Jewelry Challenge Reveal Day

Last week I mentioned the Jewelry Challenge that the talented and lovely Lorelei posed to her blog readers. As I mentioned, I signed myself up for the challenge and today is the reveal of our necklaces.


Once I found all the sets of beads (only having to substitute the black cinnabar for the brown she chose), I laid out the strands and let my creativity go to work. I even slept on it, knowing that some of my best inspiration comes in that period between sleep and wake (I'm weird, I know.)

While the beads seemed to flow together easily, the challenge for me was to work the white chain into my design. As part of the rules, we could use any two other types of beads, any clasp, and any focal.
I ended up only using one other bead type, white freshwater pearls. The clasp is a flower/leaf toggle. For the focal, I decided to do what I do best and made a soldered collage pendant to compliment the colors of the beads Lorelei chose.
And this is what I produced.

Now that you've seen mine, below is a complete list of links to the other designers who played along with this challenge. Hop on over to their blogs and see how our designs differ with the same materials. I know I can't wait to see them all!

As well, please visit Lorelei's blog to see pictures of what she and some other designers (without blogs) also created. How fun is this!!??

Mary Harding
Hilary of Fryestyle
For My Sweet Daughter
My Life Under the Bus
Kristie of DreamSomeDesigns
Linda's Bead Blog & Meanderings
Copper Diem

Andrew Thornton
TyneBodenNecklaces
Raida of HavanaBeads
Erin of Treasuresfound
Molly of BeautifullyBrokenMe
Beading by Malin de Koning



AuntieAnnie
Gr8Findings
Deborah M Purdy
Spirited Earth

Erin Siegel Jewelry
beads by breul
Beads for Busy Gals
Cynths Blog
Nayas Organized Chaos
Crafty Hope
2 catch a hummingbird

Rosebud For the Love of Beads
Jamberry Song
Peacock Fairy
Elysian Studio Art
Designs by Debi
sweet girl design

Silver Rose Designs
Tropic Beads
Imaginative Jewelry
Magnolia Attic
I want to send a BIG THANK YOU to Lorelei for hosting this challenge and blog hop. I really had a lot of fun using materials I didn't pick out to fuel my creativity. Thanks so much, now get your booty over to those other blogs!

Catching Up

First and foremost, some of you may have seen a partial post yesterday. I do apologize for any confusion.
These are the beautiful roses my dear husband sent me for our anniversary. It was a surprise and a wonderful one at that (I do love surprises!)

I'm so behind in everything right now I'm a little amazed that I'm even posting right now. My head is starting to clear, the coughing has lessened, and I'm pretty sure my motivation has picked back up. Hopefully, the crud is starting to dissipate!! Of course, I need to take youngest niece to the dentist today to have some teeth removed. That'll be loads of fun! I'm just glad I'm feeling better in order to do it.

Of course, I have gotten a few things done since I've been ill

I listed a new item in the shop:

Buttons in Black Necklace

I made a spooky floating ghost for my foyer

I finished all the current books in the House of Night series (yes, it's another collection of teen vampire novels.) The series itself is alright. I did get a little peeved with the writing and editing throughout the books. However, the story is pretty good, that's why I trudged through and read all of them.

Since I am feeling better, I really do have a lot to get done today (my house is in desperate need of some attention) before I go get littlest miss from school.
I'll leave you with some more Halloween crafts:

• Boo blocks - cute little wood block arrangement!!
• Make your pumpkins sexier - this is not as dirty as it sounds. It's a really cool and ingenius idea!!
• Ribbon table runner for your Halloween table
• TP pumpkins are WAY cuter and easier than you think!!

OH!! And, here's a picture of my foyer Halloween display (sorry the picture's so bad, there's no natural light in there)

Like Links in a Chain, So are the Days of Our Lives (or something like that anyway)

So, I apologize for the sappiness of the last post. But, it HAD to be done. Of course, as soon as I put it up, I RAN into the other room to beg that my dear, sweet husband not be upset that I not only posted ABOUT HIM, but that I included pictures OF HIM!!!  He's kinda private and shy like that.
He did go read the post and even seemed to appreciate it (wink, wink.)
So, I think I'm forgiven.

Since I'm still battling a bit of this change-of-the-seasons crud cold and really want to try to accomplish something in the craft room, something has to give. As such, today you get links (and no pictures, sorry!!)
First, some random I-found-this-on-the-internet-and-want-to-share links

• Geocities-izer: makes ANY website look like it was made in 1996 or so. It reminds me of the good OLD days of the internet when everything had to have movement and too much color and sound. So it stands to reason that they all came with the added plus of vertigo . . .
• Crayons carved into the 12 Chinese zodiac symbols. If you've been around much, you know how much I love crayons, so this kicks butt!
• Your next read recommends what book you should read next. I'm constantly looking for a tool like this as I'm always on the lookout for a good book.

Next, some crafty links . . .and Halloween Crafty Links at that!!

• Halloween painted jar luminaries
• Door knob pumpkin patch
• Halloween advent calendar
• "Boo wreath" made mostly from ribbon. This is another one that I've contemplated making! (at least the ribbon/wreath part.) 

That's it. That's all I got in me today. Check back tomorrow for more, hopefully much more, from me.

We Met in a Bar, He Was in the Band

It sounds like a cliche, but there's so much more to it than that.
The "band" was actually some of my friends from high school whose shows I always tried to make it to, and HE was the new guitar player.
During the break, I went over to him and introduced myself, "Hi! My name's Hope. I'm friends with Chris and Andy, and I think you're awesome."  (yup, I was a big-ol-dork!)
At the time, I just thought he was an awesome guitar player. Over several months I would learn that he was a generally AWESOME GUY!
I was oblivious to the hints that he wanted to date me. And, I saw him just about every weekend playing in the band. Finally, after eight months of knowing him, I realized I wanted to get to know him better.
That was twelve years ago, and today. . .Today we celebrate our eight year wedding anniversary!!

Pat, I'm so very glad I finally 'clued in.' You ARE the man of my dreams, the love of my life, my soul mate. I'm looking forward to the rest of our lives together baby.
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!

Meal Plan Oct 11 and Easy, Microwave Scalloped Potato Recipe

Last week's menu was a success, at least the dinners were. The Parmesan sage pork chops went over quite well as did the mac-n-cheese with Conecuh sausage. What also went over well were the potatoes I made to go with the pork chops. For those, I went with was easy, microwaved scalloped potatoes, a recipe my grandmother shared with me may years ago. Below this week's menu you'll find my instructions for these potatoes.

As far as this week's menu, we are repeating a bunch of the lunches from last week since we didn't get to them. Instead, we ate leftovers (we really did love the menu last week), and then I got sick (causing the menu to get left in the dust.) Since I am still sickly, the menu for this week is rather lazy as well. I do apologize!!

You can find other menus over at I'm an Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday for this week!
Here's mine:
MONDAY
B: Cereal
L: Bean burritos
D: Ham and Potato Soup

TUESDAY
B: Muffins
L: Turkey Sandwiches
D: Our anniversary (out to eat)

WEDNESDAY
B: Cereal
L: Tuna Noodles
D: Hamburger Helper, green beans

THURSDAY
B: Omelets
L: Ham and Cheese quesidillas
D:  Hope in Mobile

FRIDAY
B: Cereal
L: Soup and grilled cheese
D: Pat has a gig

SATURDAY
B: Pumpkin bread
L: Pizza
D: Rotisserie Chicken, Mashed potatoes, peas

SUNDAY
B: Eggs, bacon, toast
L: Chicken salad roll-up
D: Spaghetti


Now for the instruction on those yummy potatoes
Easy, Microwave Scalloped Potatoes
INGREDIENTS
Potatoes (any kind, I like red ones myself)
Butter
Milk
Onions
Salt & Pepper
Granulated Garlic

DIRECTIONS

1. Wash potatoes, then slice them and the onions as thin as possible

2. Place one layer of potatoes in bottom of microwave safe casserole dish

3. Top the layer with slices of onions, pats of butter, salt, pepper, and garlic.
4. Repeat layers of potatoes and onions/spices until you reach the top of the dish. Before adding the onions/spices to the top layer; pour about 1/4 cup of milk over the whole thing.

5. Place dish in the microwave and heat for about 10 minutes (less if you are using a small casserole dish.) If potatoes are not done at ten minutes, continue to heat and check in one minute increments until done.

*Cheese and other spices can easily be added to this dish to make it to your own taste

So that's it for today. I'm going to get back to nursing my cold and trying to get back up to speed. Here's hoping!

The Power of Online Social Media (Namely, Twitter)

If you know me at all, you know I Tweet (as in use Twitter like it's part of my religion.) But somehow it didn't dawn on me that Twitter could be the answer to all our problems or at least some of them.

The story goes like this.

Over a year ago, Heather Armstrong (yes, the Dooce) raised a hub-bub when she tweeted about the problems she was having with her very expensive Maytag washing machine (the link is to her blog post about the whole episode.) She received a very quick response and got it fixed. The thing was (or what I remember getting out of the situation), people were up in arms that she was able to use her webbernet famedom to "bully" a brand into getting what she wanted. In the past week, I've learned that you don't have to be an internet icon to have Twitter work for you.

For about a month and a half, Pat and I have been getting almost daily automated calls from Compass Bank. The recording references a person who does not live at our number nor is a person we know. It reports that their account is in arrears and they need to visit their local branch to fix the problem. For over a month we put up with this. We've tried yelling at the recording as well as (more logically) calling our local Compass Bank to get it to stop. Of course, the bank employee who answered really couldn't fix the problem. But, we tried anyway.

Last week, after ANOTHER one of these calls, Pat suggested "Why don't you tweet it?" So I typed in:

"I REALLY wish Compass Bank automated call would STOP calling us daily. We don't know they person they're calling & they're NOT at our # !! "

Within MINUTES of that tweet, I got a response from @bbvaCompass asking me to follow them back and then DM (direct message) them the information. We DMed back and forth a few times, and by the next afternoon I was informed that our phone number had been removed from their database. Since that date, we have not received another one of those automated calls from Compass!!

The power of Twitter did it.
I've been on Twitter since the end of 2007 and do sometimes get frustrated and annoyed when I get an auto-follow from a wine lover's group because I mention I'm drinking wine or an auto-follow from Realtors of America because I tweeted that our house if for sale. (Please note, I'm making these groups up. . .no offense to anyone in particular if these are real groups on Twitter.) However, when something like this happens, when we're able to solve a problem by simply tweeting it, it really makes me see the power of online social media. Granted, the reasons I tweet are the social aspect, being nosy by glimpsing what others are doing/thinking, and promoting my jewelry. But, come to find out, it solves problems too. AND, you don't have to be Dooce for it to work!!

**As a side note, I want to say that I am not affiliated with Compass Bank, was not paid or asked to write about this, and do not even have an account there. Yet, they did make our days a little less annoying!! And also, @bbvaCompass agreed that I could blog the positive experience I had with them.**

What I Really Should be Doing . . .

is
- Washing clothes
- Reading more of THIS BOOK

- Using tips from the book to market my jewelry
- Editing photos
- Taking photos
- Writing descriptions
- Listing items in my Etsy shop
- Cleaning litterboxes for adorable kitties

- Scrubbing bathrooms
- Getting some of the Halloween items from the storage building
- Making some Halloween decorations
- Paying bills
- Picking up my collection of trash and junk on the ottoman of my chair

- Cleaning the craft room
- Paying Bills

Instead, I've wasted the day making my craft desk look like this

Well, . . . . at least now I have a list.

I need to also share some more Halloween links with y'all:

• Halloween recipes from Better Homes and Gardens
• Jack-o-lantern string lights 
• Halloween vase and flowers (this may be another one I may try out for myself

AHA! THAT's been accomplished!
And, now I'm off to accomplish something else. . . dinner!

I Signed up for a Jewelry Challenge

Just checking in real quick to let you all know I signed up for a jewelry challenge.
One of my favorite jewelry designers, bloggers, sellers, etc.; Lorelei Eurto; has offered up a reader challenge for her blog readers.
Basically, she picked several strands of beads from Michael's and asked her readers to design a necklace with the beads.
Here are the beads she chose (I hope she doesn't mind me borrowing this picture from her site)

I took my weekly trip to Michael's yesterday JUST to get these beads. Unfortunately, I couldn't find all of them. Lorelei announced this morning that it was fine to substitute similar beads. I was relieved and signed up right away. Of course, I do plan on heading to Mobile a little early tomorrow (before I help with the nieces) and hitting up the Michael's there for my missing pieces before substituting the beads.

Let me go ahead and say that there is NO PRIZE for this challenge. But, being involved in a project like this with other beaders is the exciting part. I can't wait to see how different and similar each of the pieces are from mine.

I woke up with ideas churning in my head this morning. I can't wait to get the rest of the beads and get started!!

If you want to participate, head over to Lorelei's blog and leave a comment with you blog address and then get your booty to Michael's!

The Weather is Here, and It's Beautiful

OH BOY! What a weekend that was.
Friday night - Margarita Friday with Pat and some close friends
Saturday - a beautiful wedding and one heck of an Alabama football game (Roll Tide, by the way)
Sunday - a wonderful day with my sweet husband

As the weather is becoming cooler, I'm so excited to be spending a little more time outside.
Yesterday was one of those "I MUST play outside" days.

Pat and I went back and forth about what we wanted to do: head to the beach, take a walk, ride our bikes, fly a kite, etc. In the end, we headed for the disc golf course here in town. The day was beautiful and the temperature divine. I had to snap a few pictures.



We weren't out there long since everyone else seemed to have the same idea, and we had to wait a while to start the first tee.We did leave with a bit of low blood sugar. So, I talked Pat into taking me to Mr Gene's for a Fairhope Float.

FYI - that's coffee, frozen yogurt, and whipped cream (with cinnamon sprinkles)

After actually getting some exercise, I know it was bad to suggest it, but it was OH SO GOOD!!

Anyway,I promised some Halloween links. Here you go!

• jack-o-lantern candy dish
• For a grown-up Halloween party, how about some Halloween cocktails?
• I've actually bought the supplies for this floating ghost and plan on making it because it's so awesomely cool.
• 8 Pumpkin ideas

 Lastly, I posted a new pair of earrings tonight.

The Writing on the Wall Earrings

Later y'all!

Menu Plan Monday (Oct 4-10)

It's another Monday and you know what that means. Don't you?
It's time for a Menu Plan!

I actually got mine done yesterday instead of last minute this morning. That was a first. I used a bunch of the meal plans at I'm an Organizing Junkie from last week to inspire me and even to get a few recipes.

Before I launch into the actual meal plan I want to share a few notes about the menu last week. First, as you can see above, I made the pumpkin muffins. They were pretty good, but Pat would have preferred them a little sweeter. I also ended up doubling the recipe . . .on accident. See, I was rushing that morning to get them made and instead of adding 1 CUP of the pumpkin, I added 1 CAN. Fortunately, I realized this before I tried to bake them. With a few slight adjustments (adding more of the other ingredients), I made enough to use my mini bread loaves for some pumpkin bread or pumpkin muffin bread or something whatever. Anyway, now I have a whole freezer of pumpkin bread-stuff! I'm just glad I realized my mistake before it cost me. It was a definite reminder to always read and re-read those recipes.

Second, the Lemon Basil Chicken Pasta from The Pioneer Woman was TO DIE FOR!! I can definitely understand why she uses it as a summer dish. The lemon gives it a distinctly summery feel, one that wouldn't be as. . .  warming on chilly nights. On the other hand, since we're still seeing bits of warm weather here, it worked out just fine. I loved it SO MUCH! In fact, I'm looking forward to eating the leftovers from it for lunch today.

Now, for this week's menu:

MONDAY
B: Cereal
L: Leftovers
D: Parmesan sage pork chops, potatoes, green beans

TUESDAY
B: breakfast burritos
L: chicken corn chowder, bread/rolls
D: (fancy) Mac-n-cheese with sausage(instead of bacon), broccoli

WEDNESDAY
B: Yogurt, granola, fruit
L: Ham and cheese quesidillas, carrot sticks, fruit
D: Hope with nieces, Pat on own

THURSDAY
B: Cereal
L: Tuna Noodles (this is just tuna salad with egg noodles)
D: Shepherd's Pie

FRIDAY
B: Muffins
L: Turkey Sandwiches, crackers, fruit
D: Margarita Friday (a 'date night' tradition)

SATURDAY
B: Omelets
L: Bean burritos
D: Pat's reunion????

SUNDAY
B: Pumpkin bread (from freezer)
L: Homemade pizza (at some point, I will make this homemade pizza dough)
D: Pat has a gig, Hope on her own


We've got a busy week and a busier weekend. Pat's twentieth reunion is this weekend. We're still not sure if we are hitting up the festivities or not, but we want to catch up with some of his friends that are coming in from out of town for it. I guess it's a good thing that we live in the same town he did in high school. . .

Plus, it being fall, there's always a football game to watch!

Don't forget to head over to I'm an Organizing Junkie for more menu plans and meal ideas!!

Linky Linky Kitchen Sinky

Well, it's the first day of October and the weather is actually starting to be kinda bearable (which means that I don't explode into a perspiring mess as soon as I step out the door.)

October is my favorite month for may reasons: the weather, my anniversary, my birthday, Halloween, etc. It's just a good, fun month.

Today, I'm just sharing a bunch of links with y'all in THREE different categories. The first is just random stuff that I think you need to see or would like:

• 20 ways to be creative from Crafty Chica
• Mini caramel apples -I love this idea. I have a hard time with regular sized apples, but these are bite sized and ALL edible!!
• Here just a little chuckle for you - free chicken strips. Really go see this, it's funny.

The second category is crafting. Today's topic? (my favorite) JEWELRY!!:

• Shrink plastic rings tutorial
• Fabric and button flower brooch tutorial
• Video tutorials for resin jewelry (this is part one, you'll have to look on the right to find the next one)
• Multi-strand finger loop braiding bracelet tutorial 
• Video for making a sustainable wood bracelet 

 Last category? Well, I want to share some links for Halloween (I'm going to try to share some each day this month leading up to the big day, so check back for more!):

• Make a pumpkin out of a dryer duct!
• Creative Halloween party food for kids
• While I did like the original black and white ones she did, this is a great way to revamp any old Halloween decorations - decoupaging Halloween pumpkins.
• 15 FALL wreaths to decorate your home.

So that's it for now. Sorry there isn't more, but apparently the finally changing seasons have affected my allergies and I've been miserable most of the last two days. You should see my poor, sore, red nose. . . maybe you shouldn't, it could be a scary Halloween decoration itself (or maybe even Christmas. . . . Rudolf and all.)

Anyway, have a great weekend!