It's an adventure. It wasn't supposed to be an adventure. We came here partly because of the mountains, partly because of the cost of living, and partly because of the climate. This area is supposed to receive something like 12" of snow annually, with an average winter temperature of 32 degrees.
The entire 12" annual snowfall, and then some, arrived on December 18. We watched as the trees that surround our house bowed under the weight of all that heavy, wet snow; and we continued to watch as big branches cracked and fell all around us. Some of the fallen branches were as large as 5" in diameter and 20-30' long, so we were holding our breath hoping that none of them would land on our vehicles or on the house and poke a hole in the roof or break a window. Thankfully, none of that happened, but at about 4:30 in the afternoon our power went out. And stayed out.
We were somewhat prepared for the emergency, having recently bought a kerosene heater and five gallons of kerosene. We have loads of candles and flashlights around, and we had plenty of batteries. We didn't however, have nearly enough water for what turned out to be a three-day outage. And as temperatures plummeted to the teens, the kerosene heater struggled to keep the house warm. On the third day we woke up to an inside temperature of 46. We did have enough drinking water to last us three days, and we had a gallon of milk, but since we have a well we didn't have enough water to flush the toilets. Yuck. We resorted to carrying big tubs of snow in to the bathtub so it could melt and be poured into the toilet tank. We also melted a bit of snow in a big pot on top of the kerosene heater (since the stove is electric, we had to do all our cooking on top of the kerosene heater, too -- thank goodness for oatmeal and soup).
With all the snow on the ground, and with a twisting 45-degree-incline driveway, we opted to stay at home instead of trying out the roads. The mountains are gorgeous, but there's not a lot of plowing or salting during the winter. No sense getting out and getting stranded somewhere, right?
Push finally came to shove on the third day of the power outage when we ran out of drinking water and milk. We had been in contact with our future neighbors (who were staying warm with their wood-burning stove and were using a generator to be able to have water), so they were keeping us somewhat apprised of road conditions. The local power company was doing a great job of posting updates on their phone, so we knew we weren't the only ones in the county suffering through this mess.
So off we went on Monday, after doing a quick (VERY quick) wash of my hair with melted snow. Pat managed to navigate successfully down the driveway, which he had cleared of all the broken branches. Thank goodness for four-wheel drive. The roads weren't really too bad, although there was some black ice along the way. It was soooooooooo nice to be able to get out of the house and walk around, even if our walking was done in Lowes, Wal-Mart, K-Mart, and Ace Hardware. It's a good thing we had bought our kerosene heater and kerosene when we did -- everyone was cleaned out of ANYTHING emergency related! We snagged the last Coleman camp stove at Wal-Mart, so if this happens again (according to the locals that's unlikely) we'll be able to cook. And we went out to eat. That was nice. I was really tired of having oatmeal and soup.
We weren't looking forward to going back to the cold, dark house, but we knew we needed to head home kind of early so the kerosene heater would have a chance of warming up the house a bit before we turned in for the night. One last phone call to the power company told us that we were going home to a house that was still powerless, even though our neighbors had had their power restored (we're on the tail-end of the line, apparently).
Well, joy of all joys... As we turned the corner onto the road that leads to our house, there was a LIGHT!!! Hip hip hooray!!!!! Power restored, after 74 hours of outage. Whew. We've been warm and toasty ever since, and after that shopping trip last Monday we feel a bit more prepared for the next emergency, if it does happen. We have some 24-gallon tubs with water for toilets, kerosene for the heater, a camp stove and the propane it needs to run, and extra lights for the headlamp I used to do all my reading and beading while we were here.
One thing I'll say -- the local power company did a stupendous job of restoring power for the six or seven counties they service. There were downed power lines, downed poles, and roads that were nearly impassable; but they worked 24 hours a day the whole time and called in workers from other power companies to get everyone back online as quickly as they possibly could.
Don't you love getting packages? Even when it's something you've purchased online, it's fun to open the box and to get to hold your new goodies in your hand. Even if it's just a stack of books (I have LOTS of books!), it's nice to hold them in your hands and anticipate the joy of reading them later. (BTW, I thought of books because I just recently received a package of eight books by some of my favorite authors -- Stephen King, John Sandford, Karin Slaughter...)
Well, I'm practically stalking the mailman now that I know I'm going to be getting a couple of packages from some of my favorite bead artists. I entered Lisa Peters' Black Friday Blog giveaway, and I won $100 worth of her goodies!!! I don't know what they are, but I'm VERY familiar with Lisa's work and know I'm going to love everything. Since I don't know what's going to be in the package, I can't show you exactly what I won; but you can check out Lisa's Etsy shop to see some of her goodies. Be forewarned... Lisa has stalkers, and whenever she starts listing new things in her Etsy shop, they seem to disappear just about as quickly as they're added.
I'm also stalking the mailman in anticipation of receiving this INCREDIBLE set of polymer clay beads from Dee Wilder (aka Malodora). I also have a good-sized collection of Dee's creations, but that doesn't stop me from wanting more. I love everything about Dee's beads. They're varied in style and color, but there's always something unmistakeably Dee about them. The last batch I received were lathe-turned beads, and even my husband was amazed at the look of them - even more so when I told him they were turned on a lathe. When I saw these sitting in her Etsy shop, I knew they had to be mine.
One of my favorite things about these is their size. They're HUGE. In addition to these lavender and orange beauties (aren't those colors great together?!), Dee's been making and saving beads in my favorite color combination: black and white. Some Natasha beads and some more lathe-turned beads. I can hardly wait. (Where's that mailman?!!?)
I've been pondering whether to treat myself to some beads by another of my favorite artists on Etsy -- Kristie Roeder (aka ArtisanClay). I'm especially tempted now that she's selling $25 gift certificates for only $20!!! If you look back through some of my recent posts, you'll see that I had quite a lot of fun using Kristie's beads and cabs for several projects; but since I received my last batch, she's created even more goodies like this sagger fired square bead. Yep, I might just have to grab that one before it's gone. Kristie's also doing a giveaway on her blog, for one of her $25 gift certificates. I could spend that in a heartbeat.
Okay, enough drooling over all these beautiful beads... I have to get a couple of bracelets made for the giveaways I've done this week (one on this blog and one to my Facebook Fans). Speaking of which, are you a fan of my Facebook page? If you're not, I'd love to have you become a fan. I'm going to do more giveaways just for fans, so you could even win something.
Time to do some beadweaving now!
:-)
The winner has been chosen! There were 32 comments left (thanks for the blog posts, Facebook updates, Twitter tweets), and the trusty Random Number Generator chose #30.
That means Janiece McWilliams, author of the JBird's Garden blog and the proprietress of jbirdsgarden on Etsy, wins her own Marcella bracelet! I'll be sending a note to Janiece to let her know she's won and to find out her wrist size so I can make her bracelet. Janiece is a talented jewelry maker herself. Just look at this beautiful Champagne Pearls bracelet I found in her Etsy shop!
Thanks to everyone who participated!
:-)
I'm going to be posting another giveaway later today, so stay tuned (and please come back to enter!).
Everyone loves a giveaway, right? :-)
In addition to mine (click HERE to enter), I posted a message in the Etsy forums and found a few more for you:
From Irish Rose Creations, for a beautiful heirloom quality crocheted afghan (deadline for entry is December 31).
From SewArtsy, for a cup cozy and matching tissue cozy by Maggie Sue Designs (deadline for entry is December 12).
From The Lone Beader, TWO giveaways! Click here to enter for a $25 artbeads.com gift certificate (deadline is today, December 9, so hurry!). And click here to enter for a chance to win a copy of Lark Books 'Creative Native American Beading' (deadline is December 12).
From acrudele, a set of crocheted cacti (these are so cute, and I don't think even I could kill them!). Click here to enter (deadline is December 31).
From Lemon Drop Studio, you can enter HERE to win a set of five (5) ponytail holders made by WendiWinn. Deadline to enter is December 15.
From SatinDollCo, you can enter on her BLOG to win a really cute red flowered cell phone charm. Deadline to enter is December 12.
And from Christie Cottage, you can enter HERE to win a beautiful set of silver hoop earrings made by ElunaJewelry. Deadline to enter is December 15.
Obviously this is just a small sampling of all the giveaways going on this monthea. I posted one thread in the Etsy forums and had all these responses, so go check them out!
If you know of any more giveaways, feel free to post them in the comments here. And don't forget to enter MY GIVEAWAY!!! :-)
I've finished a new pattern! Actually, I finished and published it yesterday, so it's available in my Etsy shop. This pattern is for my Op Art design. I've only made two versions of it myself (black and silver, and chartreuse and purple), but I think I might make a new one soon. That's if my gnat-like attention span doesn't take me off in another direction, which it's been known to do. :-)
I've also been working on some new, simple pieces to list. Truth be told, I wear very little jewelry; and when I do wear something, it's usually very simple and tends toward being either black and white or metallic. These first two pieces both feature metallic delicas. The second one even includes a little bit of steampunk look (because I have a big collection of watch movements that I bought for a different idea).
Give It a Little Steam 
Those peyote tubes are really fun, and since I already had a mixture of ten different colors of opaque delicas (from another project), I thought it would be fun to make a looooong skinny tube from some of them.
And the last of these newer, simpler pieces actually began life with a whole different idea. I wanted to make a twisted ndebele rope using silver delicas and crystal size 15s. I made the rope using three of the size 11 delicas and one of the size 15 crystal beads for each row, and it just didn't twist the way I wanted. Of course, I wasn't able to tell that it didn't twist the way I wanted until I had about 10" of it finished, and by then I just didn't want to disassemble it. It was still really pretty - just not what I intended. As I was holding it and playing around with it, I got the idea to just tangle it into a knot and see what happened. And I liked it! It's an irregular knot, but that's part of the fun. It can be manipulated to change its look, but it will always be a knot because I joined the ends together. I decided to suspend it from a simple sterling silver chain, which goes perfectly with the silver delicas. Isn't this better than disassembling? :-)
Silver Tangle
So that's what's new. At least what's new and what's been photographed and listed. I have a brand new set of photo lights to try out, but I haven't set them up yet.
And now...
THE GIVEAWAY!
It's been awhile since I've done a giveaway, so I'm planning to do a couple more before the end of the year. This one is for one of my Oglala bracelets, one I've never listed in my Etsy shop. I named this one Marcella because the one you see pictured here was created as a gift for a friend of mine (and that's her name). The one you'll receive won't be this exact one, but it'll use the same beads: matte copper toned beads for the ruffles and faux pearls in various sizes for the focals. They're really lovely together, don't you think?
And now for the entry requirements...
Leave a comment here telling me which item in my Etsy shop you'd like to give or receive for Christmas.
and for more chances... receive one additional entry for each of these (so you can have a total of six chances to win). If you do any of the ones in the following list, be sure to leave a separate comment about each one:
- Blog about this giveaway and leave a link to the blog post in a separate comment here.
- Follow me on Twitter (tell me who you are on Twitter, so I'll be able to find you and follow back!). If you're already a follower (thanks!), tell me who you are.
- Tweet about this giveaway. Be sure to include #time2cre8oglala in your tweet.
- Become a fan of my time2cre8 page on Facebook. If you're already a fan (thanks!), tell me who you are.
- Post a link to this giveaway on Facebook.
So if you take advantage of all those entry methods, you'll leave six comments here and have SIX chances to win! Make sure you leave a way for me to contact you (email, Etsy shop address, etc.) in your comment.
All entries are due by midnight (ET) on December 12. I'll use a random number generator on December 13 to choose the winner. (The winner will be contacted via the contact info left in the comment, but I'll also post it here.)
Stay tuned... I plan to do more giveaways this week!
:-)
I'm not listing my peyote cuff patterns nearly as quickly as I'd like, but I do have two more of them available for purchase in my Etsy shop.
Jigsaw Puzzle, which is great for puzzle enthusiasts as well as supporters of Autism Awareness.
and Windowleaf, a tropical design that will make you feel like taking a vacation in the Caribbean.
I've also listed a couple of new beadwoven bracelets, just two of the several pieces I've created over the past month or so. It takes me so long to get around to taking the photographs!
It had been a long time since I created a odd count peyote design. The symmetry possible with odd count peyote is great, and sometimes single peyote is required just to get the right amount of detail. I'm quite pleased with this one, particularly with the colors. The frosty finish on the silver lined blue and gold beads is beautiful, and they look even better against the pearly white opaque beads I used as the background. I'm not sure if I'll publish the pattern for this or not... maybe after I make another version or two. (Unless, of course, I receive a special request - then it'll move up in my list.) I named this piece Royal Flourish.
My newest listing is called Water. As I was working on this, I kept being reminded of the foamy froth in a clear blue ocean. The pale aqua-lined beads I used for the ruffles are beautiful, complemented wonderfully by frosty and clear glass focals. Water is created using the Oglala technique, one of my favorites. It's amazing just how much variety one can achieve with this simple technique.
Also new to my Etsy shop is Autumn Bloom, a necklace I created using one of Lisa Peters' gorgeous stoneware buttons. If you've never checked out Lisa's Etsy shop, be sure to visit. She creates one-of-a-kind beads, buttons, and cabochons using porcelain and clay; and I think I'm in love with every one of them. I've amassed quite a collection of them on my own, and just last week I was lucky enough to win $100 worth of Lisa's goodies in her blog giveaway!!! I can hardly wait for the mail to arrive. :-)
You can see just how gorgeous her work is in this flower (click here to go to the listing for a closeup):
I decided to make Autumn Bloom my Bead Art Originals Item of the Week for this week (December 4-10), so if you purchase it before midnight on the 10th and leave "BAO" in the Notes to Seller when you check out, you'll receive a 10% refund! Visit the BAO Blog to see the details on the other members' Items of the Week - aren't they beautiful!!?!!
Back to my beads!
Are you online? Are you overwhelmed? I am. I can hardly believe all the sales and specials that are EVERYWHERE!!!
I've been hanging out on Etsy this morning, looking for things tagged with EtsyHolidaySale and EtsyFreeShipping, and there are pages and pages and pages of goodies to look through. I'm offering free shipping on anything in my time2cre8 Etsy shop between now and the end of the year (just in case there are people out there doing their shopping at the last minute). And a bunch of my fellow members of Bead Art Originals are offering free shipping as well as some other great discounts on their bead artistry. You can check those out here. And look for Bead Art Originals items on Etsy -- they're wonderful!
I know you're all busy shopping, so I'll keep this kind of short. My own Black Friday special is:
Buy one item and receive a second item 25% off (excluding patterns).
Discount applies to less expensive item.
Leave "Turkey Day" in the Notes to Seller to receive discount.Time to do some shopping. :-)
Oh, before I forget... Here's my Bead Art Originals Item of the Week
Purchase this brilliant cuff before midnight on December 3 and receive a 10% discount Leave "BAO" in the Notes to Seller to receive the discount.Check out the BAO blog to see the Items of the Week offered by our other members. They're incredible!
And now... Back to SHOPPING!!!
Have you started yet? Finished yet? I wonder what shopping is going to be like this year. We're in a new place, and I honestly don't even know all the stores that are around. There's a Wal-Mart. And a Best Buy. And lots of galleries and shops populated with handmade items. I'm amazed at the talent I see exhibited in the shops around here. It's fun just to walk around and look at all the goodies from local artisans. Maybe someday I'll assemble some of my beadweaving and see about placing it in one or two of those shops.
When it comes to shopping, really shopping, I admit to being supremely lazy. I am so spoiled by being able to shop online these days. If I know what I want and know I can buy it for a good price online, I'm perfectly content to track down what I need and have it brought to my doorstep. I know I'm not the only one either. How long ago did the term "Cyber Monday" come into being?
Well, for all you cyber-shoppers out there (or at least for the ones who read this blog), I've been busy stocking my Etsy shop with some new goodies. I'm going to be listing a lot more over the course of the next few days, and on Cyber Monday I'm going to offer some super specials. I'll post about some specials here on this blog, some on Facebook (become a Fan!), and some on Twitter.
I've added a couple of new peyote cuff patterns to my Etsy shop this past week, so now I have nine of them listed. Check them out here.
In addition to those, I've listed a few new pieces I've made (you know, for all you Cyber-Shoppers out there). I'm really behind in photographing my creations, but I'm hoping to improve on that. I recently bought a photo light box (it just arrived last week, one of those online purchases I mentioned before), so now I'm not stuck with taking pictures just during the daytime. I've already discovered I need more lights, though, so I'm not fully in the swing of things just yet.
And last (but not least), for all you girlie-girls out there, I created this new Oglala bracelet, called Princessa. I'm really a tomboy, but that doesn't keep me from moving outside my boundaries and working with pink and ruffles. :-)
Time to get back to the beads. Have fun shopping!
It doesn't matter that the saying is "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery". IT'S NOT. It's stealing.
I know way too many other instances of friends of mine having their designs copied. Apparently there are some people out there who think it's perfectly acceptable to copy something if they see it on the internet.
Such is the case with this blogger:
http://gvendolinyewellery.blogspot.com/
She has, on two separate occasions, posted pictures of one of my original designs. She apparently created the copies from images she found on my blog and/or on my flickr photostream, since I wasn't offering my pattern for purchase until a couple of weeks ago. I have told her that she needs to purchase the pattern, but she has refused to do so. I left a comment on her blog (which required her approval - that never happened) saying that this was my original design and that she didn't have permission to copy it. Now she's blocked me from leaving comments on her blog, and I don't have any other way to contact her.
This is so infuriating.
Here are links to her posts showing off "her" new bracelet. MY design.
http://gvendolinyewellery.blogspot.com/2009/05/little-vine-peyote-cuff.html
http://gvendolinyewellery.blogspot.com/2009/09/little-vine-peyote-cuff-ii.html
Since I can't leave a comment for her with the link for her to purchase a copy of my pattern (http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=33953679), I thought I'd solicit some help from my beady friends. If any of you have a spare minute or two, could you please leave a comment on her blog? Feel free to post the link to my pattern, so she can click that and purchase it.
And to all my friends who have had their designs copied (sadly, this happens regularly to at least one of my friends), I can empathize. I wish I couldn't.
Thanks for your support.
Yes, another full week has passed. More than a week, actually. I don't think I'm getting my full allotment of 24 hour days. Some of them are going somewhere else.
I'm still catching up on my beadweaving. That month of absence while we moved really affected me, it seems. I have so many ideas for new designs, and I'm beading like crazy. I have a little pile of finished pieces waiting to have their pictures taken, but this new house isn't conducive to picture taking. I'll admit to having been spoiled with a big north-facing window in our previous house. It was great for taking photos, as long as I scheduled picture-taking time for early to mid afternoon. This house is different, though. Even though there are some north-facing windows, the house is surrounded by trees, so there's not that much light coming in the windows. So I've finally broken down and ordered a photo light box. I know I could make one with a cardboard box and some tissue paper, and I have plenty of lights around, but I'm fessing up to being lazy. I checked out several online sites, but I wound up finding a setup on eBay. It should be on its way this week, and I'm anxious to try it out.
I have managed to take photos of a few of the new pieces I've created, including one brand spanking new design (Concentric), which will eventually be listed in my shop as a pattern. It's a really cool design, even if I do say so myself. Of course, I think I'm partial to it because it kind of mimics some of the artwork I create.
The picture to the left is a portion of a drawing I did a few years ago. Lots and lots of spirals. Yes, I know that's not the same thing as concentric shapes, but I don't have a picture of one of my concentric drawings. You get the idea, though. The spirals in this drawing are round and square (square spirals?), and they're tiny. Each one of those little shapes is about 1/4" in diameter. I draw tiny stuff.
Here's the peyote bracelet I created, called (surprise surprise) Concentric!
More recent creations include a new version of my Faux Bois design, this time named Bois Brûlé (French for "burned wood"). Faux Bois is one of the designs I've published as a pattern (available in my Etsy shop), and the idea for the burned wood version of it came to me while I was working on the pattern.
Here are some more new pieces I've created recently:
While I'm not busy beadweaving, I'm working on getting more patterns ready to be published and listed. I have requests for a few of my designs: Windowleaf, Piano Man, and Completely Puzzled are at the top of the list. Eventually I'll work my way through all of them - at least that's my goal!
In the meantime, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my photo light box shows up quickly!
One last thing before I wrap up this post and head back to my beads... Have you checked out the Bead Art Originals Items of the Week this week? There are some wonderful pieces being offered, all with special deals by our members. My offering this week is Lilavati:
Lilavati features a gorgeous clay and glass cabochon made by the talented Kristie Roeder (aka artisanclay), and I'm offering a 10% discount off the regular price if it's purchased/paid for by midnight on November 19. Just mention "BAO" in the notes to seller, and Lilavati can be yours. :-)
Okay, back to beading. And looking out the window at the beautiful North Carolina scenery that surrounds me.
Back with the worst Arnold impression ever. But back, nonetheless.
My last post here was waaaaaaaaaay back in August, and it's been a busy few months. I'm finally getting back into the swing of things after having moved 700 miles across country. Now I have to get back into the swing of keeping this blog updated with cool stuff!!
I can't possibly record everything that went on since August (packing, moving, driving, unpacking, getting our house ready to sell, driving some more, unpacking some more...), so I'm just going to start with some new news. (New news? Is that right?)
I have FINALLY begun listing some of my original peyote cuff patterns on Etsy!!! Yahoooooo!!! It took me months to get my act together, but I have six patterns done so far and a whole bunch more on the list to be done. You can check them out here.
And now that I'm done with all that moving stuff, I'm back to playing with my beads. I still have to take pictures of a bunch of pieces, but here are the newest listings in my Etsy shop:
See? Told you I'd been busy!
By the way, the Coppery Cubes and Curls is my BAO Item of the Week for this week, so if you purchase and pay for it before midnight on November 12, you'll get a free surprise gift!!
I have lots more beadweaving finished, and lots more underway, so my blog is going to be filling up with pictures. :-)
And... I have a whole new line of bracelets I'm going to be introducing next week. Stay tuned.
Well, okay. I'm not going to the Philly Bead Fest (much as I'd love to be able to attend), but the five pieces I created using Kristie Roeder's wonderful beads and cabs are winging their way to her so they can be at Bead Fest.
There was just a bit of a panic this morning after I finished photographing the last of the pieces (just completed yesterday) and then couldn't find the first four! Waaaaaaah! I scurried around the house for a few minutes, looking in places I thought I might have placed them; and they were nowhere to be found. Finally I settled in a chair and gave it some thought... and figured out where they were. Whew. Our mail carrier can appear at the mailbox anytime between noon and 5:00pm, and it was approaching noon when I went into the initial panic. Thankfully, I was able to wrap everything and get it out to the mailbox before the carrier's arrival.
So here's the last of the pieces I created: a funky, earthy, unusual necklace that I named Terra. I used three of Kristie's smoke-fired clay beads in this one - one for the focal (it's about 2" long), a smaller tube-shaped one, and another smaller flattened oval one. They're all so beautiful and earthy. The other larger beads I used for this piece are a mixture of glass (root beer colored), wood, and bone. Everything's connected with little bits of peyote or ndebele rope; and there's a section of ndebele rope almost as long as the section of larger beads.
When I pictured this in my mind, I always thought of it as being worn with the focal inserted through the loop in the ndebele rope and hanging in front almost like a pendant; but after it was finished I realized that it looked pretty cool with the ndebele rope at the back of the neck and the focal hanging on the side.
It's great fun being able to collaborate with bead artists. I've always loved beads anyway, even though my addiction to them just began a few years ago; but over the past couple of years I've gained a whole new appreciation for the art form.
I still have some collaborating to do, too... I have a wonderful lampwork bead that was made by Lori Engle. She gave it to me at the Bead and Button Show, and we talked about my making something to complement it; but I haven't had a chance yet to use it. It's been on my beading board, just sitting there and talking to me about what it wants to become...
I also have some wonderful polymer clay beads from Jeannie Dukic. They're called Goddess Beads, and because each of the beads has a meaning of its own I have to make sure to incorporate that meaning into whatever I create.
As much as I'd like to dig through my own stash of beads and start to work on these collaborative pieces, I need to focus right now on the task at hand... packing boxes. Lots and lots of boxes, so we're ready for our move to North Carolina. I'm glad I'm able to take some time to sort through all the stuff we've collected while we've lived in this house - but I'm also a little alarmed at just how much of it there is! The Cancer Federation and the Habitat for Humanity ReStore are going to get some mighty big donations this week.
I'm finished packing for the day (enough is enough, after all), so I'll get to do a little beadweaving tonight. But first things first... I need a latte!
:-)
When you're getting ready to move, it's easy to let some things slide while you're wrapped up in making sure you're getting everything related to the move finished.
So that's my excuse... er... reason. The reason I haven't posted to this blog in about three weeks! Good grief.
I've posted here before about the Bead Art Originals Items of the Week (although I don't do that as regularly as I should -- did I mention that it's a weekly event?!?!). This week we're altering the schedule of the items of the week, so this is a short week. Rather than ending on Sunday, the Items of the Week will now run from Friday through Thursday. That means that my special for the item of the week for this week ends tonight at midnight!
This week's special offering for me is Cybele, the collaborative necklace I made using one of Lisa Peters' gorgeous raku cabochons and some driftwood I culled from the shores of Lake Michigan. The special deal on it is pretty good: 10% off the regular price of $179, PLUS a 10% coupon good on your next purchase! Check out the BAO Blog to see the rest of the items of the week offered by the participating members - all of them end tonight at midnight, so grab 'em while you can!
Even though I've been quite busy with packing and trying to eliminate a substantial amount of stuff before we move, I have managed to spend some time working on more collaborative pieces using Kristie Roeder's (aka artisanclay) beautiful beads and cabochons (you can see the first two I finished in this post).
I decided to do something relatively simple with one of Kristie's smoke-fired clay beads. I've had a piece of bead crochet done for a long time, but I had never found the right finishing touch for it; and as I was looking for something to do with this beautiful focal bead of Kristie's I realized it was the perfect match! I also had some recently-purchased agate beads (from the Bead and Button Show) that coordinated with the focal bead and with the bead crochet. All those things combined to make Earthenwear, a very earthy-looking bangle. Isn't Kristie's bead gorgeous?!
The other piece I finished is a necklace using one of Kristie's clay and glass cabochons. I've been ogling these cabs for a long time, but this is the first opportunity I had to work with one of them. The lime green in this is so deep and beautiful, and I decided to pair it with the brightest red violet delicas I could find. I'm strangely attracted to green and purple together...
This piece is named Lilavati, which means "playful, amusing, or charming" in Sanskrit. It's definitely playful!
I'm in the middle of working on one more piece which should be finished tonight. I have to get these all packaged and shipped off to Kristie so she can display them at the Philly Bead Fest next week!
I've done some other pieces too, but you'll just have to wait to see them. I have to get some more packing done. Now's a good time... my husband's gone fishing!! Isn't it amazing how you can get more done when your significant other isn't around to provide commentary??? :-)
It's an adventure. It wasn't supposed to be an adventure. We came here partly because of the mountains, partly because of the cost of living, and partly because of the climate. This area is supposed to receive something like 12" of snow annually, with an average winter temperature of 32 degrees.
So off we went on Monday, after doing a quick (VERY quick) wash of my hair with melted snow. Pat managed to navigate successfully down the driveway, which he had cleared of all the broken branches. Thank goodness for four-wheel drive. The roads weren't really too bad, although there was some black ice along the way. It was soooooooooo nice to be able to get out of the house and walk around, even if our walking was done in Lowes, Wal-Mart, K-Mart, and Ace Hardware. It's a good thing we had bought our kerosene heater and kerosene when we did -- everyone was cleaned out of ANYTHING emergency related! We snagged the last Coleman camp stove at Wal-Mart, so if this happens again (according to the locals that's unlikely) we'll be able to cook. And we went out to eat. That was nice. I was really tired of having oatmeal and soup.
We weren't looking forward to going back to the cold, dark house, but we knew we needed to head home kind of early so the kerosene heater would have a chance of warming up the house a bit before we turned in for the night. One last phone call to the power company told us that we were going home to a house that was still powerless, even though our neighbors had had their power restored (we're on the tail-end of the line, apparently).
