Outraged!!

Okay today I am livid!! Livid!! I am a bibliophile. I love books. LOVE THEM! I have a lovely collection of books that my mother read when she was young and I still love to read them and my girls love to read them. Now aparently they are dangerous. According to the notorious Consumer Protection and Safety Improvement Act
http://www.cpsc.gov/ABOUT/Cpsia/cpsia.HTML
Books printed before 1985 have too much lead in the ink. Libraries are now being forced to remove vintage book from their shelves. I would rather my children read Trixie Belden, Donna Parker and the like than Captain Underpants or other such rot thank you very much, lead ink or no lead ink. I found this article and it sums it up in a nutshell. http://www.parentdish.com/2009/02/20/old-books-a-new-source-of-lead-poisoning/
I am amazed that anyone of us who were born before 1985 survived to adulthood what with strings on our hoods, lead paint, walkers....need I continue. Don't get me wrong I am for keeping our children safe but this is rediculous in the extreme. The US government missed the boat on this one. Keep high lead products form overseas out of the hands of our children. Yes please. But watching second hand stores shut down beacuse they can't afford to test every button and zipper and filler in a North American made winter jacket is ludacris. WHat about all of the not so rich and famous who need access to second hand stores?? Sorry uys you will have to do without because there is a 1 in a million chance that the North Americian plant that made that coat might have used a snap cover from China. Even though I live in Canada where these laws are not on the books I am still affected by the crazyness in the States. I can't sell my used books on ebay unless I am sure they are printed after 1985. Even if I use the disclaimer that they are intended for adults over the age of 12. What if junior gets a hold of mommy's "new" first edition Jane Austin and tries to eat it??? I am now libel and can face up to $100,000.00 in fines. I thought we did away with book burning/banning???? Maybe Big Brother has just developed new tactics??? Aren't we enlightened yet?? Better luck next time boys. Lets make laws that really work.

Treasures

I was featured in a treasury on Etsy by lindabutterfly.
She did such a great job ! All of these fine artists are found on www.etsy.com

I'm in the Spotlight

As most of you know I have been trying to get an Etsy store up and running. The marketing aspect is not my cup of tea. Well today I am in the spotlight. I'm in the new members spotlight from www.byhand.me . I'm the filigree flower on the bottom right corner. Thank you Rebecca for featuring me. The link to the spotlight is here: http://www.byhand.me/component/option,com_spotlight/Itemid,73/action,view/id,554/task,show/
and you can also see it on the homepage. If any one is interested it is still available for purchase in my etsy store. That link is on the left hand side of the blog. What a great thing to wake up to. I'm doing more photography today. I'm going to try to use a black background and see if my colors pop a little bit more. Thanks Shel for the idea. I'll post some of the pics later today.

$20.00 ....a lesson for everyone

A friend of mine Annie from one of the Yahoo groups I'm in, it's not really a group but more like a family, sent this out. I really liked it
$20.00
Sometimes we just need to be reminded!
A well-known speaker started off his seminar by: holding up a $20.00 bill. In the room of 200, he asked, 'Who would like this $20 bill?' Hands started going up. He said, 'I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do this. He proceeded to crumple up the $20 dollar bill. He then asked, 'Who still wants it?' Still the hands were up in the air. Well, he replied, 'What if I do this?' And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the dirt with his shoe. He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty. 'Now, who still wants it?' Still the hands went into the air. My friends, we have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20. Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value. Dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless to those who LOVE you. The worth of our lives comes not in what we do or who we know, but by WHO WE ARE and WHOSE WE ARE. You are special - Don't EVER forget it.'

Thank you Annie.

The flu is finally over

Finally we are over the flu. My husband is still suffering with a cold but the flu is gone. Yippee!! I can hear the sounds of my children humiliating my husband at Mario Kart so all is right with the world. I have very little time to design lately but I do have several new pieces that will be released next week. Right now I am lamenting that I agreed to put up my favorite piece for sale. It reminds me of the rainbows you see on asphalt parking lots when some oil has spilt. Okay I know potential environmental damage is not wonderful but we are looking for the visual here. Black rainbows, that's what it looks like to me. You can see better pictures in my etsy store

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6794650

I love it. Swarovski crystals and pearls in purple velvet and antique silver filigree. I should really go and do something productive right now like organizing my office. Maybe after lunch.....