AJE December Component Reveal

As I said several times already (I'm just a little excited) I won the December component over at Art Jewelry Elements! The sweetest little snowflake from Diana of Suburban Girl Designs.

Diana's Snowflakes - aren't they CUTE!?

I got to designing right away, and with only a couple minor tweaks to the design I got my components made up fairly quickly. Then with a little sit and stare time I decided on the best way to assemble them all into a pretty sweet choker.

Only one moment of panic when I realized I had attached the filigree backward on the end of the beadwork and had to cut it back off and reattach. I really like this one, it's just so full of sweetness you just can't help but smile at it.

Pop on over to the Art Jewelry Elements blog with me to see what the others have made with their snowflakes. I'm sure they've come up with some gorgeous pieces of their own!

Thanks for stopping by!

See you next time!

The Rest of the Hop!

Monthly Winners

Dana Hickey..... You are Here!

Cate Van Alphen

AJE Blog Team

Lindsay M Starr

Linda Landig

Lesley Watt

Caroline Dewison

Susan Kennedy

Jen Cameron

Jenny Davies-Reazor

Melissa Meman

Kristen Stevens

In the Oven and What I'm working on ...

With the swap items finished up I can turn my attention to the color challenge proffered by Dry Gulch and the Art Jewelry Elements Snowflake ( I won one from Diana @ Suburban Girl Studios!!) I have ideas, oh have I ideas! annnddd..... I got a box of goodies fro Rio Grande. Silver prices dipped and I took advantage of it while I could. Yup I am going to try my hand at bezeling and flush setting itty bitty czs, yes I am I am. If you could see the grin on my face. This is the best end to the year/beginning, I'm a happy camper.

So since my nose is to the grindstone so to speak for the next couple weeks and and festivities Merry Merry to you and yours! I though I had better get a cookie recipe up here for you!

Yum!

These are MY all time favorites they never hang around my house very long.

Peanut Butter Blossoms

Ingredients 

• 48 HERSHEY'S KISSES Brand Milk Chocolates
• 1/2 cup shortening or butter (shortening keeps them fluffy but butter tastes better)
• 3/4 cup  Peanut Butter
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• A couple Tbs of granulated sugar for rolling the balls in

Directions

1. Heat oven to 375°F. 

2. Beat shortening and peanut butter in large bowl until well blended. Add 1/3 cup granulated sugar and brown sugar; beat until fluffy. Add egg, milk and vanilla; beat well. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into peanut butter mixture. 

3. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in granulated sugar; place on ungreased cookie sheet. 

4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. (my oven likes the 8 minute mark)

5. While cookies are baking remove wrappers from kisses. 

6. With about a minute or two to go press kisses into the center of cookies and return to oven; cookie will crack around edges. 

7. When done remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. Makes about 48 cookies of yummy goodness.

We're thinking of making some sugar cookies this year so maybe we'll post the recipe next week.

Thanks for stoppin by!

Merry Merry!

Dana

Less Than Wordy

I try to post on Tuesdays. I even have the monthly Birthstone posts to make sure I always have a topic, but sometimes there just are no words to write.

It's not that I'm not feeling creative, I've been busy working away. I just finished up a necklace I'm hoping Stringing Magazine will like. I'm just not feeling terribly wordy.

So...... um.....let's see, something worthy of posting about.... I hosted this month's giveaway in the forum. Or basically in our group on FB. Since about.com changed everything up AGAIN the forum has pretty much been dealt its death blow. Sad, it used to be a hopping place. You could barely keep up with all the posting, now crickets, crickets dropping pins.  Anyway, I used random.org very cool little website I let it pick a number based on the entries and then listed all the entries and had it randomize those and ..... Anne won!  I'll be sending her these little beauties. Pendant made by moi - that little tree of life kick I was telling you about :) A pair of agate hearts, some freshwater pearls, and some moonstone, in grays and peach. Not a huge prize package but enough to get a little inspiration going and I'm sure Anne will make something beautiful with it.

Maybe a kitty post next week or birthstones, who knows?

Thanks for stoppin by!

We'll see ya next time!

Happy 4th!

My hopping has slowed to a crawl and if yours has too Bead Soup is HERE!

Working on a custom order for the last couple of days and seem to have gotten ahead of myself along the way. I pulled the studs out of the tumbler yesterday only to realize I had not left myself a place to attach the dangles. Hangs head, the dangles are kind of necessary, they're the part she really really wanted. The earrings will be done just as soon as I can figure out how to connect the two pieces, and I think I may have done just that........ we'll see just as soon as I finish writing this post! Sometimes you just have to put it out there, say it aloud or as the case may be, type it, for the solution to come to you.

Last week I participated in my first SKIRT Team scavenger hunt. I had seen friends scavenger hunt treasuries but had never figured out the game. Can I just say.......they're a blast! Not only did I have fun but I WON! I have had the great pleasure of being in the "hot" seat in several Patriotic treasuries this week and have found some really cool shops in the process. There are still a couple days left before I get to choose this weeks winner but thought I might share with you some wonderful finds from those treasuries and the curators who featured them. Since it's Independence Day this week I'm carrying on the Patriotic/Americana feel.

An Americana Thank You to the Scavenger Hunt Curators!
SKIRT Team Scavenger Hunt #9

Thanks for stoppin By!

If you're in the US have a safe and happy holiday weekend! Even if you're not, I wish you the same!

See you next time!

Tesori Trovati Reveal!

This has been the most interesting nothing goes as planned creation and post I have ever had the pleasure of.



I'm sure I've told you of winning the bead from Erin of Tesori Trovati. We were to have a reveal hop in September. Erin made a wonderful (I'm sure) bead and sent it my way. It just never seemed to actually find me. Tracking has it being mis-sent across the river and then returned to Little Rocks sort facility supposedly to be sent here but then it just stops there in Little Rock, no more info and no bead.

So Erin, doll that she is, makes another one. Of course now I've missed the reveal so it was extra sweet of her in my opinion. This one arrived safe and sound, and was definitely worth the wait!

Erin, Paige and I had decided we would plan a reveal for the end of October. The last Saturday of the month, which was this last weekend. I had it in my head we had one more weekend. I did take pics this weekend so it was ready to go but instead of my being ahead of schedule I was behind. sigh I offer my apologies my head is usually better attached!



"You are a child of God, with credentials like that you can do anything." I would give my daughter the moon and stars if I could. I would move heaven and earth for her. I strung them on a chain for her instead.

Paige and I had played with ideas and had started working on some resin charms as I had originally intended to run a chunky chain through the bead as a start to a charm bracelet. But as this was a collaborative effort with my daughter things changed as we worked on it. While I love some embellishment, she prefers much cleaner lines.
Then the resin didn't want to set. It was a very humid and rainy day, so we warmed it to help set the Ice Resin. The larger charms with thinner layers eventually set up. The smaller with a thicker layer, still has not completely set two weeks later. It's slightly tacky and grabs anything that touches it. Lesson learned, this is not the resin I used in my youth. I made a few more charms with extremely thin layers and they have set up wonderfully. They will be used for the beginnings of a charm bracelet and if the smaller charm ever sets up, it will too.



To keep the bead from wobbling I punched a couple small discs and dapped them for a slight dome of their own. As luck would have it the arc is a perfect match to the bead caps I used. I love the added bonus of the two tone look it gives to the caps. I used a long eye pin I had on hand but I think with the length of the necklace I'll cut a short piece of wire and replace the simple loops with wrapped. This length invites playing with the beads and I prefer they be secure. Paige agrees!

So there you have it! A late posting of a late bead, with an on the fly redesign and it fits the kiddos personality to a T! This is my gift to her. She's been wearing the moon pendant since I gave it to her and is waiting for the new loops on her cosmos.

Thanks so much for taking a peek!
We'll see you next time!

Turbulance

It's been a very strange month. The ups and downs have been a little surreal. The ups have been wonderful and the downs have been frustrating to devastating and they're happening back to back paired up like a wicked roller coaster ride. The wonderful overshadowed by the bad and then the bad eased by the good. This is life as it always has been but amplified from one extreme to another.

A Nicer Example: I'm allergic to insect bites, we had quite a bit of rain recently and the mosquitos are thick. My horse found a weak spot in the fence and opened it up like a gate, so has been free grazing the neighbors pasture (thankfully we have permission to graze him there) but I've been reworking the fence and getting eaten alive by mosquitos. We also just finally replaced the dead lawn mower and while I was mowing I discovered a hill of fire ants by being attacked by them. All the work done in the front of my mouth by my previous dentist has now fallen out and I have been reluctant to trust another dentist (the last several have been not so pleasant experiences) as a result I broke a tooth - in the front of my mouth and my lip keeps getting sucked in and bit. All this leaving me with a slightly puffy face, a broken tooth and since my birthday is coming, a drivers license needing to be renewed NOW. sigh But it was my son's birthday and we went together to get our licenses renewed, the Revenue office was empty NO LINES, we had a blast, and the new pic wasn't even remotely ogre-esque looking!

At roughly the same time Erin over at Treasures Found and of Tesori Trovati had an inspirational give-a-way that was part of her birthday and reflections of the celebration of life that was a dear friend of her family's.

She asked:

If you are a Child of God and you can do anything, what is that anything that you would want to do?

and I answered: Once upon a time I taught fourth grade art through the arts council. I taught all three of my children and all of their friends. My daughters dream is to open a store where she can also share her love of art with the local children. If I could do anything it would be to help her realize her dream, to share her passion with the kids.

And I won! Paige has agreed to work with me on this project which we promised Erin we would reveal on September 20th. I'm really looking forward to having a little playtime with Paige. We've thrown out a couple ideas already and now we're just waiting for the bead to arrive. I gave Erin our favorite colors and told her to surprise us in her choices, all her beads are gorgeous so I have complete faith this one will be as well. Paige is taking another ceramics class this year and I just may have to break out the polymer myself or resin, I haven't played with resin in ages.

Whatever we decide on, I do hope you'll join us on the 20th to see just what we've come up with! And hopefully in the meantime my life will have settled down to a less tumultuous and turbulent ride. ~~~

Thanks so much for stopping by!
We'll see you next time!

Beads, Cameras, and Computers

Almost sounds ominous doesn't it? Maybe more so if you have a daughter who is in the midst of creating a digital drawing of an evil sea creature. She used to write slasher stories in creative writing, now she channels that energy into hearts that eat their way out of the chest and evil mermaids. I have come to the conclusion it's her way of dealing with stress and uncertainty, it's her release. The scarier her creation is the happier she becomes, we all should have such releases.

I've finally gotten the computer, printer and time capsule networked and everything is wireless! Yea me! Those few necessary wires are hidden away so it all looks very clean - at least there aren't loose wires lol Clean is relevant!! The only problem is, while I was tucking away those few wires and stashing the surge protector, I whacked my elbow on the corner of the computer desk. It hurt, not as much as it could have, but my left hand (I am left handed) has had numb and or tingly fingers with intermittent loss of fine motor skills i.e.: I drop things if I rotate my wrist and can't quite feel the stopping point when using pliers. If I touch my elbow where I whacked it I can send an electric jolt down my arm into my fingers, that was actually kind of fun the first week, but now I'm ready for it to heal up and give me back my hand. I did a little research over on the Mayo Clinic website and it looks like when the swelling that is affecting the nerve goes down my hand should return to normal. My neck and shoulders have also been extremely tight lately, which I'm sure is a contributing factor.

Art has always been my release (wonder where the kiddo gets it from?) so I thought I'd work on my Hoarder pieces, I had been putting it off waiting for the feeling in my hand to come back. It's going much slower than I'm used to and making matching wire swirls is a little tougher than normal but I can feel the stress levels easing. Looks like I will actually have a couple somethings to show at blog hop time, I was starting to worry I wouldn't.

I know I've been running late with my blog postings the last couple weeks, numb fingers makes typing interesting too lol I laugh but I do apologize for my tardiness. So, last post I promised I would write about the beads I received from Lori as winnings from Bead Soup 7. Lori sent these awesomely sweet vintage beads.







Aren't these all just gorgeous little things?! Thank you Lori! PJ Tools I appreciate you! One can never have too many pretty things :D

Thanks so much for stopping by!
See ya next time!

I won!

You all did a wonderful job of crossing your fingers toes and eyes for me.... I won!
Rather I was one of the winners. I don't know what I won yet as the prizes still need to be divvied up, but the prize doesn't really matter. I get to jump up and down and do happy dances because I won!!

Sadly none of my picks won (other than my admiration). I obviously have no idea what the judges are looking for lol Although my last pick on my blog post didn't win, the maker did... for one of her other pieces, yay Elsie!

The list of winners....

Cherish Designs by Kris Lanae Binsfield
Kris won several awards and this earns her bragging rights as the GRAND PRIZE WINNER of the 7th Bead Soup Blog Party® contest. Congratulations, Kris! Grand Prize, Wire Work,Judges Choice

Judges Choice Fusion Beads, Emma Todd of A Polymer Penchant.

Kalmbach Publishing, Debbie Rasmussen of A little of this, a little of that. (this one was one of my favs, not sure why I didn't get it included in my picks hmm)

Nina Designs had a tie!
Nina Designs, Silvia Serricola at Pipa the Latest
and Malin de Koning at Beading by Malin de Koning

PJ Tool Jewelry & Craft, Melissa Mesara at one-eared pig beads

Best Use of Seed Beads

Both Beaducation AND Kalmbach Publishing chose Karin Slaton of Backstory Beads

Both Fusion Beads and Nina Designs chose Debbie Rasmussen of a little of this, a little of that
(that's three wins with two pieces for Debbie -- way to go!)

Lima Beads, K. Hutchison of Jumbled Hutch

PJ Tool Jewelry & Craft, Lily Krist of Handmade by LilK

Wire Work Beaducation, Eva Sherman of Eva Sherman Designs

Fusion Beads and Lima Beads chose Kris Lanae Binsfield of Cherish Designs (see above, Grand Prize winner)

Kalmbach Publishing, Susan of Libellula Jewelry

Nina Designs, Kristina Hahn Eleniah of Peacock & Lime

PJ Tool Jewelry & Craft, Jean A. Wells of Jean A. Wells Handcrafted Artisan Jewelry

Fiber

Beaducation and Lima Beads chose Claire Hasemeier of Blue Quail Designs (a Facebook entrant!)

Fusion Beads, Stefanie Teufel of Stefanie's Sammelsurium

Kalmbach Publishing, Cheryl McCloud of One Thing Leads to Another

Nina Designs, Agi Kiss of MoonSafari Beads

PJ Tool Jewelry & Craft, Heidi Kingman of Heidi Kingman Jewelry

Best Use of Color

Beaducation, Tari Kahrs of Pearl & Pebble

Fusion Beads, Agi Kiss of MoonSafari Beads

Kalmbach Publishing, Christina Miles of Wings N Scales

Lima Beads, Keren Panthaki of Vas Dea

Nina Designs, Megan Milliken of MaeMaeMills

PJ Tool Jewelry & Craft, Dana Hickey of Wind Dancer Studios <--- That's ME!!!

Out of the Box

Dish made by Adlinah Kamsir of DreamStruck Designs

Zack's Choice

Chosen by Zack as his absolute favorite, Leslie Wayment of AA Beads & More Out of the Hat Winner

Pulled out of a hat of alllllll the entrants,
Mary Tanner (a Facebook entrant!)

Lori's Hat Winner

Lori took all her absolute favorites(and that was TOUGH to narrow down)and then drew one out of a hat.

Susanna Lehto of Othel Lehto

And last but not least,

Runner's Up

Kat Douglas of Washoe Kat's

Elsie Deliz-Fonseca of Eliz-Eliz and All that Craft

Jennifer Cabic of What I Believe...

Danielle Kelley of Imbue the Muse

Melissa Trudinger of Bead Recipes

Amber Dawn of Inventive Soul

Evelyn Duberry of ShebaMakeda Glass Art



CONGRATS TO ALL THE WINNERS!! Congrats to everyone not on this list as well. You are one talented group of artisans!



On the Homefront.....

We have a couple bills to pay first, but I finally get my new computer!!!!! I am so excited. Paige has been the absolute sweetest to share her laptop with me for the last EIGHT months I know there were times when she wished she didn't have to ahem finals, eight page term papers, research for those papers. She actually went to the University's library and used their computers so as not to split up where she had all her info. I need to do something REALLY special for her. Her birthday is coming up too so I need to get on it!



Thanks for stopping by! I'll post again when I know what I won :D
See ya next time!

One Finished UFO and the last of my babies has Graduated HS

I mentioned earlier one of my very first on the desk postings included a UFO of an embroidered piece. A recent Art Jewelry Elements blog posting issued a challenge - FINISH A UFO! oooh game on!! So I choose that embroidered piece to finish. I had planned on it anyway so it was serendipitous timing lol

I've had this design in my head since the moment I saw the beads Kateri (and most awesome nephew) had offered up for the months drawing. But once I had the beads in my hands, they were soooo pretty, I was immediately intimidated. I had to do them justice, but could I? Then I won the beads from John (I was on a roll) , the gold stone daggers were perfect for the design :) but I was still not quite there. So I bought some turquoise and some bronze delicas ......I was almost there I could feel it.
I've been playing with stamped filigree lately and it hit me as I was cleaning off my desk THAT was the missing ingredient to the design in my minds eye. And Finally it all came together.

My Copper Sunrise
Mt first embroidered piece. Gold stone, red tigers eye, turquoise, wood and seeds, stamped brass and acrylic leaves. Twisted Copper wire borders the embroidery and plain solid copper wire makes up the chain and connectors. The earrings sport forged copper paddles, turquoise and also feature leather.









I'll be wearing them tonight (Friday night) at my son's graduation. I'm prescheduling this post so I don't forget :) Busy couple of days coming up!! I'm so very proud of him, that sweet little boy who hid behind my legs has grown to become such a fine young man.

I'm going before I make myself cry :) Thanks so much for stopping by and visiting...
We'll see you next time!

My Bead Soup Favs

Since Lori added the contest feature to the blog party, and since the winners "should" be announced by the time this posts (Yes I prescheduled this one lol). I thought it might be fun to compare my favorites to the judges favorites. There were several other pieces I loved, but they didn't seem to make it into the contest portion.

In no particular order .... Here are my picks:

http://pinterest.com/pin/96827460710926780
Pinterest apparently doesn't allow embedding pics anymore {phooey!} It was so easy to pin and keep all the info with the pic. The above pin is the floral goodness of Kumi of Malie Kai Designs - her blog:
http://maliekaidesigns.blogspot.com/2013/03/bead-soup-7-reveal.html

http://pinterest.com/pin/96827460710927973
This Mood Bracelet by Donna Millard Jewelry

http://pinterest.com/pin/96827460710961444/
Jean Yates Heartlands Necklace, Jean's blog:
http://prettykittydogmoonjewelry.blogspot.com/2013/03/reveal-for-bsbp-7-part-one-in-which-i.html

http://pinterest.com/pin/96827460710973724/
Sweet charm bracelet by Lola of Bead Lola Bead, her blog:
http://beadlolabead.blogspot.com/2013/03/7th-bead-soup-blog-party-1st-reveal.html

http://pinterest.com/pin/96827460711014789/
Another charm bracelet,this one by Audrey of Toki No Hourousha, her blog:
http://esperianterra.blogspot.ca/2013/04/bead-soup-blog-party-6-reveal-2-reveal.html

http://pinterest.com/pin/96827460711015836/
A sweet necklace by Michaela

http://pinterest.com/pin/96827460711129050
This sweet embroidered piece - I LOVE - from June

I obviously have a very romantique style lol Lots of hearts and flowers in this group! But, hang on! There is one more favorite.........

http://pinterest.com/pin/96827460711144334/
A touch of industrialism! Go figure, but I like it! Necklace by Elsie of ladelizchica.blogspot.com.

There you have it! Can't wait to see the judges picks, cross your fingers, eyes, toes, etc one of MINE also makes their list :D

Thanks for stopping by and having a little fun with me!
See ya next time!

Wow! What a busy month I'm having!!
Bead Soup - reveal is in less the 10 days.
I was the forum host for our monthly draw on About's Jewelry Making site -
Congrats Susan!!
I've finally gotten around to papering my kitchen ceiling -same look as tin but minus the price tag. I'm about half way done 2 or 3 more days and we'll be waiting on hubs to cut some trim
Annnnd.... Today is Paige's birthday! Happy Birthday!! Ruby Reds to celebrate!

Source: etsy.com via Dana on Pinterest

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