wonderful weekend so far

We spent the weekend with my daughter... what a fun time. My son and my daughter are funny together, they laugh and cut up even with the difference in age. My son likes to give her a hard time, picks on her and really would have loved to have been just a few years apart in age.
As always, we romped around with the dogs, they don't get along, well, her dog loves our dog, just not the reverse... but they played together pretty well. I just had to post this picture... not of my daughter, that would be normal... me, I'm not so much normal!
My grandpuppy... he's such a big sweety!

Bead Soup Blog Hop~~

There is a slight hiccup with the Bead Soup Blog Party reveal that is set for this weekend, nothing major, but it is delayed by a week. There are a bunch of people sighing with relief right now! ha.
I have several pieces done but haven't had the chance to photograph them yet, other than the process. We have had wind and more wind, I know I should build a light box, but hey, I love natural light.
Anyway, I am kind of sighing myself, this will give the weather here a chance to settle down, and for me to either photograph outside or find a reasonable place to do it inside.... I haven't written the blog yet, I know what I want to say, I just procrastinate and I finished the cloak I was working on, and I need to clean house, run errands and do a million and ten things... so this is actually a good thing!
Lori Anderson is quite upset with herself, having to postpone, is hard for her, but we are all big girls here (sorry if there are any guys in the hop) and we can roll with whatever comes. Really. REALLY! If you can't deal with a delay, then you might not have a good grip on reality. Things happen, life happens, we all have times when we are overwhelmed with it... so no big deal!
The new reveal is set for May 10... I am so excited, like Christmas morning coming and I have presents under the tree!!!  I want to tease and pique interest in the event so here are a couple of pictures that will give you an idea of what I have for the blog hop....
Come back next week to see what  else there is... oooooo I can't wait!!!

Wowza!!! BEADS!!!

I preface this blog with a note about being sick... please, if you are sick, contagious, sneezing, coughing, sore throat... please don't go out, don't attend festivals, programs, concerts.... or if you have to go out... wear a mask... please!!!!
Sorry, my bad.
I've been sick you see. Man flu... or my girly version of it. My son and  best friend got sick and I swore I wouldn't catch it, but did. Now I am totally grumpy! I had hoped to make it through the school year without getting sick... ugh... sick...blah!

Bead Soup has been on my brain for several weeks now.   First with the announcements of partners, the pairing then unpairing... and subsequent repairing... no... yes? is that the right word? ...repair? I suppose so, I got a new partner, one that is quite wonderful!!! Skylar Bre'z is totally awesome and probably just the right person to pair me with... thank you Lori Anderson, you are like psychic or something!!!  Her blog is BrisingBeads Designs and she has an Etsy shop at BrisingBeadDesigns go by and give them both a look, her work is wonderful!

So I had packed a bead selection before I did the Scottish-Irish Faire in Midland, thinking that I would send it as soon as I got done with the weekend, but when I got around to really trying to get ahold of my partner, I found out that she had dropped out of the Blog Party. I was shocked and sad, but then when they paired me so quickly with Skylar, I knew that it had to be for a reason. I think we were meant to meet. So, I had the package, and thought I'd get it in the mail, but didn't, there were a series of crazy, catastrophic and totally normal events that happened. Sometimes it seems that best intentions just go astray. Skylar just had surgery and she still got my soup out! She was so gracious about me being late... I thank her profusely.

Skylar received her package today, so sorry for the delay... sigh... I made the two polymer clay cabochons, guilded them with copper leaf, and thought they were kind of neat.I found the domino with the face at the local bead shop, I don't know who did the work but I didn't like the way it was finished, so I guilded the sides with copper as well. There are two stone cabochons and a fused glass pendant and an assortment of stuff! The favorite thing I sent (my favorite!) was the four pieces of Venetian Glass that Mona Mitchell had brought back from Venice, she told me not to get too excited about them, they are made by young apprentices to practice their glass work,
by young, she said she meant really young kids. I loved them anyway, whether they were made by kids or not. I think they are pretty. I sent three colors of silk that I dyed, a couple of strands of lampwork beads, some crystal and some glass pearls and some copper and silver end caps and clasps. some stone rosettes, stone beads, mother of pearl beads and an abalone shell. I happen to love shells... I love working with them. Sooo... I had most of the stuff already picked out, I just added the two rock cabochons and.... when I found out that Skylar did felting, I added some curly roving and a skein of turquoise wool.

I received my package about a week ago, I was in the midst of family crisis and being sick and didn't get to look at the stash.... What Skylar sent to me was amazing!!!

I really love the colors and the beads that she chose. What a selection!!! there are the turquoise that I love but also this beautiful assortment of copper, lampwork, pearls, and glass... such pretty things!!!

... I am drooling still, thinking of all the things that I can make!!!!
I just  love, love, love the large glass bead. It is absolutely beautiful!!!

There are so many things in here that I don't know if I can list everything!!! There are several glass cabochons, a copper plated glass pendant, copper beads. turquoise and glass and ceramic and metal... and... and.... there are vintage beads as well, several clasps and chains.... and the Pièce de résistance... a skein of beautiful yarn!!! I am so excited to work with all this. I think I might have to pack it up and take it with me this weekend to Bead Fest Texas!!! I have some down time and I might need to do some creative stuff!! LOL! Seriously, I think I might take a few things. I am taking all my tools anyway, can't hurt to get started now!

In case I didn't get a good picture... LOOK at the beautiful skein of yarn that is just waiting to be fondled and drooled over....

I thank Skylar so much for sending me such wonderful items... in such a varied palate. I can't tell you how excited I am that we are getting to know each other... 

Disaster averted

Whew! Thank goodness!
I was anxiety ridden yesterday because the woman I was partnered with for the Bead Soup Blog Party had dropped out, me, being the ever so doubtful, thought she probably read my blog and decided that I was a lunatic and didn't want me as a partner....
But Lori Anderson, her husband Rick, and Lisa Liddy stepped in and found another match for me... which I believe was a totally better match in the first place!!!
My new partner's name is Skylar Brez and her blog is full of wonderful things. Brising Beads Designs is the blog, and it is full of women's history (She's working on her PhD in History) and she has pictures of some of the prettiest stones that she has to work into bead embroidery... her facebook page has some of her work, that is absolutely gorgeous! I can't wait to get to know her...
I forgot completely to take a picture of the soup that I put together... I can't imagine that, how do you forget that... I've been oohing and ahhhing over the pictures of soups that have already arrived at their destinations, and I didn't take a picture yet... sooooo... I'm carfully unwrapping and going to take a picture in a little while as the wind is up but should subside soon. Then off to the Post Office with the little package of sunshine!!!
I am so excited!!!

8th Annual Bead Soup Blog Party!!!

I have been so excited about the BSBP this year, I really enjoyed the party last year and was so excited to get to meet someone new this year. There are so many wonderful jewelry artists out there, and I haven't met many of them, I am kind of slow on the uptake on Blogger, I don't quite know how to find people on here. I have to find them somewhere else and then go to their blogs, so I am kind of lost when it comes to jewelry blogs, BSBP is a great way to find bloggers who have jewelry as their main interest.
I can't say that jewelry is my only interest, but it is a huge interest...

So I was so excited to get Lori Anderson's email stating that I had been accepted into the blog hop, and believe me, that was an ordeal in itself. I guess that using gmail isn't my forte either, I haven't understood how it works for a while now, since the changes that they made, I haven't been receiving my mail like I thought I should.... and low and behold, I started digging around and there were a ton of emails that I hadn't seen... I thought I hadn't been accepted, I thought maybe I did something wrong... I knew I made the deadline, but thought something else had to be done.... sigh

So, I was at the Midland Scottish-Irish Faire over the weekend, and I just left a message on the Bead Soup Cafe site for my partner, and friended her, and sent a message, and subscribed to her blog....and hadn't heard anything back, which is ok, it's just been a few days, and then today.... she messaged me that she dropped out...

 I am so sad.

So what do you do???

If all else fails, I will use the bead soup for her as my own, and have my own self as my partner? I can write myself little messages of encouragement? I can surprise myself with a package? sigh.... I can make something and post it.

100% of the Proceeds Will Go Towards Brett &Leah's Baby Boy | Memorial/Funeral - YouCaring.com

It is not often that I find a cause that is worthy of posting. I happen to think this is worth the post and the plea to help.

Brett McDaniel was killed in an auto accident on the 30th of January, 2014. He leaves behind a grief stricken wife who is carrying their child, a boy. I know first hand that losing your husband is a horrible thing to go through. It is heartbreaking and you feel left alone in that place that not many understand. What is more heartbreaking is to have a child to explain about the loss... what can only be more painful is to have a child that will never know his father. I can't even begin to know that pain.

Please, if you can spare even a few dollars, please help out. Money won't ease the pain, but it will help with the costs of funeral, doctors, and bills and baby.

100% of the Proceeds Will Go Towards Brett &Leah's Baby Boy | Memorial/Funeral - YouCaring.com

The Pioneer Woman does it again!

I just love Ree Drmmond, the Pioneer Woman. She has the best blogs, blogs that usually make you laugh, sometimes to think, and sometimes to cry. Her recipes are to die for and she is just a powerhouse... she home schools her kids, she writes these wonderful blogs, has recipe books and kids books and a wonderful husband.... and she has a cooking show on Food Network.... I think she is amazing.
Well, today she is giving away another one of the beautiful mixers in turquoise and floral. I enter her giveaways, but I have never won anything.... but I have hope.  I am hoping that I win this mixer... I covet it. I am in love with it.... and I need it!
Well, ok, so needing it isn't part of the equation, I don't NEED it.... but it would make life so much easier. Like when I got the food processor, I didn't NEED it. I wanted to update the way I prepared food. I had used the old hand cranked grinder for everything. I made chow-chow and relish with it, as well as grinding venison, pork, beef.... well, everything that had to be ground up. I didn't use it for pecans though, I have a modern chopper for that. You know, one of those little gizmos that fits on top of a glass jar, you turn the handle and it feeds the nuts from the top through the grinding teeth and into the waiting glass jar?  Oh, come on, doesn't everyone use that?
OK, so my kitchen is still kind of out of date. My food processor is the same one that I bought about 20 years ago... my blender is near 30. OK it is about 35.... but it still works great. I do need to update. I have my Aunt Billie's stand mixer from the 1950s... and a hand mixer that is only about 10 years old. I do have a microwave. I do have a toaster oven, and a coffee maker that my old boss bought for me, yes, I haven't worked for him in a dozen years, but.... OK, I don't like change.
I would love a new mixer.

I haven't been working on jewelry this week. I had a bad spell with my eyes, but I worked on a kimono that I've wanted to try out. I made my own pattern based on another one that I saw, but I didn't like the way it looked, but the idea was good, so... .I drafted the pattern, cut it out in fabric and have it most of the way finished. I can't tell if it will lay well still, I used a heavy material because it was handy... but I did have fun hemming it.
I own a few machines, sewing machines that is. I own quite a few, but the thing I love about some of them is that they have all the gizmos that go with them. Usually it is the old, old machines that have all the added feet. The newer machines might have some feet, but they deny the coolest feet, making you spend a fortune for the ones like lace attachment, cording, bias binder foot.... I know not many people use those, but, darnit, they used to come standard on the old machines.

I have an old Singer Featherweight that has all the bells and whistles, so I tried out one of the feet, the hem roller, on my Brother and it worked, well, pretty much worked, the shank is just a little bit too long, or the attachment shank is a bit too tall, but with three hands you can make it work....
I hemmed the whole of the fabric with just a quick pass, and I was so pleased.
Yes, I could have used the Featherweight to do the hemming, but it doesn't have a threader on it. I have to have a threader if I am sewing by myself. Or a bunch of magnifying glasses, and I just didn't want to mess with that.

When I get the finished product done out of the right weight cloth, and screen printed, I'll post a picture. OK, when I find the cord from the camera to the computer, I'll post a picture. Yes, I have lost it. I do have the Cannon, but I am wanting to use the camera that has the bigger screen that I can see instead of having to use the little view finder. ... Nothing can be easy around here.

Goodbye to October {Next blog down is Halloween.Day of the Dead Blog Hop post}

Hope your Trick or Treating was fun tonight, I've been blue all day, feeling my age. My 11 year old decided he didn't want to do anything for Halloween this year, his bestest friend went as a gladiator, and was sooooo cute!  I think my son had second thoughts when he saw his friend's costume, but it was too late. We only had a few kids come by, usually there are a lot around 9pm since the church by us has a carnival of sorts going on each year, but this year, I don't know if parents are just Halloweened out or what. They did have a lot going on this past weekend, and I guess it being a school night.... more candy to eat is what I say.

The Halloween/Day of the Dead Blog Hop in my post below, I started this necklace but put it aside and did the Gothic necklace instead....
I finished the Day of the Dead necklace. It turned out cute, but not what I planned.... OK so you know by my last post that not much ends up like I start out with. i am not sure that I like it, too much gliter I think. I had a hard time with the glitter on the vinal, geting it to stick down but not be rough... I ended up using a glitter glue, making a design, then when it was dry, I used a jewelry glue, and we will see how it goes. I lightly sprayed the polymer skulls with acrylic after they were painted, and I kind of like where they ended up. I couldn't decide if I liked them or not, but.... this is  one of those necklaces that is just for fun, not for profit things!

I cut the vinyl for several other projects, a couple of bracelets and a ring, when I had this large piece left over, I knew it had to be for something big and bold! The picture doesn't show it well, but I ruffled the vinyl, which was a bit tricky to keep it even, and it came out pretty cool, gave some dimension to the piece.  I used a velvet ribbon attached with black wire, then wrapped with wire, and left it as just a tie. I think in hindsight, I might like a clasp. I had fun with the polymer and remembered that I don't make polymer beads because it takes so long. I respect everyone that works with it. Glass as well. I just don't have the patience to work with either. Every now and then it is fun to go back and make flowers or skulls! but not something that I want to do every day.  I still like to make masks, but really, I haven't been working much with them... I am trying to make a vase out of clay, I made some pieces of graduated color polymer for a project that I was working on and loved the colors so much I wanted a vase out of them.... I just haven't gotten far with the design, I thought I knew the shape I wanted, but.... I got to thinking that it needed to be taller to really use the way I want to.... and the design I started out with was too squat to be useful......... Pictures if I ever get it made.
Well, here's to the last of October 2013. May it be remembered fondly. I don't know about you, but I am so ready for Thanksgiving. I miss family and friends so much, and good food.... and cool weather....