Ingredients for Soup

Yesterday, I received the ingredients for the Lori Anderson Bead Soup Blog Hop Party!  
Agnes Shapiro, my Bead Soup partner, sent me an eclectic mix of beads that did not gently nudge me out of my comfort zone. Not at all. Not even nudge me. Instead, Agnes did a really good thing and SHOVED me out of my comfort zone! 

Yes, she did shove me. And yes, that is a good thing! Seriously! I was getting rather complacent and some may even call me jade or cynical--well may be not cynical but definitely jaded--in my beading. In fact, I was starting to feel downright bead-cocky. You know what I mean. When the Bead Addict starts thinking "There's nothing I can't work with because I'm *pauses to breathe on curled fingers before polishing them on the lapel* THAT good!" I needed someone to knock back down to reality. Because in reality, I may be THAT good, but that's only because I'm THAT comfortable with my materials. And it's possible that I'm THAT comfortable because I'm in a zone, a groove, a habit, a...A Rut!  
Yep! That's what it's all about--being stuck in a rut!

 Hello. My name is Cathryn and I'm a stuck-in-a-humdrum-rut bead addict. 

The group says, "Hello Cathryn. Welcome to Beaders Ruts Anonymous." 

Because there's no cure for bead addiction...I know because I've been researching for one on the Internet. And I'm digressing and it's only Tuesday. Digression is reserved for Thursdays. 

Thank you Agnes!  Thank you for sending me materials that have KICKED my out of my self-imposed rut! 
  
So you wanna see what she sent me? I'm warning you now I'm not sure my photography skills are up to the task of capturing the colors, the textures, the vividness of these lovely beads....

Told you, didn't I??? Can you see them well? 

May be this will help you out a bit...

Third time's a charm!  

Can you see all those lovely colors ranging from peachy gold to slatey blues and flecks of sage?

I'm not sure what those stones are...I'm thinking feldspar but I'm not exactly sure. However, they rich in color--Taupe is the background but there's streaks, striations, tiny blotches of colors interspersed! This IS exciting! I recognize the shell and the mosaic turquoise and the porcelain beads...But those stones...they are alive and vibrant in a subtle way. If that makes any sense.

So now that I have the bead soup--I need to get back into the kitchen and begin making my soup. Thank you again Agnes for kicking me right out of my comfort zone and giving me a unique beading challenge!  

As for the soup tasting, stop by starting on February 26th for the biggest Bead Soup Party! 
  

  

 

It Ain't Spring...YET!

I'm still in spring cleaning mode. Still. That's because of the weather, I'm sure. It's winter and we are having 50-60 degree weather here. What's wrong with this picture? Last year we had a lot of snow...Remember this?

February 2010

 

Well, we're dry. And warm. And dry. 

Yesterday, I saw my daffodils peeking up in the soil--it's way too soon for that. And I'm worried about our water supply for spring and summer since I'm planning for my garden. In this town, our drinking water comes from the main river--which is the size of a creek or "crick" if you're from my mother's neck of the woods. I don't know where that neck of the woods are specifically but all my life, she's referred to creeks as "cricks." I used to get in trouble in school for spelling wash as "warsh" because that's how my mother pronounced it. Same with "squarsh."  And "warshing" the clothes, car, dishes, or floor. 

Anyways, I digress. It's Thursday. I'm allowed to digress a bit on Thursdays. It's in the rules. Or should be. 

ANY-hoo...
In this northern New Mexican town, we get our drinking water from our crick creek-sized  river and two reservoirs where the location will remain under double secret security, thanks to Homeland Security and TSA. We don't have an aquifer here. So we really depend on snowfall in the winter and rainfall in the spring and early summer until the monsoons come to help us with our water supply. It looks like I need to start conserving warmup water already. 

But because the weather is warm, I'm in spring-cleaning mode. I've managed to fill up several bags of garbage because I'm tossing out stuff and junk and what I consider to be garbage. I've got seven boxes full of stuff and junk and clothes to take to our favorite charity thrift store. That's this current load. And I'm not done.  I'm working on convincing my husband to part with some of his toys and some of the clothes he's never worn and the 15 backpacks, 7 rifle scopes (he only has one--maybe two rifles!) and 6 bows he picked up in a bargain or two or three. That's going to take some doing but as I pointed out--he can only carry one or two backpacks, rifles, or bow at time. The others are taking up space and driving me up the wall. 

Yes, I have cabin fever and we're not even snowed in. Strange how that works.  

Now back east, people are complaining about another snow storm. I wish those storms would not pass us by but there you have it. What was I going to do about the no-snow-no-show? Then it hit me!

I bought a beautifully made pendant from Ivy Koehn (pronounced cane). Ivy works in polymer clay. I discovered I'm easily addicted to artisan beads like hers. So last year, she created a lot of them to entice me. Because she knows there are bead addicts in this world like myself. And I was easily enticed and smitten. And bought quite a few of them. More than I probably should have but oh my...they're so pretty! And I'm a confessed bead addict! What is so fabulous is that she also has a store on Etsy as well as one on eBay! 

Just some of Ivy's beads I just had to have...

One particular pendant I had purchased from Ivy was a claysicle. Oh my....It was breathtaking. And wintery themed complete with snowflakes. *fans the air around her to help her breathe* Yeah I know...silly to get all lightheaded and flushed over a bead but just wait until you see it! I put it together with some other beads and it's my Snow Charm. I'm wearing it daily in hopes it will bring snow to our part of the country.  

This is my Snow Charm...in hopes it entices the weather faeries in making snow! 

A close up of this fabulous pendant by Ivy Koehn...Just simply gorgeous!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 But that also brings me to another necklace I made. One I'm having a hard time parting with...meaning putting it in my store. The beads were made by Mary Ellen of BeeTreebyME and I fell hard for them. Two sets.And I've been holding onto them for the past couple of years. A few weeks back, I decided it was high time I did something with them before someone accused me of hoarding beads. Seriously. This is probably the only place where I could be accused of hoarding tendencies. I work hard not to go there but I also know there's a fine line between having beads and hoarding...a very fine line. Microscopic thin and fine. 

Anyway...This is my Winter Blooms piece. The one I'm having trouble putting into the store. 

Winter Blooms by ME from BeeTreebyME...complete with snow quartz. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 And that brings me to another piece I'm having trouble letting go of and placing it in my store. Because I like it a bit too much, perhaps. Because it speaks to me. The pendant was made by Terri Stone of TLS Clay Design. I confess that I became hooked on artisan beads because of Terri's fabulous designs. But don't blame Terri--she creates and the Bead Addict must have! So easy to blame the Bead Addict for my bead purchases. This necklace was simple but vibrant. Every time I put it in the store box, it comes back out. 

Ocean's Vortex Necklace

A close up of the fabulous pendent from TLSClayDesign

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spring cleaning means I should put these pieces into the store and sell them. Right? And if you hear a loud, screetching "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" that's the Bead Addict. Not me. 

So what do you have trouble letting go of? 


 

The Need to Bead

During this recent holiday, I took time out to bead. I wanted to get my beading fix in before the summer session caught up with me full force. On top of that I wanted to play with the bead soup mix that Dana sent me. 

So here are some examples of what I did.

 I had a lot of Swarovski crystal two-hole sliders and finally figured out how to use them to make some bling.  

                                       
Recently, I won this gorgeous Blue Riolita pendent from one of Gretchen Lima's auctions.  I put it together with some blueberry faceted quartz rondelles, amethyst luster roller beads, and bronze bicone beads. It worked out to be a delicious combination.

A couple of years back, I purchased a couple of strands of copper Sedona pearls from Gretchen. I rummaged around in my bead boxes and found coin-shaped brown slate. Combined the pearls and slate with some amethyst copper lined seed beads came out prettier than I expected. I originally had the idea of saving this set for a gift but I'm keeping it. It works with my "style" whatever that is.

I also snagged these gorgeous beads from Terri Stone's store. I couldn't help it--they were so my colors! The shades of purple, indigo, midnight blue, teal and black just screamed out my name when I saw them in her store. I bought all of them up. I've been looking at them for weeks and weeks, dreaming about what I can make with them. I paired them with lapis and crystals. I call it Cathryn's Colors...go figure huh?

I'm not one of these people who can sit on the phone for hours and hours and not do nothing. That's what I used to do when I was smoking cigarettes by the packs and packs and drinking pots and pots of coffee. So now when I'm on the phone for any length of time talking to family or friends (because I don't have call-waiting either), I try to keep my hands busy.  So that is how this set came about. I love it. I paired fresh water pearls with silver-plated chains for the bracelet and the necklace. It's too sweet!

 I've thought about opening a bead store but then I would have a hard time selling anything! Tomorrow I get to play in the dirt...Saturday morning teach again. Hope your weekend is warm and sunny without being overly hot!


 

It's All About The Beads!

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!

   

 

Merlin's Magic

This blog is called Chile Cats. It's supposed to be about cats, ferals, and colony management, right? It supposed to may be...MAY BE have some opinion pieces, a recipe or two, and general comments about my life. It's mainly supposed to be about cats though. It's supposed to be the blog that kitty lovers everywhere would love and enjoy. So what's with all this beading and beads stuff that's been popping in quite often? What's UP with that?!?!?

Well today is going to be a special post. My blogging friend, Cherin of Lanyard Lady fame is about to celebrate her 500th Etsy sale in her wonderful store. Naturally, I asked her if I could help her celebrate. She said she would get back to me. I was envisioning party hats and whistle blowers and may be baking a couple of dozen cookies or so. Ok--not really. Kind of hard to do that in CyberLand and across the nation. I live in New Mexico  and Cherin lives in North Carolina. Nontheless, I did have a party-like attitude and I am very happy that Cherin's lanyard sales have been perking up for her.


Then I received a request from Cherin. Could I send her pictures and a small blurb about our cats so she could design lanyards with them in mind? This is what Cherin wanted to do for her special celebration. WOW! How cool is this?!?!? Naturally, I responded with enthusiasm and started searching through my photos of the cats. I started with our oldest cat in the house, Merlin. I thought I could easily write about Merlin--he's got such history and such grandeur for an older cat who survived being feral. He would be the easiest to write about--so I thought.


I found it wasn't so easy to write about this particular cat. His personality is difficult to explain on paper. So I'm using word processing on a computer and not actually writing things out on paper...the process is still the same. The little blurb I intended became a synopsis about his life and began turning into a whole chapter. Flipping through the photographs did not really help me--there were so many choose and which ones best captured his gentleness, his wisdom, his fierce protective nature, and his generosity? I ended up choosing three, cutting about 20 pages out of the narrative, and crossed my fingers and hit "SEND." 


Now Cherin is a beautiful soul and a brilliantly talented creative woman. You should see what she did with Merlin's short story. I was both humbled and gobsmacked when she sent me a picture of the lanyard she made. Tears came into my eyes when I saw how she took my words and my photos of this cat and created a wondrous piece of art.  D was totally speechless when he saw that beautiful lanyard she called "Merlin's Magic." 

We had to show Merlin. He responded with his quiet purr of approval. Some of the other cats had to come see what the fuss was about. Lacey asked if she was going to get a lanyard made in her honor like Merlin. I told her to just wait and see. 

So please go visit Cherin's blog and her store and see the magic she created and become part of the celebration! 

Bead Swap!

Remember the Bead Party last month? Well I joined another bead swap set up by Lori Anderson, the same incredible lady who set up the virtual Bead Party. Unlike the party, it was just a simple bead swap. The rules were--fill a large matchbox full of beads you would like to receive (in other words--no junk please!) and send it to your bead swapping partner by March 8th. 

Naturally, I joined up. This was an occasion for free beads and being the bead junkie that I am, I couldn't resist! I bet you're thinking I didn't try very hard either--and you would be accurate. I resisted for two whole days before adding my name to the list of potential swappers. The selling point was that I didn't have to do anything by a certain time---with midterms and papers and exams coming up this month. 

I got lucky and drew Jayne "Boot~C" from Oklahoma. I'm meeting a lot of really terrific people from that state lately. :D Jayne and I have a lot in common. We share the same age, one of the same astrological signs (ok--I'm half Sagittarius, but it counts!) and we're both in education. Wohoooooooooo! How cool is that?!?! Naturally, we share the best trait in common and that's our love for beads, beading thingies, and pretty things! 

Come time to find a matchbox that was the right size and I hit a dilemma. In our small town, there weren't any large matchboxes--just large packs of small matchboxes. I took the measurements again and hunted all over this house for something of similar size. The only thing I found was an empty Land O' Lakes Butter tub--the kind that's mixed with canola oil. I emailed Lori who said that would be perfect.  

I started rummaging around my bead stashes and adding beads and glittery stuff to the butter tub. Then I took some of the things out and added others. I found that I really wanted to send Jayne a lot of different things and most of it wouldn't fit into the tub. I had to plan this out better. By now, Jayne and I had swapped email addresses and been in contact with each other--she's simply bubbly and cheerful in her emails. They always made me smile. We exchanged information about what we liked, what we didn't like, what we didn't work with well and what we had to have. And I revised her butter tub full of beads again after each email. To be honest, I revised it even the day it was being sent out! "No--no--Let me see if this will fit in too! She will love this!" We weren't supposed to CRAM our boxes full of things--just fill them. I kind of broke that rule. But I have a feeling I wasn't alone. I did try to send her a bit of every thing.

Naturally, I forgot to take pictures of what I was sending to Jayne.  I remember telling myself to get pictures because it would be nice to have a record of what I sent, instead of trying to rely on my faulty memory. And my faulty memory came into play. It's always faulty when I'm trying to get midterm grades in and the life of an adjunct professor is...well it's not always pleasant. 

But when Jayne's package arrived, I was thrilled. This is what I found inside! 

Do you see those boxes? Jayne MADE those cute little boxes! I'm keeping them! I don't know for what yet, but wait and see!

Look at all those goodies! But wait--there's more! Talk about a color combination! I fell in love with those gorgeous colors!

Those lampwork beads at the top, upper right are from Cindy Gimbrone--and they are simply gorgeous! I picture them on a necklace with those divine pink howlites and aqua crystals! The white coral I have plans for!

 This is an interesting earthy mixture! There's snake vertebra, green adventurine, horn beads and prasiolite. I can picture these in my mind all mixed together to form a beautiful down to earth jewelry ensemble. 

These are from the bonus boxes--chrysocolla and teal green adventurine nuggets. I'm so excited about having these stones! Just holding them makes me all happy and warm inside. These will be great but I haven't made up my mind yet of what I'd like to to do with them. I have some other beads that will match these perfectly so I need to see what develops!


Jayne--thank you from the bottom of my heart! This was a fantastic bead swap and it's been fun having you as a partner!  Lori--thanks for another great idea! I can't wait to bead!


 

Celebrating!

Today is a special celebration day! Besides the fact that the New Orleans Saints are in the Super Bowl for the first time, Terri Stone reached her 1000th Etsy sale!!! Amazingly enough, she had a tie! So those winners will be getting one of the sets pictured below--made with Terri's fabulous beads!

 

Set #1

   

Set # 2 

 Congratulations to the winners! Congratulations Terri!

Totally and Happily Addicted

I had intended to bake yesterday. I still have biscochitos, mini German chocolate cakes, mini carrot cakes, zucchini and pumpkin breads all to bake. Not to mention the cookies! I really meant to get down to the baking business. Seriously!  I had my recipes lined up, the kitchen was relatively clean after making the spaghetti dinner for the people who keep me connected to my students and was even in the mood to do some heavy duty baking. You know how being in the mood is important!

While I was waiting for my coffee to finish percolating, I sat down to peruse some of my favorite blogs and I glanced over to the beads left out on my desk. I had some beading to do for holiday gifts and I set some out the day before to go through them. You remember reading about my other vice? Well, all it took was the glance. 

The addiction began whispering seductively in my mind--telling me that I just needed a fix. After all, I've been really good about not letting it interfere with my classes or teaching. Really, really good. One little bracelet  and earring set wouldn't harm me. It would only be just one--a simple reward for finishing the semester. I began to see hallucinations of completed beaded jewelry sets, of book hooks, of the necklace I wanted to make that went with my Earthy set. The voice kept whispering and I was lost!

I made up this bracelet earring set for a special young lady. 

 "Summer Colors" beads made by Terri Stone of TLSClayDesign. 

After finish the first bracelet, I figured this young lady was was so special, she should have two!

 

"Ballarina Pink" beads were also made by Terri Stone.

 

My Earthy Set 

 

  This is the Earthy Set I made for myself. I made the earrings and bracelet awhile back. It's made with amazonite, fancy teal green jaspers, copper cubes, and sagey-green life symbol beads.  I wanted the necklace but had to get the life symbol beads first. The life symbol beads must have fallen out of a favor because I can't find them except through Gretchen Lima and she offers them once in a great while. It's one of my favorite sets to wear.

By the way, Gretchen is one of my favorite bead dealers. Can I say that?  It's meant as a good thing, I assure you.  She's always got a fantastic selection of beads. I've been buying from her for a while now and have always received excellent customer care. In case you are interested. In case you are a bead junkie like me. 

Bead dealer. Bead junkie. It brings to mind of dark corners and surreptitiously exchanging cash for beads. Or exchanging beading favors in musty roach motels. Will it make 20/20 News Investigations? Will Geraldo interview the bead dealers and the bead junkies with their voices and silhouettes disguised, trying to get to the bottom of this addiction that's hitting our nation in epidemic proportions? ? Will Sally interview the bead junkies and the men who love them? Will we read in our local newspapers how bead junkies are loitering just outside of craft stores, bothering honest customers?  

Ok reign it in, girl. We've had a little too much beading and way too much coffee this morning, I'd say.  

 

"Drama" beads by Terri Stone.

 

 I also made this set for someone on my gift list. She's a talented and hard working person who is just amazing. I love her dearly. 

When I finished that set, the voice came back. It was only 10 in the morning--there was plenty of time to bake.  One more thing would not hurt me. It would ease most of the semester tension away. And I found myself reaching to finish another....

 

Copper Crystal Earrings. The crystals are Crystal Copper by Swarovski. The copper rings which are just precious and I got those at this little findings shop, Brie's Boutique. She is a delightful lady that's also talented. Brie offers a variety of findings and vintage cabochons and stones. She offers excellent customer care as well. 

 "Swirls" beads by Ivy Koehn

 "Sugar Beads" by Mary Ellen at BeeTreeByME. 

"Goddess" beads from Gretchen Lima. 

Scarab beads from Gretchen Lima 

By this time, I started justifying my addiction. I was creating! How bad can an addiction be if I'm doing something productive, creative, and making things for other people in my life?!?!? I haven't beaded in so long! I've been good! I can always bake tomorrow. I need to take my walk. Tomorrow. I should....and the voice whispers "Tomorrow." There's always tomorrow but today is for beading!

(If you have an addiction/vice, you understand this internal dialog and wanting to break into song.)  

 

Close up of the scarab beads. Love these!  

I made sets for the in-laws and the out-laws. I was happily beading. I didn't look at the computer. I didn't talk long on the phone and I beaded the whole time I did. The baking went undone. The house still is not ready for Christmas, but I didn't care. I was beading!