Crafty Things!

Hello all!

This isn't bath/body product related, but I just thought I would share a little snippet of my life because I have been super hyped up about this! But little background info about me... I am a bit of an artist at heart and I studied Northwest Coast art for my undergraduate degree. I love weaving and have tried my hand at a bit of carving. And I love to create things in general. There are so many things I want to learn how to do! I want to learn how to knit/crochet. I want to learn how to work with various types of metal. I want to learn how to bead. And a bunch of other things that are less reasonable with all of my other interests!

But one thing I do make time to do every week is to make earrings. I don't do anything too fancy - just make combinations that I think would work. But it still allows me to be creative and make beautiful pieces of jewelry. And creating things is so rewarding and has been good for my soul. I also love looking for new beads and materials that I often find in old pieces of jewelry at yard sales or thrift stores that I deconstruct for crafting. It makes everything an adventure and often my pieces are one of a kind.

Here's a few pairs that I made yesterday. Sorry that they're not the most professional looking photos - I took these on my iPhone and posted to my Facebook account.

The thing is, I think my skills are getting better in this process. And this is where the excitement comes in. I want to move on to the next level and start using more technique. I have reached a point where I am starting to feel limited on what I can do because I have all of these ideas, but do not have the skills or tools to bring my ideas to life. And so, I have decided to take the time and money and invest in what I want to do next: wire work!

I am really excited about this next stage. I have already bought a book on weaving and wrapping coil and look forward to actually testing it out. I need to wait a bit before I can buy the other tools and wire I would need. But in the meantime, my mind is racing with a bunch of different ideas and I am super excited! I absolutely love when I am feeling inspired!

And more exciting stuff... I don't just make earrings. I sell the earrings I make. So far it has all been locally and I have made enough money to cover the cost of supplies with a little bit of profit. My problem is that I keep on wanting to buy more and more beads even if I already have quite a bit! It's really just to feed my crafting addiction!

Anyway, I have been posting photos of my creations on Facebook and quite a few people have been interested in my work. I am thrilled that people are liking what I have been creating. I already sold the two pairs above within hours of posting photos! And I have a lot of people asking if I have an online shop, so that is also going to be my next step. I am going to work towards opening on online shop to sell my earrings.

And I am super hyped up about these next steps! Getting into wire work and improving my skills AND opening a shop to sell my work. I got less than 5 hours of sleep last night because I kept having dreams about earrings and waking up with great ideas. And I just had to share with you all because I can't stop thinking about it. I tend to gush about things when I'm excited! :)

I have also been wanting a drill that I can use for drilling glass. I have access to a ton of beach glass and that would be super cool to incorporate that into my pieces. But I have to do things one at a time here! But soon, I will have that drill in my hands! :D

I hope you all have been enjoying the weekend! I need to stop thinking about crafting and focus some of my energy on homework! But I will keep you posted on when I have that shop open!

<3 Alyssa

Blackberry Ramblings

I have really been craving blackberries lately. When I was living in Oregon, I'd get blackberries all the time from the farmer's market when they were in season. I wish I had some of those now! I think this means I need more berries in my diet. Maybe I should try to seek out some frozen blackberries! But oh, if only I had some fresh, sweet, juicy blackberries...

Anyway, this has lead me to search out blackberry lip balms on Etsy. I go through these different phases where my "obsessions" change often. Last month it was perfumes, the last few weeks it has been soaps, and now it's back to lip balms. It always ends up going back to lip balm!

Here's a few lip balms and lip tints that I found tonight that I really want:

Blackberry lip balm from Wild Rose Herbs

Blackberry Lime lip tint from Bathing in Luxury

Blackberry Pomegranate lip balm from Lake House Soap Works

Blackberry lip tint from Orange Thyme

There's a few lip tints by Wild Rose Herbs that I really want too. I might just order some! I'll try to control myself for a bit though and not order everything off of my wishlist here. But they all look so good!

I was able to stop myself the other day from impulse buying. I was in Juneau wandering the shops downtown with a friend and found a peach lavender flavored lip balm that I wanted. But I resisted! But I am still thinking about it... sigh.

And speaking of Juneau, I am trying to move back there within the next few months! It seems that I can never stay put. For once I move somewhere, I already start planning my next move! Maybe I'll settled down for a bit there. I plan on it anyway!

But anyway, I'll stop rambling for now. Maybe I'll work on some reviews. I would have done one now but that requires more thought than I can handle right now. Hopefully I'll have one up tomorrow!

<3 Alyssa

P.S. And just to include a photo, here's one from my instagram (feel free to follow me @alyr3!) of making tracks in the new snow on the docks in Juneau the other day! Maybe it is this winter weather is making me crave blackberries!

Update and Whatnot

Hey lovelies!

I just wanted to give a little update on my life and this blog. I've really been thinking about my blog lately and wanting to post!

I am not sure how much details I gave in my last post, but I have been having a crazy busy time these last few weeks with moving back to Alaska. Travel from one small town on the Oregon Coast to another small town in Alaska is a lot of work! The travel is unbelievably time consuming - a lot of layovers in bigger cities. But I finally made it! Next I have to face the issue of cleaning and unpacking. Although good news is, I will soon have a decent set-up for working on reviews (which means better photos, depending on my skills).

I haven't been posting this past week like I had hoped I would be able to because I have had no internet. Living in Alaska, the weather majorly impacts out lives. Just one of the perks. But due to the weather last week, I was stuck without internet. Which also was problematic for schoolwork. But I'm getting there!

Speaking of school, I will be done with my semester next week! A have a few more projects to turn in and then I will be free for a month and a half. One awesome thing about grad school: the extra long winter breaks! I am looking forward to this time so I can work on my blog. Since I started this blog I haven't had the chance to do as many reviews as I want. But I really want to devote myself to it over break and really get it up and running and hopefully settle into a groove I can keep up with!

As for plans for my blog, there might be a few slight changes in the future. The biggest difference is that posts will be more regular. I am also thinking about reintroducing a rating system, but I am still on the fence about that one. I would have to devise a rating system that works for me to feel comfortable using one for this blog. I need more depth than just numbers, you know? And I might try to be more present in other social media networks. I'm excited for it all! Are you? :)

As for more short-term plans, this next week I will try to get up one review and a Favorites Friday post. It is basically going to be my school finals week so I will be fairly busy, but I'm sure I can throw those in there as well! I will also be traveling this next week, because that never ends for me! I'm going to visit my brother and his family before Christmas time since they can't make it home. Yay time with the nephews! :)

As for other updates, I am still on a hardcore perfume kick. I have a TON of perfumes to review but I will try not to overwhelm this blog with them. Don't worry - I'll try to do a mix of everything! I also might start introducing reviews for wax tarts. Speaking of which, I should try a new scent in my new warmer tonight... So many things to review!

Anyway, I'll stop my ramblings now. Hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving!

<3 Alyssa

P.S. And just because I want to add a photo to this post, here's one from my last night in that small coastal town in Oregon. I am really going to miss this...

Buying Stuff!

I really should stop browsing shops and finding more smelly things I want to buy. It's such an addiction! And too much of a distraction!

Today, I just purchased some perfume samples from Firebird Bath & Body and lip balms from Orange Thyme. Yesterday, I ordered a perfume and lip balm set from Ripe Shop. And I also ordered some soaps, a moisturizer, and body oil (which I've been wanting to try forever!) from Chagrin Valley. In the last few weeks I've placed several perfume orders with Darling Clandestine. Who by the way is having an early Black Friday sale for 26% off with coupon code: BLACKEVERYDAY. I also won a giveaway for a set of her perfumes! SO EXCITING! I am going to have quite the collection of DC perfumes! I've also placed another order with Epically Epic for soap, perfume, lip balms, and a solid lotion. AND, I ordered some tarts from Sea Breeze Scents & Things.

Yeah, I've been going a little crazy with my ordering here! And since I am moving back to Alaska soon I've been having everything shipped there. So I'm ordering all these things but have to wait to try them and smell them which makes it harder to control my shopping spree. On the plus side, I'll have a bunch of smelly things to go home to! I hope my mom doesn't judge me for the millions of packages that will be coming in for me... ha!

In other news, I've been getting serious about my perfume reviews (not that I wasn't before but I haven't had so many to review before now). Since I have a lot a new scents to try out and it'll take some time to get through them, I've started carrying around a little journal with me to write down my thoughts on the perfume while I'm wearing it. And I've been having fun with that! I also like to wave my wrists in front of my roomie and ask her what she thinks of the different scents. That's also fun times! :)

Last night I found a random Orange Thyme lip balm in my raincoat pocket. I always have random lip balms tucked away in the pockets of my coats. Those are always fun to find! It reminded me of how much I love Orange Thyme lip balms. I know I don't have a review on here yet, but one will be coming soon. They are fantastic balms! And so that is why I had to order more today. Even though that is the one thing I've been trying not to buy as much of. It never seems to work out though. I have quite the lip balm collection!

I also wore Girl on Fire from Sarawen last night for a loungy movie night with a friend. And I wore my comfy lounge clothes including a flannel shirt. The scent was perfect for the night. All warm and cozy and cuddly! I love it when I can use that perfect perfume for the occasion at hand, no matter how casual it is!

But anyway, I'll stop rambling away here and get back to the homework. And I've been liking these rambly update posts. It's something to post between reviews and I like the casual chattiness. It's also a good for a short study break! So, hope you're not minding these casual posts!

I hope you're having a good start to the week! Happy Monday!

<3 Alyssa

Little Update

Why hello there! I've been a bit busy around here and haven't been able to post any reviews lately. This is my first semester doing school full-time (in this graduate program anyway) and it's a lot of work, especially around "mid-terms" time. Although they don't really use that term in this program, the workload definitely increases. But anyway, enough school talk.

I am working on a few reviews! And I got my computer to accept my camera memory card so I've been able to take photos with my camera with plans of actually using them! Upcoming reviews include lip tints, hair/body mists, perfumes, and lotions. Maybe I'll make up a list of some of my favorite shops for holiday shopping as well! It is getting close to that time - have you started shopping yet? I have about half of my list done. Impressive for the last minute everything me! :)

Other stuff... I've been really into perfumes lately. I discovered Darling Clandestine and all of the fragrances sound so unique! Expect a review within the next few weeks! Also, anyone have any suggestions for perfumes/perfume shops?

And in other news, I ordered a tart warmer! I've been meaning to do this for a year or so. My sister-in-law is a Scentsy consultant (check out her shop here) and they were having a great sale earlier in the week. The one I ordered is a super cute turkey. I'd give a link but I don't see it on the site anymore. It's totally my style - a bit tacky, but awesomely so! I also ordered a few scents: Honey Pear Cider and Peppermint Dreams. I didn't get to smell any before I ordered but I FaceTimed with my SIL, having her smell things for me before I picked which ones I wanted. Ah, family. <3

Pretty excited about the tart warmer! Although I won't get to use it until I am back in Alaska (that's where I had it shipped). Anyone have any suggestions for places to order tarts? I know some of you are into tarts (looking at you Deb if you're reading this!). I want to find ones that aren't too strong. As much as I love fragrances, I am a bit sensitive so it'd be great to find a shop with mildly scented tarts with reasonable prices. After I find that, I might go crazy with it.

But anyway, there's my little update on product happenings around here. Excited for the holiday season and all the sales and all the new goodies! And to start with the Christmas music... maybe right now! :)

<3 Alyssa