Plastic and Pearls!

I found these at a local thrift store.

As you can see, I paid $1.61 for this entire bag of beads, I mean toys.

Here's a better look.

I sorted the bag into what I thought would be useable beads, really beads.

Cubes

 

 

Spheres

Body parts

Flower discs

Here's what happened.  This necklace looks great as I wear it!

The body parts add that special touch. 

I also used glass pearls as spacers.

Love this!  It's a choker.

A bracelet with glass pearls and a "charm" I found in the toys.

Last but not least, the flower discs with pearls make great earrings!!

So, what do you think?

Have you ever done anything this silly before?

Happy 4th of July!

Thoughts

 I am so thankful that we live in a country where

1)  we have the right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness!

2) our ancestors chose to fight for our freedom, as well as their own.

3) we still have to right to elect the women and men who serve as our leaders

4) the freedom of religion is still regarded as sacred

5) we know that those who serve do so with the best interests of our country

I thank God for this gift, and it is a gift.  I thank God for the women and men in our military are willing to sacrifice so much for our freedom.  I thank God for the families of our military who also sacrifice so much when their loved ones go into war zones to serve.  I thank God.  I thank God!

This is it...My Great Stress Reliever!

I know it's different strokes for different folks,

and this is one of mine!

Making handmade lampwork glass murrini!

It's a work of love for me.

I don't really need the stress relief now,

but it sure felt good to make these

silvered ivory murrini today!

It felt really good.

I am going to be making more murrini very soon.

Stay tuned. 

You will see me in a zen state!

Hot Summer Nights

It's been so HOT lately!  I'm lucky.  I have AC!  This has helped so much!  I'm not sure I could take the kind of heat we are experiencing now!  The heat coupled with the humidity makes life miserable right now. 

This heat has brought back memories of growing up in New Mexico.  The summers there are extremely HOT!

Days were hot and nights were cool.  This is very typical of desert weather.  When I was young and growing up on 1st Street, there was a front porch.  My mother and I lived with my grandparents.  Of course, when the days were HOT, nothing could stop the hours of endless play.  There weren't many kids in the neighborhood yet we played all day long.  If the older kids weren't there, I played with my imaginary friends.  We ran through sprinklers.  We went to the local store for popsicles.  Eventually, we all made our way home for supper, baths, prayers, and bed. 

This was a different era.  Windows could be left open at night to let out the hot and let in the cool.  Doors could even be left open as long as the screen doors were shut so the mosquitoes couldn't get in.  Then there was the front porch.  On those super hot days when day faded into a hot night, the front porch was our refuge.  I remember sitting in the porch with my mother and grandparents until I drifted off to sleep.  Many nights I'd wake up to feel a cool breeze flowing through the screens.  My grandmother would have made me  a bed on a chair, and she covered me with a sheet.  I'd see my mother in another chair sleeping soundly.  My grandmother had covered her with a sheet, too! Like I said, it was an era when you could sleep safely on a front porch.  I'd wake up with the sun and the cool fresh breath of morning.  Most mornings it was bright and sunny.  My mother would cuddle with me until it was time for her to get up and go to work.  Then the day would begin again!  Play! Play!  Play!  Summer!!!

I Heart Macro! My new necklace!

It was simply too hot to do anything else today!

So, I made a new necklace for me! 

I Heart Macro!

These were beads I was going to throw away!

I'm pleasantly surprised that 

the beads looked so good together!

I Heart Macro!