PLEASE READ...May 11th, 2012

Please allow 2 weeks to receive any custom order jewelry or beads. I will give you a better idea after the order is placed or just email me before hand and I can let you know how the current work load is going.

There are loads of new beading supplies over at my other new Etsy shop called Tickle Me Beads All of the items listed over there are in stock and ready to ship right away. It is basically an off shoot of ticklemebeads.com and has all of the great beading tools, stamps, chain, findings etc. Keep your eye out for some new findings over the next few weeks. But... I digress.. what I meant to say is that this shop is being run by my darling father whom I lovingly call Dumplin and he ships prompto!

I know people find it frustrating to not be able to post comments here. It's because my blog is all HTML and not hosted by a blogging service but you are more than welcome to post comments on my GlassBeadle Facebook page. It is open to everyone and you can find the link at the top of this page on the left hand side (it's the big blue F photo). I would love to hear from ya!

May 13th ,2012...Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all you mother's out there. Hope it is a fine day. This is the second day of the year that I take full advantage using this holiday for leverage!! Hubby has the boys out back in the garden cleaning it all out and using the tiller and planting veggies for my Mother's Day gift. We are a tad late this year but I don't mind. At least it is getting done:-)

All you beaders out there will appreciate the Mother's Day note that my 8 year old made for me in school. It totally cracked me up. As for my singing ability... I have none but I'm always humming some popular radio tune which in turn drives all the boys crazy. Right now it has been the Justin Bieber song Boyfriend which drives them mad. And I wish I had loads of diamonds and gold in my jewelry box!

Here are the photos of the copper and black stacked bracelets that I made. I'm going to get all of these posted on Etsy this coming week.

And then I thought I would share photos of a few works in progress that I was told looks like a "stick figure" with a red heart. LOL. I had the opportunity to hook up with a local metal/iron blacksmith artisan Stu Barrigan for a project that I think fell through the cracks. But he had made me a few steel crosses to slide beads on and then he could then ball the ends of the steel for me so the beads don't slide off. I didn't have much time to play and just created these few things. I didn't like the way the beads looked when I slid them on the wire. The intersecting lines didn't look right. So I just wire wrapped a heart on top. Sounded fast and easy. He didn't like either one. Said it looked like a stick figure which totally made me crack up and the other one didn't look like me cuz it didn't have any of my beads on it. That wire was too thick for me to trim down so I just left it like it was. I told him they looked better in person but not sure if he bought that line:-)

May 11 ,2012...Hello again

I know people find it frustrating to not be able to post comments here. It's because my blog is all HTML and not hosted by a blogging service but you are more than welcome to post comments on my GlassBeadle Facebook page. It is open to everyone and you can find the link at the top of this page on the left hand side (it's the big blue F photo). I would love to hear from ya!

I knew it had been a while since I've posted but not an entire month. It's one of those deals where it has been so long that there were so many things to chat about that the task seemed daunting and so I would put it off. Then the end of school has brought the normal crazy busy time of field trips, ceremonies, school projects and all the normal sports games and practices that my work time has seriously suffered for it. So what little work time I've had has been used to fill orders but I miss you guys!

So I will try my best to post more often to get caught up and not have an entire book posting for just one day.

But before I forget, I wanted to let all the local St. Louis residents know that I have put some of my jewelry in a local store here in the West County part of St. Louis in Wildwood. You can now find my jewelry at The Porch by Nettie White Interiors on 16957 Old Manchester Road, MO 63040. The store is incredible and it just sort of fell into place for me to sell my jewelry there. The inventory isn't at the level I would like it to be so over the coming weeks I will bump up the choices. I haven't done retail for many years so it will be fun to do. So if you are in the area, please stop by and check it out.

Here are a few items that are available at The Porch. The shop has a darker rich image so I didn't put loads of my brightly colored designs in the shop but I think I will slowly add some more color on the shelves. If you see anything you are hankering for and you aren't local, just email me and I can replicate them.

I've been additcted to making stacked bracelets lately. Haven't been able to make too many of them as I've had to slip them in between orders and my available time to work has been sorely missing but man these are fun. I have another one in dark rich copper colors that I will post soon. The pics are still on my camera and I've ran out of time that I allowed myself to post here. I really plan to list them on my site. The dark black one is up at The Porch and this colorful one I just made last night and I want to covet it for a few days before I make it available for sale.

You wouldn't think it would take long to write up a blog and I get frustrated when I see that I've spent one and a half hours and just have this to show for it. I guess it is all the photo editing. My files are so full of photo sessions and there are about 10-25 photos per an item so I can get all angles and it is a chore to dig through them. I do have a confession though.... I would say that 75% of my photos lately have been taken on the iPhone 4S. The camera on this phone just rocks. The aperature lets in so much light. I recently bought a new $900 camera and a few just as expensive lens that have a 1.8 aperature and the phone still gets lighter photos. (except on white backgrounds and then the expensive camera is the king). Plus now that I have a MAC computer and iCloud, I can just take photos and they magically show up on my computer!!! Dang simple pleasures sure can be swell. But I still find myself also taking photos of the jewelry with my digital camera which means that now I have double the amount of photos to scroll through but I like being able to have lots of choices and the digital can blur the background when I want it to and the iPhone has pretty decent depth of field but it is so nice to have a choice depending on what you want to do. But on cloudy days or on days when the sun isn't yet in the magical spot, the iPhone rocks and saves the day. The photos of the colorful stacked bracelet above were all iPhone pics as I still had two hours to wait for the perfect sun on my digital. I love my iPhone 4S and if any of you are debating about new cell phones and also photograph jewelry, then I hope this input might be helpful.

April 11 ,2012... I'm in love with Rhinestones!

I've got a sick little boy home today with a fever but lucky for him, it is the good sick. He came home early yesterday and felt crummy when he went to bed but this morning he still had a low grade fever but doesn't feel terrible. Which means for kids, it's like a free day home from school!! He has been happliy surfing Amazon looking at his next Ninjago Lego he has to have, lounging on the couch, and watching TV. It is dark and raining here today and a perfect day for lounging.

So Pinterest has been full of the coolest rhinstone jewelry lately. Not sure if it is just now catching my eye and always been there or if jewelry design is heading in that direction more. I love the layered look of bracelets. In my procratination mode this morning I went and found my bag of costume jewelry that I had gotten from my grandmother. She has been collecting the stuff for YEARS. she has buckets and buckets of it. One day about 5 years ago, she let me dig through her jewels and I picked out a small collection that I often pull out and admire but then it gets plopped back inside the bag. There are lots of fun colorful pieces. Lots of clip on earrings before the days of piereced ears. Those orange round ones are pretty fun looking. They are made out of plastic flowers.

And here is a collection of rhinstone jewelry in bracelets, a necklace, earrings, and lots of brooches. The blue one and that grey and black one is stunning!

So still in my procrastinatin stage, I pulled out the 2 rhinstone bracelets and the square rhinstone brooch out of the above photo. Then I grabbed the leather cord bracelet with the black lampwork beads and pinned the brooch to two of the bracelets and in a matter of minutes, made a really cool layered bracelet. The black leather cord makes it more trendy and helps dress it down a tad. Hubby and I are going to an all white upscale party in a few weeks and I'm thinking this will look cool with my white dress. I think I might even wear the necklace that is in the above photo too.

Here is a pic of the bracelets spread a part. BTW, I am going to be offering the leather cord bracelet as a kit. I just need to sit down and write out the directions.

And I have some new rhinstone chain that I've been coveting but I am going to offer it for sale on my Etsy store. Give me a day or two to get it listed.

March 27 ,2012... The Day After

Spring Break was great and it was wonderful to sneak away to Florida to visit my parents on their winter trip there. It is always pure chaos getting packed and unpacked but the in between time is fabulous and makes it worth it all. We did this

And this. But Univesal was not on our list of things to do but Connor and I are die hard Harry Potter fans and it was just too tempting!

And a one day trip to Magic Kingdom that was so much fun. I still haven't uploaded my photos from my camera yet. But this a pic of a store in Downtown Disney called trends that caters to the gals. They have the coolest Disney items and this was a pic of part of their ceiling that had all chandeliers. So so cool.

The day after we got home, my baby turned 8. Blows my mind. I see him as that forever 3 month old baby that brought so much pure joy to our lives. I remember his middle of the night feedings and how much I enjoyed that quiet time together and didn't even complain abouto the missed hours of sleep. He was the third baby that I needed to sway my hubby to have. Not that any swaying was needed when the third baby boy entered our lives.

He has the funniest personality. He is very quick witted and can focus in on one thing to the detrement of everything else. For example right now, he really really wants a Rainbow dragon on this iTouch dragon game. Well, that darn dragon will set you back $100 real hard cash. (yes, I do believe the game makers are taking full advantage of people asking that much money for a virtual pet). There is no way, nada chance that he will ever get one of those. Even if we won the lottery or a distant rich uncle dies and leaves us millions would I ever give the game makers that much money for a stupid dragon. But believe me, Caiden has been working us hard for almost 2 weeks to get that darn thing. Even when blowing out his candles on his cake last night he said he didn't want to make a wish cause there was nothing to wish for. I jokingly said to wish for a Rainbow Dragon. His reply is that wish would never come true. Yep, I had to agree with him on that one but happy birthday all the same sweetie.

I listed a few things on Etsy that had been sitting patiently on my beading table. I have a few more custom orders to finish up and then am going to try and restock the etsy store as it is low on in stock goodies.

March 14,2012

Just a heads up that I'll be closing everything down for Spring Break starting on Friday, March 16th. I'll be back in business starting on Sunday or Monday March 25th. No orders will be processed or shipped during this time frame. Sorry for the inconvenince.

I hope everyone enjoyed the Bead Soup Blog hop. It was a lot of fun and I hate to admit but I still have some blogs to visit.

Hubby spelled it out to me last night why I always feel like we are going at full speed and there is zero down time. We have 3 kids that are way too active. Caiden does indoor soccer and cub scouts. Keegan and Connor are in the swim club so they practice 3-4 times a week and we take them to the YMCA most other days to do weights or speed drills and then Connor is also doing Boy Scouts, indoor soccer, and baseball just started this week. Caiden will start swim lessons soon and he is begging to start taking lessons to play the picollo which I've talked him into the flute but when am I going to squeeze that in? Randy seems to travel constantly now which leaves it all in my hands and the big boys get out of school at 2:20. I go to the gym in the mornings and that leaves me very little time.

I should be thrilled I get done what I do but the problem is that there is so so much I want to do and there are so many fun things out there to do. I want to do it all. Life is always so exciting and there are so many great activities to participate in. I keep thinking I need to figure out how to do it all. I guess that is a great place to be that there are so many possibilites and choices out there and that you want to suck life all in.

I did finish up a custom order for this necklace. It is a true labor of love and involves many hours to make.

I also made these enamel flowers for a custom order. After spring break, I'll start to make these available on my Etsy store.

March 3rd ,2012

Welcome to Lori Anderson's Bead Soup Blog Hop. I'm so glad you came. I love the reveal days.

Just to let you know, my blog is all html which means that I do not have a comments section. I know right? I have mixed emotions about switching over to a blogger platform as I am comfortable with my set up. Except for times like this.

So if you would like to post a comment and please don't feel obligated. I totally get the extra hassle and don't mind but if you so desire, my Glassbeadle Facebook page is open to everyone and you can hop over there to post a comment under the Bead Soup post on my wall. Just click on the FB logo right here to transport yourself over there.

So to just give a quick refresher... I was paired with the Fabulous Deryn Mentock Our styles are so different, but I have to admit I adore her style and her designs and want to eat it all up. Sometimes it is fun to get out of the bright and whimsical designs and try something different. I Loved absolutely everything she sent me and could tell that there were way too many possibilites on how to use her great stash. Here is a reminder of what she mailed. I ened up making a necklace and a bracelet out of the pretties.

I had to let these beads sit and fester on my table for a few weeks and all the while I would glance at them, fondle them, love them. Slowly ideas started to simmer. Of course Deryn's cemetary photo resin pendant would have to be the focal of the design. It is large at 2 1/2" tall. I usually don't work with pendants that large. I finally remembered a design that I had created for another necklace that I haven't posted about yet cuz I wanted to really explore and develop the design more, but I thought it would be perfect for my Bead Soup Creation.

So look closely at the pendant area. Do you see it? I made 3 hooks out of sterling silver to hold pendants. Which also make them interchangable. So you can move pendants around. Add more, remove, swap it out, whatever you mood desires.

Here are a few photos of the entire necklace.

Deryn included some awesome gemstones in these dark rich colors. I didn't really feel the need to add a lot of my lampwork beads into the design but did want to add a few to help make it more personal. So you will see some of my lampwork beads on the focal hooks and then I just added a few tiny lampwork disc beads in the dangle sections with the pearls. I also added some small sections of coin chain.

I have never really worked with rhinestones but I love anything shiny and glamorous. They have always appealed to me but didn't seem to go with my brightly colored lampwork beads. So I was thrilled to be able to work with the bling. Her vintage rhinestone clasp is beautiful also. I wanted to add more bling to the design and I've had these diamond like czech beads for a year now just hanging out waiting for me to "choose them". The time had arrived. I couldn't resist adorning them around the gemstone beads.

Deryn also included some vintage satin and I wanted to incorporate it into the design. I tried to use just about everything she included. The clasp threw me for a short detour because it is a double strand clasp and I was only working with a one strand design. So I used some of Deryn's jade and black crystal beads and made 2 long wire wrapped loops and connected them to the single strand. It seemed like a really easy solution after I thought about it.

So if you remember, Deryn also included this small box that when opend revealed beautiful tiny dried rose buds. I couldn't let these go unused so I wire wrapped up the ends and made it so that they could slide onto the focal hooks. I also added one of my wire wrapped pink lampwork bead head pins to balance out the color. Of course pink is my favorite color so I had no qualms about adding its beauty into the design!

Then I know I wanted to make a bracelet but couldn't decide what to do. I've been wanting something that felt hip and trendy and had leather on my mind. The left over gemstones' holes are way too small for leather cord so I wasn't sure what to do. I ended up creating a layered look and made 3 bracelets to be worn at the same time. I must admit that I love this design and I've been wearing them everyday this week. The black leather cord just has some of my basic lampwork beads on it. Then I made a simple bracelet out of dangle coin chain. The third bracelet is my favorite. It incorporates the remaining beads Deryn had sent with a few extras added in, and then I followed the same pattern of adorning the gemstones with bling.

These bracelets inspired me to make the bracelet below and I've turned it into a kit. It is available now to order on my Etsy Store. It has been a while since I've released a new kit and it feels really good.

Finally, to see the list of the 200 participants and to blog hop to see all of the other creations, then you can visit Lori Anderson's Pretty Things Blog to see all of the links. OR..... there is a new set up called Linkys that Lori has set up. I hope it will work as another option to blog hop to all of the participants.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

March 1st,2012

I'm such a dork and live in my own little world and have a 20 second memory. I had it in seared in my mind that March 1st was the Bead Soup Blog hop reveal day. Nope... I was off by a few days. So I had my post all ready to go but now at least I have it all written out and I don't have to worry about writing it all up. Totally since I'm a procastinator and always wait to the last minute.

I'm amazed and kind of happy that it is already March. I'm kind of bummed that we didn't get one good snow this year though. The kids never got to play in the snow one time this year. That just doesn't seem right. Now it's too late and I don't want a big snow fall now as it will mess up with all the flowers and trees starting to bloom. There is always next year.

So I've just been the normal busy behind the scenes. Doing the kids 400 activities that seem to happen all at the same time and making beads and jewels. I finally broke down yesterday and got about 4" cut off my hair and highlights again. It feels really good to change it up a tad. And, I found myself some all blinged out sequined Converse shoes. I love these and have never had a pair and I'm surprised at how comfortable they are.

Here is what I made this week as a custom necklace that I made to match a bracelet.

February 8th,2012

So the winter days are lingering on and cloudy days seem to out number sunny days. The winter duldroms have set in and I'm wishing for spring. Deep down though, my heart still longs for one good snow. It has been slim pickings this year. The boys got new sleds, boots, and snowboards in preparation for the chidhood days spent outside enjoying the winter fluff. Also, the thought of a snow day that involves an early morning phone call that school is cancelled and the excitment that it brings is sorely missed this year. These were the first thoughts that went through my mind this morning as I was waking up the boys at 6:30 a.m. There was a light dusting. Maybe 1/2" of snow. Pretty and not even on the streets but not quite enough to do anything but admire.

On my way home from dropping the big boys off I snapped this photo at 7:15 a.m. at the front of our street. I texted it to hubby who is in California to let him see what he is missing.

This is the photo that he in return shared with me. Show off. He had to rub it in.

So I know a lot of people post Bead Table Wednesday. I've never done it before and thought that it might be fun. Except right now at this moment, my bead table is really bare and boring. But what the heck. I'm gonna squeeze some time to play with my bead soup beads. They are starting to call my name.

Got some beads here that are gonna be listed over at Etsy soon. I need better pics though as this is the only one that really took.

February 6th,2012

YIKES! I went to go see the Woman in Black this afternoon. No one would go see it with me except my mom. It is SCARY. Old school scary. Not blood and guts scary. It's rated PG-13 but I would never take me 13 year old to see it. He would totally be creeped out. I did enjoy it though. Daniel Radcliffe did a great job and as hard as I tried, you didn't think Harry Potter when watching the movie.

I just added some new earrings over on Etsy.

February 4th,2012

Shine on baby with these fine head pins. Over at my Cassie Donlen Etsy store.

Have you noticed that I've been trying to post more consistantly? Now that I say that I'll probably blow it and go back to my slower ways. Don't worry, I just knocked on wood so that makes it "ok".

This time last weekend, we were getting ready for the Cub Scouts Pinewood Derby race. Caiden had a tough act to follow as last year he ended up first place in the the weeblos races, first place over all in the finals, and he got a trophy for a design award. So last year he came home with 3 trophies. This year we told him up front not to expect to do as well. He ended up 4th place in the finals. Which isn't a poke in the eye by any means. He was happy. And, his track record wasn't beat so his name will be up on the boards next year. He was happy about that one.

February 3rd,2012

Just sitting here on the computer and watching Harry Potter on the TV, warming up my feet by the heater while waiting for my kiln to heat up.

I just posted a few new toggles over on my Cassie Donlen Etsy store. I'm giving a handful to my Dad to post over on the Tickle Me Beads Etsy store too.

My handmade toggles and my glass head pins were lucky enough to be featured in the December January Issue 2012 of Step By Step Wire Jewelry's 2012 Special Annual Prouduct Review.

I'll list more of the exact toggle on this page available later today. A few of the glass head pins too.

February 2nd,2012 Finally had a chance to create a few new things. They are over at Etsy.

I've been working on nesting in my workshop. So as I've mentioned before, this has been a 3 year project in the making. Can you tell that I'm excited? Hubby built the entire thing and he is a fair weather work. Anytime it is nice outside, he refused to work in the basement. Can't say I blame him. So as you can see, he only worked a few months each year. It feels so good to have an area to work in that makes you happy. The basement was all concrete and drab with cobwebs all over before so this is a jump up and down change. Plus, it is so nice to have a place for the boys to hang out. It has already had several sleep overs and seen lots of action. Found myself this coolest chair for one of my corners. I fell in love with it and snagged it right away. Found the darn thing at Marshalls of all places. I went there looking for a bathroom wastebasket and walked out with this chair (it's even a Broyhill), the table, lamp, pillows, and a basket. It just brought the area together. My next step is wall art. I posted these on my Glass Beadle Facebook page but couldn't help sharing here too.

This is a small room to the right of my beading table. I swiped it from hubby. He wanted it for his workshop but then when he cleaned it out to hang drywall, I moved in while he was out of town. HA HA HA. It now holds my glass rods and there is another table with a chair that has my metalsmithing set up and where I do all of my hammering, sawing, messy stuff. And yes, it looks messy right now too.

There is a fun story behind the chair on the left. For Christmas, I had gotten the boys new gaming chairs and at the last minute, decided that Caiden needed his own chain too. I was thinking bean bag but of course, every store was out of stock. Connor and I were at the mall and we walked by Justice and saw this fuzzy chair in the window. I snagged it for Caiden and about fell over when I realized how comfortable it was. IT ROCKS! So I said, "I so gotta get me one of those." I waited until they had the 40% off sale and then bought one for me. They only had pink. I love pink but this is 10 year old pink and it doesn't go with my workshop but man, for just a jellin and relaxing in my cozy workshop is awesome with this chair. So, I bought a fun bright pillow and grabbed some extra fabric that I have and I'm going to make a cover for this chair to hide the pink. It isn't awesome but the chair is so comfy that who cares!

This is the viewpoint of the kids area. It hasn't been even touched for decorating yet but I'm hesitant to go all out because the boys wrestle and have sword fights constantly.

This is the kids area.

Life is good. I like to hang out and don't want to leave. Hmmm... when hubby travels, I might even sleep here. LOL

February 1st,2012

Lots of fun stuff going on and the days seems to fly by faster than I can even anticipate. I've had so much fun decorating my workshop and I found the coolest lime green chair the other day. So now I still need to put pics on the walls but you know things are coming together well when you like actually hanging out in your area.

So I got my portion of Lori Anderson's Bead Soup beads mailed to Deryn Mentock last week and she did the reveal on her site so it is safe to share what I mailed her here. I love her style and knew that it was so different from mine. I just felt like sending her my bright and colorful beads wasn't the right thing to do. I know we are supposed to "challenge" each other but I want her to enjoy what she received and feel connected to them also. Deryn mentioned that she liked metalics so I went for browns and golden colors. I must admit that I loved the collection and it was so hard to not grab the beads and start designing with them. I'm going to have to make some duplicates down the road to play with.

Here is a pic of everything I sent her.

Below, these are handmade focals I made using seed beads, copper discs, washers, and wire. Think I will write a tutorial on how to make them. They are so much fun!

Also... for those of you who follow Lori Anderson, already know that she is writing a book. It's a great topic and centers around the Bead Soup exchanges she has been hosting for the past few years. It is coming closer to completion and the photo of the cover of the book has been released. Along with all of the participants in the book Bead Soup exchange. There are some incredible contributors and with Lori's guidance, I'm sure the book is going to be fantastic. I am beyond thrilled to be able to be a participant in the book. I have only seen my completed project and I can't wait to see what everyone created.

You can read all about the book and see the list of contributors over at Lori's blog. Lori's blog is a great place to hang out. She is so kind and offers loads of inspiration. She is a gem.

January 25,2012

Oh goodie, you came back today.

And I stayed on track and told ya I would be back today too in order to share with you the goodies inside the Bead Soup package I received from Deryn Mentock. I think this part is my favorite of the Bead Soup exchange. The fabric Deryn wrapped the goodies inside was beautiful. It made for a great background in photos and I can see me using it often just for that purpose.

So when I untied the ribbon and unfolded the fabric, all of these glasssine packages were revealed. As you can imagine, it was so much fun reavealing the contents of each one and seeing the pieces of the puzzle come together for the feel of my future project.

So isn't the little white box with the vintage photo on top intriguing? I admit that I opened it first. It was too tempting. Oh my, look what is inside! Dried rose buds. They are soooo cute. Gonna have to figure out how to use them. I had a few initial ideas but not sure if they will work.

Here is what was inside each packet.

Here is a close up. Check out that focal. It is a big honkin one and so so cool!

I must admit that I totally enjoyed my revealing experience. Now the fun begins. I have zero clue of what I'm going to make with all of these goodies yet. I'm gonna let them sit and simmer on my beading table for a few days so that I can let the ideas seep into my mind. It's gonna be fun!

I will be mailing Deryn's package today. Tried to do it yesterday but the USPS website had no problem taking my money but wouldn't load the print label page. So now they have $36 of my money (I tried several times) and no label. So hopefully the refund process will go fast and they will give my money back soon. I hate using their site anyway and that just confirmed my reasons.

January 24,2012

An awesome birthday gift.... Can you guess what it is????

My cousin Angie the other night jokingly reminded me how I get attached to items and won't get rid of certain favorite things even though they are raveling apart.

I mentioned in my post a few days ago about how we can go back to early childhood memories and tell lots of funny stories about each other. I had totally forgotten this story until she so generously revealed one of my childhood flaws to my hubby the other night.

When we were young, I had this hair brush that I ADORED. I know that it's kind of an odd word to use in the description of a hair brush but it fits here. This was THE only brush in my mind that would work with my hair in my so impressionable teenage years. Angie is 3 years younger than I am and never really "got" the importance of the tools required to lead to beauty at the time. She would take it upon herself on every occasion we were together at my grandmother's house to hide my hair brush from me. These episodes created wars. But the funny part now that I'm an adult is that over those several years of playing hide and seek with my brush, it kept slowly losing bristles. So many that there were very few left at all. I didn't care. It was still THE brush for me. This drove her crazy and she just "didn't get it". Why was this brush so important still? It couldn't even do the job anymore. Looking back on it, I whole heartedly agree with her but back then, that brush was a cherished item. I needed that brush in my daily beauty routine.

Okay...so there is a purpose to this confession of one of my childhood hang ups. About a year ago, Angie was over at my house and was in my workshop. I never thought anything about it until we met for dinner last week to celebrate my birthday. She excitedly pulled out 3 wrapped gifts and set them on the table. I had to touch and feel the gifts before I unwrapped them. Two of the gifts felt identical and I had an immediate picture in my mind of what they were. I didn't really believe that was what inside the wrapped gifts, but it was the first thing that came to my mind. Earlier in the day, I had been making beads. On my workbench are these cans of food and bags of beans on top. I use them as arm rests. They work wonderful. I like to sit up over my torch vs. being at eye level with it. This is a great position except my arms would get tired being held up in the air all of the time. So I went to the pantry and grabbed food cans and a few bags of dried beans. The beans were to help cushion the cans because the rims get uncomfortable. Over time though, the plastic bag of beans starts to wear thin, and beans will slowly start falling out of the bag. Instead of spending $1 on a new bag, I just take masking tape and seal the hole. Well, the more they get used, the more holes that develop until the entire bag is almost wrapped in masking tape. I keep thinking one day I'm gonna buy a new bag but never do.

So back to my earlier in the day story, beans had started falling out of the bag again when I was working. I remember thinking that I'm going to really need to buy a new bag now because I think this entire bag has been taped. So when I was touching and squeezing the wrapped presents, I casually mention that they feel like the dried bean bags I use on my workbench. I never ever expected them to be just that. Well, sure enough. THEY WERE NEW BAGS and Angie had designed darling fabric covers for them and for the large can. I was floored. Totally caught off guard and got a gift I never knew I needed or that had ever even crept into my mind. I asked her how she knew this would be perfect for me. She had mentioned that the last time she was over she saw the taped up bags and cans on my table and thought that I needed pretty covers for the cans and beans that didn't have tape all over them! She was so right. She said she knew how I was and that I wouldn't just go out and buy new bags on my own and then proceeded to tell my husband later that night the story about the hair brush. I thought about kicking her in the shins for that one but the gift was so thoughtful and perfect that I decided to behave myself.

Now that I've entertained you with my hang ups...I'm gonna show a small preview of my Bead Soup exchange that arrived from Deryn Mentock. HEAVENLY! Her blog is beatiful and she has a wealth of information and learning opportunities. So come back tomorrow and I'll post more detailed pics of the loot. I'm gonna have to let them sit on my beading table and simmer in my head. I'm beyond thrilled and can't wait to play. Too many possibilites, and it will be hard to figure out exactly how to use them. It was perfect timing as I had just finished up her package earlier in the day. So they will be mailed tomorrow.

January 18,2012

Well, since my last post, I'm officially a year older. No this doesn't excite me in the least but all the same...birthday's can still be lots of fun. I got lots of special treats and a day to call my own. Plus I can say over and over (which I did all day to the kids) that today is about ME. "No, we aren't going on the hunt for a blue snake Ninjago Lego figure. Today is about "ME" and what I want to do and that isn't it." Boy I Loved that. And little things like...."Who has their shoes on? I need someone to walk this package out to the mailbox." Hubby jumped to attention and volunteered to do it for me. That never happens! And you know what I wanted most for my birthday? It might as well be the same as a vacuum cleaner, but dang I have been begging for it and have been poo pooed left and right from hubby about my desire. I WANTED more RAM for my laptop. I know right? Isn't that silly? His reponse was always "Just shut down some of your programs." and I would be all like "GRRRRRRRRR..... I want RAM". I told hubby if he didn't get me RAM for my birthday he was in big trouble! LOL. I got my RAM and I'm a happy camper he even installed it that day for me.

We also went shopping and I got a pair of bike shoes for spinning class. It seems like practical gifts really get me excited. What is wrong with me? Hubby started road biking this past year and decided I needed to go with him. So he bought me a nice road bike. I must admit that it is very fun except he works me hard and we are out for 2 hours at a time, and I swear he finds every death defying hill possible and makes me ride up it.

So if you travel back in time about 2 years ago, my friend Ilyse has been trying consistantly to get me to do spin class with her. I've always told her, "NO WAY". "That looks super duper boring and there is no way I'm doing it." So a few months ago, I broke down and said,"hmmmm... OK.... I'll give it a shot". But Shhhhh.... Don't tell anyone.... I LOVE IT. It is so much fun. But I always joke with Ilyse, and she addresses me as "The girl that says she hates spin class but secretly deep down inside really likes it but can't let anyone know that she likes it because that just wouldn't be right girl". I think I was the only one in a class of 20 that didn't have spin shoes. So I finally got myself a fine pair of spin shoes and I LOVE THEM too. I think what I like most about spin is the teacher and the commradere. The dynamics just work. So much that you have to reserve yourself a spot in class and you can do it 3 days in advance. If you don't do it the first half of that day, then there is a 90% chance that you won't have a spot. But, I will say that the teacher and the music they choose does make a difference. I've been in a few classes with other teachers that were boring and their music stank. So, if you were like me and have access to a spinning class but thought it looked so boring, give it a shot. You might just surprise yourself.

Doesn't seem like I speak much about beading stuff lately. Guess I better get back on track right?

So made a new bracelet last week that I was surprised as to how much I like it. I had a cluster of extra beads sitting around and I finally grabbed them and wired them up. It turned out better than I expected. The focal bead design was learned many many years ago from a class I took. I'm having a brain freeze. It was either with Stephanie Serseich or Dustin Tabor. The bracelet is on my Etsy store.

And... it's that time of year again!!!!

I got paired with Deryn Mentock of Something Sublime. I love her style. It is so different from mine so it will be fun to see how we both react and create. I'm looking forward to being challenged into working outside my comfort zone. Just keeping my fingers crossed that I'll be able to pull it off. I haven't decided what to send her yet. I know I'm going to tone it down and not make it so bright and have the startings of an idea but haven't gotten that far yet.

So in the mean time of writing this post, I'm afraid that I'm going to have to order a new propane regulator. Last night I needed to make beads and it was stuck at 5 psi. I figured it was just frozen and it was late and I was tired and didn't feel like fooling with it. I went outside to check on it a few minutes ago and even after taking it off the propane tank, the needle was still stuck. So I go onto Rio Grande and see that a new one cost $110 plus overnight shipping cuz I need it now. That stinks. I just paid taxes and I'm BROKE. So I took it off the propane hose and brought it inside. It did slowly move down to zero thankfully. So I'm hoping it was just frozen because it is freezing here. Gonna give it an hour to thaw before I try again. Wish me luck. This one isn't that old. I don't want to buy a new one. That would be another Grrrrrrrr moment. Oh yea... just picked it up. It's leaking a fair amount of water. We had a storm move through a few nights ago and then the temps went from 65 degrees down into the teens. Hoping it still works after it dries out.