WOW, Where Did The Year Go?

Well, for all my good intentions to stay caught up, it does not seem to be working.
Alot has happened since my last post. I have visited Tonopha Nevada and mined turquoise, as well as Jasper. I have taught classes inFrench Beaded Flowers. I have joined the Arlington Gem and Mineral Society and started making my own cabs again. I have sold several pieces of jewlery, mainly bracelets which I enjoy making. I attended the Dallas Eggshibit International and placed an egg in competition there. ( did not do too well, but enjoyed the learning experience) I have joined ebay and placed a few pieces of my jewlery there to be sold hopefully. I an looking for a few other venues to sell my stuff at also. We have gotten the web pages for the business back up on line and are getting the photos up as well. I will be attending the egg show in San Antonio in October with hopes that I can get a dealer table and sell supplies for making some of the eggs. I am looking at adding the Fimo candies, and the kits for the jewlery boxes as well as having some new eggs done. I also have a design for an egg that would have Fimo fruit in or on it, I think that it would be very cute. I also want to sew up some more of my mini teddie bears which I think could be used in eggs also.
What I am really afraid of, is that I will end up with lots of stuff and no one will buy them.
I need to teach Rebecca B. and Theresa A. how to do wiring and they also want to learn how to make the fimo candies.
I have two classes with Maggie Miester this weekend, and then in two weeks I go with all my friends to Create-A-Way cottage for a weekend of fun and beading. I hope that I can get some of my wirewrapping done since Betty will be there and she and I can put our two heads together and come up with something.
I am hoping this fall that I can start taking the silversmithing courses with the Arlington Gem and mineral society. I think that I could learn alot and would have fun in the process. I have lots of ideas, but not sure that I can implement them.
I would also like to take the wirewrapping class from them. Hopefully they will offer it again cause right now I have a scheduling conflict with the class being offered and Create-A-Way. This club is very active and I really enjoy the time that I spend there. Just love the smell of oil from the saws and the noise of the polishers. The thrill of taking a stone that is rough and uncut and then cutting and polishing it into a cab is wonderful. You never really know how they will turn out, but that becomes part of the process of doing them. I have so many stones and slabs to cut and polish, that I will be here forever doing them. I love polishing by hand because I feel that the stone is talking to me and I can tell what it wants to become.
(Ok, there is my insanity talking)
I still have not finished my classes at Penn and Foster. I need to get on the computer and get this work done. I know I can do it, but have just been procrastinating. So time to get with the program.
I also have a few quilts that I want to get done. there never seems to be enough hours in the day, but I need to better plan my schedule and make it happen. ( but not over-night).
So there you have it. time to get busy and do some peyote to make a really cute amulet bag,
Happy beading.

Finishing is Nice

Well, after much thought and hard work, I got two more pieces done. Both necklaces have peyote in them, with tons of seed beads being used. I am very pleased with both of them and can not wait to show them off.
The one necklace has a summer, beachy, feel to it, with using shells and lots of beads, it looks like sea fans and coral. The big accent piece is a green sea turtle that looks like he is swimming through the water. He is made from glass, and is really cute.
I have some more glass pieces that I want to design necklaces and or broaches around.
The other necklace has flowers that are offset to the side and looks like a garden. The colors are more fall like, yet I see this as a spring necklace. I would like to make a few more necklaces with these flowers if I can figure out how to incorporate them inbetween the stones.
I have been working on some braclets, that I think are lots of fun. Fun to make and really fun to wear. I hope that others will like them also. They are all different colors but the same basic pattern, which allows for easy working, but totally different personalities coming forth.

Have you ever collected the squashed pennies form different attractions, ( like the zoo)? I have got a really cool necklace design that is really easy to do. It incorporates beads and the pennies, as well as some charms. It would make a great project for the teen group and they would really enjoy wearing something like this.

I have also seen some great lariat necklaces and an going to try to make a prototype for another version of the necklace. I think that people would like these,and enjoy wearing them. I may also make a pattern for them, so that I could sell them as kits. I am still working on my other kits and really want to get them done. I need to find a good computer program that would let me work up the pattern in color first and then let me bead it to see how it would come out. I also need a program that I could scan a picture into and translate it into beadwork. I had bought a program once, but it never worked.

So I guess it is back to the drawing board now to get some more projects done.

Well, Time Sure Flys

It has been a while since my last post. I have been busy working in the jewelry. One thing that got done was that two of my great friends came over and we organized all the beads and beading tools and findings. Betty and Beverly got everything organized and five bags of trash went out, which certainly helps. I finished the closet and found more unused boxes that I have kept, so now half the closet has nothing in it. The other half contains the Christmas Village that I have collected over the years. I hope someday to just get it out and display it with out having to put it away at the end of the season.
I spent one whole day working on the idea book and got several of my ideas translated into Jewelry. I really like the way the pieces turned out, and only had one that I am going to have to rework. So that was a good days work.
I really like Egyptian Scarabs, and made a really beautiful scarab necklace that I hope that someone will like. I am working now to get all my jewelry online so that more people can see it. I can not make up my mind if I should go to Etsy.com or go to Ebay.com and open a store there. Which ever way that I go I will have a clearence area .
I still have many more cabs to wirewrap or bead, so I will still be busy working on new ideas.
I got beads to work on my first kit to see how well it will work out. I need to figure out how many beads I need for each kit. So this is another direction that I can take my ideas.
So untill the next time, Happy Beading

The Season

Now that Christmas is almost here with us, I am reflecting back over the last year . I find myself thinking more and more about my Christianity then ever before. What does it mean to be a true christian in this day and time in our world? Do we bend our religious convictions to suit what others think is the correct definition o being a christian Or do we say, others be -----, I am what I am, even though I don't fit the mold that others would love to buttonhole me into.



I like to think that I have stepped out of my comfort zone in my Christianity and talked to others about my beliefs . I find my self wondering and hoping that I was tolerant to others about their beliefs. I also hope that the lessons I learned about others beliefs will be maintained and that I will better understand the differences in other religions compared to mine. I did not judge others for their beliefs, yet wondered many times if I was judging them on what they believed instead of trying to listen to them.



I hope in the new year that I will keep listening to others and rejoicing with them on their journey to self awareness in their religions. I hope that we will have great discussions on beliefs and Christianity, and that we will all walk a little closer to God.



Have a Wonderful Christmas and Merry New Year.

Busy, Busy

I recieved the most beautiful beaded Christmas ornament the other day.
The bead fringe was so soft and delicate, and the color was stunning. I have never been a fan of these type of ornaments until now. Now I want to get my hands on lots of pretty colors of glass ornaments and work on making these beaded ornaments. As if I have time for all of that.. But I do think that I will try to do a few. They may not get done until after Christmas, but I will still enjoy doing them.
I have been working on getting the web site up but have also thought about trying to get some of my work in a store near my house. Going to Etsy has also been on my mind. I really want to get some of my designs out there so that others can see them. Taking the pictures for these is what is the holdup. I never think that the photos that I take are good enough to put up onto either my web site or on Etsy.
I also have some small jewlery egg boxes that I want to get beaded. they would make great presents so that is something else that I need to put on the list . Of course this list has reached the length of my arm, so when everything gets done it will be a day for celebration.
I am also designing a cross that will have a gem stone in it and will be metal. I hope that it turns out nice. I have been working with brass and learning how to solder jumprings and other jewlery. I am hoping taht this will open other doors for my designs to get out into the world.

Time for the Holidays

Well, Thanksgiving has just passed and now it is time to gear up for the Christmas Holidays. So much emphysis is placed on what presents to buy and how much to decorate the home. and playing Christmas music two months in advance that all the joy is going out of the holiday.
I think that I will spend more time working on my jewelery and trying to get things accomplished around the house. I have a small tree this year and really don't feel much like getting the house decorated up. I don't know if this is a sign that I am getting older, or just feeling a bit overwhelmed with all that seems it must be done by a certain time.
Oh for the olden days when everything seemed so simple.
I did get two necklaces done yesterday, and got more beads in order so that I can work on more different ideas for the jewelery. I have some fun things to do. but have been so busy that even the fun things have taken a back seat.
I have a few homework projects to work on and want to work on some of the silver jewelery before Christmas. I have several pieces of amythest that I need to set as well as some crystals. I also have a wonderful piece of ammolyte that I want to make a necklace for. so I need to get busy.
Lets hope that the weekend will allow me to get some of these done.

Kits and more Kits

Well, I have had a busy few weeks. Worked alot of overtime and then took some classes from Jill Wiseman. We had such a wonderful time. I was able to get some good ideas from Jill about doing my own kits and how to design kits. Now I can not wait to design and work up some kits that I have had in my mind for a while. Also just got together with some of the beading ladies and just worked on some stuff that I had just hanging around. So quite a few good weeks. Now I have to push to get some things done for the WWBS Christmas party. I need a great design for a christmas egg for the party for a gift exchange. Has to be beaded. so off to do some research on what I can get done quickley.
Hope to do some silver work here in the near future also. Got too many things just hanging out that need to be finished. Not enough time in the day to get everything done.
We just added a new addition to the family. her name is Lexie and she is no bigger than a minute. She is a miniture maltese and she is adorable.She will be my new shadow for a long time.
Well, back to working on a double Ogalala necklace done with purple pearls and crystals as accents. Hope to have it done today.