Jewelry Class 2nd Meeting

Last night I had big plans of finishing a ring. I straightened & filed the band. Then I attempted to re solder the bezel. I had soldered it @ the end of the last class, but there were a few places I missed. I fluxed, cut the solder, placed the tiny little pieces of solder & lit the torch. As some areas of solder melted & flowed just like they were supposed to, others weren't so cooperative.  As I watched the BEZEL melt, the *%^#&())(&^(*^%&%$*)(&^&(*^% * solder didn't. Craziness I tell you! So what I got done after that was removing the bezel & getting most of the rough areas left behind filed down. I'll be ready to try again next week, & hopefully have a picture to show you :)

Pinwheels for Peace

This past Tuesday was International Day of Peace.  One of the ways to celebrate/acknowledge IDP is Pinwheels For Peace. The studio where I take my jewelry class was participating & my nephew & I made pinwheels @ home. These are some of them before I cut & folded & the finished baker's dozen. I  tried my hand @ zentangles for a few & did some collage/decoupage for the rest.

Jewelry Class

It was touch & go there for a week if my advanced class would have enough students to make or not. It was on then  off & on again, even getting pushed back a week to see if enough would enroll.. We met last night, in spite of the fact that one student did change her mind about enrolling. We didn't do a lot of work, K showed us how to hide solder on copper( my personal bane!) by using some steel in pickle& soaking the piece in that. He used some steel wool & pickle in a small cup(not the whole pot of pickle!) & let it all soak a little bit. When I checked it, the steel wool had gone the colour of the copper, & when K pulled the piece you couldn't see the solder @ all.!The strangeness of the timing is I had just read this tip earlier in the week.We wrote down goals we had for  ourselves this class so K could be ready for our questions/needs. I also helped someone make some earrings for a quick gift. She hadn't made head pins  or done any wire wrapping before, so I helped out a little.
  One of my goals was to finish the 2 rings I started @ the end of our Spring class. I also want to try more enameling, maybe even some headpins.
   Tomorrow I'll have pictures of my fabulous beads from juls.

JULS needs your help & a giveaway

Juls @ http://julsbeads.blogspot.com/ needs your help! She has to raise approx. $500.00 for her darling little pup's medical needs.She has several special deals going right now so head on over to shop for a good cause. She is also accepting donations. Seriously, who could say no to that face?!

 On a lighter note, the lampwork diva is having a giveaway to celebrate 5 years of blogging (wow) so head over to http://lampworkdiva.blogspot.com/ & enter for a chance to win

We Have Winners!

Maddie has picked two winners~ #2 & 3#. So Francy send me your mailing info so I can get your goodie box out to you. If you are as local as I think you are, we can also arrange a pick up. Cindy, I have your info. Expect a package soon! Congratulations Chix!

Bad List

I'm not sure just when my niece wrote this, so I can't know just what it was her brother & I did. But as you can see, it's official, we made the 'bad list', (she's 7). If you can't read it it says "Boot C and Logan ure in my bad list" . If you click on the picture it will enlarge & you can see it a little better.

End of An Era

I've just heard from my sister & sister in law by text  message & phone call that our drive~in  has burnt to the ground. The wooden screen structure was not insured(wood= uninsurable) & will probably not be rebuilt. Such sad news.

Bead Swap 2

Once I joined the Bead Soup  group there was no turning back! I've participated in both Soups & both swaps. Swaps don't have any pressure( you know, besides making sure you send good stuff!), just send a little stash & hoard enjoy. This time around I was partnered w/ Sue, http://suebeads.blogspot.com, who does AMAZING glass & enameled beads. She showered me w/ assorted handmade goodies & then, as if that weren't enough,sent along some beautiful gemstone & plastic goodies . She also sent some really great coins ( how did she know?) & tied the box  up w/ fabulous sari string. A big Thank You to Sue, stop by her blog, or her store http://suebeads.etsy.com you'll be oh so tempted!

                                                this is a picture of the beads I sent to Sue
 If you're reading this, please take a minute to sign up for the  Blogiversery giveaway on the post below. I'll be putting 2  boxes of goodies together much like this one & choosing  a pair of winners on September 6th.

Happy September & Giveaway!

I know I know, you thought I had surely melted away given my last post & no real entries for July & August.
I'm still here & trying to start my one year blogging month w/ better intentions. First the giveaway~ on September the 6th,the one year 'bloggiversery' I am drawing for a name. The giveaway is inspired by the bead swap Lori Anderson has done & will be a box filled w/ beady goodness.Some pairs, some batches, who knows what all I'll put in there? There is a good chance I could even put in some mixed media items. Please leave a comment on this post don't forget I will need to contact you if your name is drawn(sounds simple but I did have someone win  w/o leaving contact info for the charm day giveaway I did). I will probably choose 2 winners so both my niece & my nephew can pick a number. I am low tech over here, friends!What kind of comment do I want? Well,..... you could tell me what kinds of beads you hope you win, based on all my bead show stash posts, you could tell me what you like about any of my posts, you could tell me about a great site I need to visit, a studio organizing tip that worked for you or you could even  give me a great chocolate recipe!Talk to me & good luck :)

  The photo? That was a pair of crossed bones under the gel cling skull. When I came home a few days ago  they had MELTED! :O