Wow - It's been a month and...

Holy cow!!! It's been over a month since I have blogged and so much has happened in that time! I want to start with first things first though and blog about the monthly challenge for the Etsy Bead Weavers Group. I normally put in plug before this time - but have been so busy that I have not had a chance to do so to this point (more on that later).

Anyways, for winning the art deco challenge with this bracelet, I was allowed to choose the theme for September's challenge. I chose the theme of "Animal Instincts" as I thought that this was a fun theme - that could go so many directions. Obviously, there is the obvious animal themed pieces - and then I thought that you could also go with whatever brings out the animal instincts in you? In other words, what's your passion? I have a peyote stitched cuff halfway designed for this challenge but knew I would not be able to get the beads for this in time - so you will just have to wait to see this finished piece.

Once again my fellow Etsy Bead Weavers did NOT disappoint. The pieces are unique, interesting and most definitely show those animal instincts coming through. And so - without further delay, it is time once again for the monthly Juleseys. (Thank you to Susan of Dream Bead Weaver Designs for suggesting the name of my awards....it gave me a wonderful chuckle.)

Best use of teeth: This stunning cuff by The Beaded Lily
Best use of feathers: This spectacular necklace by Beads and Blooms
Best clasp: This fun bracelet by Smadar's Treasure
Best fishy theme: This gorgeous purple bracelet by Enchanted Beads
And last but not least:
Best Halloween piece - that also can double for an entry into the challenge: this necklace by Spring Colors.


Here is my disclaimer on these awards - these are entirely for fun and are of my own design and choosing. If you are not chosen, I mean you no harm - just ran out of ideas...lol.


Ok - so now for some personal updates from my neck of the woods.

I have started a new job at Longhorn Restaurant. I started there on 09/25 and so far I like it although it is entirely different from anything that I have done before. I have never worked in the food industry before - and I have discovered new muscles that I never knew I had as I can hardly move by the time I get home at night. I am not used to working 8-12 hours with no breaks or lunches. However, the money is better - and for that I am grateful.

So things are going well there - and then I find out Sunday that they are closing this restaurant in December. So I will be looking at the end of this month again for another job - the one big plus for me on this was the fact that it is walking distance of my house. With no car, this was saving me a ton of time on the bus. I will put in applications again with all of the restaurants in the area and perhaps I will be lucky enough not to have to start riding the bus again.

My stepsister is doing well with her pregnancy - she had a procedure done called shrod khar (I believe this is the spelling) where they sew the cervix shut. She is at 14 weeks at this point - so if you could all keep sending those good thoughts, prayers and vibes our way, I would really appreciate it.

I've not had much time - or energy - to do any beading. I have been doing some cross-stitching here and there for Rosa's baby project - the baby is here now so I have to get moving on it!

That's about all from here! Hopefully I will be able to get some more posting done this month!

Well - It's that time again!

It is time once again to vote for the monthly challenge with the Etsy Beadweavers group! The challenge this month was "Complimentary Contradictions" and after much thought - I came up with nothing....lol. So no entry from me this month. However the choices are once again fabulous and so here are my awards for this month:

Best use of flowers: This adorable bracelet by Grandma Marilyn.
Best use of wooden rings: This wonderful bracelet by These Precious Things.
Best use of rhinestones: This fabulous cuff by Cigar Box Beads.
Best use of circles and squares: Ok - so I couldn't pick just 1 as there are 2 amazing winners for this one:
This stunning necklace by Dream Bead Weaver and this fabulous necklace by Beader Jojo.

Last but not least I am giving out an award that I never DREAMED I would be giving out....but the best use of a potholder (yes, you read that right) goes to Vanishing Pearl for her whimsical potholder.

These awards are of my own design and choosing. If I did not include you - I mean no offense - these are simply for fun and to share some of the amazing talent seen on this group.

Since I was the winner of the art deco challenge for August, I was given the honor of choosing the theme for October. I have chosen the theme of "Animal Instincts." I cannot WAIT to see what this talented group comes up with for this challenge!

Please take a few moments to go check out the entries for this month's challenge and see what we have been creating!!!

Absolutely nothing to do with beading....

I just got off the phone with my Dad a little while ago and I have some wonderful news to report. My stepsister is pregnant! This is just a happy spot that we needed in our lives with all the health issues that my Dad has.

We are all completely over the moon about this, but it is also terrifying as my stepsister has PCOD (poly-cystic ovarian disease) which makes her a terribly high risk for pregnancy. She has already been referred to a high-risk pregnancy specialist as she is also 36 and a type 2 diabetic. So - any of you reading this - if you could please say a prayer for us, or send good vibes/thoughts our way - anything really - we would all appreciate it! More than a lot of people I know, Colette (my stepsister) deserves to be a Mommy. She is wonderful with children and had given up on that possibility of becoming a Mom.

We have no idea how far along she is - but I will give updates as I get them! I have been fighting back happy tears since I talked to my Dad. I just pray that all goes well.

I won!!!

This is a terribly late entry - I should have added this days ago, but wanted to share with everyone my joy as I won the Art Deco Challenge for the monthly challenge for the Etsy Bead Weavers team. I am so excited and surprised as this was my first entry and this cuff caused me a lot of lost sleep and stress! I almost did not get it finished in time to enter the challenge!

Thank you to everyone who took the time to vote. Your kind comments and compliments about this bracelet make me feel so loved. I feel very honored to have won among such stiff competition! There are always so many fabulous entries and I am often in awe of the competition or entries.

Unless inspiration strikes me soon - I don't believe I will be entering this month's challenge of complimentary contradictions. I just seem to be drawing a huge blank on this one.

On a personal note, I have been having minor issues with my left eye that I believe is being caused by allergies - so I have not been on the computer very much.

Confessions of an Olympic Junkie....

Ok - so I admit it - I am truly an Olympics junkie. That's the first step to recovery, right??? Only thing is that I don't want to recover from this particular habit.

I love, love, *LOVE* the Olympics. I am the person that will lose sleep watching the drama as it unfolds. I root for team USA - but I also love those underdogs that have no hope of winning (think Eddie the Eagle here). I especially love those melodramatic stories of athletes over coming all the odds to even be at the Games. It doesn't matter to me if they are medal contenders or not - I still admire the resolve and strength that it took to get where they are.

So I have come up with some ways to determine if you are an Olympics junkie:

Do you find yourself doing any of the following???

- Crying when your team wins a gold? Or when a hard luck story - even from another country - wins a medal - any medal?
- Humming the Olympic or national anthem? (Did this one as I was getting ready for work the other morning)
- Watching some ridiculously mundane sport - such as curling - at 3 am because you just cannot turn the tv off? (Resulting in much lost sleep...)
- Daydreaming at work of being able to go home and watch 4 hours of events?

I have found myself doing all of these at some point in my life. I am not a sports fanatic - in fact I really don't follow too much in the way of sports. But there is something about the Olympics that just draws me in and captivates me.

I have to comment on 2 things so far with the US:

Michael Phelps is just sick when it comes to swimming. I am not sure that I will ever see this level of athleticism again in my lifetime. *GO MICHAEL GO!!!!!!!!* I hope you do get all of those 8 gold medals - you deserve every one of them. Truly one of the greatest athletes of all time. (And that 4x100 medley relay that we swam and won on Sunday night was probably the best swimming race I have ever seen - GO TEAM USA!!!!!!!!!!)

I also have to say that the men's team gymnastics was truly heart warming for me. The way those guys reacted - you would have never known that they had not won a gold. I don't think I have ever seen a team SO happy to receive a bronze and I just got the warm fuzzies watching them celebrate. Thank you guys for not giving up - you did a wonderful job - and have that bronze medal to show for it. Congratulations!

So - I am off to watch the really late night stuff now....I will say that this has been good for my productivity as I am working on making things as I am watching the Games.

First Challenge Entry

So after much pain and frustration, and many, many hours of ripping out, my art deco piece is finally completed and up on the Etsy Bead Weavers team blog. Here it is in all of it's glory - let me know your thoughts. (This bracelet was called many not so nice names while I was making it...lol.)

As always, there are many, many beautiful entries in the challenge this month and just for fun, I thought that I would hand out some awards of my own creation. (If I don't pick you it's not that I don't like your piece, but that I ran out of ideas for awards...lol.)

Best use of an Egyptian art deco motif - This Pendant by Bead Mummy
Best use of black and white - This bracelet by Beads and Blooms
Best use of circles - This necklace by Triz
Best free form piece - This bracelet by Euphoria Moon Designs
Best use of windows - This bracelet by Adina Halpern Designs

These are just a few of the fabulous entries for this month's challenge - please visit the Etsy Bead Weavers blog to see the rest of the wonderful entries there. Voting for the challenge begins August 9th! Please vote! (My entry is number 26 - cough, cough, hint, hint...)

Did you ever???

Sooo - I am working away on my challenge piece for the Etsy Bead Weavers challenge for this month. The theme is art deco and after researching quite a bit on the web, I was able to draw some inspiration for this theme and used my brand new Bead Tool pattern maker to design a peyote stitch cuff for this challenge.

Anyways - did you ever try to make something that just did NOT want to be made? I swear that this bracelet has a mind of its own and just does not want to be created. I have done nothing but rip out - get one row done, rip out 2, put that one back in, rip it back out....sheesh. It is getting really frustrating as I would have had it done long ago, if I hadn't lost so much time ripping out.

It is almost half way done at this point and with any luck I may have it done tonight or tomorrow. The deadline for this entry is August 5, so hopefully I will make it. Wish me luck!

Help!

"I need somebody...Help! Not just anybody!"

OK - Now I am going to have that song stuck in my head...lol.

I am finally feeling better and I have a new bracelet to show you. I am really proud of
this piece as I made it "on the fly" out of my own head. I am really happy with the over all effect and look of the piece. But I need your help:

What would you pay for this piece? If you are a designer - what would be a fair price?

It needs a name - please help me name it.

Doing a little happy dance!

Well - I have had a good Etsy weekend for a couple of reasons. First of all, an Etsy seller by the name of Noah's Ark Collection picked my "Hip To Be Square" earrings for a treasury that they created. (By the way - she has some wonderful animal items in her shop - mainly beads and charms - I have spotted a couple of beads there that may have to find their way into future pieces that I make.) I am terribly excited about this as this is only the second treasury that I have been featured in. To make things even more exciting, while I was at work yesterday, this treasury actually made it to the front page of Etsy. This is hugely exciting for me - I have never made it to the front page of Etsy, so I am really happy about this. But as my luck would have it - I was at work when this happened (of course) and I guess that the treasury had *just* made it to the front page of Etsy when their system crashed - so although it should have been there for a little while, it was only there about 5 minutes (bummer).

So, I decided to share my news with my online friends. And one of them liked my earrings so much that she bought them (thanks Cyn)!! And now Noah's Ark Collection was kind enough to choose another pair of earrings from my shop to feature.

I am showing you pictures of both treasuries - the original one that made it to the front page - and the second with the "new" earrings.

All in all - this has been a really great Etsy weekend for me! Do I dare hope that the second pair of earrings may sell as well???

It's voting time....

No - it's too early to cast your vote for the presidential elections, but if you would like to give yourself some practice, it is time for everyone to vote on the monthly challenge for the Etsy Bead Weavers team. There are some really amazing pieces created for this month's challenge of "A Midsummer's Night Dream." Please take a few moments to check out the wonderful bead weaving available there and vote for your favorite!

http://etsy-beadweavers.blogspot.com/

I was not able to enter this month's challenge - but there are so many beautiful listings that I want to encourage everyone to visit and vote!

Sick...

Just a quick update here:

I have not been doing much here as of late as I have come down with a nasty case of bronchitis - something I have not had in years. I have been spending a lot of time resting and a little time creating when I feel up to it. Hopefully, I will have a new bracelet for everyone to look at soon.

Trying to Keep My Chin Up...

Sooooo, I attended Comfest this weekend - and to be quite honest, I was quite disappointed yet again. This is only the 2nd show that I have done to date - and the first one I sold nothing. This one was a tad better - but for 2 days that I attended this show I still made less than $50 - which was a huge disappointment for me. The event was well attended - but sales were slow - all the way around. But most of the other vendors still did much better than I did (thankfully for them).

I know the economy is slow right now. But I am really discouraged right now and I am trying to figure out how not to be so down on myself. I can't help but wonder if this business venture of mine is worth the time and effort that goes into it. It also makes me wonder whether anyone really likes my jewelery - or if they are just being nice to me. A vast majority of my sales are to my friends and family - and so it is now making me second guess myself.

So - now the question is this: How do I get around this slump? And how do I start to feel better about my jewelery? Is it worth the time and effort? What can I do to make things better? Is my jewelery worth it?

Any feedback would be nice....thanks for letting me vent...

What I have been up too....

Ahhh - so at long last I finally have some pictures to upload to my blog. I am very proud of the pieces that I have created in the past week as they represent a first for me on 3 levels: These are my first pieces I have created using flat peyote stitch. The bracelets are the first I have made where I have made the clasp as well. And this is my first attempt at making a ring. I have already started a 3rd bracelet in red, black and white. I will not be listing these pieces in my shop right away as they are part of my inventory for Comfest which is 10 days away (EEK!!!). I am thinking that there are not nearly enough hours in the day at this point as today will most likely be my last day off before Comfest.

Please let me know what you think of my newest adventure in beading. I am really loving working with Peyote stitch, so hope that I have some knack for it.

Oh - and for those of your wondering out there - the silver and blue bracelet and ring are made with size 11 Delicas in steel and size 15 seed beads. The purple bracelet is made with size 11 seed beads.

Oddly - I choose to do the purple bracelet based on the lightest color. When I go shopping for beads, I often choose colors that I like and want to play with. I discovered when going through my beading stash a few nights ago that I had 3 tubes of the lightest color in this bracelet - decided that I must really love this color which is "gold lustered lavender." I had to chuckle at myself a bit for this one - my forgetfulness hits home at this point...lol.

Wow....

I had no idea it had been 2 months so I last blogged. Time flies....

So I guess I am well past due on an update.

I have actually already done my first show on May 4th - and to be honest it was a bust. I have 2 more days at this same event so I am hopeful that the other days will go better.

We did in fact make it into Comfest. I have been busy making items for this event. I have so many ideas of things that I want to create - there just are not enough hours in the day right now. Comfest will be held in Goodale Park here in Columbus June 27, 28, and 29th. If you are in or around the area, please stop by and say hello! I plan on being at the event Friday and Saturday for sure - and most likely Sunday as well. My attendance on Sunday will be dependent on how much inventory I have left at that point to be honest.

I will be posting some new pictures after Comfest - either here or to my Flickr account and hopefully I will have some new items to list as well in my Etsy shop.

I have been accepted to the Etsy Beadweavers team! This is very exciting for me - please take a look at their blog - which is listed on the right side of the page. There is some really amazing talent there - more than once I have had my jaw drop at some of the creations these ladies are making!!!! I highly encourage you to check it out!

I am off to bed for now. Hopefully there will be pictures to post soon!

It's been a month....

Since I last blogged. I have had so much going on in that time.

I finished this lovely stitched card as a thank you for an order that I received. I really love the colors in it. I finish the stitched piece as a magnet so that it can be removed and used.

I've been working really hard on promoting my website and making new jewelery designs. It has been extremely time-consuming and I am getting a little burned out on being in front of my computer. I had no idea how hard it is to actually try to get your name out there on the internet. Let me just say that it is NOT for the faint of heart - or for those with little patience.

Let's see - I celebrated my 34th birthday April 7th. I didn't do anything besides go to work and come home and take a nap. So it was a very mundane day.

The biggest issue I have dealt with was putting down my dog on March 13th. My poor girl had an advanced case of mammary gland cancer, and although I am grateful that she is no longer suffering, I miss her. I am still adjusting to her not being around. I have shed many tears over her being gone - but know I will see her again one day. If anyone out there has a pet - spend a little extra time with them for me. Give them an extra scratch or 2 - and let them know that they are loved.

The place that I took my dog sent me an ink print of her paws which I loved. One of my friends is going to design a cross stitch design for me using her paw print. I am going to incorporate the words, "You left a paw print on my heart" with it. This will be a long time off as I have so many other things going on right now.

With any luck, I will be doing my first craft fair at the end of June. It is a huge event here in Columbus. My other local Etsy team members and I are trying to go together to get a booth for this event - we are just waiting to hear now if we got accepted to the event. Hopefully we will hear something soon! I am getting impatient!

I will post some more pictures of my jewelery creations later, but this is enough for now.

Record snowfall....

Wow - for once the weather people were right. We have actually just come through a full blown blizzard here in Columbus. On the news tonight, the final snowfall total was 20.4 inches of snow - a record for this area! I had to clean off the steps earlier today to let the dog out - and it was a mess - the snow was up to my knees! I was off yesterday, today and I am off tomorrow and I am SO happy about that. Of course it is supposed to be 50 by the end of this week - and all that snow has to go somewhere so I have a feeling that flood warnings will be happening by the end of the week.

As for jewelery: I have all the beads made now for my friend Julie's football themed bracelet - just need to put it together - which I hope to do later tonight or tomorrow.

I have worked a bit more on my wolf spirit - hopefully will get some more done on it tomorrow - and if I can get some decent pictures, I will hopefully have some to post here as well.

My lil dog is slowly getting better - the antibiotics seem to be helping - just not as quickly as I would like. (What can I say? I am a worried and impatient Mom...)

It's 2:30AM

And I should be in bed. But I decided that I needed to put in an update here before I do...lol. Ah - the joys of being a computer junkie and not being able to go to bed until I do that one more thing.

Actually - that sounds like my life quite a bit. I am an avid cross-stitcher - so I am notorious for doing the "just want to finish this thread/stitch/row/color before I go to bed and next thing you know another hour or two has gone by and I am still sitting in the chair. That happens with my jewelery all the time as well.

It would wonderful if I didn't need to sleep. Actually - it would be nice to be able when and how long I needed to sleep. I say this because I actually do enjoy sleeping. It's nice to be able to shut the brain down for a while.

I had one of the worst days I have ever had at work yesterday. Suffice it to say I had to help unload a lot of furniture (about 75 pieces) off of our truck yesterday that was all lose loaded. It was awful! All of our furniture is made from hard wood - so the stuff is really heavy - especially the dining room tables and chairs. No lunch break either - so I was really happy to be able to leave yesterday and even more glad that I had today off. I am really sore today - and for some reason have been battling a headache that won't quit.

My dog, Ida Mae has been really sick this week. I am hoping that today was a turning point for her and that she is going to start feeling better. She has some sort of infection - so I am just waiting for some antibiotics for her at this time and see what those do for her. She is an absolute love - I was very blessed when she came into my life 4 years ago.

I working on a football themed bracelet for a friend of mine (also named Julie) who lives in Cincinnati, Ohio. I have gotten one bead made at this point - but hope to get it all made up by bedtime tomorrow. I think it is going to look really cool when I get it all done. I will post pictures here once I get it all done.

Oooo - I almost forgot - Etsy was featured on the Martha Stewart show this morning! How cool is that? I forgot it was on but someone was kind enough to provide a link and I am now sharing that with you! Nice segment - I wish it had been a little longer.

Let's see tomorrow I plan to give some TLC to the dog....she needs it right now. I am going to work on Julie's bracelet, promote my etsy site, make up some discount cards for giveaway's for a couple of out of state craft shows, and work on my wolf spirit cross stitch. Oh - and how could I forget doing laundry and dishes? (Quite easily really - since it always the part I WANT to forget...lol.)

It is now 3 am - so I guess that is a hint for me to sign off and go to bed...

Sneak peek

These are just a few pictures of pieces that I will be uploading to my Etsy site soon. The pictures are not at the quality that I like for my shop, but thought I would post them here so that everyone could see what is coming soon! (I ran out of daylight and batteries for my camera - but have the batteries now - so the next day that is even remotely sunny that I have the time off - I will be snapping away...)

Update on Dad....

Hmmmm - I just realized that I have not updated anyone on my Dad. The past 8 months or so have been really long and emotionally draining at times. I will not go into play by play detail, but will say the following - my Dad is an amazing and wonderful man. I am amazed at all that he has been and continues to go through on a daily basis - and yet he still manages to have a great sense of humor, laugh and love.

He has been on chemo since end of May beginning of June - and last report was that it was doing the trick. He started on dialysis July 30. He had a bowel resection that failed and ended up with a colostemy - that was a nearly month long hospital stay - and he was really sick. That was back in Oct/Nov. He has surgery to install a fistula for dialysis - it was buried too deep - so he had surgery again today to move it closer to the skin so that it can actually be used. Oh - and he had a blod clot in his leg just recently (side effect from one of the chemo drugs).

That's about all in a nutshell - since I am planning on blogging more, I am sure that I will have more detailed updates.

Oh and case you didn't guess - this is my Dad - this past summer after he started the chemo.

Another blah day here...

*sigh* I am so sick of winter - it seems that this winter has dragged on with no hope of ever seeing green grass or feeling a warm breeze on your face again. About a week ago, after a very cold walk home from the bus stop, I walked in the door and looked at my SO and said, "Global warming my a**." (Not to make light of global warming as I feel it is a very serious issue - but that particular night I was feeling a little irritable.)

That being said, I am having issues finding the desire to create anything new - I get out of bed in the morning, get ready for work, walk to the bus stop, work, go back to the bus stop and then walk back home, perhaps play on the computer, and go to bed. Mundane. Boring. Monotonous.

So I made a decision today to try to update my blog at least several times a week - I said when I first started this blog, that this would be about me and my life - including my jewelery, hobbies, love life and everything else. If you don't want to read my blog, then don't. I won't be offended - really - I won't. But if you want to know a little bit more about me as a person, what makes me tick, what my pet peeves are.....then read away.

Speaking of pet peeves - I have a lot of them. That being said however, my number one pet peeve is people who talk on the phone while I am trying to wait on them. That just grates on my last nerve. (I work in retail and this happens all the time.) I will try to pretend that they are not talking on the phone so I will say something like "Hi - How are you today?" Which is usually followed by this from them: "Yadda, yadda, yadda, yadda">while ignoring the fact that I am STANDING RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM!!! I swear I had a girl yesterday, who talked on her phone so loudly that her conversation could be heard throughout most of the store (I work in a large store). By the way, she was discussing whether she was just going to have her sister as her bridesmaid in her wedding - or a huge wedding party. (I see a future Bridezilla in the making here....) And just for the record here - I understand emergencies, important phone calls, and even answering the phone and asking to call the person calling back - I get that. I do. But please, for the love of all things holy, show some respect to the person on the other side of the counter and get off the phone if it can wait for 2 minutes.

I love people - they make life interesting. But sometimes, I just want to gouge someone's eyeballs out with a spoon for being rude.

Funny thing about my little rant is I have actually had a good day today - bet you can't wait to see me when I have had a really bad day....

My latest additions...

This is going to be a very quick blog as I am really tired and I need to go to bed soon. But I wanted to show you all my latest additions to my site!

Back - after a long hiatus....

Wow - I can't believe that it was May the last time I updated my blog - I figure I better get something in here to at least show that I am around - even though I don't have much in the way of new additions to my website with the exception of this bracelet that is shown to the right. I have called it Rings around Mars - since Mars is known as the red planet. (Thanks to my friend Julie for helping me name this as I was stumped...lol.)

This could easily be an OSU bracelet as the colors are scarlet and gray - but I try really hard not to put ALL of my scarlet and gray pieces into the OSU category. I was surprised to find that a lot of people would buy scarlet and gray jewelery to wear - even if technically had nothing to do with the Buckeyes (ie. no Buckeyes on the pieces, or OSU lettering).

I am happy to be back online and creating again - I was offline for about 6 months - and had some issues with the computer before that - I am still having issues with the computer, but I am learning to work around it...lol. (My boyfriend insists that he knows how to fix the computer, but I am STILL waiting and he's the one that screwed it up anyways!)

One of my next projects is going to be something new for me - I am going to make an amulet bag. This is going to be a rather involved project - but I am excited about it.