Jack's First Day of Pre-K!

And yes, there were tears... mine, not his. He was such a BIG boy and I'm so proud of him! He waited patiently for the bus, that was late. He got on, buckled his seat belt and sat near the window so I could see him drive off. Of course, then Clay and I got ourselves and Matt into the car and drove to the school to make sure he arrived safely. He did great! Didn't even know I was there, across the parking lot taking his picture. Clay told me I was being a stalker, ha ha But he's my baby I told him! I had to make sure he was safe and sound before coming home. All in all it's been a hectic morning/early afternoon. So once I get him off the bus I'll be headed to my foot doctor follow up... cross your fingers that I have made some healing progress! I'm so sick of this darn boot! :) Be back tomorrow for another update! Oh, and for those of you waiting for my newsletter, I'll be getting that out shortly. It's been a crazy weekend!

No I haven't fallen off the face of the earth!

Actually I have been quite busy today! I made a few items that are on the lower end of my price scale so that I have a variety of pieces to offer at the Crafters on the Green market on September 11, 2008. More details to come on that event soon.

As for what you see above, I have some really pretty fall glass items, and one Kazuri bead set.

Let's start with the Kazuri set... a gorgeous cream base with blue and green swirled through. I accented it with Hammered Silver squares and toggle, as well as Indian Sapphire and Olivine Swarovski Crystals. There is a matching earring set for this bracelet as well. (Bracelet $55/Earrings $18)

Next, a really funky bangle bracelet with silver bangle tubes and glass beads made by Deb Rosely. I added bead caps and some other funky silver drum beads as well as some charms near the lobster claw clasp. ($60)

Next are two pretty floral glass bead bracelets. One with Brown and Yellow flowers and the other with white and brown flowers. Both are great for your fall wardrobe. They are accented with Swarovski Crystals in coordinating colors. ($35/each)

Then we have the warm orange and brown glass beads that I absolutely LOVE!! These have been accented with stacked heishi spacers and Swarovski Crystals is Smoked Topaz and Sun. A great beaded toggle finishes this piece. ($45)

Next is the matching bracelet to the one I posted the other day. All Hill Tribe Silver tubes accented by genuine Peridot chips and pretty floral spacers. ($35)

One last pair of earrings, and they are killer! Glass beads made by Carrie of Sassy Stoppers. Bali Bead caps and glass disks hanging from chain below them. Really cool!!! ($28)

I wont be adding any of these to the store just yet as I need to get ready for the craft fair, but as always, if you see something you like please let me know and I will have no problem setting up a reserved listing for you! Thanks for stopping by! More to come tomorrow!

First Day of School!

I can't believe my baby, my first born, my only daughter is going into the 5th grade! She has grown up so quickly into a kind, smart, beautiful girl that I am so proud to call mine! Jack starts pre-school tomorrow and then I'll be able to get into a routine. With only 1 little one at home while the other 2 are in school, I should have some time to myself to sit and make more pieces. I have a craft fair to get ready for and with my foot aching so badly I have dreaded sitting still for too long. But that needs to come to an end!!! I promise to have some new stuff up by the weekend! Please check back! Good luck today Meg!

I finally made something!

Wow, the past week feels like it's taken a month to go by! I'm really sick of this broken foot! :)

Oh well, can't get a new one, I'll just have to suffer through it for the next 7 weeks. In the meantime, my mom was nice enough to come over last night and made us this great chicken dish that we will have for dinner tonight, and she also gave the boys a bath for me. While she was playing in sudsy land with the kids, I sat in my office and made that very simple bracelet that I was envisioning in my mind that I told you about the other day. It is made with Hill Tribe Silver Tube beads, and genuine Apatite and Peridot chips seperated by floral spacers. So pretty and elegant! I have enough beads to make one more bracelet, so I'll try to do that today and get it posted on Etsy. I already showered and am thinking what I can do today to get OUT OF THIS HOUSE! Something that does not require my foot to be down for a long period of time, but maybe long enough to get some fresh air! Check back later on for more updates! Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your day!

(Sorry again for the shadows on the photo's, it's earlier than I normally get out there to photograph things because I wanted to get a post up sooner than later! )

Still here!

Thanks all for putting up with my lack of posting and new jewelry! My foot is really killing me, and I'm really not used to sitting still and just resting. It's not my nature. But Ann is coming over soon and I have a really good idea for a new bracelet that I want to try to make. It's simple... maybe just what I need to get back on track. I'll try to post a picture once I have it done! Please be sure to check back! I'll be trying my best to get some things made this afternoon. :)

Beach pics

My mom shared with me the pictures that she took at the beach after I left and these are so cute! I have a great series of shots that I took of my dad with Jack when he was 2 at this same beach. So these I will add to the kids room, this is my dad with Matt! Love them, good job mom! I'm feeling a little bit better, so perhaps I'll venture upstairs either tonight or tomorrow to make some jewels. I hate to have my foot down, it just aches so badly so it's better when I elevate it. We'll see what the afternoon brings. Don't lose faith in me yet, I'm a trooper! I can't STAND to be idle! :) Be back soon and thanks for checking in!

No new photo today...

Well, the only time I spent outside today was going to the doctor. I missed the last step on my foyer stairs this morning and broke my foot! OUCH! It really does hurt a lot so I'll be taking a couple days off to rest. Having been told to elevate it and stay off of it gives me time to sit and create jewelry, so once the excruciating pain stops I will be hard at work making new things. I already have to make about 4 more of those "Kitchen Sink" bracelets that I posted last night. They are truly so much prettier in person than the picture suggests, but I'm glad to see an interest in them despite the lack of sparkle shown in the photo! I'm in a walking cast, so I can get around...slowly but surely, so I'll be back up and running soon! Thanks for checking in!

New Project!

This is the new project that I was telling you all about earlier that I wanted to try, called my "Kitchen Sink" series. This bracelet was inspired by the project in the Wire Style Book submitted by Jodi L. Bombardier (She called it the Grapevine).

These pictures were taken inside at my kitchen table, so forgive the lighting, I'll get a better shot tomorrow outside. But I wanted to show Ann, and this is the only way I can share photo's with her. DAMN AOL! :)

I used Swarovski Crystals in Olivine, Light Olivine, and Violet, with Swarovski Pearls in purple and green and beige, and then some white seed beads that were top drilled and loads of silver spacers....

OK, now comes the question of the hour... What do YOU think? Let me know!
Talk to you tomorrow!

Atlantic Meets Pacific...

Sorry for the lack of post yesterday, however, it was not for a lack of working! With the kids being home now there is lots of laundry to do and miscellaneous cleaning but I did manage to sit down and make three of these beautiful bracelets last night when Ann was visiting. My hands are killing me from all that wire wrapping! Between Ann and I, we got our hands on three sets of these beautiful beads made by Catherine Ondrey. So naturally one of these bracelets is mine, and you guessed it... one is Ann's (she took hers home last night)! But the other is up for grabs!

I'm calling them Atlantic Meets Pacific because of the colors of the Swarovski Crystals I used in this design. They match the beads perfectly! They are Tourmaline, Bermuda Blue and Pacific Blue Opal, how great is that? I added some Antique Silver Panten Beads, Heishi spacers, two types of Hill Tribe Silver Spacers and a beaded toggle clasp that I thought kept in line with the other materials in the piece. Ann's has the same toggle, but I put a different one on mine, only because I liked it! I'm the designer, I'm allowed!

The available one will be going up on Etsy shortly and then I am off to my nieces birthday party for the afternoon. I'll be back later, maybe with a new picture, but definitely a note on my next project from the "BOOK"... I LOVE that book! I'm going to call these next bracelets I'm working on, my version of a "Kitchen Sink" series. I know other people have used that term, and it really is appropriate for what I am thinking for these bracelets... I'll leave you with that thought and be back later on to explain more. Have a great day!

Oh my!

I was reading one of my favorite blog's last night (Kerry Bogert - Kabs Creative), and her post was about the new Wire Style Book that just came out. She actually has a couple of designs that were published and are really cool!!

Yeah, well without hesitation, I went out last night and grabbed the book. I was very interested in a lot of the designers in there and was needing to be inspired. Needless to say, I LOVE almost everything in that book! The cover image is a beautiful pendant made by Tamara Honaman, (founding editor of Step By Step Beads) and I knew that I had to give that style a try right away. So without reading the "directions", I just admired the picture and then looked through my bead stash to see what I could use to put my own spin on it and this is what I came up with. WOW!! I want to get some feedback on this, as I can make more with different color lampwork beads and charms. I made this one and am going to hang on to it. Since it was just practice, I chose a bead that I liked from my box, and I happened to have the same charms that were used in the original design in the book. However, I added more... I always add more! For my design, I added hammered silver bead caps, Swarovski Crystals, an Oak ring bead and an ornate bail to hang on the choker chain.

This has been around my neck since I completed it (it goes with the shirt that I have on) and it's my favorite color! :)

Let me know your thoughts... If enough people like these, I will get a stronger guage wire to make them with (I only had 18 guage on hand but will need either 16 or 14 for pieces that I offer to the public).

More to come!

A couple new things!

Here we go...

First: A gorgeous Glass Focal bead, with an Ivory base and dark brown colors swirled through it. I have accented this bead with Hammered Silver Bangle tubes, bead caps and a toggle clasp. There are Smoked Topaz and Light Colorado Topaz Swarovski Crystals and square spacers with a dangling charm. So cool!

Next, is a funky charm bracelet made for all you Turquoise lovers out there. It features a variety of shaped glass beads, and genuine Turquoise Heart beads. I found a great strand of genuine Turquoise beads at the bead store that I mixed in with coordinating seed beads, and Swarovski Crystals in Light Colorado Topaz, Indicolite and Montana Blue. There are Bali beads, Hill Tribe Silver spacers and some cool drum shaped beads as well added in to the charms that have all been hand wrapped into this masterpiece. The earrings feature two genuine Turquoise Heart beads, with matching Turquoise and seed beads, which hang from lever backs.

I just got a phone order, so I'll be working on that one next, but then will be back to working on new things. Please check back in a bit to see what's up next! Hope you're having a great day!

New Jewels!!

Wow! I just made it back from the doctor, ran outside with my camera and snapped some pics in the sun.. came inside and it started to rain! How's that for good timing! Ok, here are the pieces I made yesterday.

First: A disk set with some really funky twist beads made by Michele of Moonfairy glass. I have not seen this glass style in Michele's sets so I snapped this up right away! Very unique! I have the bracelet and matching earrings.

Next: This set of glass beads was in my secret stash... I am so drawn to it. I keep saying to myself that I'll make something for me, but I really think that these need to be shared. I'll be SO proud to see someone wearing this necklace and earring set. It's smashing! A beautiful blue with silvery glass shards wrapped around the beads. Very unique and I don't mind telling you that if you don't grab this one quick it WILL be back in my drawer for the jewelry hog (ME!). :)

Third: These are the PITA earrings I was telling you about earlier. What a process in making these! The holes on the genuine Tourmaline pieces are SO small that I was using 24 gauge wire to wrap them. I tried putting them on headpins, but they would not fit. So I made my own head pins, with a little coiling on the bottom to keep the gemstones on. I also kept true to form and coiled the rest of the wire around them to make "charmy". They are hanging from french wires, and I just love the hammered silver ovals that accent them as well!

Last but not least are the earrings I made to go with the triple strand necklace shown yesterday. So cool, dainty and match perfectly! I like sets!

Thanks for stopping by, I'm off to try to make my quota for today! Check back later to see my progress!