Sunday, August 17th.
Ok, so I've been busy! The kids start back to school tomorrow. It was the shortest summer on record! Well, not really but it sure felt like it! It could have something to do with the fact that my youngest starts kindergarten this year! They grow up too darn quickly!
I should have done free beads this last Friday but I haven't been on the torch and I have no beads. I'm going to push the free bead drawing out to Aug. 22nd. I plan on getting on the torch at least once the first week back to school.
It will be a tough week though, on Thursday our little local bead gals are getting together to wish Beatrice farewell! Although I know Beatrice and I will stay in touch, and we are planning on rejuvenating our bead challenges, it will be sad to see her leave!
I hope you all had a wonderful summer. I'll be back Friday.
I'll leave you with a photo of my stash I purchased at the ISGB Gathering last weekend.
Wednesday, August 6th.
Wow, I LOVED my PMC rings class yesterday! Look what I made.
Front View.......
and a side view...
Mary Anne Devoss and her husband Ken were so kind and wonderful! I just loved this class! I had signed up for another class today, PMC hollows with glass inclusions, but I'm not able to make it and I'm now quite a bit bummed about that. I think it would have been another great class!
Monday, August 4th.
I can't believe school starts 2 weeks from today! I feel like we really haven't done anything except vacation! I'm feeling like I cheated my kids out of a fun filled summer so I'll be packing in the entertainment the next 2 weeks.
Tomorrow will be the exception to the rule. The Gathering will be in Oakland this week. Tomorrow I'm taking a PMC rings class with Mary Anne Devoss. I'm really excited. I actually signed up for 2 PMC classes but I couldn't work the second class into my schedule. I've never been to a Gathering. For those of you who don't know what it is, it's a national lamporking conference held every year in a different city by the International Society of Glass Beadmakers. This year it's close enough to drive to it. It lasts several days but it was a bit expensive for a conference pass. I decided to take a class and then go to the Bead Bazaar (which is open to the public) this Saturday. Although, I'd enjoy seeing all the demo's etc, I just couldn't get away for so many days! Regardless, I'm hoping to return tomorrow with some fun things to show!
On to the good stuff.
The winner of free beads for last Friday is
Lisa From GA.
Congratulations Lisa and thanks to everyone for the votes!
Tuesday July 29th.
Well, that was a bit longer than 1-1/2 weeks away. My time away from the computer took us on a family vacation to the Grand Canyon. It was absolutely beautiful! We went to the north and south rim and I have to say we definitely preferred the north rim. Why you say? The biggest reason is that it was a lot less crowded! It was also cooler, greener and prettier!
Now it's back to the swing of things. I'm still in the process of unpacking our trailer and doing laundry! My husband took 900 pictures so I have to sort through my favorites and decide which ones to print!
Have any of you been to Hoover Dam lately? They are building a bridge across the Colorado River just infront of the Hoover Dam. It's an amazing piece of engineered concrete! When it's finished it will be 300 feet higher than the Golden Gate Bridge! It's way up there and I just don't think I have any interest in driving over it until it's been driven over for many many years and proven itself to be sound! It's truly amazing to look at though!
As for beads, it's looking kind of bleak. I'll be back this Friday for free beads and I'm actually going to have to sit and make some for the drawing because I have none to offer. So, lets get that accomplished first before I think of any other obstacles to tackle!
I'll be back soon.
July 15th.
It hardly seems possible that the summer can go by in the blink of an eye! I just realized that summer is more than half over! I feel like we haven't done anything yet! Although, I am anxious for school to start because I will finally have all 4 children in school all day! That's a whole lot of bead time! Of course, I may actually have a clean house on a consistent basis! I have no idea what that feels like so I'm anxious for the new experience!
I'm taking some time away from the computer next week so I'll be back in about 1-1/2 weeks with an update and the free bead winner that is scheduled to be drawn next Friday.
Take it easy!
Tuesday July 8th.
I hope everyone had a nice 4th. Ours was different and new. We usually go to a friend's house in town and it's across the street from the city fire works. His street is like a war zone afterwards with all the people ligthing their own fire works. Well, he sold his house this year and we stayed in our neighborhood, out of the city limits where we can't light fire works. We watched the fire works being lit off all over town from the top of our hill. It was low key and nice.
I've been playing on the torch a bit for a project for myself. I started a bead crochet necklace that I'd like to attach some good size hollow beads as the focal. So, I've been making focals a bit. I'll have some to offer once I'm happy with the outcome.
For today all I have is the winner of last Friday's free beads.
The winner is.........
Deb from I don't know where.
I've already sent her an e-mail to notify her.
Thanks for all the votes, I really appreciate it!
Wednesday July2nd.
I can't believe that Friday is the 4th of July already! It feels like summer just started and then I realized, tomorrow my kids have been out of school for 4 weeks already!
Thanks to so many of you wishing me well with my allergies! I really appreciate it and yes, I'm doing much better! We heard one report that the smoke might linger for a month! I was ready to go get allergy shots when I heard that! Thank goodness we had a few nice breezy days and it's blue skies again!
There are still many fires burning in Califonia. There is a large one just south west of us in Big Sur. Today I heard it's only 3% contained and it's currently the largest fire in CA. We went bike riding in Monterey today and we could see the smoke. Luckily, for my allergies, the breeze is keeping the smoke from coming up to our area!
I'll try to be back this weekend with free beads for Friday. If not, I'll announce the winner early next week. Happy 4th of July!
Friday June 27th.
I listed most of the ice cream cones in sets of 2 for those wanting to make earrings.
My allergies are a little better today. I haven't had this kind of problem since I lived in Illinois. I'm sure I'll be fine once the smoke covering all of Califonia clears out!
I'll post free bead photos monday for next Friday's drawing.
Have a nice weekend.
Thursday June 26th.
Allergies have me incapacitated. I'll try to get bead specials up tomorrow.
Monday, June 23rd
Bead Specials will be up Thursday afternoon
(ice cream cones included).
Did anyone see the national news last night? There are over 700 wildfires in California right now! I feel so bad for the fire fighters, no rest for the weary!
We had very strange weather here this weekend. We had lightning storms (thus the reason for so many fires) with little to no rain! We NEVER get lightning, even when it does rain! To have lightning in the middle of summer is just crazy!
In other news, we took my oldest daughter to horse camp yesterday. It must be that middle school age but she's already called home to say her horse hates her. When I called the camp director she said my daughter is on the kindest, sweetest horse they have and that she couldn't wait to get back to the stables to see him today! Hmmm?
I purchased a juicer from Costco recently. I'm loving this machine! We tried carrots first. My kids even liked the carrot juice! I was quite impressed with the remainder of the carrots, it looked and felt like orange saw dust! Right now I have raspberry lemon muffins in the oven and they smell wonderful! I hope they taste as good. Don't tell my husband but they are healthy too! Raspberries, lemons, whole wheat flour with honey instead of sugar! Yummy!
Saturday June 21st.
It's REALLY HOT here!
Yes, that does say 184 degrees. I'm pretty sure it's incorrect! It made it up to 107 yesterday! I'm really wishing we had air conditioning!
We had another fire yesterday. It looks like the smoke has resided so I'm hoping they were able to get control of this one. That makes the 3rd fire, locally, so far this year! I'm really worried about what August will bring after a couple more months with this unusual heat and no rain! Should be an interesting summer.
Friday June 20th.
What a hot week it's been! I took my kids to the beach yesterday. The beach directly west and closest to us isn't known for bein a warm beach. It's generally breezy and cooler than those just north in Santa Cruz. We took a chance and it was 80 degrees and beautiful! Here at our house just 20 miles west, it was 98 degrees! OUCH! It's suppose to be another high one today! I had planned on making beads this week but I can't imagine the thought of sitting infront of a torch while it's almost 100 outside! My garage doesn't happen to have air conditioning. Actually, neither does our house.
I've started working on another chain maille project. It's a byzantine necklace in a smaller guage and diameter. I ran out of silver but what I've got so far is gorgeous! I'll show that when it's finished.
On to free beads.....
The winner of today's free bead drawing is
Kathy from South Dakota!
Thanks to everyone for voting and again, I'm sorry the drawing was pushed out for so long.
Have a great weekend!
Monday June 16th.
So, I guess I should have had a free bead drawing weeks ago but the time got away from me. I hate to do this to you (I hope the beads will make up for it) I'm pushing the free bead drawing out until this Friday June 20th. Here they are... I'll be making more of these for bead specials in the coming weeks.
One of the things I ordered as soon as I returned home from Bead & Button was a Koil Kutter, so I could make my own jump rings. I am completely addicted to making chain maille! Here are the 2 bracelets I made this week.
I bought the koil kutter from Dave At Gemstones Etc. I don't think he has a website so if anyone is interested, e-mail me and I'll send you his info. The Koil Kutter was only $79.95 and it attaches to my Foredom Flex Shaft. He also makes them to attach to a Dremel and a Proxxon.
Tuesday June 10th.
I did make it to Bead & Button but not without my share of transportation issues! I had a connecting flight through Chicago on my departure and my return flights. Both of which were cancelled due to the weather conditions in Milwaukee! On Wed. night at 10:15pm, I took a bus from Chicago to Milwaukee. On my return, I drove down to Chicago. When I went to check my bags they said because I didn't fly to my final destination and I didn't fly back from my destination, they zeroed out my ticket! WHAT? After much heated discussion, mostly about the fact that United couldn't get me to and from my final destination, they booked me onto a flight which was then delayed 3 hours. Two of those three were spent on the plane, on the runway! We finally take off at 11:30pm and I go to recline my chair only to find it's broken and can't recline. The 3 people in front of me all recline their chairs, the very large man next to me reclines his chair and I'm stuck next to the window with my knees confined under a reclined chair, nowhere to go. Talk about feeling trapped! I've never had issues with claustrophobia before then! I ended up not being able to sleep and found myself checking my watch every 5 minutes! AUGH! I finally arrived home at 3am, which was 5am on the time I was on.
That all aside, I had a fabulous time at Bead and Button! It was a wonderful experience. I learned a lot and met so many wonderful people! I spent way more than I should have but boy am I having fun playing with all my new tools and kits! Here is a photo of what I made in my 4 classes.
I only had one class that I read too much into the description and it ended up being something I knew I would never use. It was a full day class so after about 1-1/2 hours, I left the class, walked out to registration and signed up for a Japanese chain maille class. I'm so glad I did that! I absolutely loved that class and the teacher was wonderful. Her name is Colin Mahler and she offers downloadable classes from Beaducation. I highly recommend you take one of her classes or any of the classes they offer. I purchased 2 kits from Beaducation while shopping and I can't wait to make them! Really nice people too!
Another story real quick. The weather was horrible the entire time I was there. On the last day of class there was a tornado warning. They had us all stay inside our class rooms. About a half hour later they said a tornado had been spotted and was headed our direction so they sequestered all of us to the service corridor of the convention center. Pretty scary. I'll take my earth quakes over that any day! My friend, Rochelle (who met me there from Atlanta) and I could only think of all our wonderful purchases sitting up in our vulnerable hotel room on the 10th floor! What would we do if we lost all of our new toys? As you may have guessed, the storm passed and we all went on, business as usual!
Tuesday June 3rd.
I'm packing with the hopes that I'm able to leave for Bead & Button tomorrow. My daughter developed a very high fever with vomitting last night. Unfortunately she may have been exposed to the chicken pox about 2 weeks ago. Our town is experiencing a chicken pox epidemic. My daughter had the original vaccine but hasn't had the booster yet. If she comes down with the chicken pox before I leave, I told her I wouldn't go. So, I'm waiting. I don't think I've ever wished for someone to have the stomach flu, until now.
I recently had some time on the torch and made a whole bunch of ice cream cone beads. I'll post a photo later if the sun comes out. The next free bead drawing will be ice cream cones.
Have you all read Beatrice's big news? It will be sad not to be able to get together with her and share beads, I really look forward to our get togethers and our challenges. However, she doesn't LOVE HOLLISTER like I do. I moved here from a Chicago suburb and I have to say, I really like the small town country living that we have here. I like seeing a few people I know every time I go to the grocery store! The only thing I miss is the shopping. I pretty much have to order everything that can't be bought at Target, online or I have to drive over an hour to get it at a store. I know that drives Beatrice batty!
I'm finished with my beads for the movie questionaire we did a while ago. We will get to the drawing when our schedules calm down a bit. (See May 14 post below).
If I leave for Bead & Button tomorrow, I'll be back next week with photos of my creations. If I don't leave you'll hear from me again this week.
