Step Away from the Ribbon!

Growing up as a kid I hated ribbon and bows. I had really long hair as a child and my mom always wanted to put it in pig tails with bows and me, being the tom-boy I was, refused time and time again.

To this day I don't particularly like to wear bows, (to my mother's dismay, my wedding didn't include many bows at all!) but ribbon for some reason has become my addiction. I walk into a store and see bins of ribbon and I can sift through it forever trying to find new colors and patterns.

Needless to say, being addicted to buying ribbon poses a storage challenge. I was using a method to hang the ribbon with dowl rods under my shelves, but all the ribbon hangs down into what I'm trying to do, and if a roll becomes empty, it's a real pain to take them all off to remove the empty spool.

So the other day I decided that I was on a new ribbon organizing mission! I looked and looked online, and tried to decide which was the most cost effective, and user friendly way to store all of this ribbon. (I have lots more than just what's pictured above!). Finally I came across a system of racks made by Marie Osmond (who knew she was an avid sewer....) at http://www.joann.com/. They were on sale for $4.19 making them the cheapest, and what seemed to be the most logical way for me to go. I purchaced 6 and they arrived today!

Down came the hangers and the ribbon got re-organized onto these great racks. They are light weight, stackable, and pretty sturdy (I'm going to wire mine together since I'm some what of a clutz). They don't take up too much room, and depending on the spool size, you can get about 15 or so on each rack. Now, did 6 racks hold all my ribbon....unfortunately not, so I'm going to order more! I'm hoping that 3 more will suffice...and I'll just have to refrain from shopping those darn $1 ribbon bins at Michael's for a while.

Here is the final product!

So pretty!

Do you have a neat new organizing system? Tell me about it!

50% Off Christmas Items

Last chance to get some great Christmas frames! Now on clearance here.

Black Friday thru Cyber Monday SALE!!

I know you want to go out and shop with all the crazies on Black Friday, but instead, why not sleep in late and then shop in your PJ's from home?

Here at Whimsical Expressions we will be having a great sale all weekend long on frames! Get regular $18 priced frames 2 for $30 (that's $6 savings!) and regular $20 priced frames 2 for $35 (that's $5 savings!). Sale starts 11/27 and ends 11/30, so don't miss out. Two frames must be purchased to receive discount.

Not only do I have those great deals going on, but I've added new personalized plaques that would make great gifts for Christmas.

All items come wrapped in brown kraft paper and are topped off with a festive ribbon. I'll even wrap in holiday paper at no charge at your request. Shopping for someone last minute? Just let me know and I'll ship directly to the recipient. Shopping has never been so easy!

Happy Thanksgiving and even happier shopping!

I'm a Parrot Head!

I've been a fan of Jimmy Buffett for several years now. I first started listening to his music in college and since then I've been hooked! There is NO better experience than seeing this man perform in person. From the parking lot tailgates, to everyone with their fins in the air it's a completely good time. Since 2003 I've been to 8 concerts (3 of which were in the same week...that was fabulous and exhausting all at the same time) and I get the pleasure of seeing him again tomorrow night! I'm so excited I can barely contain myself, it will be one of the best Tuesday nights in a while!

Here's me and a friend at my very first concert...yes, that's a pirate ship...built onto a pickup truck...

I'll be sure to take pictures tomorrow, maybe I'll even get to hula on stage...crazier things have happened!


To end, I'll leave you with some Jimmy Buffett song lyrics to live by:
"We've gotta roll with the punches
Learn to play all of our hunches
Makin' the best of whatever comes your way
Forget that blind ambition
And learn to trust your intuition
Plowin' straight ahead, come what may"
-Cowboy in the Jungle

The GLAM Christmas Tree Farm

Last Christmas I kept seeing these cute, but plain, glass Christmas Tree jars in different sizes everywhere. So what did I do? I waited until everything was marked way, way down after Christmas and I bought them all up (right around 30 of them...yikes!). I knew there was something that I could do with these jars to incorporate them into Whimsical Expressions, I just didn't know what. So, I packed them up, put them where ever they would fit, told my husband "Yes, I'm going to do something with them, please don't throw them away", and sat on the idea for almost a year.

Well, what a quick year it has been! Christmas is right around the corner, so I decided that I needed to get to work making these trees into something special. I had no clue I was going to hit such "writer's block" when I sat down to start creating. It seemed everything I tried failed, I would give them a frosted look with little snowflake designs, but the frost would peel off. I tried drilling holes in them so I could put a real tealight in them, but I broke some, and when I was successful, the candle still wouldn't stay lit. I was about to say "Off to Goodwill with you!" when the magic hit...

GLITTER! Of course, it's sparkly and pretty, and everyone loves glittery things at Christmas. I was finally on to it. Even the dogs liked the idea of glitter, there was glitter everywhere in the craft room, and they had fun rolling in what I got on the floor! With a little time, patience and a slight mess, I made this once boring Christmas Tree Farm, into a GLAM Christmas Tree Farm.

The tops come off and you can fill them with candy, put a battery operated tea light in them to give off a nice glow, or just sit them around and make your own little glamorous tree farm.

I will be selling these at the two upcoming craft shows (see my last post) and any extras will be available on my website after Nov 21st.

Upcoming Craft Shows!

Since I've started Whimsical Expressions I've been trying to do some local craft shows and I have two coming up for the Holiday Season.

This weekend I'll have a booth at the 8th Annual Ashcreek Holiday Arts and Crafts show in Mechanicsville, VA. There are over 30 vendors, food, door prizes and much more! I'll be right out front so stop by and say hi! Satruday Nov 14 from 9am - 3pm. For more information and directions check it out here.

Next weekend I'll be participating in the first ever "Sweet Finds" Market and Home Show in Charlottesville, VA.

I'm really excited about this show beacuase it is brand new and everything, even the house, is for sale...and what a lovely house it is! There are over a dozen Virginia artisians ranging from baby clothing to home decor, come on out if you are in the area! More information is below and you can become a facebook fan here

My Workspace Re-Design

My crafting is growing, but my space has only been getting smaller...so what did I do? Re-design!! We have a larger room in the house that served as our guest room...unfortunately, we don't have many guests, so we decided to make a swap. Man I'm glad we did!


Before...yes, it was very messy when I took these


After

A nice new workspace


Storage and a place for guests to sit - The closet with TONS of bubble wrap

The new computer area

All in all, I'm loving my new space. My husband can work on the computer while I'm working on projects and I can shut the door when it gets too messy. Win-win for both!


Have you done any redesigns lately?

The New Christmas Collection

I can't believe I've been listing Christmas to my Etsy Shop for several weeks now! I've always been that person who rolls their eyes when I see Christmas trees going up before Halloween, but I figured I'd follow suit since this is my first Christmas Holiday since opening Whimsical Expressions.

I'm really excited about this Christmas Frame Collection, it's fun, colorful, and perfect for all those cute pictures of you and your special someone under the tree, the kids with Santa, or just your dog in reindeer antlers.

And of course, I'll keep adding more! Merry Shopping!

Go HOKIES!

I love, love, love Hokie football! Graduated from Tech a while ago, and I'll always be a Hokie no matter what.

Last night the boys showed up and ended our two game losing streak...yay!! Although ECU had a few chances to put some points on the board, they weren't very successful and the Hokies came out on top 16-3.

Hoping we've got the rest of the season in the bag. Let's GO....HOKIES!

I told you these would be random posts :)

The Blog Journey Begins

Well, I've finally done it! After over two months of having a blog space, I'm finally posting on it. I've been staring at this blank page and finally the urge to actually write and having the time to write have aligned like the stars and it's happened!

So what's my goal here? I know that's what you readers are wondering, and something that I have been trying to determine before I just "took the plunge" and started typing. I guess it's quite simple, my goal is to entertain you with some humor and randomness, my life is full of it. To inform you of the handmade world, what it has to offer, and how it's much better than "made in China". And to inspire you to take your own plunge, with whatever you may be wanting to do.

I'm going to try to post a couple of times a week, and of course my topics will be completely random...it's my spice of life!

Thanks for stopping in and I hope you keep stopping by!