Saturday, February 28, 2009

New Teen


My blog today is devoted to a very special young lady! My Granddaughter MacKenzie!

Today is my granddaughter's 13th birthday! She is finally a teenager! Of course I have already called her to say Happy Birthday and to see how it feels to be a teenager. She says it doesn't feel a bit different but I think her Mom and Dad are already feeling the strain! LOL

Here special day is starting out with a soccer game. (She plays competative soccer and those games can get a bit wild.) Then she is off to have her favorite Subway for lunch and then somewhere special for dinner, I think I forgot to ask where she was going. There will be lots of calls from family and friends so she will have a busy day. Her new cell phone will be ringing and the text messages will be flying!

Happy Birthday Sweetie. Your NaNa loves you very much.

Friday, February 27, 2009

Have A Drink At Hub Cap Pond


This little armadillo comes almost every day to have a nice cool drink of water. We call this Hub Cap Pond as we recycled an old hubcap and turned it into a water dish for our herd of cats. Much to our delight it has turned into a watering hole for lots of other critters in need of a cool drink of water. We know that deer and raccoon visit at night and birds visit throughout the day. We haven't had any rain in so long that the pond below the house has gone completely dry. Our big pond and the creek still have water but that would be a very long walk for some of these little guys. This little hubcap is the nearest water for lots of critters that live near our house and I am so glad they come to visit Hub Cap Pond.

Monday, February 23, 2009

Bessie and Bossie


Wonder why they always name cows either Bessie or Bossie?

A few days ago I promised to show you some beads that were inspired by the cows that used to live on our ranch. So here they are. And now for the rest of the story.

I recently joined a sock exchange. The idea is you buy some socks and you make beads to match. You send them off to a hostess and she then sends you back socks with matching beads made by someone else. How fun is that? Well, the first pair of socks I found had a cow on them so Bessie and Bossie are going into the sock exchange!

Sunday, February 22, 2009

She Sells Sea Shells


Ok, say that three times real fast! I never was any good at that one and always hated it when one of my friends in elementary school would shout that out. You had to play along and the kids would always laugh at you when you messed up. I really didn't enjoy that.

I do hope you enjoy the shells and you really don't have to say anything real fast. Just look, enjoy, and pretend you found these as you walked along a beautiful beach somewhere. I think that's exactly what I will do.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Framed


I see a lot of frames in jewelry these days so I decided to see if I could make some frames out of glass. I think I really like these. There are full frames and half frames and beads that fit the opening of the frame. My head is buzzing with all sorts of design ideas using these frames: however, I put these in my Etsy Shop so my jewelry designer customers get first shot at them!

When I get another torch day I think I'll make some more of these! I think they would look really cool in a Fiesta colors and style.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Dance As If No One Was Watching!


Don't you just feel like dancing sometimes but your afraid someone will see you twirling around! Well here on Valley Creek there is no one to see me when I dance. We don't even have cows hanging their head over the fence anymore. I rather miss those cows. Perhaps tomorrow I'll show you the beads I made while those cows were hanging their heads over the fence. But today, well, let's dance!

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Happy Valentine's Day!


Wishing love and happiness to all the sweet valentine's out there! Have a wonderful day!!

PS: Don't eat too much chocolate.

Friday, February 13, 2009

I Think I Have My Holidays Mixed Up!!


What's this? Skulls and bones for Valentine's Day??? Really they are not for Valentine Day but rather for a sock exchange I'm doing. The idea is to purchase socks and then make beads that match them and then exchange them with other folks who have done the same. Anyway, I found this cute little pair of slipper sox that had a skull on them. Now I don't do skulls, but thought at least they were different so in the bag they went. This is my first, and most likely last, try at making skulls and bones! Wish I could have figured out how to get those hot pink stars in my skulls eyes! Wish I could figure out how to find a rod of "hot pink" glass.

I had such a hard time finding socks that were not all full of hearts! Guess it's that time of year. I had just finished a Valentine Heart exchange so really didn't want to do more hearts. Maybe I'll start buying socks each month so I have a better selection for next year's exchange. Somehow all the socks I got home with are pink! Pink is not a good torch color. (heavy sigh)

Note to self: start looking for socks that are red or green or yellow or blue. Maybe with fish or shells or flowers on them.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Rose Garden


I never promised you a rose garden, la la la la....... That song kept running through my head as I was cleaning these beads.

Remember those cool tools I purchased a couple of weeks ago? Well, I used one of them to make these drops and was pleased when they resembled a rose. The tool actually has a spiral on it but since the tool was used to press a bit off center it came out looking more like a rose. Well, anyway, I think it looks rather like a rose and since I made them they can be whatever I choose! Have you ever seen a woman that looked like one Picasso painted??? So it's a rose.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Back To Basics


Sometimes it's good to just get back to basic bead making, nice round beads in pretty colors. That's exactly what I have been doing and the stress of bead making has gone away. I really like taking transparent colors and adding silver foil and some of the pretty frit mixtures. They often give the appearance of those lovely borosilic beads that I like so much. I have some more pretty color combinations cooking in the kiln as I write. I can't wait to see them!