Bead, Read, Eat and Need

I realized this morning that it's been a whole month since I last posted.  Time sure flies when you're having fun, and I have been having way too much fun lately. 

Thought I'd share what's on my table today, and it just so happened to rhyme:  Bead, Read and Eat.  Four words just works better, though, so I added one more since eat doesn't rhyme quite as well with bead and need.

BEAD:  I realized how much I love working with Amethyst, and how quickly it seems to sell.  I have nothing gorgeous in Amethyst in my finished jewelry inventory so the next few days I'll remedy that situation. 

Last night, while watching The Juror I made an Amethyst necklace and bracelet.  I wanted it to be all amethyst, but decided at the last minute to add the lavender freshwater pearls.  I'm still debating what kind of clasp to add.  I SO love the facetted coin shapped beads.

READ:  What I'm reading lately is Torch Fired Enamel Jewelry: A Workshop in Painting With Fire by Barbara Lewis.  I love the look of enamel, and since I don't have a kiln but I do have a torch, this method is one I could easily do.  As soon as I buy some enamels!  I have to admit that I'm not at all into the style of jewelry created in the projects section of this book.  But I have some of my own ideas of what I'd like to enamel and how I want it to look.  C-Coop makes gorgous jewelry components (and the owner lives in Duluth, Minnesota!) and I'd like to try my hand at making similar pieces like the pendant on the left. 

EAT:  Not really a healthy lunch, but I bought some Cheese Curls (or Cheesy Poofs, as Cartman calls them) the other day when I stopped at Cub for my Cappacino.  This is why grocery shopping while hungry is a bad idea.  Oh well, once in a while we have to eat something bad, right?  I love the Cappacino that comes in a red plastic container.  I'd have to go upstairs to read the label so I'll leave it at that.  The French Vanilla flavor is my favorite.  I love it because I can heat some water in the microwave and stir it in.  No fuss, and no cooking, is my motto these days.  Yesterday I had a breakfast bar for lunch.  Yes, I'm lazy.  Not sure when that happened, but I can't deny it.

NEED:  There are so many things I could write about under this heading.  There are so many things I should be doing, like cleaning the house and cooking a decent meal.  But should is not Need, is it?  Lately all I do is what I WANT to do.  Sounds like heaven, right?  Except that I don't think we were built to be so self-indulgent. 

I get nothing done during the day except washing a few loads of laundry.  I do have my sales tax ready to file, and just need to run a few reports to get my business income taxes done.  I spend too much time on the computer.  Everything I need to do relies on using the computer, but when I turn the computer on, it sucks my brains out.  Even the laundry sits in the washer or dryer for hours at a time. 

So what I need to do is write a task list for the week or day and make sure those items get done before I can take any time for what I want to do. 

Of course, I've made this resolution many times before.

Happy New Year!!

It's the last day of 2012.

I'm not one to dwell on the past, but this day was made for taking stock of where you are and where you want to be in the new year.

I lost my dad this fall.

There were things he still wanted to do in this life.  He had a lot of ideas that he wanted to explore, things he wanted to make.  But he didn't have the physical capacity to do his beloved woodworking and carving.

There comes a time in life when you don't have the choices you once did.  When the life you lived stands on its own as a testament to who you were. 

You have a lifetime to do and think and love and be.  And all of a sudden, you come to the end, when you must close the book that was your earthly life to start a new book in the Great Beyond. 

In the end, Dad was very peaceful.  He was ready to move on, looking forward to the next Great Adventure. 


We only have today to do the things and be the person we were meant to be.

I wish you love and joy.


I'll leave you with a few of my favorite quotes on stamps that I use all the time:

Joy is not in things, it is in us

Happiness is when what you THINK, what you SAY and what you DO are in Harmony
           -Gandhi

The best things in life are not free, but priceless.

Peace within makes beauty without
        -English Proverb

Kindness is no common virtue
It is a Rare Gift.
         -David Samuels

Nature is the art of God
            -Sir Thomas

If one truly loves nature, one can find beauty everywhere.
                     -Vincent Van Gogh


I wish you a very Happy New Year!

Laurel

My Jewelry Workspace

So I have a great craft room, right? 

Here's my craft room

But where do I make most of my jewelry?

In the family room on the love seat in front of the tv.

This is what my table looks like today.  Full of some of the beads I used in a piece I made last night.  The inspiration for the colors came from the C-Coop Enamel pendant.

Here's the necklace I just made.  I haven't decided if the chain strand will be a separate strand or will be connected to the bead strung strand.  The gold beads in the strung strand are amber, the rest are either glass or freshwater pearls.  The darker beads are glass pearls. 

Tonight's agenda is making matching earrings and a bracelet.

What do you think?

Laurel

Sunset on the Lake

I’m trying a new thing in Windows; It seems I can write to my blog on my computer and somehow it will get uploaded to Blogger. 

So here’s a picture I took as I was driving home the other other afternoon.

This is Bald Eagle Lake in White Bear Lake.

It was a very pretty scene, and I had my camera with me, so I took a pic.

Enjoy!

Want vs Need

What do you do when you have dozens of things you need to do, and all you WANT to do is play? 


I want to be creative today. 


I want to try some new things with paper, watercolors and stamps.

Sometimes being creative is a need that can't be subdued no matter what else is on the list to be done.

Sometimes those practical endeavors must be tackled and you've put them off too long already.

So what do you do?

Do you promise yourself that you'll get to the fun stuff once you've completed one or two of those less than inspiring tasks?

Or do you ignore the mundane and go for the gold?

It depends, doesn't it? 

Today I'll tackle a few of the pressing must-do's and hope that there's time enough in the day to play.


Hope you have time for doing some of the things on your want list in the next few weeks.

Cheers!

My Library/Work room

I haven't completely moved everything back in yet, but here's how it looks today.




The view looking in from the doorway at my computer and desk.




Looking to the right; most of my stones are in the baskets divided by color and in zip-lock bags.

This is a picture of the china cabinet with all the knick knacks that used to be on all the shelves.  The plastic white containers have all my 12x12 papers, stickers, and other paper supplies.  The wooden 8-drawer cabinet contains glass beads by color.  The smaller wooden box has my unpriced jewelry in it.

This view is to the left of the doorway.  These shelves hold paper scraps, some stamps, a backet of wire, a basket of unmounted stamps in CD cases, and other things.

The desk I use to work on metal stuff and paper stuff.  Against the back wall is a table where I keep my rotary cutter and my scoring board.  Right now I'm taking pictures of jewelry for posting on-line. 

Some day maybe I'll show you my drawers.   :)