Handmade in my Home A Ship for Grandpa

Last week in this post  I started a series about the handmade things the surround me everyday in my house. All of them, like all handmade things, have stories. Stories about where they came from, who chose them, who made them and what they mean to me when seeing them each day.

Today the item was made by grandkids with some help from mom and dad. It was a gift to my husband who spent 20 years, 3 months and 1 day in the United States Navy. He keeps it in his office where he can see it all the time. I mostly just dust it but I am glad the ship and Jim are here.

I sell - Zibbet I blog - A Cozy Life and Group2020
I tumble - CozyAtoZ
I pin - cozyatoz
I socialize - on Google Plus, on Twitter, and on Facebook

Shop of the Week Lanmon Originals

I have great admiration for people who do things I can't or don't. I have looked at soap making instructions online and it makes my head spin. Thankfully there are shops where you can get the best soaps you have ever used and Lanmon Originals is one of those.

Lemon Zing

Delicate yet vibrant lemon scented soap that will start your morning off with a zing and a smile!
Contains olive oil, canola oil, lemon zing herbal tea, coconut oil, palm oil, shea butter, lemongrass, lemon, lime, orange and grapefruit essential oils, safflower petals and turmeric.

Apricot Creme

Beautifully luxurious apricot soap that will pamper your skin and your mind! The all natural apricot puree and butter make this vegan soap almost good enough to eat!
Contains saponified olive, avocado, palm kernel and castor oils and cocoa and shea butters, peach herbal tea, apricot puree and nut butter, almond milk, and madder.

Rose Romance

All the romance of spring wrapped up in a soap! I spent months infusing oil with roses, and that rose oil kissed with a touch of geranium essential oil gives this hand crafted vegan soap a lovely floral scent that will start your day out right. I have also included a touch of corn silk to make this bar even more luxurious while still being vegan!  Contains saponified olive, canola, palm kernel and palm oils and shea butter, water, rose infused olive oil, geranium essential oil, corn silk, yellowdock, madder and rattanjot.

Goodness I really wish you could smell on the internet! Today the shop of the week has the most lovely sounding scents in handcrafted soap. Leave a comment to let me know what you would choose for yourself.

I sell - Zibbet I blog - A Cozy Life and Group2020
I tumble - CozyAtoZ
I pin - cozyatoz
I socialize - on Google Plus, on Twitter, and on Facebook

The End of Another Week

Yes we all made it to Friday. I hope your week went well. I have been doing a lot of planning and putting in place some changes about the way I go through my day. First of all giving myself a pat on the back for exercising every day this week. I also moved my computer upstairs from the basement. I was supposed to have my own crafting cave down there and I did. The basement is not finished and has one window so I found my crafting cave a bit depressing and hard to get myself down there to work. Now I am at a desk in our guest room that has nice big windows looking out to the mountains and pretty sunsets. The positive outcome of this has been that along with the exercise I have blogged every day this week. Did anyone notice but me? If not that's okay I know you all have lives too and I am not begging for attention although it can feel mighty good to get some.

In shop news, no new photos and hence no new listings this week. It has been snowing and cloudy every day. I have lots of lights here but there is just something about the way sunlight affects the outcome of pictures that is very important to me.


I have been working hard on marketing ideas and trying to make my interactions on social media outlets more efficient. I am getting closer every day. I have found ways to schedule tweets, facebook posts, google+ posts and even pins. Blogger has had a scheduling feature for a long time and Tumblr has a queue. The plan I am going to try to build into a habit is to have places that are the focus for the day. The media I focus on will get a weeks worth of scheduling done. After that I can do quick checks on the other sites to see if there is anything I need to respond to. Over time my hope would be to keep active on the sites that work best for me and let the others go.

I am really looking forward to watching the opening of the Olympics this evening.

Take care all. Time for me to make an afternoon pot of tea.

I sell - Zibbet
I blog - A Cozy Life and Group2020
I tumble - CozyAtoZ
I pin - cozyatoz
I socialize - on Google Plus, on Twitter, and on Facebook

Random Shop Sharing or RSS Brick Shtick

Randomly sharing a shop is something I used to do on the blog and I got out of the habit. Well I am starting again because it is something I like to do. The shops I will share will be handmade, vintage or supply shops that I run across on places like Zibbet or Etsy. Today the shop is Brick Shtick on Zibbet. I think she sells on other sites possible but today the links go to Zibbet.

To understand more about this unusual artist I am quoting from the Policy Page in the Welcome Section.

Welcome... here is a little about me and how I came to this part of my artistic endeavors. I have used a variety of mediums and LEGO® as my current medium is not only challenging, it is also whimsical, which is a little how I am...challenging and whimsical. For me LEGO® is really quite a chaotic material to use but at the same time very precise. Somehow in a in a pile bricks and pieces of chaos, I can see and then reach near perfection with something as utilitarian as a box or as with a piece that is purely visual such as a cake topper?

Perfection really is everywhere, and each flaw is a bit of perfection. So when I create, I work hard to put the traditional meanings of perfection and art aside and go with what comes to me. It is the process of creating beauty and meaning out of these non traditional bits and pieces that moves me

I have had a few different careers, the big ones have been Carpenter, Teacher, and Technical Theatre Geek. As a carpenter and a teacher, I have always had a thing for woodworking and many of my early box creations are made from pieces of scrap wood. I would work a similar process of creating something from chaos or scraps of what would otherwise be thrown away. It became a very serious process and beautiful creations were made, however it lacked the whimsey and smiles that the world of Lego Artist grants me. I truly enjoy making custom pieces because I am motivated and inspired by others vision. Combining my vision with yours is what I hope to accomplish. I hope my work makes you smile and can feel the energy I plant into each of my pieces.

Want to see what some of the pieces look like? Of course. The pictures will be linked to the item page and easy to click when you are ready to shop.

Godzilla Birthday Cake Topper

Wonder Woman Business Card Holder

Bow Tie Pins

Brick Shtick has a Facebook Page and a twitter feed @brickshtick where you can catch all the latest news about designs and so on. Feel free to share what you think about today's Randomly Shared Shop, leave a comment here or on G+.

One more shout out about the awesome Cuprum29 who is the Group2020 shop of the week. The shop is filled with mixed metal jewelry and sleek modern bracelet designs. Trust me it is worth your time to look.

I sell - Zibbet
I blog - A Cozy Life and Group2020
I tumble - CozyAtoZ
I pin - cozyatoz
I socialize - on Google Plus, on Twitter, and on Facebook

What's New Wednesday, February 5th

Well not a lot of pictures got taken this week. I did manage some for two new listings though. It has been cloudy and snowy almost every day which gives my procrastination a good excuse I suppose. Really cold as well with nights below zero and days in the teens.

Today what's new are the blues. One of them is light and summery if you are dreaming of warmer, brighter days. The other is thick, very soft and warm.

I sell - Zibbet
I blog - A Cozy Life
I tumble CozyAtoZ
I pin cozyatoz
I socialize - on Google Plus, on Twitter, and on Facebook

Handmade in My Home Jim's Paperweight

I have been meaning to do a series about the handmade items that surround me in my home for a long time. I started this idea on another blog that I merged with this one last year. This is mostly to document these things for myself but I don't mind sharing them with you all as well.

This is a paper weight I made more than 30 years ago for Jim, as you might have guessed from the picture. I made it during a visit at my cousin Jacque's house around Christmas time one year. She made one for her husband's office too. We filled a child sized high top sneaker with plaster of paris first. Then we painted accents and names on them.

Looking at it and taking the picture today reminded me of how long ago that was and the pleasant times we used to have visiting at her home. In the funny way families are her children were my age and she was more like an aunt to me.

I sell - Zibbet
I blog - A Cozy Life
I tumble Cozy A to Z
I socialize - on Google Plus, on Twitter, and on Facebook

Cuprum29 Shop of the Week

Cuprum29 is an amazing shop filled with work that shows the talents of ErikaLyn who is an artisan committed to creating beautiful things with a mixture of different metals and techniques. After looking at the shop, take you time by the way because you will want to browse it all, it would only take a minute to share it with your followers on your favorite social media.

As a personal note ErikaLyn also shared a great tasting salsa recipe that was a big part of our football food around here yesterday. Thanks!