Taking a Break!

As I usually do this time of year, I am taking a blog break. I hope you will continue to follow my blog & check back in a few weeks to see what's new.

Enjoy your summer and Happy Creating!

I spent almost the whole day today trying to hone my peyote skills in preparation for beading the gourd I talked about a few posts ago. Actually, I know the stitch--it's the tubular variation that I was attempting.

This very large polished(? agate)cabochon was screaming to me from my stash so I thought I'd give it a try. After gluing it to the bead fabric (Beadwright's, of course!)I painstakingly back stitched around it with multi-shade topaz & brown beads. I took great care to make sure the count was even, as I planned to do a "step up". All went well until about the third row when it got a little loose from the stone. I hope I fixed this by decreasing here and there.

In retrospect, I wonder if perhaps I should have made the first back stitched row not so tight with beads. Anyway, it's done, it's not perfect, but not terrible either! It seems too big for a brooch, so maybe I'll turn it into a necklace.

That's what I've been up to...how about you?

Handmade site--add your link!

Hope you all had a great weekend & a nice Father's Day! Today I want to share a site just put up by TimothyAdamDesigns. It is a place where you can add your links to your handmade shops for free!

http://handmadefeed.com/

Timothy has also very generously provide tons of useful information and links on his blog and Handmadeology site.

If you don't know Tim, he has spent mega hours trying to help the Etsy community help perfect their SEO, their stores, drive more traffic to their shops, etc. Stop by--I know you'll be glad you did!

Happy Father's Day!

When I was pregnant with our daughter, 16 years ago, I went to a local store & had a tee shirt silk screened with a "#1 World's Best Dad" pattern. I, or rather our daughter, gave it to my husband in the hospital after she was born. My husband has worn this shirt, faithfully, every Father's Day for 16 years now! If that ain't love, I don't know what is!


Happy Father's Day to all the Dads and Dads-to-be out there!

A Sally Field Oscar Moment

"You like me, you really like me!" Sally, I know just how you feel! I just now completed the custom order depicted in this post and sent the final photos to the customer. There is always that moment, for me at least, when just for a second I wonder if they will like what I designed and created. Here's a little background.

I was asked to create a floral arrangement as a baby gift. The customer provided a vase that she bought on Ebay & had sent to me. She gave me the color scheme of pinks with a little red & white and that she wanted substantial flowers.

I created a ruby red rose as a the focal point, since the baby's name is Ruby and the rose is her birth month flower (June). The other flowers include: daffodil, narcissus, morning glory, iris, lily, rose of sharon, anemone, orchid, and tulip.

Not only did my customer call it "AMAZING!" but she said it gave her chills. If you sell your art then perhaps you know this feeling, too...the high you get from knowing that someone really likes what you made!

Look what I got!

I am so excited! I just received the gourd kit that I ordered from Beadwright. I have long had a fascination with gourds but was interested in more than surface painting treatments. I've seen some beautiful painted gourds, but I just don't think my skill is that strong in painting. So when I first saw this kit, and knowing how I have a passion for beading, especially with seed beads, I knew this was for me!

The kit came with Nicole Campanella's (Beadwright) book, Gourdgeous Beaded Gourds,which is filled with great basic explanations of stitches with clear diagrams and lots of projects & eye candy. She takes you step by step through the process, and the kit includes everything you need to get started: the book, two hanks of seed beads, nymo (thread), a needle and a gourd.

Now would be an excellent time to visit Beadwright's Etsy shop or Artfire shop as she is having a $1.00 shipping sale (+ a penny for additional items). Both shops are stocked with different items and Nicole's customer service is exceptional!

Have fun shopping!

Here they are!

Finally, the skies have brightened up a little around here! We have had a whole week of rain-mostly on and off, with a couple of torrential downpours & thunderstorms thrown in!

Today, I am showing off our new cook top and wall oven which I am sure you are getting tired of hearing about--but I love them! They are finally in, hooked up. adjusted & ready to go! Glad to be back in business since I love to cook. On the menu tonight is homemade red clam sauce with linguine & garlic bread. My mouth is watering already!

Have a great weekend everyone!