Snow? In October?

It was a crazy weekend here in Virginia... we got about 3" of snow here in the Shenandoah Valley - but a lot of places around us got as much as 10"!!!!

What does one do when a freak snowstorm assails you? Here's what I did:

A little practice on my newly learned technique - yup, I made the hooks! I still mostly make them and throw the crooked little bastards away....but that happens less often now! It was so dreary outside I worked with bright, intense, springtime colors - made me happy.

Stuff I Love (this week!)

I'm supposed to be working on a newsletter.... somehow I found myself following the blue links and the next thing I knew.....

I had found this adorable little bag! Yes, it's a book cover - love the look of this. Check out her Etsy site: Rebound Designs

I continue to wander and as usual I have to check out the new listings at Beady Girl Beads. I am so completely in love with the fun, color saturated beads on this site!!

 

And... from one of my favorite artists these fabulous enameled squares. I've used these as toggles, Kristen is great at special orders! Her Etsy site is Bead Swede

A Delightful Fall Weekend

I did everything I was supposed to do - clean, launder, sew, organize, mow...  Then, I did a few things I wanted to do - went to the 150th anniversary re-enactment of the Battle of Cedar Creek and also went to the Virginia Wine and Balloon Festival at Long Branch. Had amazing times at both events, great weather, fun crowds, cool stuff to see and do.

If you've never been to a Civil War re-enactment you should add it to the bucket list. The men and women who participate in these events are amazing. They are experts about the Civil War, they know things you will never learn in a classroom, never see in a classroom and never fully understand from a classroom. The battles are accurately portrayed - the experience is quite overwhelming, it will truly give you a much better understanding of what occurred.

After my little history lesson, I stopped at Long Branch to see the Wine & Balloon Festival. Thousands of other people had the same plan! Dozens of local wineries, some great food, bands and lots of interesting art and craft vendors. My favorite vendor of the day was Finchberry Soapery. A small, woman owned soapery in Fairfax, VA the soaps and lotions were the most unique, delightful, delicious, wonderful concoctions I've ever seen. You should definitely visit her website... www.finchberry.com -- you'll be so happy!

Wandering the Web

So, I'm wasting some time. It didn't start out that way, I intended to do something serious... I just get so easily distracted by the blue words. Seems to have something to do with thinking that if I don't go look, I might miss something better then where I am right now. Or maybe it's just because I have a serious case of, "ADH, oooh sparkly!"
Anyway... while I was wandering I found some really cool stuff that I thought I better share. Not jewelry, but sometimes its ok to look at other stuff... right?

Isn't this amazing? I found this at an Etsy site: http://www.etsy.com/shop/maryjudy --- really fun, really unusual! Go there, you'll smile!

Don't you want one of these?? Well, you can get this one and tons more here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/beadygirlbeads

Then I wandered over to Dust Furniture - I happen to own one of these clocks - but I seriously covet this shelf unit... sigh!, unhappily I don't have the cost of it, but one day.....

Some New Ideas

I've been working on making Mother~Daughter sets -- bracelets mostly, but I did try one necklace set. They are so cute. Now I just have to find some teeny tiny wrists to try them out on! The necklaces use a lot of components that I saw in a Wire Working magazine this month and the beads are from a set of lampworks that I bought from Chestnut Ridge Designs. The wire comes from Parawire.

Thanks Kerry Bogert!

Spent last Saturday evening at ArtBLISS in a workshop with Kerry Bogert - I have her book: Totally Twisted which, if you don't own a copy RUN to the bookstore to get one! Great ideas!

This bracelet is something I made after the workshop - I wanted to try making a hook clasp we learned before I completely forgot how to do it! This hook is made with 18 gauge colored copper wire from Parawire (love them!) - I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.

Thanks Kerry!

Try Something New

My first attempt at making my own polymer clay beads. Polymer clay is pretty amazing stuff. It can be shaped into, over, around pretty much anything. It seems to be indestructible once its hardened. It never hardens on its own, you don't need any special or expensive tools to work with it, comes in an amazing array of colors and it's cheap - about $2.25 for a 2 oz. block.  There are literally thousands of how-to videos on the internet. Get some - have fun!