I've been busy.....

I've sadly neglected my little blog for the past few ... months...  But here I am back again and hopefully can keep it going better :) At least a post a week maybe???

I've started running & exercising more.. this takes a lot of my spare time! Well.. that and the beading! So... where should I start? I think I've blogged once about SlimKicker and MapMyRun so I will post about beading today... :D  Because beading is FUN!

As you all know, I'm part of Beading Babes! This was founded by Karyn of Releases by Rufydoof and is now going totally wild on Facebook! Our small group has expanded to over 100 members I believe! While I do miss the small group and knowing everyone a little better, the larger group has really started to inspire me more in different color choices and styles! So it's All Good :D

Our latest pattern is 4-Leaf Clover Cuff & Echoes of Nefertiti, both created by Helena Lang-Tim at Manek-Manek. I have long looked at her patterns in awe.. they appear so incredibly intricate and detailed! And they are! BUT!! Helena has written out some of the best patterns I've seen! They are SO easy to follow that the project just grows from your bead mat!!
I see myself purchasing more of her tutorials in the future!

I have a sneak peek of one of the elements from Echos... I'm not quite finished with the whole project yet.. and I already have several new color choices to make more of them! It really is a terrific piece!

 The stone is a swirling grey Jasper of some sort.. something I found while wandering around Obsessions while I should have been was working....
Here is a sneak peek of the other pattern, 4-Leaf Clover cuff.. This worked up so quickly! And again, Helena's pattern was SO easy to follow! I will be making this in other colors as well!

So there is my recent beading story! I have about 8 projects on my table right now that REALLY need finishing up... So if you find something you think is totally awesome and needs to be made please send it to me right away so I can start another! just tuck it away and show me later! :D

Time to feed the ponies and get ready for a day of work! Hopefully my next blog post will be in a few days instead of weeks :)

Happy Beading, Happy Running!!

I'm BAAAAACK!!!!!

Hello everyone!!!
Just a quick hello and update!

I'm FINALLY back online again!!!! This time I think it will be easier to STAY online... I'm finally getting the feeling of not completely sinking into a deep pit.... both financially and mentally.... it's a nice feeling :D

I don't know where to start on an update.. so I'm just gonna run with this real quick as I have a million and one things to do OUTSIDE as well as inside today!

Let's see........... I have tons of great beading projects I've been working on.. some finished some still progressing... LOVING my embroidered piece but I'm gonna save the details on that for when it's finished :)

It involves Tiger Eye. My all time Favorite Stone.....

I have new peeps!!! Beautiful, tiny and adorable balls of fluff!!! So far only 4 but more are still in several nests around the farm!

I am still totally in love with my job!!! Seriously... I work in a BEAD SHOP. Can it BE any better than this? Yes it can... because I have the best boss ever and we have SO much fun every single day!! I keep thinking I'll wake up one day and be stuck in some horrible job I hate.....  I love the feeling that my opinions and thoughts actually matter and that people look to ME for advice and information.... REALLY!?!??! ME!??!?!?! wow. It's so uplifting and humbling at the same time.

And our totally fun beading group Beading Babes was featured in a small spot in Beadwork Magazine! How cool is that!??! Karyn is just AWESOME for putting this all together and keeping us motivated with fun new projects. All the ladies in the group have been great sharing info and advice on Facebook and on their own blogs. I am thrilled to be a part of it all!

The only other major life change recently is the purchase of a new mattress.. OH. EM. GEE. what the heck took us so long to do this!??!??! It's HEAVENLY! Last night I fell asleep and STAYED asleep.. without clutching the edge of the bed to keep from rolling into the middle! hahahaha! Ok.. so that was a bit exaggerated.... but not the pure joy of a decent night's sleep! YAY!!!

So now I have to go to farm chores... the grass isn't going to mow itself!! Although I am seriously considering fencing the entire yard and turning the horses out..........................................

so thank you all for still being here while my blog went silent..... I hope to keep you better entertained henceforth!!

Beading Babes Reveal!

I totally missed my Silent Sunday post... so here is Miss Cheyenne... the cause of that... she went through the fence on Saturday night around 10:30 pm... so I spent most of Sunday repairing a fence and treating wounds... nothing too major thank goodness!!!

Well we had two projects and extra time this month.... and I managed to get one project finished... I swear the Ravishing Rosettes pattern was hiding from me ... at least parts of it were!! Here is what I accomplished... I really like the pattern and the colors but I totally missed several steps!! I WILL be reworking this in the future though!

As you can see.. I'm missing one part altogether and it is curving in the complete wrong direction!! Ah well.. back to the beading board with it!
This is the Runway of Pearls bracelet that was our second project... I really liked the bracelet! But as I was adding the embellishment I noticed it was getting shorter.... and shorter... I ended up with it almost 2 inches too short!! So, I stared at it for a while.... and then came up with this idea... which my wonderful boss helped me wire up.. (wire and I don't get along too well right now)

This bracelet called for embellishing both sides but as it was shrinking as I went along, I ended up only embellishing the one side.. but it still turned out fairly well.. at least I think so!

I can't wait to see what the other Babes have worked up with this challenge!!!

Healthy again!!

Greetings once again fellow bloggers and my little army of followers! :D  I am happy to say I am feeling SO much better!!!
I didn't get much of anything accomplished this weekend .. but I had a good excuse at least! I did teach my class Saturday at Obsessions and had a great time doing it! We had a lady come in the store looking for a paint medium, which we don't have, but Google told her we did ;)  But Thank Google! She asked what we were doing and I showed her the Fringe Cuff that I was going to teach and she asked me to help her pick out beads for it and she took my class! She had NEVER done anything like this before!  
We had a great time in the class and she really enjoyed it and will be coming back again in March! It's times like these that just make me enjoy my 'bead therapy' even more! The other two ladies were just great as well! I am really looking forward to seeing everyone's finished cuffs! This is the cuff I taught:

In other news.. my delightful children, errr.. pups, Guinness and Chito received their Canine Good Citizen certificates this week!! Is it silly to be so proud of this accomplishment?  Yes, these will be framed and hung on the wall.....

I had considered signing Guinness up for a Basic Agility training camp that is coming up in March but the minimum age requirement is 12 months and he will only be 9 months old :( So I am looking for a program nearby later in the year. I really think he would enjoy it as much as I would!!

So, until next time, have a lovely day and go create something beautiful!!!!

The Best Laid Plans.............

 .. of mice and men....   I can't remember the rest of the quote or if that is even how it begins!!

I had fully planned to do a nice bloggy blog post today filled with beads and brownies! But I am sick.

Karyn
sent me this simply lovely sounding brownie recipe that I have been dying to try all week! Friday is my day off so I had planned to do this today. But right now, nothing tastes good, nothing smells good and on top of that I have NO appetite anyway.. So I just didn't feel I would do the brownies justice by baking today.
I spent my morning running a few errands and stopped by Obsessions  to pick up a clasp for my Runway of Pearls bracelet... I think I'm gonna like how this one turns out after all! :D   By the time I finished errands and returned home the meds had completely worn off and I ended up spending most of the afternoon in bed.

Hoping to feel much better by tomorrow as I have a class to teach at 3pm!! Going to go make some hot tea and just relax for the evening.

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!!!

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!!!!!

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?????

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!