where exactly did July go and where was I when it went zooming by? there is back to school supplies in the Target and spring training for the NFL is starting for the Cowboys and Texans. I absolutely LOVE football, preferrably college (Longhorns!), but also enjoy the pros. When I was traveling for my previous job, I'd watch as many games on the hotel tv as I could. I remember flying over the Philly Eagles stadiums - built right next to one another with the freeway splitting the two. I would watch the Bears while in Chicago and the 49ers when in San Francisco. One passenger sitting next to me on a flight worked for Fox TV and had an official behind the scenes book he was studying on the Tampa Bay Bucs for an upcoming game. I don't know what he role was, I didn't want to bother him while he was reading, but he knew Troy Aikman and the other announcers for the Fox team. I suspect he looked up stats and fed them to the guys, but I don't know. He did mention how lucky we were to have Lance from Austin and what a good role model and nice guy he was. How ironic...
Well, what more can i say? The set is in honor of Lance's 5th consecutive win at the Tour this year...yellow jersey, yellow beads. I listened to everyday of the tour on OLNtv.com because we didn't have our OLN tv on cable any longer (cable=donna the zombie), and I have to say this has been the best tour I've followed in the past 5 years. I hope Lance comes back to Austin for some celebrating again this year, I know he's busy and may not make it, but he's our hero and I'm glad to live in the same town...
I've been trying out some fusing - fused a bunch of dichro yesterday. i dunno if i like it all that much, its pretty time consuming and I think i'm just not that skilled at it - like quilting. I LOVE quilts, but I'm not great at making them. I'm more an admirer. I think that's how fusing and i are going to get along - i will admire the work without being a great student of it. I prefer to sit and make 40 beads, rather than all the steps it takes to put pieces of glass onto one another and wait for them to melt into each other. But I sure like the results.
spent yesterday reading Lance's book and not making any beads. oh well. i have all day to do that!
on an exciting note, things are starting to get interesting in the possibility of me teaching at a local arts center! I'll post more info here once we get some things finalized, but i'm going in today to meet with them and fill out some paperwork... lets hope it goes through!
Tomorrow's time trial in the TdF is gonna be a hot one. Get up and listen live on OLNtv to hear the outcome. I can't WAIT!!
had some luck making vessels the other day, but then of course the nicest one fell to the floor and chipped part of the lip off. oh well, time to make another...
what? what? you have been wondering where I've been? hmmm...mostly i've been at the torch, like a squirrel, stocking up on sets. so far the work is slow, i've been sidetracked running errands and doing other consulting projects, but i'm happy with what i've made so far. The rest of the week is 'all beadmaking, all the time', except of course the mornings where i'm at the computer, listening to the TdF. How about Lance eating dust, then winning Stage 15? man....
I've been working on new hang tags for my beadsets that I put into stores on consigment. I'm still in experimental stage, but I do like the progress so far. I'm almost done with them and will post a pic of the final design. I'm using eyelets from the "World of Scrapbooking". I went into one of the local scrapbooking stores yesterday and am so grateful that I've not gotten into it - because I'd be completely BROKE! There were so many neat papers and stickers and ribbons and stamps that I could have spent every cent in my piggy bank buying them all. I was really good, I kept focused and bought some paper for the tags, and an eyelet setter. Its amazing I got out of there alive...
Ahhh..the joys of Texas in July. 100 degree days, and no water from the sky. Its even hot and muggy at 10:00 at night. People wonder how we live in heat like this and I can tell ya - A/C round the clock. I feel sorry for parts of the country that don't have A/C units and it gets extra hot - its in the 100's in Montana lately and i doubt they have A/C up there. I bet they are pretty sad...Send some rain our way
there isn't much new today - i'm starting to go into some serious production the next few weeks - if you have a set you'd like me to make shoot me an email and let me know. This will be fun and a great time to experiment. Today I made a lot of the silver reduction beads (like those below). I have all sorts of ideas that I need to put into action, so i'm going to be busy...but i'll keep you updated.
Have been following the Tour everyday, things are geting interesting in the Pyrenees. I have on my yellow Lance shirt to cheer him on today...
Brian and I went to an animation festival last night, hosted by Mike Judge of King of the Hill/Beavis and Butthead fame. He and another guy have gathered some cool animation 'shorts' and put them together as a film. It was a lot of fun and I haven't been in downtown Austin at midnight in a long time. The place was hopping! When did I get so old? Man, I need to get out more often...
Whats new in the bead kingdom? I'm beginning to work on some stock for the fall. I haven't heard back from Austin Bead Society, but the BlueMoon show is a 'go'. I'm still waiting on applications for two other shows to arrive...and I'm excited about the next issue of Corina's Spotlight...On. Have you bought any beads lately? Its the perfect time to wear them with your sundresses! Send me an email!!
its been dark and rainy the past couple of days while Claudette makes it way across Texas and leaves some rain in its wake. we are always happy for dark and rainy days, because we don't get that many.
I spent all day yesterday reworking my display boards. I'm much happier with the way the beadsets hang now. I'll get some pics and post them and you can see the before and after effects.
Today is 'shopping day'. I have a group coming over to do some lunchtime shopping. I always appreciate the referrals my customers give, thank you if you're championing my cause! Its a slow going business, but it is picking up and I'm always grateful for that...
One more week of my fusing class. This week we learned how to put decals on dichro and etch them. I need to pick up the sets today. I'm pretty happy with the way they are coming out, for first time fusing pieces. Whats kinda cool is, if you don't like something, you can just nip it off and re-fuse the piece! I'm not used to that flexibility. With beads, when its done, its pretty much done... I have to rethink my strategy with fusing...
I had a great day 'mentoring' a couple of local beadmakers who are just starting out. It was my first teaching gig and I hope to get a chance to do more. I need to contact a local arts center who might be interested but they didn't return my call, so who knows...!
I have a group coming over to the studio on Thursday, so I'm busily making new beads for them as well. Things have been picking up and I'm happy to have the exposure and of course the business.
Caught the Pirates of the Carribbean movie - its a lot of fun for the summertime. I highly recommend it. Better than T3 and the Hulk. I can't believe I've even bothered to see those movies. ugh...
yesterday was marathon beadmaking and experimentation day. Brian was out of town and I just played at the torch, making new twisties and getting ready for this afternoon when i have two people coming over to glean a bit of info from me. This will be my first teaching assignment, and I told them to bring their own notebook and scribble down everything, since I don't have any handouts for them. I think starting with a group of 2 is about all I can handle for the time being!
Still listening intently to the Tour de France on OLNtv.com. (click on listen live at the top of the screen). Lance is in good shape, even though he just fell on the L'Alpe D'Huez, but he's up and going...and now they are climbing hard. Woo!
Need some purple beads? Now's your chance - grape mosaics are very purply and fun to wear. Don't be shy, send me an email and I'll pop them in the mail to you straight away...!
today i picked up my fusing pieces and have glued findings to them. The pieces are far from perfect, but like you could tell. They are pretty and shiny and make people go 'oooh' and that's all I need!
Chocolate Spiders! I made chocolate spiders and boy are they sweet. Here's what I did-
1pkg of semi-sweet morsels (the standard size bag)
1pkg of white chocolate chips (I happened to have these on hand, but two bags of the other would be fine)
1container of chow main noodles (the crunchy ones in the chinese food section of your supermarket)
1 box rice krispies
1 can spanish peanuts (small can is fine)
Melt the chocolate in the microwave, about 2 minutes. stop at 1 minute, stir, then heat some more.
using a wooden spoon, stir chips till smooth.
Now the fun begins - pour in about half the can of chow mein noodles, stir. Add about half the can of peanuts and then toss in some krispies. Keep stirring until the stuff is coated. I found that Iused the whole can of chow mein noodles, and about 2 cups of krispies and a half can of peanuts.
Get a cookie sheet, put wax paper on it, drop dollops onto the paper in whatever size you can scrape off your fingers and spoon. Cool in the fridge for about 30 min until set. Store in tupperware container inside the fridge or they'll get 'melty' in your rather warm Texas house in July. Makes a few dozen unless you keep eating the batter, then only makes 5.
no rain, all sunshine and heat, but at least its green! the rain was much appreciated. my car even looks better! have to stop parking under those durn trees where the birds sit. ugh.
am completing orders today, have already mailed some finished sets today...woohoo!
I'm trying to figure out my show schedule for the fall- some venues have changed dates and that's affecting what shows i can commit to, and which ones will conflict with others. I'm going to be in a Loren Stump class in the smack dab middle of all these shows as well, so Brian gets called up to the big leagues to handle those shows. We hope its only one show he has to do solo (or with our friend Julie who makes great bracelets from my beads). I haven't even committed and i've already got a headache trying to figure it all out. and there are two other shows yet to send me apps for them, so who knows when those shows will be. Man...its a short time between now and November, that's for sure!!
still raining here, but no complaints. its really quiet in Austin today, i guess the holiday took everyone out of town.
I have a new PO Box number and received my first piece of mail sent to it today. what a landmark day!
we are 'kitty sitting' for a friend and its so fun to be around little kitties. they are all clean and wide eyed and just cute. we like to spend time with them, not just zip in and out, so we take books, our computer and toys to keep them and us occupied.
Brian just finished HP 5, and said he read on a board that someone has read it 4 times. in two weeks! good grief. that must be all they do in their free time. its a huge book. how can anyone have read it 4 times in just two weeks? i thought i was doing good to have finished it in just one.
new beads - love this set. simple and fun for the summer.
the flag says it all - Happy 4th! its raining here, but we need it and i love it! the Miata group did the parade in the little town outside of New Braunfels again this year, but I didn't participate (again). One year I was in a parade and drove an ex-mayor of a little town, that was fun, but its hard on the cars going 1 mph up hills, so i bowed out this year. in fact, i'm not sure the Miata group was invited to do that parade this year at all. but whatever, my car is in our driveway being rained on and somewhat washed off.
I've finished some sets of custom orders and am working on others today. Brian is working 6am-3pm at Dell, but he'll be home in plenty of time to grill the steaks and watch some fireworks. Today is looking to be a good day. the cats are outside getting wet and i think its hilarious. They'll be grumpy wet cats before the end of the day. But they insisted on going out and when you have 6 cats all yelling at you to go out, you let them out.
I'm finishing some orders today. If you have written to me asking if you could come over and see beads (and more than one person has asked this), please let me know what your plans are - so that I can put it on my calendar...just want to make sure and be here if/when you arrive!
i've been making summer dresses - well one so far, but i wore it yesterday and it was a big hit. after I make the sets this morning, i plan on making more dresses this afternoon. I love making summer clothes, they are so light and airy and fun.
I'm planning on adding some pages to the website, one with pendants that i've been putting together as finished goods - they would make a great gift and you wouldn't have to do a thing - just buy it and give it! So be on the lookout for that page, i'll make a big deal of it when i get it going...
Is it 97 where you are today? if you are complaining about the heat, or rain or whatever you have, just be glad your back yard doesn't feel like concrete. I would love some rain right about now...
Here are the frogs that I took to our local bead group exchange - the theme was red/white and blue. i know frogs are green, but i think they added some humor to the exchange...