Accidental

I wasn't around much at all yesterday. My phone rang at 8:00 in the morning and my day just stopped. My sister called saying she had been a car accident. SHE IS ALRIGHT! Thank heavens. But as soon as I could get Lauren to school I went to take her to the doctors. The accident happened just about 200 yards from her house. She lives in the city and you know how people park in the city. They line up down one side of the road or the other. Well going down the street a girl pulled right out of her driveway (hidden between two parked cars) into Bonnie. She wasn't going more the 30mph so her airbags didn't go off. But she hit her head really hard. She has a GIANT goose egg. She was rather dazed and confused. The police officer asked if she needed an ambulance but Bonnie just wanted to go home. Our doctor got her in right away, but told her anytime you hit your head go to the emergancy room. Bonnie was sent for a CT & x-rays of her knees. One knee was pretty swollen from hitting the underside of the dash board. All the tests looked fine and it was okay to take her back home. I talked to her this morning and she is fine, just really sore. That and pissed about her beautiful new car. She has a 2006 Dodge Stratuss RT, all shiny and silver with a caved in front end. The police said it was the other girl's fault so fortunately Bonnie won't be footing the bill for the repairs and doctors bills. I am just relieved my little sister is okay. Something very very funny that happened yesterday durning all this... not once but TWICE I was called Bonnie's "MOM". Our family practicianer thought she was my daughter and the radiologist doing the CT gave me a clip board and said "here Mom you fill these out." LOL! I am only 3 years older then her! Either she looks 8 years old or I look 40, now which is it? LOL!

Anyway, on the bead front. This next week is going to be rough one for making beads. Ron has a big project due, the kids are off on Monday and I have to go to the dentist on Wednesday. But hopefully I can sneak some in here and there. I will report back with photos of anything I am able to get done!

Don't for get "An Artist's Ghost" auction ends tonight!!! GO BID!!! YOO HOO!!!

Shhhh.... don't tell.

Oh, you can tell if you want I guess. The secret is that I just listed a bunch of new Bead Box beads! They are a bunch of beads I had just laying around. So I snapped some pics and put the up. I also put up yesterday's holiday looking beads and a few focals too. Hopefully by the end of next week these will be gone and I will have more to put in the box. Yesterday's holiday ones gave me some ideas for more fallish ones with purple and browns. Ymmmm....

Today was a really great day. Unlike the busy-ness of yesterday, today was relaxed and fun. I ignored all my homely responsiblities and read a book this morning then went to lunch this afternoon. Lunch was AWESOME! It is always great to get to visit with my friend Lindsey. We live about 15 mins away from each other but can't seem to get together more then about once every other month. We went to our usual spot (Simply Crepes) and had salads & crepes. Then I took Linsdey to check out Craft Company #6. A really cool shop in the city.

Go check out the beads in the Bead Box and I will see ya tomorrow.

My day ~

For lack of anything better to blog about, I thought I would tell you a play by play of my day today.

It started around 7:30, I woke up late. I usually get up around 7:00 but today I was suggled in and out cold. I got up and woke up Andrew. Jacob was already awake in the living room watching Aurther on PBS. I made the boys their breakfast (Jacob had waffles and Andrew had oatmeal) and while I was waiting on the toaster & microwave, I loaded up the dishwasher. I then had to pack totebags with homework and snackes. And somewhere in there I located clean pants for both boys and managed to get her royal highness princess Lauren to wake up. Ron headed out the door around 8:00. Right when I was finally starting my coffee.

I sent the boys out the door about 8:15 and spent the following 15 minutes yelling out the front door for them to stop kicking each other and that it was Andrew's turn to go first on the bus. Jacob was insisting on kicking large rocks from our driveway into the middle of the road. Grrr... once the bus was gone, I got Lauren and myself dressed for the day. And I poured my cup of coffee, lol. It was suddenly 8:50 and I had to run Lauren up to preschool. But not before starting the kiln up so it would be toasty warm for when I got back.

It doesn't take long to drop Lauren off and I was back home by 9:10. I had left my cup of coffee on the kitchen counter while I was gone and amazingly enough, it was still hot when I got home. I grapped it and headed down to the studio computer to check emails. I answered one or two then went out to the torch. I made the beads you see here today and also some for an order. I torched diligently from 9:30 - 11:00. Then decided my pig sty of a bathroom needed to be cleaned, lol. I set the timer on the microwave for 15 minutes and scrubed. Why a timer? So I wouldn't leave late to pick up Lauren. I got her right on time at 11:30. She was reading a book with her teacher Miss Robin when I got there.

Once we got out to the car, Lauren began what has become her after school routine. She asked me to take her to get chicken nuggets at McDonalds. When I said no, she cried for a good 30 minutes. She was crying when we got home, so I tried my darnest to ignor her pledding for fast food. I brought her in, pulled off her sneakers and set her balling self on the couch. I popped in a Shirley Temple movie and started her lunch. I made her chicken nuggets and mac&cheese. While she finally calmed herself down and while I was waiting for boiling water, I swept the kitchen/dining room/living room floors. Then I remembered Lauren's speech therapist was coming so I cleaned up Lauren's room too. I collected all her laundry and made her bed too. Lunch was ready by 12:15. And it was yummy.

When lunch was done, I unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher. Then checked emails again. While checking mail, the phone rang and I got a invite to lunch tomorrow with my good friend Lindsey. Susan (Lauren's therapist) arrived at 12:50 while I was chatting on the phone. I cut things short with Lindsey and talked to Susan a bit before she got started with Lauren. She brought me the book Baby Proof by Emily Griffin (the 3rd in a triliogy of book club books). While she and Lauren did their work, I called my Mom to see if she could wath Lauren for my lunch date. And then I worked on the invitation for the Holiday Open House I am doing with Susan. By 1:30, Susan and Lauren were done with the session. I should Susan the invite and I have to remember to email it out to the vendors tonight.

Lauren and I decided to have a tea party next. I made some coffee and I know it sounds terrible but Lauren loves coffee for tea parties. I let her have some in her tiny tea cups with a big splash of milk. After tea, I made a new Sandy Lanterns bangle. I had been forgetting for ages to make one for SbS Wire Mag. I had also been forgetting to edit my tutorial so I worked on that too. Lauren played Barbies while I worked at the kitchen table next to her. I was done with my bangle and tutorial by 2:30 so I rewound that Shirley Temple movie and turned it on again for me and Lauren. We had a quiet hour before the boys got home at 3:45. I snuck in a little reading during movie.

There was good news when the boys got home, no bus trouble today, yoo hoo. They have made Jacob and 2 other student bus monitors and it seems to be helping a lot. Andrew was very eager to tell me all about his field trip to Heritage Square ( a small historic area of our village). He got to go to jail, lol. And he wants us all to go together sometime soon. The boys had a snack and decided to watch Xmen 3. I had bought it for them yesterday and since it is a miserable rainy windy day her, I said they could watch it. I cleaned the studio, loaded the laundry and added a few more things to the dishwasher while it was quiet. The dishwasher had extra space after the lunch dishes so I loaded it up with the glass bells on the light over our kitchen table, they were really really dusty!!

By then it was about 5:30 and the kiln was done with this morning's beads. I took them off the mandrels and cleaned them. Then I started dinner. Ron had thawed some sausage so I decided we would have Hamburger Helper Tomato and Basil Penne with ground sausage. It didn't take long to get that bubbling away and then I took a few quick pics of those new beads. I sent some emails in there too.

I started to write this blog and the doorbell rang. A guy was here to pick up a table Ron had posted for sale over the weekend. I helped him get that loaded in the truck, then tried some more to get this blog written. Ron finally got home from work and school at 6:45. We had our surpisingly yummy dinner and now at 7:20, I am finishing this blog, Jacob is doing homework and Ron & Andrew are playing video games.

I think this is the longest blog I have ever written, lol. But anyway, that was my day. That is how most of them go. I juggle my art and my family all through out the day. Tonight we are going to watch the season primere of LOST and I will probably fold laundry while we watch it, lol. Then again I might get a glass of wine and fold laundry after lunch tomorrow. LOL!

Feel free to send me an email and let me know what you did today!

When it rains...

... it pours. That's the saying right? Well it is suddenly my mind that seems to be flooding! I was just sitting surfing the web this morning. Oogling the beads people were sharing on wetcanvas's daily showcase. Then checking out the latest beads people are selling on Ebay when all of a sudden BOOOMMM! My mind was racing! I had to get my sketch book out. I have 5-6 drawings here of new necklace designs and new beads too. I am itching for Ron to get home. I wanna go out to the torch before dinner.

The one design I am most excited about is the next phase of my "At The Playground" necklace. You'll remember it. There were disks in all different colors and patterns linked together on squiggle wire links. Well I have this idea... I used pure silver on that necklace and made giant headpin out of it to create the links. I was thinking, lets make the head pins double ended. A ball of silver on each end, with a bead trapped in the middle. And how can I link the head pins together? I have it all sketched out and I think it is going to ROCK! I need to make the beads and then start to build the links. FUN! I think you all know me well enough by now that I will probably have it finished by the end of the week. I get an idea and have to do it right away. I can't stop thinking about it (or sleep) until it is done. So I will share pics when it is ready.

I am kinda bummed out about the results of the auction that ended last night. The beads are really awesome and I thought they would do much better. I think after "An Artist's Ghost" ends that I will stay away for Ebay for a while. The fees are too high and the market place too if-y. I am thinking I need to change the POLL questions. Obviously you all want me posting more beads, more often. But some of the new things that makes me wonder is... what if I list a single set here or there as they are done? do you only want to know when I have a big group, all in the same colors? would you all go for a couple "larger" sets in my Bead Box or do you want me to keep the sets unde $50 like I have been doing? I have to formulate my questions and then I'll update.

The boys bus just pulled in... gotta run!

A girl can dream

We were driving home from my Mom's house yesterday afternoon and noticed one of our FAVORITE houses is up for sale. Ron and I wrote the details down to look it up when we got home. Check it out... HERE. We knew it was out of price range but I didn't realize by how much. Our mortage would double and our taxes would triple. But like I said, a girl can dream. I was also admiring THIS amazing house the other day. Looks like we missed out on THIS one, lol. I wonder if Ron would got for this ONE? This HOUSE is right up my alley. Now if only they could move this house out of the CITY to the country. This one is in my town and was very country COOL. LOL, I LOVE HOUSES! And I love moving. Too bad we won't be going anywhere for a few more years. We qualified for a grant towards the construction of our house back in 2000. We were given $25,000 and if we want to keep it, we have to stay in the house for 10 yrs. 6.5 yrs down just 3.5 to go, lol. I can't wait to go house hunting in a few years. I know just what I want. Ron and I have talked about it loads of times. We want an older colonial (preferrably a farm house with 3 stories) on a good size wooded lot (around 1 acre) with a large garage/old barn. That's not asking too much is it? lol. I say again... a girl can dream. If we went with some place more suburban, it would defiantely be like the first house I showed you.

Speaking of dreams, I had to most wonderful one this morning about my future bead shop. Ever have dreams so real that when you wake up it takes you a little while to realize you were dreaming? That's how this one was. I was painting the exterior of an old one story building I can only describe as somethign out of the south, but it was on the main street of my town. It had long thin windows with big shutters. I was painting the shutters a very dark eggplant purple that was almost black, the trim I had painted a deep dark red. The bulding was a very soft butter yellow with the bottom 1/3 a rich hunter green. A lot of color! But it looked wonderful in my dream. *SIGH* someday... Oh well, back to reality, lol.

I updated the "Knob Commission" page with the last of the knobs... commission:complete.

This week's free beads winner is Lori O, out in sunny CA. Congrat LORI! I will get the new free beads posted shortly (a couple are still in the kiln). Thanks again everyone for your continued support of my website/work with your votes. I APPRECIATE IT! YOU GALS ROCK!

I almost forgot... "Western Denim" ends tonight! GO GET YOUR BIDS IN! I am never going to be able to afford my new house and bead store if you all don't start bidding higher, lol.

Critic's Corner

YYYYaaaawwwwnnnnnn.... my goodness I am tired. It is a little after 8am and my coffee is dripping and my nose is sniffing. LOL. It went down in the 40s last night and dang it was cold in the house. I didn't notice because I was curled up warm in my blankets. I always know the night before was cold by how warm I am under the blankets. If my eyes won't open and my legs won't move for fear of fitting a cold spot in the blankets, I know it was cold. All that cuddily sleep just makes me more tired though. Shouldn't be too big a deal today, I have no plans, I can just take a nap. lol.


I made a few beads yesterday. I was testing the spree shape of the Ghost beads. Still need to experiment some more. The spree shape is a lot hard to get just the right amount of glass in. Just gotta practice and find that magic amount. I also made two new knobs for the commission. I haven't updated the knob page on my site in a while, maybe I will do that today. I only have two left to make and I am done! It has been so cool making all these. I can't wait to see the photos of the kitchen. Today's pictures are of knobs 28, 29 & 30. Fun bright imaginative knobs!

Yesterday was also Andrew's soccer game. AND HE SCORED A GOAL! YOO HOO ANDREW!! I am a little perterbed with the coach though. There are a lot of kids on the team so there is a lot of substituting and turn taking which is fine. But he pulled Andrew off offense in the middle of his turn. Andrew was so upset. Offense is his favorite. I didn't say anything though, we will see how next weekend goes. Maybe coach was having a bad day.

After that was when I made beads then listed the new beads on Ebay. I set them up to start last night. You can see "An Artist's Ghost" HERE! I decided to start the auction higher then I usually do. Sorry. I just can't chance them going in for any less. If they sell, AWESOME! If they don't, you know I got ideas for stuff to make with them.

As if that wasn't an eventful enough day, my sister and I went out to a movie yesterday evening. We hit the 5 o'clock matinee of The Illusionist . Yeah, had to go to the early show because OMG it is like $8.75 for a evening showing. That is just tooo much. Greedy cinemas. Anyway, the movie was okay. The visual effects were wonderful and the period feel of the movie was great. Unfortunaly, the story line was very very predictable. So, in my opinion, wait for the DVD at Blockbuster. Hopefully The Prestige will be better. It is always lovely to spend a few hours with Hugh Jackman.

Ron is making crepes this morning for me for breakfast. And then I am hitting the torch for the last two knobs. Check ya later!

Artist Ghost Preview

EEEEKKKKKK!!! I am excited about these! I was able to make another set of beads today while Lauren was at school today. And they came out of the kiln just moments ago, literally. They spent more then 6 hours slowly cooling down. I was like a kid at Christmas waiting for them to be ready. I was sooo excited that I took them off the mandrels, cleaned them, strung and photographed them the second they got to room temperature. These beads are absoluttely amazing. I am going to keep working on the photos because I have yet to have one capture what they really look like. AAAAAHHHHH!! I am so excited!!

The beads were made with the silver R4 glass called Picasso Blue. You should see the rods, they start out a transparent cobalt blue and when you reduce the glass in the torches flame, out comes these amazing swampy blues and greens. I decided to call them "An Artist's Ghost". I think they have a raising mist quality to them, very eerie and very mysterious. Since the glass is named after an artist, the mist must be the ghost of Picasso. (Don't worry I haven't lost my mind, I am just using my imagination!) This set is BIG! There are 21 beads. A dozen small rounds, 3 large nuggets (larger then the ones you are used to seeing in the bead box) and 6 medium nuggets. If I saw these beads on Ebay by another artist, it would definately be an auction I would watch and bid on. I love these. I would keep them for myself if I thought I couldn't make them again. But I know I can, and I know I will. I am already thinking I need to make some in the spree shape.

PLEASE, let me know what you think of these!!! I wanna hear your thoughts.

Alright, enough playing on the computer. It is time to cook up some dinner and have some wine with Ron.

Rainy Denim Days

You asked for them so you got them! The "Western Denim Days" beads have been loaded up into my "Bead Box"... go check them out!

I just sent out the group email letting everyone know and let me tell you, it was a pain. It seems that Yahoo!Mail thinks I have too many people on my mailing list. I have about 70 or so people on the list. And I had no trouble mailing you all two weeks ago but now there is a problem. I had to split you all up into two group and I had to remove some of the "extra" names like my Mom & sister. I am going to have to send customer service some emails to see what can be done about this. Weird huh? Oh well. You all know now so no harm done.

I do hope you all like the beads! But in case you don't, I came up with some "survey" questions for you all to answer to find out more about your likes & dislikes. I have seen "polls" on other website so I thought I could add one to mine! FUN huh? Go vote HERE!

I am going to hang out by the computer to update the Bead Box then I am heading out to teach tonight! See ya later!

Just another Wednesday

I was thinking that I would post a "sneak peak" pic for you gals of tomorrow's bead box beads but decided I would make ya all suffer. You are gonna have to wait until tomorrow. LOL. Sorry. The kiln is still cooking and I have a quiet moment to update, if the timing had been better I probably would have snapped a pic for you. Oh well, what is another 24 hours wait? I will say, I think you are gonna like them! I am thinking I will have 6-8 sets. Yoo HOO! Is whole scheduling my time things really seems to be working well. The new thought in the back of my head is that bead box specials every week is over kill. You don't need that many beads. So I am going to try and have specials every other week and on the off weeks, I will make beads for me to use. Good plan huh? We'll see how long that lasts. lol.

Last nights coffee get together about the "Shop Til You Drop" Open House went really well. I was wrong about who would be there representing direct sale merchants. So here is the new list... Pampered Chef, Baby Splendor (it's new, google it, it's cool), Tastefully Simple, Stampin' Up (another cool craft thang), Mary Kay, a yet to be named handbag maker, and me. Should be GREAT! Last night was the first time everyone met and it was kinda quiet, kinda stiff, but I know by time the day rolls around everyone will be kicking back hanging out having fun. That is really important to me. I think these kinds of things should be FUN! Like, we are going to have PRIZES! What a great incentive to come! The more you spend, the more tickets you get to enter your name in the "Grand Prize" basket drawing. The basket will be filled with goodies from each vendor. I wanna win!

Ron is at school tonight. Me and the kids are just gonnna hang out and relax, do some homework, make some dinner, and what not until he gets home. I am going to torch again tonight before bed. I need to do a few more beads for tomorrow and I need to make beads for a class I am teaching tomorrow night. I had completely forgot I was teaching a "Sandy Lanterns" class. So I need to do some black capped raku beads. I need to do some anyway. I need to get the tutorial and finished piece to the magazine for photographing.

Ugh this blog sounds boring. Hmmmm... I wonder if there is anthing I can come up with to spice it up? Hmmm... any good gossip I should share? Bummer, I can't think of a thing. I will call my sister and make her take me out this weekend. That is always fun and leads to interesting tales.

See ya tomorrow with new beads!

Tuesday Ramblings

My my what an eventful evening we had last night on the website. My stars! It all started yesterday afternoon when I tried to update my site with photos of the "Western Denim" auction. It was taking forever, it wouldn't load for some reason. After an hour of trying to get it to work on my own, I called Yahoo's free tech support. The first tech I spoke to determined it was my wireless connection. So I disconnected all the wires on our pc and direct connected the laptop to the cable modem. (anyone falling asleep reading this should skip to the next paragraph) Still the same. I called back (as I was instructed to) and I spoke to a cool guy named Dave for over an HOUR! In one attempt to get it working, he said he wanted to try to load a test page. He misstakenly turned my homepage into his test page. AAAHHHHH! And he couldn't get it back. He then found out the there seemed to be a universal problem with Time Warner, Comcast and some other provider dropping the connection to Yahoo. He had NO idea when it would be fixed. After another hour or two of stewing, trying to get it fixed with no connection, I had a light bulb moment. "I'll try my dial up service," I thought! It fixed the problem, almost. Somewhere in there for a short bit it got it back and took it out again then got it back again. Whatever the phantom loading problem was, it is fixed now, thank goodness. And the site is back to normal. I loaded the new free beads and I fixed the auction links... all is right in the cyber Kab's world.

Now on to more interesting things.... who knows this movie poster? Or rather, DVD jacket? I just about started jumping up and down when I was in Target today and saw this. This movie, The Last Unicorn (1982), is my hands down all time favorite ever cartoon from my childhood. I loved this movie when I was little. I can't believe they have re-released it on DVD (for only $9.44)! Of course I bought it, couldn't live with out it, and I am going to watch it later. Eeeekkk, I am excited to have it. And I know the kids are going to love it too. Come on now, unicorns, magic, wizards, the Red Bull, a castle... what's not to love? By show of hands, who has seen it? Who remember's it from when they were kids (or "young adults")?

I got a bit of bummer news this afternoon, my gallery piece that was supposed to be in the December 2006 issue of B&B has now been rescheduled for June 2007. And Bead & Button thanks me for my patience and understanding. Grrr... I was really excited about that. Oh well, next summer will be a blast with Bead & Button, BeadStyle and Step By Step Publications! So I won't complain.

Tonight should be fun, my friend Susan (aka Lauren's speech therapist & also book club member) is having a little coffee get together. Susan is a Pampered Chef consultant and had an idea to do an Open House with several home party companies this November. I am so happy she decided to ask me if I would represent jewelry in place of Sopata. It is a wonderful concept! There will be Pampered Chef, Party Lite, Mary Kay, Discovery Toys, Airrobone (I think) and me. Each "vendor" is going to have a room of her BIG BEAUTIFUL house to set up in. We are all combining our mailing lists to send out over 1000 invitations. It should be a great event. I will let you know more details as it gets closer. This maybe the gig that makes me venture into the "home party" side of the jewelry biz. We will see how it goes. I would definately need a plan ahead of time as to weither I am going to do selling parties, or teaching parties and that kind of thing. If any of you readers do home parties, let me know. I would love to pic your brain about it!

I am off to make enchiladas and then head out to coffee at Susan's. Everything is still on track for tomorrow's bead making and Thursday's bead box beads.

CONGRATS TO Mari Beth! This week's free beads winner! YOO HOO!

Issues Resolved

I think the home page is back up and running. And I was able to get the auction listed too. Click here to get your bid in on "Western Denim". I will do all the free beads stuff tomorrow. I dan't want to risk messing the site up again tonight.

Thanks for your patience!

IMPORTANT!

MAJOR TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES!

It seems that my homepage has gone missing. I have been on the phone with tech support at Yahoo Small Business Sevices for about an hour now. The guy I was talking tried to load a "test" page to see if the problems were on my end or yahoo's. In doing so he wiped out my index page! I will keep trying to get it back but I am told the problem is with my ISP dropping the connection to Yahoo for some reason.

I will let you know when I get it back!

Western Denim Days

Well, here they are... "Western Denim"! These are the beads I was so excited to see come out of the kiln. I think they turned out great! There is so much depth and detail to them. I know the winning bidder of these beads is going to love them. I wanna hear your thoughts on these! So, let me have it. Remember, you can click the photo to see the larger image. I am trying to get the autcio for these set up to start later tonight but there seems to be somethign going on with yahoo web hosting right now. Hopefully it is fixed soon. I will share the link to the auction as soon as I have it.


I did just like a said and worked on bead box beads all morning. I made all the focal beads today and I will work on the rounds Wednesday. So watch for the bead box update on Thursday! They are all the colors you see in these beads, just not as over the top as these are. I think you'll like them. I love the splattered spray paint look of those enamels! So there is a little of that in the bead box beads too.

So other then the new beads, there is nothing new to report from me. I have a terrible case of the blahs and I am working on trying to get rid of them. I'll keep you posted.

Sunday Afternoon

Hey devoted blog followers...

Who noticed me post the "Speckled & Spooky" beads on Ebay last night? Well if you didn't see just click HERE to check them out! I started then at 99 cents. I start all my "holiday" beads that way. I did my valentine's beads that way too. I hope you all will go bid like crazy!

I just came in from the torch a few minutes ago and I can't wait to see the beads tomorrow. These are going ot be really cool... I think. LOL. You never really know until they come out how they will really be but they have me jazzed to pull them out in the morning. Have you noticed the big "twisy" bead trend going on in the Ebay bead world? For examples click HERE, HERE & HERE. Well, I suck at making twisties. I have tried (albeit a while ago) and just couldn't get a good twist. BUT!, Lynnie over at Artemis Beads can make awesome ones! So I bought a couple dozen to try my hand at the twisty bead craze. And that is what I spent today working on. I decided to go with my "Western Denim" color combo of transparent root beer brown with ivory and turquoise. You all know I had to find a way to be different so I added splashes of dusty brown enamels too. And then to top it off... I added some plaid!!! It took more then two hours to make 9 beads. That is a long time for just a few beads, but I am hoping it will be worth it.

I know you all have been chomping at the bit for new bead box beads. I have been reading the email requests. So tomorrow I am going to stick with the "Western Denim" colors and make bead box beads while Lauren is at school. Cross my heart. I was in the psycho show mode for so long in August and September that I couldn't make the switch back to my usual bead routine. I am hoping to find my groove this week. Hang in there with my while I look for it, okay, lol.

I am gonna go get some dinner started... who's watching Desparate Housewives tonight?

Speckled & Spooky

I know, I know... it's been ages since you have seen a set of beads from me. Well, the waiting is over. What do you think? This set is "Speckled & Spooky", my alternative Halloween set of beads. I decided that you have plenty of choices when it comes to glass candy corns, pumpkins, and other cutesy beads. I wanted to do something different. I made a base of black and added enamels in subtle yellow and bursting orange. The orange is definately the dominate of the two enamels. There is a kinda squashiness to the color. I really like it. But I want to hear from you all. What do you think? Will you bid when I put them up on Ebay? Or are they just too out there?



I feel exhausted right now. It was such a long day here. It started extra early with Ron watching the Ryder Cup "streaming" on the golf channel.com. Wonderful husband he is, he got up early, made cinnamon rolls then used the last of the cream for the coffee! Grrrr... I made beads while Lauren was at school (see above photo)then this afternoon we went to the farm where my cousin Charity keeps her two horses, Clover & Shamrock. Lauren loved Clover and even got to ride her! I wish I had my camera it was soo cute. Then Lauren and I planted some new flowers in the gardens. I spent the rest of the afternoon finally updating my "Bracelets" page on the website (go check it out!) and the "Sold Items" page. I was cropping and editing photos until I could see straight. But it is finally done! Ron then went golfing with a friend and I ordered pizza. See, I am tired!

Anyone catch Survivor last night? It was great. I loved seeing my man JP arguing in tribal council. GO JP! Then I balled watching Grey's Anatomy. Dang that show knows just what buttons to push to make me cry. Gotta love it. It is replaying right now, I can already feel my eyes stinging. I am sending the kids to bed soon and gonna read a little bit. I will let you know when I post the new beads on Ebay. I wanna hear your feedback first! So let me hear it!!!

Blue Breeze

Look, I was finally productive this week! This first photo is of a set I worked on yesterday experimenting with my new enamels. Click on the picture and check it out up close. You'll see a sort of spray paint speckled looking texture to the beads. I am not sure what I'll do with these. I thought I would make a bracelet but the strand is too short. I will need to make a few more beads first. Unless one of you all have an idea in mind for them. If you want them, email me! There are 5 ovals, 6 disks and 1 lonely speckled round. I can't wait to get to play with these enamels more. I am working on an "alternative Halloween" set for y'all with enamels.

I also made these beads yesterday, along with the bead in the original colors of the first "Breeze" necklace. This is "Blue Breeze". I made the necklace today (actually 2 of them). I am going to send both to BeadStyle Magazine. That way they can use which ever one suits the season they want it in. Maybe that way they can use it in one of the Spring or Summer issues instead of waiting until Fall of next year. I'll just have to wait and see what they decide. When I know the publication date, I'll let you know.


I took a close up for you of this bead in particular. Look... it's STRIPED! I used that nailpolish trick from the plaid beads and painted on stripes. Then etched the beads. After they were in the solution for a while, I cleaned off the nailpolish. So the shiny parts are where the nailpolish was. Neat huh? I love this shade of teal blue.

So that is about it for today. We are going to Jacob's 4th grade OPen House tonight. Then my favorite show... SURVIVOR is on! Followed by my other favorite show... GREY'S ANATOMY! And it's the season premire tonight. I pretty much plan on being a couch potatoe this evening, lol. Then tomorrow I will see if I can finish the new Halloween beads... I will let you know who they turn out!

La-TEA-Da

I had this wonderful post all written up for y'all yesterday then stupid blogger wouldn't load it. So sorry about seeming so quiet. And unfortuately, you can't assume that just because I am quiet that I am getting loads done. I haven't done a thing in days! But this morning I am making beads... no ifs ands or buts about it. So until tomorrow enjoy what I wrote yesterday.

Tuesday September 19th 2006...

What until you see the pictures from today's adventure... we went to a tea party! It is my Mom's Birthday today! So to celebrate we decided to go out to afternoon tea at La-TEA-Da Tea Room here in Rochester. Tea parties are a special thing for Lauren & my Mom, they have them all the time. Needless to say, we were all giggling and pointing our pinkies.

The tea house is located inside an old Victorian house that are just everywhere in our city. It is painted with pink and purples, too cute. Inside, each room is lavishly decorated. Our table was in the Red Room. There was a HUGE mirror over an old fireplace and big huge windows. There was a bench full of hats under the window, in case you didn't bring your own, lol.

Everyone instantly adored Lauren! The owner said she has never seen a three year old sit for tea so nicely. LOL. They took her picture and said they are going to put it on their website. Anyway, we had the "afternoon tea" that was on the menu. We each had a bottomless cup of tea, scones with devonshire cream and jams, quesh (sp?), assorted finger sandwiches, chocolate covered strawberries and finger size desserts. We were all sighing with fullness by the end.

For tea, Mom started with Berry Berry, my sister had Cinnamon and I had the Cranberry Apple, all Herbal teas. Then for the second batch I had Blueberry Bingo and Mom & Bonnie both wanted my Cranberry Apple. Lauren put honey and sugar cubes in everyones drinks for them. And of course she was wearing her white Alice in Wonderland style gloves while she did.

As soon as the boys get home we are heading back over to my parents house for cake and ice cream! Then later I have book club. I haven't made any beads lately, and I am dyeing to so hopefully I can get some great ones tomorrow while Lauren is at school.


This week's free beads winner is CAROLE! YOO HOO! New beads are posted. Thanks again for all the support everyone!

Last step... sweep

That wasn't so bad... I thought I was going to be working on that mess ALL day but was woken up early by my Dad calling Ron to go golfing so I was about to get an early start. I spent about 5 hours and I think it is dang near done. Check it out! Look at that sunlight I got coming in that window! You can't see it is this photo but my front garden is right outside that window so in the summer I will have a beautiful view of purple cone flowers and mums. The basket on top of the small shelf thing next to the computer is one I made and it is now full of all my packaging stuff. Lots of gift boxes and tissue paper with packaging envelopes. The computer is actually the grotesquely slow one you hear me complain about. The kids use it for games since I got my laptop, and I tend to keep that upstairs. When I get another second, I will get out a few of my display busts and put them on the top shelf of the computer table by those earrings.


Here is that view from the deck doorway again. Told you I would clean it all up! Ron still has a little bit to do. He has a pile of paperwork to organize and he needs to figure out what is going to happen to the electronics but that shouldn't take long at all. See the empty table there to the right... that is where my photo set up will go. I am going to order a photo light box and set it up there. For now, I am going to keep the torch outside but if I find I can't take the cold in the winter, I may bring it in.


These shelves got cleared of the dozens of disney movies filling them to store my books, magazines, bills, officey stuff and seed beads (see they are on the bottom self to the right.) Another couple of my handmade baskets (I took basket weaving classes before I got into jewelry making) it is full of bills I have paid, paper for the computer and that kinda thing. I got a great tip off of Eni Oken's website. She said she keeps her wire in large envelopes marked with the guage and shape. So I got my wire all sorted, wound up and in clear envelopes. Works out great!


I just love how much light I have coming in this window. I think even on a cloudy day I will have a lot of light, even if it isn't sunlight. I took a bunch of plastic baskets I had to sort some of my most frequenly used findings. There is one for my silver scraps, one for bali beads, one for accuflex and one for all the rounds. I think this will get me to put stuff back, lol. Trying to get it into all those little drawers just wasn't cutting it for me. Gotta love my Ott Light too. You can't tell it is on when the window is open but when I was down there last night it lit the whole table up great! And of course, when you get to meet as many other artist as I do, you gotta have a cork board for business cards, send me yours, I'll stick it up there.


Having everything all sorted, organized and in it's proper place... I am really excited to make something! But I gotta make beads first, lol. Lauren has school tomorrow so I will get to make some beads then. I really can't wait. Now, who wants to make a bet that this picture looks like the one from yesterday of my desk by Christmas, lol.

For lunch today we decided to pack a quick picnic and took off to our favorite park at the lake. I will share some of those photos tomorrow. For now, I gotta get outside and do some weeding. Oh and Ron wants to close the pool... definately time for that. I don't see anymore swimming in our near future.

Anyway.. let me know what you think of the changes!

Step One... move furniture

I am totally making up for this week's major laziness with the work that I did today and have left to do tomorrow. Now, I must say... I am extremely embrassed by the clutter and just plain mess that is my downstairs family room. However, I promised I would show you photos so I am sucking it up and sharing it. But I assure you, I am somewhat of a neat freak (at least compared to others I know although not nearly as much as my MOM) and tend to just avoid this area most of the time because it is just so hard to keep clean.

In case you have no clue what I am babbling on about... I started the studio remodel today! Check it out... This is how the room looked when I started around noon today. Look close and you will see my jewelry desk in the foreground to the left and my computer table to the right. I am standing in a doorway out to our deck. Missing from the photo is the blue denim couch that was between the two end tables on the left. The room is about 12 feet wide and 20 feet deep. So long and narrow, kinda hard to deal with.


See our house isn't huge so we had the couch downstairs and the love seat upstairs in the small living room we have. Now that love seat is out to the curb and the couch is upstairs. Okay, cover your eyes, don't look at the next photo... it is my jewelry desk! AAAHHHH! See what preshow frenzy does to my workspace! I spent more then an hour just packing all this up! And will no doubt spend at least three tomorrow UNpacking it. I need to take a trip over to Loews and pick up some new hardware organizers. My two are FULL! Look at the tilting pile in the back, lol... it could really do some damage!



So slowly, and all by my lonesome (hmmmm.... Ron's idea yet he had to "mow the lawn" for hours instead of helping), I moved that park bench, the end tables, the rug, packed the desk and started deciding on the new layout. I knew I wanted my desk under the window, but clueless about where I wanted to put everything else. Ron did come through a few times with "suggestions"... I don't know about you all's experiences with these "suggestions" but I have found if I don't do the "suggestion" then I usually get told that I shouldn't ask for help if I am going to do it my way anyway then he storms off and pouts for awhile. UGH, MEN!


There is still lots more to do tomorrow. But most of the major moving is done. Except for that TV on the right side there, it needs to find a new home tomorrow. And that disney table too, oh and that big stupid broken fax machine on top of it... those bookshelves need moving and the two end tables are not staying there. ALL the stuff on the top of my desk need organizing and putting away, too. SEE I TOLD YOU I WAS MAKING UP FOR MY LAZINESS! Look at how hard I am working!

Come back tomorrow and I promise it will be totally put together!

Another lazy day

So what did y'all think of the Trunk Show yesterday? Was it a good idea? Should I do it again somtime? All the beads are gone and in the mail on the way to their new homes. Since everthing went so fast, I am assuming you liked it, lol. Maybe we can make this a new post art show tradition? Hmmm....

Anyway, Lauren and I are having a really lazy day. We ran some errands this morning and stopped at Old Navy. I love Old Navy... trendy clothes... cheap prices... who cares if their quality makes them only last one season when you aren't spending a ton on them? I got a couple sweaters for myself and Lauren needed a couple long sleeve shirts. She seems to think that you can still wear a tank top when it is raining and 60 degrees. We are really going to need to work on that! My Mom went along for the little shopping outing and we stopped by my sister's apartment to drop her off some of my Mom's homemade chicken noodle soup. With these cool rainy days we have had this week, I could really go for a bowl myself. Fall is totally in the air! I love it. Makes me want to curl up with some fuzzy socks, a cup of coffee and a good book. My absolute favorite thing to do! Lauren has been asleep since we got home and I have just been reading emails and running laundry. See... lazy day, I told ya.

Oh, I almost forgot... did anyone notice whatelse I added to the website yesterday?!? There is a HUGE new selection of EARRINGS! Go check them out, let me know what you think. And there is a new necklace on the Glass Necklace page. It's one that I made last week before the show but never got around to photographing it. Now it is up there.

So... anyone as excited as I am for Survivor to start tonight? I am in a Survivor pool and I have "JP". You know what the top three people win? BEADS! Everyone in the pool makes 3 lampwork beads and mails them into the organizer. So first second & third place gets one bead from everyone in the pool. Can you ask for a better prize? I know most people can't stand Survivor anymore but I am still addicted. My Fall Must See TV line up is Survivor, Gray's Anatomy, Prison Break, Lost and eventually 24 when it starts in January. Otherwise, I could care less what is on. I tend to watch movies more then TV. I used to watch the Today Show but now that Merideth is on, I can't watch it. I saw it this morning and her voice was making my skin crawl. She was better on the View.

My my, I am babbling today. See what boredum does to me, lol. Turns me all chatty. I thought I would let you know, I plan on focusing on finishing the knob commission over the next few days. I have just 5 knobs left. Then I will see what I can do about some new beads. I saw some fabric on tv that was maroon, gray & white... I think it would make some sweet beads.