Tassel Tuesday - Little Redbird

With Kiddo at camp this week, I have a few days to concentrate on work. Yeah, what I'll more than likely concentrate on is watching HGTV instead of Disney and hitting Sonic happy hour every day. Heh.

But while I've got something cooking that I can't WAIT to roll out (I can't show anything yet as I'm waiting on some supplies that won't get here for another few weeks), I'm showcasing a different tassel each Tuesday for my ever-so-cheesy Tassel Tuesday. Only the title is cheesy...the tassels are purty!

How many times have I said "I LOVE this tassel"? Probably a hundred times. I can't help it. It's one of the reasons I started making them. I completely fell in love with them. This little bird is no exception.

Little Redbird Tassel

I love the saturated colors on this little tassel!

He kind of looks patriotic with those blue and red gingham check ribbons. But the brown makes him fit perfectly anywhere in your home, all year long.

I love this little face!

If you like this little face (and the rest of him), hop over to my Etsy shop and see him with the rest of his tassel posse.

If you see something you like, but would like to change something, or if you'd like a completely custom tassel, just email me at butterflygenes (at) yahoo (dot) com. I LOVE doing custom tassels!

And, like I say ALL the time, return customers get free shipping! So if you've never purchased from me before, you pay shipping just once, then when you're shopping for gifts (or more for yourself!) you get free shipping! Sounds like a deal to me. : )

Stay tuned for more hints on my secret project.

Facebook Finally!

I resisted. I failed. I now have a Facebook page for my blog. Woo hooo! When you're on Facebook, put Butterfly Genes in the search box and you should see my tassel page (I'd love it if you liked it, too!) and then the blog page.

I would give you a direct URL but I don't have one just yet. Something about having to have 25 likes or something. So go like me! : )

I will give you an incentive to like my page later this week, but why wait till then? Be one of the first!

And here's a random picture because I hate posting without a picture:Yep. That's random all right.

Tassel Tuesday - Church Birdhouse

Okay, so it's not Tuesday, it's Wednesday. If it hadn't been for my bff Kat, I wouldn't have even realized it had gone by as I was working on another post. I'm really business savvy, aren't I?

So, back to my second favorite tassel. You can see my FAVORITE favorite tassel here. I lurve it. Well, I lurve this one, too!

Church Birdhouse Tassel
I do love this tassel. I love the black and white, I love the toile ribbon, I love the feathers, I love that it's a birdhouse, I love that it's a church. I even love the little silver button on the front!

This is the only one like this I have, but I'm hoping to be able to find more little churches like this soon. So for now, first come, first serve! I'd love for this beautiful tassel to grace your home!

Head over to my Etsy shop to see this tassel as well as the other ones I have in my shop at the moment. Or you can just click the link to my shop on my right sidebar.

I also love to do custom orders, so if you'd like something for a gift (tassels make wonderful gifts for weddings, babies, birthdays, housewarmings...), or for yourself, just leave a comment with your email address and will get in touch with you ASAP!

As I said in my first Tassel Tuesday post, return customers get free shipping! It's my way of saying "thank you" for your support of my shop.

Thanks for letting me post a Tuesday post on a not Tuesday day. Or something like that.

Tassel Tuesday - Sweet Nest

I've been thinking lately about doing a weekly post on which tassels I'm either working on or absolutely adore. I haven't worked on any in a while (even though my precious men redid my guest room into my craft room. Oh, yeah, baby. THAT is a story soon to be posted!), but I'm about to start working my little fingers like crazy. I have an idea to raise money for Relevant...I'm not ready to divulge my plan...yet...MUAHAHAHAHAAAAA....

Where was I? Oh, Tassel Tuesday. Cheez Whiz name, I know, but I'm a Cheez Whiz kinda girl, so there you go. On to the tassel!

This is currently my favorite tassel. It could be my favorite tassel EVAH. It is so sweet I can hardly stand it. It's been featured in so many Etsy Treasuries I've lost count. Okay, it's around 5 or 6, but I still lost count. It's my Etsy profile picture, my Facebook profile pic, AND my Twitter background pic.

Sweet Nest Tassel

I love it. I love the colors, I love the sweet little nest, I love the eggs, I love the little blue charm.

Have I mentioned that I love it? Right now it's hanging on my china cabinet door but it is definitely for sale. Although I might have to make myself another one.

If you'd like more info on it, just head over to my Etsy shop and check it out. You can also check out my other tassels while you're there. I have another favorite one that I'll tell you about next week, If it's still there.

For those of you who have bought a tassel from me before, you get free shipping! That's my policy. Return customers NEVER pay shipping! It's just my way of saying thank you for your business. Just put in the coupon code REPEATFREESHIP at checkout.

I look forward to sharing more about my business with you in the coming weeks. I've kind of been afraid to do that because I didn't want people to think I was all, "Buy, buy, BUY!" But it IS the way I help support my family and it IS what I love to do. So why shouldn't I share it with you? : )

My New 'Do

I have waited to post about this. See, for forever I've wanted shorter hair. My long hair just got to be too long. My last hair cut was in September, and in case you forgot what it looked like, here it is in all its cuteness:I loved it. I mean I luh-huh-huuuuved it. But I thought it was time for shorter. So, I asked the girl who cut it last time to cut it shorter this time. Well, she did exactly what I told her. But it was short. WAY short. Shorter in the back than I've had my hair since high school. But it's grown on me (no pun intended), so I finally took some pics of it straight. I might do some with it curly, but it's not as cute as it was before I went back and had her put some layers in the sides. I kind of wish I hadn't now. But it will grow. And EVERYONE has said it's cute, so either they're all lying or it looks halfway decent. : )

So, without further ado...

Front
Left side
Right side

So, what do you think? I mean, it's not all flat-ironed and fixed and stuff, but it's how I'll wear it every day. Are they all lying? You can tell me. Really. But lie if you have to.

Sisters...Sisters...There Were Never Such Devoted Sisters...

I think of two things when I hear the word "sister." The first is my sister, Carlyn, and the other is the song "Sisters" from the movie White Christmas. It makes me smile.

Carlyn, Momma, me

But this post is about my sister, who happens to have started a blog herself. It's so funny to see the differences in our personalities come out on our respective blogs. She talks about Orthodox Christianity, I talk about contemporary worship. She talks about British comedy, I talk about falling down. A lot. She talks about reading St. Athanasius, I talk about reading e-books.
We've always been different. I'm brown-eyed, she's blue-eyed. I'm tall, she's...well...vertically challenged, shall we say? She got the Owen petite bone structure, while I got the Smith Amazon bone structure. She was thrilled to get War and Peace for Christmas one year. I was equally as happy that year with the complete sound track from Les Miserables.

But as different as we are, we still love each other very much. Without each other, neither one of us would have made it through Momma's illness and death with our sanity intact. We want to protect each other, and even though I'm younger there have been times when I've wanted to claw some eyes out in her defense. I'm extremely proud of her and what she has accomplished in her life. She has a master's degree in Special Education, something I'd never dare to venture into. She has taught college classes, as well as homeschooled her son. Sometimes I feel very unaccomplished next to her, but I know she doesn't see me that way.

I'm so thankful we get along. I can think of two sets of sisters that don't get along the way we do and it breaks my heart. One side tends to badmouth the other, and vice versa. Walking on eggshells is something I've never had to do with Carlyn, and I'm so grateful to have her in my life. Now that Momma's gone, our relationship is that much more important to me.

If you don't mind, head over to her blog, A Fresh Pot of Tea and say hello. She's on vacation right now, but when she gets back I know she'll be happy to "meet" you.

I love you, Sister!

In the Middle of Tigger and Eeyore

I've been feeling pretty sorry for myself lately. It's easy for me to do. If you've ever taken a personality test, you might know what I mean when I say I'm sanguine/melancholy. I pretty much am way up...or way down. Either Tigger or Eeyore. Basically I see life this way...when it's good, it's great. But when it's bad...it's really, reeeeeally bad. I've been in the reeeeeeally bad stage for a while, and I'm so thankful for One Thousand Gifts to remind me of God's gracious gifts to me.*

When I concentrate on what I don't have, I block out gratefulness for what I do have. Just a minute ago I let Jonathan outside. As he was walking around looking for a good spot (ahem), the thought came to me that we don't have to deal with fleas and ticks in our yard. My friend Lisa lives next door to a family who has a bunch of dogs and won't treat their yard for fleas, therefore Lisa's dogs get covered with them, no matter what they do to get rid of them.

If we had to deal with the same things her family is, it would be one more thing to be unhappy about. So why not turn it around and be grateful that I DON'T have to deal with it at the moment?

Hmmm...what other things that I have complained about lately can I turn around into gratefulness? In her post today, Ann Voskamp shares, "For those who can see, the world’s beauty outweighs its burdens, its grace greater than its grime."

Oh, for eyes to see!

31. A good flyswatter (I'm not kidding!)

32. Vehicles that have great air conditioning

33. Kiddo having fun serving as a team leader to Kindergarteners during their camp this week (LOVE that!)

34. Movies coming in the mail

35. Our small group

36. Getting my hair cut - and I do mean CUT (pictures to come later)

37. Blog friends, old and new

38. In real life friends, old and new

39. Magazines with pictures that inspire me to make my home beautiful

I end my list this week with the biggest thing I'm grateful for this week...I'm sure I'll post about it soon, but for now just to suffice it to say...

40. My new vacuum cleaner!

*(As usual, I have to disclose that if you click the One Thousand Gifts link over on my sidebar and make a purchase, I get a small commission. The opinion of this book is completely mine and not influenced whatsoever by my affiliation with Dayspring.)

Words...and Grace.

My heart is so heavy right now. It almost feels like I have a weight on it, it's so heavy. I don't know if it's the Lord's doing or just my desire to shout truth on deaf ears. There are two situations in my life right now where words are needed. The right words. If I use the wrong words, relationships will be shattered.

In one situation, I want to lash out and blame. To say how I've been wronged. And I know that if I do that, whatever friendship is left will be blown away like dandelion fluff from a child's hand.

In the other situation, equally heavy on my heart, I want to scream the truth...to make her listen. But I know from past experience that that will be the end of that relationship. I also know that it is almost a need for me to say something...even though she's made her mind up already. I feel like the Lord is telling me to say...something.

Oh, for His grace. I've already lashed out at Kiddo this morning. How can I expect my mouth to share anything even closely resembling grace. I guess that's where HE comes in.

Lord Jesus, give me Your grace...no...You've already given me Your grace...help me to receive it so that I will extend it to the ones around me.

And in the background I hear my sweet Kiddo singing David Crowder's "SMS (Shine)"....

Shine Your light so all can see it
Lift it up, 'cause the whole world needs it
Love has come, what joy to hear it
He has overcome
He has overcome