Alex's Crosses

My son Alex, my best repeat customer!

Every year he has me make several crosses for him to give as gifts. He designs them, draws up a sketch and has me create and fine tune the piece.

Not this year.

Oh, he designed and drew up sketches. But, he wanted to be the one making. So, he asked if I would teach him how to weave, and I did gladly!

So here's my proud Mama moment, My Son Made These!
I hammered out the frames for him and he did the weaving, and wrapping.


Brass with a bead filled base - I helped a little more with this one, he wanted to learn wire weaving not bead weaving lol


He wasn't content to just weave the cross for this one he also wrapped chain around the halo and wrapped beads to the chain, paying special attention to the sizes of the beads to create a pattern for a scalloped edge. I almost forgot to add, he even LOS'd it!!


This one is my personal fav. Again, I did the bead work for him - I love that detail!


This one started out a very simple cross with a couple beads in her favorite color. By the time he had finished with the others he started to feel a little badly that they were ornate and this one wasn't. Back to the design table, he dressed it up a little bit, adding swags of chain. The beads free sliding on the chain are mood beads. All week they were a pretty bluish green, I set the cross on the anvil while I snapped some quick pics and this is what I got lol Please don't hold the color change against him :)

Thanks for stopping by, taking a peek at our hand crafted Christmas goodness, and sharing in my proud Mama moment!
See you next time!
Dana

I am still here.....

Just really missing my computer :( I have so much I'd like to share but I really don't want to stuff Paige's computer full of my pics.

Alex finished his first cross. I made the frame for him and then showed him how to weave it. He did such a great job! I'm proud of him and he's happy with his gift, three more to go.

Started priming my bathroom. Ran out of primer and then put the brushes in water to clean while I went to get the other bucket. Yup, you heard right, got a little ahead of myself lol

Trying to decide which room to tackle next.
I still have to finish the ceiling in the laundry room. It has a seam I never finished, not sure how I managed that either. Get that seam finished and I can paper in there like I did the kitchen.
I can finish sanding the entry hall, texture and finish painting it.
I can sand the kids bathrooms - they were supposed to - and get started painting them.
Or I can head downstairs and finish the bedroom/gym.
They are all on the to do list - I made up a list of things I could do that don't require Alan to finish something first and was actually surprised at how much I had! Now I feel like a slacker lol

On the desk are my forum swap pieces. All cut, patinated, sanded and waiting for me to decide how to assemble. I really like them so far, hoping my friends do as well. I also made up the cutest little angels and IF I had a computer I'd show you! sigh. Apple is having a black Friday sale, maybe just maybe we'll have a little extra money in time for the sale. Fingers crossed.

It's been a really rough couple of weeks around here, I'm blessed to have such a wonderful family and enough to keep my hands busy and my mind occupied. I am ever thankful these types of weeks are rare in my life and I know without a doubt if we just keep moving forward we will be fine.

Thank you for stopping by and reading my ramblings once again :)
May you have a blessed Thanksgiving even if it isn't a holiday you celebrate in your locale, we all have something in our lives to be thankful for right?!
We'll be counting down the days to Christmas when I post next and as always I'm committed to a Handmade Holiday so look for gift ideas you can make for your loved ones to be posted soon!
See you next time!

On the Desk......

Let me start by apologizing for no new pics. I'm still using Paige's laptop and I haven't uploaded my camera to it yet. I have several pieces I need to list so I'll be retaking photos sometime this week. I think I'll take a peek into my shop and see which pieces need a refresher while I'm at it too.

On the Desk is a little some thing special this week. Christmas! For those of us who hand craft our gifts the time to create is here! I have goodies to make for the forum swap and Christmas gifts, and........ Alex wants to make crosses for a couple friends this year. Usually he wants ME to make them, I've called him my best repeat customer many times :) But this year, he wants me to TEACH HIM how to make them! I'm so excited, I love sharing wire working with my kids!

I don't remember if I mentioned here that I had picked up some new toys when I ran to Hobby Lobby with Paige. I've been playing with those toys and having so much fun! I also broke out the saw and made up a small coil for sawn jump rings. can I just say WOW!! The difference in the rings is amazing, no recutting anything. It's just like the difference from regular cutters to flush cutters. Playing with new tools always make me so happy!

In the Garden this week.... now that the temps have fallen below 100 the tomato plant has finally decided to grow. After producing a whopping TWO tomatoes this year it is now covered in blooms and small fruit. I hope a few get big enough to pick before the frost gets them. Garden fresh veggies were missed around here this year. Between the record heat and the drought I'm lucky I even have a tomato plant and am looking forward to a harvest.

On the Home Front I'm beginning texturing in my bathroom! Walls should be ready for paint by this weekend! It would be ready now, but I forgot the ceiling had that awful fiberglass wrapped sheet rock Lowe's was selling for awhile. My poor face was itchy and swollen for a few days after sanding it. sigh

Parent/Teacher conferences were last night. Alex has nearly all A's, two B's. One last conference this spring and then no more. All my babies are grown up, it happens so fast! I swear they were all just in Kindergarten last year.

All in all, itchy face aside, it has been a great week! Thanks for letting me share with you and I hope your week - minus the itchy face - is just as good!

Thanks for stopping by!
See you next time!

Up, Down, Turnaround....

Oh up, down, turnaround, puts me in the mood.
Oh up, down, touch the ground, in the mood for food.

Gotta love the Pooh Bear!

My goodness, what a week it’s been! Ups and downs and just plain busy!

I won the Beads n Blessings Artistic category!! Yay! UPS returned my prize package, boo!
Seems they couldn’t find my house - there are only four houses on the street, mine is the last one and they found me just fine to deliver the kit, go figure. Thankfully the Gift Certificate was delivered electronically. On the advice of my friends I used it to buy something I really wanted but haven’t bought until now. Are you ready? I bought a pair of Tronex Razor Flush Cutters! I really needed a pair of flush cutters and these are on par with the best, I am so excited! I kicked in some of my money and also bought a gorgeous strand of Russian Serephinite. I can’t wait for them to get here!!

I started using my iCal to remind me of the various things I need or want to get accomplished in a day, and to tell me it’s time to stop doing one and move on to another. That’s working out very well! I seem to be getting so much more accomplished in a day - does not seem to make any difference in the I don’t feel like doing that right now thing though lol

After saying I was going to get back in the habit of exercising for the last year, I finally did it!! Added my exercise schedule in the iCal, and boy had I forgotten the energy boost you get from a good work out! Of course since I’ve gotten out of shape, that boost is followed by an intense desire for nap time! Luckily for me I’ve started inventory on my beads and such and can use that quiet time to enter the strands into my spreadsheet and still feel productive. I missed yesterdays work out because I forgot to set up the alarm. But that’s ok, the first couple weeks are all about establishing a routine and it’s expected to not be perfect - nothing really is anyway, right? Right!

Our other business is booming right now, we’re backed up and the work keeps coming in. We’ve had an early heat wave - heat index has been in the triple digits. For my European friends that about 35c if I remember the conversion right. 0 is freezing and every degree Celsius is approximately 3 degrees Fahrenheit. On one of the hottest days my husband had work lined up for the trackhoe and dump truck. Both are air conditioned and it should have been a fairly easy day - the air conditioner went out on the trackhoe in the first hour and on the dump truck in the next. That poor man looked so beat when he finally came in for a late lunch. I felt so bad for him, but he turned right around and picked up the parts he needed to make repairs and got right to them, in the heat of the afternoon! But he’s got a/c again!

This weeks piece I’ve been working on is a gold filled filigree cross. It’s really coming along beautifully and I’m quite happy with it. Just one more piece of filigree to add to the back, so it’s as pretty as the front and it’s all done. Finally got a decent pic of Sabina’s matching earrings yay but I haven’t gotten started on that matching cuff yet. I know, bad girl!! But I’ve been working on the cross - *biggest best smile*

We’ve been building our house for the past seven years. We’ve been living in it for over a year now. Makes it interesting to find things sometimes as there’s still quite a bit boxed up. We’ve just received notice from our insurance that they’ll no longer be covering us since the exterior still needs work. We have two months to get the front balconies and rock work done. That’s the bad news, the good news is that’s the incentive to FINALLY get it done! Yay! On that note, I finished texturizing the last wall in the laundry room! It is now ready to be primed and painted in the next few days. Told you I’ve been busy!!

'Til next time!
Dana