Friday, February 25, 2011

It Is ALMOST time!!! Bead Soup REVEAL Tomorrow, Until Then...

Bead Soup Participant Map
I have never participated in a Bead Soup activity.  I am thankful that I was able to get signed up to participate with this one, it has been fun and provided me with an opportunity to expand my jewelry abilities that I wouldn't have had otherwise.
My Bead Soup Observations:
  • With 210 participants, I give my thanks to Lori Anderson for all of her organization and what a terrific idea she had!
  • I love the pieces I created with my soup mix from my partner Shea.
  • I didn't have as much trouble working with a neutral color palette as I expected I would.
  • While the map above was my idea, Lori did all the work!  I find it fascinating to see where we live and where all the others are.  When I look at my blog stats, the map is what fascinates me most (and that I have anything interesting enough to write to keep people coming back!)
  • I can't wait until tomorrow!  Sadly I have to work, so won't be able to surf all the blogs until later!
Be sure to come back here tomorrow, not only to see what I created with my Soup Mix, but Chris & I will be giving away 2, yes I said 2, items for readers signing up over the weekend!  See you tomorrow!

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Coupon to Share

As one of the Art Bead Design Partner Bloggers, I have a coupon to share with you!  Receive 15% off  EVERYTHING, NO MINIMUM, NO RESTRICTIONS, now through the end of February!
Just use this code ZZ-DESIGNER-0211 at checkout! Happy Thursday!

Monday, February 21, 2011

He Leads Me...

Lovely Prayer Beads   
I try to restrain from posting Religion and Politics on my blog as most of you are here for the JEWELRY and BEADS!  But my Mom was hospitalized today with a serious infection in a wound on her leg, which she has been struggling with for about 6 weeks.  I asked for prayers on Facebook from anyone with a moment and a prayer to spare to add my Mom and our family to their moment.  I am truly BLESSED by my God (I was raised Baptist and now worship ELCA, but feel that God is with me every second of every breath I take regardless of what religion is being used).  I have friends to love and support me, I only need to ask, and even when I didn't ask, God lead my Etsy roving to this lovely shop.  Not only do they sell beautiful prayer beads, but they have a really amazing quote at the top of their shop page.  Stop over and read it won't you!  Thanks for being here and sharing the joys and struggles in Chris, Mina, and my life.  I love having all of you here.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Thursday Giveaway! Check it out!

Andrew Thornton's Thursday Giveaway
Photo from Andrew Thornton's blog. Pieces created by Green Girl Studio Designs
Andrew Thornton is hosting a Thursday Giveaway and this treasure trove of goodies is what he is giving away!  Click the links to check it out!

Saturday, February 19, 2011

My Bead Soup Ingredients!

 Lovely, Lovely, Lovely!  These are my wonderful Bead Soup ingredients sent to me by my fabulous beading partner, Shea.  Shea is a metal working Goddess!  Her handmade Argentium Silver components are not only well done, but fun and functional for designing with.  In this picture you see the handmade balled headpins, oval and square soldered links, and three sizes of jump rings!  There are also lovely pieces of turquoise, Swarovski Baroque pearls, and other natural stones in aquas, pale green, and deep green.  You can just see them in the corner, I really loved the square stones with the square links. 
 All of my soup ingredients.
 The Main Dish-the handmade S clasp and the handmade flower pendant designed and created by Shea!  I really, really, really love the pale aqua and the pop of the deep orange red fire agate.  Gorgeous, my pictures don't do the pendant or the clasp justice!
Another photo of the larger beads and the pearls.
Shea was even thoughtful enough to send handmade earring wires so I can make a matching set with my Bead Soup ingredients! 

I have to thank Shea for being such a wonderful partner, we complimented each other quite nicely!  I am normally a BIG fan of BRIGHT (wait til you see what I purchased in Tucson!), so Shea's beautiful mix of soft green and aqua complimented with her wonderful handmade creations was definitely outside my beading zone.  However, that was really part of the fun, and as it turned out, that was the case for Shea.  We sent her a group of bright beads and handmade lampwork which she really loved, but weren't her normal range of colors either!  Another BIG THANK YOU goes out to Lori Anderson, for her brilliant idea, amazing management skills, and for including me in this fun and challenging project.  I don't know how she did it, but I was matched with a beader who does work which I love and want to do more of.  At the same time, linked Shea to us, a beader and a lampworker, which provided her with materials she loves also!  Thanks Lori!  You ROCK!

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

BTW=Bead Table Wednesday

My workspace prior to starting the cleaning session.
Lately, the beader blogs I follow have been participating in Bead Table Wednesday or BTW (which after being on Facebook, I think stands for By The Way, then my brain clicks into gear!), so I thought I would show you the disaster that my bead table is!  Above is the picture I took when I started cleaning on Monday afternoon when I got home from work.  On the left lower corner is my iPod touch which I have been using to listen to audio books while I work.  This disaster is in part, finishing the show season for 2010 and moving the beads from the house back to the studio (heated only by a space heater) from when it was too cold to work in the studio.
This is the right side of my table.  On the back corner of the shelf is our studio cat's nap sack (formerly a bead tote bag).
This is the right side of the beading table, obviously no better than the left side or center of the beading table!  How do these beading disasters happen?!

Under this pile, just below the window on the left, is a box of beading tools for metal working.  They are obscured by view with the tote of seed beads sitting on top!  Seed beading is a sickness, I have to have all the colors/sizes/shapes, but then I have little time to play with them! :0(
This has been a life saver!  I bought this storage shelf, designed for scrapbooking, at Sam's Club a couple months ago.  I love it, and it has helped a bit with organization.  On the top is the cd/cassette player Chris got me for Christmas for listening to audio books from the Library, and he also added a cord to attach my iPod to the system.  The bright green name tag is from teaching a Girl Scout beading class. In the purple box at the left side, are bead strands from Tucson.  I got those pictures taken last night so they will be coming soon!

Suki, one of the studio cats, enjoys the havoc she causes to my beading world.  She also showers Chris with attention, trying to prance about on his table or get into his lap while he is torching!  Last night she also was investigating whether she could get into the kiln (it was turned off), she is the epitome of "curiosity killed the cat"!


It is difficult to sit at the beading table when the cat has claimed your chair!
This is my bead soup project in session, very helpful of Suki to shove the beads off my sketch book with her long back feet!  Yeesh!
Suki making a beeline for my skewer/straw bucket which I use for tubular bead stitches.  She likes to chew on them which usually leads to her gagging herself due to her enthusiasm!  Hope you have enjoyed the tour!

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Round Robin Bracelet Project

Last month I was contacted by a friend, Pam, whom I have never met except through internet activities.  Pam and I became acquainted through our mutual friend, Carla.
Subscription info here!

Pam had read an article in Belle Armoire Jewelry Magazine which you can read about on Cindy's blog for her company, Sweet Bead Studio.  Cindy's article is the Around The World: Necklace Round Robin.  Anyway, Cindy and several of her blog "sisters" worked together on a collaborative piece of jewelry and journaled about their experience.  Pam wanted to try this and we all decided that a bracelet fit better with our jewelry wearing preferences.  So we started with the deadline that our project had to be sent to a partner by Feb. 1st.  I sent my bracelet to Carla, Carla sent hers to Pam, and Pam sent hers to me.  Our project is to make a bracelet, something that has special meaning to us, but that has the potential to be added onto by our partners.  At the end of our project we will each have a bracelet that is truly special and fun. We also had to do a journal to go along with our piece, also to be added onto by our partners.  (Pam's journal puts mine lame attempt at journaling to shame, though I thought it was cute at the time!)
This is what I started with.  I thought it was quite lovely considering I finished it quickly the night before I left early to head to Omaha in a blizzard to be able to catch our flight to Tucson!  I love Lucite flowers and crystals, and it is all wire wrapped to chain.  I can't wait to see what Pam and Carla add to it!

Friday, February 11, 2011

Observations From My Trip To Tucson...

Loews Ventana Canyon Resort
  1. This is a FABULOUS place to stay (even when we didn't have heat or hot water)!
  2. Regardless of the climate, the weather makes people EVERYWHERE crazy.
  3. Stores in Tucson house their shopping carts outside.
  4. Wal-Mart there is split to be only grocery stores called "Neighborhood Markets", and the part with the clothes, etc. is the size we had prior to having "Super centers" come to town.
  5. We saw a guy in Council Bluffs riding a bicycle in a blizzard.  He had coveralls on and was riding in the wrong lane of traffic.
  6. Some people (JULIE) are far luckier at casinos than the rest of us.
  7. We saw a man riding a bicycle in Tucson with a go-cart motor on it (but that didn't prevent him from sitting in the middle of a busy intersection with said motor revving but him not moving).
  8. There are A LOT of cacti in Tucson, but we didn't see ONE animal except a couple birds in the hedge at the resort.
  9. Don't lose your cellphone and expect to get it back.
  10. When losing your cellphone, be sure you are not separated from all the people in your group.  FRIGHTENING!

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Our Talented Artist

Yesterday we received word that a marble (the one pictured here) Mina made, won a Gold Key in an art contest.  Here is more info on it!
From Mina's art teacher, Mrs. Brown:
There were 82 7-8 graders who received honors at the Scholastic State Art Competition. (over 1700 entries) Only 13 Gold Keys were given out. The Gold Key winners will be sent on the Nationals for judging. Congratulation to Mina for winning a Gold Key!!!!!
Scholastic Art Contest
We are so proud of Mina and you should have seen her smiling!

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

EXHAUSTION

1. the act or process of exhausting.
2. the state of being exhausted.
3. extreme weakness or fatigue.
4. the total consumption of something: the exhaustion of your vacation benefits for the year.
 
Yes, that all applies to me!  Photos of the bead stash soon and details from the trip.  Just too tired to keep my eyes open at the moment!

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Last day and the Superbowl

Steph's last day in Tucson was fine and dandy up until about 2 p.m. this afternoon.  At that point, she dropped or misplaced or had her cell phone lifted.  There was a gap of about 2 minutes between her last call and the next call placed by who ever had the phone.  So she was stuck without a way to contact the rest of her party or her friend Amy Jo.  She wandered around awhile and finally recognized Amy Jo's car outside of the the place she was and went in and found her.  I was finally able to shut the phone off after about an hour.  Part of the problem was inaccurate instructions on the Verizon web page and my inability to get in touch with a real live person when I called Verizon.  I was finally able get in touch with a real person after trying to call a local Verizon store and getting shunted off to a call center.  Not a positive experience!  But whoever has the phone now has a paperweight.  So there!  Hopefully I can get the phone replaced tomorrow.

On the home front, Darling Daughter and I watched the Superbowl together.  This was the first time ever either Mina or I have ever watched the Superbowl.  It was a joy to watch the game with her.  She was rooting for the Steelers and I was for the Packers.  We laughed at some of the commercials and at the halftime show.  There was lots of drama as the game wound down.  Truly a great time.  I will go to Hastings after work Monday and pick Steph up.  She is supposed to be in Omaha about 12:30 tomorrow.  She is ready to come home and we are ready for her to be here.  I spent part of the game folding laundry and the pregame was occupied by picking up the kitchen and living room.

Guest Blogger Chris

 P.S. on this blog post.  Amy Jo (Steph's friend) actually talked to the girl who had the phone.  The girl said she would turn it in to the counter.  Guess that didn't happen.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Guest blogger post 3

It is now day three of Steph's serious show hopping.  Yesterday was spent at The Best Bead Show.  She got to talk to Sherry Serafini again.  She took a class with Sherry last spring and has made some nice pieces with more in store.  Steph met lampworking artist and teacher Dolly Ahles.  They visited about about their work a bit and Steph bought a cabochon for her beadwork and a video for me to expand my horizons.  She bought some beads from Lewis Wilson (aka "Dirty Louie") and donated the beads I sent along with her to Beads of Courage.  The gals from Nebraska watched a wire working demonstation by Lilian Chen and were WOW'ed by what they saw.  The evening was spent playing with polymer clay with Christie Friesen.  I don't have much information on this endeavor but what little I talked to Steph, it sounded like fun.  Her last Facebook post was last night, or more properly this morning, was at 2 a.m. my time.  To me it sounds like they went to Vegas and have lost all sense of time and day.

On the home front, I shot pictures of some of the beads I made up for The Best Little Bead Box.  I have to make up a few more things before I will be satisfied with my donation.  Enjoy...
                                          A pair of penguins....

                                          A pair of fancy little birdies...
                                          A pair of frolicking bunnies...
                                          And a couple of dingy turkeys.

Thank you for your attention.
Guest blogger Chris



 

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Day 1

Today was Stephanie's first day on the bead show circuit.  They hit one show, To Bead True Blue.  She was able to finally meet Kelli from the Hole Bead Shop, got some lucite pieces there, talked to a gal who is working with Sherry Serafini on some pieces, got some of her raku pieces and I don't know what else.  A bunch of other stuff I am sure.  She commented on the people who live in a warm climate and get exposed to the cold once in a while.  The low in Tucson last night was around 20, the same temperature as our high today here in Nebraska.  Knowing my wife, she was probably in shirt sleeves, with wet hair to boot.

Several years ago, when Beads and Botanicals was a still brick and mortar store in Hastings, darling daughter and I made Steph a bracelet for Mother's Day.  Carla had an example made up and we followed it pretty closely.  I was a newbie to the beading thing at that time and needed all the help I could get.  It turned out well but within a couple of months, one of the lampwork beads (not made by me) on it broke and my crimp job on the clasp came loose.  Steph moved on to bigger and better things and the bracelet was left in the bottom of her jewelry box.  When I started lampworking, the bracelet migrated to the shelf beside my workstation on the porch.  There it hung for a couple of years waiting on me to do something with it.  I finally have.  With Mina's help, I reworked it.  The lampwork is gone from it and some more stones from Steph's stash came in.  I kept with the color pallet that Carla had worked up for the original but made it ours.
                                                        
The original piece before reworking.

The piece reworked
Well, what do you think?  Will Steph like the reworked and repaired piece?  Did Mina and I do a good job picking out some new parts for it?  Any suggestions?

Until tomorrow,
Guest Blogger Chris

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Arrival in Tucson

Well dear readers, Stephanie has made it to Tucson.  She went to Omaha yesterday to be sure to get on the plane today.  Streets in Omaha were BAD yesterday.  The first leg of her journey started a bit behind as there was a bit of trouble with her plane.  Due to the extreme cold, something froze up and needed thawing.  Then the plane needed deicing.  It shortened her layover in Denver to all of 25 minutes.  Not a bad thing.  She took lots of pictures of the mountains and clouds and the cacti outside of the Tucson airport.  Julie said that Steph hasn't quit smiling yet.  I can only imagine.

Well, that is all for tonight.  Darling daughter had confimation tonight so I don't have time to do a longer post.  Check back tomorrow for more on Tucson and maybe something else from me.

Thanks for reading.
Guest blogger Chris

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

On her way...

Well, Steph is now in Omaha.  Her flight goes out early Wednesday afternoon, we hope.  I drove her to Hastings this morning in the blowing and drifting snow and frigid wind chills.  There were whiteout conditions for part of the way.  After dropping her off, I went to Physical Therapy and called home to see if I had to go to work.  I had a 10am start that I was sure of but there was supposed to be a call made about the rest of the day.  At 9:30 no call had gone out, so I headed to work.  At 9:55, about 12 miles from work, darling daughter calls to say "No work, come home."  So after another hour of driving in the snow and wind, I got home.

I wish it wasn't so cold.  I want to go play on the torch some more.  Speaking of torching, here are a couple of hearts I made just before the weather changed.  The larger heart is made out of Gaffer Chalcedony (with a touch of black) and the smaller is Blue Chalcedony.  I like playing with these two glasses.  They are kind of like Raku but with properties all their own.  I hope you like.


Sincerely,
Guest blogger Chris

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