I wanted to share with you all what I have been working on for the shop. If you have been following me on Instagram, you may have seen some shots of these already. These photos I took with my real, normal-size camera! These luminaries have been a long time in the making, from choosing what to shoot, to shooting the images, to choosing which ones to use and then finally making them. I love how they turned out. The lines are clean. I love the contrast in each photo and that they are black and white (or clear, rather, in this case). I have made similar ones for wedding centerpieces, but these are even better (in my opinion). You can buy them at the shop here. Check out more close-ups below!






**I also wanted to clarify that these are tea light luminaries, meaning they are about two inches tall and fit a tea light candle in them to light up the image. I realized that my photos do not depict size or purpose---sorry about that! **

This weekend, I used the rest of my Christmas money to purchase a can of chalkboard paint. I have had ideas for this for a long time but just hadn't had the chance to buy the paint. Unfortunately, a quick search of the Internet and Etsy shows that many people already have lots of products featuring this paint. Oh well, I'll still enjoy it! The above picture shows the final product. I decided to paint the lids because then you can still wash the jar in the dishwasher.



Above are the lids before painting. The picture below it shows the paint: Rustoleum Chalkboard.

I had to put three coats of the paint on, but it was well worth it.

I had the lids on paper towel but in hindsight I should have used a plastic bag. The lids stuck to the paper after I painted them. Oops.

The after. I am pleased with the results. Just a few more paint touchups and it will be all set.

The collection all together.

The next on my list to purchase is...chalk! I realized that once I got home from the store that I had forgotten to purchase the chalk to show off the newest "chalkboards". I'll have to post an update later once I have the chalk.

I hope that everyone had a safe and happy new year! Last night I played around with glass etching. My cousin at Life, Love, Green has done some crafts with it and so I wanted to give it a shot. The above is my first result; it's not exactly what I wanted. However, I like the somewhat rustic effect that I ended up with. (The plaid pieces are what's left from another craft that I have been working on. It will be featured in a later post.) T&E is short for TurtandElephant, the name of this blog as well as our shop. I am toying with using a variation of this sketch for branding purposes.

I have a few goals that I would like to work on this year as far as the shop and blog go:

1. Brand the items I sell in my shop.
2. Make at least 1 DIY post per month in this blog.
3. Make at least 4 step-by-step instructions for something that I have made for the home.
4. Feature items or stores from Etsy where I have found something that I enjoy, at least 3-4 days per week.

I can't expect perfection from myself, but I look forward to working on these goals this year.

While testing image transfers on some items (mostly recycled glass and tealight candle holders) and talking with one of my friends, I decided that I would transfer some wedding images onto glass for a wedding reception. Here are the results:

I am pretty pleased with the results and will be using the method on larger objects in the near future. To see the listing on Etsy, click here.