Thursday Thirteen Volume 5 -- December

Thirteen Things I like to do in December It's no secret that I don't like Winter very much. I have no tolerance for cold, none whatsoever. Still, this can be a fun month, so here are thirteen things that I do to make December less Dreadful. 1. Holiday shopping! I avoid the crowds at the mall by doing the majority of my shopping on-line and at craft fairs. I just love picking out perfect gifts for the people in my life. 2. Wrapping presents. I'm not very good at figuring out how much paper it takes to wrap something and then folding all of the edges nice and straight like my Dad is (someday I'm going to make him show me how he does it!), but I really enjoy coordinating paper, ribbons, bows and tags for a pretty presentation. 3. Going to the Fourth Avenue Street Fair. This art and craft festival happens twice a year, but I don't always go to the Spring one. They close down Fourth Avenue to car traffic for several blocks and fill the street with booths full of handmade goods. It's a juried show, so everything is high quality, and vendors come from all over the country. Plus the street itself is lined with cool galleries, thrift shops and other neat places. And it's this weekend! Woohoo! 4. Sleeping in until noon with my Topher-cat. I know the weather is getting cold when Topher snuggles up to me all night and through the morning. Now that we have the dogs, I don't get as much quality time with my big, fluffy beast, so it makes me so happy to wake up and find him curled up behind my knees or against my chest. 5. Reading on the couch with my puppies. Now that Daisy has calmed down a bit, both girls like to take turns lying next to me, with their head in my lap, while I read a good book. It's quality bonding time, and they're so nice and warm! 6. Drinking hot spiced apple cider. Whether I microwave a mug of the Trader Joe's pre-spiced cider, or ladel out some homemade that's simmering in a crockpot at a party, there's nothing quite like it to warm me up. 7. Drinking hot chocolate. Also good at warming me up, and it comes with marshmallows! 8. Listening to the twisted Lovecraftian holiday tunes from the HP Lovecraft Historical Society. Those annoying Christmas tunes at the grocery store are so much more bearable when I overlay the parody lyrics. 9. Beading Christmas ornaments. I don't know if I'll get around to doing any this year, since I'm taking a bit of a break from beading... but I just love matching beads to the beautiful colors of glass ornaments and coming up with a little netted cover. I might do one or two for special people this year. 10. Exchanging gifts with friends and family. It's better to give than receive, but it's best when you can do both! 11. Enjoying various treats that only come out for Christmas. Limited-edition flavors of Jones Soda (I like their Mele Kalimaka, which tastes like a pina colada), Mint Truffle Hershey's kisses, chocolate mint candy canes, and so much more. 12. Even better, partaking in homemade goodies like cookies and fudge. Come to think of it, maybe this year I should do a little bit of holiday baking of my own. 13. Kicking back with Chris and the pups and watching DVDs. Ok, I like to do this all the time, but it's even better when it's cold, and we're both wearing warm, fuzzy robes, and Daisy is totally sprawled out across both of our laps, and Maggie is curled up against my hip, and Topher might even be at the edge of the couch, looking vaguely disapproving. Now that's cozy!


Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others' comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants



December voting open!

You ever have a day when the internet seems to be out to annoy you? Not only do I keep getting disconnected, and having time-out errors and all sorts of other stupid things, but I can't get this image to load full-size. So if you'd like to see the full-size mosaic, view all the entries, and vote for the Etsy BeadWeavers' Snow Queen challenge, please click this link.

I'm #13, Snowdrop. My entry is far simpler than most of the others, but I'm still happy with how it turned out.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go back to glaring daggers at my computer.

Slowly beading.

I'm slowly making progress on my faerie button pendant, and trying to decide what I want to do when I'm done with it. I'm actually almost done with the pendant, and I think I may just wear it on a ribbon for now and come up with a necklace for it later.

There's not a whole lot else going on with me right now, mostly just trying to stay warm and prepare for the holidays. I have 90% of the shopping done for my family, but as usual, Chris is dragging his feet on his family. I try to help by suggesting cool things that I find on-line, but he doesn't think that his family would like most of them. Bah. So I'm leaving it to him, and if the gifts end up being late (again), then at least I can say that I tried.

I'm not sure if I'll be making any holiday presents this year. Time is running out and I don't have a lot of inspiration, and besides, everyone probably has about as much of my jewelry as they can handle!

Thursday Thirteen Volume 4 - Jewelry Edition

Thirteen Things that I wish were in my jewelry box Ohh, look! I found the other headers on the Thursday Thirteen site, so I no longer inexplicably have a fly on all of my lists. Hooray! You might think that, being a jewelry maker and all, I already have more jewelry than I could ever want. This simply isn't true. One reason why I make jewelry is that I love jewelry, and I always want more, more, more! So this list will showcase 13 pieces that I love and wish I had. 1. It would dwarf my girly little wrist, but I love Nancy Dale's beautiful Plumage cuff. Before I got obsessed with green, black and purple were my favorite colors. 2. I saw Creative Mode's Secret Sentiment ring on the Etsy front page, and it looked like just the sort of thing I would wear. Nice price, too! 3. I like all of niele's butterfly jewelry, but the Graphium Butterfly necklace is especially eye-catching. 4. MoonLitCreations' Mother Tree with Opal really appeals to my love for dryads. 5. These Dueling Dragon earrings by Misty's Creations are so neat. Actually, I almost bought them for my Mom for the holidays. 6. Morning Glory Designs makes pieces that look like elegant vintage costume jewelry. And Moonlight Bay has kambaba jasper, a stone I like very much. 7. I really like Melissa J. Lee's Ferryman's Coin, and best of all, I could work it into an awesome beaded necklace. 8. Thyme2dream makes so many nice things that it would be easier to say what I don't want from them... but this Lothlorien Spring earcuff is so pretty and such a good price that I'm tempted to buy it right now. 9. Ling Glass makes such lovely pendants with nice, clean lines. I'd probably were this Serenity Teardrop all the time if I had it. 10. I've been wanting this Bearings necklace by The Justified Sinner for a long time, and even on clearance it's just too extravegant to buy on a whim. 11. I have the perfect jacket to wear TotusMel's Victorian Lace Cuffs with. She's another one who makes about a zillion things that I want... 12. Ok, it's a bead, not a completed piece of jewelry, but this is the best raven focal I've seen from KerriBeads yet: Raven Moon. 13. And now I cheat, and say that I really wish that my own Elvensoul necklace was in my jewelry box. Sometimes it's hard to give up the jewelry that I make!


Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others' comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants



A shorter post

I might have another holiday-related essay-length post or two in me. I've been giving it a lot of thought over the past week. However, today I'm going to keep things short.

You may have noticed a general lack of bead and jewelry related talk around this blog lately. The reason for that is that I tweaked my back/shoulders and I can't bead for very long at a time right now. I need to make a doctor's appointment and get it checked out. Hopefully it is a temporary and easy to fix problem, and not some issue caused by my bad beading posture which I'll have to live with for the rest of my life. I tend to worry a lot about these sorts of things, which is why I haven't mentioned it until now... No one wants to hear me going on about how my back hurts and I'll never be able to bead or dance again, oh no, it's the end of the world!

Of course, I did not do myself any favors by taking Daisy up to the park for a craft fair on Sunday. I spent most of my time straining to keep her from constantly pulling ahead and eating popcorn from the ground. Both dogs really enjoyed the fair and got along with everyone they met, human and canine, but they also went along eating every bit of dropped food they found, and tried to get under peoples' tables. I don't think I'll take them to another craft fair until they've had some formal obedience training, but most people didn't seem to mind their slightly bad manners. Corgi cuteness apparently overcomes a number of flaws.

What are you giving this year?

Now more than ever, people seem to be giving greater thought to what they buy and give as holiday presents this year. Budgetary concerns, ethical concerns, safety concerns, and environmental concerns all factor in to gift giving decisions. Given the state of world affairs, it's difficult to just go out and buy the first thing you see. Especially on-line, I see people being a lot more concerned and conscientious about what they buy.

There are a lot of options besides going down to the local big box store or mall and paying for mass-produced, imported goods. But what is the right option for you? Buy American? Shop Local? Buy Handmade? Buy Green? Make it all yourself?

With many of our nation's jobs being outsourced, and much of our goods being produced overseas, Buy American may hold a lot of attraction for you. Of course, the fact of the matter is that there are somethings that simply aren't made in America. If you want to buy beads, for instance, you're limited to artist beads and a few lines of findings and charms.

If you see quirky little stores closing down all around your neighborhood, Shop Local is probably the best choice. We all want to keep our favorite shops in business, and in this declining economy, small stores need all the help they can get. Of course, if times are really tough in your town, you may not have many cool places left to choose from.

If you like one of a kind presents, Buy Handmade is a good choice to make. As an added bonus, you're often buying directly from the artist, and helping them put food on the table. The difficulty with this one is that some people are remarkably hard to find handmade items for. I don't know who's harder to buy for: the relatives who already dabble in all sorts of arts and crafts and can make almost everything themselves, or the ones who are too straight-laced to be into the kind of off-beat items that I like to buy at craft fairs and on Etsy.

Environmental awareness is big right now, and a lot of companies are capitalizing on this by going green. You may want to Buy Green if you're concerned about issues like global warming and overflowing landfills. You have a variety of options along this theme, ranging from upcycled crafts to items made from recycled materials to reusable items that replace disposables. Just make certain that you're still buying something that the receiver will enjoy, and not just using your gift to push an agenda.

If you're an artist, artisan, or crafter, making everything yourself is often a good way to go. You can personalize the gifts, save some money, and have fun doing it. The only drawbacks are that it takes a greater investment of time than just shopping, and there's always the risk of having one person who doesn't understand the work that goes into a handmade gift and belittles it, making you feel like dirt.

To get super bonus double karma points, you should buy handmade, recycled supplies from an American artist and turn them into personalized gifts for your friends and family. And in fact, if you can do that, I give you extreme kudos and I'd love it if you could post in the comments section and let me know exactly what you're doing.

As for myself, I find that it's impossible to adhere to any one gift-giving trend. I'm trying to be more conscientious about what I buy, but different things are appropriate for different people. It's up to each of us to take a look at our budgets and our concerns, and decide what is best for each of us to do. There is no One True Answer to politcally-correct gift purchasing, and chasing after that false ideal just adds unnecessary stress to what should be a joyous time of the year.

So, I decided not to have a sale.

Here we are, on the much-vaunted Black Friday, and after the weekend is up, we have the so-called Cyber Monday. And you know what? I find that I really don't care. In past years, I've held sales to try to capitalize on these days, and it hasn't really amounted to much. I'm not some mega-retailer who can afford to offer serious deep discounts to lure customers in, and I think that's all people are really interested in.

I find myself increasingly fed up with hype, whether it's the fiction of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, or hearing that some new website is the "next great thing" for selling. I'm spending so much time on-line trying to network and self-promote that I have little time left for making jewelry. It's a little ridiculous, and I'm starting to streamline things to make my life easier. Don't worry, nothing is going to change at this blog. Although many people claim that blogs are a great marketing tool, I love mine just because it's nice to express myself and connect with friends old and new. Even if it never netted me a single sale, I'd keep it around.

I have some interesting plans for my business, which came about during a brain-storming session with Chris yesterday, but I don't have time to implement them before the holidays. As such, I'm just going to do what I've been doing now. Making jewelry, listing it on Etsy, and posting links in a few places. If people like it and buy it, great. If not, well, I have bigger things to stress about right now, like getting my house into order and keeping on top of all the little projects that I take on.

And now I'm off to do a little on-line holiday shopping, where I'll be buying what I had in mind for people, regardless of whether it's on sale.

Thursday Thirteen, Volume Three -- Thanksgiving!

Thirteen Things That I Am Thankful For The other day I was in the post office, and the radio was on, and the DJs were talking about a study that was done recently which said that gratitude and giving thanks were good for your health. I can see the sense in that. If you're being grateful, then you're being positive, and if you're being positive, you're not stressing, and stress is bad for your health. So for me, I want this Thanksgiving to mark the start of being more thankful and showing more gratitude, every day. I want to look at this list frequently, and remind myself of all the things I should be thankful for. So in no particular order, here are thirteen things that I'm thankful for, today and every day. 1. My husband. I probably don't tell Chris enough how much I appreciate all that he does for me. He works hard to pay all the bills, never tells me "no" when I want more beads, or boots, or books, or whatever catches my eye. He puts up with my myriad flaws, supports me in all I do, and basically rocks. 2. My family, in-laws included. They're a pretty good bunch all-around. 3. My health. I've got a couple of small problems, but compared to some people, I am sitting easy. I don't live with chronic pain, I don't have to take any meds, and my health doesn't stand in the way of anything that I do. 4. My dogs. I knew that I wanted a dog (and somehow I ended up with two), but I had no idea how much Daisy and Maggie would add to my life. They're so much fun. 5. My cats. Sometimes they get lost in the shadow of the dogs, but there are still few things nicer than waking up in the morning to find Topher curled up next to me. He has the best little contented look when he sleeps. And Lira, well, she's a cranky old kitty who spends most of her time hiding, but I still love her. 6. My friends. They're funny, supportive, generous, fun to talk to, and awesome. 7. My gaming group, an off-shoot of my friends. Sure, I kvetch about the guys, but they're good guys. They're fun to play with, fun to talk with, come up with some unique characters, and they don't have most of the flaws that people associate with gamers. And they're all very good to my dogs! 8. My house. I'm already starting to take it for granted, and I shouldn't. Living here is such a step up from apartment life, and I'm so much more at ease here. I sleep better, I feel less cluttered and less frazzled, and it's so much easier to have friends over now. 9. Dancing! I don't do it enough, but when I do, it's such a transcendant experience. 10. Writing. Another thing that I don't do enough, but I like having the ability to put words to virtual paper and have it be something that people enjoy reading -- even if sometimes, the only person who reads it is whoever's running the game with the character who I'm writing the story for. 11. Beads. Without them, what else would I be addicted to? 12. The internet. I've connected to so many people here, including Chris and most of my friends. It's more than a tool now, it's a community, and one I'm glad to be thankful for. 13. Books. After too long of not reading regularly, I'm rediscovering the joy of getting lost in a story, whether it's a novel or a short story. There are many more things I could be thankful for, but this is T13, not Twholelots, and I have to go finish getting things ready for my family to come over for dinner. So to all my readers, a happy Thanksgiving, and may you find things to be grateful for, no matter the day.


Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants



Housework, I hate it

Spent the day doing housework, and I still have to sweep and mop the floors and wash a bunch of dishes and cook some potatoes. All of which will happen tomorrow, because it's almost gaming time, and besides, I am desperately in need of dinner, which makes me light-headed.

I'm happy to say that although I didn't get all of the things done that I wanted to before tomorrow's dinner, I did get a lot done. The house is a lot cleaner than it usually is (or will be, once I sweep and mop) because I got to several of the jobs that I usually ignore. I'm really excited about tomorrow. My parents are supplying the turkey and some of the sides, and Chris and I will provide the relish tray, potatoes, homemade cranberry sauce, and hot and cold drinks. This is a big step up from previous years, where we only provided the relish tray. I feel like such a grown-up!

Last night I finished the bezel around the faerie button for my Thanksgiving necklace (which will not be finished in time to wear tomorrow, I fear). Tonight during the game, I'll be bezeling the rivoli and maybe joining them and starting on the embellishing. I think it's going to be very cute. I love how the bezel frames the faerie image, so I'll probably do the same thing for the 5 other buttons.

So to all of my American readers, happy Thanksgiving!

Hey look, it's SNOWDROP! :D

Ok, I'm through delaying! Today I photographed Snowdrop and now she's up on Etsy and ready for your admiring glances. There are three more images in the Etsy listing, including a couple of close-ups if you want to see more detail (and I know you do!).

I created Snowdrop for the Etsy BeadWeavers' December challenge, Snow Queen. For more eye candy, search Etsy for the tag "ebwc" and see what my team mates have come up with!

A wide variety of white and crystal beads went into the creation of this frosty beauty. There's Japanese seed beads in two sizes and colors, Delicas, a silver-backed crystal rivoli, white opal crystals, crystal moonlight teardrops, vintage teardrops, and a big opal and crystal givre teardrop, plus a cute little Czech glass button for the clasp.

The rivoli is bezeled with peyote stitch, and then I added three layers of embellishment. First, the long fringes with accent beads. Then a layer of short, plain fringes behind them just to fill it out. Then some ruffly picots all around, to give it some extra texture.

The necklace itself is a variation of chevron chain. I love this stitch because it's quick, sturdy, and attractive. This particular variation looks like interwoven hearts... although if you look at it just right, it sort of looks like hearts alternating with pretzels.

Now that Snowdrop is done, I can focus on the necklace I'm making for myself, which is never going to be ready in time for Thanksgiving!

Not Snowdrop

I got a slow start today and didn't get out to the workshop again. That's the one problem with the new photo set-up. It seems like a real waste of time to go out there and set everything up just to photograph one necklace, especially when I'll have to tear everything back down on Wednesday night for the game.

Of course, that's assuming we have a game. One player has other plans, due to it being almost the holiday, and if anyone else has plans, we'll just cancel the game for this week. And as much as I enjoy the game, that will be fine if it happens. Gives us more time to get things ready for Thanksgiving!

Anyway, I might whip up some more earrings or something as soon as I get up tomorrow, to make the photography set-up worthwhile. Or maybe I'll take pretty new pictures of some old items and put them up on Etsy for the holidays. I do have a few other Wintry items that could use some love. Maybe Snow Angel? We'll see.

Hey look! Puppies!

Ok, so they're full grown, but they still act like puppies. Chris and I call them our pups all the time. And I swear, they don't spend ALL of their time on that love seat. It's just that since the seat is catty-corner from my desk, and my camera is on my desk, I'm more likely to get a cute picture of them there. If they're being cute in the living room, they'll probably follow me into the office to get the camera.

I love this pose. It's so adorable when they lie together, in sisterly friendship. It's easy to see why the rescue insisted that they be adopted together. They like to be in the same room as each other, they go outside and back in at the same time, they like to cuddle together on the couch, play together, and walk together. One time when we took them for a walk, I got a leg-cramp and had to stop halfway through, and I kept Mags with me because I didn't think Chris would want to walk both of them (they have a bad habit of criss-crossing the leash around your legs), and Daisy still had a lot of energy to burn. The entire time that we waited for them to come back with the car, Maggie sat there looking in the direction they had gone, occasionally whimpering. And when Chris showed up with the car, she and Daisy were all over each other in the back seat. The next time we walked, Maggie wanted to be right up behind Chris and Daisy. There was no way they were getting away from her again!

I'm of course posting a corgi picture to distract you from the fact that Snowdrop isn't done yet. I will be finishing it tonight, but it's already dark and cold out, so I won't be trekking to the workshop to take pictures.

Just popping in

I wasn't feeling great today, so I spent most of the day kicking back and reading a book. Then I went out with my family to celebrate my Dad's birthday, and I ate chocolate cheesecake, and that make me feel a bit better. But now I am going to once more kick back, because the first disc of Doctor Who Season 4 arrived in today's mail, and watching that is more fun than blogging.

Tomorrow I should have Snowdrop ready, however!

Thursday Thirteen, Volume 2

Thirteen Things about AJ This week, it's Thirteen Things I Need or Want To Do Before I Host Thanksgiving For The First Time. 1. Actually finalize plans with my family, as to when they'll come over and who is making and providing what. 2. Buy the things that we are providing. 3. Seriously clean the house. While doing a basic cleaning yesterday, I noticed a lot of oft-ignored jobs that need doing. 4. Wash all the fancy plates. Some people have China. I have heavy pottery dishes with brown and glowing turquoise glaze. 5. Wash the new silverware. We got the style with bamboo-shaped handles. 6. Decide if I want any fancy platters or bowls to hold things in, and if so, purchase them. 7. Come up with an attractive way to cover the hole that one of the dogs chewed in the couch last night. Seriously dogs, we were gone for 15 minutes. What is up with destroying the couch? 8. Design and bead a new necklace to wear, because I haven't made anything for myself for a while! Maybe something involving one of the adorable vintage faerie buttons that arrived in yesterday's mail (goodness, I love Etsy), or a green rivoli. Or both! 9. Make sure that all holiday presents already procured for the family are safely hidden away in the guest room closet. 10. Give the dogs a bath, because no one is ever thankful for stinky, dusty dogs. 11. Figure out where we are going to put all of that food, and more importantly, how to keep the cats out of it. 12. Go buy more olives, because no matter how many we have, it's never enough for my husband and my brother, who will nosh on them constantly while the rest of the meal is cooking, and yet somehow still have room for a gigantic dinner. 13. Pre-write next week's T13 post, because I know I won't have time to blog!


Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants



Egyptian Treasury

It's almost time to schlep myself over to the game, so just a quick post to tell you about the treasury I curated today, Egyptian Mystique.

Serious Chandeliers, Silly Name

I call these Tiger in a Taffeta Dress because sometimes, when I have 5 or more new items to list at once, I just can't come up with beautiful names for all of them. Of course, this can work to my advantage. The earrings that I named "Mulch!?!" a couple of years back sold pretty quickly. Maybe these little tigers will find a home, too.

Actually, they're not very little. They're the heaviest earrings I have in stock right now! And you may recognize the color combination -- I used it earlier this year for the earrings that Denise won in my "how many spools of thread?" contest. I wanted to see how it would look with antiqued brass, and I think the answer is "quite nicely." Unfortunately, I had to substitute vintage glass for the citrine, as the citrine holes were way too small for the bronze headpins. 4mm Swarovski crystals also don't fit on the headpins, which limits my earring options quite annoyingly.

The Snowdrop necklace is coming along very nicely. I'll probably finish it on Thursday. Maybe even tomorrow, if I get up early, push through my housework, don't waste a lot of time on Facebook, and bead through the entire game. So yes. Expect it to be done on Thursday.

Cute keyrings

I call these earrings The Keys to Any of a Number of Things and they feature the little keyring charms that sparked my key-buying frenzy on Etsy. Aren't they just the neatest little dangles? The Czech glass window beads are also pretty. I plan to use more of them in a mermaid necklace, eventually.

My necklace for the December EBW challenge is off to a good start. I'm thinking its name will involve the word Snowdrop but I'm not entirely certain yet.

Chris's job is putting us both under a lot of stress right now, so I'm not feeling very talkative right now. I'm going to go work with my beads some more and see if it makes me feel any better.

Hello and good-bye!

These Hidden Secrets earrings sold within 24 hours of being listed on Etsy. The funny thing is, I told myself that if they didn't sell, I could replace the brass hooks with some bronze titanium and keep them. I really, really like them! But I'm very happy that they sold, it's a rewarding feeling to know that my favorite is someone else's favorite, too.

I have one more of those medallions left, and 2 more of the keys, so I'm thinking of doing a matching necklace with the brass chain I bought the other week. Although, since the earrings are already gone, I may do different bead accents, just to mix it up. Hard to say. Those matte, swirly Czech ovals are rather pretty.

In other news, I'm working on my piece for the Etsy Beadweavers' Snow Queen challenge. I'm not sure what it will be called yet, so the working title is Snow Queen. It's weird to work with these crisp white beads, after a week of the russet, earthy tones of Wastelands Tribe and all the green and brass for the earrings. It's good to mix things up! Not sure what I'll do next after this, though. Maybe more wintry colors, since it is that time of year. Oh, or the magenta/purple/celadon bead embroidered pendant. I guess those are more Spring-y colors, but I don't adhere to seasonal themes as much as I probably should.

Wastelands Tribe at last

I'm still not a great model, but I really needed a shot of this necklace being worn so people could see how awesome it is, and it just wouldn't have looked as good on Chris ;) For more pictures, please visit Wastelands Tribe on Etsy, and while you're at it, you can see all of the awesome earrings I made yesterday, too!

I'm probably happier with how this came out than I would have been with the original design. As I was weaving, I really felt like the necklace had an Afghani or African look to it, so the brass bells really go. And it was fun to work the key and the gear into the design, too. In fact, the gear is really nifty. It's actually two gears on one little axis (axle? spoke? thingie?), and you can move them individually if you have fingernails and decent manual dexterity. They could probably also be manipulated with a pin.

Next up, I'll be working on Snow Queen, but first I have to clean the remnants of about half a dozen projects off of my desk. It's getting way too cluttered here!

Thursday Thirteen Volume 1

So, I keep seeing this meme over at A Rose By Name's blog, and I thought I'd give it a little try. I am a sucker for internet memes.

Thirteen Things about AJ Reardon To start off, we'll do Thirteen Random Things About Me, for people who are new to my blog (I'll try to throw in some interesting things so my regular readers aren't bored), and in future weeks I'll try to come up with some fun gimmick lists. 1. I've been going by my initials since I was 11. I'm getting kind of bored with it, but I still don't like my actual name, and getting everyone to call me by a different name all over again is too much work. 2. I am happily childfree and intend to stay that way. 3. I do not call my cats and dogs my kids or babies, I am not their mother, and actually, I kind of hate it when people call me "Mom" when referring to their pets. 4. I'm not quite as cranky as this list makes me sound, so let's try to be positive, shall we? 5. I like gourmet flavored teas, and in fact have an entire cupboard in my kitchen dedicated to tea and tea-brewing paraphernalia. Last night I found a whole stash of yummy tea that had accidentally been pushed to the back of the cupboard. Woohoo! 6. I am an amateur belly dancer and I love to dance to Collide, Dead Can Dance, Stellamara, and whatever else sounds good at the moment. 7. I love living in Tucson because our winters are mild and we have the biggest gem show in the WORLD. 8. Speaking of gem shows, I hire myself out to various vendors to work as booth help to earn extra bead money. Since I started 8 years ago, I've worked for a Czech glass seller, a silver and beading supplies seller, a resin bead seller, a lampworker, and a full-fledged bead store whose booth is an entire room. It's an awesome job. 9. I collect mythology and folklore books. I especially enjoy going to the used bookstore and looking for old and unusual volumes. My collection includes a copy of "A Dictionary of Non-Classical Mythology" published right after the discovery of King Tut's tomb. I think it's technically my husband's book, but I sort of took possession of it... 10. Actually, I just really like books in general. I like to read them, I like to write them, I like to buy them, collect them, give them as gifts. In fact, the only thing I really don't like to do is pack and move them! They get heavy fast. 11. I am really enjoying being a homeowner. My husband and I bought our first house this year and we're so happy here. 12. I'm a big ol' nerd who is into fantasy, sci-fi, roleplaying gaming, comic books and web comics, steampunk, the occasional video game, and hanging out with other nerds. I really get tired of jokes that suggest that all nerds are socially inept, can't get a date, and live in their parents' basement. And don't even get me started on the assumption that they're all boys. Girl geeks rock! 13. I can be a little opinionated, I like to rant, and I stand up for what's important to me. Sarcasm is my favored weapon.


Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants



I'm one of the cool kids now.

I'm writing this on my laptop out in the game room. Everyone else always brings their laptop to the game, so I decided to bring mine out tonight, too. I just finished Wastelands Tribe, finally, and it looks pretty awesome. But I didn't feel like sorting out the Delica/11 mess for Snow Queen, so there's no beading tonight.

Technically I should be gaming, but everyone is talking about Fallout 3, a game which I am not playing. This always happens. Oh well. I needed time to blog anyway!

Chris's mid-week weekend was stymied by his boss, so we didn't get to do our other errands today. Instead, I spent all day doing housework. In fact, it was a pretty annoying day and the current lack of gaming is not making things better.

Tomorrow, I should be working on some neat earrings, and I should be able to take pictures of them and Wastelands Tribe. It's been too long since there's been new jewelry on this blog!

BootsbootsbootsbootsBOOTS!

Today I bought the most awesome black lace-up ankle boots. They're even more awesome than my previous black lace-up ankle boots, which have to be retired due to general falling-apartness. Chris is very amused by my excitement about these boots. While I like clothing, I am generally ambivelant about shoes. The one exception is boots. I ADORE boots of the lace-up or button-up variety. The more psuedo-Victorian the better. Now I just need a pair of brown boots and I will be an extremely happy girl.

This week has been beyond weird. Chris had to work overtime on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and last night, and now he's off today, tomorrow and probably Thursday. As such, today feels like a Saturday, and I kept forgetting that it was, in fact, the middle of the week.

Safety Gear has been redubbed Wastelands Tribe and it was coming along nicely until I realized that I had somehow been 5 rows off on finding the center (despite counting twice...), so I have to take it apart a bit and rework it some, but I do believe it can be saved. It looks nothing short of awesome, with a definite Afghani and African influence. I can't wait to finish it and show it off. In fact, I think I should go work on it now.

Our grand time at the park

I mentioned in Friday's post that we were going to take the girls walking at the park. We did, and it was a good time. We met Chris's friend and former co-worker Clinton, introduced him to Daisy and Maggie, and set out. The girls were pretty hyper at first, because they don't go for walks very often and aren't officially leash trained, but after about 10-15 minutes, and a dog swap (Daisy is too much a handful for Chris, especially when he's talking while he walks), they settled down and really enjoyed themselves.

The path around the park is about 4 miles... it took us around an hour to walk it, which is good, because they say corgis should get 30-60 minutes of exercise a day. Because of their short, stubby legs, a comfortably brisk pace for me is also a quick pace for them, so I'm sure it was a good aerobic workout for them. A dog of their size but of a less athletic breed might have been tired out, but these girls were bred to herd sheep, cattle and horses, so they have lots of energy to burn! They were smiling for pretty much the entire walk.

We had a little trouble, in that Daisy barked and lunged at the first dog we passed, but I kept her in hand and we only had minor pulling the two or three other times that we walked by other dog owners. She also shied away from rollerbladers. Being a country dog, I'm sure she'd never seen anyone on skates. Maggie, meanwhile, was just perfectly content to be out and about and didn't seem to have trouble with anyone or anything.

Because it's such a short distance to and from the park (walking distance, really, but walking there, around, and back would be too much with the shape we're currently in), instead of crating them, I took the center seat in the back and held their collars while they sat on either side of me. They were very well-behaved and didn't even try to get up front with Chris. Daisy seemed a little scared or uncomfortable with the car ride, but Maggie loved it.

After we got home and fed the girls their dinner, they slept on the office chair for five hours. Those pups were all tuckered out!

It was such a success that we're hoping to go on similar walks 2-3 times a week. We could all use the exercise, and the girls need to learn how to walk well on a leash. Besides, it's so much fun when someone walks by, smiles, and says "Aw, corgis!"

My Day of Getting Things Done

Since gaming was held elsewhere today and there were no random people going in and out of my house, I felt really free to get around to doing a lot of things that I had planned. Granted, I didn't get as much done as I had hoped, but I still accomplished a lot, while still having fun and not feeling like I spent half of my weekend working. Today I...

... went to the post office and ran some errands.
... finally received my package of components from Canada and ooohed and aaahed over them.
... began a new blog for my writing.
... gave in and signed up for a Twitter account.
... caught up on reading a couple of other blogs.
... continued to work on Safety Gear, though I had to change my idea and it will need a new name.
... started work on my chapter for the Collector Times Round Robin story, The League of Explorers.
... got a good bit of dancing in.

There's a few more things that I might get done before the night is over. But even if I don't, it feels good to get so much done in a single day.

Much Beading Accomplished

(yes, it's another picture of Dreamwalker Amulet. I really like the necklace, what can I say?)

I'm making great progress on Safety Gear. I have half a dozen stitches left, and then it's embellishing time. I'm only taking a break because I hit the end of my thread, so that seemed like a good time to come over here and blog about it. I might even finish it tonight, and if so, I may photograph it tomorrow.

As I sat here working on it, I had an inspiration for an interesting variation on the design. It's definitely worth exploring, but I won't get to do so until after I finish Snow Queen. I thought about discarding my original Snow Queen idea and doing this instead, but I don't think it would be quite elegant enough, and it would require different beads than the ones that I already picked out.

Tonight we're going to head over to Reid Park (the largest, most awesome park in Tucson) with the dogs to go walking with a friend. It's a little colder than I'd like to be out walking, but it's good to get some exercise, take the dogs out, and be social. Hopefully the girls will behave themselves! They like to wrap me up like a maypole when we walk.

Full Steam Ahead!

Full Steam Ahead is the theme for this month's Art Bead Scene challenge. You know I am excited about it! I've already entered a couple of pieces, and I have a few more to add, including Safety Gear when it's finished. And of course, I'll also be entering The Inventors' Gala Ball, which I just listed on Etsy. Brown and steampunk are both so hot right now that I'm confident this necklace will find a home quickly.

Back to Safety Gear for a moment, it's coming along very nicely. I had a lot of beading time at last night's game, and then a lot of beading time today. And in fact, I'll have more beading time after I post this, too. I actually had to force myself to stop and go do the Etsy listing and all of my other on-line stuff. I was in a nice grove, stitching along, and it seemed almost a shame to let that momentum go.

Meanwhile, today's mail had two packages for me! I ordered some shower gel, lip balm and perfume from Etsy seller Savvii which arrived today. I'm especially pleased with the Chai lipbalm and the Midnight Pomegranate perfume. Haven't tried the shower gel yet, but it smells pretty nice, so it's promising. And I also received the beads, rivolis, and chain that I ordered from Whimbeads. The rivoli is just what I needed for my Snow Queen necklace, so I get to start that as soon as I finish Safet Gear.

All in all, a pretty satisfying day!

Super fast post

No time for a real blog post, since I have to go to the grocery store before the game, so let's cover bases really fast:

Dreamwalker Amulet is now on Etsy, at a reduced price! Yay!
I'm working on Safety Gear again and think it will turn out this time. Yay!
The presidential candidate that I voted for won. Yay!
None of my various Etsy packages arrived in today's mail. Boo!

That is all.

The turtle now has friends!

Yesterday I decided that since I enjoyed the colors in Turtle Talisman so much, I ought to make a bracelet and earrings to go with it. So here they are: Marsh and Trundling Turtles. Singly or as a set, they're deliciously green.

I've had a busy day today. I voted, did housework, made earrings, took pictures, listed things on Etsy, and played with my hyper dogs. All in all, a good Tuesday.

Not quite white

Well, I went to start Snow Queen today, and it didn't work out because the Crystal Moonlight rivoli has a slight yellowish tint to it that looked bad against the white seed beads. Not to be deterred, brought up the Whimbeads website and ordered a plain ol' crystal rivoli instead -- as well as some chain, some Delicas, and some of those new-fangled size 15 Delicas. Because, you know, I had to make the order worth the cost of shipping (ok, I went beyond that. Maybe I felt the need for a little retail therapy...).

The annoying part in all of this is that I'm using the same color Delica and Japanese 11 for this project... and I accidentally dumped the Delicas into the 11s tube when I was cleaning up! Sorting them back out from each other will not be a fun task. I think I might save it for the Wednesday game, that way I don't have to worry about a cat jumping up onto my desk and mixing them right back up.

Anyway, in the meantime, I felt like I should bead something, so I made a green and green crystal bracelet, using some of the colors from the Turtle Talisman. I'm also going to make some earrings with a pair of the turtle beads and some crystals... That way if someone is so inclined, they could get a matching green turtle set. I'll list the bracelet and earrings on Etsy tomorrow or Wednesday, depending on when I get them photographed.

White on white on white on white...

The December theme for Etsy BeadWeavers is "Snow Queen." As luck would have it, I've had several snowy pieces planned for a while, but hadn't worked on them yet, because it wasn't winter. Tonight I decided to pick out the beads for the most appealing one, which has a "Crystal Moonlight" colored rivoli, and some matching briolettes.

If you've been following my jewelry for a while, you probably know that whenever I make an icy necklace, I tend to add light blue to the white, because I like color. But this time I'm forcing myself out of my comfort zone and working only in shades of white. I think it will make for a much icier, snowier necklace. It will probably also be a pretty bridal necklace, something which I am pretty much lacking.

I might need to order some 15s before I proceed, though. The best I could come up with were some plain matte crystal, and I think they're going to look too drab with the white-lined crystal AB Delicas and 11s. Plain white was too stark, and gilt-lined opal white was too yellow... and that exhausted my selection of white beads. I almost never work in white, preferring cream and ivory for neutrals, so I have almost nothing to pick from for this necklace!

Anyway, with any luck, this will work out better than my attempts for the November challenge did!

What I wore for Halloween!

Here I am, dressed up for Halloween. I'm standing in a weird way, trying to show off my cute socks, and holding the neat bottle that I bought on Etsy.

Not expecting a lot of trick-or-treaters, I bought a 25 pack of mini Play-Dough tubs. I won't be doing that again. I ran out after about 20 minutes. There were a lot of people out and about in my neighborhood! I sat outside on the front porch for those 20 minutes, so the dogs wouldn't freak out about the doorbell being rang all the time. Instead, they just freaked out about all the people who were outside! They were a little edgy even after everyone was off the streets, but today they're back to their usual behavior. They're both dozing right now, in fact, in that "tummy full, time to sleep" post dinner haze :)

With Halloween over, I guess it's time to start thinking about Thanksgiving. Mmm, cranberry sauce! I think we'll be hosting it this year, for the first time ever, since we have a bigger dining room than my parents. Should be fun!

Sale ends today!

Just a reminder, today is the last day to take advantage of the 10% off sale on all jewelry in my Etsy Shop! Remember, the holidays are just around the corner, so now is the perfect time to buy some presents or pick up the perfect necklace to wear to the office Christmas party.

So blasted lethargic!

Ugh, I just could not fall asleep last night, and though I eventually did (sometime after 3am), I don't think I slept very well. I've spent the entire day with that slightly dulled, completely energy-less feeling that I get when I haven't slept. As such I didn't get nearly as much done as I should have. I did write three articles for Collector Times, and I'm about to edit some BFAC pictures, but I didn't have any inspiration to bead or motivation to clean the house.

Last night, however, I almost completed a rivoli pendant in purple and green. I left it out in the game room so I can finish it next week. It was fun to work on a smaller, simpler project without any real pressure. I think I need to work on such things for the next little bit, at least until I'm done with all this BFAC stuff. I don't seem to be having much luck working on major projects.

The other fun thing about last night was dressing like my roleplaying character, since it was just two days before Halloween. I love the fact that I can cobble together a costume out of the contents of my closet -- although to be fair, I did borrow Chris's Ren Faire pants -- and I'll do the same tomorrow. I haven't decided if I'll be a belly dancer or a steampunk for Halloween, but I'm leaning towards the latter. I've been a belly dancer for the past two or three years. Not that I'm even doing anything for Halloween, but I will be handing out stuff to any kids who come by, so I'll dress up for them.

Anyway, off to photos with me!

Nope, that idea didn't work...

I may have already said as much on this blog, but after the beaded book didn't work out, I decided I'd try doing a necklace based on the expression "a stitch in time saves nine." Today I sat down to work on it, and it was one little problem after another, which resulted in a crooked and unattractive pendant. Grr. Hopefully I can pop the old watch face out of the glue, because it's the only one from my package of watch faces that actually has numbers on it.

So after two failed attempts to come up with something appropriate, and the deadline for the November challenge looming, I'm quite frustrated. It's reached the point that -- despite the fact that I am not an evolutionist -- I think I'm going to go WAY back on the ancestral scale and make a primordial ooze bracelet. Ooze about matches my mood right now. And ooze is green. Working in green should make me happy.

And if that doesn't work out, I have to give up on the November challenge altogether! I have too many other deadlines on the horizon. Darn my tendency to bite off more than I can chew.

The brooch, at last!

Here is my brooch, The Soaring Wyvern. It has a fun little story with it in the Etsy listing, too. I'm so happy with how it looks, that I might just make more brooches in the future.

I had a nice day today, did a bunch of housework and then had a visit with my friend Helen. She adored the dogs, and they were of course all over her. We talked a lot about pets, some about life, and a bit about the current season of Heroes. All in all, a good time.

Tonight I'll start picking things out for my EBW challenge piece, I think.

My dogs are clean!

Much to their extreme dismay, Daisy and Maggie got baths today. Their white fur is actually white again, instead of a dusty-color. And they smell slightly less like dog. It's quite an ordeal bathing them, and next time Chris wants to try taking them to one of those do-it-yourself groomers so we don't make a mess of our bathroom. Given the bits of dog hair everywhere in the tub, I'm inclined to agree with him.

The girls had to be bathed, as my friend Helen is coming over to meet them, and I thought she'd probably prefer to not be greeted by dirty, smelly dogs. Our weather has been so dry that the backyard is all dusty, and all that dust and dirt gets caught up in their fur... yuck!

Moving on to a much more pleasant topic. I actually managed to finish my brooch before bed last night. I was going to put some fringe on it, but after I finished the edge, I thought that any fringe would just look too fussy, so I'm leaving it as is. I hope to photograph it and list it on Etsy tomorrow.

Not much getting done...

I'm feeling a little rundown today, probably the stress over the stupid website thing. So I didn't get much done, not even much fun stuff. I had planned to bead a lot, and here it is almost 11:30 and I've only done a single stitch. I'll do a few more after I post this, but not too many, because I'm using black thread to stitch black felt and black Ultrasuede together (accented by dark pewter beads) and that makes my tired eyes get all squinty!

This next week is going to be crazy, as I have to continue what I've been doing for LL-BFAC, write my usual e-zine columns, and get my EBW challenge piece done (which, by the way, I haven't even started). Oh yes, and keep the house clean and care for all the pets and possibly cram a couple social visits in as well. And, of course, try to get my website back. The fun never stops!

I don't mean to sound all complainy. All in all, life is pretty good. The house is awesome, the dogs are a constant source of joy, Chris is great, the economic situation hasn't hurt us, etc etc. I just can't help but wish that I had a little more time for beading and writing, and to play with polymer clay and learn to use my sewing machine (which I've had for about 10 months now), and all the other creative endeavours I might want to try.

I might as well take advantage of the time I do have, so it's off to the beads with me!

A Key Necklace!

Key to the Autumn Door is the first piece in my new series of inexpensive steampunk jewelry. With the economy being what it is, I'm sure many people will be looking for affordable presents for the holidays, so I'm trying to add more modest pieces to my collection, to balance out the wanton extravagance of beadweaving and art beads. This new line of jewelry may also include other themes, but I just purchased a lot of keys and brass elements to use, so that will be the main focus to start with.

In other Etsy-related news, today I was accepted in the Fantasy Artists Etsy Team. I'm really thrilled and honored, as many of my favorite Etsy sellers are part of that team. If you'd like to get a taste for the excellent work done by the members of FAE, just go to Etsy and do a search for "faeteam."

In annoying news, my domain name was finally released, only to be snatched up by one of those annoying companies that purchases expired domains to use for advertising. So next week, I have to try to get it back from them. This is about where I start to bang my head against the wall...

Photos, I take them!

I hope you're not bored of Locked Away, because here's another shot! I just edited this picture, and a dozen others. That's the part I hate about doing photography... going through and getting all of the images web-ready. Luckily, with this set-up, I don't have to do any color adjustments, so it goes a little faster, but it's still a tedious job. I have to take lots of little breaks... Like a break to post on my blog!

Last night, I bezeled a rivoli in the new "Purple Haze" effect (you may have seen it advertised in the beading magazines). I'm not thrilled with the effect, it's not very purple. I won't be buying it again. But I do have a couple of vintage cabs that go nicely with it, so eventually they'll all be part of a very fancy pendant. The cabs just have to wait until I've got a couple of other projects finished, including the brooch and my November EBW challenge piece.

Rivoli bezeling is a nice, simple project for gaming, though, so if I'm not working on something else easily portable next week, I'll definitely work on another one. I feel almost like I should plot out projects for all of the rivolis that I currently have, and pick out the bezel beads for them, so I've got a ready-made project for the next half dozen or so game nights.

Making stuff!

Well, I got an early start today, and my friend was too busy to come over, so I actually got to have a little creative time today. I just whipped up a quick, simple necklace which I'll try to get photographed and into the Etsy shop soon. Because it is quick and simple, it will also be affordable! I think I need to have more than just earrings in the $25 and under range.

I'm going to do a little beading tonight during the game, probably just bezel a rivoli that will eventually be part of a larger project. Or maybe bezel one of these slightly defective rivolis and make myself another cute pendant. I haven't made anything for myself for a while... and I have several green rivolis to choose from. Hmmm....

In my mail today, there was a package full of some goodies that I purchased from Etsy... two different styles of vintage glass cameo cabochons, and some cool Czech snake beads that I wish I'd had for the Animal Instincts challenge. I'm trying not to buy a lot of random supplies, but these were all too awesome to pass up. The cameos are especially beautiful, and I've been needing some of those for Neo Victorian/Steampunk jewelry.

Just flitting in.

I snapped a few shots of this really cool moth on the screen in my beadroom today. I owe thanks to Topher for these pictures, as I found it by following his gaze to see what he was staring at. The neat thing, which is more visible when its wings are spread out (unfortunately, those pictures were fuzzy) is that the lighter parts are translucent.

Anyway, I'm a bit disappointed that I didn't get to bead today, and I won't be writing either. I did take a bunch of LL-BFAC photos, and go to Target and buy another vest, and get some housework done, but I didn't get to any of the fun stuff I had planned. Bummer.

Tomorrow will be another busy day! I've got housework galore, possibly a visit from a friend, then grocery shopping and gaming. I'll try to at least get some beads together to work on something during the game.

Sarcasm dog rolls her eyes at you!

I took this picture of Maggie looking sarcastic last night. And that's all I'll say on the subject of dogs, since it isn't the weekend!

Over the weekend, I came to the conclusion that I'm just not going to finish this beaded book. It's boring. I remembered that square stitch was a bit tedious, but my memories were not exact in just how soul-numbingly dull it is. I bead to enjoy myself, so I should be doing something fun. As such, I'm going to go in a totally different direction for the Ancestral Expressions challenge. Hopefully I can start my new project tomorrow.

I have a couple of small, simple projects that I want to do, too, and I need to finish the wyvern brooch. I definitely need to make time to bead this week, when I'm not taking LL-BFAC pictures, or editing them, or cleaning house. And speaking of BFAC pictures, it has been working out much better to take them in the game room. I'm not getting that weird yellowish tint anymore, so it must have been those lights.

Also, if you're on Facebook, you can now become a fan of Layne's Legacy -- Beading For A Cure! I'm maintaining the page, and will be using it to post pictures, website updates, news, and the auction schedule. You can use it to chat with other LL-BFAC fans, plot out your auction purchases, and introduce your Facebook friends to a worthy cause.

I've been tagged!

When I checked my comments today, I saw that I'd been tagged by The Beaded Lily with one of those blog memes where you share random facts about yourself and then tag your friends. Weee! Here's the rules:

1. Link to your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blog.
4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

So without further ado, here are some facts about me:

1. I like to dip french fries in honey instead of catsup.
2. My female cat is named Xunalira because I couldn't come up with a good name for her, so Chris and I played with a word spin game until we randomized something that we liked.
3. It's been 14 years since I had a haircut.
4. I used to square dance.
5. I live within walking distance of the largest park in my city.
6. My first roleplaying character was a five foot tall faerie armed with a katana.
7. I wrote my first novel when I was 15. Too bad it sucks.

And the seven people I'd like to tag are:
My friend Charlene
My EBW Teammate Ann Burke
Fellow LL-BFAC Contributor Arline
My friend Doris
My friend Gina
Marilee, who probably doesn't like memes but gets tagged anyway
Blog-buddy Christina

And now, back to spending my Saturday lazing around. Hurray, lazy Saturday!

All day at the camera...

Well, not quite all day, but I did spend a while setting up my photography stuff out in the game room. It worked out pretty well in there, and I took a lot of pictures, which I will have to sort out tomorrow. It was unexpectedly warm today (back up to 90), and the heat wiped me out. Once I was done with photos, I just wanted to kick back with a cold glass of water.

I've just added the little widget that allows you to easily follow my blog! If you are a blogger user, you can choose to follow this blog, and my posts will show up on your dashboard. Plus you can click on any of the other people who are following my blog, and see if their blog interests you. Isn't technology grand?

That's all for tonight, I want to go write before I get too sleepy.

It's Fancy!

Just took my first batch of photos using my light tent and varitone sheet backgrounds. Ooooh. Aaaaah. I purchased these items in an attempt to make the Layne's Legacy -- Beading For A Cure photographs look nicer, hence why this test shot is of Locked Away.

By the way, if you're new to this blog and haven't seen Locked Away before, you can click on the "locked away" tag at the bottom of this post and view all of the in-progress posts I made about it.

I seem to be having some weird lighting issues in this shot, though, probably from the incandescent bulbs in the overhead fixture in the guest room, where I've been taking my pictures. Tomorrow I want to move out to the game room, where the lighting is better and I can set up on an actual table. We're not having a game on Saturday, so I can actually keep my stuff set up until Wednesday.

Work on my beaded book is going sooooo slooooow. This is why I don't do square stitch very often. It's time-consuming and well, a little boring. I'd rather be embroidering or doing a herringbone rope or something. I don't think I'll be making very many beaded books in the future, which is too bad, because I think it will be pretty cute.

Last Day to Vote!

Voting for the Etsy BeadWeavers' November Challenge ends at midnight! I'm not sure if that's midnight PST, EST, or some ST in between, but there you haven't. If you haven't voted already, click here and choose your favorite! The poll is conveniently located on the right side of the blog.

I'm pleasantly surprised to see that I'm in 4th place, which isn't bad at all, since I think there are more than three items which are much better than my necklace ;) And there's a very good chance that the item I voted for will win, which is great. Everyone loves to pick a winner!

I plan to work on my beaded book at the game tonight. It's actually the perfect sort of project to work on during a game; small, easily portable, and at this stage, very repetitive. Tomorrow I'll probably take a break from it and finish the dragon brooch, as a friend of mine sent me plenty of pinbacks. So many pinbacks, in fact, that I may have to make more brooches!

Started my November challenge piece

After considering various parts of my heritage, I decided that rather on focusing on a particular country of origin, I was going to do something rather specific to my family. I come from a long line of teachers, readers, writers, and general bibliophiles, so I'm making a beaded book.

I did want to do some sort of pretty, elaborate piece inspired by the jewelry worn by ladies in Renaissance portraits, but let's face it -- there's no aristocracy in my family tree. We're all a bunch of peasants, and I'm not going to pretend otherwise. Besides, a beaded book is something I've wanted to do for a while.

I came up with the idea last week, but I finally sat down to work on it today, I'm using square stitch, which is not my favorite technique. It's pretty time-consuming. But it will give my book nice straight edges, like a book should have. I'm using Delica beads, whose uniformity will help create the image of a smooth book cover. Hopefully it will turn out! Watch this blog for in-progress pictures!

Celebrating 10 years of Erthe Fae Designs!

In October 1998, I bought some beads at a cute nature gallery in one of our local malls, turned them into jewelry, and listed them in eBay. I thought this was a fun way to make some money for the holidays, and that it would go to the wayside someday when I got a "real" job. Little did I realize at the time that I was getting myself into an all-consuming addiction that would lead to numerous friendships, a few fun journeys, and the need for an entire room set aside for my supplies.

To celebrate this momentous occasion, all jewelry in my Etsy shop is now 10% off! This sale will continue until the end of October. All other jewelry that I list between now and then will also have 10% knocked off of its intended price. This is a great time to pick up some holiday presents, or something suitable to wear to all those year-end parties.

Thank you to all of my friends and family who have been a constant source of support, encouragement and inspiration on my jewelry-making adventure!

No pictures here, move along

My grand plan to take photographs was thwarted by my camera running out of battery juice, and me being unable to find the other two awesome camera batteries that I have around here someplace. I know that rechargeable batteries are better for the environment, and I'm all for improving my green footprint, but I really seem to get better life out of those Lithium batteries that are designed for electronic gadgets.

Anyway, since I can't do photography today, I'm writing instead. Yay! I've written a few pages, and if I really buckle down, I might even get to kill off a character tonight. Well, probably not, but it's something to strive for. I admit that I tend to get really attached to characters, and then I don't want to kill them, but a few need to die to move the plot along. Poor characters.

Because it's the weekend, I get to talk about my dogs. Awwww! They're behind me right now, wrestling. Daisy makes this really vicious face, with her ears back and her lips pulled way up, and her jaws go snap-snap-snap in a ferocious display that is really ruined by the fact that she'll randomly stop to lick Maggie. They're really amusingly bad at fighting, so I often find myself giggling at their antics. This causes them to break up their fight and run over to me, to try to get me to join in. They also still try to get The Toph to wrestle with him, but he is having none of their corgi shenanigans. I did catch him sniffing Daisy's wagging tail the other day, though. He's getting used to them!

Quick Post!

Can't blog for long tonight, my parents will be here in a few minutes, and a polite hostess doesn't leave her guests waiting while she blogs ;)

So anyway, a quick rundown of things that happened today: I decided what to do for the November EBW challenge, I realized that I really need to buy more Delicas, and my light tent for photography arrived via UPS. As such, tomorrow's blog post should have some nice pictures!

The turtle compels you to vote!

No, I'm not talking about the US Presidential Election. No politics here, only beautiful beaded jewelry! The turtle compels you to vote for your favorite entry in the Etsy BeadWeavers' challenge! Go forth, view all of the lovely pieces submitted for the Animal Instincts theme, and cast your vote. Tell all of your jewelry-loving friends, too!

Please note, I am not one of those people who tells all of her friends to vote for her, and to tell their friends to do so. I created Turtle Talisman to challenge myself to make something I wouldn't normally (a piece of jewelry with a non-fantasy, non-insect animal), and while I think it's very nice, I do not think that it is the best item in the poll. I want people to vote for the item that they like best. That's what I did. There are some really great items, made by people who were clearly more inspired by the theme than I was.

Now, if you want to tell your friends to buy my Turtle Talisman, I will not stop you ;) That would buy me a lot of cabochons! (ok, maybe not a lot, I have expensive tastes)

On a barely related tangential note, today was an awesome mail day. I received my two most recent Etsy purchases -- a pair of hairpins with clock face cabs, and a gorgeous steampunk bottle -- and a package from my friend and frequent blog commentor Marilee, who sent me some awesome sewing and beading supplies. Hooray for packages! (and for my nice mail lady, who brings them to the door, and who doesn't mind having two corgis charge at her every time)

Etsy Treasury!

Well, this will expire tomorrow night, but you should really check out my Etsy Treasury, The Green Faerie! I curated it yesterday. It's my first treasury ever, and I was really excited to snag it. It's a strange, almost exhilerating feeling, to get to show off a bunch of my favorite items and sellers. And of course, it's fun to pick out items that go well together.

I finished the embroidery for my dragon/wyvern piece. Now I need to dig through all of my beading books -- which are still boxed up -- and find directions on attaching pinbacks. Assuming I have any such finding. I used to have a bunch, but I think I got rid of them all, because I never make brooches. Curse my fickle muse! If I don't have any, I'll just have to hit the bead store this weekend, and in the meantime, I have a different project to work on, so it's OK.

But for now, my main project is cleaning house in anticipation of having the game here tonight. The beads will have to wait!

World: Not quite conquered yet

Looks like I didn't conquer the world today. Or even my house. It was too nice of a day to go out and conquer anything. Autumn has hit Tucson, and we're having lower temperatures (for us) and gentle breezes. The dogs love it, they always want to go outside and chase lizards.

That's right, I didn't blog all weekend, so you get dogs in the middle of the week! This is a picture from shortly after we got the girls. Daisy likes to sleep next to my desk like this, it puts her in the middle of things and makes sure she doesn't miss out on any petting, snacks, or opportunities to go outside. Maggie's more likely to sleep on the Giant Dog Chair. She favors comfort over being in the center of things. Of course, right now, neither one of them is sleeping. They're playing "Follow the kitty around and give him kisses." Poor Topher.

The dragon necklace is coming along well, though it may turn out to be a brooch instead of a necklace. And it won't be my EBW entry, as it's going to have a steampunk story to go with it. Alas, my ancestors were not steampunks. I don't think my great-grandfather the engineer counts, even though they were steam trains.

Zombie-B-Gone

After a mostly relaxing weekend, my zombie feelings are gone and I think that when I wake up tomorrow, I'll be ready to conquer the world! Or at least my house. The house could use a good conquering.

I've got a nice vintage dragon cab all glued down, and by tomorrow the glue should be all cured and no longer producing headache-inducing fumes, and I will get down to some serious beading. This may or may not end up being my entry for the Etsy BeadWeavers' November challenge, "Ancestral Expressions." Given my heavily (ie, 100%) European ancestry, a heraldic-looking dragon fits, but I'm not sure if it's what I want to do. I might honor the Welsh side of my heritage. For that matter, my great-grandma Chapman claimed that we were from the same branch of Chapmans as Johnny "Appleseed" Chapman, so I could do something like that*. My English roots would give me a good excuse to do something Victorian, and I always like an excuse to do that. I'll probably avoid Irish, as several other people are already discussing that. I could even be silly and do something Elven, since I joke about being an elf or a faerie, but I do have enough of that in my shop already. The French and German/Prussian sides of my family call up no immediate inspiration, though I do have lots of nice vintage German beads.

I have almost a month to decide, though, so we'll see what the muse says!

*Due to this admittedly probably apocryphal bit of family lore, I'm always amused when I hit the part in American Gods where Shadow meets John Chapman. One can't help but be amused when one's possible ancestor shows up in ones favorite novel.

Uuuuugh

I feel like a zombie. Uuuuuugh. Braaaaaaaainz.

"Safety Gear" isn't working out yet. I'm going to try a different technique, I think.

I got some new ultrasuede today, so I might do some more bead embroidery instead.

As soon as I stop feeling like one of the living dead.

Close-up

Here's a close-up of my turtle pendant. I'm really happy with the positive response so far. I didn't think he was that awesome, but sometimes we're our own worse critics.

I really want to do more embroidery pieces. I ordered some ultra suede earlier this week so I can back them. I have a few cabs to work with, too. I just want to buy a whole bunch more! I've got a few sellers favorited on Etsy, and I can't wait to go on a little shopping spree someday.

For tonight, I have a weird steampunk necklace idea to work on. It's been floating around in my head for a while, and I decided it was finally time to use it. I even have the perfect name for it... It's called "Safety Gear" and when you see it, you'll know why!