A little remodeling goes a long way!

So 9 years ago, we bought our lovely home. Added much love and put our own touches on it to make it ours. In our living room, my husband insisted on a nice white Berber carpet. It looked SO pretty when it went in!

(This is 2001, before anything was done to the living room, with the exception of paint and making the double door opening behind Meghan. That was a solid wall!)

Meghan was only 4 years old when we moved in! :) She looks so tiny to me!

The above photo's were the original, beautiful white carpet. At the time, there was only 1 child and three cats. We put in the French doors to keep out the 1 child and those 3 cats, because this was going to be the "Formal" living room. 

So much for that.

Fast forward 9 years... there are now three kids, and 4 cats (still two of the original, there was one in between that was killed by a speeding idiot driver outside, and now two new). That carpet was disgusting. I didn't want to even sit on it. 6 years ago I said to Clay, we should take that carpet out. His response...no way, the floor is not finished underneath, remember? 

Um, yes I do remember, I took very good photo documentation of it!! But one of the older cats started to use the corner of the carpet as a liter box and so alas, the once beautiful, now gross disgusting carpet was violently ripped out of the room a couple of weeks ago and taken to it's final resting place at the dump!

The un-level and un-insulated floor underneath was taken up and repaired by the amazing hubby!

There was a fireplace here at one point (the house is 100 years old, but we never saw it) that's the remainder of the chimmney. 

Now nice and level and toasty warm underneath, it's been FIXED the way it should have been a long time ago. 

And then there was new...

And the finished room... I like it so much better than the original way we did it! 

We have the same furniture, and some of the same pictures, but we changed the paint colors several times. I think I am finally content!! 

And on the seventh day, she rested... and went for a pedicure! ;)

Don't worry, Clay is sleeping in too.

Sunflowers are by far my favorite...

I love Sunflowers. Love them. We used to have them lining our fence here by the road and people would stop and admire them while driving by. They were really tall and BIG!! Then of course there were those idiots that would drive by and knock them down. We'd find the big flowers all smashed in the middle of the road. Shame on them. They aren't there anymore because we did some landscaping over there and never replanted them. I miss them. 

Last week I got some beads from the lovely Melissa Rediger. I love her beads! As soon as I saw these I knew what their fate would be. 

So I wrapped some loops and hammered them. Then I wrapped some Topaz, Smoky Quartz and Jonquil Swarovski Crystals around them. 

Then I came back around with the seed beads and added some Sunflower Charms.

I think these are my favorite earrings that I have made in my 6 years of Jewelry Designing. 

I can't wait to find another big field of sunflowers and just take pictures!

I made this pendant a couple of weeks ago and never had a chance to photograph it. I'm also having a hard time with a name. I see a little Argyle pattern in the glass, does anyone else? 

I'll be working on some more stuff tonight and tomorrow. My goal of 10 pairs of earrings got sidetracked when the Sunflower pair took me over 2 hours to create! I just didn't want to let my vision down. :) More to come!

It's here, It's here!!!

I could be talking about a multitude of things this week! First, Summer vacation is here! The kids celebrated their last day of school on Wednesday. HOORAY!!

They were so excited to be done for the year, and believe me...I think that I am more excited than they are!! No more running around like a maniac!

We did our errands today, and even went to the bookstore to get them each a book from their reading lists. I have some kids that are eager to get their summer packets done early. I am all for it! 

And the other thing that is here, well that is now in my possession
after the bookstore run today, is the July issue of Bead Trends!! 

I went over to check to see if it was out yet and there it was!! There were actually only two on the shelf, and there are usually many more copies so I'm not sure how long it's been out but one came home with ME!! :)

Here's my photo's of it that I submitted.

Whoooohoo!! I'm so excited! You can find my beautiful "Atlantic Meets Pacific" bracelet on pages 92-93. It looks gorgeous in the magazine, and it's such an honor to have had it chosen. 

That's the last publication for the time being, I'll be working on some other things soon in that respect but I'm back to focusing on creating new things to share with all of you! 

It's going to be a busy Summer, I can tell already. But I'm looking forward to hanging out with my kids, who both did excellent this year in school! Meghan made High Honors!! I'm so proud of both of them! They are at a great age now where they want to do fun things, so we're making our list of potential activities. Mini golf, Aquarium, Zoo, walking trails. I am even going to try to hit the track with Meg a few times a week to try to increase my walk to a jog or a slow run. She may want to try out for Track next year and so I don't think it will hurt either of us to go out there and do a little more than a fast paced walk. Wish me luck!

New things coming in the next couple of days!! The whirlwind is winding down, and so my creative brain can begin to work again! :)

Sun and Sea

What a wonderful thing to wake up to on this beautiful sunny Saturday morning!

My Beach Treasures Bracelet was included in this GORGEOUS treasury on Etsy called
Sun and Sea!

    Thank you so much to WhenLifeHandsULemons for including me!
I think I need a vacation now! :) 

                                             

It's Tuesday?

I get confused after a long weekend! I went to bed last night thinking it was Sunday, good thing I was taping my Monday night shows! Thanks to everyone who stopped by my Memorial Day Sale! I hope you enjoy your new pieces!

In the meantime, I've been cooking up some Summer fun this weekend! My stretchy rings were such a HUGE hit a couple weeks back, that I decided to branch out into Toe Rings! 

I LOVE Toe Rings!

These are stretchy as well and you can wear one or stack a few!
Mix and match your colors! There's So much variety, that really anything goes!

These are Ann's lovely toes! Her feet are nice and tan and she had a pedicure! Plus it's hard to take pictures of your own toes! LOL! These are just some examples of how you can stack them up. These are ours, so don't worry, you wont receive used ones. Your Toe rings will be custom made just for you! 

To see some color choices, visit my Facebook Page, and look for the "Rings" photo album!

Memorial Day Sale 2010!

It's TIME FOR A SALE!!! From now until Midnight Monday, May 31, 2010 there will be a sale in my

Etsy shop!

Sale Details: From now until Midnight Monday May 31st, take 10% off your purchase up to $49.99, take 15% off your purchase of $50 - $100, and take 25% off... your purchase over $100! The more you buy the more you save! 

Mention MAY2010SALE in the comments section of your order and I'll send you a revised invoice or refund the difference through PayPal!  

Happy Memorial Day! 

"Gems may be precious, but friendship is priceless"...

The title of this post came from an unknown author, but I really loved it and it was very fitting for what I'm going to write about. Thank goodness for friends. They are the rock's that stand by you through everything, good or bad. They, like Mothers and Sisters, don't judge. They just listen and let you cry when you need to (Like yesterday, thanks Sarah, Ann and Ally!). 

I've been going through a little bit of a rough patch lately. A few posts ago, I mentioned that I have a blood clot in my liver. After much testing and blood work, the doctors have finally gotten all the results in, that THANKFULLY are negative for any sort of disease. Everything is functioning as it should, however, this is a mysterious clot that had just popped up out of nowhere and it has to go before it does some more permanent damage. The treatment for it... blood thinners. Injected in my stomach, twice a day. YIKES!!! I'M.NOT.HAPPY! It hurts. And so I cry... to my friends (and my parents, and my husband, and my sister), and they all let me. Good people.

I love to make jewelry for the special people in my life... my friends and my family. It makes me happy. And there are some people who I design matching pieces for (Ann), one for her and one for me. It's fun to have "Friendship Jewelry".  My sister and I have some matching things, my Mom and I have some too and this time it was Allyson's turn. 

Ally and I met MANY years ago, while working for the bank. We were kind of inseparable. Then just like life changes, so do jobs, and people move away from each other, get married and have children. Sometimes it's hard to stay in touch. After 10 years, we found each other again on Facebook, and it's like we just picked up where we left off! It's awesome! She has a beautiful 5 month old baby that I just LOVE, and we spend a lot of time together. So today, in an effort to make myself feel better because I've been down in the dumps, I made us some "Friendship Jewelry". Matchy Matchy, because that's how we do it! :)

 

Ally's Necklace:

 

And mine:

I've named them "KRISTAL Paradise". Get it? It's got both of our names in it. :)

The only difference is the two beads near the clasp. I alternated them so we would know who's was who's. I used these GORGEOUS Bali Silver Toggles (To die for!!) and Catherine Ondrey Glass beads that I've had and didn't want to part with (But I don't mind sharing). There are Swarovski Crystals in Erinite and Pacific Blue Opal (My Favs), genuine Tourmaline donuts and briolettes, and green seed beads that are lined with blue (like they were made just for this). Bali Silver, of course, and a whole bunch of support from my friend who sat looking on, occasionally picking up her jaw off the ground. Then reaching down to help me with mine! LOL! 

Friends...They truly are a Godsend. Thanks to all of mine who are, and who have always been there for me.

Busy listing!!

It's been a busy few days of listing on Etsy! I've got at least 20 new things up in the past couple of days. 

Check them out when you have a chance!

 These earrings make me happy! And I can use all the extra happiness I can get!

This post is going to be short and sweet because it's Thursday night...

Grey's Anatomy Finale!!!!

Shhhhhhhh, it's on!! :)

Lot's to catch up on!

Well, there has been a TON of stuff going on here. I'm getting ready for Sunday's home show. It is going to be FABULOUS!! I just know it! I had to take a brief time out though last week. Without going into too much detail, I was admitted to the hospital last week where they found a blood clot in my liver. I am now undergoing treatment to dissolve it. So I am in less pain and managing the therapy ok from home. If you can say a prayer for me that it goes away quickly, I would really appreciate it!! :)

Now, on to the happy stuff! Here's a look at the Mother's Day gifts that I made for my family. 

First is the ring that my sister's husband purchased for her... she wanted pink/black. I think it's OUTSTANDING!!!

And here is the bracelet that we gave to my Mother...The colors are also so beautiful and I'll be making more of this combination soon. 

The other picture I wanted to upload just wasn't working so you get the idea from this one how pretty it is. Looks lovely...Like my mom! :)

I've been working away over here, so I've been a little quiet! Did some photo's of my Niece's communion on Sunday. She's adorable!! Being her Godmother made it even more special for me to capture these memories for her. 

And I've been working on getting things made for the jewelry show on May 16th. 

I also had to work on a custom order for Mother's Day for my friend Ali. I bought myself a beautiful ring for Mother's Day from the one and only Rickie Voges, and I had it on Sunday. It was a big hit, so I pulled out my ring bases that I've had in my stash for a while and decided to give it a try!

Here it is!

That's it for now! I'll be making more pieces later on, because it's "Keep me Company Tuesday", so look for more pictures tonight! :)