I've never eaten so much in my entire life!

Once a year my husband and I get to go out for dinner on our anniversary. Yes, I know, we're pretty boring people! But with three kids, and a very hectic schedule, you know the drill. So we went to the Olive Garden last night. I ate like a freakin' pig! Never in my life have I eaten so much! I was almost sick when I left the restaurant. I suggested that we stay away from appetizers because you get bread and salad anyway, and that maybe we could get dessert instead. He was game for that. So he had some kind of Beef Tortellini and I had Chicken Parm, Bread, Salad and then I got the biggest piece of Pumpkin Cheesecake for Desert. It was the size of my head, and SO GOOD!! He got a raspberry white chocolate something, and seriously, we were ill from eating too much!! But we had a great time, enjoyed each other's company and decided to try to get a "date night" in once a month.

Before we left though, I had several hours to design for Sandy Hook and here is what I managed to get done yesterday! I'm working on more today. These are all going to the shop, unless you grab them first, so just email me if there is something you'd like before I bring them next week! Have a great Sunday, and stay tuned for more pieces to come later on!

I had an "A-HA" moment!

OK so I was busy yesterday creating some beautiful things! I am focusing this weekend on restocking one of the shops I have jewelry in to get ready for the Holiday's and they like earrings. So I made earrings! Plus this killer necklace! I ran out to the bead store this morning because I had another idea, but they didn't have what I needed so I'll need to try to find it online. I have many new things coming so I'll try to get photo's up asap!

The hubby and I are celebrating our 13th Wedding Anniversary tomorrow! My mom offered to come over and babysit tonight so that we can go out for a nice quiet dinner. I'm going to steal a line from my friend Cathy who went out to dinner with her hubby and no children last week and pointed out that it was nice to go out and eat without having to ask anyone to "take 3 more bites"! Looking forward to a nice quiet evening out! Olive Garden, here we come!

The A-HA moment comes in here... I always love to search online for new things to put in my designs. I have seen these spacers being used in a few lovely designs and I thought to myself, I have to have them. Well I've been looking for them for MONTHS! MONTHS I tell you! I thought that they were Hill Tribe Silver or something, but a couple weeks ago, I was reading one of my favorite blogs (Silver Parrot) and she posted a picture of these silver spacers that she found on Etsy. Uh, HELLO? That's exactly what I've been looking for!!! So I finally got my hands on some and I'm going back for more, I love them. Love. Thanks KJ, I am so glad you shared, because I have been going out of my mind looking for them! They do add some beautiful shine to my designs.

This one is called "Golden Raisin". These are Melissa's beautiful glass beads, and I got a whole strand of them in different colors, perfect for earrings!

"Maple Walnut" (the color reminds me of the ice cream!) I made my own circle charm dangles at the bottom of these, and they hang from White Topaz Gemstone Earwires.

"Iced Green" - These hang from Silver Earwires and have some beautiful Bali Bead Caps in addition to the Swarovski and handmade circle charms.

"Pumpkin Patch" - Made with beautiful glass pumpkins made by Maureen of Pumpkin Hill Beads. I paired these with some of Melissa's beads and hung them from Saki Silver Earwires. Love these!!

More to come, tomorrow is another day! Hope you enjoy your Saturday!

Let's hope the sun will come out tomorrow!

Several new pairs of earrings and a gorgeous, fabulous, beautiful, can't wait to show it to you necklace!! Stay tuned! Just waiting on the sunshine to photograph! :)

Lights, Camera... ACTION!

It's been quite a while since I last photographed my kids. Not by my choice, of course! They are at that age where they can't sit still or won't look at the camera (with the exception of Meghan - she's been an awesome model for the past 11 years!) Well today I decided that before the rain and heavy winds we are expecting in the morning, that I was going to get the kids portraits done. Come Hell or high water, they were getting done! Once they all got home from school, I packed them up and drove the half hour to Topsmead and we walked around for an hour and a half! They were so good!! I was thrilled! A couple little fights along the way, a little brotherly pushing and shoving but all's well! Take a look!

Fighting the Boredom Blues...

Been searching around for a new blog background... I was SO bored with the black. I liked it, but I was bored. I'm bored with everything lately! Absolutely everything! That's my newest saying. So along with "Seriously", and "SHUT-up", I'm adding "I'm Bored". LOL! But this background really lifted my spirits! I googled and searched Yahoo all darn day looking for something that would compliment the 3 column style, as well as fit into my color scheme and I'm in love with this one. What do you all think? I'm not really a Black kinda girl. Brown is my black. But when I chose the colors for my remodeling of my marketing materials, I just think that the black stood out and looked really professional with the green. And now I'm kinda liking the black... And green's my favorite color. So it kind of all just fell into place! YAY! It's nice when that happens!

A little hand sanitizer, please pass the Salsa...oh and a bloody finger to boot!

This weekend there was a gem show in Hartford... oooh I was SO excited to go. I had planned to go on Sunday, but since it rained on Saturday the hubby didn't have any lawns to mow so I got to go a day early. I was on a mission! I wanted some Smoky Quartz. Not really expensive, just some different varieties/shapes of it because it's one of my favorites. I'm sure you can see the color kick I was on on this particular gem show run. It's all about the neutrals today!

Let's tackle the Bloody finger first! LOL! This is Ann's new necklace I made her. She bought this glass bead from Maureen at Pumpkin Hill Beads at the last gem show we went to and I personally think it's disgusting! But she loves it! It's an oozy, green, bruised and bloody finger. Perfect for Halloween! I just say...YUCK! :)

Here are some shots of my goodies from the Gem Show. There are three strands of Smoky Quartz in the mix. One that is micro faceted, then there is a strand of lighter colored briolettes and then a darker strand of big nuggets. I love smoky quartz! These are so beautiful and I plan on using every last one of them.

I also found some stands of glass beads that are similar to Czech Style beads, but they were called "Chinovski". Normally I wouldn't even look twice, because I'm a Swarovski Girl through and through, however, they just caught my eye. The colors were so sparkly and the fact that they were beautiful neutral colors they came home with me.

And last but not least, here's another stash of Bali Toggle's! LOVE them! I was running low and I love the fact that I can hand select the toggles at these shows. That way if I get a bad one, it's my fault, and no one else's.

After our trip to the gem show, Ann and I went out for Chips and Salsa at On The Border... THE.BEST.MEXICAN.FOOD.EVER! Plus we couldn't wait to wash our hands after sifting through all the bins of silver and just being around all those people...That's the only downfall.., too many grubby hands...good thing we both keep hand sanitizer in our cars. That held us off until we got to the restaurant to really clean them!

So, there was little in the way of designing this weekend, unfortunately. I had to help with some moving of furniture in the house and I was working on my books for HOURS!!! Damn program is supposed to be easy to import your Excel files into and I struggled with it for far too long. I'm not a genius, but I'm not an idiot either. I've worked with Excel for years, I know how to merge documents and I'm quite "techie" but for the life of me I could not get my inventory spreadsheet to load into quickbooks. I finally gave up and I'm now entering my inventory one piece at a time. Oh my gosh, I'm going to be doing that for at least a week. I have a lot of inventory! LOL! Oh well, once it's in there it's in there.

I had a good Etsy weekend sales wise and I'm thrilled to have sold several beauties. I'm on a mission to make some more tomorrow. I still have lots of idea's swirling about in the ole' brain, but have not had two minutes to sit and get them out!! I will rabbit, I will! Tomorrow... yes, definitely tomorrow!

Random thoughts...

The ideas are swirling around in my head... there are so many of them! Which one do I do first? They are just swirling, swirling...almost like clouds forming...but they are beautiful white puffy clouds...thoughtful clouds... not storm clouds... good clouds... swirling, swirling around... with beads in them! LOL! :)

It's all about business...

I made an executive decision to close my 1000 Markets Shop last week. I tried it out as a way to see if I would get more traffic by "spreading the wealth around" so to speak. I was wrong. It was a ton of work, and hard to keep track of what was where and I had no sales. Not 1. Not even any leads. Nothing. Kinda depressing isn't it?

So I moved all my beautiful jewels back to Etsy and they all have been viewed many times! No sales yet, but lots of lookers! That's a bonus, and it can't hurt. So I guess until I get my own website set up, Etsy it will be!

I've also been working on trying to get my books in order. There's got to be an easier way! I am very organized...so organized in fact that sometimes I sicken myself! LOL! I was trying out Quickbooks to see if I liked it. A friend lent me a disk so I could see how it works, but I only had a limited number of "tries" before it wouldn't work again. I think I like it, even though it's confusing at first. But like anything else you get used to it over time right? So I was getting down to the last couple of tries I had available and yesterday I got an email from Staples that Quickbooks was on sale...for ONE.DAY.ONLY. It must have been fate! So I purchased my own copy and now I have to take a little time to set it all up and get my stuff in order. I think it will make my life easier in the long run but man do I have a lot of work to do.

I'm gearing up for a craft show at the end of October as well so I hope to have some new things to show you shortly!

Hope you have a great day, as for me... I'm hittin' the "Books"! :) Wish me luck!

Now that's a whole lotta sugar right there...

Two of my kids birthday's will be celebrated tomorrow. Jack will be 5 on Sunday, and Meghan 11 on Tuesday. They wanted to have a "Halloween" themed party this year, and I never argue. So I've been cooking all day! I made a baked ziti to be "cooked" tomorrow, my parents are making this awesome chicken dish for me, that we have at this party every year. I also made 14 candy apples (melted chocolate with m&m's, walnuts, candy corn or chocolate chips) in addition to 48 cupcakes! Jack and Matthew decorated one each and then got bored leaving Meghan and I to do the rest ourselves... It smells so sweet in my kitchen right now! :) These photo's are only HALF of what we have!

How'd we do?

Sweater Weather...

It's turning cooler here, and I for one am so happy about it. Fall is my favorite season, and it's right around the corner! The air conditioners are coming out of the windows, and the fresh air is coming in. The short sleeve shirts are still being worn, but with a nice comfy sweater on top. I love sweater weather! I also love designing with fall colors and leaf accent pieces. A perfect example of that is this bracelet I made today called "A Walk in the Woods". It features a silver leaf focal piece, accented by an awesome set of beads that I picked up from Kimbeads a long time ago. She doesn't make glass that much anymore, so I've been holding onto it for a special piece. I think this is it! There are all kinds of Bali Silver Spacers, Swarovski Crystals, and it's finished with this very unusual Silver Leaf Toggle Clasp.

"Toasted Almond" is another Fall favorite. Don't these beads look like slivered almonds? I picked these up at the local bead store, I believe they are Czech glass, and so are the big rounds. There are also Cat's Eye donuts and heishi spacers. And of course earrings to match!

I feel completely lousy, I don't think my sinus infection is getting any better so I'm going to call it a night and get these (and the pieces from the other day) listed on Etsy tomorrow!

Hope you have a great night!

A little early Fall cleaning...

We moved into our house in July of 2001. We had very little in the way of furniture or "things" that we needed to store. Our china that we got as wedding gifts, my big papisan chair that I had in my college dorm room and a whole bunch of "hand me down" furniture from my mother in law. Don't get me wrong, it's beautiful stuff and I appreciate it but you know how sometimes you just want to be a grown up all on your own and decorate your first house with the things that you like?

Nevertheless, over the past 8 years and 3 kids later, we have accumulated so much crap that my head is spinning! We have a little colonial style house, so you know the attic space has been finished and there are eves on each side of the room for storage. Jam.Packed. I decided today, since I am already nursing a sinus infection and the hubby thinks he's getting Bronchitis and the kids are all stuffy and sneezing and what not...but TODAY I wanted to clean the attic.

I'm SO excited to report that I took out all of the stuff that we sort of "moved in" with. Made a pile of stuffed animals (with Meghan's help, of course) that filled three contractor bags. There are books, purses and clothes, Halloween costumes, and all sorts of baby furniture (cribs, pack and plays strollers, toddler beds, etc.). Plus all the baby clothes that I have left are now in front of my washing machine so that I can get them all fluffed up and ready to display at our TAG SALE!! Yay! We've never had one, in all the years we've been here but now we've finally got enough stuff to get rid of and pass along to another good home. I think we're shooting for an October date, and whatever doesn't sell will be donated either to the homeless or goodwill or maybe both. My Dad works with the homeless outreach program and I know that we can definitely pass along some quilts and blankets, and some winter coats that we've outgrown.

It's been a crazy day, we did so much and now I'm absolutely exhausted. I did way more than I was supposed to do, with regard to lifting and now my back is killing me. A hot shower is in order and then I'm hitting the old bed!

I'm making a custom order tomorrow, so I'll try to get a few new things made as well to share! Hope you're having a great Saturday!

Doing a Happy Dance!!

This is it... THE necklace that I've been working on for the past two weeks. I actually redesigned it again today, and I'm so thrilled with the result. "Dreaming of Dublin" is the closest I can get for now to traveling to Ireland. I will get there someday, but for now, I am just adding to my Irish line of jewelry with this gorgeous necklace and earring set. Glass beads made by Melissa Rediger and Jenelle of Beads and Botanicals. Seed beads and clover links and finished with this awesome pewter button. I love this top photo, I think I will have to use this again somewhere, maybe in some marketing materials. The rest of the pictures are sort of gray, as it was 6:45pm when I started photographing everything.

(I fixed the pictures, they are a little "brighter" now!)
It's a Melissa and Jenelle bead day. I also managed to get this bracelet and earring set done as well. "Woodland" is a beautiful charm bracelet with greens, browns and creams. Cat's eye donuts, Swarovski Crystal, fresh water pearls and a Sterling Silver Leaf Toggle clasp.

"Vineyard II" features more glass seeds from Jenelle that I had left over from another project. I alternated Swarovski Crystals and Meadow bead spacers and finished it with a beaded toggle clasp.

Going to try to get these up on Etsy tomorrow but I feel such a sense of accomplishment getting these pieces completed today. Along with Volleyball practice with Meghan and a bit of housecleaning. I can rest easy tonight. I did what I promised myself I would do. :) More to come, I got some more beautiful beads in from Melissa! LOL! I'm such an addict!

I keep looking for that Silver Lining...

Still nothing to report on the bead front. I'm struggling to find the time these past couple of weeks to get up to my office to create anything. I'm absolutely sick over it. I just want to get moving and it seems like there is always something holding me back. I know that time will get less restricted soon, and things will get back on track and I can't wait for that time to come!

Sunday, for SURE, I'm going to finish that necklace I started over a week ago. I'm desperate to get it done. I'm giving myself a goal of Sunday.

What's been consuming my time you ask? It's the kids. And they come first...always. School started back at the end of August. Getting into a routine has been difficult. Meghan is now in middle school and for whatever reason, I think she has lost her mind. She is becoming extremely forgetful! She's left important papers in the locker, forgotten to tell us about the open house and has had me running all over town getting physical forms filled out so that she can try out for Volleyball. Plus then I have to help her practice, which I don't mind at all - it's good exercise!

The week before school, she got sick, remember? Then Jack got it, and last week Matt got pink eye. I've been driving to the doctor's office 1-2 times each week and I'm so sick of it. I want them to just be well! On top of doctor's appointments for myself, and Meghan's braces are going on next week...It's never ending. October is looking really good! Nice CLEAN calendar! Love that!

Last night at 2am, Jack woke up and was having trouble breathing. I mean really struggling. So I called 9-1-1 and off we went in an ambulance to the ER. He's got Croup, and his muscles were spasming which freaked him out. He's much better today! I'm so glad. But I'm exhausted. So I'm going to try to take a quick rest (yeah that means, I'm curling up with Bruce - the Cat on my recliner and closing my eyes.). All other senses will be functioning, but the eyes will be resting. Just for a little while. I'm so tired. Then tonight I am going to try to get to the office and work a little on that necklace. :)

WISH ME LUCK!

Catching up!

There she is again, my Niki... my baby! She's such a good cat, and like I've said before she loves to hang around me when I'm photographing the jewels. I don't mind at all, she's the best cat! Just love her!

I promised photo's yesterday and was not able to get to taking them. But I did it today! Here's "Forest"

I love this bracelet. I used a beautiful bent bead made by Melissa that has some really pretty green colors in it. The bead is sort of see through and I love the feel of it. I accented it with Sand Opal, and Canteloupe Swarovski Crystals, Bali Silver, Antique Silver coil spacers and some glass seeds made by Jenelle of Beads and Botanicals (SFD). It's finished with a pretty silver toggle.

"Simple Harvest"

Had some extra glass donut beads from Unicorne Beads and I had made a couple of these last year. I still love it and think it's perfect for fall. Simple, elegant, colorful.

"Candy Shoppe"

I have no idea what these beads are. I think they might be Czech glass, but can't be certain. I picked them up at the local bead shop, and they were hanging on the wall with the rest of the Czech glass so I'm going with that but please don't hold me to it. The colors are fun. They do remind me of little candies, although I'm sure that they would not taste very good!! The feel of these is smooth and it's very comfortable to wear.

More to come!! I'm getting my groove back!!

These will be up on Etsy tonight.