It snowed

You see my banner photo, that is what our mountains look like today.  Yay.  Briskly cold.  It will be around just long enough for everyone to get cranky, but hey, I LOVE IT.   The dogs, not so much.....

Ceramic goodness

I just love MaryAnn Carroll's ceramic work.  Simple and rustic, really speaks to me.  I'm not sure I'm finished with these.  There is a loop at the bottom just screaming for a little something, something.  I think they need a little dangle of somekind...need to sit on it for a while.  I'll update....

Happy beading all

New work

This is a new favorite design and I like the direction.  This will go on Etsy next week.  It is striped polymer clay in a coil shaped to the wrist with 16 guage copper wire rings and a leather strap.  It is very comfortable to wear.

From the other angle.  I flattened the coils to make some earring drops and I'm deciding how to finish them.

Here is another angle

The first angle is a truer color.

Enjoy....back to your beading...

Give away by Cindy Gimbrone

Cindy Gimbrone's giveaway

Click above to view the beautiful pearls being given away.  What a generous thing she is.

Merry Christmas For Real

MERRY CHRISTMAS

FROM

SUNNY EL PASO, TEXAS

PEACE AND LOVE TO ALL FROM,

ELIZABETH AND TESS AND DAISY



Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone.  Here is my Candy Cane Topped table upcycled jar ornament.  So easy, so fun, so cheap.  Sure put a holiday smile on my face.

 I added the little hope word charm just to capture the season.  And here is hoping your Christmas is divine and that everyone, especially me, takes time to remember the spirit behind Christmas.  Here are some things to try:

Take time for someone you don't know,

Say hi to a stranger,

Give your spare change freely,

Hug everyone, 2 footed and 4 footed, a little harder,

Say kind things when you want to scream,

Say you love someone whenever you get a chance,

Let someone in front of you when they are trying to get out of a parking lot,

Do random acts of kindness and tell no one,

Have a conversation with someone who annoys you,

Call someone you haven't in a while,

Check on each other,

Show interest when someone tells you how they are,

Let someone go ahead of you in the checkout line,

Now go think of your own.

Really all of this will make you feel better, even when you feel great!

Love you all.  Big hugs to all.

 

Peace...........

Etsy prices slashes

All my Etsy prices have been permanently slashed, most in half.  Have fun.

More Christmas fun

A sunset last week.  This is why I bought my house, this view and these sunsets!  The desert in winter, divine!

OOps, anyway, this is another upcycled jam jar with polymer lid cover and believe charm.  The jar is filled with red and white glass pebbles (dollar store).  The lid is gorilla-glued one, so it is going nowhere!  Another Secret Santa for ornament day.  Festive if I do say so myself.

Hope the Holidays are hopping to your speed...

Peace and love, beadies.

Could they be more spoiled?  Oy

Just chilling.........

Excuse the fuzziness, but you get the idea, this is obviously a Christmas tree.  For what?  An upcycled candy jar topper.  I used green and white polymer to cover the jar lid of a recycled jam jar.  It was part of a Secret Santa at school.  It was a hit with the recipient!  We had a $10 limit for the week, so I went with what was on hand. (this is from cell phone-batteries dead on regular camera-oops)

 Daisy heard a cat.  I hope she reacts that way to nefarious 2 legged creatures who happen by, LOL.

Cell phone again, but I love it anyway.

Etsy sale and free shipping

Hi all: Please check out my ETSY SHOP.  Buy one, get 2nd item 1/2 off with free shipping through Dec 31st.  Happy shopping everyone.

We are having a heat wave here in El Paso.  I kinda envy the snow everywhere else.  By now we usually have a little of the flake action, but not so this year.

Here's hoping for a cold snap.  20 more class periods until 18 days off.  WooHoo!

Peace and Love fellow bead-heads!

Auction for Andrew Thornton-Extended to Dec 18th

Here is the piece being auctioned.  The necklace is a little atypical, more for the avant garde appreciator. ALL proceeds directly benefit the wonderful and talented Andrew.  So bid away everyone!  Free shipping to the winner.

Good luck everyone.

Wind...................ugh

There has been a LOT of wind lately around these parts, unusual for this time of year.  The wind makes me nervous and the pups restless.  Not much else to say, except I'm not raking until the wind stops...AND NO ONE CAN MAKE ME!!

Peace and love from the blustery part of Far West Texas!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

May everyone be blessed with what they need and little to spare.  Love to all.

Auction for Andrew Thornton-Extended

Hi all:  I'm throwing my hat into the auction ring for Andrew's medical bills.  I'm very fortunate to have a day job (which I love) that provides benefits, but I know many creatives who struggle with paying bills, much less medical.

So please bid.  All proceeds will go to Andrew's paypal account, so directly to him.  Free shipping.  Just my way of saying thanks for all the bounty that is mine and to say how blessed we are to have someone like Andrew sharing his world and his art with us.

What is up for grabs you say?  My Orbit Necklace.  Kinda out there (pun intended), but a fun piece.

THE ORBIT NECKLACE  ;---------Here is the original post, with a description.

Here is the photo again:

The auction will run until midnight, December 18th.  So do I have a bid???

Bid through the comments sections please.  I will notify the winner by email on Sunday, December 18 and tell you how to pay Andrew.

Thank you all in advance for your generosity.

Faux Inked Jade

These were extraordinarily fun.  I mixed up my favorite jade recipe (a light, soft green, thank you).  I made two separate textured sheets, cut and layered.  Over it all I painted on some caramel Adirondack ink from Ranger.  My immediate reaction was, OMG, I've ruined everything, but I took a leap of faith, cured the beads.  I sanded, polished, sanded, polished.  I LOVE THESE.  That old fossil-y, ancient peoples look is just what I was after.  Also, they are very light to wear.  I kept the design simple to highlight the beads.  Enjoy.

Deconstructed Naama

I bought some cane ends from Naama Zamir (queen of the kaleidascope cane) a while back with the intent to deconstruct them and make beads.  Well, I finally got around to stringing one of the beads I made.  Her colors are so inspiring.  I hope you like this.

The other components: glass pony beads, generic silver beads, leather cord.  Simple, easy to wear!

Thanks for looking.  Peace and love, everyone!

To Rudy

I've had in mind, since losing Rudy, to make some beads in his honor (black, tan and white), which I finally did.  I made a necklace with some generic silver, glass pony beads, a little wood, some onyx chunks, some kind of seed and some ceramic bird beads (he loved chasing birds) (I hated when he gifted me with a "catch", ewww).

I like the outcome:

Thank you for looking

I won beads!; I hate my hair; Life is good

I won the Cindy Gimbrone set that I blogged about.  Yay.  They are more beautiful in person!  What bead-head doesn't love free beads?

I hate my hair.  It is longer than it has been in about 18 years.  I like being able to "bun" it or pony tail it, but it has no style.  I refuse to cut bangs because there is thinning in front and bangs just accentuates that issue.  Also, in the summer I'm a face/head sweater, so the bangs just get smooshed to the side.  Enough whining.

Today I tried to take a new picture of the dogs, but they were not in posing mood.  Since Rudy's passing I have not taken a new picture of just the two.  That will be my weekend goal.

I have been creating a bit lately and below I'm highlighting some of my favorite new items, enjoy.

First up is my memory wire cuff.  I call this Calypso.  So simple, just colorful, mass market painted wooden rounds that I have put into a different pattern on each wire.  Fun for spring, I think.  Just wanted something happy.

Next up is another memory wire cuff I call rough bling.  The stations are enamled flower components with blue crystals.  The blue rounds are recycled African glass.  The light blue are amazonite chips.  I'm in love with this number (blue is my favorite color) afterall.

I'll share more this week now that I have discovered pre posting options on this blog.  Have a great week fellow beadies.  Peace and love, to all!

New give away from Cindy Gimbrone (Lampwork Diva)

Are these just not so gorgeous???

You can enter the giveaway here:  Cindy Tuesday Give Away

Enjoy everyone!

LOVING HALLOWEEN

Loving Halloween as I do, I've had all things pumpkin on the brain.  I have to say though, I'm not overly enamored of the Jack O'Latern.  There are wonderful carvers out there, but I prefer big whole pumpkins in all their orange, autumn-y glory.  So I went over to Flickr just now and put "pumpkins" into the search window and here is what I would like to share from places far and wide:

from PKOCERES: a beautiful pumpkin colored plate w Halloween goodies.

from UCUMARI: who doesn't love a frolicking bear?

From SERCH:  a nod to the Jack O' Latern with a Pilgrim cat, too adorable to ignore.

From ANADELMA:  a perfect pumpkin patch.

from LOLLYKNIT:  one of my faves: pumpkin with socks.  Says it all.

From 1BLUECANOE: a stilllife building with a pumpkin.  I LOVE THIS.  The colors are amazing and inspiring.

It is finally cool here in El Paso (70's) and some fall can be celebrated.  I hope all of you are having a delightful Sunday!

Halloween--YIPPEE!!

I love, love, LOVE Halloween, my favorite day of the year, followed by Valentine's Day.  The idea of dressing up and being someone you usually are not is very alluring to me.  LOVE IT.  In our part of the Southwest part of the Halloween tradition is also Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), honoring those who have past (not on Halloween).  Part of the tradition that has exploded is skulls and skeletons.  Type in "day of the dead" in your browser window and you will see thousands of possibilities.

Well, in honor of my favorite day (and Dia de los Muertos), I made some skull items.  Some fun and friendly, a couple kinda creepy.  Enjoy!!

These are a present for a friend who loves pink.

These were kind of creepy mistakes....but I kinda like 'em.

And, of course, blue for myself.  A blue lover cannot have enough blue, right?

Have a great week all my bead-y friends!

A new design: Meet the Orbit necklace

I haven't been a total creative slob.  I've been creating, just not blogging.  Needed to be in my head for a while and not online. Here is one of my latest creations and the process to get there.  Lesson: Force yourself to be open to the inspiration, especially when you don't feel you can!

Being back on a campus, especially high school, the assignments in the various subjects have left odd inspirations with me and my muse.  Our high school encourages teachers to let the students do visual representation of their learning and then they are put on display in the hall ways, all wildly different and creative.  A recent science class next to me did some planetary exploration and this is the result.

The purple and orange beads are deconstructed cane beads made by moi.  I added some matte glass pony beads and wrapped some sections of large leather lacing at stations in 16 guage copper wire.  Threw in a little assymetry and voila-you have the ORBIT NECKLACE

Enjoy!

Peace and love, fellow beadies!

Great giveaway by Cindy Gimbrone

Heads up all.  Cindy Gimbrone, AKA: Lampwork Diva is celebrating the 5th anniversary of her blog.  Sooooooooooo, that means free beads.

Go here:  Lampwork Diva give away  and leave a comment to enter!

It is really a wowser of a give away.  Enjoy!!

I'm too pooped to pop or post, so this is it for this week!

Brown Round

Hi all fellow beadies.  What a week and the kids at school have already given me a present...A COLD.  Oy and vey.  I've been zincing myself into some kind of zinc high if that is possible.  I've been using some over the counter Cold Eze type lozenge and a generic AirBorne thingy.  No fever, but the throat is a bit rough.  It will be great for finishing up Edgar Allen Poe tomorrow, LOL.

Here is  a bracelet I made a little while ago, 2 or 3 weeks.  The center lighter focals are patina'd polymer and the brown rounds are some form of jasper that I love.  It is a a single memory wire kind of cuff with a toggle for extra security.  Enjoy!

Peace and love, beaders!

New fancy pants screen pull

The pull down screen in my classroom was begging, I tell you BEGGING, for a new pull.  Anything would beat the current rubberband chain, ugh.  So without further adieu here is my new fancy pants screen pull downer thingy.  It is 16" long including the ring.  The bottom focal is a scrap clay bead and there is faux turq bead at the top.  In between some plastics and woods I had on hand.  Strung on sturdy rubber cording with a large split ring to attach to the screen handle.  It was fun and fun-ctional!

Otra foto

Peace and love fellow bead-heads!

Creative spurt

Had a creative spurt this morning.  Needed to do some beading while I was waiting for laundry and the sprinkler.  Could have cleaned, but no, I refuse to clean today.  It is Labor day, afterall, and we ALL deserve a break.  I will do some dishes later just to be sanitary, LOL.

Anyway, here are my latest creations.  Excuse the slightly fuzzy images, still working on the macro setting.  Have a great Labor Day everyone and rest up.  Tomorrow back to actual work.

Sea and Sand (Focal by Mary Ann Caroll-ceramic beauty) enhanced with some potato shaped pearls in olive.  Simple, rustic leather lace cord.  This is mine, all mine!  :D

Another shot

My wire wrapping REALLY needs some practice, EEK.

Here is the other necklace I made using another of Mary Ann's ceramic focals and some poly clay of my making, a hamsa charm from Happy Mango and some basic wood beads, on the same leather lace. I call this one Rustic Supreme.  It is large mm leather lace, so it really stretched my beading skills. Again, this is one is for me.  Being a tad greedy today, aren't I?   Enjoy.

Peace and love my fellow beadies!!

Went to the mountains today

We had lunch minutes away from this old train trestle and about 10 feet from the depot above.

SPECTACULAR!

While my heart still aches something awful for my boy, some good friends drove me to the Southern New Mexico mountains today.  We got take out in a local town and picnic-d under pine trees at a lovely forest-y type spot.  Lots of Labor Day families there with their dogs (tug-tug at my heart), but it was the right place for me to be.

My friends had burgers and I had a yummy Philly cheese steak sandwich.  We chatted and gossiped about the district and nothing in particular.  On the way back to El Paso we stopped at Caliche's and had giant frozen vanilla custards, theirs were plain, mine with perfect banana slices.  I was obviously feeding my hurting soul today.

All in all it was a day made out of what friendship is all about.  We sang 70's songs along with the radio on the way home.  They took care of me, Susan and Jim did.  I will love them forever anyway, but especially more because of today.

Rudy went to the Rainbow bridge

Hi all:  It was Rudy's day to go to the Rainbow Bridge.  He fell this morning and messed himself.  He couldn't get up again, so I knew it was time.  The Emergency vet and techs were amazing.  They took their time with us and did not rush anything.  I'm sad, but know what a great life he had.  He was my boy for over 15 years! (that's him getting a foot pet from me, his favorite) He went to be with Spike and Chester, his brothers that went before.

Now it is just me and the girls here on the Ponderosa.  I know they miss him, they are so unsure of where he is.

I'm exhausted and will leave everything at that.  Thanks in advance for all your good thoughts.

THE RAINBOW BRIDGE POEM

When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor. Those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent. His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....

Author unknown...