My blog was awarded the Premio Meme Award

Joyous Treasures of Etsy just recently awarded my blog the Premio Meme award. Thank you so much. Her blog EtsyTreasureChest has some really nice features and articles, so check both her shop and her blog out. Her shop features some very pretty jewelry and cute crochet items.
To accept this award I have to share 7 things about me, so here goes:
1. My family comes first in my life. I have a wonderful husband of 32 years and 2 great sons, along with one adorable daughter-in-law that are the best family anyone could have.
2. Horses have been a passion with me since I was a baby. The first word out of my mouth was my version of "horsey".
3. I love crafting, but have to be very careful about not getting too many things to do, thus never getting enough time to do any of them. So my glass has become my passion. Although now I'm finding more and more things to do with glass, so am trying to limit that. :)
4. I am extremely cold-natured. When everyone else is sweating and fanning themselves, I'm walking around with a sweater on. I would keep my house at 82 degrees if my hubby would let me.
5. Gardening is my next passion. I love flowers and all kinds of plants and would fill every inch of house and land I own with them if I could afford it.
6. I enjoy doing volunteer work, and right now am helping out with some volunteer work in the "valley" of Texas.
7. My hubby and I are learning Spanish and are hoping to travel to Peru later this year. Our youngest sons speaks spanish fluently and is helping us.
I hope you enjoyed these little tidbits. Now I am passing this award on to 7 other great bloggers I know.
BlackFeatherFarm
ClayItAgain
CTJewelryDesign
MyMothersGarden
SaladForBreakfast
Sherry'sJewels
RedHeadHomestead
Enjoy

My mosaic birdfeeder is in a Treasury!

I hadn't been in a treasury for a while, so it was a nice surprise this morning to get a convo saying noahsarkcollection had put me in their treasury. They featured my mosaic Birdhouse birdfeeder. I love making these birdfeeders and especially like this little birdfeeder. So check out the treasury by either clicking on the picture of it or the title to the post and give it some love. Here's the birdfeeder they featured.

A Great Giveaway from Tissage on Women Prenuergalore

Yesterday I found another great giveaway on a new blog I hadn´t seen before. The blog is Women-prenuergalore and the giveaway is from Tissage. She's giving away some adorable earrings. And the blog is great. She features a lot of giveaways and interviews. So check it out and enter to win (but not too often, because I can already see those earrings on me with a certain outfit I have). :)

Another great giveaway from Solsistershandbags.com

In checking on the blogs I follow, I saw a post from Solsisters. She does some great fiber art. And she has been posting about some fabulous nail polish coming out. Now she's offering a giveaway of all 6 nail polish plus a great flame makeup pouch. I love it because I love flames. Had flames on my truck until we had to do some work to it. Now I'm hoping to get the flames back on it soon. Anyway, if you love polish and want to spice up your nails as well as the way you carry your makeup/polish, check out her giveaway, either by clicking on the title to the post or by checking out her blog Solsistershandbags. You'll love it too.

Crochet, Handcrafted Apparel and Accessories-Great Texas Etsy shops-Lavenderlizard

I'm a member of Etsy Texas Crafters and whenever I'm posting or just reading in our Etsy threads, I always see Lavenderlizard there helping promote other great Etsy shops. I've checked her shop several times and she has the cutest crocheted, handcrafted accessories and apparel, so I decided to ask her for an interview. The picture here is just one of her great items you might want to check out, along with the 2 items in my Web ring box on the right. I hope you enjoy this interview and her great Texas Shop.

1. When and Why did you start crafting?

I learned to crochet, cross-stitch and embroider when I was about 7 or 8. My mom taught me how to crochet, she also tried to teach me how to knit, but I'm just not coordinated enough to work with 2 needles.

2. What do you enjoy most about your crafting?

I really enjoy making practical and beautiful items. My great-grandmother and great-aunt both also crocheted, so I like that I have that connection to them.

3. How did you find out about Etsy and why did you start selling there?

I heard about Etsy on a website for moms. I checked into it and decided to jump right in.

4. What is the hardest thing to do for your shop or you dislike most about selling online?

The hardest thing for me is the time it takes to take decent photographs, crop them, upload them to Etsy, write an engaging description, etc. So the "listing" of an item takes nearly as much time as creating the item in the first place (not really, though-I tend to exaggerate).

5. Do you rely on Etsy to help pay bills or is it mainly for fun & extra spending money?

I would love to be able to rely on Etsy for full-time income. However, right now I'm basically reinvesting Etsy income into more yarn and supplies.

6. Have you tried or do you sell in offline shops? Do you enjoy that more or less than Etsy & why?

I don't sell offline right now, except to friends and family who request special items. So far, I have managed to avoid craft shows, because I find it difficult to "market" myself in person.

7. Where else can you be found online?

I have a blog (http://lavenderlizard.blogspot.com/), and I twitter (http://twitter.com/lavenderlizard). I also have a Facebook account (Elizabeth Kalka) and a Dwanda shop (http://lavenderlizard.dwanda.com/), neither of which I spend much time on.

I hope you've enjoyed this interview as much as I've enjoyed talking with her and finding out more about her craft. And be sure to check out Lavenderlizard on Etsy.

Protecting our Birds while enjoying them-Cleaning our birdfeeders

Do you love birds and watching them at your feeders? I do. I also love making my stained glass mosaic birdfeeders for them to feast at like this one to the left. But feeding the birds also involves making sure they're safe. One way to do that is to make sure we keep our birdfeeders and the area around them clean. Here's a few of the things we can do to insure the birds stay healthy while getting a good meal at our feeders.

The first thing to do is to give our feeders a good thorough cleaning and disinfecting. A dirty birdfeeder can harbor bacteria, mold and other diseases that can decimate the bird population in our backyards. Infected birds can spread the illnesses to other backyards and wild bird populations, creating epidemic problems that wipe out whole nesting colonies of birds. But if we conscientiously clean our bird feeders we can minimize the disease potential. And clean feeders will attract more birds, a plus for us. So to attract the most birds and help keep them healthy, follow these guidelines:

1. Clean regularly: All feeders should be thoroughly cleaned at least once a month. Hummingbird feeders should be cleaned each time you refill them. Popular bird feeders may even need to be cleaned more often depending on how many birds you have feeding at them.

2. Use proper cleaning solutions. Feeders can be sanitized with one part bleach to nine parts water. A mild solution of unscented dishsoap can also be used.

3. Clean all feeder parts. For the best sanitation and disease prevention, each feeder should be cleaned inside and out, including all feeder ports, perches, lids, platforms, etc.

4. Use proper equipment. Use rubber gloves to avoid contamination and use stiff brushes to ensure thorough cleaning. You can get specialized brushes at pet supply stores, but regular bottle brushes can be just as effective. And an old toothbrush is great for cleaning small parts, feeding ports and tight areas.

5. Rinse thoroughly. After cleaning, the feeder and all cleaned parts should be rinsed thoroughly for at least 10 seconds to ensure you have all cleaning solution rinsed off well.

6. Dry completely. While this may sound silly, the feeders should be completely dry before refilling. Remaining moisture could lead to mold and mildew that could cause illness and rotten, unhealthy seed, thereby negating everything we've just done.

So be sure to follow these guidelines to ensure you have good clean feeders and enjoy watching all the birds flock to your yard and feeders to enjoy their meal.

If interested in the mosaic feeder pictured, it is available in my shop: KayzKreationz. I also have several other feeders with different themes not listed. You can convo me for more info or post a comment here.

Advertising Opportunity--Contest for free Ad space

Recently I wrote a post about selling your own advertising on your blog, so that you can manage it and get more profit from it that something like Project Wonderful. I'm still trying to get stats from the 2-3 advertisers I've had so far, but haven't heard anything from them. Hopefully it is helping them. I tweet about them at least once or twice a week to help out, besides their mini advertising on my blog. The girl that started all this at kMTgraphicdesign of Etsy and her blog has started an AdDirectory ning site, for those interested in learning how to do it and also to find other places to advertise for themselves. She is now offering an opportunity for free ad space for a month on her ning site. So check it out by clicking on the title to this post and see if it's a good fit for you and your blog. And don't forget to check out my advertisers at the bottom of my blog. If you're interested in advertising here, it's only $2.50 a month till the end of August.

Tiger, Garfield, Cheyenne and Time to let go.

We had to have our kitty, Tiger, put to sleep last week. She was an old farm cat, but we'd had her for 13 years. She "belonged" to my oldest son, but when he got moved out, there was no place to take her and she'd always been on our small ranch property, so she stayed with us. And then when he got married his wife is allergic to cats, so she continued to stay with us. She was an ornery old cat. When we first got her, she did NOT like people, so was happy to stay outside. As some of the other cats we had died off or just disappeared, as farm cats do, she mellowed out some and decided we weren't so bad and enjoyed coming in to eat, laying around a little and getting her belly scratched. But she always enjoyed being outside. A couple of weeks ago, I noticed she had started walking kind of sideways. By the next day or two, she was falling over when she tried to walk to fast to the door to come in for food and when she jumped down from the deck railing she would fall. After about 3 days or so of that I decided it was time to go to the vet. I had already taken Cheyenne (my heeler) into the vet the Friday before and found out she had heartworms and would have to undergo treatment, and didn't really want any more bad news, but she needed to be checked out. When we took Cheyenne in for her treatment on that Monday, we also took Tiger with us. The vet said she knew for sure she had an ear infection, but couldn't tell for sure whether she'd also had a small stroke or some other neurological problem. And while they could treat the inner ear infection, it was possible she would never walk right again. Which of course meant she could not defend herself or get away from anything that might try to attack her. (I'd already had to rescue her from a cat fight the night before) And last year, she'd gotten attacked by something, (we never were sure what) that had ripped her back leg open almost to the bone. We didn't think she would live through that, and it did take several months for it to heal enough for her to be able to use it to walk again, but she kept right on plugging. But this time, the vet said she had way outlived her life as an old barn cat and she didn't think she would get through this. To add to the problem, this was on Monday and on Thursday we were leaving for some volunteer work, so she would have been on her own for a little. So the vet suggested having her put to sleep, which we had already discussed. But I couldn't make the decision, so my hubby decided it would be better for her sake. This was one of the last good pictures I got of her back in May. So now, Cheyenne is missing her buddy. They had played some and slept some together. Cheyenne thought she needed to round her up, after we sold our horses, which Tiger did NOT appreciate, but otherwise they got along fine. The other cat in the second picture is Garfield, my youngest son's cat that he had just taken to live with him about 3 weeks before. Garfield and Cheyenne did not get along, but he and Tiger were pretty good friends and Tiger had been missing him, too. But it was time to let Tiger go.