Quick Update!

Regarding my Tough Decisions post of last week... Today I turned in my Quasi-Two Week notice at Spinning Bean .... I say Quasi because I will still be working there on Mondays for the time being.  But I will now be full time at Obsessions!  I am so excited to be there on a more regular basis where I can get to really know the customers and the store even better! I have met some great ladies there and look forward to spending more time there learning and teaching!

On a more bloggy note..............  any ideas of doing a themed day? I've seen Music Mondays and a Wordless Wednesday... so now I'm thinking: what would be a fun idea to brighten up the weekly posts???

Any thoughts?? Leave me a comment with a suggestion!

Hello Monday..

Today I say that in the 'Hello, Neuman" voice of Jerry Seinfeld. 

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend! We had sunny days in the mid 50s-60s! I worked Saturday at The Spinning Bean and then worked on some house cleaning and, of course, beading!

I did forget something last week: Our pups passed their CGC test!! They are now certified Canine Good Citizens!  Of course, we still have to work with them more in public places but they are greatly improved on that already. Yesterday we walked up the road to the golf course that is behind our property and then came back through our woods. It's a nice little romp that takes about an hour or so depending on how many lovely smells they find! About half way through the woods we saw a flock of turkeys making their way through the neighborhood. There must have been about 60 of them!! It really made me wish I had my camera with me.

 As far as beading goes, I'm still working on my Uffington Cuff. I just love the design and can't wait to get it finished and wear it already!

It's hard to believe that I have about 12 or more hours in this already.... but when you are stitching bead by bead by bead.. it takes some time!

I am also trying to get re-inspired to work on my Beading Babes project for this month. The Runway of Pearls bracelet has shrinkage issues and I'm still not quite sure on my choice to fix that issue... And I basically have to re-start the Ravishing Rosettes necklace.. However, I think now that I have worked on it and found my error it should go quite quickly!

And now I must go get cleaned up and ready for work! Happy Monday everyone!

Greetings!!

Today starts a portion of my weekend! I'm off work tomorrow and then back at the cafe on Saturday. Then off again on Sunday!

Today was my Bead Store day! I love working at Obsessions!  I helped a lady that had never stitched with beads create a beautiful tennis bracelet today using seed beads and 6mm crystals. She was so pleased with it she bought more supplies to make another one at home. I really love being able to share knowledge with people and see their joy when they 'get it' with a pattern or technique.

I'm working on finalizing what I get to teach in February at the store.. one of the options is going to be a Start here, Finish at home project but it's one I LOVE and hope people won't be intimidated by it.

I have several projects on my table to finish up and few repairs to do and even a couple custom jobs I MUST get started on soon! But the other week I woke up around 3 am from a beading dream... yes, I dream about beads.... I sketched out my idea quickly and went back to sleep.. If I don't do that then it's gone by morning...
 So.. this is my inspiration:

I have always admired the Uffington Horse in Britain. I'd love to travel there and actually SEE it one day... Maybe if I sell enough jewelry... eventually...
Here is what I have sketched up and started beading on for making a cuff  :)   I don't think this one will be for sale though ;)

The horse is beaded in a matte bone seed bead and then I'm doing swirls of a matte green.. the celtic knots will be done in a brown iris charlotte for a little bit of pop and sparkle. I'm really geeked to FINALLY be doing a beaded cuff AND to make it using Uffy as inspiration! :D

Where do you find your inspiration to create?????

Decisions and the Great Egg Hunt

Hello Everyone!
It's been a few days I know.. I was just really enjoying those beach pictures!! And I've been a little busy keeping the assorted farm critters dry this past weekend. UGH. Rain is all well and good but we really don't need quite so much every day!
However, today was quite lovely and reached 66* F. Yay! Too bad I spent most of it at work indoors... there are some things I miss about working at barns.
Thanks to the rain, I feel I'm missing something ... ah yes, the eggs. I have 3 flocks of chickens, one stays in a smallish dog lot, one is free ranging but stays very close to their coop next to the barn, and the third and largest flock has a coop near my garden area and they free range the property. Which has been fine. Until last week. They decided that the old abandoned house next door looked like a lovely place to find some winter bugs and oddities... so yeah. Thanks for that! Now I get to spend what little daylight hours I have snooping around an abandoned house (that is rather creepy) on someone else's property, looking for hidden eggs. YAY ME.
It looks like I'll be spending some hard earned cash on fencing in the Spring. I would like to do it NOW but I am also on a vehicle hunt... but that's a story for another blog day....

So in the past week I've had a few choices come up jobwise and I'm trying to reach a few decisions... so I'm considering and planning and should have something finalized this week.... I'll keep you posted! Lots of thinking going on over here... can you smell the smoke??

Bead-wise... Lots going on there as well! I've been working on my Beading Babes projects.. I LOVE both projects..... but this month I've seriously had some mental issues with both of them! The necklace I just love and was SO looking forward to finishing it... just couldn't figure out what my issue was, took the instructions to the bead shop, sat down and looked at them and noticed for the FIRST TIME that I totally missed a Step! Really?!? So... I really WANT to finish this one but since I've already taken it apart twice I think I'm going to set it aside for a few days and let my brain rest with this pattern....

I did finish the second project for the Babes.... and was also disappointed!! But this time I DID read the pattern correctly.. LOVE the beads I chose... just somehow it's about 1.5 inches TOO SMALL! Not really sure what happened except that I probably used too much tension.. it's just what I do!

So, after that small disappointment I bent my mind to something totally different and did my first official chain maille piece! I simply LOVE it!!!

Tomorrow promises to be a looooooooooooong day: work at the cafe at 9:30 - 2:00 then off to the bead shop until 6:00 and then our final obedience class with the pups! We are going to do a test of some sort tomorrow.. I'm sorry to say that I am totally blanking on the name of it! It involves your pup obeying some basic commands and then there is a portion where you get to leave the room for a set time and your dog stays with the handler and has to behave. Ok.. so I THINK both of ours will do fine with that... but still.. it's a test... like in school... and even though we have been studying hard I still stress out over tests!!   

but hey.... I'm just happy that they are SO much better behaved and I actually enjoy walking them again!

So, until next time.. everyone have a happy Wednesday and I'll catch up with you again soon!!!

Spring, so close, yet so far away....

So my friend Karyn over at Releases by Rufydoof blogged today about how much she loves the beach... which led me to thinking about past beach trips we've had and how much I enjoyed them. It also made me realize that we didn't make it to the beach at all in 2011!!!

This makes me very sad indeed! I really missed our weekend camping trip!! We do have one planned for mid-May of this year though! YAY! Not too far away and early enough to miss the worst of the heat and the ever-present mosquitos. We always camp at Hunting Island State Park in South Carolina. We love it there. Very quiet campgrounds and lovely beaches. I don't know really what the condition of the place is like though.. there was a LOT of erosion last year and looking at the satellite photo it doesn't look like it's getting any better.
We are going to visit the campgrounds at Edisto Beach this time around and see what we think.... it will be sad not to go to our 'old faithful' spot though.
So, to cheer myself up... and maybe some of you that are experiencing winter doldrums.. here are a few photos from past trips! :D

This is some sort of eagle that was on the beach, it appeared quite tired but uninjured. The wildlife officer was feeding it shrimp and keeping people away from it. There is a refuge a few miles up the coast and they believe that it was from there, there had been a wicked wind storm the previous night, so they felt maybe he got swept off course and was just tired out. He hung around for a while and then flew off again. He was HUGE. I was able to get pretty close, this picture is off my cell phone!

 This is Jesse helping Dave keep on the right roads on the way to the beach :)

 It was chilly when we last went! Jesse wanted to keep her jacket on most of the time. We did enjoy several strolls on the beach. You can see how far up the water comes now.. this used to be a long stretch of beach even at high tide.

 Mmmmmmmmmmmm shrimp wrapped in foil with lemon, butter and parsley cooked over an open fire. The BEST shrimp ever!

 The view from our campsite... it's so peaceful going to sleep listening to the waves........

 Spanky and Jesse enjoying a sunny spot and a snooze. This will probably be their last beach trip, they were very ill at ease and never really settled down like they usually do. Poor little old ladies!

Well I enjoyed my short trip down memory lane! Hope everyone else did too! I would love input on any other beach campgrounds in South Carolina! It's actually closer for us to go there then to go to our NC beaches.

Star Pupils? Who knows?!

Hello everyone! Been a few days since I've posted but I have been a little busy and didn't want to just toss up any old post just to fill space :)

We are pretty much done with inventory, just tying up loose ends.. THANK HEAVENS! I know Tammy is ready for this to be OVER! Looking forward to work tomorrow and also to teaching my class on Saturday! I'm teaching the Wheel of Time pendant I posted about earlier. It's such a fun pendant and can be made in so many different styles! I bet you could use it as a brooch as well. Hmmm, I also just had a rather interesting idea..... *makes a note*

 Our highlight for today was our obedience class this evening. We enrolled our two pups in the Community Pet Center sponsored class Paws-A-Tive Training. Cheri & Ann have been wonderful teachers and are very encouraging! Chito, our little lab cross, has a head start since I was able to spend more time with her at home last year since I was out of work for a while. She will be two in April! The first picture was taken this past weekend.. the second one was taken the week we found her. She was approximately 3-4 weeks old and my sister had found her sitting in the grass on the side of the road...

We also took Guiness, a Lab/Boxer cross. He is just an adorable little monster. I love his chocolatey-ness!!

 This is our third week of class.. well actually OUR second week, we missed last week's class. But we were able to catch up quickly this evening. It really is fun to watch everyone progress! And comforting to know that our dogs aren't the only ones with issues!!
Both of them were very good in class, and only got really distracted once when one of the other owners had some more family members show up. But the pups refocused on us quickly and that is a GREAT accomplishment!!

Has anyone ever done any Agility Training? I am thinking about looking into it and Cheri gave me a flyer for a local trainer! It would be really fun to have a solid GOAL besides the I-want-a-good-dog goal I currently have. This just looks SO FUN!!!

From Sunny Sunday to Super Sleepy Sunday....

Good evening everyone..

Would someone please tell me WHAT is going on with the Packers tonight? YEESH! It seems like all the 'definite' teams are out already, Steelers... gone.   Saints... gone... Packers... come on Aaron!!!!  I mean, if I'm gonna watch the Super Bowl, I at least want to CARE who wins! ;)

Anyway, my bestie Kate, had car issues last night on her way home, so I was up late keeping her company on the phone while she froze to death in the cold at midnight. waited on the tow truck to arrive and take her safely home. Hoping that it's nothing major but will have to wait til tomorrow to find out from the mechanic.

So needless to say, on top of all the Earl Grey tea and M&Ms I had late last night, I was up for quite some time last night! And then the pups decided to wake up extra early ... on SUNDAY. I usually get to sleep in til 7:45 AT LEAST!

  I went to Obsessions today to help with the inventory. We have a TON of beads in that shop!!! :D I LOVE IT!  I actually am glad to be helping with this task since it really helps me to learn the store and what all we have there. I should be able to better help our customers find just the 'right' item to make a piece more special and unique! I must say, it's been hard NOT buying one of everything! SO many beautiful beads! And the ladies there are just AWESOME! I seriously can not say this enough! Just super fun and helpful and encouraging all the time! (and I'm not just saying that because Tammy reads the blog ) If you are ever in the area or if you live here and haven't gotten a chance to yet, be sure to stop in and say HELLO! I promise you will get a warm welcome!

I feel like I'm kind of bouncing all over the place tonight with this post.. but here goes... I'm addicted to PINTEREST! If you are on there, look for me: Christine Wessling. If you aren't on there, be sure to post your email in the comments and I'll send you an invite! (I'll set comments to 'moderated' for this post, so your emails aren't just Out There for everyone)
Pinterest is an online bulletin board. I've gotten SO many great ideas that I can't wait to try out!

Well, as I said, it is now Sleepy Sunday... and even though it's still early, I feel compelled to do my last check on the outside critters and get ready for bed.  Hope everyone has a Happy Monday.. (yeah, like that's possible)

Sunny Sunday!

Hope everyone has a happy Sunday! I'm working with inventory again at Obessions so will have to do my regular post later this evening!

Go PACKERS!!!!!

Busy Saturday ahead!

Good morning everyone!
 I had yesterday off from work, so I spent time around here trying to finish up a few projects on the table. I've had this idea for a bracelet in mind and tried to work it out .. but it would NOT cooperate! So after spending most of the afternoon fiddling, I ended up just taking it apart and setting it aside. I hate doing that but I'm learning a bit about wire, and I've learned you can't FORCE it to do something it doesn't WANT to do! So, I'm gonna tuck my idea in the back of my head and let my sub-conscience figure it out for me.

I spent some time outside, cleaning stalls and cleaning out the chicken's night pens. I'm glad it wasn't raining! The pens are hard enough to do on sunny days! I'm hoping that this year, what with having work again, I can finally manage to get my bigger coop built! Then everyone can be inside all snug and safe AND I'll have an easier time with cleaning!

After I put the wire disaster away.. I was kind of at a loss where to go... I knew I had to create something last night!! So, to make things easy I worked up a Wheel Pendant as practice for a class I'll be teaching next week at Obsessions ! If you're in the area you should stop in! This is the third time I've worked this up and I was glad to be able to do it with only one quick look at my instructions! Which reminds me that I need to write these into a more readable form...

And now I've looked at the time and realized I need to get ready for work! I'm at the cafe today so if you're in the area stop in and say Hi! The Spinning Bean is located on Main Street in Spindale, NC.
After that I'm headed to Obsessions again to help with inventory.
Have a great weekend everyone!!!

Ugly Bead Challenge

Today was a nice day at work.. the rain held off for most of the day and we had SUN!  Mostly worked on getting ready for inventory this weekend. UGH. But it's gotta be done!

 So, Tammy has challenged me this week... We call it the Ugly Bead Challenge...  These poor beads! They don't KNOW they are ugly! They are just little lampwork beads going about their daily business of sitting in a glass waiting for someone to USE them... but ya know.. the more I stare at them... maybe they are not SO ugly?

I'll admit that it's NOT the best picture either.... but it's not far off. The seeds are actually somewhat prettier than the picture... they are a matte transparent topaz color... I could do something with them.... The lampwork ones will be a bit more difficult.. thinking something earthy yet girly.... hmmmmmmm

Here are two of the projects I finished up this week, the first is a project for the store. It's called Standing Ovation and is in the newest issue of Bead & Button... I really liked how it worked up but I think I'd like to make it again and work with my tension a bit more..

And this bracelet is one I've wanted to make for a while! Tammy held a class on it last Saturday while I was working on the Ovation bracelet so I listened in and came home and worked this up. I really LOVE it and plan to make a few in different colors... and I have an idea on a slightly wider one as well.....

I have tomorrow off so after making a hay run in the morning, I will be working on finishing up some projects and cleaning my house! Anybody wanna take over the cleaning portion of the day so I can keep working with the fun stuff!?!?! Anyone??? Hello?????

Post Storm....

Just want to put a quick shout out to all the Emergency crews that were out til who knows when last night helping the people of Ellenboro, Bostic and surrounding areas! Saying a prayer and sending out positive thoughts to those that lost homes and buildings in last night's tornado.  I'm thankful we live in an area where these storms are relatively rare!
Ellenboro Feed & Pet Supply  is working hard helping with relocating and returning any lost animals, pets or livestock! There is a staging area in Hopewell community, be sure to contact Tina at Ellenboro Feed at 828-453-8003 or find her on Facebook!

Wet & Dreary Wednesday

Good morning everyone!

Well it's a wet and dreary Wednesday here... I think I will work on a few projects I have laying around that NEED finished.. although I REALLY want to start something new!  I have supplies for the other Beading Babes project, a lovely reversible bracelet. BUT.. I started the necklace first so I am going to make myself finish that one!

So one of the other blogs I follow, Amybeads , posted this fun Word Cloud link... it generates a word cloud of the most used words on your blog!

My oh my! I use MY a lot apparently!

I'm working at Obsessions today! And I hear that Tammy has been shopping for the store! I can't WAIT to see what she found!

So now I'm going to sign off and get some beading done! I'll leave you with my precious pup, Spanky. 

 

EEK!!! I totally forgotted something!!!

Yes.. two posts on the first day!! But I totally had a mind squat and didn't mention one or two little tidbits...

First: I HAVE to talk about my BESTIE! Kate and I have know each other for a little over 5 years and literally read each others minds on a daily basis.. really. It's quite scary. She is my partner in crime, business... together we ARE There and Back Again Studios! Kate has a great knack for pulling together some lovely color combinations and also challenging me to think beyond a pattern.... we will end up trying out some new version of a pattern even before we finish the original!
Also, I MUST mention my sister!! Elizabeth and I have known each other for .... a long time :D  She has shown quite a talent with wire working and has developed her own line of Memory Shoes. Custom wrapped and personalized horse shoes for hanging or as a desk top display.

Welcome to my little corner of the world.....

So I have been encouraged lately to start my own blog... I really have no clue on how to go about this! But here goes!

Let's see, a bit about myself to kick things off.. My name is Christina, but I usually go by Christine or Chris... or whatever happens to be shouted at me at any given time.. I've been married to my husband, David, for almost 18 years. No children, but I have a small farm with 3 horses, 4 barn cats, 24-28 chickens (I have recently had some strays arrive.. more on that later) and 4 dogs.  I currently work at the Spinning Bean Cafe and also at Obessions Beads... I love both my jobs! They are so vastly different from each other and that keeps me from getting bored.

I try to live a healthy, green lifestyle and have grand dreams of living off the grid and almost totally self-sufficient.. but those are grand dreams and little more at this point. I have the chickens for their eggs.. and the joy and hilarity that ensues watching them run around the yard.. and I garden to some extent for our produce. I hope to start preserving more and more and eventually having only MY canned goods in the pantry.

One of my true passions is jewelry making. Although I really only got started in the last year, I find that it is just the place to let my creativity flow. I started just making simple pendant necklaces and have recently became quite addicted to bead stitching. I just love watching a pile of beads (or multiple piles!) turn into a beautiful piece of jewelry!
I joined the Beading Babes a few months ago, which is a WONDERFUL group that was started by Karyn over at Releases by Rufydoof . This group has really helped me expand outside my comfort zone! We pick a new project, (or two!) each month and then have a reveal date. There is no pressure to complete by the deadline and we all encourage one another along the way. The reveal dates are SO fun to look forward to! It's always a great treat to see the different interpretations of each piece!

This is Sleek In Silver, one of our latest Babes projects. I LOVE how this looks! I have plans for a few more in different colors as well :)

 This is Camelot Cross, also a Babes project. Again, I've done about 6 of these already and LOVE them! I keep thinking up new color combinations to work with...

 This is called Egyptian Cuff and is totally worth all the work I put into it! Right angle weave was one of the first techniques I learned but I  Could. Not. Make. It. Work! FINALLY something clicked in my brain, it all made sense and I quickly worked up the rest of the bracelet. I love it! Again, I already have some color combinations in mind for more....

And this little beauty is a pendant I made from a 'glass window' made by Susan Waters, a local glass artist in our area. She makes BEAUTIFUL pendants and ornaments and bud vases and more and more! These little windows she wraps in polymer clay with a photo behind them.. the minute I saw those I KNEW they had to be beaded!! So I bought a few from her and this is my first attempt. I really LOVE it! I plan to stitch a herringbone necklace to suspend it on.

Ok.. so IF I haven't bored you to tears yet... please Follow me on my journey through life, gardening, horsing around and Beading!