Bead Weaving and Stuff

Hi! I have been neglecting you! It's been a slumpy kind of time lately. My hip is hurting so tomorrow I will go get an xray. Old age sucks. :(

Anyway, here's a picture of my first beaded cabochon. I am happy! But the bail was harder than the surround. I didn't finish the back because I couldn't bear to cover up that cute little face Kathi drew. :D

Hopefully, soon I will return to normal. Sorta.

My New Bracelet

Hah! I have conquered the first steps of bead weaving! ::::struts around patting self on back::::: Anyway, I finally made a bracelet and it actually came out the way it was supposed to! Because I didn't know what I was doing when I ordered beads, I wound up with several containers of these beads that are smaller than gnat poop! I mean, what does one DO with these things? So, I used them for edging.

Anyway, I am most happy with my new bracelet. What chu tink? :D

Also, I have a bunch of art books I want to part with, either sell or trade. If anyone is interested, please email me and we can talk about it person to person, ok? Thanks!

Snowflakes

To recover from beading brain damage, I make clay things. This is fun. I actually know what I'm doing. So, I was messing around with new colors of Pinata Inks I got and decided to make snowflakes. Now, I love the Holidays and am not a last minute person. I always get my gifts as I go along through the year as that way, I can cross a name off my list and I never have huge bills when Christmas is pau. Now, of course, I make my gifts but, in keeping with starting early....tadaaaaahhhh!

You know how every year there is a color combination for trees and you see it all over the place? Remember one year it was bright pink/light pink? Well, I'm going for these colors. :)

Yanno, these cool snow flake cutters I got are great. I love the shapes. These ornaments are really lightweight, too. They'd hang on the tips of branches and not weight them down. Perhaps some stars would be in order, too. :D

Beading and Other Forms of Brain Damage

OIks. The other day I got the bright idea that it would be really cool if I could make beaded bezels for my clay cabochons. Man, I ought be put somewhere that I can't hurt myself. :( WHY, oh WHY did I think this was gonna be easy? I am demented. Not only does this involve buying a ton of supplies but it also involves sharp objects. I have to buy a book, too. Ok, I go shopping. That was fun. Good thing my beady pal Pam offered up her sanity to help me. At least I knew what to buy... sorta. So, I gets my supplies and I sits myself down. That was the first mistake. Now, any of you do bead weaving or bead sewing? Well, just let me tell you that it involves about 6 miles of thread. All at once. GREAT fun when you have 2 cats. Let me tell you this. :(

Ok, I get the cats securely duct taped to the wall and sit down again. Jeez. I unravel my 6 miles of thread. Oh boy, I can't remember the last time I had so much fun. The freaking beads are rolling all over. I get out my beading mat. Better. Now, I get my microscopic needle, 6 miles of thread and sit back down. Naturally, I am sitting in my Merlin chair which many of you have seen. It has arms. BAD idea. My 6 miles of thread immediately turns into 1/2 mile as the thread wraps itself around the arm of my chair. Jeez. Ok, I get up and untangle it. I now sit crooked in the chair to block the arm with my body. I start reading and following directions. WHO sits up at night and thinks up these convoluted directions? You guys ever try to make a even count peyote stitch with the thread catching on everything, two cats, lousy book directions and no knowledge? Jeez. :( We are NOT amused.

Ok, I drink some wine. I feel better.

Next day we go to B&N whereupon I find another book. I buy it. WAY better directions. But, yanno? It still doesn't say really helpful things like: " The first 2 freaking rows will be an unmitigated disaster. If you don't kill yourself after the first 2 rows you might, MIGHT find that it gets marginally easier. After about 6 rows there is actually something to hang onto so you can keep the proper tension... you know... tension? Did we forget to mention this important word before. Ok, sorry. Tension is what keeps the beads next to each other." Swell. I swear *I* am going to write the next book and tell people how it REALLY is to learn beading. Then, I finally make this bead thingy you see here. I am SOOO proud of myself. Only took me 4 days. And lots of wine.

Then I make the mistake of asking the ever-wonderful Pam how to do ODD number peyote. The response? "WAIT!" Jeez. Just what is it that she knows???

And my book says this: "for odd count peyote, just take your even number project, flip it over and, poof! Odd numbers" WTF? I thought this was ODD number? I count the beads in the picture. A nice even number of 7. Yep, that's an even number alright. I am insane. I actually thought odd meant... odd. Silly me. Apparently it means even. I counted the beads on all 4 sides. 7. Jeez.

THEN... I think... ok, Beej can make bezels. But I look at my little bead thingy. It is flat. Flat, I tell you. To hold a cab it needs to be curved. I ask Pam. WAIT! she yells. Jeez. Actually she does tell me how it's done but I'm not sure all the words she's using are English so I will wait. I think she means I have to wait for Enlightenment. Or perhaps Nirvana. At which point the beading of cabs will miraculously appear in my brain and I will be a Master. Or, I won't care. One of those.

Chalk and Ipo

I took 2 more pictures of Ipo. She is just too cute. :) I don't know how she managed to get herself all tucked into my nice clean mattress pad, tho.

Also, I bought some chalk and some chalk ink to try on my clay. The chalk inks are good but I really really like the chalk! I'll have to make some more things with it but here's one bead. Looks cool, no?

Destructo Kitty and Pat

So, not only can Pat make great lunch, she's a cutie, too! This is my sweetie friend wearing her new Destructo Kitty pendant. :D And a picture of ... almost lunch... out on our lanai. Another friend Pam made the Destructo Kitty cane. I loved it so I asked if I could have it. :D Pam, being the honey that she is, gave it to me. I got 4 pendants from it. I love them! :D

Outrageous Fun

My friend Janell says, "Make me something orange and turquoise". Oh boy. BIG trouble. Poor girl will pass out when she sees this! :D I think they are a scream except for the fact that the beads look kind of like a figure with a long scarf on. :( Ok, don't be shy... tell me what you think. I have lots of wine on hand. :D

Foil Stuff and Retirement Lunches

So, my friend Pat comes over today and brings the lunch goodies. YUM! She made this Ethiopian stew with garbanzo beans and tons of spices. It was SOOOO good! We had all kinds of delish things and a bottle of wine. A dandy lunch, I may say! And the dear sweet girl left me all the remainders! What a pal! :D

Then, a friend wanted foil earrings for her step daughter. HUGE earrings with foil and bright inks. This is what I made. I hope they aren't too heavy but I don't think I would have noticed that when I was 19. And I'm pretty sure I was 19 once... back in the Middle Ages. I also made these cool resin earrings. I used this dark purple natural mica eye shadow as colorant. I like them. I made big hoops of the same color, too.

My Friend's New Business

A long lost friend appeared one day on Facebook. What a treat! Karen and I worked together many years ago when she and her DH lived in Honolulu. I was overjoyed to reconnect with her as she is one of the most darling genuine honest people I have ever known. So, Karen tells me she is starting with this new company called Scentsy. They sell flameless, wickless, smokeless candles. Now, how can that BE, you query? If it doesn't have a flame and a wick, just HOW is it a candle? I think it's a light bulb masquerading as a candle. What a cool (PUN!) idea! They have tons of different holders you can pick from and each one has a well where you put the little square melts. A low wattage light bulb gives enough heat to melt the melt (hunh? these aren't Scentsy's technical terms, yanno) but stays cool enough so kids and pets can't burn themselves. I don't know about drunk adults, tho. :D Anyway, here is Karen's site, www.scentsy.com/KarenRogers. please do go take a look at the candles. And, if you have any questions, here is Karen's email, mailto:Karens.Scents@gmail.com. She's a total sweetie so chatting with her is like talking to your best friend. You can also find her on Facebook... Karen Rogers. But wait...Karen tells me to say....Scentsy candles will Warm the Heart, Enliven the Senses and Inspire the Soul. JUST what all us clayers need! Heee, maybe we can get our erratic muses addicted to these candles and they will stick around instead of disappearing when we need them!! Mine goes to Maui. :(

Scentsy has lots and lots of scents and lots and lots of holders. They even have night light thingies! This is a great idea for places where you are stuck for months unable to open a window because it's just too hot or way too cold. I'm thinking it would be really really cool to have a Christmas tree smell. Because our windows are always open here and few people can afford a real tree in Honolulu, a Scentsy Christmas tree candle will be perfect! And how about one of those night light things in your bathrooms? Man, I'm full of good ideas! Full of you-know-what, too. :D

So, please go look at my friend's site. Mahalo to you all!

Kitties and The Bruce

I took some more pictures of our kitties and a couple more of The Bruce before he got relegated back to his quiet place on our curio cabinet.

Ahhhh, Retirement

So, after many long years, I have, at the tender age of 62, retired. What fun. Some of my clients took me to dinner last night as my retirement party. We took The Bruce along as he hasn't had a night out in ages. So... wanna see some pictures? Of course you do! Have a look.... dinner was super! The Bruce got into the wine and the bruschetta. I had to move the oil and ivnegar so he didn't drink that, too! Then he got into the whipped cream. What a little pill. :D