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Yesterday morning, I received surprises in the mail! It was definitely an unbirthday day for me. Ever have one of those? Where you get your birthday and Christmas all wrapped into one day? They don't happen often or even every year--but once in a while, you get a bonus.
My Bead Soup/Swap partner's bead arrived in the mail. I was all excited because--well--she's sending me beads. Does it get better than that? I have to think about that for a minute. I'm sure there are things, events, incidents that do actually get better than receiving beads in the mail, but my brain is in lock-down mode at the moment.
Anyway--she sent me this gorgeous little bead pouch! Isn't it cute? It just reminded me of the chocolate-raspberry torte my husband and I shared on our official first date. I've decided I'm keeping it, but I was thinking others like these would be great as give-a-way goody bags for jewelry gifts!
Oh you are dying to see what was inside? Here you go.
Aren't they magnificent? Ok--I'll quit teasing you and show you what was in the pouch.
Doesn't that just thrill you to no end? Dana actually took a better picture of the goody bag. You can see that on her blog. She also took pictures of what I sent her, if you are interested. I forgot to do that because I had gardening on the brain--not beading. It seems I have trouble multi-tasking, so I'm grateful Dana took photos! You'll have to visit this blog (and hopefully others) on June 19th to see the delightful treasures Dana sent! I'm going to have so much fun creating with her goodies!
The other unbirthday surprise I received in the mail came from my best friend. She sent me a box full of goodies too! She sent me some broken chains and bits and pieces, thinking I could work with them. She's right--I can and I already have plans for them.
She also sent a myriad of beads, pendents, and fun vintage bits. This is like heaven! I just love those gold-lined shells. They were part of a necklace/earring set but I'm thinking of something else.
She also sent me a beader's delight bag full of crystals and spacers! She is just too sweet! I really enjoyed my unbirthday surprises!
You might remember the first Internet Bead Party I joined back in February. I went ahead and joined the second one that happens next month. My partner is Dana James.
She has some amazing talent and a unique perspective. I have just started visiting her blog and I encourage you to do the same.
Speaking of beading, despite the tremendous time pressure I was under this last semester, I did get some beading in. I must confess--it was the sort of beading that happens under extreme stress. It was the kind that all beaders will recognize--that frenetic, nearly hyperactive beading that helps relieve stress. One doesn't do this kind of beading unless one is trying to de-stress. One doesn't voluntarily do this type of beading unless one will implode if one doesn't do SOME beading. This can be with any addiction/crafting. Think to yourself how many times you snarled out, "If I don't do some ______________, I'm going to SCREAM!"
So here you go: Some of my frenetic, frenzied, insanity-moments of beading of trying to off-load some stress. Some of these turned out surprisingly well.
The necklace set I made for my mother-in-law for Mother's Day. Yes--those roses are Mary Ellen's from BeetreebyME on Etsy.
The necklace set I made for my mother for Mother's Day. And yes--the flowers and the corsage bead came from Mary Ellen as well.
The earrings I made for my son's aunt. I'm still collecting business cards to use as earring cards. A great way to reuse these pretty works of art that I can't bear to throw away.
The earrings I made for my aunt, her daughter, and granddaughter for Easter. They didn't want any Easter cookies. The earrings on the left are made from Terri Stone's beads.
This set was made while I was waiting for my last three students to take their online examinations. I wanted something special to wear for my husband's graduation and he loves these burgundy and grey. The focal came from Ivy Koehn has stores on Etsy and eBay.
It's here! Today's the day! It's the day of the unveiling for the Bead Party thrown by our hostess, Lori Anderson. I'm so excited! Look for other wonderful designers on Lori's page!
My bead partner is Elizabeth of Turquoise Sky.
Awhile back, she sent me these amazing beads. I just loved them! How can any beader NOT love getting new beads? It was such a fantastic mixture of everything--gemstones, lampwork glass, crystals, seed beads, spacers, and glass beads. And I did what I usually do when I receive new beads...I played with them. That's right. I PLAYED with those beads. I can't help myself.
After awhile, I started stringing beads together, taking them apart, trying them in new combinations. I laid out different combinations, added more beads, subtracted beads, used chain and cording and ribbon to see how every thing looked. I was beginning to realize that I was having too much fun playing with my new beads that I was running out of time. So I put together a combination that I really, really liked...at first. And took it a part. Again. That's the beauty of putting together your own jewelry--you can always change the design later. It doesn't matter the reason you want to change it--it just matters that you CAN DO IT!
Finally, I realized that my time to play with beads were growing short and I had to be ready for this special day. I got down to business. And I discovered to my horror that one or more of the Rascals ran off with the ziplock bags containing some of the beads I needed! I still haven't found them but that doesn't mean they won't be found. Nonetheless, I had the important parts for the Party.
According to the Party rules, we had to use the clasp and the focal.
So here's the clasp. Isn't it gorgeous? I loved its heavy metal look that reminded me of chainmail.
The spacer beads. The top one is black glass but shiny! That's Tilly's and Lacey's faces in the distortion. They were helping me photograph the bead. The second picture is onyx nuggets and the frosted cobalt blue rounded bicone spacer.
Look at this dreamy lampwork cylinder bead. This wonderful collection had three focals! I got excited just by that alone. I loved the what appeared as feathers, similiar to peacock tail feathers.
While I was putting this ensemble together, I happened to be listening to Bonnie Raitt and John Mellencamp first and then some *uh hum...coughs* heavy metal bands afterwards. I think the music influenced my design. Just a little bit.
I present you with Lady Sings The Blues Meets Heavy Metal.
A thank you goes to Elizabeth for such fabulous beads!Another thank you goes to Lori Anderson for this wonderful invitation to a really superb and fantastic party!
The Bead Soup Party is tomorrow! I'm so excited that I just can't hide it!
*Ahem* Sorry for the Pointer Sisters recap there....*Breaks out the Neutron Dance* *coughs*
I'm really excited! I can't wait to see what my beading partner, Elizabeth of Turquoise Sky made with the beads I sent her! If you are curious as to what I sent her, just click here and it will take you right to her blog. She took a neat photograph of all the beads I sent her! It's a better job than what I did with the beads she sent me...but I also had the Little Rascals watching my moves so they can run off with a packet of beads--which they did!
Anyway--I'm really, really excited! I want to show you what I created from Elizabeth's beads and I want to see what she made from mine...AND I want to see the other 80+ bead designers and what they did with their bead swaps!
Stay tuned!
*Does the Neutron Dance*
What a week! Please--I'm begging the forces that guide the universe---Let's not do this again any time soon!
Arby is doing so much better on the change of medication. She's eating again and the acid burns (from acid reflux) in her mouth have shrunk. She's not fighting us as hard to give her the half pill twice a day. That, My Friends, is a good thing! A very good thing!
We had snow. It's melting off and will most likely be gone by Monday. Because of the cold weather,, I used a recipe from Pioneer Woman. I made chicken and noodles--complete with homemade noodles. It's a good thing I learned how to make them--Mr. Big Box Store quit carrying my brand of noodles that were made from unenriched, unbleached flour. I guess they really don't want people to eat well at all.
I also received a spring bulb catalog this week so I'm dreaming of spring flowers already. I'm wondering how many of my tulips, daffodils, and miniature irises survived and will bloom. I'm so ready to dig in the dirt and plant some blooming, colorful plants again.
Have I told you that I like simplicity? I'm not into complicated bits and pieces at all. A blogger friend is hosting her very first giveaway. LisbonSky has some fabulous jewelry in her Etsy store. And I'm telling you about it because it's SIMPLE. Visit her Etsy store, choose your favorite piece and tell her why it's your favorite piece on her blog. None of this do this--do that--do this--one more time--and don't forget to do that--type of giveaway. Simple works for me!
Speaking of giveaways, Terri Stone of TLSClayDesign is only 37 sales away from hitting 1000th sale! THIRTY SEVEN! Wooooooooohoooooooooo Go Terri! *does the happy-happy-joy-joy dance for Terri!* Remember, the person who makes that 1000th sale gets this set made from Terri's beads!
Terri's also planning more for her special celebration! Stay tuned to this blog for more!
I'm still participating in the Online Bead Soup/Bead Party. The touring date has been changed to February 10th, I believe. I'm finishing up the piece I'm making from the delicious beads sent to me by my beading partner, Elizabeth! I've had a lot of fun playing with the beads she sent me. Stay tuned for the tour! It's going to be fabulous to see all the neat designs made!
Here's hoping you all stay warm, toasty, and dry!
Have a great weekend!
This one of my favorite pictures of Merlin. He's sleeping on my beading table, basking in the waning afternoon sun, but covering his eyes. Some days, the sun does get in your eyes. If you look closely, you can see his fangs while he smiles. He's our smiling cat. If you want to see a goofy grin, just offer him some ice-cream. Vanilla is his favorite.
The table was mine until the cats realized it was a perfect bird-watching, napping, and ambush table. They took it over, forcing me to bargain for the space underneath to store my rolling carts for craft supplies.
This has already been a week. I'm really tired and I have one more class to teach tonight. It's my late-night class, which means I won't be coming home much before 9:30 tonight. My husband told me he would meet me at the school to drive me home, but it's only 3 blocks. I'm sticking to my guns here and walking home. I'm happy to report that I'm not as exhausted as I was last week, so I'm acclimating to the new schedule!
Walking home gives me a chance to come down, review the class, make mental notes of what needs to be included or deleted from the next lesson. Walking home gives me a chance to relax a bit before coming home to Harley demanding neck time; Lacey needing a cuddle because I was gone so long; Ava chirping about her evening; Cuddles and Gabby showing me how fast they ran the racecourse while I was gone; and Max giving me kitty-butt because I left and allegedly didn't tell him. *grins* It's not my fault he wasn't paying attention, but in a cat's view--it's always the human's fault.
