Continuing...

At the start of every new year I always make it my goal to clean my craft room. This year is no different but I'm finding it much harder. I've started destashing some beads and getting rid of items I don't use any longer and I even moved some fabric that I use for donations to an under the bed box. I still have too much and not enough things/boxes to organize everything in. I did finally get my yarns in a box instead of a bag, but now to find a place for it. Oh, to have a bigger room. On second thought, I would just fill the bigger room with more stuff so we won't go there. So, I continue to try to organize until I need to work on something and out everything comes again to the point it's hard to walk or even find the table top. Did I mention this room is only about a 7' x 9' room at the back of the house and floor space is a premium. Probably the same size as my laundry room so not very big.

I do get discouraged as I walk into that small room and realize I have no idea what to do to make it better except to get rid of a lot of stuff. Although I do know that if I get rid of something, I'll probably need it next week for a different project, no best idea is to continue trying to organize. So I push on.

For those of  you that have not seen my little slice of clutter heaven. Here is a pic when it was nice and organized with new cabinets. Wish I could see that table top now.

I won't even show you what it looks like now.

In hubby's and my quest for better heath this year we purchased a new cookware set. Okay so I have to tell you a little story first before I get to that. When we got married I had cookware. I purchased the set back in 1978 or so right out of high school. Paid it off with payment plans if that gives you any indication of how much it was and used it up until we got married. Great cookware but hubby didn't want to cook in stainless steel so we packed it away in the garage loft and forgot about. So the daughter calls and says she is having a cookware demonstration at her house and would we come to dinner. Okay, sure why not. I had a feeling it was the same cookware I had in the loft and said so but we went.

Talk about a surprise, same cookware that my mother had which was a step above my old set and expensive but fixed great food with no oil and no water. Yes, this is that famous waterless cookware. Hubby loved that it packed well and you didn't have to use water and you could fry without oil and cleaned up like a breeze. I was even more impressed with the baking soda test. Most stainless steel will pass the test but we had some annodized aluminum and cast iron we were using that would not pass. Try this test. Two cups of water in one of your sauce pans and a teaspoon of baking soda. Boil. Take a small taste. It should taste like baking soda and water right, well if you used something other than stainless it tastes like poison. Not good. I just can't imagine that cooking veggies or anything else in those pans wouldn't alter the taste of your food. So out they went and hubby was up in the loft looking for my old set. Now did I say we bought us a new set...yes we did, but never fear we are not getting rid of my old set it will be put to good use in our motor home as we get rid of the pans there.

You know a lot of what the salesman said was true, we replace appliances costing thousands every few years (they just don't make them like they used to) and even replace our pots and pans when the coating starts to wear out but how many of us can say that we have cookware that will last our lifetime. I do and now I have a second set that will be even better. I can't wait to get it and start learning to cook all over again.

Now I sound like a commercial but really can you place a value on your health? My hope is that we will start cooking healthier and be healthier for it.

On the workbench this week.

Wire wrapped coins. Inspiration from a post on Pinterest.

My hand at attempting to make a wire frog. Still working on it.

Charms for a swap called "Where you live". The beach glass was given to me by a friend.

Charms for another swap that was Pink and White and since it is so close to Valentines Day I made hearts,

New shower curtain hooks and a little bit of bling in the dangles. I posted this picture on FB and everyone voted that the dangles should stay so each hook has it's own dangle of crystals and pearls.

Now that I look back at what I did this week I don't feel too bad that my craft room is such a mess. I was still able to play and found enjoyment in what I did accomplish. 

Here's to having more fun next week.

Regenerating

After all our travels in December, we are sure glad to be home and back to a normal routine. Okay, our life isn't necessarily normal but whose is. I haven't taken down the holiday decorations yet as I want to enjoy them a few more days but I'm sure that by the weekend our house will also be back to normal.

Hubby has been fighting a cold, not sure if he won or the cold but I've been trying to take precautions and boosting my immune system with all kinds of essential oils, vitamins and supplements. I do have a cough but it isn't what it could have turned into and for that I am thankful. I do have a recipe that you can use on the bottom of your feet when you have a cold. I do think it prevented hubby's from getting worse and my mom swears by it. We use it "neat" (3 drops on feet every night) but if you don't feel comfortable with that then you can dilute the 3 drops with a teaspoon of olive oil.

3 drops Peppermint EO
2 drops Eucalyptus EO
2 drops Camphor EO
2 drops Frankincense EO

As I was blog hopping I came across the Camp Wander blog and she has some awesome things to try. Yesterday's post was all about anti-aging and a recipe she has to help regenerate the skin. It of course contains Frankincense. I'll have to try it out. Here is a link to her blog post.

Not only do I feel that this coming year I need to be better to my skin and body but also my mind and creativity as well. Today I started a new year long on-line art journey called Life Book with Tamara LaPorte. I've already started with the first lesson and can't wait to see how the journey goes this year. This piece is my fantasy "Fairy Art Mother". She turned out pretty good and is now hanging in my studio to remind me that whatever I create, it is wonderful and beautiful.

She is made with watercolor and watercolor crayons. If you follow my art blog Basically Art, I will be posting my progress throughout the year.

I have so many more things in the works including a new class for my "Hammered Pendant" and a new "Coastal Cypress" gem tree so stay tuned and for those class dates.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

It's going to be a great year.

Reveling in the Holiday Spirit

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and Christmas. Hubby and I took a little trip after Thanksgiving and headed down South to New Orleans to take a couple of cruises out of their port. I think I was more impressed with New Orleans than the cruises but we had a great time even though it took away from my holiday creating and planning. 

Here we are on Grand Cayman which was our second stop on Royal Caribbean.

We loved the Royal Caribbean ship. It had a central promenade with windows from upper cabins that looked down over it. Reminded us of a little city.

You can see a little bit better here how there were shops and pubs throughout the central core of the ship.

We were able to take one excursion at Costa Maya (our first stop on the Norwegian cruise) and visited the Chacchoben Mayan ruins there. They were amazing.

Here we are nice, hot and tired in Roatan, Honduras on the West side.

An Iguana Farm where there were hundreds just walking around.

Another local wild life park in Roatan where we saw Capuchin monkeys and exotic birds.

In New Orleans we took time out for a cooking demonstration at the New Orleans School of Cooking. We learned to make Gumbo, Jumbalaya and Pralines.

Another highlight was eating the beignets at Cafe de Monde.

I think one of the hardest parts of the trip was seeing all the houses that still need renovating in the part of New Orleans that flooded. I just love the history and the architecture of the buildings from the French side to the American side. Amazing old buildings that they have kept and preserved.

The holiday with family was of course the best it could be and we hope to see all of them again next year. 

Coming up for me is more art and jewelry designs along with classes that will be new for 2013. I'll be teaching my Hammered Pendant along with my other two jewelry type classes (Simply Findings and Falling Leaves) at Shipwreck this coming year and I may sneak a new gem tree design in.... who knows.

Have a great New Year.

Finished for the Year

We are finally finished with all our demonstrating at gem and mineral shows for the year. Since we will be traveling so much we don't have anymore scheduled until the first weekend in June. Quite a big break for us as we usually do one in April and one in May. I think 2013 will be our mega travel year with a long extended vacation to Italy. I'll definitely be blogging more about that as we get closer.

I worked on some metal pieces this weekend along with some bullet charm/pendants. Both are selling well and I have a class scheduled at the gem and mineral show this coming Saturday to teach this technique. Funny, I have more men in my class than women. Since it involves a lot of hammering, I would have thought that would have appealed to women wanting to get out their aggressions...I know I do. It really does make for a better marriage if he can handle all the noise. ha

So here are a few pieces from this weekend.

I did four Mexican Fire Opals (second photo) in copper, the Ammonite in copper, Tiger Eye in brass and the unknown lovely blue stone (may be Shattuckite but definitely a copper mineral) with copper flecks mounted in copper. My favorite is the Tiger Eye in brass even though the brass was a bear to work with even when I annealed it using the torch.

Here is an example of the bullets with Mexican Fire Opal glued inside the bezel. They've been cleaned up a bit since I took this photo this weekend and the lighter one sold as well as one I made as a special order for Johnny of Tipps Gems who brought me over this wonderful faceted opal and wanted it mounted in one of the bullets. It turned out great but unfortunately I didn't get a photo of it. Since it was a trade for services, I did receive a faceted sunstone, faceted citrine and a piece of faceted red glass....all will look great mounted in the bullets.

Faceted stones look great mounted.

I'll be sure to take some photos of my class this weekend and their creations...I'm sure they will be great.

Cheers, Dana

Spooky Bracelet and a Blog Hop

As promised yesterday here is my Halloween bracelet I made with the charm swap hosted by Thespa at Vintiquities Workshop.  This first picture is of my pendant. I had charms left over so I fashioned the word "Boo" from wire and then attached the charms at the bottom. Now I just have to add my chain. The charms were all awesome and creative. Thanks to Thespa for organizing.

Now if you would like to see all the others bracelets created by the participants click HERE. She also has some fun Halloween printables that would be fun to play with.

Happy Halloween everyone and let us all remember the folks affected by the huge storm Sandy on the East coast. My thoughts and prayers are with you all.

Are you Ready?

For Halloween that is.....

Such a spooky time with all the kiddies out and trick or treating and all the houses decorated. There are some that even get the dogs involved now with costumes. We haven't but I have thought about it. Well I will have a special post tomorrow with my spooky Halloween charm bracelet and a blog hop hosted by Thespa over at Vintiquities Workshop. We had some really fun and spooky charms created by all the participants.

Here is a look at some of the charms I have created for Halloween this year.

I had fun creating the word art with the copper wire. I know it's hard to tell but the top charm is a skull bead with a hammered piece of copper wire and crystals with handmade head pins. Lots of cool charms to come.

We were traveling for 3 weeks in the motor home so being home has been nice although I'm still not caught up with cleaning and laundry.

I was able to capture some deer photos as they roamed the campground we were at. They were almost tame as they really didn't care if you were there or not. I stayed my distance as I have heard that they can get pretty mean if they are used to getting fed by people and you don't feed them.

Our last little trip was to Oregon's wine country and to go to the Evergreen Air and Space Museum. It was a great week. I don't think I have ever tasted so much Pinot Noir in my life, some good and some not so good.

These were taken by my husband with a little point and shoot and they turned out really well.

At the Space Museum the Titan 2

One of the very first passenger planes.

It's hard to imagine how large this plane is. It is the Spruce Goose the largest wooden float plane. It is massive.

Fun trip but yes we are glad to be home.