Sunday Quotes

More Halloween Earrings

I've been busy the past few days. Making new earrings for Halloween from the charms I received in the mail earlier this week. Then photographing them for my store and getting them all packaged up for future purchases. (I hope)

Here are three pair that I listed in the store today.

Harvest Pumpkins
Antiqued Skulls
Black Skulls

The Black Skulls are very cool and I only have two pair of earrings made with these charms. If I get requests for them, I'll order more charms. Both pair have glow in the dark beads and look really eerie in the dark!

Friday Night Spotlight

I'm happy tonight. Last night my dial up connection wouldn't work. It kept spitting me out and I just got so frustrated I felt like throwing my stapler at the moniter. I didn't, but I could have.

So, tonight is better and I can get the links up for my Spotlight...and here they are!

Country Naturals has THE cutest Hand Knit Bed Of Roses Bath Shower Mat Step out of the shower onto a thick pad of soft rosebuds. 14x18 1/2 inches. Over an inch thick but light-weight. Feels wonderful under your feet. Custom Orders Welcome! The perfect Christmas gift for the person who has everything.

Country Naturals also has a great OLA online craft fair going on at her site. Check out the variety of items available for gift giving for the upcoming seasons.

Yogibear66 has gotten in the mood for All Hallows Eve. Haunting screams and spooky noises will attract the attention of all the ghoulies and goblins in the neighborhood. The Large Standing Skeleton with Motion and Sound Effects will make your house the best place to Trick or Treat!

KornKountryTreasures is offering an absolutely exquisite piece of handcrafted crochet art. The Poinsettia Christmas Crochet Doily would look fabulous on any holiday table. This is a beautiful and colorful doily, crocheted with white, red and green thread. Center of the piece is a poinsettia design, with bright gold beads for the center. Measures approximately 22 1/2" in diameter.

Last, but not least, is one of my friends from Portland Art Collective. Suzanne's creative life started early on with a sewing machine and a burning desire to make things. Current artistic pursuits include fiber arts, especially modern quilting, embroidery, sewing, and crochet; painting, collage, jewelry design, and book binding. She is always up for learning something new!

Thank you for stopping by and checking out the links!

Feeling Better Today

Woke up with a crusty eye this morning, but no pain and less swelling. I was still a bit out of focus, but as the day went on, things were getting sharper. I think I'll stick to beading and leave the outdoor stuff to HB. He's handier that way.

With the heat ramping up early, I decided to hide in the nice cool house and work on some more Halloween earrings. Received some new cool resin charms and couldn't resist.





These are only three of the seven different kinds of resin charms I got. The skulls are my favorite. I used crystals for this pair, but I will be making more earrings and adding glow in the dark beads instead. Yes...I AM having fun!!! :D

Wear Your Safety Glasses

Why? Because even though you're doing something you've done a ton of times and nothing has happened, just this once something WILL happen. Case in point. I went out this morning to feed the birds, as usual, and had to dodge the dried out and drooping branches on one of the hemlock trees. I had trimmed some of them earlier in the season and since it's been hot and dry lately, more have come down to get in my way. So...I got out the big trimmers and went about cutting branches. After a few, I was reaching up high above my head and went to cut the branch and some bark chipped off and fell into my eye. OW!

I got out all the little bits except one that was stuck under my upper lid. Lots of eye watering and blinking and pain. It finally came out later in the afternoon, but it must have scratched my eyeball 'cause it still hurts.

SO....just don't go out there and do the usual stuff. Save yourself a lot of pain and aggravation. Wear Your Safety Glasses!

The Crows Have Gathered

After about 4 days, 5 different themes and time spent going over my notes from the website class I took, I finally got my store decorated for the season. I went with a black, white and red crow theme. A little dark, but I like it.

There is a contest for the best decorated store, at OLA, and I'm glad I took the challenge. I haven't even looked at the class notes for a couple of years and it's handy to know enough HTML to be able to play.

Geez...I didn't realize how late it is. These computer things can keep you up late. *yawn* Have a good Tuesday.

Sunday Quotes

Friday Night Spotlight

Today was the Portland Art Collective Play Day at Collage, in Portland. Morning started off mostly cloudy, and with errands, before I could get myself into town. A drop off at the post office and getting my "It's a Jungle Out There" jewelry to the show (opening is next Tuesday). Then, driving the side streets to avoid all the Labor Day weekend traffic, but hitting almost all the red lights. When I got to our room at Collage, there were only three other members. A good number, considering it is Labor Day weekend.

Jan started us on this path to Play Day. It's so nice to get away from the house and go do some art with like minded women. Paula and Suzie were there to fill out our quartet. A fun day to experiment with new techniques, color a little picture, paint or play with reposse. I really enjoy their art, please go click on their links and see what these fabulous artists can do.

In The Mail Today

The new issue of Bead & Button magazine came today and I am pumped. The cover looks fabulous with a beautiful cubic right-angle weave necklace. I know how to do single needle right-angle weave, but this cubic thing is going to be a challenge. I had to sit down and really go over the instructions to see how hard this might be. But, they seem pretty clear and I will play with this, maybe this weekend.

There were also other great beaded jewelry pieces in this issue. Like, a few of the winners of the 2011 Bead Dreams competition. There is some fabulous bead art by bead artists from around the world. Chain, crystals and beads bracelets look like fun to make and wear. More projects using the cubic right-angle weave and a great artist profile of Heidi Kummli.

Have fun looking around the websites, you never know what you might find!

Glow In The Dark Earrings

I tried getting pics of the glow in the dark beads in the dark and it won't work. So, take my word for it, they do glow and look so very cool!!! During the light times of the day the earrings show off their fall colors. Here are three pair:

Halloween is Coming!

I know, I know...it's still two months away, but for designers and jewelry artists, it's never too soon. I was working on some earrings this afternoon for the up coming holiday. I have to get some more bats, spiders/webs and skulls so I can supply my store with spooky things for Halloween. Boo!

Halloween Earrings

I have some glow in the dark beads that I will be making into earrings. I'll show those when I get them done. Don't know if I can get pictures of the glowing part, but the beads in light will be easy.

Rudraksha Beads

I spent part of my weekend getting some necklaces listed in my store. Here is one that is interesting, and as I found out, full of "power" and mystery.




This necklace is made of rudraksha beads. Scientifically known as Elaeocarpus ganitrus Roxb. The Rudraksha tree is a large evergreen broad leaf tree that grows in India. Mistakenly thought to be the seed of the bodhi tree, they are used in many beading applications. To learn more about these seeds, follow this link.

Sunday Quotes

Cloth Paper Scissors

For those who don't know, CPS is a great magazine about mixed media collage. What it is, who does it, what it looks like and how to do it. This month there are a number of very good articles on Steampunk art dolls, sharpening your mixed-media skills, carving a reduction print and making a mosaic collage. One feature article is about Ivan Lovatt, a sculptor that uses chicken wire, yep, chicken wire, to create awesome figures and wildlife. I can't describe how cool they are, so here is the link and you go check for yourself! Ivan Lovatt

Friday Night Spotlight

It's been quite "electrifying" the past few nights. We've had thunder storms in and out of the area, I think we're getting more tonight, and have had to shut down the computer and other electronics early each night before I can even log on. But....I'm here now and I'm typing like crazy to catch up before anything happens.

Friday has come again and here are the selections for the 26th:

yogibear66 has a beautiful brooch she wants to highlight tonight.
Vintage Victorian Smokey Agate Brooch
Victorian styled; very detailed; no markings are evident; total length is 3 inches to the end of the tassel.

CountryNaturals sent in this link for one of her special rose bookmarks.
Hand Knit Rosebud Bookmark
The double rope is approximately 11" long, with a tiny tassel on the end. The rosebud is about an inch long and 1/2 inch in diameter. These would make nice gift tags, stocking stuffers, or keepsakes from a wedding or shower.

DraggonTagger is having fun with her yarns, too. Check out her
Soap Sock 2 Red White Blue
The Soap Socks are made with cotton yarn so are soft enough for a baby, but work well for gentle exfoliation in the bath or shower! They hold a regular bath sized bar of soap that saves you money so you can use up ALL of your soap! Stuff the slivers in there too and use it all! Soap Socks have a draw string that you can loop around your wrist, while in the shower or tub, so you don't have to worry about dropping the soap!

I'd like to add one of my favorite doll maker's link. Akira Blount creates little beings that are something more than the average doll. Take a tour through the galleries at Akira Studios and you will be amazed by her art.

For a laugh, go to Peter F. May's Unusual Wine Labels and see what people are drinking around the world. One of my favorites is on page 10 of the Unusual Labels, Old Git, and Old Tart can be found on page 11. Very funny labels. Have fun reading about them.

Some Necklaces

Here are a few of the necklaces I took pictures of yesterday.



This necklace is done in large, open weave spiral. A difficult technique until you get the rhythm of the stitch. The second picture is a close up of the weave. I used a button and loop closure with a mother of pearl button.


One of my favorite necklaces, the carved bone bats set off this necklace made with mottled brown beads, that look like stone, metallic colored glass beads and seed beads.


The green glass cabochons were "captured" by copper-lined seed beads and freshwater pearls, then woven together with the peyote stitch. A spiral stitch necklace and vintage button, for the button and loop closure, top it all off.

In the next few days I'll be adding these to my store, when I can get my computer to work properly. I wasn't sure I'd even be able to get on tonight, but I did after foolin' with some configurations. I hate it when you get a new update and things happen that shouldn't. I'll be doing the regular maintenance thing tomorrow. big whoop

Busy Monday

Spent most of the day taking pictures of my jewelry and catching up the close ups of the rest of the Challenge earrings. My poor little camera was so busy, it's never had quite such a work out. The weather was much cooler today and I think that helped get my energy up to get all those pictures taken, almost 200 of 'em! Got them all organized and the bad pictures deleted (I LOVE digital cameras!) and the next thing is to get them listed in my store.

Before I do that tonight, here are a couple of necklaces I made yesterday afternoon.

Jade Buddha
Blue on Blue

I need to retake the pictures for these necklaces as they are too dark. I also need to change the background color on which to lay them on.

Well....off to work on my store at Z'annes Bazaar.

Sunday Quotes

These Are The Nights.....

...that I love the most. The moon will come up very late, the skies are clear and the stars are bright. You can even see the "dark" matter in the Milky Way. I am not very star literate, but I do know a few. I could pick out Orion, the Pleiades, the big and little Dippers and the constellation Leo. I'm still learning, ever so slowly.

Just think, all those little tiny lights in the sky are suns. Most of which may have planets circling around them. Will we ever get out there? Will we ever get past our own solar system? Or will we ever get back to the moon? I hope we can. Until then, I'll go out on the clear nights and study the stars.

Here is a site the has some great info on Space Weather. You can keep track of solar flares, astroid encounters and geomagnetic storms. It's cool. And if you want to see the virtual phases of the moon from any date and time between 1800 and 2199 A.D. click here. Now, go outside and look up...if the sky is clear.

Friday Night Spotlight

Time again for the Spotlight! Here are three links from my friends at OnlineAuction.com.

First up is davendeb1178. They have a great little business of printing up business cards and stickers and labels, for a very good price. Great way to advertise and promote your online business.
Promotional Custom Business Cards or Stickers/Labels

CountryNaturals is next with the My Dog And I First Aid and Travel Kit for you and your lovable puppy.
FIRST AID TRAVEL KITS COME IN A DURABLE CANVAS BAG WITH REMOVABLE POUCH AND ROOM TO ADD PERSONAL ITEMS. ALL KITS COME WITH A “FREE” BAG OF AKC DOG TREATS AND A PLUSH DOG TOY.
My Dog And I First Aid and Travel Kit

Last, but not least is yogibear66 and the wonderful beaded project items she has. Positive Life Gratitude Beads. The purpose is to remind everyone of the positive in our lives and to give gratitude to ourselves and others. Each string will consist of 4 beads and little seed beads plus a charm at the end.
Positive Life Gratitude Beads

Thank you for stopping by and checking out the links above.

A Steampunk Link

The last few days have been a kind of catch up from the past weekend. With all the house cleaning I did and the work on the doors for the PAC show, I was exhausted. It's taken the past few days to get back to normal, sort of. I seem to be getting into my summer routine, in bed by midnight and awake between 8 and 9 am. That means I have a shorter time at my computer at night and I'm getting too tired to post. Not good for a challenge to post every day. *cringe* So...I'm trying my best and will do something new to make sure I can get my posts in daily.

If you happen to like Steampunk stuff, HERE is a GREAT site to check out. Think Victorian computers. Yeah...very cool!!!

Sunday Quote

The whole difference between construction and creation is exactly this: that a thing constructed can only be loved after it is constructed; but a thing created is loved before it exists.

Gilbert Chesterton (1874-1936)

Cloudy Again

Missed the meteor showers last night. It was clear until some time after midnight, then the clouds came in. :( This has truly been a very strange summer. It was drizzly when I got up this morning and all of 52 degrees at 9:15. By 5:30, this evening, it had warmed up to 58 degrees. At least the drizzle stopped by 11 a.m. Sheesh!

Tomorrow is the Portland Art Collective Door Cleaning Work Party. It looks to be a cool and possibly rainy day. The weather people say the rain will come in late on Sunday. Yeah. We'll see. We have doors to clean and paint and if it get wet outside there ain't gonna be a lot of painting.

(Ok...I just had a deja vue moment of me sitting here proofing what I just wrote!!!) Must be the full moon or somethin'. (Twilight Zone theme song playing in the background.) I've been getting a few of those lately. 8^0

Here is some information on the 2011 Meteor Showers for the rest of the year. SpaceWeather has all sorts of information about the sun, asteroids, meteors and other sky anomalies. Very interesting stuff.

Friday Night Spotlight

I missed the last few days of posting due to lack of sleep. By the time it came to blogging, I was too tired to compose, write or even read anything on the computer. But...I got my sleep and am here for the Spotlight tonight.

For the first link, I found the most fantastical paper artists that have really taken their work to new heights. Their media is cast paper and the sculptures they make are beyond belief. Allen and Patty Eckman create life size sculptured pieces of nature scenes and American Indians. Be prepared to be awed.

Janet Hickey recycles everyday items into very interesting art. Most of what she works with are the remains of peoples memories and belongings from Hurricane Katrina. My favorite is the VW engine cover. Take a look and you'll see what I mean.

For the third artist I chose another paper artist. This time Kylie Stillman carves images into stacked papers and books. A very unique way to recycle paper stuff. Check out the hand laced venetian blinds!

Megan Noel is an eclectic artist from Seattle. She draws, she paints, she beads, she knits and she plays the violin. All very creative, beautiful and fun. Take a stroll through her website and don't get lost in the forest.

Where does bad art go when no one wants it? The Museum of Bad Art (MOBA) is the world's only museum dedicated to the collection, preservation, exhibition and celebration of bad art in all its forms. If you have any bad art hanging around now it the time to send it off and have it hanging in a gallery. :0)

I hope you enjoy your trip around the arty web. See you next Friday!

Fascinating

I am a regular listener of Coast to Coast AM radio with George Noory. I love it. Yes, there are weird things like ghosts and UFOs and psychic stuff, but there are also discussions on the wars we are having, the Twilight Zone series, global weather changes and things political and economical. Tonight there are the two lawyers who defended John Wayne Gacy. A very bad man. They have written a book about their case and why they did defend him during his trial. Very interesting!

Trying To Relax

After company this weekend and then the stock market on its way to crashing today, I just wanted something to help me relax. Something simple, like...coloring. I picked up my colored pencils and had a little fun with the new Zentangle/Z'oodles that I created last week.

Here is what I did that calmed my nerves and added some color to my life.

Sunday Quotes

Bubbles and Roses and Wormz

As I mentioned yesterday, I had a play day with members from Portland Art Collective. I brought beads for our play day, but wasn't really in the mood to bead, so I got out my pens and paper. I decided to make a simple Zentangle picture of roses, grid and bubbles. I decided to scan this little picture before it was completed. There is no shading or color to it, but by scanning it now, I can always print out any number of prints and color them all differently. Sneaky, eh? LOL



Here is another Zentangle that I did the same thing with. There are a myrid number of ways to shade and color this one.

Friday Night Spotlight

Another Friday, another links night. I had a play day with my art group buddies today and since I'm in the mood for all things art, that's where we're going to go.

First is Teesha Moore's site that includes information on one of the best art retreats, ArtFest. It's situated in Port Townsend, Washington, a beautiful place to visit and learn some new arty things.

Another fabulous art retreat is Art and Soul. They have retreats all over the country. Click on the link to see when and where the next ones will be.

Next up is Margaux Lange. If you love Barbie, you may or may not love her art. I find her jewelry fascinating and strange. Take a look here and see what she has done to the famous fashion doll.

Keith LoBue is a rare person, a great teacher and a innovative artist. He creates the most intriguing jewelry from vintage and new, precious and junk, steel and stones. After looking through his website, check out his blog for step-by-step pictures on some of his creations.

The last link is for Susan Taylor Glasgow and to show you what you can do with glass if you choose to think way out of the box.

I Was On The Radio

Yep! I was interviewed, as Seller of the Month, on OLA Radio tonight. It was fun and exciting and I had a great time. I got to meet MetzyMom, one of OLA's great members. What a kick!!! She is fun and funny and full of wonderful information.

This has been a great honor to be picked Seller of the Month. But....that means I need to go into my listings and do a little housekeeping, which I'm doing now as I write this. There are advantages to dial up on some occasions. ;)

Other than that, it was a very humdrum, quiet day. I had the wonderful experiences of doing laundry and cleaning the bathroom. Yes, I'm sorry to have shattered your ideal picture of my regal comportment. LOL Ya cain't be too fancy wit' yerself win ya got yer elbows deep in da john. ;)

I'm so disgusted

I received my health insurance information this week. Rates went up over 5%. Doesn't sound like much, but it's an increase of over $25 per month in my payment. (Expletive deleted) I think of all the money I've paid for my health insurance over the years, I would be rich if I only saved it. Oh yeah, that's with a $3,000 deductible! This whole thing is such a scam. Things were cheaper and life was easier until the insurance companies got involved. I could go on, but my blood pressure is already high enough!

To lighten the mood, here is a funny picture that I found on one of my arty groups at Yahoo. It is photo shopped so don't worry, no animals were harmed in the making of this photograph.

The Night Sky

Just went out to see if the cat is all right. The coyotes have been singing and I don't want my cat to be a midnight snack. (She's Ok.) The skies are clear and bright with the moon long gone from the sky. The sky is so beautiful at night with the Milky Way painted across it. This is the beauty of living out, away from the lights of the cities.

I wish I knew more about the constellations, perhaps one day I'll take a class or more than likely, get a comprehensive book on the subject. Usually every summer I set up the hammock so I can relax during the day and watch the stars at night. Not sure if I should try this year, it might bring on the rain, like washing the car does. ;) It's easier to lay in the hammock, wrapped in warm blankets, to watch the meteor showers in August than to stand or sit and try to watch them.

I tried to take some pictures of the Milky Way tonight, but it ain't happenin'. Instead, here are a couple of pictures I took of the full moon, one from March last year and March this year.

March 2010
March 2011

I took these pictures with a Canon Power Shot SX120IS with 10X optical zoom. I LOVE my digital camera! I've experimented with different aspects of light, dark, movement, etc. and if it doesn't work out I can just delete the picture. Without years of practice and experience, I would never have tried to take pictures of the moon with regular film. This is fun! Go play with your camera and see what you can do.

A Good Day Today

Today, I am being featured as Seller of the Month at OnlineAuction.com. I feel very honored to be chosen since I've only been a member since Christmas last. I'll be on the front page all month. Come by and say, "Hi !"

I also played with some new beads I got last week. These deep rich green porcelain beads are made into crystal and green links. I linked 20 of these together and added a big "ball" of flower dangles as a pendant. Having a few leftover, I added them to the necklace. As soon as I get better pictures of this necklace, I will list in my shop at Z'annes Bazaar.





This is a fairly long necklace and it has a nice feel when you wear it. I have some more of these green beads and another necklace is calling to me. I think I'll have to try different design this next time.

Sunday Quotes

Andy

Andy is now over 1 year old. He is a character and a great source of entertainment. Here he is watching the squirrels on the deck eating corn from the bird feeder. This is where I usually sit. A dangerous place when a 60 lb. dog wants to watch the squirrels.
Squirrel?
Squirrel!
What?

Today I had to give him a shower with the hose. He decided it would be a GOOD thing to roll in a dead blue jay. Ewwww and Phewww. Of course, he didn't do that until right about the time to come in the house. So, I'm out there with hose, dog and shampoo trying to clean him up with just the littlest bit of help from hubby. Needless to say, Mom and Dog, the grass and the flower beds all got a shower. We had fun and I'd rather have a semi-wet dog in the house than a very stinky one.

Friday Night Spotlight

Here we are again, another Friday. Wow...did that week go by fast. Here are two more great pieces from my friends at OnlineAuction.com and a couple from me. Thanks for stopping by and checking out the links.

First up is SuperGranny. She has a wonderful collection of tobacciana in the form of ashtrays. This El Rancho Hotel Casino, Black Amethyst Ashtray is a nice piece of history to own. Here is a little background on the El Rancho:

Hotel El Rancho Vegas opened in 1941. It was the first full-scale casino resort on Highway 91 south of Las Vegas, a roadway that within ten years of the El Rancho's opening would become known as the Las Vegas Strip. Though it did not have the glitz or notoriety of other early casinos, it was nonetheless a Strip pioneer.

The El Rancho, one of the oldest properties on the Las Vegas Strip, was imploded at 2:30 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2000.

After reliving the past on the Strip, a little trip to the beach would be nice. Our second link tonight is from YogiBear66, who offers the Seascape Necklace. A fun assortment of an aqua-colored disc, blue and green glass beads and small spacer beads with a little seashell charm. All the colors of the ocean wrapped up in one necklace. I can hear the ocean already.

And last by not least, here are a couple of my necklaces. The first is a three strand Peridot Necklace with round copper beads separating the chips. Peridot is the gem quality stone from volcanic olivine. Found in ancient deposits of lava, this semi-precious stone shines in rich varied greens.

The next one is the very first Chainmaille Necklace I ever made. Small glass turquoise colored disks and purple seed beads highlight this necklace of silver and gold plated jump rings in double ring technique. A very lightweight piece and very eye catching. It would be perfect for that "little black dress" or a black turtleneck sweater in the winter.

Zentangle Links

Here are some of my favorite Zentangle links to look at and learn from.

Zentangle website
Check out the archives for the newsletters, they have a ton of information on different tangles and how to draw them.

Zentangle blog
Much, much more information about Zentangles and lots of pretty pictures of tangles from people around the world. Rick and Maria just became grandparents this month. Congratulations!

Tangle Patterns
A comprehensive list of tangles from various artists and Certified Zentangle Teachers. A great place to go for inspiration.

I Am The Diva blog
The Diva has an ongoing weekly challenge. You can start at the beginning or pick and choose which theme you want to work on for your weekly Zentangle challenge. Fun!

BEEZ In The Belfry
Zentangle books, drawings, information and lots of fun here.

If you are really hooked now when visiting these sites, don't forget to check out their links. You'll find many talented artists and teachers who are very open and sharing about their Zentangles.

A few more Z'oodles

I've been working on some Z'oodles lately. These are the two I finished, I have a few others that are in process and will show those as soon as I get them done.




These Z'oodles were created on 8.5" x 5.5", 70# pen and ink paper with a Micron 03 pen. I prefer to use the 3mm pen for my drawings, it moves over the paper easier for me than a 1mm tip. Check out Zentangle for more information on drawing your own cool doodles.

More It's a Jungle Out There

I got the beads I ordered from Fire Mountain today. I ordered them on Sunday night, don't ya just love shopping online? I used them to make the necklaces below. The first one is made of tigereye. The second one is made from acrylic with a leopard print. It was fun designing and making each piece. The leopard print acrylics took the most time this afternoon because of all the wire work and jump ring manipulation I had to do. But, I like the end result and hopefully, someone else at the show will too.



So that takes care of my three pieces to submit to the show. I will spend a goodly part of tomorrow afternoon trying to get professional looking pictures of all of them. Sometimes this takes longer than making the necklace itself. ;)

It's a Jungle Out There

That's the name of the exhibit, presented by the City of Gresham Art Committee, I will be showing a few of my necklaces in. I finished up the Copper Leopard today so I could get some pictures submitted this week. My camera was giving me fits for awhile, but it seems to have settled down. Here is a rough draft picture of the Copper Leopard.



As soon as I finish the other two pieces I plan on entering, I'll have pics up.

Sunday Quotes

The best kind of rain, of course, is a cozy rain. This is the kind the anonymous medieval poet makes me remember, the rain that falls on a day when you'd just as soon stay in bed a little longer, write letters or read a good book by the fire, take early tea with hot scones and jam and look out the streaked window with complacency.
~Susan Allen Toth, England For All Seasons

We are getting more rain tomorrow. I hope it is a cozy rain. :)

What A Beautiful Day

It started out clear and cool and a light breeze. Ended up in the mid-70's and a lovely evening for sitting out on the deck. The half moon won't be up until after 1:30 am, my time, but the stars are glowing nicely tonight.

I picked a small amount of red huckleberries this morning. They are ripening despite all the cool weather and rain. I will freeze them until I can get enough for a pie, then I'll mix them with frozen blueberries and mmmm,mmmm,mmmm mmmm mmmm. It is one of the best pies ever! Depending on how many huckleberries you have, combine them with 2/3 - 1/2 the blueberries in your favorite blueberry pie recipe, adjust your sugar accordingly. Makes for a very pretty pie.

With the weather being warmer for this weekend, I'll have to make sure I get out there and pick the berries early. Hopefully the deer or the birds won't get to them before I do. We're expecting some rain and cooler temps on Monday, so tomorrow is the day to get out there.

I just did a search for huckleberries, since I don't know that much about them, and found these guys International Wild Huckleberry Association. Just learned a little something new tonight. Cool! Think I better go get some whipping cream tomorrow.

Oh great. My mouth is now watering for pie.

Friday Night Spotlight

Happy Friday! It's that time again to check and see what's new at OLA.

Tonight:
KornKountryTreasures has the cutest little glass praying boy and girl figurines. Wonderful pieces for a collector of Vaseline glass.

DraggonTagger has a pair of water globes listed that would be great for anyone who will be on vacation this summer. These glass globes will water your plants for 2 weeks.

Yogibear66 offers a lovely gold colored bow-shaped brooch with a blue glass dangle. A very pretty piece of costume jewelry at a very good price.

Thank you for stopping by and checking out the above selections.

Changes

So...what do you think?

I decided to change things up a bit and go with a little color on the old blog. I like it and I guess that's what counts. :)

Just Playing

Been trying some experiments with vintage jewelry and beads. Won't have any pics to show until I'm happy with the results. Also playing with my collage stuff again and will be adding some collage/mixed media things to my jewelry.

I've been wanting to play with resin and bezels, but don't have time right now. It looks like fun and the charms and pendants created by other artists are very cool. Got my Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist magazine today and they have a tutorial on making resin earrings and pendant. I think I can have a whole lot of fun with this stuff!

But first, I have to finish my Leopard necklace and work on my commission necklace. I'm trying to design a primitive necklace that a "woman of the woods" would have. Sometimes these are the hardest necklaces to make. There can be so many choices in materials to use. Picking the right ones is not so much difficult as it is overwhelming. I did find some beautiful ceramic beads that will be part of this necklace. Here they are:




Mixed with wood, stone and seeds it should be a fun necklace to wear.

Pet Peeve

I was reading a few of the comments from some of the newsletters I got in email today. For crying out loud, didn't anyone learn to spell when they were in school???? I see alot all over the net. Hey People!!!! ALOT IS NOT A WORD!!!!! I learned this in the 6th grade, way back in 1964. It only exists in your mind, not in the official book of the English Language, otherwise known as a dictionary!

It drives me nuts when I see this. To me, it shows that these people have no respect for the language they speak or write and poor schooling/learning on their part. OH! And there's another one...THEIR - THERE - THEY'RE or YOUR - YOU'RE. Has the educational system completely failed ALL of our kids? It's a sad state of affairs when you start to lose your language or even worse (and NOT worst) lose it to laziness.

I love our language. I'm not a teacher or writer, but an avid reader. I have gone places, seen things and even learned new and ancient words from all that I've read. Every bit of it written with proper spelling, punctuation and sentence structure. Don't just read a book, learn from it.

Remember: I before E except after C.

Thank you for listening, you may now return to your scheduled programming.

Rain Rain Rain

It was a mostly rainy day today. Again. It seems we (the Pacific Northwest) are the only cool place in the continental U.S. That's OK by me. I don't like the heat and get very cranky when it gets over 85 degrees. At least the rain and cool temps are keeping the fire season down to nil and the moss is greening up again. We'll see how the rest of the summer goes. The heat dome is supposed to be moving east this week and may bring the warmth back up to us. Perhaps we will have summer after all. :)

My lupine and a lot of the foxglove plants have fallen over because of the rain hitting them. They were really looking nice and I didn't get any pictures before they fell over. RATS! But...the Himalayan Balsalm is doing fine and growing quite well. They might bloom out if we can get a bit of sun this week. I don't have any current pics of the Balsalm but do from last year.






It is also called Policeman's Helmet because the shape of the flower looks like a London Bobbie's helmet. These plants, if watered weekly, can get up to 6 - 7 feet tall. They are a very easy plant to raise and also easily reseed themselves. Some people here in Oregon call them an invasive species. If you keep up with pulling out the ones you don't want in your garden, I think they will do all right. Also, the slugs don't like them! Bonus!!

Pen and Paper

Been having more fun while things are downloading. Here are just a couple of Z'oodles/Zentangles that I've completed in the last few weeks.




Doing these are contemplative, relaxing and sparks my creativity. What I love the most is, I can't draw, but I can Zentangle!

Sunday Night Quotes

Sunday Night Quotes is my way of helping to start out the week with an inspirational, humorous or thoughtful quote. If you have a favorite quote, please let us know and put it in the comments.

Solitude

The happiest of all lives is a busy solitude. ~Voltaire

Typical Oregon Day

It was mostly overcast all day, in the low to mid 60's with a light breeze playing in the trees. We had about .25" of rain last night and early this morning. I love listening to the rain falling on the leaves as I'm dozing in bed in the morning. It makes my soul smile.

The rest of the day was much like the morning. Quiet, not much going on and comfortable. Received a few packages from my shopping at OLA and Amazon. Got a very interesting book called, The Repurposed Library by Lisa Occhipinti. Everything about the book is great except the print and font. The Amazon reviews were not too complimentary about this subject either. The material is well thought out, but it certainly is hard to read. Good lighting is a must for this book.

I think I may have to explain something about the length of my days and why my posts are not posted on the day they should be. I consider this my Saturday post, even though it is early Sunday morning. I like to work in Vampire Mode and usually don't hit the sheets until sometime after 2 or 3 a.m. I don't consider my day over until I go to bed, so my posts are late by "normal" standards.

Now...I did miss two days this week. Wednesday, I spent watching Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and didn't go to bed until 1:30 a.m. I had to go to bed early because I had a picnic with my art group on Thursday. I also missed Thursday, due to that picnic. I ended up, at the end of the day, driving over 150 miles to and from the picnic, so I was tired and forgot to post. Go here PAC to see pics of the beautiful place we invaded for our picnic. (Thank You, Jenny!!!) Wonderful company, great food and fun swap!!!

While I'm typing all this, I'm also listening to Coast to Coast radio, tonight with Ian Punnett. The guest tonight is Jeremy Wade of River Monsters on Animal Planet. Very interesting, even for a non-fisher person. Off I go to listen to the rest of the show.

Friday Night Spotlight at OLA

Tonight I would like to introduce you to yogibear66 and kornkountrytreasures. Both of these sellers are very active members of OnlineAuction.com. Each of them have some really cool items up for sell. If you see something you like, make a bid or buy it out right, before someone else gets it.

yogibear66 has choosen a very pretty piece of jewelry to highlight this Friday. Here is her Vintage Goldette Silver Cameo Three Strand Necklace .

kornkountrytreasures sent this link to a very unusual piece of enamelware. Check it out here Vintage Jones Irrigator. This would be a good collector item for anyone interested in enamelware or vintage medical equipment.

We thank you for looking and check back every Friday for new and interesting items from OLA!!