport and supports everything I make. He jumped into a tub full of glittery water without hesitation and he ended up with glitter everywhere! he went to work with glitter on his face :P Now he just prefers to stand and watch them fizz. Hope you all enjoy making these bath treats!

this is what the ingredients look like. DO NOT use glitter!

In addition to the 1 tsp fragrance oil, I also add a few drops of pure concentrated essential oils. They will make the scent last on your skin after the bath. My favorite scent is lavender!

you can add some dried rose buds or lavender to your fizzies. They will float around in your bath water just like at the spa!

the ingredient makes 4 little bombs. If you have a bit left over, you can make a tablet

Not only are they fun to make, they make great gifts! Here I am using my bath soap boxes I collect and save

A few things I like having with my bath: bath salts for sore achy muscles, candles-lots of them, loofah or exfoliating bar and a glass of ice cold drink! RELAX, DE-STRESS AND ENJOY YOUR LONG WEEKEND!

you can also make 2 batch of different colors and layer them to create these stripes! here I also added dried lavender

TRIBAL SUMMER- treasury list

I am so happy to be included in this pretty treasury list created by Cherie of BrambleBunny. I love all the fun colors and is definitely the feel I was going for with my bags! Thank you BrambleBunny for this beautiful treasury list!

TOBI

You know what they say, sharing is caring! I came across this little shop and have been checking back often. They have new arrivals daily for 30% off!

TRIBAL POUCH

Well, I finally made extra pouches for my ETSY store! Thank you for waiting, they are now available. Quantities are limited (only 1 pc at the moment). I received compliments and requests for these so I stayed up all night painting. Now my neck is sore from looking down for 4 hours. I let it sit overnight so the paint can dry and I finished sewing this afternoon. Now I can get on with my day! Still have a lot of errands to run and stuff to make ;) That will be tomorrow's post so stay tuned!
For my lovely readers who follow my blog, I will hook you up with a 20% + free shipping. Please use discount code HOOKMEUP20 at checkout, shipping fee will be refunded. Thank you!

I made this in NEON PINK colorway, same pattern as the aqua one

this colorway is much prettier in person. the colors are more vivid and bright!

perfect size, can fit a regular magazine!

thank you for looking, hope you love them too!

A SECOND CHANCE- tea cart

I found this little wooden cart at the thrift store a while ago. Not sure what it was used for but I've been wanting a refreshment cart so I took it home. I knew that if Paul saw this, he would be like "WTF is this thing" so I warned him before he came home from work. He seemed cool about it over email but when he got home, he still had the WTF look. Well, I warned you! :) With a few coats of magic white paint, it can now be used for something! It sat in the guest bedroom for 2 weeks, lonely and useless. It wasn't until a few days ago I decided to make use of it. Not sure if this will be permanent but for now, it is a little tea cart! 

Yes, I know it looks like junk. While i was dragging this thing from the very back of the store to the register which had to be at the front of course, people looked at me like WTH is she thinking?! Well, I wasn't really thinking much but I saw potential in this little wooden thing with wheels

but slap on some paint and......

it could be a tea cart!

ARM CANDY

My alloy.com order arrived today! The floral shorts are adorable, great quality and great fit. I ordered a size up because I like the leg openings to be loose fitting, it is more flattering and wont accentuate thunder thighs. The other item I ordered to get the $20 off $50 is this fuchsia handbag. I was slightly disappointed by the color because it was not as bright as the picture shown. I read all the reviews and everyone raved about the color, maybe its just me?! maybe i've been seeing too much neons lately that everything else not neon seem dull. Besides the color, it is a great well made bag. Cute lining and comes with shoulder strap but I think I should've went with the cognac color. 

alina fuchsia tote from alloy.com

handmade southwestern pouch. Took all night to hand paint the pattern neatly and for a long while, sat there trying to decide the color and pattern placement. I will carry this little pouch very proudly

different design on both sides. I specifically made this to wear with my lime green dress :) what do you think?

TREASURES- flea market finds

new additions to my vintage jewelry collection

Chanel looking earrings, necklace and gold locket watch

little white beaded clutch with cute gold rimmed mirror inside

fendi earrings

WEEKEND

Hope everyone had a great weekend! I had a busy, productive and fun weekend. Finished a sewing project, listed a bunch of stuff on eBay (lots of beautiful dresses!) and went to the rose bowl flea market! We finally found a great dining table set. We almost went with one from Ethan Allen but Im so glad we held off! Also found some beautiful vintage jewelry, will share in the next post ;)

Flea market outfit. It was a bit chilly in the morning so I threw on a scarf. I found these cute sandals for $8 at forever 21, they are currently one of my favorite!

but those sandals gave me these tan lines :(

Weekend project: Neon tribal inspired pouch. I will be making a few more for my etsy store!

leather zipper pull

fully lined

do you like it?