Back on the Wagon

I guess I sort of fell off the wagon for a few days, but I am back up now.
I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter for those that believe. Myself, I had a wonderful time. Went to one of my 5 sisters' house for dinner and egg hunt.
I received a phone call early yesterday morning, informing me that my niece had delivered her first baby, a girl named Nola, 8lbs 9oz. Nola was 6 days late in her appearance, I think she will take after her grandma. My sister, is the one in the family that you tell an earlier time to, so she will be on time, you know the type, every family has one LOL. She is very good about getting to work on time, but when it comes to social events, well she is always the last one to show up.
I have finished my piece for Marcie's 'Marge and me challenge'. I finished it a week ago, and I can hardly wait to post the picture of it. I got it finished early, knowing that I would be headed to NC to visit my grand daughter and her family on the 29th. I will take my laptop with me and get it posted to both my blog and to Marcie's blog. If you aren't a follower of Marcie, I will give you a 'feed' to her site when I post the picture. That way you will be able to see all the entries to her challenge. I always have a wonderful time when I do one of Marcie's challenges. She always comes up with some great color schemes.
That is it for today, I can't show my newest yet, so come back on the 30th and I will reveal my challenge piece.
Till then, happy beading.

Day 12

Only two more days to go. I am going to make the 14 days even if it kills me. LOL
Tonight I am so very tired. I was up at 5am and now I am pooped. I think I will let the show and tell go till tomorrow, and I will post 2 of them.
The weather here in Southeastern Michigan has been seasonally cold. We had snow on Monday and it hasn't gone above the 40's all week. It is normally in the mid 60's at this time of the spring. Looks like we are going to be wearing our winter coats on Easter. :(
I am going to watch American Idol, then hit the sack. 5 am will be early again tomorrow.
Happy Beading, till tomorrow.

Day 11

I only have 3 more days of my 14 day challenge. So far I have been pretty good, but to tell you the truth, I am running out of things to say. That is something I never thought would happen.
My great grand daughter will be in town for the next 8 days. She is will be spending time with her biological father for Easter break. And because he is single, I will be watching her during the day while he works. I can hardly wait for that. She loves beading with me, so I imagine we will be going through a bunch of my old beads.
Speaking of old beads, here is my Show 'N' tell for today. It is a piece I made, maybe two springs ago. Back in 2009 I entered it in the 'Flower Inspired Challenge' at Beading Daily. I didn't win, but I had a blast making it. Then shortly after the challenge I sold the necklace. The two gals that bought it, also bought everything they needed to make another one. Heard them whisper that they could do some reverse engineering on it, and copy it. I didn't say anything, but they only needed to ask and I would have told them how to go about making one. Wonder if they ever made another.
We are getting an electrical storm, so I need to shut my laptop down.

Till tomorrow,
Happy Beading

Day 10!!!!

This Monday the 18th and the 10th day of blogging. This morning when I blogged it was about 20 minutes after midnight. I was surprised today to see that it posted as Sunday April 18. It must be that wherever Blog spot is, it isn't in Eastern time zone.
I woke up this morning and all the grass had turned white. So, needless to say I didn't play golf, but neither did anyone else for that matter. We had our meeting, sat and gabbed for a little bit, than all went our separate ways. Next week when our like officially starts, I hope we don't have the white stuff on the ground. Instead of playing golf I went shopping and bought a new TV table. Hubby helped me put it together. Then we had had to rearrange the family room, it looks great. That is everything except my messy work desk. It used to look like this, but now it is such a mess, I won't even share a current picture of the area. I really need to spend some time cleaning the area, but that will mean less beading time. :(
The tray is a former bread tray. It used to have a slatted board that went on top, and that would allow you to cut the bread evenly. Well, it was just the right size for me to use on my lap while I sit in my Lazy Girl chair and beaded. So it was banished form the kitchen to my beading area.

That is my blog for today. I will return tomorrow with a new show and tell.
Till tomorrow, happy beading.

Darn I Missed Day 9

Darned I was going to blog after dinner tonight, but I made a mistake and sat down in my Lazy Girl (AKA Lazy Boy) and I fell asleep. It is now 12:18 am on Monday morning, I missed to blog on the 9th straight day, and I was doing so good. So I guess I will blog now, and again later for a second time on this day.
It was a cold and nasty day again today. I don't know what happened to spring or global warming, but I think it left Southeastern Michigan. They are calling for snow sometime before daylight. I was expecting to play golf this afternoon, but I can see that golf will not happen for me today, if we have snow. I am a fair weather golfer, and snow and fair weather are nowhere near close together in my dictionary.
Okay, here is my show and tell for today. Or I should say my first of two show and tells of the day. This is a ring I made and donated to a silent auction. The auction were run by the teens in our church. They have been profit sharing for the last 3 years, to be able to go to World Youth Day in Madrid, Spain this year. It is a 10 day youth rally and the Pope will be there as well. The ring is made of Swarvoski crystals and seed beads. The design was from a web site in Korea. The design called for different beads. I changed it up because I thought that it would be beautiful in crystal, and I was right.

I need to get busy and make some more, or at this rate of 'show and tell' I am going to run out of shows.

Happy beading till later in the day when I will be back to post again.

Day 8 And Still Blogging

Today is a nasty, rainy day, so it is a good day to sit and just blog.
I have decided, that blogging is way too much fun. I can sit and talk about myself, and what I'm doing, without anyone changing the subject on me. So kool!! And I guess, if you tire of listening to me, and to what I'm doing, you can always just turn me off, I wouldn't even know it. :(

Anyway, today I will be going to my local LBS, to teach a few people how to make my heart link sterling silver bracelet. I offered this class to do on a Saturday early afternoon. Because I have heard so many people express that, they just aren't able to swing a week night class, I decided to try a day time Saturday class. This is the very first weekend class offered at Joan's store. Than yesterday, someone inquired about the class and stated that it would have been better for them in the evening, and asked to be put on the list for a night class for the bracelet. Can't please everyone. I guess, that is why Joan has a hard time filling her classes. Everyone wants, whatever she isn't teaching that week. Anyway, that is what I have planned for this rainy Saturday after noon.
In one of my very first blogs, I posted that I was sort of afraid to post pictures of my things, because of the huge problem with stealing designs off the internet. The world has gotten smaller now, but much larger. Does that make sense? What I mean is. so many more people can view into your windows (excuse the pun for all you MAC users), and steal whatever you have on display. Some people are just not ethical when it comes to the rights of others. I am a firm believer, of the rights of the designer. In fact, the other day I posted about a ring I had made. Well, what you didn't know, is that before I posted that ring to my blog, even though I stitched it myself, I got permission from the designer, Kelly owner of 'Off the Beaded Path'. I called her at 10am that morning, before I ever published that picture. I just didn't want to step on her toes. I must say, she was very nice, and was glad to have me post the picture. I also gave her full credit for the design and gave a hot link to her site. So I just hope that all the people that see my pieces respect my rights and don't copy my pieces. I make pretty much one of a kind pieces, but that is by design. So please respect mine and everyone rights, and come up with your own designs, or get permission from the designer. It is easy and most of them are like Kelly, gracious and willing to share. Okay off my soap box.
TA DA!!! Now for show 'n' tell. This piece is what I made my friend Joan for Christmas. Joan is the owner of my local LBS. The broach is about 2 1/2" - 3" across. I bought the focal piece off of e-bay, therefore I am not positive to just what it is, I just knew it was a stone, and I liked it. I used glass pearls, and Swarovski crystals alone with size 11/0 and 8/0 seed beads. The back is a scrap piece of suede, I bought at Hobby Lobby. The pin is glued to the broach and then the suede is glued to the broach, sandwiching the the pin between, making it very sturdy.
That's my blog for today.
Until tomorrow, Happy beading!

Day 7

I am going to have to keep up the blogging. It has been 7 days in a row, so I am on a roll. To today I am going to start out with a quote that I received in my e-mail this morning.
Quote of the day:
'Whatever you give a woman, she will make greater. If you give her sperm, she'll give you a baby. If you give her a house, she'll give you a home. If you give her groceries, she'll give you a meal. If you give her a smile, she'll give you her heart.
She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her. So, if you give her any crap, be ready to receive a ton of shit.'

I thought to myself, how true, how true.
Anyway I am here to show you yet another design. It is a piece I made about 5 years ago. It is a combination of 2 drop peyote and a square stitch. As you can tell my inspiration was the button I used as the clasp. What other does a frog do but jump from one Lilly Pad to another.
Like I said, I did this about 5 years ago, and that was when I was first experimenting with off loom weaving. It has faded a lot since I made it and I will have to redo it. I had used the Toho Treasures in a metallic, and it didn't hold the color very well. I will look around and see if I can find another metallic green that is 'permanent'. Not sure I really trust that word when it comes to metallic seed beads.






The lady that owns the the shop where I will do a wire class, called me yesterday wanting to know the price of the pendent at was hanging on the class wall. I told her that I hadn't priced it out, but it belonged to her. I had used her supplies to create it so it really belonged to her. Well, she sold it for what I thought was under-priced, but it belonged to her. She sold it for $40.00, I would have sold it for a little more, but she is not I. Anyway now I need to make another one for the wall. I will go to the store today to use her supplies and make another similar to that one. Here is the picture of the one sold.

DAY 6

Well, I woke up this morning, with the feeling that I needed to blog. The habit is forming!
Today I will show you something I just made last week. It was one of those things that I just had to do.
I am a self taught beader, and the first stitch I taught myself was the peyote stitch, and I always seem to go back to it when I am frustrated, to no end. It just has a way of making me relax, and forget about the rest of the world. And I just felt the need, to do something I could do in my sleep.
I had these beads for sometime, and when going through all my beads to select the beads, these just spoke to me saying, "use me, use me". :) So I used size 8/0 seeds, 3mm Czech Firepolished, and Swarvoski buttons.
I really didn't know what I was going to create when I selected the beads, I just let them tell me. I guess I may be consider a little crazy listening to what beads have to say :). This is what I came up with.
I didn't put the fringe in the under part of the closure, to not have extra bulk there. I have to say, I am well pleased with the results.

Wow, Day 5 of my Challenge to Blog Everyday.

Here I am again, and it day 5 of my challenge to blog everyday for at least two weeks, to set a habit.
Today I will share with you a ring I made. I got the directions from 'Off The Beaded Path' in Forest City NC. I did change the shank from what she did, but she said to put the kind of shank on it that you wanted. If you are interested in this ring you can go here and watch the video. When you go to this site, on the left side of the screen you will see a box that says You-Tube. Click on it and she has several different videos. This ring is called 'Oval Ring'. I did change the base beads from a clear Fire Polished to a color closest to your crystals. That way they really become invisible.
So I must stay within copyright rules and tell you I made the ring, but the designer was Kelly at Off The Beaded Path. Thank you Kelly for the tutorial video.
I just now noticed a mistake on the ring base. So don't look too close. LOL Now everyone will be examining the ring base to see my mistake. I am human I make mistakes, but most of the time I can fix it. I just didn't notice it till I posted the picture LOL.

Wow! day 4 and I'm still blogging.

Well, here I am again. Making good on my promise to keep bogging.
Today I am going to share with you some thoughts about my Great Grand Daughter. Yes, that would be the oldest child of my Grand daughter.
Now, she is 7 going on 16. What a hoot she is. She is extremely bright, just like her Mom. Not to mention cute as a bug. Although she is only in the 1st grade she is reading at a 6th grade level. Says she wants to be the President when she grows up. I see Harvard in her future.
Now she has always been very athletic. She was climbing the rock wall at the park since she was 3 years old.
Well, yesterday in gym class, her teacher told the class that they were going to climb the robes as high as they could. She than, told her teacher, well that will be a piece of cake. LOL Then her teacher just had to ask her, why she thought that climbing the robes was going to be a piece of cake. She replied, that it was because, she was half girl and half monkey. The teacher than turn to say something to someone else, and when she turned back, my little monkey was at the top of the ropes.
When I talked to her on the phone this morning, she said after she got to the top of the rope, she looked down and actually got a little scared. I asked what she did when she got scared, and she replied, I just closed my eyes for a moment and told myself I could make it down, not to worry.
Tomorrow I will share with you another of my pieces I have made.
Cheers, and happy beading.

Day 3

Well, this is my third day in a row for posting on my blog. I can tell, I am already feeling the habit in the making.
I promised last night that I would be back, and post before 10:30 pm. Well it's 11:52 am so I made it with flying colors.
I will show you three pieces of wire wrapping that I did. I have been dabbling in wire sculpture for a little while now, but up till the last few pieces, I didn't think they where good enough to show off. So what do you think of these three pieces? The second piece may look like gold, but it was actually done in Sterling Silver like the first one. This third piece is done in copper wire. I was able to buy some square, and half round copper wire and I just had to give it a try.
Happy beading till tomorrow.

Sunday, second day in my making of a habit.

Today was a beautiful and warm day. I meant to blog earlier this evening, but things got in the way of what I wanted to do.
I want to show you another item I made, I made it in February, I just never got around to posting it here on my blog spot. This is actually my third embroidery piece. It really was fun and I am learning more with each new piece I make. I named it 'Midnight Surf '.
I have started a new one, a pendent, but I haven't gotten too far on it, I sort of got bored with it to some degree. I will finish it when I decide what type of necklace I will attach it to.
Okay, I will see you again tomorrow. Hopefully before 10:30 pm. I will have to dig up yet another design to show you tomorrow. I have plenty that I have finished lately.
Night all, and happy beading.

How time flies by

I can't believe its been so long since my last post.
Although I haven't made an appearance here in a while, I have been very busy making things to add to my blog spot.
This is just one thing that I have been busy with. I will be teaching a wire work class at Raisin River Beads on the 16th of this month. That is if I get some students. I have one that has prepaid for the class and I will give her my all if she is the only one that shows up. Here is the picture of the bracelet I will teach.
Back in February we had a ice storm that played havoc with our power. We lost power for 3 days, and when it came back on I had lost my large screen TV, the digital controls for my oven, a portable DVD player, which my grandson was watching at the time of power outage. And the worst lost was the hard drive in my desktop computer. All my written directions for anything I ever designed was written up on that computer. So I had to sit down and rewrite the directions for this bracelet. What a drag, I actually had to redo the whole process, to make sure I had all the measurements correct. That will teach me not to have a hard copy of everything I do.
I have lots more to show you, but I will add a little each day. That way I will have something to say tomorrow. And who knows if I can blog each day for two weeks that should set a habit.
So see you tomorrow with something new and exciting.
Hmmm, what will I post a picture of next?
Till tomorrow.
Bead happy!!