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!!!

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!!!

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?????

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!