Tomorrow is Soup Day!

Tomorrow is the Bead Soup reveal day! I cannot wait! First, check out my partner, Diane Cook of Rosa and Josie's. Second, check out my partner from last year, Nan Emmet of Spirit Rattles.

Beginning and Ending

No camera today, so I can't take new bead and jewelry pictures until tomorrow.

My toes in the ocean and sand on the last day of my vacation.




My cold toes in the snow at home upon my return. *sigh*

More Vaca Pics

I've been making beads (special order for spacers) and designing my Bead Soup , but I don't have any pictures of those yet, so more pictures of sunny Florida. These are some cute little houses along Fort Myers Beach, in between the large, touristy hotels.

Ocean Highlights from Vacation

The first selection of pictures from my girls getaway vacation are of the ocean.

We had a fews days of calm breezes and a few days of very gusty winds.

The only thing missing from these pictures are the sounds of the surf crashing. Our balcony overlooked the ocean; the sound and the view were spectacular.

Back from the Sun

This morning I was in sunny, warm Florida; it was 68 degrees. I arrived home to cold, snowy Michigan; 19 degrees. It is good to see my dogs and hubby, but I sure miss the warm breezes and the sound of the ocean crashing outside my balcony.

The next few days I will post pictures, restaraunt reviews, and book reviews (my Kindle certainly got a workout!).

Any idiot can face a crisis. It is the day to day living that wears you out.
-- Anton Chekov

Firefly

When you can't run any more, you crawl, and when you can't do that... well, when you can't do that... you find a friend to carry you.

-- The Message, Firefly

The Soup I Sent

In my excitement to send off my Soup to Diane, I forgot to take a picture. Check out her blog for a peek.

Also in my great excitement, I sent two focals because I couldn't quite get to one inch for the focal, and I also send a clasp in copper and a clasp in silver because I couldn't make up my mind.

Bead Cult January 2011

Only passion, great passion, can elevate the soul to great things.

-- Denis Diederot

This weekend, it was time for the purple Nikes and the Kool-Aid again. This weekend we met at Laurie's house. I think ewvery time we meet, we get louder and louder. :) I just love getting together with everyone. Everyone is as crazy as I am, and the beads and jewelry that gets passed around are always inspiring.




Beads, food, jewelry, food, good people, food, and two damn cute corgis. The above is Winston. He LOVES to play.

My Bead Soup 2011

My Bead Soup goodies arrived on Friday from Diane Cook. Simply beautiful! Olive jade, brass, yummy Dupioni silk, brass findings and a wonderful personalized watch fob locket. It contains a silk birds nest, a pearl, and a personalized tag. I just want to carry it with me everywhere.

The Dupioni silk.

This is going to be on my work table for a while while I design and redesign.

A cute vintage valentine from Diane.

I'm Growing Extremely Fond of Texas Soup

Last year, my Bead Soup partner was Nan at Spirit Rattles. This year, my partner is Diane of Rosa and Josie's. They ae both lovely Texas ladies, and are both wonderful artists.

My bead soup from Diane arrived yesterday. I will take some pictures on Sunday. Tomorrow is the bead cult meeting with my beady friends! Diane went all out. She sent me Dupioni silk, vintage brass chains, a beautiful personalized locket pendant, and so much more! I can't wait to start playing. :)

Metal Stamp Give Away!

The fabulous Lori Anderson is giving away metal stamps by PJ Tools (check out their site, one can never have too many tools). Check out her blog and the rules here.

Short post, as I am sick for the third time since October. I never get sick that many times in one winter. I'd be pissed about that, but my buddy NyQuil kind of mutes everything. :)

If you can dodge a wrench...

Our local dodgeball league started back up tonight. We did pretty well, at least much better than our soccer team. :)

My Bead Soup Partner!

My Bead Soup Blog Party partner is Diane Cook of Rosa & Josie's. I don't know how I've missed her blog in the past, but I am SO glad Lori drew our names. She is a spectacular photographer and her jewelry is yummy! I have so much to do today, but tonight I plan on stalking her photos, her site, and her stores. :)

Have a great weekend, weverybody!

Do what you love, and do it often.

I am stealing this from Maria's blog. I am a big fan of quotes and other people's words. I think that it is often easy to lose your focus and forget your direction. Also, it can be comforting when you read a quote that you can relate to. It reminds you that you aren't the only one to feel that emotion, to experience that spectacular (or crappy) moment.

Discs

Lately I've been making discs. At first, I was frustrated that I wasn't focused enough to make them perfectly round. Then I realized, who cares of they are perfect? Most of these discs are made with Gaffer Chalcedony & Blue Chalcedony, Raku (iris orange), and Khaos; these glasses lend themselves so well to a simple roughness and organic feel. I have an idea of how to incorporate them into jewelry. I hope the ideas made into reality by the end of the week!

Discovering "new" art

I'm not too familiar with too many "real" artists. I am a big fan of John William Waterhouse and Van Gogh but I've never really explored any other classic artists. So every week I am going to peruse the fine art section of allposter.com (thanks, Kim Neely, for the idea!)

Tick tock

Almost time to register for Bead Soup!

What I'm drinking

Long, long day at work. Tired. So, so tired. So, a glass of wine and my Kindle. Tonight's wine is the Pelee Island Cab Franc. I bought the Cab Franc because a cab franc is normally a very robust wine that pairs well with venison. We had venison burgers for dinner and this was actually a great pairing. A strong wine, but rather "soft" enoug for a simple burger.

Getting back in the groove...

I've been taking it easy this holiday season, and by taking it easy I mean I've been very busy, just not in all the areas I would to be busy (a nasty malware infection on my laptop last week didn't help at all, either). Now that obligations have calmed down a little I will be getting back into the groove of blogging, posting work in my Etsy shop, and making jewelry.

One of the things motivating me is the upcoming Bead Soup Blog Party. I particpated in my first one last year, and I am anxiously anticipating this one! Last year my partner was Spirited Earth. I loved working with her ceramic beads. I can't wait to meet this year's partner!