Friday Favorites: Danielle Bradbery and Other Happiness

It's Friday! And time for just a few of my very favorite things right now:

1) When Danielle Bradbery was on The Voice last year, it was pretty clear to me, and evidently a bunch of other people, that she would get pretty far in the competition. So when she won, I was quite thrilled for her. Then her album finally came out, and when I previewed it on iTunes, I just had to buy it.

It's a really great album, but one song in particular is just amazing. And even though the album came out nearly two months ago, this song is still repeat worthy. I'm not sure if it's possible to get sick of it ... but we'll find out.

I knew right away that whoever wrote this song (come to find out, Katrina Elam, Josh Kear, and Chris Tompkins, according to trusty Wikipedia ;) was definitely not messin’ around—this is perfection, complete with an unpredictable hook and two key changes (my personal favorite songwriting “trick”). And it's no wonder this one has an extra something to it, because that's the only song on the album by those three writers. Home. Run.

2) In case you haven't gathered by the fact that I make and sell jewelry, I am definitely pro-handmade. At least half the gifts I gave for Christmas were handmade, whether by me or others, and I'm to the point I feel kinda bad buying things at, say, Walmart that I know I could find on Etsy, made by someone like me who could use the money a whole lot more than some retail chain.

So when I was set up at an Arts and Crafts fair in my area a couple months ago, and the nicest lady ever was set up next to me with all of these cute handmade purses and photo cards and coasters and more, I went to town. My grandmother, cousin, and niece-in-laws all got purses for Christmas ... and I got two. ;)

I decided to use this one first, and I love it.

If you look closely at the top of it, you can see the striped lining--it's reversible!

I've always loved this design, which I'm sure you've seen before, whether on a vintage bedspread or modern lampshades.

A close-up for ya

And even though gray/black aren't my usual colors, I just couldn't pass it up. The beige makes it passable. ;) The wonderful lady's name is Martha Davis, and she doesn't currently have an Etsy shop or else I would totally link it here. But if you'd like to get in touch with her, just comment or email me and I can get her email address to you. :)

3) And in case you missed it, this stuff is awesome:

If only I'd found it years ago. Now my nails can actually last more than a day, and that, my friend, makes me very happy. :)

So go paint your nails with this stuff, and then while they dry, do some good old USA Etsy shopping and listen to some Danielle. It'll make you happy...! ;)