Monday, June 16, 2014

Week 24 of 52

Oh my time just blew me away this past week....Thank God It's Monday!!

This is going to be a really short message this week...I will be finishing it up later this week....my photos didnt make it to the computer.... There is so much I will be sharing...so hang in there and keep checking back!
Til then......

Monday, June 9, 2014

Week 23 of 52

Whew…….what a week……..sooo much to tell you…….first I have to start out with a BIG
THANK GOD IT'S MONDAY……I'm so grateful for a fresh new week!!

"If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn't sit for a month"  Theodore Roosevelt

I thought this was sooo funny but true most of the time…….if we could just get out of our own way we'd make much better progress…….as it so happens this past week for me I was able to get out of my own way and it was a fabulous week!!  Now today is another matter…..but we don't need to go there just yet!!

I had the most incredible time with a new teacher, Sharon Gillispie and the Jewelry Junkies…..well not the whole gang but four of us!  I had met Sharon at Bead Fest right in the middle of the worst class I've ever taken….also in PMC…….opps forgot to say…..I am giving PMC another chance and I'm soooo glad I did….Sharon makes up for all the frustration and anger with Bead Fest AND Donna Lewis our teacher……..a world of difference….night and day…..can't say it any more clear!
Soo let me show you the 1st piece I did with Sharon…….


It's silver with a bit of dichroic glass!  I was able to press the clay into a pattern for the base, also used that same pattern to do the bale……what fun!  Sharon was so gracious with her sharing not only in her knowledge but in supplies, tools…..just anything you could think of!!
Of course we got a tour of her incredible house and studios…..that's in the # 2 studios!!  The main one is at the entry…..it has more tools than most community colleges teaching jewelry making full time…….to say the least none of us walked out of there without a bucket load of envy!!
We had so much fun…..she couldn't let us go!  Our class was from 9-1 and we didn't leave til 5:30……and believe me we were all worn out, our heads were spinning with sooo much knowledge that we were on overload!
Of course I spent the next day researching kilns and all the PMC supplies…..another day of metal overload!!

Saturday I attended the Arlington Gem and Mineral show…..I went looking for stones for our next Craft Guild class which is in two weeks……..we needed some faceted stones for a step bezel lesson…..success…..but it's never an in and out for me…..I have to see it all and I was there for 4 hours and by the time I got out of there my back was killing me……but again I had brain overload and a pretty nice dent in the pocket book……at least I was buying for several of us and not just me, heehee!
Here are a few of the treasures……..


I tried to get the least expensive since this will be our 1st one with Marilyn at the Craft Guild.  Now I've done step bezels before…..no formal lesson…..have been pretty successful but with a totally different type of stone!  One thing Marilyn told us was to design our piece to fit our design NOT the stone….it was an interesting concept ….. one I really liked!

Of course being the Raven that I am…..I couldn't pass up the bright and shinny …. found these beads and had to add them to my stock!  They are so interesting….they are glass beads that have been made them formed into the odd little shape….almost like a flower!  There are some really great colors too!!


Well tomorrow is a really big day for us…..it's our 34th wedding anniversary ….. hard to believe how lucky I've been to have my wonderful husband in my life!  I did get the right one the second time around!!

Sooo I'm going to close tonight with a great quote I read this week also…..again something to think about tomorrow when you start your day…….

Each morning we are born again.  
What we to today is what matters most!  
                                               Buddha

Go out and have a creative day…..and do what matters most to you!
Til next week!

Monday, June 2, 2014

Week 22 of 52

Wow hard to believe we're already into the 22nd week of the year…….where has the time gone!!
Thanks God it's Monday and we get the chance to start a new week!

Heres what I was doing most of last week……in between all the rain we had and my failed equipment!!

This is one of the new wash tubs that I brought home from Austin…….I had to cut out the center….that's where the failed equipment came in……I have the Dremel Saw Max and LOVE it until I tried to change the blade from an all purpose to a metal blade….it just couldn't be done!!
Sooo I cut and cut with the AP blade…..then tried to get my husband to see if he could get the blade changed…..he couldn't either!  Soooo the wonderful man he is…..he took it to HD to see if they could……well of course they couldn't do it with the allan wrench that the company provided…..he got out some socket wrenches and ALMOST couldn't do it with that……but FINALLY it released and the guys were able to change the blade……zoo what was taking me HOURS to do I got done in less than an hour……BUT totally used up the whole metal blade in cutting two center post out of these new wash tubs……WELL WORTH IT…….check them out!!

After a new coat of paint on the old tubs….and then new paint on the new tubs



Don't you just LOVE the color!!  Three of the 4 tubs now have beautiful Mexican Lime trees in them…..just waiting for the 4th to be put in this coming weekend AFTER hubby gets back from Austin (that's where we had to get them……no one has them up here in the DFW area)
We lost our three tree this past winter……my fault…..I didn't move them into the garage…..WON'T make that mistake again!  Everything we did move into the garage during the freeze.. made it, including the bougainvillea and boston ferns ……sooo lesson learned, while living up in the DFW area…..move tropical plants into the garage!

It was a short week for me……focused on the back yard and the new plants that I got, refreshed,  repainted and looking good….. just in time for our high 90 degree weather!

Hope you all have had a good week and look forward to sharing some of my new adventures that are coming up this week……new class at the Craft Guild of Dallas and I'm giving PMC another try this week as well…….oh and my favorite, water aerobics is starting this week as well…..here's to the water and some great exercise!!

It's the beginning of summer, so go out and enjoy it ……create create and then create some more!
Til next week!