Birthday Presents for Everyone!

I was originally thinking that this week's regularly scheduled Friday Finds blog post was going to turn into a general wish list for me because.... today's my birthday! Instead, however, I thought it would be more fun to give gifts to all of you! And you can choose what gift you'd like! And it's not just good today, but all weekend!

For every purchase in either Athena's Armoury Etsy Shop or Artfire Studio, choose one of the following:

-Free gemstone & sterling silver earrings
OR
-Free shipping
OR
-Free Euro 4-1 bracelet
OR
-20% (for November 20th, my birthday!) off

Make your purchase and leave me a note with which free gift you'd like. If it's free shipping or 20% off, you can either wait for me to send you a revised invoice before you pay or feel free to pay the full price and I will send you a refund through Paypal.

The celebration will last all weekend until 12:00am (midnight) on Sunday, November 22, 2009.

**20% off not good on armor.

Busy, But Boring

I'm playing a little bit of catch up right now. I realize that my blogging kind of ebbs and flows according to what's going on in my life, but I guess that's only natural. Things have been busy for the past month, but with nothing too terribly exciting. With Scott having been home on worker's comp and my renewed commitment to working out, it seems I haven't had time for much else so I feel like I haven't had much exciting news to share. So here are a few little recent tidbits:

This past week was Scott's birthday and we took up Disney's come for free on your birthday deal and celebrated with Scott's parents in Epcot. He had never been, so we decided to eat our way around the world for his special day.

He's doing better, too. His shoulder still hurts now and again, but the doctor cleared him to return to work on light duty starting this week and his physical therapy will probably continue for another couple months.

I recently hit the 40 sale milestone in my Etsy shop! Thank you so much to all of my wonderful customers that helped get me there.

I also recently surpassed 500 Hearts on Etsy: I'm now at a whopping 515! Thank you to all of you heart givers out there, too.

Back in the beginning of April, I thanked all of the folk who used me as their Artfire referral, thus granting me the opportunity to earn a Free Ride for Life and never ever have to pay any fees of any kind. Artfire doesn't actually tell you who used you as a referral, so I was kind of going by memory with those thanks and mistakenly left out Kathy from Gypsy Goods. Oops. Sorry, Kathy and thanks for letting me know!


Lastly, Scott and I are trying to think of a fun weekend get away for this summer. I love the beach and he loves to keep busy. We're also on a bit of a budget. Any ideas?

The Big 3-0

It was fun seeing "Happy Birthday, AthenasArmoury!" from Etsy on the top of my screen!

So, this past Tuesday I hit the big 3-0. It's funny to think that I'm not in my 20's anymore, but I'm not upset. Age has never been a thing to upset me. As a matter of a fact, I usually have to figure out how old I am because I never remember. Weird, I know. But I digress. It was a fun day with lots of well wishes and balloons and the yummiest dinner ever with my man. But what I wanted to share with you, are the very special items that my loving man and my mother (who was so upset to not be here) gifted me.

When I first started writing this blog, I chronicled my very first metalsmithing class where I was learning to make a ring. Needless to say, I was hooked. I love metal, I love the intricate work it entailed, I love the tools. My teacher recommended this amazing tool kit, which my mother gave me for my birthday. There are so many fun tools in it and I can't wait to play. (Mental Note: Must get some metal.) Hello, my name is Janine and I'm a tool junky.

I've been talking for a while about getting a real jeweler's bench from one of the guys I work with. He's been "forgetting" to bring it in to me for quite some time now. Little did I know that Scott made arrangements to give it to me for my birthday! It was made sometime in the 1930's and it's a little moldy, so it needs to be cleaned but is otherwise in great shape. I'm playing around with the idea of refinishing it, but just don't have the space in the garage to do it right now. I'm afraid if I bring it into my work room and get it all set up, I'm not going to take it out to refinish it later, though.

Oh, and he would be upset if I didn't mention that not only did he get me this amazing bench and tools, but also some Wonder Woman gear. =D