Monday, December 22, 2008
Snowy Island....
Sunday, December 7, 2008
The Sweetest Gift
Monday, December 1, 2008
Loosie on the loose....
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
I Took The Challenge.....
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Port Angeles in October...
Perfect October weather. (It was a little cloudy in the morning. But the sun came out right after I took this picture.) Beautiful fall colors, lunch in a nice restaurant, spending time with my favorite guy... What more could a girl want? We did a little shopping, a little walking and a lot of driving. I'm feeling refreshed and rejuvinated and ready for a busy week.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Outta Here!.....
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Website Redesign...
Friday, October 10, 2008
It's Miranda's Birthday!!!!
It's my granddaughter's birthday today!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIRANDA!!! I love you!
It's going to be an action packed weekend full of paperwork! Bet you wish you were here..... Why is it I never feel like I'm caught up? Have a great weekend y'all and Miranda, I know you will do something fun for your birthday. I'll be thinking of you....
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Where'd the weekend go???
Thursday, September 25, 2008
New Computer
Well, I had yet another computer melt down and rather than sped money to get the old one fixed again I decided to get a new one. I bought my first laptop and I really love it but I don't love Windows Vista. I'm sure you've heard a list of complaints so I won't bore you with mine. I've spent the entire day on the computer trying to get things organized and start a couple Ebay auctions, (click the "Occasionally On Ebay" tab at right to see), which isn't easy when files aren't where they're supposed to be. So I finially finished but I don't have my address book to alert all you bead lovers. Sorry about that. I'll try to retrieve the address tomorrow. I really hope my address book isn't lost again. It's really a challenge to try and recreate. It's been a long day. Nighty night y'all.....
Friday, September 19, 2008
More Painting Practice and Custom Orders...
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Happy Birthday To You!!!
Today is my son's birthday and yesterday is was my good friend's birthday so in honor of birthdays, I made you a cake....sort of.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAMIE AND DIANA!!!
Yesterday Norm and I spent the afternoon at my son's mother-in-law's home for a barbeque in honor of his 35th birthday. We had such a good time. We don't get to spend much time with the boys all together in one place with their families and friends. And it gives us such a sense of pride to see what great friends they have. We are so blessed.
I'm taking an online painting class with Suzi Blu and this is a painting I did for practice. I'm not finding a whole lot of time to paint what with beadmaking and grandkids and a home and husband to take care of but I took some time this weekend to play with paint. I love to paint and I've done painting of one sort or another for periods throughout my life. I'm not as good at it as I am at beads but maybe I could be if I practice more. We shall see.....
Monday, September 1, 2008
Happy Labor Day!...
This has been a rather sad weekend for me. Honey, my friends Greyhound that we love so much passed away Saturday night. We will all miss her so much. RIP Honey.... You can see a picture of Honey in better days further down this page.
It's also sad that Labor Day, for me, marks the end of summer. We certainly haven't had much summer weather the last few days. I've been turning on the electric heat in the mornings to warm the house up and we just had our first load of firewood delivered. Soon we will be building that first fire of the season.
The deck is finally finished! Now it's on to other projects. One of them being a fresh new paint job for the exterior of the house. It's looking pretty shabby. You can really tell we use our gas grill a lot. We need to figure out some sort of hood or panel so the smoke doesn't stain the paint. And we need some new landscaping around the deck. It's looking pretty bare without colorful flowers.
Tomorrow is the first day of school for the grandkids and Morgan, who's 5, is starting kindergarten this year. I can't wait to see how she likes school.
My "Hey Cupcake", (picture below), Ebay auction is starting this evening at 7 pm Pacific. Click on the "Occasionally on Ebay" link at the right to view, after it starts.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Summer Storm
The deck is so close to being done. Norm tried to finish but the weather turned really crummy. This is a shot I took just before dusk, right after the storm. The light was amazing. The bright sun shining through the last of the black rain clouds and a rainbow over the rooftops.
This shot marks the end of a very stressful day. It's over now and I'll spare you the details. We will have a nice and relaxing weekend to mark the end of summer. The sun is not expected to make another appearance for awhile but we will make the best of it. I think my torch is calling me.....
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
End of Summer Days....
How sad that summer is almost over. Labor Day is just next week and then the kids go back to school. Especially since we, here in the Pacific Northwest, we got cheated out of a large part of our summer. We didn't have near enough sun. Just take a look at the sad state of my vegetable garden...no wait, don't look.
My daughter had a birthday party for Norm this last Sunday at their house. He will be turning 60 this week. The whole family came to celebrate with us. Even Norm's brother and our sister-in-law came from the other side of the state. How great to see them, it's been years. The only damper was the downpour outside, (just more of that great NW summer weather). Our 3 sons and their families, everyone seems to be doing great. Happy and relaxed. My daughter-in-law, Leslie, the one that's about to be a new mom was complaining of a little queasyness and we all sympathized with her. She's hoping it doesn't last long.
You may have noticed the link at the right of my page to Suzi Blu's online mixed media class that I'm taking. I don't have a lot of time to practice drawing and painting but I snatch some here and there. If you are interested in this sort of thing you may want to check out this low cost online class. It's 8 weeks and you can join anytime during those 8 weeks. It's really not hard at all. Lots of fun. Suzy is lots of fun too. Even if you don't want to pay for the online class she does vlogs on YouTube. And I'm not connected with her in any way I just liked her style of painting so I started watching her vlogs.
"Hello Cupcake!", (photo at top), will be starting on Ebay in the next couple days, I think. The timing is not so great right now with the long weekend coming up so I wanted to wait a bit. I'm still working on the pinafore beads. Tweaking here and there. In fact, I've just started the kiln so I'd better get busy.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Come next April..........
Psst!..... A little birdie just told me Jamie and Leslie are going to have a baby! Yep, come next April I'm going to be a grandma again. I'm so happy they decided to have a baby. This family is excited!
My "Posies and Pinafores" auction is closing this evening and I have another auction starting at 7 pm (Pacific), that you aren't going to want to miss. New for me, never before have I done this.... A studio clearance sale. Yep, 114, Grade A, handmade beads. It will be on Ebay. Go check it out!
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
I know it's been too long since I've checked in. I tried to post some pictures a couple days ago and there was a glitch in the system.
I've been busy with jewelry, household chores, shopping and I'm up to my eyeballs in paperwork! I did manage to get a new Ebay Auction started too. A brand new bead design. Check it out!
The bracelet pictured here is called "Dear Jackie" and it will be for sale at Seagrass Gallery later this week, (see link at right if you'd like to visit).
It's been gloriously warm here the last couple days. I spent some time at the community pool with my grandson yesterday and hubby after he arrived home from work. I wish I was there right now because it's muggy and humid like it's going to rain. I think a cool shower is in order.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
This is a photo of Smith Lake which is just a couple blocks from my house. Lots of room for photo improvement here but I thought it would be good practice....
It's been a good day. I made beads this morning while Norm played golf and then we went to the local fair. We had a really great time and I should have brought my camera but I forgot. The number one most important thing to do if you want to improve your photos...you must remember the camera so you can take the photos you want to improve!
What's your favorite part of the fair? Mine is to find a table in the middle of the crowd and just sit and watch people. I am such a student of human nature and people fascinate me. Oh and we can't forget the fair food, the next best part. We hit our favorite taco stand first and then on to the Elephant Ears with cinnamon/sugar and fresh corn on the cob dripping with butter....yum!!!
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Treasures From France
These are the treasures that my friend Diana brought back from France. Thank you so much! How exciting! Lavender and herb mixtures, in beautiful fabric bags, from Provence, French milled soap, raspberry jam , a colorful ceramic jar and best of all...Holy water from Lourdes in a pretty little bottle. SCORE!!!!
So we're one less dog and now my skinny kitty can come back home without fear of being chased by a bored greyhound.
We'll miss you Honey....
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Web Photo School
It's sort of cloudy and cool today so I'm going to finish up my orders and then I'll hang out with Nathan, (my 8 year old grandson), a bit. Take the dogs for a walk. This is the last day I'll have
Honey. She goes home tomorrow. I'll miss her. She just sort of fits in with our little family and she's such a sweet dog.
This is Dandy. My little girl. She's sucking up and thinks she's going to get a treat. She'll have to do a little better than just look pretty.
And this is Honey. My friend's greyhound that we have been caring for while her momma is in Europe. She looks stressed out doesn't she? This picture was taken by my friend Robin Nellist who is a very talented photographer.
As I was saying in a recent post I've become obsessed with photography lately. I don't know if I'll ever take better photos but it's fun learning about it. While doing some research on a new camera I came across this website called Adorama. This is a site devoted to photography and I found out they have a Web Photo School. Now I'm not connected to this site in any way I just
wanted to pass on the link because I have learned so much since I found this site. They have some free lessons which I learned a lot from but they also have a sort of unique class system that you can get about as serious as you want to get or just take a couple lessons here and there. The classes start at $9.99 for a 30-day access to ALL of their lessons. The price goes up from there to access the lessons for longer periods of time up to a lifetime membership. I just paid
for 30 days and after just a couple days reading here and there on my coffee breaks and before I go to bed I've already gotten my moneys worth! So if you're looking to learn a little bit, (or a whole lot), check it out!
Monday, July 28, 2008
Promised Photos
After visiting several of my favorite artist's blogs I got to thinking about back when I first started to learn about beadmaking and I combed the internet for any snippet of information I could find about the subject. I wanted to know everything and I remember trying to find pictures of a lampworkers studio and equipment setup. The place where they actually make the
beads. It all sounded so glamorous and well...artsy. I didn't find a whole lot of pictures of glamorous studios because I realize now that after spending probably several hundred, if not thousands of dollars on equipment and supplies to actually make the beads, who has the dough to glamorize the studio. This was certainly true in my case and I have avoided taking photos of my oh-so-unglamorous studio, (garage). But you know what? Back when I was hungering
for any info I could find about artists and their work I would have loved to have seen photos like this because it would have shown me that you don't have to be glamorous to be an artist. Maybe someday my studio will look more artsy. Today all I care about is that it is comfortable and FUNCTIONAL. And it is both. I spend at least 6 hours a day out here. This is how it usually looks most of the time except it's messier and my car is usually in here too. I took the car out to sweep the floor. I don't want the grandkids stepping on chunks of glass while they fetch their toys, (the toy bucket is right under my work bench).
When my husband and I built the workbench we really just guessed at the height. It is 42" and it is perfect for me. I can work all day and I never have back strain. My Nortel Minor torch sits atop a 2"x6" block of wood and I just rest my elbows on the benchtop when making beads. I don't need any other arm rests. The top of my work bench is ceramic tiled and I have a half sheet of cement board, (non-flammable material), that has been painted flat black, leaning against the wall in front of me. The black background makes it so much easier to see the bead I'm working on. Above me is my stainless steel kitchen fan. It's pretty powerful, (380 CFM if I remember correctly). It was a scratch-and-dent Ebay auction win for about $60 with shipping and all. My propane is piped in through the wall and the tank is kept right outside the window in a vinyl locker. We actually cut a hole in the wall and the locker and then the hoses are run
through PVC pipe. The hole is then insulated so critters can't get in.
Here is a shot of my benchtop all neat and tidy. Believe me, it's not always like this. I generally tidy up before I start a new project or a new set of beads.
The little piles of stringer are left out and close at hand at all times. I guess I just never found a way to corral them that has worked for me. I like to see what I have at a glance and not have to paw through some sort of container to find just the right color and thickness. The only thing I forgot to replace before I took this shot was my bowl of water which sits right below the clear glass bowl of glass scraps.
And this would be where I take my photos. Oh-so-glamorous isn't it? Right next to my golf clubs, hot water tank and plastic tubs filled with all sorts of heaven-knows-what. But you know what? I don't have to put it away every time I use it and that's what makes it really convenient.