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!