It's Good to be Me

Sometimes I moan and groan about the messy remodeling house or the cold weather in the middle of Summer but I really do have a good life, good husband, family, dogs, friends and everything else I can think of. Then today I find out that my Art Bead Scene challenge piece was featured on their blog today. Yes, I am a happy camper.  The link to the blog is on the right of you can click it HERE. 

Since we are still in the remodeling phase I decided to do a little promoting of some of the local businesses that we purchased some of our supplies from. This one is the hand blown art glass pendant light. It was made by Tacoma Glassblowers Studio. They had so many to choose from but the green complimented the colors in our kitchen better than the rest.

They also offer glass blowing classes and another option for a group is the glass blowing experience. My husband and I have organized a couple of family outings to blow glass with an instructor and everyone had a great time and came away with a wonderful art glass piece. They are offering a new class on garden art in August that I may have to consider. Here is a picture of what they look like from inside their studio. What a colorful display...now if my garden looked better this would be the perfect compliment.

I hope everyone is having a lovely week so far. I'm off to work on some artwork in the craft room.

Almost There

Yes, the remodeling of the kitchen is almost finished. We are really tired of living with the dining room in our living room and having to eat in the motor home. Thank heavens we had the motor home to fix meals in or we probably would have had to move out. So, just a little bit more trim work to do and then he moves onto the dining room next week. He'll be replacing some of the hard wood flooring, then sanding it all down and refinishing it. I think we will be out of the house for most of that work.

This side of the kitchen used to have a breakfast bar which we never used except as a catch all for junk. Now a wonderful new pantry and a beverage fridge.

New cabinets, canned lights and granite counter tops, I can't wait until I can get in here and start cooking.

The Dining room that still needs a lot of help.

This week has been my week to get my Bellevue Teachers submission into the Bead Factory. After last weeks successful teaching gig at the Puget Sound Bead Festival, I decided to try for three classes at the Bellevue Bead show. I should know by the end of the week if I get in.

Here is a peak of my newest tree design. It is called the Tree of Hope and Life.

I had a lot of fun making these.

I hope everyone has a great weekend. 

Happy 4th of July

Today is our Independence Day and I'm sure most of you will be spending it grilling hot dogs and visiting with family and friends. We will be doing the same only a little bit later this afternoon. This morning I have to declare independence to my craft room. What a mess.

Yesterday I decided that I had better get all my class kits and additional supplies ready. I'm teaching gem tree sculptures at the Puget Sound Bead Festival and the teachers showcase is Thurs. and I teach on Friday. I'm looking forward to the teaching part but the organizing part just takes so much time. I realized that I had all these orphan trees (gem trees without a base) and decided to glue them hence all the trees and glue on my tabletop. Then I found some 4mm crystals and pearls that would be great enhancer beads on the trees so I packaged some of those up to offer for sale. It's not like I didn't have thousands of them...yes, thousands.

Then all the gemstone chip strands had to be found and marked, had to buy more glue and a couple more wire cutters and I still have to make it down to Harbor Freight to buy some mini clamps and take inventory of all the wire to make sure I have enough for students as well as those who want to buy extra. I think I'm going to need a bigger box, better yet, I'll probably put it all in a rolling scrappers case so that it will be easier to transport. Rocks do get heavy.

Kitchen Remodel Update

Here is what out kitchen looks like so far. A far cry from finished but the new windows go in on Monday, the plumber comes on Tuesday and in between some of this I'm hoping the slate floor gets finished.

I'll take a picture on Monday after the new windows get installed. It should be brighter in there. You can see a little bit on the upper left of the photo where the wall isn't finished under the window. The new windows are about 6" or more taller.

That's it for me today. It's time for a shower and then to tackle the craft room.

Have a safe and happy 4th of July.

I Thought It Would Be Easier

Yes, I'm talking about granite installation. It is now 6:18 pm and they have been here since 10:30 am. Thank heavens most of the cutting, grinding and polishing was done outside. They had to do the sink cut out in the kitchen with the granite in place. Can you hear me coughing now? Dust, dust everywhere and we had it blocked off with plastic and doors closed. They are so close to being finished, then I get to clean all the dust off the new cabinets. Yea. Then maybe I'll get some dinner tonight.

Well, since I've been locked up in my craft room all day I had a chance to make and finish my diary pages for the Diary 2011 Project. Here is a picture of them. I chose two dates as they will be on the same page.

I have three others that I decided not to use but I will include them in my art journal so they won't go to waste.  The other three are mixed media and really didn't reflect me....at least not yet. The watercolor painting that these two are designed after is one of mine. The pages had to be in grey scale so I had to find something that would work with the various shades of grey and the painting worked perfectly.

If you are interested in participating in this project, there are still dates open. Click the link at the right for Diary 2011 Project. I'll let you know when the diary's are available for sale. I know I'm going to get one and I'm sure I'll be getting some for friends and family for holiday presents.

The Diary 2011 Project

I decided to join the fun with the Diary 2011 Project. See link on the right. It doesn't cost anything to join in and create one of the day pages of the diary. So, I've picked my date of 8/29 and now I have to design my page. Since it is in gray scale I don't want to use too much color that will get washed out so maybe a monotone watercolor with pen and ink drawing. I have to hurry up and start creating as my page is due next week. I'll post the design when I'm finished. If you want to join in, there are lots of dates left and not too much time.

More special orders completed. Well through all the remodeling mess I was able to finish a couple of special orders. The first set was for a repeat customer who wanted long leather necklaces that she could wear long or double up and wear short. The large square venetian glass pieces were the customers.

The next couple of pieces were for a new customer who wanted me to take apart and reuse 3 of her necklaces (2 pearl and 1 coral). Both necklaces turned out better than I thought and I'm sure she will love them. The first one uses only her beads with my fine silver fused links. The second one has a few of her beads and some of mine mixed in with soldered and hammered brass links.

I hope everyone is having a great week. Tomorrow is granite day in the kitchen remodel. We are making progress.

The Best Bead Giveaway Ever Offered By Denise Yezbak Moore

Oh, my gosh, can you imagine winning all of this stash of beads or even just a part of it. My giveaway may be over but you can certainly get in on this one. There is over 7 1/2 lbs of beads here. The giveaway ends on July 2nd so you better jump on over to Denise's blog Bling It On! and enter.

Okay, it's not like I don't have beads because as most of you know, I do, but we would all love more beads. What would you do with all these beads?

Remodel Update: Yes, we are still in the middle of the big kitchen remodel. Today paint went on the walls and tomorrow we pick up the cabinets so that the contractor can install them.....woo hoo. We almost have a kitchen back. The granite guys are scheduled for Thursday so by Friday it should look more like a kitchen. I'm still not sure when the floor and new window will go in. Wouldn't you think the window should be installed before the cabinets?  Humm, I may have to ask the contractor about that tomorrow.

I hope everybody is having a great week so far. Think of us in your nice clean and un-dusty house.

Remodel Update Plus a Giveaway

Uugg, we are living with stud walls, no floor and lots of dust.

This is our kitchen.

Yes, we are having fun now. The plan is to work our way through the house. I won't even show you the picture of the dining room and living room which has all the kitchen appliances and dining room furniture and boxes in it. Oh and the dust. I don't know whether to clean every day or just leave it until we are finished.

So, in the dining room we will be refinishing the hard wood floors (carpet was already taken up) and then put crown molding around the top. Living room we will be doing the same thing. We are still up in the air about the office as we would like custom cabinets but then resale gets a little tricky as that is the spare bedroom also. Then we moved into our bedroom. Lots of ideas there besides just painting and replacing the carpet. I could do some redecorating. We got our new bed (no headboard yet) but haven't replaced any of the furniture. I could get a new bedroom vanity. Like this one.

This one would go with some of my antique furniture.

So, because I am living with so much remodeling I am hosting a giveaway. Yes, that's right just because I love all my readers...okay so I was given the opportunity to host a giveaway and it just so happens to be something that we would all love and that is a gift certificate for $60.00. The sponsor is CSN Stores, and Just Vanities is only one of 200+ sites they have that you can choose from to use the gift certificate.

This is an easy one to enter. 

1. Just hop over to Just Vanities and pick your favorite bedroom vanity and tell me what it is in a comment.

2. For an additional 2 entries blog about this post with a link back to me and to JustVanities.com. Oh be sure to leave me your blog address so I can check out your blog.

3. For more entries, tweet, facebook or use any other social media outlet to announce this giveaway and get one more entry.

Be sure to leave a separate comment for each entry. Yes, it is easier for me that way. I will use Random.org to generate the winner.

Things you should know. Please leave me your e-mail address so that the representative Jess from CSN Stores can get a hold of you if you are the winner. Also, please note that on some products you may have shipping charges to pay.

Deadline is June 27th at 9:00 pm PST, which is midnight EST.

Come on guys, $60.00 would make one great gift or even buy something nice for you. Like this laptop case, and look it's in my favorite color. You could send it to me. ha ha

How about a wedding gift or maybe you just need to update your steak knives. I know we just had to buy a new set for the motor home.

I'll remind you to enter throughout the week, but why not do it now while you are thinking about it.

Have a great day.

Creative Blogger - MezziG of Creative Outlet

This week I'm featuring MezziG of Creative Outlet. What a wonderful creative soul. In one of her posts this week she shows us her most recent creation that she made for a bead challenge. It just so happens that she won this challenge. Isn't this just a great design? I never use seed beads in my designs but seeing the versatility in design, I may have to rethink that.

Fringe is such a big design feature right now as well as the bib style and this has both of those. Click on over and check out her blog.

Well around here life has been quite hectic. Our kitchen is almost gutted now. Sounds very hollow in there and it is so large. Amazing how big the room looks without cabinets and appliances. We are eating in the motorhome....feels like we are camping in the back yard...oh wait we are. I can't imagine living through a kitchen remodel without having another home whether it is a RV or weekend cabin that you can retreat to. Our dining room is full of the appliances and the living room is full of the dining room furniture and boxes of kitchen stuff. I'll have before and after photos when it is complete... you really don't want to see them now.

I was really hoping to have pictures of my new craft room cabinets to show you today, but alas I haven't taken them yet and I still have to unpack everything, so hopefully tomorrow.

So, until then have a great day.

Found Objects

I've been in an artsy mood lately and wanting to do more with my art (painting), so I thought the best way to get back into it was to start an art journal and to devote 30-60 min. per day to just creating with my paint, glue, paper, pens, etc. to see where I wanted to go with it. The journal would be my experiment with all different kinds of mediums such as watercolor, acrylic, pastels, collage and pen & pencil. I've taken a few classes in art drawing and watercolor, but other than that no other formal training so I guess I just don't know where to go. I've painted quite a few watercolors (I prefer florals) but wanted to venture into acrylics and so I did a few last December. I found it very forgiving unlike watercolor, so I'll play with it a bit more.

I digress as today's post is on found objects. As we pack our kitchen and other rooms for remodeling, I'm finding all kinds of things that would make great components in jewelry. Here is my latest pile.

As you can see I have some pop tops, wine corks, eraser, keys, old transit tokens and tax tokens, old pieces of jewelry parts, flower arrangement marbles some washers and nuts from my husbands tool chest and some old military ribbons.

The wine cork I make into a necklace component by sticking some 20 gauge wire through the middle and stringing a crystal on each end and then making a wrapped loop. The key I painted so far one coat of purple paint and I have glued a image on the back of one of the flat backed marbles and then added one of the washers (I think it will become a magnet). For the pop can tops, maybe I'll flatten them out and make earrings out of them. The eraser also had a piece of wire pushed through the middle in order that I could make a loop on top. I can see this becoming a cool necklace pendant with maybe a few other doo dads for a teacher.

Okay so what can you find around your house that you can use in jewelry design? You can't buy it, so no cheating.

For another idea to use with the wine corks, head over to Martha and check out her button stamps. I plan on making me some as soon as I can get all my craft room stuff un-boxed so that I can find my buttons. Pictures of the new craft room cabinets coming soon....hopefully Monday.

Cheers, I hope you are having a good weekend.

Show is Over.....Thank Heavens

Another year down. I really don't want to cook anymore....ever. We spent the entire show in the kitchen cooking and making sandwiches for the crowds of people coming to visit the show. I think I was able to get to the bathroom once a day and only today at 3:00 pm (an hour before the show closes) was I able to go shop for a bit. If you have ever dreamed of running a deli or restaurant....DON'T. Try running a lunch counter for 3 days before you venture into anything. Now I'm not saying that it isn't profitable, we were able to raise over $300.00 for the club and served all our volunteers at the show for free which equates out to a little over $350.00. So, if we didn't feed the workers for free we would have brought in $650.00 in just 3 days. Not too bad a profit. I'm just glad that I have a whole year to forget how bad my feet feel before it starts all over again.

One of the good things that did come out of this show was that my husband and I were invited to demonstrate gem trees and jewelry design at a gem and mineral show in Lewiston, Idaho in October. We've never been there and I'm looking forward to taking that trip in the motor home.

I keep thinking that life will get back to normal tomorrow but we have the contractor that will be here first thing in the morning to probably install my new cabinets in my craft room and I haven't even cleared the room of stuff so that he can get in there...dang and I really wanted to sleep in tomorrow. Then we have to go pick up the new slate tiles for our porch and kitchen so he can get started on that. I think he wants to start the demo on the kitchen but that may have to wait a week so that I can organize and get stuff packed up. I really have to admit that I'm not looking forward to living through a kitchen remodel even though the outcome will be great. I think we will have to go on a really long camping trip. Oh wait to do that I have to have a plan to pack up my craft room to take with me.

Okay now I'm stressed. I should probably just go to bed and hope that tomorrow I'll get a reprieve.

A Sneak Peak

I've made contact with my bead partner for the Bead Soup Party....this is going to be fun. Since she may be reading this I'm only giving you a sneak peak at her package of beads that she gets to work with.

Okay that's all you get to see. When I get my package I'll take a photo of all the lovelies before I make it into something.

Now we are onto the planning of our kitchen renovation. Wow, can you say spending big bucks. We have been saving thank heavens but still to do it up right it's going to take a bite out of our savings. Stopped at a kitchen and bath store in downtown today and the folks there were very prompt at coming by the house and providing a bid for the cabinets and granite counter top. My main concern now is will my new coffeepot fit under the cabinets without having to pull it out each time I want to fill it. LOL.
I never thought I would be designing my kitchen around an appliance, but it is my new favorite toy. I think I've had enough caffeine today to last me awhile but I've tried the packaged coffee, my Folgers coffee in the pod I can fill, the pre-packaged English Breakfast tea for iced tea this afternoon and then I made another glass of tea using the pod and some Lipton tea that I had on hand.  I couldn't tell any difference in the tea but I preferred the pre-packaged coffee which was and extra bold organic one. We have lots more to try including the flavored coffee and hot cocoa. Oh, if you can't tell this is an Cuisinart and it uses the K-cups that you see in the picture. We had been looking at these type of coffee makers for awhile but this one spoke to us and we just had to buy it. So far I'm glad we did. Now if I can just go to sleep tonight.