'sockapalooza' Results & F.F. #9!

Okay so...I'm gonna have to redo this a few times to nab all the spelling crap... my arms feel like rubber and my brain is mush ... and my title just contained the word 'resluts' until I noticed and fixed it >.<

Plus the sockapalooze results were supposed to be up last night but because of the way I felt, I crashed majorly early. and gee.. guess what? tomorrow's the reveal for the 2nd C.C.D.C. ... which means everything has to be finished, photographed and blogged about tonight... >.< Yup... gotta find the energy somewhere to do scramble-design...I have two pieces partially done and that's it... and I'm not sure you can even really call the one 'partially' yet... *sigh*

So here are all the socks that were entered :)  I took them out of order and slapped numbers on them at random.

Anyhow, for those who entered, the winner of the sockapalooza beads

  is feet #2 ; Beti Horvath :) .

And the winner of the socks ....

 is #6 ; Renetha :)

It was a toughy... I was going to choose Beti's 'sox' as my faves, but since she won the beads, I was then torn between the peace feet and the odds .. and well.. odds won ;).

So Beti & Renetha, send me your snail mail addies  please :)

Oh.. and if you're wondering how the winner of the beads was chosen... I cut up slips of paper, wrote the numbers on them, folded them in half... gave them a shake then threw them into the air... the paper that landed closest to the pair of socks laying on my floor, won ;) lol

And all of you who don't have any socks... SOOO tempting to buy you all a pair, just because I find that sad.. lol >.<

So... off to the object of September's Freebie Friday drooling ...

I WAS going to do progressive, but decided since I'll most likely be doing a big bundle next month too, not to bother.

September Soup

So, on the top we have 3 packets of chipstone - aquamarine, rose quartz, and I believe some dyed howlite. Beneath that we have 3 packets of some of my custom seedbead mixes, then we have two sea glass pendants, a couple shell slices ( whose name I can't remember), some Sesame Jasper, some turquoise nuggets in green, orange, red, yellow and brown, some bead caps, and a foil-lined glass bead.

So, yummy enough? Remember to enter for each of the spots you're eligible for in Rafflecopter, and PLEASE make sure you're blogger account ( or whatever account you post comments under ) has an email or a blog attached to it. I do occasionally break my own rules about contacting winners, or just like to follow links and visit the pages & blogs of people who visit me :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 Check back tomorrow for my reveal of the 2nd Creative Chaos Design Challenge ( the one I never did get around to posting a 'see what I have to work with' blog post about >.< lol )  Plus I'll be sticking up another little giveaway any time I feel like it... just gotta think of what to make you guys do this time ;)

~ Skye

Still Playing Catch-up

So, despite several scribbled notes scattering my desk... and floor... and beading bag... concerning blog posts to write and projects to finish... *sigh*  Yeah, it's been one of THOSE summers. So many things to do, but no time to seemingly get them done..

.. and when you do have the time to do them... you don't have the drive or energy >.<

So today I'm taking a massive stab at 'GETTING THINGS DONE' .

Is it working?

YES!!

I completed two, VERY long over due projects, got them all photographed, packaged, got the notes written, and MAILED THEM. Whoohoo!! Two biggies crossed off my list! 

Plus I've written out two lists that are still attached to the notepad that remains right in front of my monitor so I won't loose them ; one list is for all the upcoming blog posts, both regular, as well as for hops, that I need to write, and the other list is for the rest of the current  as well as upcoming projects that I need to do.

One will not be completed. My dad requested a crap load of earrings and things that he could sell at his yard sale this weekend. According to my to-do list and what day it currently is... unless I'm hit by a massive creation drive the next two days, the best I can do is price all of the stuff I have here already made that have never found homes... and that I'm not allowing myself to keep >.< lol And he only gets them if I make it out to their place in time.. or they come up and get them ;) lol

Anyhow, so looking at my lists... I feel more positive about clearing them in time to still get a fairly early start on Christmas season projects. I'm thinking I might even manage to get in some Autumn and Halloween creating too if I keep myself on track :D

Now, onto one more over due task that I'm sure you're all waiting for - and it's ONLY one day late ;) lol

The winner of the Autumn Pantone Beadsoup from August's Freebie Friday giveaway is...

Gina Hockett !

Gina, you've got two weeks from today to contact me with your mailing address. :) If I haven't heard from you by then, I'll draw a new winner!

There will be more blog posts concerning a myriad of subjects over the next while, so keep your fingers crossed that I clear out my list so I can move on to making more pretties all the quicker! 

And you can also cross your fingers that tomorrow's blog post will be an early start to September's Freebie Friday ;) That will depend on whether or not I get the blogging stuff done and get time to tackle getting the goodies together for it! 

And remember last year? Autumn is my fave time of year, so starting with this month, there'll be either extra special giveaways... or just more of them ;)  Keep an eye out to see what I decide to get up to ;)

~ Skye

Last Spring Blooms Giveaway Update

It's Friday again, and we have four days left in the Spring Bloom giveaway :)
Check out my 'Flap Your Wings' Necklace  HERE. The auction runs until Tuesday April 24th

Before I get posting pictures,  I just wanted to mention that I'll be posting the signup widget for the first Creative Chaos Challenge. I'll be explaining  about it in my next post, most likely Sunday :)
 Since we hit 50 entries, I'll make one more addition to the pot.

Newest addition to the giveaway.

One clay flower pendant ( it's pale pink and white ), and four silver toned flower connectors.

Spring Bloom giveaway bundle

Which is added to this ... 




The winner will be announced on Wednesday, April 25th.

FF#4 Update :)

 As promised, now that we've reached 10 entries into the giveaway, I have some goodies to add into the pot for the Spring blooms giveaway :)

Plus I took a better photo of those felted ones ;) 

And arranged them in a much nicer setting....

...although I'm thinking I should've done a better pic of those lamp work pairs now too.... hmm...

So, here's the giveaway package INCLUDING the new addition of a bunch of flower buttons :)

Spring Blooms giveaway bundle - 1st update!

I'm still sorting through my button collection, so more flower buttons may appear in that pile if I find any ;)

I'm still deciding on the next addition...I have a photo of 24 flower beads in 4 different colors that I was going to add this time.. then went with the buttons instead ... plus I have a bunch of leaves I could add in... And of course I have some pendants that I might add in one of them...And I did mention that I might add in the rest of the beadsoup pack I received from Lori Anderson, as well.... so plenty to choose from. Plus I could always add in some 'regular' beads in bright spring colors, too ;)  I guess we won't know what I'll choose to toss in until we reach my goal of another 10 entries ;)

Of course, I *might* be willing to take suggestions ;) If there's something you'd really like to see added in next, leave a comment and it might just sway my decision next round ;) And you can suggest stuff I haven't mentioned here as well, such as ribbons or findings with a flower or spring theme... or none beading stuff.  If I'm in a good place in my head at the time, I might just see what I can do :)  

 By the way... did any of you take part in LimaBeads Easter Egg hunt this year?  Wow.. that new site is MASSIVE! Apparently they hid 100 Easter eggs, PLUS 3 golden eggs scattered throughout the site. After two days of eyestrain, I reached the amazing number of 50 .. which gave me four prizes, one of which was a coupon code. That 50th egg took FOREVER to find >.<  I searched that entire site from the store right through to the blog and the about pages...I have no clue where the other 50 are stashed and I finally gave up even considering looking for them. I did find one golden egg, but I was too late to nab the prize for finding it (I actually found the same egg twice...I did that a lot >.< lol).

Yes I had fun playing with the Green Bead Machine watching it's sales getter better or flip over every five minutes.. and yes I did nab a few items from that at an average of about 15% off the cost. When I called it quits on the hunt and put in my order, I had about sixty bucks worth of beads ... but since half of it was prize winnings and discounted goodies, my total was just under twenty bucks! Even the stuff I gave in and bought 'full price', I got discounted with the coupon code I won  :D hehehe ! So the only thing I 'really' paid full price on was the shipping ... which was just shy of eight bucks.

So I had a lot of fun browsing the site, playing with the Green Bead Machine, adding to my 'wish list', and making Fresh Pick selections ( like 'treasuries' on etsy where you put together selections of items to your own little theme :) ) ... plus winning lots of pretties :)

The hunt is still on so go check it out! Lima Beads Easter Egg Hunt .It ends on the 8th I believe, but you only need 10 eggs to win the first prize level ( so far .. but because it was so difficult this year they've already begun adding in new prize levels, so that might change!). you DO have to pay for shipping, so depending on where you are, you might not think it's worth it. Me, paying eight bucks for three strands of free gemstones... even if I hadn't bought anything else to go with them, totally worth it :) For those in the US, it might be even cheaper... if you're overseas.... probably not worth it ;) lol

 And yeah, I'll probably share a pic of my goodies when they arrive ;)  

Oh, and if you're wondering what I caved in and bought at full price... skulls, of course :) They actually have the skulls in the size I wanted! ( I think... at least according to the size comparison chart, they are ;) lol ) would've liked a string in black but I didn't see them .. at least not after I'd decided to buy them.. and I forgot to go back and look again. Oh well, I still have one more coupon to use so I might just have to place another order later on ;)

Remember to watch that 'number of entries' digit at the top of Rafflecopter and when it reaches 20... I'll add in more goodies :)

(*NOTE*  I'm trying something new here... I'm reposting the raffle widget on THIS page so you don;t have to travel back to the older post to enter if you haven't :) See? I'm making it EASIER on you guys! :D.  )

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

Check in and FF Winner

Yes, I know I missed my last 'Challenge Check in' .. considering I'd just posted eight pieces of jewelry for the global genes hop, I decided it wasn't needed ... plus I was busy working on a new set :)

Remember those chip stone bracelets that I loved making for the hop? From the first one I had the urge to try out a similar design on a necklace... and Sunday I did.

Alligator Tears

A short while ago I came across this tube of shell beads called 'Gator Teeth'. they were such a beautiful creamy color I had to get them. Turns out it was a good thing I did since they were perfect for this set :)

I made every twist and wrap of that chain too... even the clasp :) My first handmade clasp... so proud :)

My ABS February challenge piece never got made...My little vintage peacock broach is still sitting here staring at me, surrounded by a few beads. The gorgeous lamp work I had set aside to go with him have been used in another project already :)

I mentioned on fb that I have a gift to make for someone. I'm part of a group called 'Artcrossing', where we submit a 'profile', (basically it's more of a wish list of stuff we like), then that's assigned to someone and they make a gift for us. You don't know who the person is, since you get their real name with their address, and you know them by a nickname in the group, so you can't contact them at all. At any rate, the necklace above was for one.. and it went so well, I finished it in just one night! Since I'd figured on a week for it, I was done reaaaly early.. so I asked for another one.  

This one I knew I wanted to do a charm bracelet... I just didn't know what OF... so I picked two themes and color schemes, then went through my entire stash, for both beads and charms, and tossed in some of everything that fit either theme... then looked at the two piles. I went with a sea life theme and currently have it about three quarters done. I have all the large beads wrapped in and the charms added... now I just have some smaller beads to work in, and the clasp to attach :)

I blame Lori Anderson and her Bead Soup. Ever since taking part in her last bsbp, when I'm truly stuck I do a test 'soup'... tossing things into a dish and seeing what sticks.It's also a lot of fun :) ... not so fun to clean up afterwards, but... oh well! If you get stuck for an idea one day, try it :)

So that's where I am jewelry wise this week.  Now, my monthly art challenge...

I'd decided to do a painting this time around. I'm done... but I don't know if I'm 'finished'... I've reached a point where it's got the look.. 'mostly'.. the way I want, but I feel the need to do 'more'... however... anything more I do... just messes it up. So for now, it's done and I shall put it away. Perhaps at some later date I'll give it another try.

Fiery Gaze

 I've redone her right eye about four times now... plus I'm not happy with the shading.. but it's really hard to figure out the shading for FIRE .. >.<  I need to choose easier subject matter  >.< lol

So my art challenge this week was a really crappy painting. Maybe I'll try a better one for March...I keep getting this image of a comic strip type project popping into my head though... not sure what I'll be doing with that >.<

Alrighty, so on to the big news. If you've popped back to the original FF #2 post, you've seen the winner posted on the rafflecopter widget.  For those who haven't, this month's winner is Shaiha :)  Shay, remember you have your choice of either the geode, or the two pairs of earrings :) 

Sarah S. - I figured out how to fix your entry, so you did have the full amount of entries you were supposed to.

Carolyn - you were minus one entry since you clicked an entry for adding a blog comment.. but didn't add the comment tsk tsk tsk lol

Check in on Friday to find out what's up for grabs for March :) I've redone the Rafflecopter options and removed a couple.. and trying to figure out how to word a new one... lol  I think I'll also be doing a second prize for most referrals again - I figured out how to have Rafflecopter select multiple winners :D hehehe

~ for those wondering why I only replied to some of the comments left on my last post, I did reply to ALL of them... I just answered the first batch through email, then hit some that didn't allow me that option, so I came to the blog... then just replied to the rest of them here lol

I've decided to leave you with some words of wisdom...

Challenge Check In

A day late .. sorry >.< 

Sunday got away from me and by the time I realized that it WAS Sunday and I needed to put up my post, I had run into a computer issue that needed to be fixed first... by the time I got that done ( I thought), It was late so I figured I'd just post in the morning...

... then this morning I discovered I hadn't fixed the problem at all and needed to do a massive scan and repair that took a few hours.. but DID fix the problem :) 

... and then I ran away to my parents place for the day instead.

So... despite it being Monday, here is my challenge check in :)

As you recall, last week was a total bust with me failing to meet any of my challenges. I said that I would double my challenge this week to six pieces, rather then the usual three.

So here you go :

This was going to be one of my '7000' bracelets, but I think I changed my mind. I haven't decided fully...I made several different styles, but one style caught my attention and I made a few different ones in it and I think I might just go with them.... therefore..I can show you the ones I changed my mind about :)

I went with a little blue glass heart dangle for my bracelets for the '7000' challenge.  This one is a triple strand ; chain woven with dark blue suede, a beaded chain, and gunmetal chain.

This was another originally meant for the '7000' challenge ( as you can tell by the little blue glass heart dangle ) The center is a little silver heart connector. 

And after making those two, plus four others, all in various shades of blue ( I got hooked and couldn't stop >.< lol ) I finally broke free and did some earrings in red and copper... a needed break from bracelets ;)

No you can't see my other finished bracelets because I need to save them for the '7000' blog hop reveal :p .

I was going to share a pic of two of my three 'need to redo' bracelets, but...it's all blurry >.< 

So... the month is fast drawing to a close, and while I will be making my '7000' bracelet challenge without a problem, and seem to be doing not too badly on my weekly jewelry challenges, It doesn't look good for the ABS challenge or the art challenge >.< *sigh* 

I hope you lot are having better luck with your challenges to yourselves :)

~ Skye

F.F. Update

Friday again... and I have survive a rather.... interesting week. Interesting as in the Chinese proverb kinda interesting >.<

The bad luck that began on last Friday carried through the weekend, never getting REALLY bad.. just... frustrating and irritating. Then on Monday it peaked with me taking a nose dive into the sidewalk a block from home. again, bad but not 'really' bad since nothing broke and I was only a block from home. I bruised both knees and bloodied my nose; got a small cut on my forehead, and a scrape on my one knee and the bridge of my nose. My bad knee is still hating me over it, making stairs rather uncomfortable and at times down right painful, but other than that, I'm fine.

My bad luck with my jewelry projects has also lifted... well.. somewhat anyhow. Enough for me to finish four bracelets. I didn't get the original ones fixed though, merely made different ones.. and I still haven't found two of the missing dangles from the one >.<  That said, I do like those designs and will try to get them working better another time.

Last week I was supposed to announce a new winner of last month's F.F., since the original winner never claimed it.. but I forgot >.< So I'll do that now :)  Chosen from the original posts comments, Carolyn is the new winner of the bracelet and has two weeks to contact me :)

Once again, when entering the giveaways with rafflecopter... remember.. just clicking the entries is not enough. you actually have to DO the things you're claiming by hitting that entry button. If you click the entry that says ' leave a blog comment'... you actually have to LEAVE A BLOG COMMENT  lol If you don't DO what that entry says... it doesn't count. PLUS,  once I delete that bogus entry, if you DO do it, you can't re enter.

Before I set rafflecopter to chose a winner of this months giveaway, I WILL go over the entries and delete any bogus ones.  I think the next one I'll just delete that option for an entry.

So ... if you haven't entered yet, pop over and get your entries in for your chance to win your choice of a geode or two pairs of earrings -> Freebie Friday #2 .

In other news,  Suburban Girl Studios is putting together a design team :) If you're interested, check out her blog for a shot at joining! I've got my name in the hat ;)

Artbeads.com is having another giveaway, this one for a Russian Artist Pendant.  They have some gorgeous ones listed in their shop. I'm not into the portrait types, but there are still tons that I do love :)

BeadingArts is hosting a giveaway as well, for Tagua nut beads :) And wow, are they nice! ME WANT :)

I can't remember what else I was going to mention, so... if I remember, I'll mention it on Sunday...if I don't, I won't ;)

~ Skye

Challenge Check In

Well... it was bound to happen sooner or later...

This week was a challenge failure >.<

Other things through out the week left me unable to bring myself to work on jewelry and so I left it for the weekend. I had the entire weekend off so there shouldn't be any trouble.

Friday, as you may have read in my last post, started off with some bad luck. That bad luck seems to have carried over throughout the entire weekend where jewelry is concerned >.< Every piece of jewelry I've made this weekend has failed... right at the end of it.

I made three different bracelets for the '7000' blog hop... and each one went great until I 'finished it' ...

The first one, done with chain, apparently had, not one, but THREE links stretch just enough to lose the dangles..I've found one of the missing dangles so far >.< When I find the other two I'll replace them and go over all the links to make sure they're secure.

The second one... done with hemp cord, ended up with one of the middle metal beads getting switched with a crimp bead.. and it getting squished >.< AFTER I cut the ends and secured it. I'll take it apart and make it again from scratch, this time making sure my beads are BEADS.

The third one, made on stretch cord.... had the nice and secure knot... turn out to not be quite as secure as it had appeared to be when I attempted to hide it inside my focal bead. When the tip says to 'pull it slowly and gently'... pull it EXTRA slowly and EXTRA gently >.< So...I'll take THAT one apart and restring it too. This time, I'll ignore the instructions and let the glue on the knot dry COMPLETELY, then add a bit more before pulling it inside the stupid bead to hide it >.<

The multi bead, multi dangle earrings I tried to make... kept coming up missing dangles... which I'd find on the floor caught in the rug... or having beads vanish off the end of the headpins.. somehow... still not sure how that happened since when I check, they won't slip over the end ... O.o

Two bracelet tutorials I'd seen and thought saved for me to play with and do my own versions on... vanished. I have searched every file, every link and every blog that I come across these things and can't find them ANYWHERE.

I know that as soon as I do something else and forget about them, I find them no problem. *grumble* Stupid Murphy and his stupid laws... *grumble*

So... considering how this has been going, I think it's a VERY good thing I didn't get around to pulling out my paints... that would have been disastrous no doubt >.<

In light of my utter bad-luck-induced challenge failure this week, I will endeavor to have these three repaired and finished as well as three new pieces (at least) for next Sunday's check in >.<

Today however..I have put away my beads, and refuse to give in to temptation to 'try one more time'. My patience is utterly frayed. I even yelled at the bird for refusing to be quiet no matter what I did for him, and finally covered him up and shut him in another room.. in the dark.. where after a while, he finally stopped the high pitched, ear drum piercing shrieking and went to sleep *sigh* I love the feathered pain in the ass, really I do... but this has not been a good weekend for my nerves apparently. I think it's long past time for me to open one of those bottles of wine in my fridge and have a glass after supper. Maybe two... as long as I don't blog, or comment on certain peoples pages afterwards I should be good ;)  If I'd gotten around to cleaning my bathtub like I'd been planning this weekend, I'd go have a bubble bath, however...no. Not until that bath enclosure has undergone major scrubbage >.< I have been putting it off for far too long... *sigh* I'd go do it now, but considering how my day is going..I'd probably end up hurting myself somehow. Best not to tempt the Fates to extend this streak back outside the realm of creativity...

*sigh* well.. better luck soon, I hope. I'll let you all know later on this week how things are going!

Oh.. and by the way... when entering ANY of the Freebie Fridays through Rafflecopter .. if you click on an entry option... you actually have to DO what it says. Such as 'leave a comment'. This is twice now I've deleted entries stating that they left a blog comment.. and didn't. so far all the tweets, 'likes' 'shares' and what not have been done, but for some reason, people are having trouble clicking the 'leave a comment' entry and then actually 'leaving a comment'  lol  I check these things ;) no cheating! lol

~Skye

Freebie Friday... the 13th??

 No... still working on the 2nd F.F. of the year... but today was like MY Friday the Thirteenth >.<

It started off with me opening my door... and damn near breaking my neck. I should've just gone back inside, locked the door, called my manager and told her I wasn't leaving the house today and she'd have to find someone to cover my shift >.< but I didn't, of course... silly me.

How did I almost break my neck? Ah.. well.. you see, my landlord is having the second floor apartment renovated. I live in a three story house that's been divided into apartments..I'm on the third and share the lobby and stairs with the second floor apartment. Yesterday the workmen decided to leave their stuff here... and rather then leave it in the apartment they're working on, out of the way... they left some stacked on the landing outside my door, blocking off my access to the stairs... and scattered all over the lobby, blocking off my access to the front door. Needless to say, Their boss is getting a phone call from me as soon as my landlord gets home for me to get their names off of him.

Anyhow, five o'clock in the morning, I open my door and step out into the dark hall ( the light switch is two steps away so I always shut my light off as I leave my apartment rather then go back and do it ) My foot doesn't even clear my doorway when it smacks into something solid, then when I step over it, I hit a second something and damn near end up down the stairs. I get the light on to find the tool boxes and curse softly all the way downstairs... to see that I need to pick my way across a huge mess of more tools to leave the building. Needless to say, if there'd been a fire and I'd have had to leave that building in a hurry, I wouldn't have made it. As it is, I'm lucky I made it out with just some bruised toes.

Then I get to work to find that the boy who trays up my frozen dough, messed up and I had to rearrange everything before I could even get started >.< *sigh* 

THEN ...I see a really low number of kaiser buns... when I'd been told on Wednesday that there was an order for a LOT of kaiser buns for today... I take a quick look at the order form to make sure it doesn't say cancelled, and nope...hasn't been cancelled. so I start up the cursing again as I leave off my work to haul out the rest of the buns needed for this order and quick thaw the frozen dough so it'll stand a chance of being done in time.... Every thing's going good... The dough is working nicely, the buns will be done in time...

...

...  and then I go to take the order form up front.. and see that she didn't take an order for KAISER buns like she'd told me...she took an order for CRUSTY buns >.< So now I have an extra fifteen DOZEN kaiser buns that we don't need >.< Luckily, it's NOT MY FAULT lol I have a witness that HEARD her say she had an order for 15 doz KAISER buns. If it HAD been for kaisers, I totally had that baby covered ! lol So... we put Kaiser buns of special today >.< lol

Luckily, that seemed to be the end of the bad luck for the day. the rest of the day went find, with me silently rehearsing my bitchfest should the workmen be here when I got home. ( BTW, I just got off the phone with my landlady.. and she said that they'd talk to them for me... this tells me they must have hired friends or something along those lines, and she's not happy with them. Kinda gonna miss out on bitching them out personally, but I know she'll let them have it in my stead ;) Of course, since they're not professionals for me to sic their boss on them, if they show up and do more work and don't offer an apology of some sort, I might have to chat with them too :) )

Of course, I had to grab some groceries before leaving work... they had coffee on sale so I bought two cans, And ice cream was on sale too.... so I was going to get Rolo... but they had CoffeeCrisp too... and it was such a shitty day....I bought both >.< They're small tubs! And it's not like I can sit down and pig out since I'm lactose intolerant and really shouldn't have ANY .. but... they're my faves... and I have my Lactaid...and a couple days off... I can eat my ice cream and be flatulent in peace. Some things are worth suffering for... Rolo and Coffee Crisp ice cream are worth it :)

In more cheerful news, I've signed on with the 7000 Bracelets for Hope Blog Hop. Tomorrow ( Sat. Feb 11th ) is the last day to join up! I've already got my bracelet design in my head and have my beads out ready to go as soon as I finish writing this ;)

Plus, I have my beads set aside for the Feb. ABS challenge.. it's just a matter of getting around to putting it together >.<  And no, I don't have any of my personal challenge pieces done yet either, BUT I have the week end off, so I'm still good :)  I do need to get started on my art project for the month though...I keep meaning to start but I need to clear some space on my desk first... and every time I start, I get distracted by my beads >.<

Alrighty..I think I've babbled enough.

This month's Freebie is located HERE . Remember to enter via the rafflecopter. If the widget doesn't load for you or you can't see it for any reason, leave a comment on the blog to let me know or send me an email.

Sarah S. - I sent you a couple emails from my blogger account, but I don't know if you got them ( one was form 'Graves' and the other from 'Skye' ). I accidentally deleted one of your rafflecopter entries! Please  enter the 'follow me' entry again, and remember, if you click on the 'blog comment' entry, you actually have to leave a comment ;) . If it won't let you reenter, let me know and I can enter for you, and just make a note in the entry that it's for you.

Hope everyone has a good week end! Have fun playing with your beads if you have no other plans :) I'm staying indoor this weekend ( aside from a trip to the laundry mat at some point), while a nasty winter storm blows around outside my windows. Hopefully, that means you'll see lots of jewelry finished on my Sunday post ;)

 ~ Skye

Challenge Check In

Once again it's Sunday...

and no, I'm not watching the Super Bowl...I haven't watched a football game since...the Green Bay Packers and... crap.. they were in blue and white and silver.. so Either Miami dolphins or Dallas cowboys.. think it was Miami ... anyhow, haven't watched since those two were in the Super Bowl together. That must have been... late eighties or early nineties...? Somewhere around there, anyhow. I had fun... not actually WATCHING the game *pfft* yeah right... ladies you can have WAY more fun with the Super Bowl than just 'watching' it.

...You just join the guys then keep making comments about 'tight pants' and 'cute buns' as often as possible. You'd be surprised at how many of those big tough guys you can make blush around their beer and pizza ;)

... I think the Packers won that time...I'm not sure though, I wasn't actually 'watching' the game that much ;)

Anyhow, since there's no guys around for me to embarrass, there's no need for me to 'watch' the game :)

You don't want to hear about football, and big beefy guys in tight shiny pants, running around and slamming into one another, though, do you? Nah... didn't think so ;) You're just here to see if I made my weekly challenge.

I did :)

PLUS :)

Of course, it would've been a hell of a lot MORE plus if I hadn't kept running into idea blocks >.<

I was STILL working on this one gift... aiming for 'steampunk'...  Other likes on the list for this chick were 'monarch butterflies' and' robots' and 'monsters' . Originally, she was going to get a plushie too.. but after the whole 'Mr. Crooked' incident, I lost the desire to follow through with that plan. I came up with the robot pins idea instead... steampunky robot magnetic pins... which failed miserably >.< I then had a really adorable idea for steampunky robot EARRINGS! I could see them in my mind perfectly and sketched them out, planning on using these little filigree squares I had for the bodies... only to discover I don't HAVE any squares..I have ONE square.. and several diamond shapes... and no, they can't be turned on their sides to make squares >.< *sigh*  Next up, I decided to go with the butterfly idea. I have these gorgeous tin filigree butterflies AND wooden ones as well... but I wanted to spray paint them and the weather has not been cooperative to painting >.< Another idea shot down *grr*  So, back to the earring idea... I sorted through several tubs of beads and picked out a bunch along with other components, then played with them, arranging them together and choosing 'sets'. so far, so good :)  Then failure struck again >.< I'd get one earring partially together then stop, suddenly not liking it. So I'd toss it aside and start on another... only to do the same. I have a pile of half formed earrings, loose beads and components, and tools, taking up half my computer section of my desk here >.<

Between yesterday and today however, I've finally succeeded :) I have four pairs of earrings done.

.... not sure whether they're steampunky or not though >.< I have a problem doing the Victorian aspect of Steampunk.. since Gothic is also Victorian in root and ..I tend to lean towards Goth... >.< 

So.. here we go. Maybe you guys can tell me if you think they're steampunky at all ;) ( All the photos are the right way up in the album I linked to... if they're on their sides like they appear in the preview ..I seriously have no clue WHY...)

 First up, we have a pair of chain dangles. This pair is two strands of chain, both different styles and metals,  wrapped around, both a brass bead and a smokey crystal rondelle.

 Next up we have another version of the one above, but with three strands of chain in varying lengths, but all the same style and color. I added some color to this pair with purple-toned textured 'silver' bead, and a purple satin finish glass bead.

 Next we have, what I think, are my favorites out of this batch. Three strands of chain in varying lengths hung with a beaten 'copper' ring. The dangles are a wooden red beads, a red glass faceted round bead, and a brown and 'gold' acrylic bead. ( the set I sent with the destash also had these in it..I came across a second set at the thrift shop that had been opened and partially used... but it still had all the ones I liked in it ;) )Also the only pair not made with lever backs, although that has nothing to do with it ;) 

And lastly, we have a pair of free form earrings that I kinda messed up on a bit and didn't even realize it until I took the picture >.< The brass beads have one hole facing one direction at one end, and on the other side at the other end... and I didn't realize I had the opposite holes paired up on the fronts >.< These are also using the smokey crystal, along with some funky little antique gold tone triangular spacers.

So, four pieces of jewelry completed this week... and a few dozen others scattered in various stages of completion over my desk.... which NEEDS to be cleaned off this week >.< I seriously can NOT start work on my painting .. or another jewelry project for that matter, until I clean this mess up enough to be able to find things >.<  For the record, the reason most of these are lever back earrings is because the rest of my  french ear wires are buried somewhere beneath the mess and I was unable to unearth them during my search >.<

So... personally, not so fussy on the first pair. Think it might be better if I swapped out the rondelle for something bigger... and added that third piece of chain.... The second pair I like better, but I think the chain is a bit big for the size beads I used ... maybe either drop a size smaller chain, go to two strands instead of three... or find bigger beads...

The third pair I love... the only think I'm not sure about it how I've got them on the ear wire... may change that..  The last pair...I haven't decided yet...I kinda like them... they're kinda funk and fun.. and the shortest of them all.... lol   What do you all think?

~ Skye

Freebie Friday #2

Oops! Almost forgot to post tonight >.<  Sorry! Got a bit carried away working on some steampunk earrings. Don;t worry, I'm sure I'll have pictures of them to share on Sunday :)  My robot pins I mentioned failed utterly, by the way >.< *sigh* I'll have to play around with some different ideas for them and try again another time.


So, onto this months giveaway :)


I was kinda torn as to what to do this round... after all, I just had a bracelet up last month, plus all those beads in the destash...


 I have this pretty little geode I received from WireSculpture.com's birthday bash last year... and aside from it sitting on my shelf, I have no clue what to do with it. I know plenty of people use them with pewter figures and wire wrapping to make little ornaments with and aside from that, really didn't know any other ideas. Until this morning anyhow ( or was it last night?) anyhow, I was making the rounds on my daily blog hop when I came across a picture of a piece of jewelry made with a geode of the same size as mine. I believe it was on Anvil Artifacts. This made me realize that maybe some of you would like to put it to use :)

Of course, I'm sure there are plenty of you who would be in the same boat I am with it... so I'll offer a choice to the winner.


Who ever rafflecopter chooses this month will have their choice of either the geode.. or the earrings I posted a photo of in my last Challenge Check In .. the silver leaves and the copper hoops ... of course, I'll make a new pair of copper ones still the ones in the photo have been claimed by ME :D hehehe

So, leave your entries in Rafflecopter :) If you don't want to put all your entries in at once, you don't have to. I'll link back to this post each Friday and you can spread them out more ;)

*note ~ Rafflecopter refuses to appear unless you click on the post title first. It doesn't like you reading the blog from the home page :p lol

~ Skye

Detash Winner & Check in!

Alrighty, so I'm a wheeee tiny bit later posting this than I'd said. I got hit by a massive case of the lazies and spent the morning ( and a chunk of the afternoon) immersed in a book, and it took me a while to get off my butt and get things done. But hey... laundry is done, rent is paid, photos have been taken, comments counted and the winner chosen :)


But... before we get to that, my monthly 'art' addition to my challenge.  You may remember my mentioning a time or two in previous post that I can't sew...yet occasionally get the urge to do so.

This month I was hit by that urge...and... since I suck at following patterns and instructions even more then I suck at sewing, that meant I had to design my OWN pattern to do. It wasn't THAT hard... well... it wouldn't have been that hard if I'd kept it simple and stuck to my original plan rather then alter it 3/4 of the way through... resulting in Mr. Crooked. ... who, it has been said, bears a resemblance to Foamy the Squirrel. 


I can totally see it... not just in the eyes, but in the body shape AND the off center head, oddly enough... huh...


Anyhow, once I started over, SIMPLIFIED the design and STUCK TO IT, I was able to put together a second kitty no problem :)




Here they are together... do I need to tell you which is Mr. Crooked? 

Yeah..I didn't think I did. I'm thinking of making a little collar for the cute little guy but... part of me is arguing to just pack him up and ship him out before I screw him up ;) lol ... aannnddd..I just noticed I hadn't trimmed his whiskers before I took the photo >.< silly me.







 any how, here's a solo shot of the successful kitty ...

MUCH better. Much much better :) The stripes go down his back too.










:D Successful Month of challenges! Think I'll go with a painting or something this month ... something that does not require a needle or thread >.<


So... Destash time, right?


Alrighty... So.. first off, here's a list of the comments from all of the blog posts featuring destash items. they are divided by the post they were made on.

New Year's Destash
1- Kayzkreations
2- Jet
3- Shaiha
4- Carolyn
5- Andra

~
Destash addition #1
6- Andra
7- Silver Rains
8- Shaiha
9- Jet
10 - Carolyn

~

Challenge Check up
11- Andra
12- Shaiha
13- Maneki
14- Carolyn

~

FF-Destash update
15-Andra
16- Kayzkreations
17-Carolyn
18- Shaiha

~

FF- another Destash update
19- Andra
20 - kvh
21- Kristi
22- Jet
23- Carolyn

~
F.F. winner & Final Destash
24-  Andra
25- Carolyn
26- L.Adams

And the winner is via Random.org ....

#24 ... Andra!

Email me your mailing address, Andra and I'll get your goodies off to you as quick as I can :)

I still haven't heard from January's F.F. winner yet. By the new rules, if I haven't heard from her by Feb. 10, I'll draw a new winner ;)

Now... back to trying to find my good glue to finish off these robot pins and then decide what to do for THIS month's F.F ;)

~ Skye

Challenge Check In

I WAS going to chose a winner of the destash today, but after considering I decided to give everyone a couple more days to find the last post and get that last entry in, so I shall choose the winner on Tuesday the 31st instead. after all, I did say it was 'a month long' destash, so... we'll let it go the full month ;)

As for my challenges this week, for once I had them done BEFORE the last minute :D  In was going to show you my art challenge project as well, but went and deleted the pictures from my camera... so, I shall take new ones and post them on Tuesday since the art challenge is by the month rather then week ;)

Plus, not only did I get my three pieces of jewelry done, one of those pieces is for the ABS monthly challenge :) Whoohoo! Yay me...finally managed to complete one! lol

So here are some earrings I made this week. 

The top pair is 10mm faceted crackled Agate. The color in the shot sucks but they're a really pretty blue and brown mix with the rings being antiqued copper ( in appearance, anyhow...I can't say for sure what they're made of since they were recycled from a chain belt ;) ).  I love these..I wore them today :)

The others are just antiqued silver leaves hung from a small section of chain, with black and crystal faceted rounds. Can't say for sure what kind they are since they're recycled from other pieces.

And here is my bracelet for the "January ABS challenge. It's just some gold wire with loops formed between chunks of green and peach colored turquoise, with a antiqued copper clasp. The bird charm is from Starry Road Studio :) It actually wears fairly well, but I don't know if I'll keep it together. I'll mostly take it apart and reuse the beads and charm in other projects.   This wasn't the piece I had planned for the challenge... it wasn't even the second piece I planned out for it... both ideas kinda fell through when my bits and pieces either refused to be found among my stash ( I didn't get to the stringing materials in my cleaning  ;) ),  and when the second idea refused to work in RL as well as it did on paper >.< lol  If I were to do this again, I'd work on making my curls between beads more uniform and perhaps forgo the charm...

In addition to these, I have a couple magnetic pins and another set of earrings in the works, but I need to tear through my under desk storage in search of my other glue first... the stuff I have just takes too long to dry for what I need with these. Plus there's my stuffed cat... the second one >.<  I DID finish putting the one I showed you  together... and while doing so, made a small change to it... a small change that messed it up and made him look .. rather .. 'special' ...O.o lol  I have named him 'crooked' and he sits on top of my computer to remind me of what NOT to do with the second one lol I simplified the design and have the second cat about a third of the way done. His front is completely stitched and decorated and not I just have to make his tail, sew his stripes on his back then put him together. And this time, with Mr. Crooked watching over me to remind me, I will NOT alter my plans while putting him together lol

I DID manage to get out to the country and visit my parents today. I went for a walk around the trails... at first with the dogs, however they quickly abandoned me to trudge along on my own. For all of you southerners, I thought I'd share some wintery photos with you :)

Here are the girls who were SUPPOSED to be going for a walk WITH me...

And here are their tracks vanishing ahead of me and veering off the path into the trees... >.< ( the photo is right side up in the album, I swear )

A pile of dead fall that had been gathered together then forgotten about... the path along side this wasn't too bad for walking on... only a few inches deep. -->

<--... the path in THIS area though was over a foot deep and managed to get right inside my boots >.<

( again, the picture is upright in the album... not sure why it insists on being sideways here when it's not elsewhere >.< ) 

And one more ... for which I waded through knee deeps snow and skeletal shrubs to take. Totally worth it :)

( I did take a couple more and they're in the album if you care to go see them. Just click on the slide show link on the side bar then choose the photography album )

Don't forget to leave a comment on Friday's post for a last entry into the destash, and I'll post the winner either Tuesday night or Wednsday morning :)

~ Skye