F.F.#4 - Spring Blooms, plus Ramble

Welcome back, kiddies :D

Before we get going, I'm gonna try a a little something new here... I totally stole the idea from fanciful devices ;) Btw, if you haven't read her blog, go check it out! AnvilArtifacts, too :) Hmm... maybe since I won't be doing much of a check in on Sunday, I'll do a little feature containing all my favorites pieces from a bunch of the blogs I follow ;)

Alright.. off track already, tsk tsk tsk lol Back to the 'something new' … instead of replying to all the comments through email ( and have you guys thinking I don't reply at all ;p ) or in the comments section ( and totally clog things up and confuse me with email notifications from me to me..O.o ) , I'll try answering any comments here in my blog posts :) That way... it'll be you guys getting confused and having to go back and look up the question so the answer makes sense ;) buwhahahaha!

… that was my evil laugh, btw ;)

On with my answers – don't worry, there were only really two ;) My readers generally save all their commenting for the beading forums ;) lol

~ Pine Ridge Treasures / Lisa L./ Lisa Lodge – I'm generally too lazy to check the name you guys entered under vs the name you post under when I go to announce the winners. I do that to verify the entries before the drawing... then don't remember who's who ;)

~ Kristen - Ty :) Of course, as par for the course, I just used the limited features on photobucket because my photo program takes forever to open.. and I was too lazy to go through the hassle ;) Plus, as soon as I posted the teaser pic, I found more flowers... thus I mentioned doing the additions throughout the giveaway... Because... yeah, you got it, I was too lazy to retake the photo with the new beads added in and redo the teaser :)

For those who've heard me whine, yes I'm feeling better :) I'm not as exhausted, no more fever, my nose has stop being a faucet and returned to normal 'cold' mode ( meaning I still need that box of tissues within arms reach... but I don't reach for it as much. Nor do I have to stuff tissue up up my nose and look like a walrus in order to go to sleep >.< lol ). I still have a wicked cough and some congestion in my chest, but that will be with me for a while yet. Plus, lucky me, gets to deal with the side effects of the antibiotics.. which are sporadic attacks of nausea, and my fave … the most HORRENDOUS taste in my mouth that refuses to leave me alone >.< Just when I think it's gone and I'll be able to enjoy a cup of coffee or something... wham.. it returns >.< Luckily today is the last day for those pills so that should be history soon ( please please please >.< ). As for my eye, yes I do indeed have an infection. On Sunday my eyelid was swollen so large I could barely open my eye. When cool compresses helped a little tiny bit to bring the swelling down, I got a bad feeling that I knew what it was.. and I was right >.< I can't remember the name the doc gave it, but it's a type of sty, kinda... only instead of appearing along the eyelash line and going away fairly easily, it appears on the inside of your eyelid, higher up... I've had this before... once, at the same time, I had it in both eyes. The solution? They need to remove them surgically... it only takes a few minutes, but because the so called 'freezing drops' they put in DON'T WORK .. it's a few minutes of agony as they flip your eyelid inside out, cut open the bottom of the stupid little bump... then SCRAPE it out >.< I'm telling you, it's worse than the dentist when the freezing starts to wear off too soon >.<

Grossed out yet? Cringing in sympathy? Thanks, but just cross your fingers. Last time I left it too long for them to do anything else.. this time I caught it when it's still forming. I've got some eye drops ( did I mention I hate eye drops? ) and the doc said that 50% of these go away on their own. If it's still there in six months they'll have to remove it the hard way... so.. here's hoping it goes away on it's own >.< lol The swelling has already pretty much gone.. it's just a little bit puffy now and hardly noticeable.. which means I should be able to see that little lump starting to pop up.. and I don't :) hoping that's a good sign.

*Looks up at the page*

Wow... that was a long winded explanation and gross out session, wasn't it? Yes, I'm done with the wince-inducing talk now :) good news is that I AM feeling better and that the eye infection is no longer getting in the way of my making jewelry :)

As I've mentioned elsewhere, I've been considering hosting a little design challenge. I've decided to go ahead and do it, so whenever I empty one of my bead trays so I have room to sort out some beads and buttons.. and maybe some components.. I'll play around with some combinations until I come up with a little kit. I don't know how many I'll be making.. and therefore, how many participants there'll be. Don't worry, I'll let you know how this plan is coming along... maybe even give you a sneak peek at some of the ingredients at some point.

But on to what you're all laboriously reading ( or scrolling past) all of this to find out about :)

The 'Spring Blooms' giveaway bundle :D As I mentioned in my last post, for every ten entries I receive, I'll be adding additional flower beads ( and buttons... I have a little bag of those sitting here waiting to be added in, too) into the bundle :) So the more people enter, the bigger the bundle gets ;)

As well, if I get people dropping in and leaving comments saying where they heard about my blog or the giveaway, the people who sent those nice commentors my way will be entered to win a little extra something. I think I'll leave it as a surprise-prize.

Photos now?

Yes...I thought you'd all say that ;)

See all those adorable felted beads, flowers & leaves ? Those are all from the little 'between soups' bead swap I participated in last fall/winter with Lori McDaniel Anderson - she sent me two packages of her beadsoups, the ones that will soon be for sale in her new shop ;) This is most of one of those packages – I kept a small bundle of acrylic beads out of it, plus I used a couple of the little felted balls... but my brain has been blanking so badly on the rest I decided I'd share and give you all a taste of what you'll be able to buy from her soon :)

In the top right corner there is a selection of little lampwork bead pairs. Directly below that is a purple turquoise pendant. On the other side , we have some light pink acrylic flower 'bead caps', and beneath them, some purple & white flowers....I think they're acrylic too.

...and because the 'group photo' is crap for detail on the smaller beads... some close ups...

Flower Lampwork Bead Pairs

Purple Flowers & Pink Lucite 'bead cap' flowers

So that's to start with.

The basic bundle.

The first ten entries will have me adding that little pile of flower buttons.

The next ten after that will see some more flower beads added.

After that, maybe some light 'Easter' type colored beads? Or maybe I'll decide to add in those acrylic beads from Lori after all ;) Haven't decided yet :) Gotta reach thirty entries before I have to decide ;)

So click on Rafflecopter to leave your entries ( comments don't count unless it's for whoever sent you to win an extra prize ;) ).

I'm gonna go grab another coffee, then slip downstairs to check my mail and see if there are any beads waiting for me. Who knows? Maybe there'll be some in there I could add in, too ;) ( for those of you reading this in the wee hours wondering how I get my mail so darned early... I'm writing this Thursday afternoon and scheduling it to post  :p  )

...And..I just noticed a useless piece of trivia... I have 33 blog posts .. and 33 followers :) .. well.. NOW I have 34 blog posts... catch up followers! Keep even! lol

Oh, and I promise... next post .. no whining, ranting, or gross outs :D

…. although that means I'll have to post lots and lots of photos ;)

Giveaway Winner & New FF teaser ;)

Well, March was a bit of a rough month for a number of us in the beading & jewelry world apparently, so I least know I'm not alone. Between various small bugs that left me feeling blah and tired over the first part, and assorted problems that kept getting in the way of me completing my challenges, then this past week with acute bronchitis and now an infection in my eye.. it's been a rather non-productive month. I don't think there'll be a Challenge Check In post again this week for my art project... considering, I haven't done one >.< lol  Hopefully April will be a better month since my 'todo' pile is getting a bit high over here  *eyes the stack of bead covered trays, and pile of notes * ... oh yeah.. note to self.. CLEAN THE DARN WORK AREA! lol

so what am I doing instead of the stuff I should be doing? A bit of reading... a bit of writing... a lot of sleeping. right now I'm listening to a song from a youtube vid. It's an acapela Starwars medly done by one guy singing all the parts...It's fabulous. you should go take a listen lol It's totally stuck in my head..

.... Kiss a Wookie...  ...Kick a driod..

..fly the Falcon.... through an Asteroid..

..'til the Princess ......is annoyed!

heheh .. it's really a cute song and it's incredibly well done... he even sounds like Luke when he whines ;) lol

If you're bored , check it out :) you won't be sorry :D

Alrighty.. so, you all want to know about the swarm of butterflies and who gets to play with them :)

Unfortunately, not a single person left a comment saying who told them about the giveaway, so no one won the extra little package of butterflies :(

but THIS batch....

Butterfly Swarm giveaway bundle

...goes to Lisa L. !

Congrats Lisa! You've got two weeks to contact me with your address. If I don't hear from you by midnight on April 10th ( EST) I'll pick a new winner on the 11th!

Since the butterflies went over so well, and I do still have an assortment of butterflies left, I might just have to do a little extra butterfly giveaway later on :) Maybe in conjunction with the Flap Your Wings blog hop? Yeah... that sounds good... So even if I don't get my piece done, I'll still host the little giveaway and list all the blog participating...  I'm hoping I'll be up to making my piece for the hop, and perhaps auction if it turns out well enough.

Alrighty... so, some of you already know the 'theme' of the next giveaway ... flowers :)  Want a teaser pic of what you'll have a chance at winning starting Friday?

Spring Blooms giveaway bundle teaser

  not just flowers.. but some fun spring colors as well. I do have more flowers, so I might be adding more to this pot... hmm... this round I had over fifty entries.. so how about for every ten entries, I'll make another addition of beads to the pot? Sound tempting enough?  And if I get any comments saying they were sent here by so&so, or they found this blog through so&so... I'll add in a little 'most referral' prize as well :)

Once again, congrats to Lisa L.  the rest of you, be sure to pop in on Friday to see the new goodies up for grabs for April's giveaway ... and yes I know Friday isn't yet April... it just means you get a couple extra days to enter :)Plus check back on April 14th for the Flap Your Wings blog hop to check out my entry as well as another shot and winning some butterflies... and other winged items ;)

-Skye

Check in.. kinda sorta...

Yeah..I know it's not Sunday... it's not even close anymore >.<

The weather has been beautiful here... more early summer than pre-spring... 

although today is finally the first official day of spring :) Yay! The threat of more snow now is considerably lessened :)  I'll admit too, that I'm getting a major giggle over us Canadians enjoying the summer like weather while the Californian's get our snow and usual crappy seasonal weather :)

But back to the matters at hand. I have several pieces made, sitting here on my desk, done except for their clasps or finishing bits, which I've been too blah to bother adding >.< 

Been feeling a bit off for the past week, nothing bad just ...meh >.<

Today I awoke to a scratchy sore throat, couch, increased blah-ness, and I'm pretty sure I have a fever and resulting headache >.<

... and the birds outside are singing their little hearts out, telling me how beautiful it is out there.

little buggers >.<

I woke up pre-dawn this morning, unable to sleep any more... so was greeted by the calling of seagulls from the harbour. You know it's going to be a good day out there when the seagulls are that noisy. that early.

Anyhow, I need to drag my butt downtown and do my laundry so I have a clean uniform to wear to work tomorrow... assuming this holds off enough to allow me to function that well tomorrow. I was going to go curl up and try to sleep some more.. or at least plug in some music and try to ignore the sound of the birds outside calling me out.. however, the seagulls have shut up and it's not even 8:30 yet... which means it's going to be a hot one today... so I'd better go now. I'll decide if I want to hang my clothes out to dry or use the dryers while I'm out... while the idea of the fresh smell of clothes off the line is really nice... hanging them all up, then dragging my butt down three flights of stairs later on to take them all off the line... not so nice a thought >.<

I'm rambling...yes..I am... >.< I'll try to post later in the week.

hope you all enjoy the nice weather and avoid the spring colds and other miscellaneous bugs going around >.<

~skye

Challenge Check In

Damn... that week went by fast!

Yes I accomplished my challenge this week. As a matter of fact, I'm writing this post early Saturday morning and scheduling it.

As many of you may know..I am a procrastinating SLOB. I despite housework...it gets done in fits and spurts, a little here, a little there. I host entire colonies of dust bunnies beneath my furniture.  My dishes are my worst enemy...I live alone so I truly have NO idea how that sink gets so full >.<  Usually I'll buckle down and get things done... to a point.  When it becomes obvious I'm slacking off in even that much and the place NEEDS a good cleaning..I go to a trusty failsafe...

I call my mom.

No, I do not call her to come clean.  Never. I tend to tell her off if she does clean anything while she's here ( much as she does to her own mother) and tell her, it's my mess, let it be'.

No, I call my mother and invite her to come stay for a weekend.  This is motivation at it's purest.  

So last week end I invited my mom up for this weekend.... then ended up not getting a damned thing done until cleaning wise until Thursday night ( she was due Friday afternoon ;) ).

Friday I got home from work and exploded into action. Within a couple hours I had things looking pretty good. My kitchen is almost unrecognizable ..I keep doing double takes when I walk in the room...I can see my table... it's looks strange sitting there so.... bare... lol

All that was left to do was vacuum all the carpets, remake the bed & couch, and clean the bathroom .. and possibly consider scrubbing the kitchen floor, but I wasn't sure I'd be THAT energetic.

I even had my chicken on boiling away all the grease and fat. ( Once it's cooked, I toss it in the fridge to cool it down, then when I'm ready to actually have supper, I do my coating and tossing it in the fryer to crisp up the batter and heat the chicken through ...tada! yummy and quick since all the actual cooking was done earlier. ;) )

Anyways.... that's when the phone rings. The weather is crap out her way, so mom's not coming up until the morning.

Tons of time to finish  the bit of cleaning I have to do :)   

Do I?

Not really...I got the bed made, the covers and pillows on the couch, then put the laundry away... well.. start to.

That's when I get distracted by another long overdue chore... tackling my closet.  So, as I'm putting my clothes away, I'm sorting through my mess and acknowledging the jeans and things I know my butt won't be squeezing into any time soon, and filling a bag for the thrift store.

So... got tons done yesterday :)

Still gotta vacuum the floors and clean my bathroom... but this morning I decided to whip up a couple pairs of St. Pat's inspired earrings over coffee, then post this.

So here we go... due to heavy housework and spring-cleaning-fever, just the earrings this round... BUT, two of them I made my own wires for :) ( and *sigh*  I had to rotate my photos having taking them, so of course, blogger refuses to believe they're not still sideways.. sorry if they're posting thew wrong way..I swear they ones they're linked to ARE the right side up )

These are one of the ones I made my wires for this morning :)  Just simple little glass heart dangles :)

And the second pair I made the wires for this morning. I miscalculated my wire length so the little 'supposed to be four leaf clovers' beneath the sparkly green babbles are three swirled... accents lol

And lastly, these I made earlier in the week. I decided to play with some little lampwork beads I've add for ages. Out of several different ones I started to play with, these are the only ones I actually finished into actual earrings lol  I have one pretty black one done... then realized the one beads cap was a different size... and I don't have another one of the right size >.<

So... there you go! Another week down :) So fancy jewelry set this time around, but I think I'm still doing alright. I have a bracelet three quarters done beside me, but I stopped when I realized I wasn't sure if I liked the combination of the wood beads in with the porcelain and glass... I'll ask mom when she gets here...I like the darker brown... but ... eh... Maybe I'll finished it to show you next week ;)

Hope everyone has a great weekend :)

Oh... and before I forget, I ordered some new beads that should be arriving any day now.. and among them are some multicolored butterfly crystals :)  So if another... say.... three people sign up for the giveaway, I'll add in some more butterflies :)

And I noticed we don;t have a single entry for the referral part of the giveaway yet! Bug your friends, ladies! Tell them to comment and mention you sent them so you're entered to win!

AND..I removed the captcha crap... sorry! I swear I didn't know it was running... stupid blogger reset >.<  I HATE captcha... so if you ever see anything like that on my blog, TELL ME! 

Okay... back to finishing my coffee and deciding whether to vacuum... or scrub >.<

~Skye

Challenge Check In

Sorry >.< 

I meant to blog earlier this evening ( despite what blogger claims, it's just shy of 8pm ).

I finally broke a creative block I'd been suffering over on some jewelry for my cousin. I've been poking at this since last summer >.< 

I love black... she loves black. 

Check.. that's easy.... got lots of black to work with :)

 She likes my Gothic designs best, but wouldn't actually come out and say she'd like a more goth style piece... No worries... after one slight failure, I clued in ( she liked it, but I could tell it wasn't quite what she was hoping for ). Again, no worries since I like Goth too and had a good variety of things... and keep adding more when I find them. 

The problem seemed to be the orange... she asked for black and orange... Harley Davidson colors ;) Now...I found some gorgeous orange shades of crystals... but every time I got ideas, they'd vanish as soon as I pulled out the beads. I was starting to get irritating as hell...>.< Every time I decided on a design, it would either vanish once the beads were out... or fail to work the way I wanted. I did get a couple pairs of earrings made, one of which I really liked the look of... unfortunately , I'd messed up on the one and so the 'pair' didn't work >.< That was back around Halloween.

 *sigh* So here I am... deciding on making some earrings and a little gift box to go with the ocean bracelet... when suddenly I reached for the orange and black beads rather than the blue and green beads. Again, three failed attempts at earring designs and I shoved them aside. 

Yesterday I poked at them again, then tore the one apart and tried it a bit differently... nope.

 Then this afternoon I decided to forget about them and do the ocean earrings... and once again went for the orange and blacks instead. 

This time things flowed together, and before I knew it, I had two pairs of earrings and a necklace that they both go with :) 

Pretty sure I nailed it on the head this time. I know *I* love it :) 

The necklace has two chains that form the back - one silver and one gunmetal.

The toggle clasp is on the side - a lock and key set that I saw and HAD to buy several of :D

The front part I did in black and orange (siam I think ) crystal rondelles set into rosary links. The focal is a wing charm, a black glass heart, and two orange crystal dangles, all hung form an etched silver oval connector.

For the earrings, I did one with tiny little wing charms, and one with the black hearts. I added the crosses to that one for no other reason than that I had two left, and my cousin had liked another piece I did that I used them in.

I'm thinking of making one little change to the one pair... I'm thinking of adding tiny little black and ornage crystal dangles to the wings to mimic the necklace...

....I never did get the ocean earrings done >.< *L*

Anyhow, there's my three pieces for the week :D

~ Skye

Freebie Friday #3

Here we are again... the first Friday of the month... that means.. new goodies to try to win :)


I was a tad stuck on what to offer up this round...I had two ideas .. and piles... but couldn't decide. I posted a note on my fb page, as well as at the Bead Soup Cafe, and asked for opinions.  No worries though... the second pile will be offered up for April's giveaway :D 

No.. not yet.


Wait for it :p


First I need to bug you a bit :D Them's the rules! first you deal with my rambling and photos .. THEN you see the goodies... then you do your entry thing :)


Don't worry, I won't be long ;) I've got some blog hopping to do, plus I've got a couple of bracelet and earring ideas bubbling in my head that are not quite ready to pop out...so I'll give them a couple hours then start doodling or playing with beads and see if I can't encourage them :)

You should be warned though... this is a photo-heavy post today!


So yesterday I was working on my ocean/sealife themed charm bracelet :) Ran into a couple little growl-inducing moments involving jump rings that kept jumping away... and itty bitty seashells that refused to be strung on wire easily.  I, however, won. Both battles :)


So.. wanna see?

So here's the full bracelet. I went with a plain lobster clasp so it would be adjustable.


The crackled, faceted agate beads make me think of sea turtles... and the blue and green freckled lampwork beads make me think of being underwater.  In addition to those, there are four different type of shell beads- the shell slices there, the itty bitty conch looking shells, the slices-of-shiny- iridescent-shell-whose-name-has-fled-my-mind, and those two dangles made of turquoise colored shell chips.

Here's a close up. I added three charms; a sea horse, a shell, and a starfish. the rest of the beads are mostly from the pre-soup bead exchange I did with Lori Anderson. I'll be mailing it off come Monday so I'll try to take some nicer photos before then.








Have I bugged you enough yet?




Hmm....


Maybe just a little bit more ;)


Wanna see what I just won? 

 This is from Havana Beads. Isn't he flippin' ADORABLE?! I have no clue what to make with him... he's the very first shaped lampwork I've had the chance to play with... I may just hang him up and look at him for a while until inspiration hits...














Okay okay.. enough. Here's what you've been waiting for :)


I tried a group shot but none of them turned out .. so... lots of smaller pics ;)  The penny is not part of the package ;) It's just for size comparison lol

A set of three wooden filigree butterflies - one large and two small :)

A set of metal butterflies ; One large filigree, two small butterflies and two medium butterflies. the four beads have holes that run up and down through the body.

Two Chinese Crystal butterflies, and one pink turquoise butterfly. Again, all holes run through the body.

Two acrylic butterflies , one red and one blue.

ANNNND ... four feet of this butterfly-bedecked wired ribbon :)


















So, what do you think? Ideas starting to bubble around in your heads? Or just thoughts of spring time ? lol






Alrighty... so all of that is what one lucky winner will get at the end of March.


Now how about an extra giveaway? For the person who sends the most visitors my way this month...

A pink turquoise butterfly ,  two Chinese Crystal butterflies, two medium sized metal butterflies... AND ... I have another two feet of that ribbon :)














So all you have to do is submit your entries into rafflecopter and you'll be entered to win the swarm of butterflies.  To be entered to win the second little batch as well, make sure to tell your friends to leave a comment and say you sent them! Every mention of your name left by a new person, on ANY POST on my blog from now until the giveaway closes, counts as one entry!  ANY NEW FOLLOWER who says they were sent here by you is worth THREE entries into the second giveaway PLUS an extra entry into the main giveaway :)


How does that sound?


BRING ON SPRING!!


                                                       ~ Skye