A Month in Photos...

Almost a month between blog posts is a very long time!  Here are a few things we have been up to since we last connected!

We were vendors at the Omaha Bead Bazaar on April 12.  Look for huge changes coming to next year's show!  New location, classes and demonstrations, and TWO days!

We sold at the Omaha Bead Bazaar April 12.  New location for the Show next year!

 We celebrated Easter with Chris's family near Wellfleet, Nebraska.

The cousins with Great Grandma and Paul at Easter 2014

 Mina got this year's Easter Bunny duty!

Bunny Mina with (goofy) cousin Daniel who graduates later this week from high school.

Mina went to her Junior Prom with her boyfriend of 6 months, Nate.  They wanted to be different from the usual glitz and glitter of prom, so they went Renaissance Faire instead!  They were so cute and Mina looked REALLY beautiful (not that she is not gorgeous every day!).

Mina & Nate - a more formal shot.

A friend of theirs took some fun, pre-prom photos:

Go Mina Go!  Can you tell they both love theater?!

Aren't they cute?!

Love the slightly "evil" quirk of Mina's eyebrow!

We went to our nephew, Daniel's Eagle Ceremony the day after prom.

L-R: Daniel, our neice Zoe, Daniel's brother Nick, and Mina

Daniel with his parents, Todd (Chris's brother) and Lisa

And finally, we went to National Honor Society banquet last night.

NHS, the Junior class!

Blue Hill NHS, the whole group

So there you have it!  A month zipped by, and here we go on the next one!  Be sure to swing by Saturday for the REVEAL of Chris's & my Bead Soup Blog Party designs!  Now if only I were finished with them...Yikes!

Adventures with Precious Metal Clay

Last weekend, I learned a new skill.  I was thrilled to get to take a class with Deb Brooks, who's company is From the Heart Creations.  Deb is certified PMC teacher, and Julie hosted classes for beginners at the store!  We had a great time and learned a wonderful new technique.  Here are the designs from the first class:

My piece is the Steampunk design in the upper right corner.  I can't believe I was able to create that the first time out!  Shows how talented our teacher is!  The other pieces are beautiful too, and I really love the piece beside mine, which was made on a printing stamp of a map of Nebraska counties.  The one just below that moving clockwise was made with a rubber stamp, but then Julie carved the clay to match the edge cut on the design.

 

This was another class group, and Chris was in this class!  His is the flaming piece on the right hand side.  He even worked with Deb ahead of time to design the stamp image and carved it from polymer clay to make the impression for his pendant.  All of the pieces are beautiful and while waiting for the kiln to fire, Julie and I taught the group about Crystal Clay (well Julie taught and I assisted).  Have you had a chance to use Crystal Clay (it is a 2 part Epoxy clay which air dries in 24 hours)?  Too fun and the possibilities are limitless!

Final pieces made.  The top tree piece is for a multi strand bracelet and the matching bead is a double sided lentil bead wit a different tree on the other side.  Very cool! 
Chris and I are looking forward to playing with the PMC more in the future! 

Thanksgiving Blessings...

There have been a plethora of "Today I am thankful for"s on Facebook this month.  I do a post here yearly of the things I am grateful for and this is that post.

I want all of you readers to know how much you are part of the blessings I am thankful for.  You warm my heart with your comments and the fact that you return here again and again to read what I have to say is a huge joy to me.  Thank you.

I am thankful for my parents and that we are able to keep them as healthy as we can.  Both my parents have a list of medical conditions that provide daily challenges.  I am thankful for the wonderful doctors who provide care and treatment to them.

I am thankful for Chris.  He loves me unconditionally and that has been a huge blessing to me.  I went through many years of anguish thinking no one would ever love me for who I am without having to be someone I am not.  He is my best friend, my lover, and my soul mate.

I am thankful for Mina.  Our beautiful daughter amazes us every day and after many years of infertility and catastrophic consequences from a tubal pregnancy, I thank God for her every day.  She is bright, beautiful, amazingly sarcastic, and has a hugely caring soul.  It has been a joy to watch her grow into the lovely young woman she is.

I am thankful for our three crazy cats, Sabrina, Suki, and Luna.  They bring joy and laughter to our lives daily.

I am thankful to live in a country where I have free choice.  What I say, wear, think, and work are all privileges provide in this country.  I am grateful for the soldiers living and past who have protected my freedoms and have given their lives doing so.

I am thankful for beading.  The hobby that has turned into a prosperous business, is also a daily blessing.  It provides a creative outlet for me and allows me a place to shut the world out when I go into my studio porch and create.

I am thankful for the wonderful friends I have made through beading. My friend Viv (company on Etsy, Dragyn'sFyre), is an example of this.  She has been my Tierracast supplier for some time, but recently has gone above and beyond to help me keep costs low and get the bulk supplies I need for the Memorial Pendant project we have been working on.  Viv is a huge blessing to me and I hope you will provide her with your support, her prices are low and she is a gem to work with.  My friend Lisa Suver, (company on Etsy, FanceeThat), is also another blessing to me.  I enjoy our quick chats and working up bead designs with Lisa!  Her beads are featured in many of my designs and she is a joy to bead with (long distance). 

Happy Thanksgiving and don't get trampled during the Black Friday sales (or on the way to the pie table)!

New Beads and Jewelry-Part 1~Western Designs

We have been working very hard recently to prepare for the onslaught of summer shows.  We sell at the Highland Park Farmers Market every Saturday (schedule permitting) during the summer and early fall, along with other summer festivals and shows thrown in.  Keeping up, in short, is exhausting.  Exhaustion and deadlines can work against creativity, however, it can make you see the looming NEED for what you want to finish also.  I am a procrastinator and it has gotten worse over the past several years.  I find that knowing I have one day, one evening, or one hour left is very good for prodding me to finish what I need to do.

Here, as I mentioned in the last post,  are some of the new designs we have been working on.

Designs by Chris Haussler

Howdy partner!  Wild West Penguins have been added to Chris's repertoire of penguin designs.  Too Funny!  His penguins always have such personality and character to them.  When we prepared for the Ranch Expo (which went VERY well, and we are signed up for next year), we wanted to make some western designs for the folks that live the cowboy way of life.

From upper left clockwise: Rose Gold Cross, Boho Peace, Red Creek Jasper w/feather, Silver & Crystal Cross.

I love to make earrings.  They are quick and the possibilities are endless.  These are a few of the thirty five pair I have made in the past couple weeks.  The rose gold and silver crosses I purchased on clearance at Jo-Ann's a few weeks ago and since I had no findings for rose gold, I was thankful all of those were also on clearance.  I used some rose gold balls as the accent beads and on the silver crosses, Swarovski 4mm bi-cones in blues.  The Boho Peace have a gorgeous peacock finish Czech glass oval bead with antique copper peace sign charms.  The feather earrings have red creek jasper ovals and antique copper Tierracast feather charms.  Red creek jasper is SO my favorite stone to work with.  The variations and matrixing in the stones make it look like each bead is something different!

This set I made using red creek jasper.  I don't normally make and sell "sets", and technically this also wasn't a set, though the gal that purchased it bought both pieces.  I usually design a piece and then move on, but once in awhile something made deserves a pair of earrings or a bracelet to go with the necklace design.  These pieces went together but were individual in the designs.  The earrings had dangles made on a ring from the same chain as the necklace and the dangles were red creek jasper, hematite, gunmetal Czech glass, and smoky quartz.  Then necklace is mostly red creek jasper in several shapes and sizes and seed beads with a bit of hematite, smoky quartz, and Czech glass added to the double strands.  I especially loved the focal which reminds me of an autumn shot of a Nebraska prairie.  The horizon line is visible with trees and sticks poking up through the native grasses tinted in autumn colors.  The wire wrapping was done with vintage bronze and it matched the large/small ring chain.

One last grouping of western designs to share.  I used a few pieces of Lipstick Ranch to create three rustic designs.  The two necklaces are both on leather cord from Julie's which she buys from Leather Cord, USA.  Very nice quality, terrific prices.  I used some raku nuggets on the peace sign necklace along with some large hole crystals, and Unicorne Beads teardrops.  This necklace sold to a lovely young gal.  She helps her mom with their doll clothes business, Giddy Up Girls and we traded the necklace for doll clothes for my niece.  I love trading art for art!  The earrings use smaller L.R. crosses with some turquoise and carnelian rondelles.  The flower power necklace has a large beaded bead (from Auntie's Beads) and miscellaneous other crystals in that gorgeous crimson color.  However, we discovered that this necklace is too short for the sliding knot design I used since it won't go over your head!  Duh, I didn't even try it out!  So I will be fixing that this week, and the necklace and cross earrings will be for sale at the High School Rodeo in Hastings, starting on Wednesday.  The final picture shows a cluster of the new cowboy hat pendant Chris made for the Expo show and those will also be for sale in Hastings.  Julie reserved a booth and we will have our jewelry and things there with other jewelry, quilting items, and Southwestern design gifts.  Stay tuned this week for more of our new jewelry designs!

Titanic Desire Fulfilled, Part 1

When we traveled to Kansas last week for my nephew Matthew's graduation (turned out he made salutatorian, he was 2nd in a class of 300+ students~Congrats again!) I was treated to something I have long desired.  I got to visit the Titanic Artifact Exhibition.  It was my Mother's Day treat, and I am just giddy with having gotten to go.  Here are some pictures we took.

Outside Union Station, Kansas City, MO

Exhibit Poster on outside of the building

Up close (love the clock in the photo too)

Ceiling and chandelier in Union Station

Beautiful detail on the ceiling

Long hallway in Union Station

Restaurant in Union Station

 The building of the Union Station was just amazing.  Huge and beautiful, the history of the building could be felt just in walking through.  Wish we would have had more time to explore the other exhibits, but we were there for the Titanic and we spent at least two hours in that exhibit alone.

Mina's ticket to the Exhibit

Price sign at the ticket counter

Projected image on the floor of the museum.

The fact is, I miss things.  I get caught up in the "got to get this done" and don't pay attention to the details.  When I ordered our tickets online I didn't really pay attention to the price other than the "this will cost how much?!".  Mina pointed out to me when we got to the will call window, that the price of the tickets was $19.12, as in the ship sailed in 1912.  I honestly just figured it was due to some goofy entertainment tax that made the price an odd amount.  Anyway, the incorporation of the exhibit was displayed throughout the building.  Images were projected on the walls and floors and other items were used to draw attention.

Photo display of Captain Smith of the Titanic

Photo display of  Molly Brown

Port hole (you can see Mina taking the picture)

The porthole display was very cool as when you looked through the "window" there was water projected behind looking like it was the ocean outside.  Very cool!

Photo of the ship's crew as we entered the exhibit

Chris and I "on" the Grand Staircase of the Titanic

Caitlyn, Mina, and I "on" the Staircase

Mina and I "on" the Staircase

When we came into the exhibit we were given boarding passes with the names and info of actual passengers on the Titanic.  At the end of the exhibit, we would learn if we survived or perished the sinking.  We took advantage of the "photo op" to take pics in front of a black and white photo of the Grand Staircase from the Titanic.  Around the corner, there was a green screen where they took our picture and put us "in" the Titanic in a colored photo.  Mina pictured here, was trying her best to be regal.  Sadly, Mina, Caitlyn, and I were 2rd class passengers.  Chris, ironically enough, was a 1st class passenger and a sculptor.  They didn't allow photos in the exhibit, but apparently that didn't stop Mina from taking some with her iPod touch.

iceberg at the end of the exhibit that we could touch.

The rooms of the exhibit:

•  started with the ice warnings
•  next the conception and building of the Titanic
• the luxury and opulence and 1st class passenger info and artifacts
• a third class room display
• the engine room and coal
• the cargo hold
• the devastation
• the gift shop

Now since this could go on for several more hours, I will end this post here and pick up tomorrow with further details describing the rooms of the exhibit and things that I learned.

One Down, One To Go

Well we made it through Nick's graduation Saturday, and we will leave in a couple days to go to Kansas for Matthew's.  We had a wonderful time visiting with family and have lots of new family photos to show for it.

Mina and Zoe

Bridget, Mina, Nathan (Chris's youngest brother)

Chris's Brothers (l-r) Todd (Nick's Dad, second oldest), Brian (Zoe's Dad, second  youngest), Chris (middle), Nathan (youngest), Kevin (oldest)

Todd, Daniel, Nick, Lisa

JoAnn, Mina, Kevin

Very proud of Nick, he received a bunch of scholarships and will be heading off to college before long.
Have a great rest of your week!

New Photos, LOTS of New Photos!!

At long last, here are some new photos for you to see what we have been up to!

Vintage Owl Necklace (special order)~Chris's owl, my wire wrapping of Czech glass leaves, flowers, and crystals

Black and White and Red All Over~Necklace Chris made one day while I was working at Julies, then he came home and made the custom heart bead for it.  It is for sale at Julie's Xpressions in Hastings.

Tory in the Garden~Wienie Dog flower pendant necklace Chris and I made for my niece Creighton's birthday.

Mina's loom woven wall hanging, for sale and on exhibit at Graham Gallery in Hastings.

Sonora Vintage~Necklace using one of Chris's Sonoran focal beads and spacers, along with Czech glass beads and crystals (sold at Marble Crazy).

Bunny earrings for Marble Crazy and spring shows.

Glub, Glub fish pendant/suncatcher (Chris's bead, my design)

Half of our table at Marble Crazy

The other half of our table.

A really good picture of the Sonora Vintage necklace

Bridal Penguin couples with their pet Weinie dogs.

The drunken uncle and little sister Penguins

The before picture of the more expensive marbles on display.

The $8 marble tray

The bead and marble master!  Great picture, Huh?!

Tatterpillar Garden necklace.  Chris's beads, my bead work

Birds by Chris, Charms by Earthenwood Studio, and my beadwork.

Beaky Bird in a Cage.  One of Chris's birds wired into a "cage" in a style I learned several years ago from Carla of Beads by C.

Galactic Madness Marble on a display made by Frank Brooks.  This was the first and second marble style we sold.  It is also my favorite design!

A really cool picture with Chris's marbles and Frank's stands.  The stands look like the belong in Star Trek!

Here there be Dragons!

Keyed up beads and ceiling fan pull beads not yet glued on the pull chains

More of Frank's displays with more of Chris's really cool marbles!

New style of pendants we premiered at Marble Crazy

Chris playing with fire

One of the marbles he made during his demos.  They will be used for donations or auctioned off.

The booth next to us.  He didn't have any $8 marbles!  Gorgeous globe style marbles.  One of them was $5500. Yowza!

So there you have new photos!  Hope you enjoyed them!