Random Holiday Post

Happy holidays, everyone! This holiday season has me running around like a crazy chicken at work, trying to push books into people's hands and keep employees motivated or from having break-downs. Outside of my day-job, I have commissions (YES! COMMISSIONS! YAY! *boogies*) to fulfill and an article to write. My Christmas shopping is far from being done. For the past week, my cold comes and goes. And now, today, I have been dealing with some intense backpain.

Whine whine whine. Complain complain complain.

BUT. I'm very excited this holiday season. Lots of happiness and joy even with cranky customers at work. I'm so happy to be doing commissions and (even though I'm freaking out a tad) over the moon about writing an article.

However, this holiday season has left me little time to blog :( I went from blogging everyday in November to hardly at all. I lurk and read blogs when I have time but hardly comment because writing takes a lot of time for me.

I feel like I'm blathering. What was the point of this post? OH YEAH! This is on my wishlist from Santa this year:

I want a set of new pliers. Ergonomic handles would be lovely. I really just want new cutters. I made the mistake of cutting memory wire with my cutters on one of my first projects and they have a nice kink in them now.

My poor RH has had to deal with me randomly saying, "You know what I want this year? Pliers... (or) a dvd drive... (or) earrings... (or) a puppy..." He, however, hasn't given me a very good list of presents for this year. Hmph.

Anyway. I'm running out of steam. What is on your wishlist this year? And are you more subtle in your hinting or do you just say "I want..." like me? :P

10 more days!

Velvet Love

Saturday night, I was a nervous wreck about meeting my friend's mom in the morning to show her my jewelry. I had no idea how to display the pieces, what to bring, how to dress... etc. It was an exhausting day at work and I am still battling a cold (though today it seems to have subsided quite a bit) and Saturday night, I fell asleep as soon as I got home. Before my eyes closed, RH mentioned cutting a piece of velvet for me from some he'd had saved for making a costume and I could lay it on the table for my friend's mom. I said that would be perfect and fell asleep.

Probably a few hours after, I woke up looking for him and saw him gluing something together and asked him what he was doing... I fell back asleep before he could even answer. And then a few hours after, he handed me a pillow of sorts. He had taken the time to glue some soft stuffing covered with the velvet to some cardboard so I could have a thing to drape the jewelry over! Such a sweet guy! Love love love.

Anyway, I was so nervous when my friend's mom showed up that I completely forgot about the pillow :( But now I have something else to photography jewelry on :)

The above picture is one of the newest pieces I've made. Copper and freshwater pearls for the nest. Fire polished glass linked together and finished with suede cord complete the necklace. My friend's mom purchased this from me along with a few other pieces and commissioned some as well. I'm going to be a busy girl!

Hope everyone is having a great week! 17 days til Christmas! YAY!

A Handy Tip

RH bought me some glass beads and they came in a plastic tub. At first, I didn't think too much of them. They were made in India which you would think would have me all goo-goo eyed, but most of them were chipped and they had a funny residue on them (which smelled like oil so I suppose it was oil). But, there seemed to be a few treasures in the bunch.

I knew I had to get the residue off but wasn't sure how to go about it. We'd just bought some hand wipes and I snatched up a few and decided to give them a try. You know what? It worked like a charm. I picked through the bunch looking for beads that weren't chipped. I ended up with a beautiful batch of shiny glass beads.

It was interesting. The dark blue bead in the middle and the one off on the upper right corner seemed black at first but they're blue! And the pretty round blue bead in the lower left corner? I saw a tutorial in the latest Bead Style that would be PERFECT for that bead.

Ahh... Happiness.

Beads, Buttons, and Poker

RH and I were playing cards last night (he kicked my butt at War). Before we dealt out the cards, I wanted to pull out the above beads for a project I have in mind. Out of his mouth comes this: "We could totally play for beads and buttons." Instantly, I thought of playing poker with my beading heroes and friends, using beads and buttons as our currency.

Oh, I'd probably lose. I suck at poker. I have a terrible poker face. But, still, fun to think about.

RH and I discovered we like playing Go Fish. Ahh... to be in love. :P

Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving tomorrow!

My Rockstar

I've decided to give crocheting another go. And while I'm sitting there counting chains and fighting the yarn, RH decides that he's going to practice the guitar. One of our first dates, he played his guitar for me. He even wrote the song himself, long ago, for another girl I'm sure, but hey. I wasn't always his girl.