Happy New Year!

OK, so I am a day ahead. Which is a better place to be than a day behind (which I am at least!), and I wanted to wish you a wonderful 2008. We have been so blessed in 2007, with our jewelry business kicking off with a bang, Chris' beads doing really GREAT, and we all are healthy. Yesterday, I checked my Nebraska 2by2 tickets, and I won $100. I am still in shock! Time to get the paper work finished for 2007 and get ready for taxes. I normally do our taxes, but I don't know if I can now since we have the business going. Any tips beader business people? Let me know! Hope your 2008 is successful, and happy. If you're celebrating, be safe. New pics coming soon!

Merry Christmas!

Just a quick post to wish all our readers a very Merry Christmas, thanks to all our new blogger friends we have enjoyed getting to know you this year! We have had a very busy couple months, and hope that what ever you are doing you will also have success but find a bit of peace over the holidays. I always imagine how quite the night was when Jesus was born. The shepherds and their sheep watching that bright star in the sky with silence all around them. If you haven't seen it, The Nativity Story really brings home the sacrifice of Mary and Joseph, and their absolute faith in God. Beautiful movie, with funny points also. Merry Christmas, or happy whichever holiday you celebrate!

More Pics

This is just one of the ornament beads that Chris made and we are selling at Graham Gallery in Hastings.

This pretty black & white bracelet went to a new home last Saturday, and when I saw her yesterday she ordered 2 more for her sisters in law!

This is a little bumblebee Chris made.

These are more beads Chris has been working on. I wanted to get these pictures uploaded yesterday, but ran out of time.

Finally, New Pictures

These are a new series of beads Chris has been making. They are so beautiful!

This beautiful bead was made by Chris and we made it into a pendant and it was sold at the craft fair last Saturday in Blue Hill. It is part of a new series of beads he is making.

This little guy was made by my talented husband. The horned catapillar is about 1/2" long. The red dot is supposed to be lips, but I think he looks like he is singing opera with a bow tie on

Topical Tuesday

We haven't had a topical Tuesday for awhile, so how about a favorite Christmas memory? Can you believe Christmas is a week from today? One of my favorite Christmas memories is the year my Mom made me a whole Barbie suitcase of Ken & Barbie clothes. It was so amazing, and I still have them! We grew up without a lot of money and Mom always worked hard to make Christmas good for us. The clothes were so awesome, first because of the matching outfits and details she put into the clothes (ex. satin stripe on the pants of the tuxedo), and secondly the time and love she put into them (I have made baby doll clothes for my niece and would not make Barbie clothes!). That was also the year I got my Barbie swimming pool/cabana set. Everything you need for a pool party, grill, cooler, cabana to change in, table & chairs, was included even the tools to clean the pool and a privacy fence! Another year, Mark (my brother) and I got 10 speed bikes and Mom & Dad wrapped a picture from the catalog in a little bitty box, put it inside a giant cup box and then wrapped it up! We about died that year waiting for Christmas, and it was even nice enough on Christmas Day to ride them! Another memory, is the year I got chicken pox right before Christmas break started. Mom still has a picture of me in my new Christmas dress with spots all over my face. (Mark got them during Christmas break and didn't miss any school! I got off a couple days with mine!) The best Christmas of recent memory was the year we found out we were expecting Mina just before my birthday in November. We were so happy and stunned that I was finally pregnant, it had taken quite awhile and medical intervention to happen. We got our ultrasound of our "baby bean" just before Christmas, and that was how we told people that we were expecting. Unfortunately, we left our gifts at home and they had to be mailed that year and the morning (spelled all day) sickness started with a french toast incident just before Christmas and lasted until I was in labor! If you have a memory and want to share it, I would love that! Otherwise, I hope you enjoy mine. If time permits, I will get new bead pictures up today and give you a break from just my rambling!

Weekend Finally...

This week has been messed up. Tuesday because of the weather, Mina didn't have school, so Chris was off with her and they had lunch with me. Nice, but any sort of change makes the days feel like a different day. So the week has just felt wonky to me. Tomorrow we do the craft show at Blue Hill and once again the forcast is predicting up to four inches of snow today into early tomorrow. Burr! I am tired of winter and the calendar tells me it is still fall! I made a cool beaded business card holder last night for the display on the table tomorrow, and I really am itching to get a cool ladder stitch bracelet Carla showed me yesterday. Well, have a good weekend and may you find some peace amongst all the craziness with the holiday preparations!

Looks Like a White Christmas!

"Oh, the weather outside is frightful..." We have been getting hit with snow and ice since last week and there is more coming tonight. While it wouldn't be a terrible thing if we didn't have to get out in it, it is rather ookie if you have to drive anywhere. We had freezing drizzle Saturday, so that kept us home. Yesterday, we ventured to Grand Island late morning as I had errands that wouldn't wait any longer, and we were surprised that people were as cautious as they were. There were still a few ninnies driving faster and crazier than they should have. I got some more Christmas shopping done, and did my cards last night. Tonight laundry folding, and we are going to do a trial run on our table set up for the craft show coming on Saturday. Santa will be putting in his appearance before we know it! From everyone I have talked to, desperation to get done is starting to set in, so hopefully beaded items will be a high priority for the gift lists come Saturday!

Long week

Hello, sorry I am falling down on the posting job again! I have been sick and Mina has been sick. She had strep throat last weekend and I have been suffering with cluster migraines. Don't know if you'd call it that, but I had one Thurs, Sun, Mon, Tues, and the one I had Wednesday was while getting an MRI. I hope that it is just stress, but we will hopefully hear back on the results today. I have been trying to catch up with work at home so beading has come to a halt, but Chris has made some very cool beads and I will get pics up for you soon.

New Pictures

This set is made with faceted sodalite beads, dark sapphire and grey opal Swarovski, and a pretty Bali silver heart clasp.
These earrings are some of my favorites! I used zilli beads (can be found at zillibeads.com). The beads are made from polymer clay so no two beads are exactly the same even in the same batch of clay. The other great thing is that they are very economical to buy!

These lovelies were made by Chris. We put the blue and white ones in at Beads and Botanicals and at least one has sold. There is another picture below that shows what I did with the snowflakes he made into pairs.

These are some seed beaded ornaments I made over the Thanksgiving break from work. The top one looks like a poinsettia and the others are just beaded with a netting stitch and drops.

We had an ice storm here today, so no craft show. They postponed it to the 15th. This worked out well for us, since Mina has strep and one of us would have had to stay home because she is contagious (no that really doesn't make me want to be confined to the house with her!). She has had several antibiotic doses now, so we are nearing the non contagious stage. Chris and I have been imagining our throats being more sore than they were prior to the diagnosis. We are trying to get the Christmas decorations up, but other than Mina, don't have much enthusiasm for the project.