Girls Shopping Trip

A few weekends ago, my girlfriends and I made the one and a half hour drive for Fort Wayne, Indiana for the Vera Bradley outlet sale. The sale is only held only once a year in a large convention hall. This was the first time any of us had gone to it and oh my goodness was it a mad house! I have never seen a line so long in my life. We were told 4 to 6 hours just to get in!!! Nope, not for us. Luckily, there was a shopping mall right there so we still had a great time! The mall had an Archivers scrapbook store, and I was able to pick up some new Tim Holtz findings. If you've been following me for some time, you will know that I have used Tim Holtz goodies in the past - particularly his sprocket gears and swivel clasps. This time I found:

Philosophy tags: Here is a necklace I just made my husband for our trip. I made the altered charm a little more "altered" by giving it a good beating with my hammer and other metal objects.
Locket keys: I think the keyholes make great focals for bracelets, and I am planning on using the keys for toggles.

Word sticks: The possibilities are endless with these. Here, I used 3 to dangle off a cute bird branch.

Even though I didn't get any new Vera Bradley bags, soon after the trip I purchased this handmade goodie from Sharon Fastiggi. It is made of upcycled men's ties and buttons! It caught my eye in the recent issue of Haute Handbags by the awesome Stampington publishing group.