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.

The Never Ending Journey

Back from fun at the Beach. We finally purchased an air bed for the trailer so now we can sleep better and also a more comfortable chair. We have been putting off going to the beach property because we haven't been comfortable sleeping. Problem solved. We had a great few days, made it back for the 4th here at home since the dogs don't like fireworks. The beach is just one giant bang on the 4th as we have witnessed the past several years, so to give the dogs a break we came home early. Hopefully everyone remained safe through the 4th of July holiday.

We've been relaxing today along with doing upteen loads of laundry and I finally started on one of my competition gem trees that needs to be completed by the end of this month. It's not going as planned as the briolettes holes are too small for the tree wire, so now I'm rethinking what to do. If I remake the tree using smaller gauge wire then it will be too droopy. My husband suggested making loops on the ends of the tree branches and then dangling the gems off by wrapping them with smaller gauge wire....hummm, this might work, but not what I had envisioned. I guess I'll give it some more thought.

I just found a message from my publisher of the BOOK that they have finished the 2nd version, now back available on their web site and now hopefully this will be the last version until I have some major edits. I also received an e-mail from FedEx that a package had been sent to me from Morriss Printing, so yea this may be my proof and I can finally get these dang things printed. The last proof I reviewed had printer errors, so sent it back. What a run around that was.....note to self publishers everywhere, be prepared to review everything at least 3 times and then have someone else review it for you.

On another note, I'm glad everyone liked my featured artist (Bedazzled of Oregon) last Thursday, she is an amazing artist. If you haven't read that post, be sure to check it out HERE.

Here are a couple of pics from our few days at the beach. Me with Leo and Paul walking on the foggy beach one morning with dogs.

Celebrating our Independence

This post is two fold, one to celebrate our country's independence I created a mixpod of some of my favorite songs and two to celebrate my last day of work, so in essence my independence. I know I'm getting a little ahead of myself this week, but take time to listen to your favorite tune this week and let's celebrate together.

In the USA, Independence Day is on the 4th of July, yes there was a movie with this same title and no I am not going to post that movie here even though I did like it. That is the day we commemorate the signing of the Declaration of Independence. We typically have great celebrations all across America in the form of BBQ's, Family Picnics, Parades, Concerts and of course Fireworks.

For those needing a history lesson, this is from Wikipedia:

During the American Revolution, the legal separation of the American colonies from Great Britain occurred on July 2, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress voted to approve a resolution of independence that had been proposed in June by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia. After voting for independence, Congress turned its attention to the Declaration of Independence, a statement explaining this decision, which had been prepared by a Committee of Five, with Thomas Jefferson as its principal author. Congress debated and revised the Declaration, finally approving it on July 4.

This is a time when we as Americans should all be thankful and celebrate the independence that we do have in our country. Be safe this week in all your travels and celebrations.