I'm Back

Haven't been able to post much. Sitting for too long exacerbated the pain in my upper left quadrant so much, I couldn't get on the computer for long. Worse than that, I couldn't do any beading. Oh, horrors!
Long story short: I ended up in the Emergency Room on Monday and was there for about five hours. Why does it always have to take so long?
Anyway -- they did two cat scans and found out all my inner workings are not functioning as they should be. I've got gallstones, a hiatal hernia, a cyst on my liver and cysts on both ovaries, the largest of which is 5cm. Oh, what fun! So now they're talking about two different surgeries: gallbladder and the ovarian thing. SIGH

Not a very pleasant prospect when you have no health insurance!
So with all that going on, it's been a pretty rough week. One of the meds they gave me caused an allergic reaction which my body always manifests as a lovely rash. More fun!
But today, for the first time in over a week, I was finally able to get back to the bead board for a little while at least. Didn't do anything too very fancy, just a couple of gemstone necklaces with matching earrings.
Still enamored of picture jasper so both have that in them - one also has beautiful blue crazy lace agate.
Almost time to fix dinner so this post will be short.
Hope everyone is enjoying their Sunday.

A surprisingly good day

After two good days in a row, I should have known I was in for a rough one and brother, did I ever get socked with one today! Phew! It must have been the Grace of God that got me through the day - painwise - but I'm ever so glad I hung in there because I did surprisingly well.
By the time it was all said and done, I'd sold over $100 worth. Now that may not seem like much to some folks, but considering that I barely sold $30 worth at the last church show, I was pretty pleased.
I waited until about 10 a.m. before I called the house and woke my husband up to ask him to bring me a pain pill. I was disappointed and perplexed when it did little to assuage the pain.
Looking on the bright side: we had good traffic all day and I had some terrific crafty neighbors around me.
To my right was Mary Stangel who had beautiful beaded jewelry. Behind Mary was the lovely and talented Kandy Mathis whose wire work was absolutely superb.

Across the aisle we had the amazingly talented 16-year old photography genius, Jack Chapman. I was not alone in my awe of this young man's prowess with a camera. If he's this talented at 16, I have no doubt he has a very bright future ahead.

Sharing a table with Jack was his sister, Charity Chapman and her jewelry partner, Dominique. I've seen Dominique around at several of the local craft shows and at Beadlemania.. He is also exceptionally talented and does beautiful work. He admires my seed bead work, I admire his wire wrapping. He's offered to teach me to do loops better and I'm looking forward to learning from this expert instructor. He doesn't have a website yet but whenever he does set one up, I'll be sure to post the url. Dominique makes exquisite necklaces and Charity does the beautiful earrings. Together, they're a mighty fine team.

There was also a delightful young lady named Chelsea who calls her business "The Glamorous Life." Dunno why she left by noon. *shrug*
The biblio beads sold like hotcakes! One lady bought four (the ones with the crosses) for her Bible study group.
I got quite a few pointers which I plan to put into play at the next show.
So yeah, aside from the fact that I was in some pretty brutal pain the whole day, I still consider it a very good day. I did well saleswise, gave out lots of biz cards, made some new friends, got some new folks signed up for the mailing list and had a delicious lunch. 
I was given frequent respites by the compassionate and sweet United Methodist Women and when it came time to break it down, the men and women of my church could not have been nicer or more helpful. There was one minor mishap when the men bumped my angel which fell down and broke but I think I can fix it with some jewelry glue.
I hobbled into Publix afterward and picked up a sub at the deli. No way I was going to be able to cook when I got home.
Next up: Fun in the Sun in St. Marys, Ga on May 23.
oh, and Pix are HERE

I'm a Featured Seller!!

I Am SOOOO Excited!!!

I'm a Featured Seller!

Check out my Featured Seller Page on the Made That Blogspot!

I'm so proud and excited to be featured. THANKS, JESSICA!!

There are only a few items available in my Artfire Shop so far. Wish I had more with this blog feature coming out today but...who knows? Maybe I'll get some new customers and make some new friends.

LIFE IS GOOD!! 

More Unakite

More Unakite

Got a huge 50mm unakite focal point in the mail along with some complimentary beads. Over the course of yesterday evening and today, I finished this necklace and matching earrings. I sure do love that unakite!

Other than that, I'm beginning to set things up for the Arts + Crafts fair on April 18th. Would you believe I can't find the brown bibliobeads I made? *shakes head* I try so hard to be organized but sometimes, it's as if these beads have a mind of their own. haha.

Watched Slumdog Millionaire last night. Loved it. Definitely understand why it was voted Best Picture. If you haven't seen it yet, by all means do so. Trust me: you'll be glad you did.

This and That

Crab Agate and Red Aventurine

The storms seem to have blown out to sea finally. Thank goodness! Two nights of thunderboomers was about all I could take. It was delicious to have a good night's sleep for a change.

Awakening refreshed after my restful slumbers, I toddled to town and completed my Saturday chores in record time. Home by noon! I took advantage of the energy rush to do something about my winter weary front porch. Hosed down the chairs, scrubbed the table, swept the concrete. Even gave my hanging plants a bit of healthy new soil to awaken them from their slumbers.

After a nummy tuna sandwich and gatorade lunch, eaten while reading the latest issue of Time magazine, I set to work on my latest creation: a crab agate and red aventurine necklace.

Being relatively new to the scene, I'm not sure what the protocol is about combining Swarovski crystals with gemstones , but for some reason, these particular smoky Swarovskis seemed a nice compliment to the creamy red aventurine. I love the crab agate, too, and couldn't resist sprinkling in a few small fire polished Czech glass beeds and of course, my beloved delicas had to be added as well.

Now I'm going to see what else I can get into before it's time to fix supper. Hope everyone's enjoying this gorgeous Spring as much as I am!

Biblio Beads in Blue

I wanted to post the first of the aquamarine (turquoise) Biblio Beads.This one has the smallest of the pewter cross charms. I'm glad the cord was thin enough to go through the glass beads. It takes a bit of doing to push it through the hole in the lampwork glass, but patience is rewarded.

I have larger crosses, too, and for the largest one, I'll probably use Swarovski crystals to make it a real dazzler.

In other news:

My hydrangea has returned after being nipped by frigid temps! I'm so excited to see a great outcropping of lovely green leaves and on closer inspection, tiny buds where soon I'll have bursts of the lovely blue/purple color I adore. YAY!

Spring has Sprung in my yard.

Ain't it funny how time slips away?

Daniel and yours truly, back in the day

Eighteen years ago today I met the man who is now my husband. It totally amazes me that it has been that long.

Back then, I was a newly single mom living in St. Augustine. Daniel answered an ad I'd placed in "Singles Serendipity" magazine. We talked on the phone a couple times before we decided to meet. Chose April first as our first date because there was some sort of festival going on in town that day. My son was just a little guy- about six, I think - so he tagged along.

We hit it off right away and while we were at the festival, I invited Daniel back to my place for spaghetti and meatballs. Unfortunately, I had left my keys in the house. He had to climb a ladder to the second story of my apartment building, crawl through the bedroom window and come down to let me in. Some first date, huh?

We've been through a lot together in the 18 years we've known each other. It hasn't all been peaches and cream. Heck, I was even married to someone else...briefly. But we'll celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary in September so I guess we've worked through the worst of it.

Looking back on all those years, I decided to blow off my workout today and stop by Publix and get the fixings for a nice dinner instead. The treadmill will still be there another day but it's rainy and nasty and I just wanted to go home and hang out with my man and my furkids.

So I did.

Biblio Beads

BIBLIO BEADS

Many thunderboomers over night here. But we can use the rain. Not easy to sleep with all that racket going on. Didn't want to turn on the computer for fear of lightning so I sat and made my first three bibliobeads. Some people call them book thongs but that name just conjures up all the wrong images to me so I prefer the more sophisticated label of bibliobeads. I figure anyone who reads might like a beaded bookmark. What do you think? click picture to enlarge
I just want to have lots of little impulse items available for the church sale. Yeah, I know. I said I wasn't going to do it. But you know what? It's for my church so....I kinda feel obligated.
Plus what the heck, you never know...people might just buy something!