I’m meeellltttiiinnngggg!!!!

It is SO hot here right now, it’s ridiculous!! Seriously ridiculous! How do you people that live in hot areas stand this? We’re at 36 degrees Celsius right now, with a humidity of 50% (which apparently makes it feel about another 8 or 9 degrees hotter than it is). BLECH! We are completely unaccustomed to this kind of weather. We’ve had little rain this year, and now we have heat, heat and more heat. We don’t have air conditioning in our house or our car. We have many fans going and all it does is swirl around the hot air. How is this fun? LOL Needless to say I’m not getting a whole heck of a lot of anything done. I spend most of my time just sitting here melting. Not productive, but keeps me from really over heating. Maybe this is the year we buy a hot tub and the next time we get this ridiculous weather, I can put ice cubes in the hot tub and cool off that way.

We picked up our new aquarium, got is set up in the corner of the living room with the sand and salt water and the filter going. I’m going to take some pictures of it as we put this thing together. But we are taking our time and it will probably take about a month to get it completely set up and looking good. We shall see!!

Well, back to my melting. Hope it’s cooler in your world (like some people I know who actually have air conditioning!), I’m praying for rain!! Cheers!

Fraser Valley Bead Show Classes are UP!!

Hey!!! I get major kudos this week! I finally got all the classes posted to the website – check it out – Fraser Valley Bead Show. I decided at the last minute that I myself would teach a class. Why should I let everyone else have all the fun?!?! So I am going to teach a class called “All in the Details” or the ‘the Fine Art of Using Paste Solder’. here’s what my class sample looks like.

I’m going to show students how to make that set, as well as demo using paste solder to do a bunch of other nifty tricks. I’m going to have a written tutorial done for it as well which I will put for sale in my Etsy store after the show in October for anyone who can’t come to the class.

You guys didn’t just come here to read about me prattle on about the bead show – I don’t show nearly enough jewelry, so here you go – some custom pieces

And here’s a pair of earrings that were originally going to be the project for the class at the bead show – but I don’t like them! And I dropped more ’stuff’ making these than you can believe. So I figured if I was dropping all the little bits and pieces, then students would be too!! Bad idea!! What do you think of the earrings though?

I have some other stuff on the go, but those are all that are finished. My friends are coming by on Monday so we can play with the etching some more. I find I prefer having someone here when it comes play time. If I’m on my own, I feel compelled to work on stuff for the gallery. Weird huh? Oh!! Almost forgot!! On a totally different note, I won a complete saltwater aquarium setup – tank, fish, coral, crabs and all!! How cool is that?!?!? It’s a small tank, about 2ft in diameter (hexagon shaped) with a stand and top and fancy lighting. It’s been established for a while, so once it’s moved in here, you won’t believe the pics I’m going to take! LOL It will be just like living on the bottom of the ocean. I’m thinking of having a sign made for the yard – we almost have enough fish/critters to open our own public aquarium! Go figure! But this new one is free, and one cannot turn down free stuff. It’s just wrong! LOL Stay tuned! (I’m thinking more inspiration ideas too – those corals, fish and stuff are amazing!!).

On that happy note, I’m heading off to work on getting the dishes done. I’ve been slacking this week!! Hope you all have a great weekend! Cheers!

Play Date!

My friend Lise and I spent the day yesterday playing with etching. OMG! I have done etching for years, but I’ve always used nitric acid which is a very dangerous chemical. And it involved all kinds of special safety stuff, had to be done outside (hard to get it to work well when it’s cold outside!), so/so results more often than not for students, and the list goes on! Well, just so happens Lise took an etching class at the Puget Sound Bead Fest last weekend and was raving about ferric chloride. So we decided to give it a try together – I’ve had ALL the supplies for this for years. And I mean years. Why the heck haven’t I tried this before?! Check these out!!

Before (you can see a couple of the images on the blue paper)

After:

Pretty cool huh?? I’m LOVING how easy this is. For those of you in our area, this class will be offered at the Fraser Valley Bead Show this year! Better sign up as soon as the registration is ready!! Won’t be for a few more days, so don’t panic, but it promises to be a fun one!!!
And for those of you not so near, I’ll be making LOTS more textured stuff in the near future!! Stay tuned!!

Cool New Design Tool

Ever been stumped half way through a project? Me too – happens to all of us! Well trust Tim McCreight to come up with this brilliant idea – check out here – he was supposedly inspired by the Magic 8-ball for this one. At first I thought it was funny, but you know it could really help push you in directions you wouldn’t normally go. Could be a very good thing!
No, I haven’t made anything lately. I’m slacking (ssshhhh! Don’t tell my husband – he thinks I’ve been VERY busy!). I guess I’m going through another slump – happens occasionally. Too often actually. Seems to me that it gets the worst when I don’t have any classes going on. I get rather ho-hum about being home alone all the time. I need company! I have my wonderful Wednesday night girls (check out my website for details on the Wed. Night Drop In Classes) and I hope we get more people on board with it. But it’s the rest of the week that kind of sucks. So I spend too much time online rather than making jewelry. Sigh!! Any brilliant ideas out there for breaking this kind of slump? Besides having you guys all drop by for a visit – some of you live way too far away for that!!
Guess I’ll try putting the computer away and at least trying to get in there. Can’t hurt, right?! Hope you have a great week! Cheers!

Nothing new here!

Happy Canada Day!! There’s nothing new going on around here lately!! I really should get into the studio again, but have just been procrastinating like crazy! My brother is staying with us for a few weeks, so we’re adjusting to having another body around (can’t believe how easily we adjusted to having no one around here after the kids moved out!!). He tells hilarious stories, so it’s fun to listen to him go on!
Oh, dh is calling, guess I best go see what he wants – I do believe we have to head to town for cat food (they’re giving me the evil eye – they can see the bottom of the bowl!). Have a great day, hope you’re being way more productive than I have been! Cheers!

My new ring!

Well, it’s at least a week or two old, but new to you guys! One of my students (thank you Dea!!) gave me this Montana agate cabochon to play with. I LOVE it. Not sure what it is about Montana agate that I love so much, but there ya go! Anyway, here’s the ring I made for myself from it.

It’s HUGE!!! Rather a statement ring, don’t you think? For those of you that make jewelry, the secret to this is gallery wire. Make a plain bezel wider than your gallery wire is, make a gallery wire bezel the same size as the plain one then put it on a ring mandrel and hammer it a bit larger til if fits snuggly over the plain bezel. Leaving the gallery bezel around the plain bezel, solder them onto a flat silver sheet backing. Trim away the excess, file and sand down to the gallery bezel. Solder the bezel plate to a ring shank. Polish, set, done. If you have any in-depth questions, feel free to ask. It’s not hard at all, and a fun way to use gallery wire which I normally don’t like! LOL
Anyway, hope you’re all having a great Thursday. I’m having a ‘feeling sorry for self’ day and I think it’s only because I’m tired. Had to get up at 6:30am to babysit my granddaughter before taking her to school. I am SO not used to getting up that early! LOL I see a nap in my future!! Best get going, nearly time to pick the little darling back up from school. Cheers!

Ah, back in the land of the living!!

Well, what a roller coaster ride the past few weeks have been!! Turns out my old computer has bitten the dust – its only a year and a half old and no, didn’t buy the extended warranty. Silly me!!! I did spend quite a bit of money on it when I bought it so Having purchased a new laptop (same as the one my son lent me for the couple of weeks they tried to fix my old one!), I’m going to send my old one to the factory and get a quote to find out what it would cost to get it refurbished. I still miss it! I’m sentimental that way, I get used to something and I HATE change!!!! I still miss my old van that I gave to my friend a few years ago. So hopefully they can fix the old computer up and make it happy again! Then I can give this one to dh and I can have my beloved LG back. Fingers crossed!

While I was ‘dealing’ with computer issues, I did manage to make a few pieces of jewelry. Lets see if this fancy new computer can get some pictures online for you guys to look at….

This is a new series I started – called the Data Series (if you’ve ever seen JC Herrell’s Draft beads, that’s where the inspiration came from….).

Here’s another one with amethyst. I know the bezel looks a little wonky, but believe me, it’s not. This next one – now we’re talking wonky, check it out!!

This is the first one in the series, and quite honestly I was trying to get it finished too quickly and the bezel went on the ring shank crooked. Oh well, we’re calling it the prototype and I priced it a little lower than the straight ones! I have more on the go of these. Just gotta drag my butt into the studio one of these days!
What else did I do – oh yeah, there’s this ring

Crappy side pic, it’s a really nice coin pearl in a simple bezel, but I used a fantastic pattern wire for the band. LOVE the band on this one!!
While we’re talking about pearls, there’s this one…

One of my students REALLY loved this one but it didn’t fit her (sorry Phyllis, you’ll have to make your own! ) and it was at the gallery less than two days and found a new owner. Yay!!
I made another one of those huge square rings that I really love so much. The stone is a huge transparent smokey quartz and it’s huge!! Here’s two views of the same ring (crappy pics, I know!)


There’s a couple of others, check out my Flickr (link to the right). Nothing too exciting. Oops, forgot to take a picture of my own new ring that I made just for me. I’ll grab a pic tomorrow.
In the meantime, I guess I’m going to kick back and watch So You Think You Can Dance – I think I have my dh hooked on it too! LOL Who’d have ever thought?! Have a great evening!

TGIF!!

Yes, thank goodness it’s Friday. And thank goodness the heat is supposed to back off a bit today. I so cannot function when I’m melting!! I still don’t have my computer back, which is a bit inconvenient from a few different perspectives (such as being able to print things, work on bead show stuff, etc), and any thought I had of being able to pry myself away from the internet if it’s not my computer went out the window a long time ago. I’m an addict! LOL But I have to get some rings finished for the gallery, so I am going to FORCE myself to go down to the studio today and crank out 12 rings, or at least get them mostly done so I can take them there on Monday. But as I sit here, with the kitchen door open onto the deck watching the two squirrels come down to the feeder about 12 feet from me, grabbing peanuts and running back into the plum tree, I realize how incredibly distractable I am! LOL I know, not a word – oh! Now there’s a Stellar’s Jay grabbing a peanut out of the feeder! What was I saying? Oh ya, easily distracted, that’s me!! Especially with so many little wild critters just outside my kitchen door. Must – pull – myself – away – from – this – spot………………………………………

(have a great day!! Back soon with pics once my own computer is back home! Cheers!)

The aftermath of appliance hell!!!

Okay, so it’s not really hell, but it sure has been aggravating!!! Let’s see, the saga begins a few weeks ago actually. Dh decided to cut the lawn for the first time this year. Nope, the lawnmower is toast. The motor is seized or something ridiculous, but it ain’t running for nothing. So we decided we’d rent a lawnmower for a couple of hours and worry about buying one when finances are a bit better. Then it rained. Every weekend for a while. Last weekend we were way too busy, so no lawnmowing. Ah well, maybe we’ll get a lawnmower next payday we say. Then the dryer died. Well, didn’t really die, but made a gawdawful noise something similar to a million fingernails on a million chalkboards. Bah! Time for a new dryer – there goes the lawnmower. But it has to wait til payday. Then we get the offer of a free king size bed!! Woohoo!! Finally a big bed!!! Big enough for dh, me and the two dogs! But it came without a bed frame. So we had to wait until payday to buy a cheapy metal one. So for the past week, I have been struggling to get out of bed each time as it’s sitting on the floor and with my bad hip, getting up is a severe challenge – especially when I’m so stiff and achy in the morning. Sigh!! And we have no king size sheets. Yup, payday. Oh payday. Glorious payday. It finally arrives, and I order a dryer. Yay!!! It arrives via nice used appliance guy (Greg of Greg’s Appliances in Aldergrove – he remembered selling us the last dryer 10 years ago!!! Pretty good use out of a $150 dryer! LOL). He leaves the dryer for dh to wrestle into the house. Which dh does. Alone. The nut. But he got it in, got it hooked up and the great laundry chore begins. But the dryer doesn’t work. It takes 2 hours to dry a small load. Sigh. So I call Greg first thing yesterday, he comes and assesses the problem, faulty short somewhere, has to bring yet another dryer. While htis is going on – my computer crashes. It dies. No, not the blue screen of death. I couldn’t handle that! But it starts doing horrible things, freezing, shutting down, etc. Not a happy computer. So now I have no clean clothes, my lawn looks like the savannas of the Serengheti, I’m not sleeping well because getting off the floor is an agonizing challenge every time, the sheets I bought at Walmart are actually queen size not king, and I can’t get online to whine about it because my computer is dead. *gasp*

By this point, I’m ready to give up. I’m an optimist. Anyone that knows me knows that I never let ’stuff’ get me down. But come on. A person needs sleep. A person needs clean clothes. A person really does deserve a tidy yard, even if it’s not manicured and beautiful. But most of all this person needs a computer so she can tell someone who cares! ROFL!

And now it’s Sunday. The second new dryer is in place, and running well. All the laundry is caught up, folded and fresh. The bed is up on a frame (a red neck cinder block frame – shut up, at least it’s not the floor!!) so sleep is glorious in the new bed!! More importantly getting up is a piece of cake! The front lawn has a date with our third son (Mark) tomorrow morning – he’s going to use the weed eater on it, then we’ll zip over and rent a lawnmower for a couple of hours. Bye bye Serengheti! And my computer (my beloved laptop) has embarked on a spa vacation with my oldest son’s (Chris) buddy who is a computer guru. The boys are going to make my beloved laptop purr like a kitten – or at least run like a top!! And how can I write this crazy blog post to let you all know what my week’s been like? Because Chris left his beloved laptop here for his mom to use. Can you believe that? Best son ever! LOL (they all are, but he gets special bonus points today for dropping everything, running out to our house and leaving me his laptop!) Looks like the appliance hell is almost behind me……. fingers crossed!!!

So if you’re expecting an email from me and haven’t gotten one, it just means that my email program is on holidays with my computer and will be back soon. If you need me before it gets back, send me an email to fvbeadshow@gmail.com. I can check that one online. Hope your week is better than my last week was! But on a bright note, the sun has been shining and all is right with the world!! See? Ever the optimist! Cheers!

Happy Wedensday!

Hello!!! Glad you stopped by (I’m feeling very polite today! LOL!). Thanks for the comments about the jewelry retreat. More info will be provided as I figure it all out. I think it would be a ton of fun, and great for the inspiration. So I’m sure you’ll all hear more soon!! I can tell you it won’t be in September or October. I’m kind of hoping for August. Just because I want to do it this year, not next!!! And there are some pretty cool vacation houses out there that could give us the executive lifestyle (I’m thinking hot tub! LOL) and a weekend of fabulous new friends. More on all that later!

I was supposed to take some pictures of the pieces I finished yesterday, but I totally forgot.  (sorry Trish!) But they weren’t overly exciting, a couple of bangle bracelets with resin leaves (I do have pics of the leaves somewhere – but BAD pics! LOL). And a moonstone ring which you guys have already seen, I just had to size it. Sorry!! Anyway, when I was at the gallery, I took stock of what I have there, plus the LONG list of stuff they’ve sold for me. So I guess I better get off my butt and get some new work done for them. Plus I’m trying to get out the last of the applications for the bead show. I’m really pokey lately – not good!!! Bad me!! So I’m resolving to quit being so darn slow at getting stuff done. Need to get cracking on a bunch of stuff – one of the hazards of being self employed! It’s WAY too easy to get sucked into just doing nothing instead of doing the work that is piling up. Sigh!! So, I better close this off and get cracking!! Have a fantastic day, I hope to be back with pics of stuff (real stuff! LOL) soon!! Cheers!