Valentine's Cookies And The Lumber Store

This year I was trying to think of a great way to get guys to buy Tumbled Trinkets for Valentine's Day.  It has been my careful observation through many years of study that men really like cookies and really don't like going into flower shops... that is, unless they are in deep doo-doo then a trip to the flower shop is not only necessary but a joyous occasion.  Therefore, I decided that it would be a great idea to set up shop in the local lumber store on Valentine's Day...

...I would make cookies and bring Valentine's shopping to their environment!

  

...who can resist a homemade cookie!!

I thought it was a stroke of genius...but the guy who manages the lumber store was not so sure...

...Lucky for me, he is married to my web guru, Beth who is very charming AND who is also in charge of helping him come up with new marketing ideas....

....He thinks we're nuts but he decided to give it a try...now his employee's think he's nuts.

I'll keep you posted... but for now I have 8,000,000 more cookies to make. 

Darcie (aka head squirrel at the nut factory)

P.S. You don't have to shop in a lumber store on Valentine's Day for a dazzling pair of eco-friendly recycled glass earrings ...

 

and a matching upcycled pendant....

just visit us at www.tumbledtrinkets.com ...sorry no cookies.

Hats Off To Coaches And Introverts Everywhere

This weekend Salmon hosted as mite hockey tournament and our friend Fritz was coaching Ethan's team. Fritz and my husband have something in common...they are both introverts. Now Russ and Fritz usually deal with this by running the time clock from the comfort of a heated shack...minimal contact - just their speed....

This is last year.....

 BUT somehow this year Fritz got coaching duty (Dan Bill probably had something to do with it) and was thrust into the limelight...

This is Dan Bill...notice he has a black eye in this picture....never say no to guys with black eyes (even if you can kick their hiney's at foosball)! 

Right before the first game I went over to the locker room to see if Fritz needed any help. This is the conversation that followed...."We're good and I put um, um, um (at this point Fritz is trying to recall my son's name...now mind you we've known Fritz and his family for three years and during any other time I might have let him flounder a little but in light of the situation I felt I should help him out). At this point I said, "Ethan"..."Yes," says Fritz with a slight hint of exasperation. The next time I saw Fritz this is what he was doing.....

writing everyone's name on their helmet...

*notice the girl in the corner with the pink tape on her helmet...this is Fritz's daughter...maybe he forgot her name too...

All kidding aside, he did a wonderful job and we greatly appreciate all the hard work that everyone did to make the tournament a success... Russ, by the way was still in the shack...did I mention it was heated. 

Hockey Love, 

Darcie

P.S. If any guys are reading this make your Valentine's Day easy with www.tumbledtrinkets.com

My Valentine's Dilemma

If I were to want any Valentine's gift this year it would be these sweet little spools....

 

the trouble is....I made them. As you can see this is a dilemma... on Valentine's Day the gift really needs to come from the giver's heart and giving myself a sweetheart gift that I actually made is.....well, weird. Other holidays you can fudge a little....for example, Santa has brought me several gifts that I hand picked for him and put in my stocking just because I knew he was extremely busy. The following is one such example...

which coincidently makes a great place to put valentines!

Santa is very clever....but he doesn't come on Valentine's Day...

maybe I'll have him talk to Cupid.

Lots of Love,

Darcie

P.S. Drop the hint and tell your Cupid you want a red pair of earrings to wear when he takes you out to dinner!

Valentine Decorations And Gifts On The Cheap (and Green)

I once told my girlfriend Besty that we were cheap (cheap as in money not cheap as in you know... cheap). She gave me "the look" and said, "we are not cheap we are THRIFTY". We were either at a garage sale or thrift store at the time and something was priced a little too high for me....granted I do want everything to be a quarter, which goes back to the whole cheap thing.  I wasn't ready to "crack the wallet," (this is a Betsyism for, "fork out the cash") so we moved on. This is my THRIFTY friend Besty.....

Fast forward several years to the beginning of my business which has roots in all things recycled. I am always trying to figure out how to make my displays green/eco-friendly and cheap err...THRIFTY and sometimes this can really make my brain hurt!  In this particular case I needed something to compliment the pink and red earrings in my Valentine's display case at our Hospital Gift Shop. Of course, I wanted this "something" to magically appear before my eyes and cost less than a quarter...well as fate would have it I came up with the following idea....

  

paper hearts....just like we made when we were kids.....

free (not even a quarter!!), recycled and above all else.....thrifty. 

So the moral of the story is.... sometimes it's OK to be cheap but it is far, far better to be THRIFTY!

Darcie 

P.S. These little paper hearts remind me of our upcycled red and pink Glass Heart Pins. They will warm any heart this Valentine's Day.....I love to wear mine on my ball cap. Here's a few pics to tickle your fancy...

Just assembled....had to let the glue dry (translates to...I went to watch football).... 

Still drying...more football....

Finished product!

My favorite way to wear them! We have pink hearts too!

Hockey Sticks, Boys And Broken Windows

My husband is in charge of getting Ethan to hockey...period. Well, unless he's gone and then by parental default I have to do it. This last Monday was one of those such days - as I was struggling to wrestle him into all of his hockey garb (per his instructions) and all I could think of was there's probably less involved in an underwater expedition! I was sweating and muttering and I wasn't even dressed yet (I'm sure there is a special place in heaven for hockey Moms and hopefully it doesn't involve ANY ice).

For those of you who don't live in Salmon, ID here's a vital piece of hockey info....we have an outdoor rink. This means that even though we are surrounded by picturesque mountains and stunning scenery (see picture), we freeze our butts off (literally). So, as you can imagine I still had to suit up for the expedition...snow pants, heavy boots, dorky hat, heavy gloves, my daughter's ski jacket....snorkel.

Believe it or not we were only three minutes late....but, as we were walking out the door Ethan informed me that Dad always carries the stick. In all my infinite parental wisdom I stated, "you can carry your own stick" (this becomes an important bit of information so file it away).

Now, people are used to seeing Russ at hockey not me....I got several sideways glances, a few grins and everyone knew I had drawn the short straw (all of them know hockey is really not my thing....I'd rather be snorkeling).

Well, practice is an hour long and I enjoyed watching Ethan skate and yes, I did watch the whole thing outdoors... not from the comfort of  my heated car (after all I was raised in Minnesota and there are certain protocols for these kind of things). Upon driving home I recalled a conversation I had with Brenda Nelson (a high school buddy) several months ago...she said she had a love/hate relationship with hockey and after watching Ethan skate I thought I kind of liked it (love is way too strong of a word). As fate would have it I handed Ethan his stick (remember the above bit of foreshadowing) as we got out of the car and he proceeded to pretend it was a gun shooting imaginary aliens or something as we went into the house. He managed to somehow "tap" the window with the stick which translates to....now I have a broken sun room window...

..... hence this is why Russ always carries the stick....

.......I hate hockey!

P.S. I'm sure there's a special place in Heaven for hockey Dad's and hopefully it involves beer.

Send me a comment with your favorite hockey stories and remember Tumbled Trinkets are a great gift for any hockey Mom!

Fluffy Snow Be Darned!

My very creative girlfriend Rachael sent us a snowman kit over the Holidays and Ethan just couldn't wait to go use it. I tried to explain that the snow we currently have isn't really good snowman snow...too fluffy. He bought this for several days and the kit lay dormant for awhile. As all parents know sometimes school break can become rather long and fluffy snow be darned someone and the dog were going outside! Yes, the snow was still too fluffy but everyone's sanity was on the line. I sent them out and locked the door. I knew I probably had ten minutes, maybe fifteen if I had been living right that day, which I hadn't, so ten was all I could hope for.

He took the snowman kit, the dog and his imagination outside and this is what he came up with.....

 a snowman head.....

that's it, just the head....

but it took him twelve minutes!  

Keep warm and more Tumbled Trinkets to come!

Darcie

  

A Fresh Start In A New Year!

A clean slate, a fresh start, and endless new possibilities....I wish you a wonderful and inspiring New Year!

Darcie