Belly up to the table, soup's on!

I just love this part.  All the gut-wrenching moments of self doubt go out the window, and the euphoria of a completed project settles in. Click here for my ingredients.

My generous partner is BeeTree by m.e. She makes polymer clay beads and toggles; her love of nature comes shining through in all of her pieces.  Check out her Etsy store!

We can submit our Bead Soup creations to be judged by an impartial panel.  *crunch* That's the sound of my brain grinding to a halt as a result of some self-imposed pressure.  Never a good thing; but I do it far, far too often.  So I stayed off the internet (ok, not Facebook).  I stayed away from Mary's site.  I stayed away from much of Pinterest.  I barely glanced at others' creations.  I did all this in hopes of coming up with some spectacular designs.  ...and nope.  Nada. Nothing.  Not a damn idea.  (Shocking, I know.)

After beating myself up for a couple of days, I noticed the card she sent me.  It has a beautiful picture of the sun's reflection in the shape of a heart.  Her note reads, "I chose this coral because it symbolizes joy and happiness, it enables the wearer to enjoy life. May you always bead happy." Well duh.  This one is mine.  No working outside my comfort zone, no "Hey, I've never tried this before." like I've done with my other soups.  This one is all for me, plain and simple.

I'm in a rather eclectic, bohemian mood lately.  I'm starting to fill my new (to me) house with bright colors, and I am developing a mismatched and relaxed atmosphere.  So I made jewelry in a style I would wear a lot.

I made a simple pendant out of the focal and some swingy earrings (That's right, swingy.  Not only do I make jewelry, I make new words.)

I'm a big fan of chunky, noisy bracelets.  So that's what I made.

I used the toggle, the coral beads, and the fabric strips in the bracelets. I also added a ceramic Peace bead from my friend Diane Hawkey, and added some copper bells for noise and shiny blue beads for a pop of color. I made 5 separate bracelets for those rare occasions I feel like wearing a simple strand or two, and not the whole kit-n-caboodle.

I believe we cannot move forward without remembering who we've been. We have to accept where we've gone and who we've been.  I rummaged through my keepsake box and I dangled an old key that used to open a porcelain bank from my childhood, and I turned one of my old stick pins into a charm.

Thanks for stopping by.  Please check out all of this round's bloggers on Lori's site.

Show this Weekend

This weekend Tracy and I will be at the Pennfield Middle School Arts and Crafts Show in Pennfield, Michigan. Here is a quickie pic of some of my new stuff:

This is the first of the last three shows of the year. Check out my show page for the dates and times.

Getting Ready for My Next Show

I spent the day making jewelry, about 7 necklaces and 6 pairs of earrings.  I'm getting ready for the 2012 Northern Michigan Bead & Jewelry Show at the Cadillac Junior High in Cadillac Michigan on April 14th.  I'll be sure to post pics tomorrow!

Pretty Baubles In My Store

On Saturday I had what was pretty much the worst show ever. The only good thing about it was that the thunderstorms they wre calling for never arrived. That meant, however, that the day was nasty, hot and humid.

At least this means I have lots of goodies to put up in my Etsy store. :) I've listed a few necklaces and earrings. Over the next week, I'll definitely be listing many more. Stop by and take a peek.

I hope everyone had a safe and wonderful 4th!

Busy Night

Listing new earrings on Etsy, doing laundry, and watching the tornado watches all around us.

Stay safe, everybody!

Up on Etsy

Up now in my Etsy shop are two new pairs of earrings. These earrings were made with some cute disc beads handmade by Mermaid Glass.

Later, I'll be posting more yummies!

Goodies from Lori

Back in September I won a spectacular bag of goodies from Lori Anderson. At first, I was overwhelmed by the all the beads; I've been running my fingers through the bag over the past month and just enjoying them. I've finally put all of them into containers, and tonight I started to group things together.

Tonight I made a necklace with some yummy boro beads and copper. I will try and take a picture, but it is dark before I get home from work so I may have to wait til the weekend. Here are the beads I used:

I Love Dogs

I love dogs. I've almost always had a dog or two in my life. Nothing beats coming home after a really crappy day at work and having your dog freak out because she is so happy to see you.

They can be somewhat trying, though. This is a picture of Kaylee, our 2 y.o. lab immediately after she had a bath. We let her out, and she immediately ran to the marsh, chest-high into the muck. Her scond bath of the day consisted of very cold water from the hose.

A Fistful of Bookmarks and a Wristful of Bracelets

Here are just a few of the items I've made over the past few weeks for the Hastings Summerfest, August 27th through August 29th, on the couthouse lawn in Hastings, Michigan. I'm feeling good about my stock, now I just need the weather to hold out. No rain, no humidity; about 75 degrees would be great. :)

Sunshine for Sale

Just listed in my Etsy shop! A fun and bright pendant and earrings to usher in Summer!

The drought is over

Ok, not my beads, but still had fun making this set.

Several pendants...

A couple of bookmarks