Today I am feeling a huge disconnect. Last night, my very best friend's wife let me know that he was on in-home hospice care. She assured me that it was not that his life expectancy was very short, but rather that he no longer wishes to be treated for anything new. OR something along those lines. He has Type 2 Diabetes, Parkinson's, and has always had respiratory issues. This news hit me like a freight train.I knew it was coming, just not prepared for it to be so soon. This friend was my cheerleader, my encourager. He is the reason I got back into creating with clay, he could tell that it was something I needed. We have similar senses of humor. We both care deeply about others. We have been friends for over 20 years. I'm not sure how to handle the idea of life without him in it. We spoke almost every day for all of those years. How do I begin to put into words what our friendship has meant to me?

Sun & Sea Creative Bead Chat Challenge 2012

I have been part of a group on facebook called Creative Bead Chat.  Bead lovers from all over share their creations and tips and all sorts of things.  They are a wonderful support group, personally as well as creatively.
I was chosen by Random.com to be one of the recipients of the beads for the Sun & Sea challenge.

Here is what I started with.  I pulled together some things I thought would go well with the ceramic, polymer, shell, copper & glass I was provided with.

My own textured & patina'd copper sheet & wire with the challenge goodies.

 The first item I made is this double strand copper necklace & earring set.
I took 1/3 of the sheet of copper & made it into charms.  The bail of the donut is embellished peyote stitch.  The copper ear wires are hand made by me.  The beautiful copper clasp provided is on the back of this piece.

Ocean Breezes

Ocean Breezes Earrings

 This bangle was next.

Shell We Dance

 Adding some pearls, aquamarine & sponge coral helped set-off the beautiful components provided.

On The Boardwalk

 The glass beads were beautiful enough that I wanted to spotlight them on these hoops.

Sunrise

I had so much fun creating with the items supplied by some very talented bead artisans.

My pottery is still my first love, but beads and creating things with them come in a fairly close second.

Thank you to all who organized this challenge!  And thank you to all of the others who have participated.

Feel free to comment below, I won't know what you think (good, ambivalent or bad) unless you do.  And, I don't bite!

Please visit the other blogs that have participated in the challenge.

Most of all, have fun!

http://www.yayjewelry.blogspot.com/

http://cswdesignsbyhehe.blogspot.com/

http://alice-dreaming.blogspot.com/

http://blog.aimeesjewelrytreasures.com/

Happy Birthday to the Queen Bee!

Thursday is my little sister's birthday. This photo is from a few years ago on a sunny Spring day back in Alfred, NY, where we grew up. It was taken in our side yard.
Regina has a few photos of herself in the family archives where she is smelling flowers. I especially like this one because the vivid blue stripes in her shirt go so well with the sky.
She calls herself the Queen Bee because her name - Regina means Queen in Latin. And these days, she describes herself as buzzing from one project to another.
Regina is the youngest of our family and currently lives in western NY state with her hubby and her munchkin (who turns 5 this month!). Among her creative endeavors are quilting, rubber stamping, bead work, gardening and whatever seems to intrigue her at the time. All while working a full time job, being a wife and a mom and working on renovations to their house.
All of our family is prone to filling their days with things to do. I spent the day yesterday working (teaching 3 classes) from 9 AM til 9:30 PM with an hour for dinner myself. Terri and I often have days like that. Sue is Quilting, teaching quilting, working on Relay for Life and a bevy of other interests (her hubby Jim does most of the gardening and her 2 'kids' are married). Bill enjoys bicycle riding (serious riding!), camping and cooking as well as woodworking to fill some of the spare time he has, often sharing with his wife and 2 boys. Terri has her bead work, her illustrations and her Assemblages along with teaching a pre-school art class to help fill the little time she has to spare (her DragonBen turned 10 last month!). Rick had woodworking and Blacksmithing along with hiking, kayaking and all sorts of outdoorsy things to fill the time sharing most of the outdoorsy things with his wife Alice and their compilation of 3 teenagers.
We have each been known to hold more than one job at a time, even if one of the jobs is a full time one! But a good work ethic was taught to us as we grew up.
So, Happy Birthday Regina! I know I posted this a day early, but I wanted to be sure you saw it before your special day begins! LOVE YOU!

Photography

I wasn't sure what I wanted to write about this morning... I just knew I wanted to post something.

When our bead club had it's 'meeting' this past Sunday, it was mentioned that I need to work on my photography... I agree! Any suggestions from my faithful followers? Any suggestions from my not-so-faithful followers, or even anyone who just happened upon my blog.

I'd prefer to have constructive criticism.

I know I have to be better about taking photos, and that sometimes they are fuzzy, but what else? I'd start a poll, but I don't know what kind of answers to give people the option, so, if you;ll just leave a comment or two, that would help me immensely.

I don't have any photos to share this morning anyway... I haven't taken any of my 'stuff' lately.

I now yeild the floor to your comments...

Happy October

I am back from a whirlwind business trip to Orlando. We left Saturday morning, drove 10 hours straight through, spent Sunday at a trade show, and then drove back on Monday.

The most amazing sight on the trip was as we were loading the car for the trip home. We walked out of the hotel and heard this loud squawk, it was a Great Blue Heron. This was not uncommon, as we saw them from our room at the small lake in front of the hotel. What was amazing was that this Heron was perched on top of a street light! After he (for some reason I always call them 'he') caught our attention, he stretched his wings out and looked almost like he was showing off his beautiful wings and graceful neck. My camera was in the car. As I hurridly got the camera, I turned around and he was gone. Mom and Terri saw him up there too, so they can vouch for my sighting.
Unfortunately, we were unable to stay in Orlando to visit with our friends at Bead Dreams on Sand Lake Road, it was raining and we wanted to get on the road home, they were not open yet. We wanted to visit with Demi & Ursula and also check out what wonderful goodies they have in their store. Maybe next time.

phew!

What a busy few days it has been...

Sunday, I was working on my porcelain production area and we had the monthly meeting of the Hole in the Bead Gang Bead Club.

Monday I had a big bead order to process.

All day Tuesday we prepared for a short show at the Anderson YMCA for National Women's Health Day. I was folding brochures and pulling together all of the display paraphanalia. Terri made several sets of greeting cards and Mom helped gather assorted other merchandise for the show.

We hurridly set up for the show yesterday morning and had a wonderful time there. We met a lot of fantastic people and had a delicious lunch donated by Chick-fil-A. Then it was back to the store to unpack.

We also had the Crafty Crew Rubber Stamp Club monthly gathering at the store last night. Our customer/friend BP had a wonderful project (photo to come...) for us all to make and M & CD brought delicious goodies for us to munch on afterward. Those brownies were so delectable! We had the company of a group of fun and creative people. This month we had 4 guests joining us and we hope they will come back again.

This morning we have a class for 12 through Osher Lifelong Learning Institute through Clemson University.

I have had so much going on, I have not had the energy at the end of the day to finish pulling together a disc of photos for sister Regina (for the store's web page) or the cards won by Ruth.

I WILL get both of those things out in the mail the first part of next week! And I WILL get some new photos for here and a new post for the store's blog.

Keep those creative juices flowing!

More on my creative family

Another entry to the creative family is my sister Terri. Pictured is one of her necklace designs. This was designed for a bride to give to her attendants and went on to be a class. It contains two sizes of freshwater pearls as well as Swarovski crystals and sterling accents.

Terri is an extremely talented illustrator and designer. At one time she owned her own decorative rubber stamp company while living in the UK. She designed and manufactured the stamps herself.

If you are ever in Anderson, SC and have a craving for delicious pizza, go into NY Pizza just off Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.. Hanging on the wall to the left as you go in are a series of mixed media collages which Terri created in less than 2 weeks when the owner was redecorating. Each features a region in Italy. One of them even features the doors of the church in Sicily where our great grandparents were married. And while you are there, enjoy some wonderful food! Mom & Dad have even gotten take-out to bring to Churchville, NY when visiting Regina! We usually go every Wednesday & Saturday for dinner.

Terri can be found at our family store creating with beads or paper and rubber stamps. She also has taught bookbinding both at the store and at the Clemson Arts Center ( www.ExploreArts.org ). And this year she has volunteered at her son's school and helped the students in his class create fun things for different holidays. Not to mention the several Open Studios she has had at Hospice of the Upstate for staff and patients family members.

No headache this morning. YAY!!!

The Beading Boys

Finally! I was able to get the photos to upload... These are my brother Bill's two boys on their first full day here visiting. And they chose to come and learn some beading. Their attention to detail is wonderful. Bill also did a little beading and made a beautiful Kyanite pendant for his wife Miwa. It had some sterling and some Rhodochrosite and Lapis beads to accent the large Kyanite piece. Miwa joined my sister Sue and made herself a netted weave bracelet.

About the show. I don't have the time this morning to post photos. I'll get some up of my other products after I get back.

I am looking forward to the show, but right now I am stressing. I know I shouldn't be. It's just something I do. I really, truely hope that the scattered thunder showers that are predicted this weekend are scattered widely enough that they bypass downtown Clayton, GA! The show goes on, rain or shine.