Comfort & Fab Fibers

Check out this wonderful giveaway for some amazing beads from Blu Healer Glass that Fab Fibers is sponsoring by clicking "Fab Fibers".

Had a cup of coffee with my sweet friend, Lisa, today. Hadn't seen her in several months and she had ordered a pair of my Signature earrings and wanted to peek at some cupcake jewelry. I made it fun for her and took my entire container of cupcake beads for her to "shop" through...thought it would be a lot more fun than just looking on line! It was so nice to chat about families and get generally caught up on what we are doing. We need to do it more often, but doesn't that always seem to be the case?

I get to see my other friend, V, next week for lunch and a movie. Wolverine, baby! I could use a tough Hugh Jackman fix. I've seen him recently on quite a few talk shows and he looks so clean and is funny and sweet and glorious to look at, but he is NOT Wolverine in real life...funny, that. I need his gritty, clawing side. Yum.

So we finally got a new umbrella since the previous one was comPLETEly thrashed. Our local hardware store had this 9 footer for $49! It's not the heavy duty canvas type (which cost 3x as much) but it cranks open which I like and it can be angled. If we keep our bricks cool and shady, it helps keep the bottom floor icy cool in hot weather. Isn't it pretty here with our bistro table & chairs and the jasmine vine in the background. Nice!

I will be visiting my Godson in Napa next week, so I'm not sure when I'll post next, but be assured, there is my friend's surprise bracelet yet to show you (think Paris colors: pink, black & white) and I should have a new piece assembled by then for you to purchase as well.

Stay cool.

My 100th post!

Yay, I'm posting less than a week since my previous entry! Made that a goal to keep you all entertained and so far so good. And my reward is that this is my 100th post. Now that's a good omen. I added a visitor counter on July 4th. You can see it at the very bottom of the blog page and in 45 days I've had 187 visitors...not a lot, but I'm just glad people are coming.

Custom bead news following this story:

My husband and I were able to spend a 3 day weekend in Napa with our godson (photo at left of neighborhood cafe) who is two and a half and talking up a storm. He understands concepts now so his reactions and humor are absolute entertainment. A sweet and happy soul with a smile always at the ready along with kisses and hugs upon request!

Sis and her husband were out of town for the historic car races in Monterey...are you aware of these races? Old, old cars built for racing long ago are maintained (with large wads of cash, no doubt) for racing condition! Wouldn't it be something to see them whipping around the track? Sis takes their camper and hunkers down for 2 nights right at the track...wow!

Must be great, but what me and my husband needed was peace and quiet and that's what we got in the midst of huge oak trees surrounding house and pool just above a small vineyard surrounded by hills. Wow was it ever quiet. We did a little snoozing, lots of laughing, and slowly, slowly got our godson to swim.

It was wonderful that he trusted me enough to rest his body on just one of my arms while he flailed feet and legs to catch the big rubber ducky. What a bold one...of course, it took about an hour to go from just feet in the pool and refusals to step down to lower steps to full on swimming...but he got there. One final grab by me when he looked very confident and he let out one big scream....and then had a blast.

On the jewelry front I'm having a couple of spectular custom lampwork glass beads designed as pendants...won't tell you by whom yet as I don't want to create any pressure, but one is a harlequin mask...white face, teardrops from the eyes and an elaborate wavy collar in black and red...nice!

I was also inspired to request a hot air balloon bead after seeing the big balloon upon which Sarah Brightman sang in the Olympic opening ceremony. The balloon bead will be golden yellow with blue Kronos glass as the basket...and you'll seem some Kronos spikes on the balloon as well. Remind to show them to you after I receive them in a few weeks.

I've been reminded that the glass birds (photo above) from the Green Glass Cafe are big sellers in jewelry so I will be working on those designs this week...birdie pendants...yum! The bird pictured here is one of several different styles and color combinations I have.

Can you say Chihuly?

Okay, so Chihuly (chi as in chick...chi-hoo-lee) is Dale Chihuly the amazing glass blower. Yes, gang, these photos are of glass art!

He no longer works the glass due to one blinded eye & an arm injury, but he directs his team to make his vivid dreams become spectacular realities...and his work is just across the bay from me in San Francisco...I'm so excited I'll be able to see his work on display for a mere $15 at the DeYoung!


It's kind of funny because these 2 photos were taken of displays he installed at Kew Botanical Gardens outside of London, England...just a couple of years after I visited London! So I never saw them but knew nothing of him at the time anyway, so I'm much happier about seeing them now that I've seen awesome work on his website (click his name above) and a t.v. documentary.

Since I live in a world of glass beads, I find his pieces breathtaking as he has glass blown into ridiculously simple or intensely detailed objects. You should see him freely tossing the bobbing balls (left) into the water as if they couldn't break...eeek! I had to laugh recently when "Frasier Crane" on "Frasier" yelled at his father (who nearly knocked over the Chihuly bowl on display in Frasier's apartment)..."don't hit the Chihuly!" Imagine what panic he would have felt seeing these glass bobs tossed!

On a different vein, although the bay area was surrounded on all four sides at one point by very distant wildfires, we still had heavy, smoky air for several days that blotted the blinding rays of the sun with a kind of gray haze that reduced the view of the sun to a deep orange cutout in the sky. Rather an end-of-the-world feel. What a sigh of relief it was to see patches of blue sky return!

I'll be playing Auntie to my godson next week and won't have much access to the internet or my beads, so my business goal is to get my icky taxes reported and to sketch and draw quite a bit so I can get rolling on listing drawings on www.MomsArt.etsy.com along with prints of my son's and my mom's drawings as well. What are the subjects? Hmmmm...welllll okay, just a hint...anatomy and botany...nope, that's all you get and you'll just have to savor the sweet ache of anticipation until then!

I'll be shipping jewelry and craft supplies Monday, July 7th and then again around July 16th.

Until then, ta.