Post-Christmas Discovery

I just finished cleaning up the last of the Christmas stuff.  I got a late gift from The Conductor's mom, which he brought home from his post-holiday visit.

Yum!!  A bag full of homemade goodies. Two kinds of chocolate covered pretzels and a tin chock full of these:

I liked the ones in the upper right with the chocolate drizzle the best!

The Conductor also got a set plus a few bags more of other treats.  We're working on the second tin and they're still just as fresh as when he brought it all home. 

Some wedding fun was also in the bag.  The Conductor's mom has a tradition of making treats for table favors for all of the family weddings and she made me some samples:

A white chocolate, a dark chocolate and a minty white.  Mmm! 

We tend to eat dessert in front of the TV so I had left the whole gift bag right on the coffee table. Of course, I save "good" bags to reuse again!  As we finished up the contents of my bag, I was just about to fold it up and stash it away. 

But then what did I spy.....with my little eye?

Ho-lee-cow!!!  There are BEADS inside the handles of the bag!!!  They were loose inside the plastic handles, just waiting to be repurposed.

Of course I ripped them right off. 

Then I felt bad for destroying a "good" bag - so I used my punching tool to punch out a ton of gift tags for next year.

 The Conductor was next to me on the couch and he was urtterly fascinated by the fact that there's a tool out there to make gift tags.  He said to me, with total seriousness, "Wow.  You are *really* going to keep us in line when we're married."

Damn straight!

Anyway, in the post-holiday clearance sales, I picked up this earring set for $2.  I set the studs aside for my sisters since I don't wear earings.

 

What I really wanted were these earrings.  After removing the hooks, I had two matching charms which I ran jump rings through than strung up with the beads from the bag...

 ...to make this cute little necklace/bracelet combo:

I only had half-enough beads from the bag to make the bracelet.  Fortunately I had some loose red ones in  my stash that gave me enough length. 

Too cute, hey?  I'm almost sorry Christmas is over because I'll have to wait a whole year to wear these.

And now a fun wedding update:  We're gearing up to send out save the date cards.  I went to the post office and asked for wedding themed stamps.  The guy said they had a ton in the back.  After a while, he came back in and said he's not allowed to sell those.  Um.  Ok...  So I said, "Well do you have anything pretty - flowers, hearts, anything like that?"

He says, "We're doing our stamp audit now so the only stamps I'm allowed to sell are these with the pretty American flag on them"

Seriously?  A stamp audit?  And isn't that ironic - that an AUDIT would hold up me - an accountant - from having pretty stamps on my first wedding mailing?  Ugh! 

Nina Garcia #5 - Ballet Flat

My Nina Garcia project has come to a complete standstill.  Only because I'm stumped. 
Number 5 on her list of The One Hundred things every woman should have in her closet is.....ballet flats.

Brigitte Bardot and Audry Hepburn made them famous. Nina Garcia describes them as "the go-to shoe for those times when heels are out of the question".  This is where I'm torn. 

I thought about sewing a ballet skirt.  But the last time I've taken dance classes (and worn one) was at least 12 years ago. And I don't WANT to make a ballet outfit.  This is how I picture myself when I think of me doing ballet:

So then I figured I'd make an outfit similar to those worn my Audrey Hepburn or Brigitte Bardot.

Well, Bardot wore a lot of leggings.  Which look nice with ballet flats.  But which don't look so nice on my Polish dupa.  And, in Milwaukee, most women seen in leggings also wear baggy shirts, don't do their hair, and generally look like they've given up.

Audrey Hepburn, with her small nose and her pixie looks is just unappealiong to me and I don't wish to duplicate her look at all.  When you get right down to it, I don't like wearing ballet flats. My feet are too wide, for one.  And I walk fast so I feel like they're going to fall off.  Committed to my Nina Garcia project,  I've been stuck on how to incorporate ballet flats into this project. 

Then the Conductor and I went to a Wine and Harvest Festival in Cedarburg, WI and found a bead shop to poke around in.  I was pretty tipsy but I managed to control myself around the beads (I'll show what else I bought in an upcoming post). Anyway, I stumbled upon the perfect solution:

Aren't they cute!  Ballet flats as a jewelry charm!

I turned them into a bracelet.

So...technically....I now have ballet flats in my collection of The One Hundred pieces every stylish woman must own. I'm unstuck and moving on!