Dreams, Friday, ProStores, Stranger in a Strange Land, Food, Going Green Jewelry, Gems, Mandalas, GMail, Gas Mileage, Jewelry

Dreams… Bah!

I'm not fond of them. I perceive them as a nuisance. I know, I know… we have to have dreams in order to stay sane (or something like that). I can accept that… I just don't want to remember them… EVERY morning… hours' worth!

Here are just a few of the topics dealt with last night in la-la land: toy horses, Swarovski crystals, war, hiding under plywood, a broken garage door, a crowd outside the house, seat belts, co-workers, twisty roads, shelves… it goes on. Droll and time-consuming. Probably would have gone on longer except that SOMEBODY decided they had to go pee and notified me by breathing stinky dog breath in my face… ew.


Friday… Yay!

The kids will probably go play tennis again today. Not sure what we'll do for dinner. I need to pick up some veggies. Maybe I'll stop at that little health food store on the way home. If I get veggies, we can make stir fry or something.

Monica was mad at me for not waking her up when I got up this morning. She wanted to make me breakfast and probably wanted to walk me to work. Hard to wake a sleeping child up for that, know what I mean? I'll make it up to her. She can meet me for my walk home and I'll let her make dinner.

I forgot to ask Gabe if he wanted to play pick-up tonight… but since people have to be signed up early in the day, I want ahead and signed him up.


ProStores

I think I previously mentioned their hosting migration (or whatever it was) and how it lost ALL my email (anything I had in there before the day of migration). Well, I just had a customer email me with the info that she tried to order some items from my site and couldn't… I'm trying to get details right now, but really… if their migration is making me lose more than just emails (as in "losing business") I will NOT be pleased.


Stranger in a Strange Land

Although I'm enjoying the book, I'm not sure yet how I feel about some of the messages. On the whole, I think Jubal and I share some common viewpoints. But there are parts of Ben Caxton that I can relate to as well. I'm anxious to see how the whole thing pans out.


Food

Had a hard-boiled egg and a yogurt for breakfast. I think sugar and flour are my downfall so I'll see if I can avoid them for the most part. I guess I'll hit up the salad bar for lunch.

I feel like making something with lentils of beans this weekend. Maybe I'll get the crockpot out.

Oh, I should make those "Darisa potatoes" for the kids before Gabe leaves. Those were so freakin' yummy.


Going Green Jewelry

BTW, I don't remember if I posted it here, but I have a project… a year long project that I started a week or so ago. Have a look if you're interested.


Gems

I prefer London Blue Topaz to Swiss Blue Topaz.

And if I were to buy them online, it'd be at maybe the only online place I'll buy gemstones. MiGems

Alex and I were commiserating (again) about the sad state of affairs regarding gemstone beads. Because of all the misrepresentation out there, neither one of us feels comfortable buying online (except as mentioned above)… and the gem/bead shows are just as bad, unfortunately.

At the last show we went to, there were only two people we talked with who I felt were honest and knowledgeable. One of them focused on Turquoise (Alex would know their name) and the other one was in a back corner and had his gems labeled (and disclosed!) clearly and properly. In talking with him, it was clear he really know a lot about stones. I will look at my receipts and see who it was. Very, very trustworthy dealer.


Mandalas

I made a page on my website that shows some of the mandalas made by my tutorial. Now I'm going to email the people who bought the tutorial and see if they want to send me some of their samples.


GMail

You know what I like about gmail? A lot. But there are three main things it does that I really like. One, you can search… you can put in a word and it will bring up a list of all the emails that have that word in it. Very handy for people like me who don't delete enough emails. Two, it keeps "reply" emails together… like if someone writes to me and I write back and then respond back again… it's all in one email. Three, you can have it bring up a list of all the emails by any one particular sender.


Gas Mileage

Wanna know how much gas your car most likely uses? Go here.


Jewelry

Here are some thumbnails of pieces I listed recently.



I also listed this, but it's already been purchased. Yay!



I already have new stuff ready to shoot and list throughout next week.


Comments

mclainjewelry said: here is a LOLcat for the crafty at heart:



Hey! Thanks… I love that one!!! BTW, when I click on your blogger name, I get the message that says: "The Blogger Profile you requested cannot be displayed. Many Blogger users have not yet elected to publicly share their Profile."

Hope you didn't hide your profile because of me posting your blog link here every time you commented to me.

BTW, I responded to you in Etsy conversations, but again I have to say how thrilled I am with your art work… I wear that brooch practically every day.


Zoya Gutina said: 100% you're a perpetual student of life, dear Laura! :) I hope you're doing well!

I am! Thanks for asking and thanks for commenting.

I must say, that piece at the top of your July 24th blog post is outstanding. Just outstanding. Russians make fantastic models.



see more Lolcats and funny pictures


see more dog and puppy pictures

My cats have done this next one...


see more dog and puppy pictures

To polish or not to polish... and photographing only once a week is a drag

The quilted pendant sold today. Yay! I feel good about that because that is definitely on the "greener" side of my going green jewelry.

Here's something interesting. All but one of the bronze metal clay jewelry we've sold so far has been polished. In light of the fact that we're told patina from the kiln doesn't last, I find that heartening.

I'm thinking of making an identical set of charms as in this bracelet, but polishing them.



Here's the latest from the kiln. Notice I only buffed one of the charms so far.



But now I have to make some of those decisions. Do I leave them au natural or do I buff them? Do I use them in something or try to sell them as components?

From the same kiln batch, I did get those tubes that I made earrings with. Maybe tonight or tomorrow I get to my weekly photo session and then I can show you those as well as all the jewelry I made in my spare minutes here and there.

I got out my box of cords (silk ribbon, suede, etc) and made one necklace (that I like) ready for a pendant. I was thinking of putting one of those electroplated leaves on it, but then I wanted to add a green bead to the pendant and in looking through my box of green gemstone beads I grabbed some for project #2… which was a simple but eye-catching necklace.

I really need to start digging into my gemstone boxes. I have a ton of beads I've been wanting to use.

I am sketching out an idea for something that's probably over my head, but I'm going to have a go at it nonetheless. I'm making something inspired by one of Tiffany's stained glass creations. I'll try to get photos along the way… it won't be a one-day project. Actually, I have to put some "ahead of time" thought into certain parts of it so I'm not left… without the right configuration(s). Some of it will be tricky… and I will need things to "lay" a certain way in order for it to look right in the end. Well, I'll keep you posted.

Comment from Alex: I admired your restraint at the show today, you followed through with your vow and didn't cave...good on ya!

And it IS a real gift, and a sentimental one which makes it that much more special to me. I remember helping you pick out the stamps...we had a great time that day!

Thanks! That day will also always remind me of my self-indulgent back massager. Ha ha ha! I love it!!!

And yeah, it really was hard not buying any beads at the gem show, but I really want to give this project a good go. Was Anil there?

Comment from Beth Boal: Definitely looking forward to that "why" installment...

Hi Beth! I certainly hope the "why" didn't disappoint. Wish me luck!

Movies, My Kitchen, My Work Space

My Work Space

How come I can’t seem to work in a small area… and/or clean up after I’m done? Yeesh! My living room looks like a disaster.


My Kitchen

Gabe has made it possible for me to be happy in the kitchen for quite some time. The other day while I was at work he cleaned the kitchen. Now, when Gabe cleans the kitchen, he really cleans the kitchen… not only doing dishes and putting things away, but he also scrubs every spot of the stove, including the burner pans. What a sweetheart!


Movies

I’m watching the remake of Planet of the Apes right now… for the first time. I wonder how it will compare to the original. Hm… so far, can’t say I’m overly thrilled with the decision to take the most famous like from the original and completely change its meaning. But oh well, who really cares?

Okay, all of a sudden I’m sleepy enough to fall asleep… gotta go… talk to you later… most likely tomorrow.

The Bead Show and a Small Gift

First super big test today… went to a bead/gem show. There were lots of beads I felt I “had” to have, but that’s just being greedy, I guess. I mean, I already have a ton of beautiful beads at home. I’m not against having things around you because you find them pretty and they make you happy, but I think over-doing it (for me, anyway) is not a good thing.

I was thinking, today, about other ways, no matter how small, that I am taking responsibility for reducing my carbon footprint.

I think it’s important to realize that all steps, no matter how little, count and matter. After all, a bucket full of water is nothing more than millions of little drops of water, and a bucket of water can put out a fire (or other things… I was just trying to make a visual analogy… sorry, it kinda sucked).

Our new apartment is 1½ miles from where I work, so I gave up my parking spot (that’s a ka-ching savings too!) and now I walk to work. Good for me (three miles a day) and good for the environment.

We recycle at home. Maybe not as much as we could, but there’s more recycling than garbage. I will try to be more diligent about washing out more of the boxes and cans in order to add them to the recycle bin.

Except on the rare occasion, we don’t buy water in those disposable plastic bottles. I’m better at that than the kids are, but I need to be a bit firmer with them… help them along.

Okay, back to jewelry. Got some bronze things out of the kiln last night. Made a pair of earrings with one set of tubes, not sure yet what I’m going to do with the other things… mostly charms.

I finally added the patina (the darkness into the recesses) to the piece I wanted to give Alex. It’s more of a sentimental piece than a real gift. Alex and I went shopping one day and I had a really nice time with her. She’s good people. Anyway, she helped me decide on some stamps I wanted to use for bronze clay so I made a pendant using one of the stamps.

I forgot to take a picture before I met her for lunch today, so I snapped a quick pic with my phone….



Well, it’s 9:30 and tomorrow’s a work day (aren’t they all?), so I’m going to clean up a bit and think about getting into bed.

I’ll try to get some pics of the other clay items as soon as possible. TTYL!

My first "green" pieces and an upcoming temptation

So, here’s the first batch of jewelry made using my current stash of beads…



These are all (except one bracelet that already sold) available at BrackenDesigns.

I have one more piece to list. It’s one where I actually made the component (the pendant)…



... also, the clasp is a refurbished earring. I didn't have any brass or copper clasps (or wire), so I took an old earring, cannibalized it, and tada!

In a couple hours, I’ll be at a large bead/gem show in Santa Clara… There will be some suffering (a bead ho unable to buy beads), but I will stick to my purpose. I must not be a bead glutton merely out of desire. I’m going for two reasons. One, I meeting up with my good friend, Alex. Love spending time with her! And two, I’m looking for a particular kind of bead for a friend who can’t get them where she is.

At Hadar’s Friday night, I made some tube beads. They didn’t all come out of the kiln the way I wanted (y’know… perfect), but two of them are pretty cool so I took those two, buffed ‘em up a bit, and am making them into earrings. I hope to have photos to show you later.

I also patina’d the recesses of a pendant I wanted to give Alex, but I just realized… it’s bronze… bronze has copper in it. If she’s allergic to copper, she probably can’t wear bronze either. We’ll she can hang it in her workshop as a decoration maybe.

Okay, Bear’s giving me the evil eye so I’d better take him out for his morning walk. I’ll report back later about how the bead show was. TTYL!