It’s a BOY!!!!!

Yippee!!! We welcomed our new grandson into the world today!! Dayton was born at 3:33 pm and weighed 7lbs 10oz, happy, healthy and ready to take on the world!! His mom is doing VERY well, and did a fantastic job (though I’m sure she’s glad the 3 days of labor is over!). My son, Kevin (Dayton’s daddy) is absolutely smitten – wouldn’t you agree (big pics today!!)

It was a long day for Claire (new mommy!), though they did give her some good drugs to take the edge off (I’m jealous, I didn’t get that with my kids! LOL). She’s a wonderful girl and we are SO proud to have her in our family. Here’s a picture of the happy new family (poor girl looks tired but happy!).

And of course, a grandmother would be remiss if she didn’t include even one picture of the little tyke himself!

And not to be outdone, my granddaughter, Freya was absolutely taken with how small he is. She kept staring at his tiny little fingers and his tiny little finger nails. She’s going to have such a good time being the big cousin.

(She’s getting SO big!!) Her Dad and Dayton’s Dad are so close that they were always thought to be twins by anyone who was first meeting them. Not so much now, as they don’t look nearly as much alike, but when they were growing up, it was a common comment. I’m SO glad they have each other during this time of young parenthood. Though Mark is younger than Kevin, he’s been a dad for over 5 years and is VERY good at it. I think Kevin will be leaning a lot on Mark in the near future. Though from what Claire said today, Kevin had very much the ‘deer in the headlights’ look on his face during Dayton’s delivery! LOL I’m glad Claire’s parents were there to keep him from fainting! LOL

Sigh, so all in all, it was a glorious day today! Though the heat is WAY over the top for me (I LOVE rain!), who could complain when such excitement occurs! I am off to the gallery tomorrow to pick up some new silver supplies, and will definitely be back in the studio in full production soon. Between bouts of babysitting the new baby of course!

Oh, this is for those that aren’t as baby crazy as I am! Here’s a picture of my poor overheated Himalayan cross cat Bummy, flaked out on his back on the coffee table basking in the full effects of the fans – poor guy hates the heat as much as me, I think!!

At least it cools off at night, and we leave the dog door open at night when it’s this hot so the cats can come and go while it’s cool. Thank goodness our yard is filled with huge leafy trees and tons of shade – it never gets nearly as hot as many people’s houses do!

Well, enough babbling from me! It’s been a wonderful day and I do hope you all enjoyed your weekend! I’m off to shower then bed. Sweet Dreams!!

Quietly plugging along…..

Another day of not getting much done! Shame on me!! Gotta snap out of that! I did make some important phone calls (whoopee!), but that was about it. I’m going to try putting the computer in the studio tomorrow and see if that helps get me in there for a solid chunk of time. I know that I find it hard to concentrate in there right now as I’m out of a very important (to me) gauge of silver and won’t have any until Monday. So every time I head in the direction of the studio I think to myself that I’m going to make this, that or the other thing and then remember I’m out and my only option right now is rings. Not that it’s a bad thing. Rings are a very good seller for me. But when it’s the only thing you can make (I’m slightly exaggerating but that’s what it seems like), it’s the one thing you don’t want to make! Sigh!! Hope I have better luck tomorrow. I’ll let you know for sure!

Here’s a couple of little pendants that I made the other day, so at least I have something to show. You might recognize the rootbeer colored one. It was one of my original resin pieces, but I didn’t think the resin did it justice, so I replaced it with the rootbeer color. Good call? Let me know what you think. I’ll see if I have before and after pics I can put side by side.

You know, when they’re side by side like this, the purple/blue one looks really pretty, but in real life the color was very opaque and not shiny like it is in the picture. Just trust me when I say it didn’t work. If you know me, you KNOW I’d prefer the purple if it were prettier! LOL Here’s the other piece I finished the other day. Just a little circle of textured metal with a lime green resin-filled tag (someone mentioned it would make a great dog tag!! *idea* Gotta get that new silver! LOL

Have a great evening. It’s about time I got off this computer! LOL! Cheers!

Happy Hump Day!

Kind of a stupid name for the middle of the week, ‘Hump Day’. Must have been invented by a guy with a non-neutered male dog!! *snicker* This is a quick one, as I’m bound and determined to actually get something accomplished today! Yesterday was a day of computer stuff – though there’s still tons to do. I spent most of the day surfing aimlessly! Oops!! It seems I’m suffering from the dreaded ‘cabin fever’! It occurred to me last night that other than driving dh to work and Safeway once this week, I have gone nowhere! My weeks seem to be blending all together, with no classes but my Wednesday evening home one (thank the lucky stars I get company tonight! Whheeeeeee!!!!). So to round out my day, I’m going to our local discount store (it’s closing so I’ll be looking for good deals!), to the new variety store that just opened up (it’s actually just moved from a tiny mall space to a huge building of it’s own), Freya tells me they have lots of plant pots (I need some!), a quick stop at the post office, and finally a dentist appointment. I have a wisdom tooth bugging me, so it may have to go. We’ll see. Anyway, it will be good to get out of the house for a bit, and I should be able to squish in some Etsy time. I really want to get those BRT’s posted today. Most of the pictures are taken, just have to sort through. Sigh!! Anyway, if I stand a hope of getting anything at all done, I should get Freya off to daycare and get busy!! Hope you are enjoying your Wednesday!! With any luck WC will be back online soon – pretty please?!?!?!?!!?

Oops almost forgot! I like blogs that have pictures, so here’s one of Bailey flaked out on the couch – gotta love those droopy lips! LOL!

Here’s a close up of those floppy lips! LOL!

PS I snagged an Etsy Treasury, check it out!!

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=52567

That Darn Cat!!!

Oh Marvy!! What a pain in the neck this cat can be!! I have six cats, but Marv seems to be the one that is always getting into trouble, driving us crazy or just plain being a pain in the neck! This morning, as I pulled into the driveway after dropping Freya off at daycare, I noticed that Marv was torturing some poor little animal. I figured it might be a small bird, or maybe a mouse. He was having a grand time, flinging this black thing here and there across the lawn, waiting for it to move so he could grab it with his paw and fling it some more. I don’t argue with Mother Nature, but I don’t stand for torture. This cat is NOT hungry, by any stretch of the imagination!! This was not survival instinct, it was just plain cat instinct. I walked over to where Marv was having his little party, and check to see what he had. OMG!! It was a mole!! A real honest to goodness mole, with the funny feet, the star shaped nose, the little short tail!! And it was squeaking! Now, you have to understand – last year, we had mole holes around the yard and I freaked out. It was weird (me freaking out!), but when dh  (dumb husband in this case) shoved the garden hose down one of the holes that was right beside the front steps near the house, turned on the water full blast and left it running for over an hour!! An HOUR!!! And the REALLY scary part was that there was no sign of this water anywhere! I had visions of my house sinking into the newly created mud bog dh had just created!!! He turned the water off and I called an exterminator! They came to the house, installed traps, checked the traps a couple of times, and that was that, no more mole holes. But I never saw a mole before!! Not a real live one!!! So fast forward to this year – I’ve noticed a mole hole or two, nothing too serious (tons in the neighbors yard, but we don’t like them much! LOL!), and I decided I was not footing the bill for an exterminator when the neighborhood is FULL of these things. Anyway, I saw this chubby little black furry critter, squirming in the grass and squeaking!!! DAMMIT PAM, why did you have to show me that picture of Luke’s hamster! ROFL! So I shoved Marvin away from the mole and let the poor little bugger escape down the very same hole that dh put the hose down last year!!! Sigh. I guess I’m sharing the yard with the moles – they’re too darn cute to kill!! And besides, they eat bugs, grubs and that sort of thing, that’s good. Right?!? (Dh is gonna laugh his head of at me!!) Sigh!Oh, if you want to see Luke’s hamster, check Pam’s blog -http://bluebetween.blogspot.com/

Guess I better get to posting some of these charmy things on Etsy. Or as my student Phyllis calls them, the BRT’s! (Barrie’s Resin Thingies). LOL Have a great day! Cheers!

I’m BAAAACCCKKK!!!!

Well, as promised, I’m back with the resin pictures! I apologize in advance if any of them are blurry! I’m working with new glasses and can’t tell if it’s my eyes, the camera, the computer or the darn glasses!! Yeesh! No one told me that once you hit 40, your eyes go to hell in a handcart! Not fair!! Of course, no one mentions a lot of things about getting past that 40 mark! But that’s a whole other post, and can wait for another day!! In the meantime, here’s some eye candy for you!!

First is my favorite (and I can see a new line coming with these) – a leaf pendant in a soft sage green color (two shades actually!), and a cubic zirconia. I’m having a real love affair with cubic zirconias these days! LOL! Oh, and bet you can tell me what’s wrong with this pendant?!? Figures it took me until I was photographing it to figure it out! Doh!! (it’s almost 3 inches long! Not for the feint of heart!)

Then I took a couple of pictures of these larger domed pieces. I really like the floral texture though you can’t see it will from a distance. And getting a good picture of the purple color is REALLY hard!! It’s a wonderful lavender color. My friend Rita would love it! The pink of course is HOT pink!! It’s a really vibrant color!

Then there are the cubic zirconia charms. I’m not happy with the orange one and may remove the resin from it. But for now, the color is outstanding so I’ll show you (ignore the tiny little bubbles! LOL!). And the other is a beautiful lime green, not the fluorescent green from the other day but a rich bright lime green. I love it!

Then there are the little charmie!! All 47 of them!! I played mix and match with the colors while I was photographing them – such rich colors!! I LOVE them! They’re so tiny and cute! I think a Robin Atkins style treasure bracelet would be perfect for some of them – but way too much work for me at this time, so I’ll have to put that on hold for a bit!! Anyhoo, here’s the little cuties!!

And here’s one of those magical combinations I was talking about earlier – pink and brown!! Stunning together!!!

You don’t want to know how many pictures I took of all the different combinations! LOL I need a life! In the meantime, I’ll be getting some of these posted to my Etsy site tomorrow. Tonight I am just too darn tired! Fortunately it’s almost bed time and I am SO there! Have a great night!

Sunny Day at Last!

The sun is shining!! Will wonders never cease?! As long as it doesn’t get crazy hot, I’ll be a happy camper! Now, if Wet Canvas would come back online, I’ll be even happier!! Andee, Rita, thank you for the comments!! Makes me feel like I haven’t been completely abandoned! LOL! For those of you who don’t know Wet Canvas and the Wearable Arts forum, you don’t know what you’re missing out on. They are a fantastic group of people that are very supportive, and definitely the kind of like-minded folks you want to hang out with! Each and every one of them are very talented in their own right and it’s amazing at how helpful their comments, critiques and advice can be. So I really hope the administrators at WC get it together and get the site back up (it’s under some renovation right now and I think we’re all going through withdrawls! LOL!), my week will be fabulous!

I have exactly 47 resin charms waiting to be photographed today. They’re the little tiny ones – I had a blast picking colors for them and will probably group a few together on Etsy for those that like pre-determined color choices! I made some gorgeous brown ones – a really pretty brown. It seems to be a color that is quite predominant in fashion these days, and mixed with colors like pink or turquoise, it’s definitely a great accent! Oh, there are some light lavender ones that are sitting next to the brown ones and I have to say that combination is probably my favorite! I LOVE it! I also made a fantastic new leaf as well. I toned the green down (not everyone loves fluorescent lime green!), and it’s a pale sage green though if you decide to call it lime, then it can be that too – it’s a pretty color. I’ll post pics later. I just wanted to touch bases with my online buddies before I got down into the studio. Time flies when I’m in there and who knows when I’d be able to get back to the computer!!

So I better get to it, I hope you all are enjoying your day – I know, it’s Monday, but just think, Friday is only a few more days away!! Have a good one!

Oops almost forgot the gratuitous critter picture! This is my photography assistant Marvin. here’s he’s diligently helping me by eating the camera strap. Good help is hard to find!

Midnight Posting!!

It’s actually after midnight! I just got back from picking the boys up from gaming night. After all the dropping off of various kids around town (they’re NOT staying here! LOL!), by the time I get home it’s about an hour round trip. Quite the exciting Friday evenings I have! LOL Ah well, at least I know that they’re safe, not out partying, drinking or doing drugs (at 17 yrs old, my youngest son is incredibly responsible, kind, and thoughtful – most of the time! He is a boy after all!). I’m watching my favorite comedian (Craig Ferguson – he has the late late show after Letterman), snuggling a kitty or two, and I thought I’d show you guys my jewelry – just custom stuff, but still nice enough. This first one is an aquamarine on a silver band (hammered) with a gold bezel and little gold balls.

Second one is quite similar, but different stone – this one is a moonstone on a smooth silver band with the gold bezel and balls.

And finally is one of my sticks and stones rings. It’s actually not a new ring, it’s one I made a while ago, I just had to size it up and narrow the back of the band a bit. It’s still pretty though!

I have a few sticks and stones rings on the go in the studio. The gallery has been selling them well this past month. Whew!! Speaking of the studio, I have a tumbler full of those tiny little charms that I made last week. I’ll be filling them with all kinds of fun colors tomorrow. I made a new leaf pendant that will get some resin too. I would still be in there working tonight, but as I mentioned, I had to go get the boys. Well that and my eyes are just not cooperating with me tonight. They must be tired. I know the rest of me is. But I always need to wind down a bit after that long drive. At least the weather was good, I took Jessie (our terrier) with me for company on the way there, and the boys are so incredibly silly that I giggle most of the way home.

Oh, I know what else I was going to mention!! I have some reticulated sterling silver pieces that will be going up in my Etsy store this weekend – here’s what one of them looks like

This is the front of the piece. Here, I’ll show you the back of the same piece -

Reticulated silver is a heat treatment that makes the sterling silver look like crinkled tin foil. It’s fantastic for adding texture to your designs. It’s easily cut, soldered, etc, so don’t be afraid to experiment. For those that want to know how it’s made, I teach that in several of my classes. It’s not hard, just takes a bit of practice and a lot of patience.

One last thing I want to add, Wet Canvas is a favorite forum that I frequent (Wearable Arts section), and unfortunately tonight the site is down (has been all day!) and I really miss my online buddies there! We chat about all kinds of things, but have a fantastic friendship built up and I have to say it’s weird not to be able to check in with them! So for all of you – Rita, Pam, Fiona, Charissa, Andee, Claire, Gwen, Dawn, Maggie, and all the rest of you – hope WC is back up and running soon! I miss ya all!!!

Now, enough babbling from me, I’m off to bed. Must head to town tomorrow to get the dreaded new glasses! At least I have a lovely new purse to carry them home in! Tee hee! I still LOVE it! Have a great weekend everyone!

TGIF Again?!? Yeesh!

You know, at this rate, it’s going to be Christmas soon!! Time is just rocketing past me! Sorry to be so quiet this past week. It’s been a pretty good one. I started teaching a student at home on Wednesday nights. I miss my regular classes and especially the last semester at UCFV. But onward and upward, I always say (no, really, I do say that!). Now that my student is coming on Wednesdays, that gives me a guideline for other things going on around the house – kinda marks the week for me! Plus I can work on my own things while she’s working on hers, so it’s a win/win situation. We’re hoping that a few more students join us this summer! Otherwise, she’s getting a heck of a great deal, and will learn TONS. Not that I mind, but some others might want to get in on this! *hint, hint*

What else is new!? Oh, yeah! I fell in love with a VERY expensive (to me) purse, and had to have it. In all honesty, I think I spent more on this one purse than I have on all the purses I’ve bought in the last 5 years!! (my purses usually average about $15 or $20 and I use them til they fall apart – at least a year! LOL). So, this little splurge was kind of my consolation prize for getting old. I know – what the heck is hse talking about, you ask. I went to the optometrist this past week as well. Go figure – I have old eyes. Sigh! Not exceptionally old, in fact he said they’re in great shape for a woman my age (hello? I’m 45! that sounds way too much like talking to my grandmother! ARGH!). Anyway, I looked at more pairs of glasses than I can possibly even remember then decided that at this point I would get good reading glasses and get used to those, then go ahead and get the WAY more expensive progressives later on – when I can afford to do it right. So, since I saved a lot of money (in my twisted mind!), and since I rarely buy stuff for me, I decided that I needed a consolation prize – my purse! LOL! Wanna see it? Guess what color it is? Oh, all right, you already know – purple!! Well, actually way more mauve than the picture shows – it looks lavender on my monitor, but IRL it’s definitely mauve. And it’s made out of seat belts! Yes, seat belts!! Crafted in the US, high end parachute nylon lining, rated to hold up to 2000 pounds (no, I won’t fill it quite that full!), and guaranteed repairs for the life of the purse!

Isn’t it pretty?! LOL! I know, I thrill easily – Freya says the picture looks like am Easter basket – sigh! Gotta love 5 year old honesty! It doesn’t look like one in real life – but it sure is nice!! Okay, I’ll stop babbling about my silly purse! LOL!

Must run, I need to drive my youngest son and his buddies to gaming night – my motherly duties call!! Have a great weekend if I don’t make it back. I do have some jewelry pics to show, just have to wait till I get back from the dropping off of teenaged boys!!

Cheers!

TGIF! No, really!!

This week is finally over! Yippee!! Although I don’t know why that makes a difference to me – as I work on my own time. Friday means that dh will be home all weekend. Friday means that I don’t have to get up at 6am tomorrow morning to drive dh and son to work. Friday means that we will probably go shopping tonight (yay! I get to get out of the house!). I guess Friday excitement is just a hold over from all the years of kids, school, work, etc. In all honesty, it could be Friday, Saturday, Tuesday, whatever!! Right now, I have no classes going on, so really every day is the same. Hmmm, that could explain why I feel like I’m alone all the time! LOL I am! So really, Friday means I have company for the next two days! How sad is that?! LOL Oh yeah, I’m all alone – except for the two dogs, both flaked out sound asleep. And the four out of six cats (oops, make that five – Missy’s hiding behind the printer) are sleeping in the same room as I am. Then there’s the cockatiel – oh wait, she’s sleeping too. The four leopard geckos sleep all day anyway (they’re nocturnal), so I don’t expect them to be awake. The bearded dragons are awake – but dreadfully boring, just sitting there enjoying their fake sunshine (heat lamps). Oh and the two iguanas – but they’re just as boring as the dragons. Jeeze, no wonder I talk to myself! LOL!

Enough babbling from me – you guys didn’t stop by for that! I’m posting classes on my website (see link to the right) today. Might as well get some classes going here, the space is ready, and so am I! I’m going to be posting some more resin pieces on my Etsy site (link to the right! LOL). My son’s g/f Cecili was over last night, fell madly in love with one of the pink resin pieces and I gave it to her. She’s going to bring her bathing suits over to match resin pieces to them! LOL She’ll be great advertising! And I have some work to do on my bead show website. Ah, it never ends! If all goes according to plan, I might even squeeze in some studio time today!! So I better get started! Hope you all have a fun and safe Friday the 13th!! (you didn’t think I missed that part of the equation, did you?!) Cheers!

Is it Tuesday already?

I sure can’t get over how fast time flies these days. Kind of scary! It’ll be bead show time before you know it!! I got some great news to that end today – my friend from Chicago – Mary Poineal, owner of McDuck Creations (check out her interchangeable bead stuff! www.mcduckcreations.com ) – is going to come to the show to be a vendor! I also heard from a lady in Mexico who is coming as well. She has some FABULOUS sterling silver components and charms. Gonna be a great show!

I had a blast this past weekend putting together some more resin stuff. Some of them have cubic zirconias for bling. One can never have enough bling!

The first one you guys have actually already seen, I removed the old resin (yellow/orange/pink) and replaced it with yellow orange and red, MUCH better as far as I’m concerned. It reminds me of a tropical sunset or something!

This next set is a fabulous shade of blue – it reminds me of the aquas that lampwork glass rods come in. The cz’s made these ones really flashy! LOL

The next one is a wonderful dark rose color, not hte light pink it appears on my monitor!

Then I got totally carried away with disks. I took lots of my scrap textured bits, cut them into disks (love my disk cutter!) and domed them slightly. Some I added small jump rings so they could dangle like charms – the half inch ones got cz’s. The tiny ones, I think they’re 1/4″ but I’ll measure before I put them on Etsy, have a tiny loop on the back so they hang down – I think these would look SO cool on thosee woven treasure bracelets that are so popular!

Oh, and this one is about an inch, domed quite deeply with a 4mm cz. It reminded me of looking down into a pool of water.

Too much fun! And no, these aren’t all the pieces! I told you, I got totally carried away! I have a bunch of custom work to do as well (picked up from the gallery yesterday). Nothing too difficult, but needs attending to. Guess I better go get something done. Dh is going to think I’m a total slacker if I don’t get some dishes done as well today. Hope you all have a great day!!