On the Fourth We Partied and on the Fifth I Packed

I'm going to try to knock this post out quickly.
I've got a convention (nothing to do with beads. . .sorry) starting tomorrow and lasting through the whole weekend and I've still got plenty to do in preparation. But I wanted to let you know why I may be absent the rest of the week (though, you never know when I might be able to pop online for a few minutes.)

I hope you had a fabulous Fourth of July whether you celebrated America's independence or not.
Mine was spectacular.
Pat and I decided to chill at the house most of the day (since there tends to be a high incidence of drinking and driving on the 4th). However, since we are water babies, we still wanted to get wet. So, Pat set up the soaker hose on a tarp in the backyard then added our beach chairs and a cooler with some cold beverages.

Here's a better look at the soaking

And my invention for not getting water into my beer (that's right, it's a plastic glove. . .we were calling it a beer condom)

We grilled some brats and corn (we only took the husk off right at the end of the grilling, per these directions)

And I threw some tater tots in the oven for one yummy feast!

After a bit, we were craving something sweet, so I made some Four Ingredient Nutella Brownies (we ate them ALL)

Later in the evening we headed downtown for my favorite part of the Fourth, the FIREWORKS!!
I caught a few videos on my phone, so here's a sample of our show. I personally liked that the crescent moon was in the background the whole time and you can see the reflection of the fireworks on the water. . .so pretty!!


I know for sure I'll be back posting away next week. . .for now let's just see if I survive this one! First, back to packing!

I Heart Macro: Adventures and Comforts

Pat and I took some time yesterday to do some exploring. We often like to look for rural/wooded property for sale. After a late lunch, I pulled up the GPS on my phone and we took off down unknown roads. At one of our first stops I spotted a line of barbed wire fence along a narrow dirt road. I had to snap this picture.

I took a few more that included the rusty fence post, but they didn't turn out as well. 

It was a great day of adventuring. However, today we woke and sought comfort food. So, I grabbed a container of Shake 'n Pour pancakes and some blueberries and proceeded to make breakfast.

They hit the spot!

Link up your macro pictures at Studio Waterstone on this I Heart Macro Sunday!!

Before I head out to see where THIS day takes us, let me mention that I placed several items On Sale in the shop this morning. Here's two of them!

Pretty Pink Earrings

Green Leaves Necklace

Now to find some adventures for today!

Not Too Many Beads on this BTW

Yesterday I planned to catch up on the housework and other personal tasks that were ignored as I worked on my muffin tin jewelry, but what really happened was. . .well. . .not much. 

Between having the nieces over the weekend and the challenge, I didn't really have much of a weekend. So yesterday, I rested.

And today, well, today I'm trying to catch up.

Therefore, on my bead table is a long and growing To Do list

And some of the items to do (finished jewelry pieces that need pictures, descriptions, and to be listed)

Considering it's almost 4pm, I have a feeling most of this work will bleed into my schedule tomorrow as well. At least I have lots of completed jewelry now!! 

Join in the Bead Table Wednesday Flickr Group fun!

Bead Table Wednesday

While I'm here, I've been meaning to show off the beautiful Treasury Shannon from For My Sweet Daughter designed. In it she included a bunch of fantastic jewelry, bead, and component artists' work. . and somehow I ended up in that mix. I'm so very honored. (Please click on the link to see the whole treasury.)

Midnight Blue Sky

Thank you so much Shannon!!

Finally, this beautiful bracelet was placed on sale today.

Gentle Spring Bracelet

Now to check "Blog" off that list!

Muffin Tin Jewelry Time!!

Oh yeah. . .it's Muffin Tin Jewelry reveal time.

You may remember that Art Bead Scene put out a one week, 12 project challenge to be organized into a muffin tin. I started the challenge a bit late and even when the rules were relaxed to 6 projects, I still chugged on to get my twelve completed.

I started with a 12-cup muffin tin. I actually had to go out and purchase one as I had recently disposed of my nasty, crusty, rusty, old one and was just using a 6-cupper.

Then, I started filling my cups.
For me, the first step to this was selecting focal beads for each of the twelve spots.

After that was done, I added complementary beads.

Finally, my task was to select the findings and wire for the projects.

Let me admit that filling the cups was the biggest hurdle in the whole challenge. Once that was complete, I knew exactly what I wanted and needed to do. I simply had to carve out the time to get the work done.

At last, here's the reveal of what was in each of the cups and what I made from it (clicking on the pictures will make them larger)

Cup one

Cup two (this one took me the longest as I had to resin the focal and three of the accent beads first)

Cup three

Cup four

Cup five (don't you just love that little hedgehog?)

Cup six

Cup seven

Cup eight (the focal is polymer clay)

Cup nine

Cup ten (took the longest to actually work with my hands, but is my favorite. . . I guess I just had time to bond with it!)

Cup eleven

Cup twelve (yes, that's the same focal. It's just two-sided)

Looking back over this challenge and realizing that I got twelve pieces made in way less than a week has left me with a sense of accomplishment. I'm seriously considering taking up this muffin-tin method as a weekly ritual. . .or semi-weekly ritual. I really liked the fact that once everything was in the cups, I knew exactly what I had to do. The figuring out and fretting was over. When I walked into my craft room each day of the challenge I knew exactly what needed to be done. There was no staring blankly at beads or rummaging through drawers and bins (at least not after the first day.) And the whole tin was easily transportable into the living room or any other area I wanted to work. Even though the pressure was on to get the projects done by today's deadline, there was very little stress involved. In addition, this would be a great method to use when preparing for a trip or vacation.

I could probably go on about how much I enjoyed this, but I also need to mention that it helped me recognize how easy it is to forget about the little things you need in a bead design. . .the seed beads, the jump rings, crimp beads, clasps, etc. I found a few times as I worked on a project that I had left out a small thing and had to deviate from my muffin cup to get what I needed to complete a piece.

All in all, I really had a great time and thank Heather for extending this challenge to us. Even if I don't win the prize, I'm so glad I got to participate. Thanks!

I Heart Macro and My Etsy News

I've been trying most of the day to motivate myself to get this blog post written. The nieces were over yesterday and part of today and they wore me out! As such, I didn't really get any new macro shots taken. I did get some last weekend that I ran out of time to share.

After our long week out of town, Pat and I enjoyed one of our own local haunts for some dinner and beers.

Share your macro shots and link up with the rest of us at Studio Waterstone for I Heart Macro Sunday.

While the girls watched some silly kids movie last night, I played around on twitter and was fortunate to hear of an Etsy Tweep Game from @Design45 (also known as Tubby Tabby on Etsy) Apparently, Jodi announces a tweep game for fellow Etsians and then designs a treasury around the first responders' shops. I was lucky enough to tweet in first and thus got featured in the first spot on the treasury. She designed a beautiful Treasury around "The Colors of Summer"

Tweep Game #8 The Colors of Summer

I did motivate myself enough to place a few items on sale in the shop also.

Rocking it Old School

White Trash JUNK Necklace

Now, to grab my muffin tin and knock out those last four projects that are calling my name!

Jumping on the ABS Challenge Bandwagon

As the title clearly states, I'm going to enter an Art Bead Scene Challenge. In fact I'm not only going to enter one, but TWO ABS challenges.

NUMERO UNO

The first is the June Monthly Challenge and I've already given you a peek at what I was creating for that challenge. I made it a point to complete that piece at the beginning of the week (you know, before the month runs out completely!)

Let me remind you what the inspiration piece of art is for the month.

Ophelia by Odilon Redon.

I've admitted that the piece completely caught my attention and captured my imagination. There was something about the pool that made me want to make sure there was a sort of reflection in the piece I made. I guess I hear pool (in an ages gone by sense) and think "reflecting pool". As such, I played and played with some tiny mirrors before finally realizing I could put one inside polymer clay and actually make the art bead myself.

In addition, I knew that I wanted to incorporate the yellow, blue, and grey in the piece. So I made the bulk of the piece to include those colors.

I'll admit that I'm not completely satisfied with this necklace, but this IS my first attempt at the Art Bead Scene Monthly Challenge. So, I guess it will do for now.

NUMERO DOS

Yesterday, I mentioned the Muffin Tin Challenge also going on over on the ABS Blog and  my interest in it. I WAS able to get my hands on a 12 cup muffin tin this morning and have spent the majority of the day filling my cups! Now, I'm not totally convinced I can get ALL of the projects in my cups done by Monday, but I'm sure as heck going to try! Here's a peek at my muffin tin.

Rest assured that whether I finish on time or not I WILL share it all with y'all!


Before I head out to work on those twelve projects, I do want to let you know that the fantastic Andrew Thornton is having a yard sale of sorts on both his Big Cartel shop and his Ebay site. There's some awesome stuff in both places, you could browse for hours!

Craft Bag and Bead Table Wednesday

Because of the vacation, I was working without an actual bead table last week. Of course, that didn't stop me from making sure I had some beads with me. (Have crafts, will travel.) Yet, the lack of internet DID stop me from posting about it. Before I get to today's bead table, I want to brag about how I was able to condense my traveling crafts into one small box.

This is ALL the craft materials I took with us

These are misc. colored pencils and paints (didn't get used)

HERE are the beady supplies I crammed in (pliers, wire, beads. . .and the knitting needle is my jump ring tool)

The baggie of focals that I threw together (more on that down the way)

The bulk of the beads and buttons (sorted by color) that went with us. There were also a few small pill boxes of seed beads that didn't get photographed.

I ended up only making two necklaces while we were out and about. The first while we were staying at our friends' house in Florida and the second while we were relaxing on the beach in Alabama. I think you can tell where I was with both of them. . .and thus what inspired me.

The Florida necklace (one side)

Florida necklace other side

Beach-made necklace

While I'm still amazed at how much I packed into that one little box, I'm happy to have full use of my craft room and bead table once again. However, I am currently limiting myself to working from the little bag of focals for the time being. I'm hoping that this limitation will spark some creativity on my part as I sometimes feel overwhelmed by the abundance of materials I have stockpiled.

From that bag, I did pull out a lampwork bead that I've been holding onto for YEARS and began picking out some complementary beads.

So that's what's on my bead table at the moment. What's on yours? Check out some other fantastic Bead Tables this Wednesday in the BTW Flickr Group

Beat Table Wednesday

While I've got you here, let me share some giveaways and challenges I've come across in the last day or two. I think the first one might be perfect for me as I limit myself to those focals. 

Giveaways and challenges

• Art Bead Scene is having a 'Muffin Tin Challenge." The details are pretty cool, fill each of the 12 cups in a muffin tin with the supplies you need for a project (one cup=one project) and then take a week to complete each project. Post your tin and projects for a chance at a prize. Cool huh?
• There's a Silly Lillypilly Pendant Contest over at Blog for Beaders. Simply choose your favorite Lillypilly pendant and e-mail your pick for a chance to win it. Easy!
• Craft Gossip is giving away two Penland Craft Books. Just leave a comment about what inspires you.
• Lastly, Michelle Mach has a fantastic roundup of bead and jewelry contests. Hers is a much more complete list than this one!

Now to get myself a 12 cup muffin tin (all mine are 6 cuppers. . .)!!