Artisan Clay Fall Fashion Show Blog Hop

I didn't make it onto the Artisan Clay Design Team, but I've been a big fan of Kristie's work for a long time. The Design Team has the privilege of creating something new each month with components Kristie creates and sends to them, but this month they're doing something different that lets me play along - the Artisan Clay Fall Fashion Show Blog Hop!

Make sure to visit all the blogs, and then stop back at Kristie's blog and let her know what your favorite design or component was. You're then entered for a surprise giveaway, an Artisan Clay component for one lucky winner (giveaway ends at the end of the day). :-)

Here are a few of the pieces I've made using Kristie's components:

Terra - An Earthy Beadwoven Necklace

Nina - Tubular Herringbone Necklace with Smoke Fired Clay Focal


Arianrhod - Beadwoven Necklace with Smoke Fired Clay Donut Focals


Lalita - Tubular Herringbone Lariat with Smoke Fired Clay Donut Focal and Pearly Fringe


Heart Suspended - Romantically Earthy Necklace with Smoke Fired Clay Heart

Lilavati - Brilliant Plum and Lime Beadwoven Necklace
featuring one of Kristie's beautiful clay and glass components


and one of my all-time favorite pieces, which now resides in Sweden
Atalanta - One of a Kind Beadwoven Necklace with Smoke Fired Clay Donut Focal and Driftwood

I have a whole collection of Kristie focals, just waiting for me to create something... I just need more hours in the day! (Isn't that always the case?) :-)

Building a House Takes a Lot of Time

Don't let anyone fool you. It takes a TON of time, especially when you're doing a lot of it yourself. It's lots of fun, at least for us, but it's also a mad scramble at times to ensure that we're getting everything done when it needs to be done.

My husband's back has held up quite well during the process (he has major back issues), and even though we'd have liked to do some of the siding ourselves we hired some awesome carpenters who are working so well and so quickly that we're just going to have them do it all. I must say I'm relieved that we came to that decision. It would take us four times as long to do what they're doing, and we'd both be worn out. My job has been to paint all of the siding before it goes onto the house (we're putting a second coat of paint on after it's up), and it was all I could do sometimes to stay ahead of them. The problem wasn't so much with my getting tired of painting, but because the siding is so large and awkward I was limited in where I could put the pieces to dry. At this point I think I have enough for them to finish.

We've also picked out almost all the plumbing fixtures (the plumber has been doing all the rough-in work) and most of the lighting fixtures. It seems weird to be picking out tile for the bathrooms at this point, when we don't have any real walls (just framing) yet; but we have to have the shower figured out for the master bathroom so the plumber can do his thing. That means a trip to the tile store. We settled on cypress for the decking material, thanks to the boring bees we have around here. Boring bees are called that not because they're uninteresting but because they bore into wood. Apparently they don't like cypress, so we're going with that to ward them off.


Even with all this activity going on at the house, I've been beading whenever I can. I try to have beads strung all the time so I can crochet in the vehicle when we're driving around, and when we're at home I'm usually camped out in my chair with beads in front of me.

I managed to finish off another set of bracelets for The Laughing Dog Gallery in Vero Beach, Florida. It was fun to pull out some of my designs and bead them up in new colorways, and I'm anxious to see how well they do in the gallery.


Just as exciting as having all these cuffs in a gallery is that two projects I created are included in the newest Interweave Press eMag, Fabulous Peyote Stitch Jewelry with Crystal Accents!


The projects I created for the eMag were this crystal-edged peyote bracelet:


and these little peyote bails made to hold a crystal square:


And now I'm off! It's time to head to the tile store to try to make a decision about the tile for the master bathroom shower. There are soooooooo many choices that it's going to take awhile to finally settle on something we both like. Maybe I'll do a little browsing in magazines before we go so I have some ideas...

:-)