I think I see beads in the future of this furniture!

Luckily,

Mary Clare volunteered Tom to make Pixie a new table on which to dine.

Yes, she has her own table.

As I carried her old table out to wash it down,

the table, literally, fell apart in my hands. 

By that evening, Pixie had a new table!

However, I do have to paint it,

so, until the painting is finished,

Pixie is eating off a kitchen chair.

She's such a diva!!!!!

Here's her new, unfinished table.

Isn't this nice?

We calculated, roughly, that the old table, having been through 2 dogs and Pixie was almost 20 years old.

Pixie will enjoy her new table.

This is the table with primer drying.

Do you see it drying?  :)

I plan to paint the table white with a high gloss white paint.

Now, you get to vote.

Do you think I should glue beads onto the edge?

Still thinking.

Let me know!!

I'm Still Amazed By What I Find When I Clean

More Cleaning,

Another Great Find in an Old birthday card

handcrafated by my son, Nick.

Isn't this great?

I'm still smiling about this "coupon."

I can't remember if I ever used it or not.

It Seemed Like a Good Idea At the Time

I own a Big Kick Machine.

With this machine I am able to emboss and add texture to metals.

I put in the template for the design.

I added the polymer clay...

She skids to a stop!

What?

I thought it was a good idea at the time.

I opened up the template.

There was my polymer clay

STUCK

in all the impressions.

I still haven't been able to clean it all out.

We'll see what happens,

but it seemed like a great idea at the time!

Oh, well!

We Must Always Remember and Say Thank You!

Thank you!

All who have served to keep us safe and our country free!

Words are Not enough!

I Heart Macro! Roses and Such

A rose's center

A leaf

Background colors and a milkweed bud.

I Heart Macro!!!!

So I put Another Box in the Mail Yesterday...

For Beads of Courage!

Thought you might like to see some of the beads I put in the mail.

I'm told that the average stay at Beads of Courage for Beads received is 1.5 days.

i think Butterfly Beads are the exception.

I'm not sure at what point these beads are distributed.

Remember:  Butterfly beads are sent to parents who have lost a child.

This is what I sent in to B

I sent in 51 wire wrapped butterflies this time.

I like to make food beads.

Sometimes the kids relate to these when they can't eat.

Bacon and Eggs are a fun favorite!

Then there's the fist.

I enjoy making fish.

I use up a lot of small pieces of glass when I make fish.

I let gravity melt the colors until they swirl.

 

 

 

The fish come out in different shapes and colors!

I use up old twisties, too!

Then there are the experiments.

I didn't realize that I had the sand being the waves until I was almost finished.

The only solution then was to add a sun to the blue water.

Sigh!

I hope some little one loves this bead!

I also like to make angels.

Who doesn't like angels?

Remember, even if you don't make beads,

you can always make a financial donation.

Click 

HERE 

to learn more!

Three Beautiful Things This Week

Three Beautiful Things This Week was inspired by a wonderful blog that Clare writes called Three Beautiful Things. Everyday, Clare writes about 3 Beautiful Things that happen each day in her life. It's a wonderful blog! I can only hope to imitate her in a very small way.


1) Oh, the cleaning bug hit this week.  I have a huge garbage can full of junk and a trunk load full of items for the local thrift store.  Wow!  Does this feel good!  There's still a lot to go, but this feels good!

2) I had lunch with my dear friend, Sister Alene this week!  It was so good to see her again.  We always have fun, and the food is always very, very good.  This time we ate at Olive Garden.  Delicious!!!

3) We are getting the rain we have so desperately needed again.  The days are still warm, and the nights are cool.  I love this time of year as nature ripens and the rains come.  What a good week it's been!!!

I Love What I Find When I Clean!

The "Deep Cleaning Bug" has hit, again.

I seem to do a little bit here and a little bit there!

I was cleaning out a desk today.

I was amazed at what I found.

I don't know how many jump drives I've bought to replace these!

They were in the back of the drawer. 

Who would have thought to look there?

You don't know how many Happy Meals my kids had to eat so that I could get this creature.

It was in one of the promotions, and this is the one I wanted.

My kids would actually say, "Do we HAVE to go to McDonalds AGAIN?"

Yes, until I get my toy!!!

Finally, and were they ever glad!!!

Somehow, Hope, always manages to sneak in!

I smiled when I found this in the crevice of another drawer.

HOPE.

This is a card my cousin sent me EONS ago.

It was then I believed that the worst illness was a bad case of the flu.

Anyway, now I look at this card and say,

"Wow!  Look at all the beads on that card!"

I'm keeping this one.

Those are my hands and jewelry!

They were part of an article in the local newspaper about a bead store in town.

This was in my pre bead making days.

The memories flood in to my soul!

Of course, there's more, but that will be for another time.

I'm still looking for the photos that started this deep cleaning!

I sure hope I find them soon.  I'm tired!!!

I'm Stuck

I had no ideas for a blog.  So, you get to see a fun picture of Pixie.  She was being coy because she wanted the left overs from dinner.  She's such a diva!!  Have a wonderful day!!!

If you want to see some great glass!

Click

HERE!

Here's a quick sample of what you will see!

It's one of Nikki's lizards!!!

Click here to see it!

Here's one of Amy's beautiful sets!

Click HERE to see it!

This is one of Gelly's Piggies!

Click HERE to see it!

There are a lot of other glass artists in this treasury!

See it here!

Oh, just a secret, they really do have gas!!

Ask me how I know!!

Oxygen and Propane.

We all need that to make beads!

 

Easy Peasy Leather and Lampwork Beads Knotted Bracelet Free Tutorial

I love the lacey look of this bracelet!

Bracelets like these  are fun to wear, and simple to make.

Here's how you do it!

Supplies

1 large button with a shank or holes in the center.

The shank and holes must be able to have a 2mm piece of leather pass through the holes.

54 inches of 2mm leather.

Choose any color you like.

14 - 16 glass beads with 2mm holes.

Clear tacky glue

Tools

Ruler

Scissors

The leather should be 2mm.  Anything smaller would not be strong enough to wear this bracelet repeatedly.

Directions

1) Fold the leather cord in half and thread the leather through the button holes or shank.

Tie a knot behind the button.  Add a couple of drops of clear tacky glue.

Let dry for a couple of minutes.

Add a bead to each side of the leather.

Using your finger as a guide, insert your finger in the leather and tie a loose knot above your finger.

I used 14 - 16 beads per bracelet.

If you have a thicker wrist, be sure to cut your leather longer and have more beads available to use.

 

Try the bracelet  on your wrist after 12 beads.  If you need to add more beads, this is the time to do it.

After the last knot, leave a space so that the button will fit through.  Tie a knot on the other end of the opening.

Add some clear tacky glue to this knot.  

Trim the ends of the leather to a length that you like.

See, what I mean?

Easy Peasy!

Here are some more samples.

You can even make these long enough to be an ankle bracelet!

I love mine!!!

Let me see what you do with this tutorial!

I Heart Macro - What is pink?

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

I Heart Macro!

Go Ahead and Ask Them...

and my kids will tell you that when they were growing up they thought that Target bags were gift bags.

I admit it!  I'm one of those people who hates to wrap gifts.  I really dislike that task.  I have, in the past, asked the kids to wrap their own Christmas presents.  They refused.  I have asked them to wrap their own birthday presents.  They refused. 

The young 'uns thought that, as small children, Santa wrapped their presents in target bags.  One of them suggested, and I forget which one, that perhaps Santa should hire elves that knew how to wrap presents better than the ones they had in their hands.  Sigh!

Maybe one day this cycle will end.  I don't know.  I still can't fold those edges properly or crease the wrapping paper.  When I send out an order from my Etsy store, I pretend to wrap it.  I know what the wrapping looks like!  Sigh.  I wish Santa would send me some package wrapping elves for Christmas. 

Three Beautiful Things This Week

Three Beautiful Things This Week was inspired by a wonderful blog that Clare writes called Three Beautiful Things. Everyday, Clare writes about 3 Beautiful Things that happen each day in her life. It's a wonderful blog! I can only hope to imitate her in a very small way.

1) The weather has been really warm this week!  It's been a nice change from the mid summer's spring  The roses are blooming.  The daisies are almost opened.  It's been a lovely week this week.

2) I've been able to torch for short spurts this week.  Even though it's been busy, getting down to the torch really restores my spirit.  I love the zen state that torching gives me.

3) I've been able to get together with friends 3 times this week.  It's been good.  I haven't seen them in ages, and it was fun to catch up!!

Hope the Cancer Warrior Tutorial

I sell this tutorial in my Etsy store.  If you are interested, you can click HERE and I'll send it off to you ASAP!  All the monies raised from the sale of this tutorial go to Jenny to help her with her medical expenses. 

This is a quick and easy wire and bead piece to make.  I also sell kits.  One of them is Hope the Breast Cancer Warrior.  The other is Hope the Blood Cancer Warrior.  The funds from the sale of these kits will also go to Jenny to help with her medical expenses.

As always, I should learn never to put things away!  A lovely person on Etsy purchased one of these Hope tutorials.  She asked me what kind of beads I used to make them.  I replied that I used lampwork beads, but that I thought you could use any type of beads.  The important thing is to make sure that two widths of wire will fit through the hole.  This is very important!  So, I thought, why not show her what beads, other than lampwork, look like when making this project.  Just an FYI, you might have to use more wire if you use bigger beads.  I made some Hope warriors last night using plastic and stone beads.  Here's what they looked like.

I used a colored lentil stone for the body and a round plastic bead for Hope.

Because I used bigger plastic beads, Hope is longer than the other Hopes.  I love the faceted look of the plastic on Hope's body here!

For this Hope, I used a white plastic disc for her upper body and I used a flower disc over a cube of flowers from an old plastic necklace I found.  I love the colors here.

I hope to get these into my Etsy store soon!

Now, back to never putting things away...

I had to search a bit, but I finally found my Hope prototypes in a box I had put away so that when I decided to put these Hopes in my Etsy store, I'd be able to find them right away!

Wrong!

However, I did find them.  

Thank you, Lisa, for asking the question about the types of beads to use!!!

Here is my Hope menagerie in a collage.

Again, I hope to get them all in my Etsy store soon.

I will be selling them for $10, and all the funds from these sales will go to Jenny.

If you would like to purchase any before I list them, 

please email me at

101 rosebud at charter dot net

Just take out the spaces and add the appropriate symbols.

Let me know which Hope or Hopes you would like.

I'll be happy to send you a Pay Pal invoice.

Shipping will be on me.

Thanks!

Hope is something we all need!!

Wouldn't any of the Hopes make a wonderful ornament or pendant?