Back with a Bang!

I feel like this is a recurring theme where I come back after a month plus of no blogging and make a comment about how long it's been since my last post... What this means for you is a hodgepodge of topics that have been sitting in mental storage for a month!  The upside is there's a reward in it for you if you're still following my blog so stick around until the end...

I mentioned my Heffalump like running style a few posts back as I was training for my very first half marathon back in January.  I'm happy to say that I completed it and I was able to finish in a respectable time for my first attempt, particularly after the two week illness leading up to the race!  The highlight of the ridiculous distance of 13.1 miles was this lovely pit stop with a sign reading "Pet us you'll run faster!".  I must say that it worked!  Of course as you can see in the photo I appear to be using him as support to avoid collapsing more than petting him!

With that event out of the way, I've been able to go back to my happy little running jaunts of a few miles...much more pleasant!

What else?  Ahhh, way back in February I mentioned that we had our home visit scheduled to adopt a rescue Golden Retriever to add to our furry family... I made the comment (in jest) that it might be easier to adopt a non-furrry, aka human, child...It would seem that what I thought was a joke is actually reality!  We passed our home visit and interview and were approved to adopt from the group.  So, I should be able to show you our new addition, right?  Nope, not so fast speed racer, we've now applied for eight (yes that's 8) different dogs and there is still only the one we started with in our home!  Two are pending right now as the fosters review applications, but I was told that there were over 25 applications for the one dog in just 24 hours!  Crazy, right?!  So, here's the only child all by her lonesome, taken with my new phone's camera as a test...

I finally had a chance to sit down in the studio and make more of my little trinket dishes that sold so well in Tucson.

The little ring dishes and rectangular trinket dishes that also work great as soap dishes are listed in my Etsy shop already.

 

I have some slightly larger dishes that are great for holding keys and those little bits and bobs that collect on the counter or the entry table and I'll be working on listing them this week as well.

They would make great Mother's Day gifts...hint hint...

So if you're still reading, I want to send out a twisty bead for some fun and adventure to a randomly selected blog commenter as well as my blog partners Cindy Cima, Sue Kennedy, and Jean Yates who I selected via random.org.  These are such fun little components but I definitely think that people are going to need to see some ideas to get the creativity flowing so that's where you come in!

A version of the purply blue twisty above will go to the preselected blog partners and this matte peach twisty will go to a blog commenter who enters the rafflecopter draw at the end of this post.

If you have an active blog and can commit to a post on May 31st with a finished piece featuring your twisty, I'd love to have you enter!  Hurry, I'm going to draw the name of the winner on Friday!

a Rafflecopter giveaway Good luck!

Home From Tucson...

Well, I'm back from my three days at "The Tucson Bead Show" and it was an experience, although not what I'd call a profitable experience, it was a pleasant one overall.  I liked the way my table turned out, not too cluttered or fussy and nice and bright.  The risers and hanging rack for my beads strands that my friend's dad made for me was just what I wanted to maximize my little 6 foot table space.

  

Frankly, this little fluffernutter snufferpuffer was the highlight of the weekend for me...Gypsy, the lovely little Golden Retriever pup belonging to the delightful Carter Seibels Singh of Woman Shops World/the Gypsy Temple was my smushface break each day when things got slow.  Don't you just want to smoosh his little snout and kiss his forehead?

 

I had the pleasure of meeting Joan and Lana of Off Center Productions and Fred (and his very sweet wife, Debbie) of Clay River Designs among other talented ceramic and glass artists at the show.

Much to my surprise, my little porcelain trinket dishes were my biggest hit at the show!  Not only did I sell all that I had, we also sold my lovely assistant Katrina's dish that I had given her!

My fun twisty beads made their debut at the show...I have lots of goodies left so they're making their debut here before I have a chance to put them up on the website.  See anything you like?  Just send me an email or leave a comment with the items you want!  Single twisties are $4 each...

Twisty pairs are $8 a pair...

A whole batch of big focal pendants at $12 a pop...

And some new fancy porcelain poppies at $10 each!

 

The best part was coming home to this...have you ever seen such bliss basking in the sunlight?  We're scheduled for our home visit with the rescue group on Wednesday to adopt a brother for her...pretty sure it would be easier to adopt a brother of the human variety!  Cross your fingers for us that they realize that people who actually have doggie Godparents lined up are a good bet!

 

What about you...did you go to Tucson?  Do you have a different fave bead show that I should consider for next year instead?

Cold Weather, Cold Bugs

In an attempt to rejoin society today I figured that I would at least get a post up in between coughing fits... Unfortunately I'm starting off the new year with a heck of an upper respiratory bug and today is my first day out of bed since New Year's Day.

My first instinct was to blame my trip to the frosty North for feeling this crummy but I'm pretty sure it was the woman sitting next to me on my final leg of the trip who sneezed, sniffled and snuffled beside me for over 2 hours.

As usual, it was inexcusably cold in Saskatchewan upon our arrival...the upside being that the trees maintained their frosty coating for the duration of our stay.  I made my sister pull over so I could jump out of the car and trek across the street to the riverbank park to get photos of the river and bridge.

Then I got smarter and had her jump out of the car to take pictures of the trees near my grandmother's apartment while I filled some paperwork in from the comfort of a heated car seat.

At least there's that pretty blue sky most of the time...

I only had the chance to enjoy one day out when we returned back home before being zapped with this bug so I haven't yet been able to appreciate the weather now that I'm back!  I'm mostly upset that I've missed out on four full days of bead making when the clock to Tucson is ticking down so quickly.

Hopefully I can pull myself together enough today to do some glazing... at least I managed to take a shower and put some concealer on the worst of the big red splotchy blotches on my face as a public service to the Fedex guy who will be coming by today.  The truth is that if the hubster weren't expecting delivery of a computer thingy that requires a signature today I would be wearing flannel pj pants...not that the yoga pants I'm wearing instead are that much of a step up I admit.

Ok, coughing just hit me again full force so I'm going to go make another cup of something hot and tea-like... Hope you are all having a healthy start to 2013 and didn't have the misfortune of being seated next to Typhoid Mary!

Older...

Yes, I am.  Older that is, at least in comparison to last week...I had a lovely week of birthday with little gifts from the hubster each day leading up to Thursday. 

To top it all off, I saw this wonderful fold up table project from the Bubblewrapp'd blog that had been pinned (of course, where else?!) and I put in a request with my friend's dad who is a woodworker extraordinaire.  He started work on it weeks ago then they packed it in the trunk of their car for their trip here.  He put the finishing touches on it and came over while I was at work on Thursday to install it for me...just in time for a birthday reveal!

Here it is all closed up...mine is a bit deeper than the one from the Bubblewrapp'd plans, we made some tweaks to the measurements.  I may put a photo in the center of the cabinet since it looks so much like a frame.

My table is also about a foot or so longer than the original plans.  I wanted a bit more work space than the square would allow.  He also put a couple of handy little wooden arms to lock the legs in place even though we weren't really concerned about the table stability since it's on carpet.  All of the shelves are adjustable as well so I can move things to fit in sewing supplies or whatever I decide to cram in there!

Right now it's open and holding the beads that just came out of a quick firing of the little kiln this week in order to get a couple of special requests made in time for the holidays.  I really like that we decided to make the table counter height as I was standing at it to wrap gifts on Friday and it was perfect.  I also have a stool that is nice and tall and will work well to sit at the table when I'm sewing.  The best thing about it is how it folds right up and leaves space for us to squish our Aero bed in the room for guests.

The challenge will be keeping the table top clean enough that I can have it folded up most of the time!

Want one for yourself?  The plans are over at Bubblewrapp'd!  Last I saw they are even able to build one for you and ship it, but if you have a handy spouse or neighbor (or are better than me with a saw!) you could absolutely make one yourself.

Next post I'll share some of the goodies that came out of the kiln this week!

Random Running Related Ruminations...

Where is time going?  I can't believe we're already creeping up on Christmas (which means my birthday week is almost here too!) and I feel woefully unprepared.  Add on top of that the looming deadline of Tucson and a bit of an emergency trip to see family scheduled for right after Christmas and I'm feeling like a frazzled Fraggle (anyone else remember Fraggle Rock??).

If only I could run and glaze simultaneously my problems would be solved...you see I've signed up to run a half marathon in January...what was I thinking??  First, I am NOT a runner by nature...I hate/love it though...I'm miserable the first mile or two, feel ok for a mile or two, then feel exhausted for the remaining miles until I get home and my face returns to it's usual color (as opposed to beet red...which incidentally happens at other non-running random times since I'm an uncontrolled blusher).  Then I spend an agonizing 30 minutes or so using a foam roller (don't let the cushy word "foam" trick you...it's more like a rock hard piece of styrofoam) to bust up the knots in my legs.  Once all that's done I'm glad I did it.  However, the love part (even though I can't glaze and run) is that it is the ONLY and I really do mean ONLY time that my brain shuts off...I truly can't think and run...apparently I'm just focused on sustaining life and not falling on my face (did I mention I run like a Heffalump? more on that later) so tonight it let me avoid thinking about a particularly crummy conversation with a colleague that happened earlier in the day that basically involved me being told that my suggestions (the ones that are in my area of expertise and that I'm supposed to be providing as the main component of my job) were neither welcomed nor would be acted upon.  The only word I have to describe it is disheartened... By the end of my run I was too tired to feel anything other than pooped!

Tonight I wore calf compression sleeves (glorified leg warmers), full pants, a long sleeved top that zipped up the neck, gloves and a fleece ear band.  Yes, I live in Southern California...yes, I'm a transplanted Canadian...I'm not proud (and I'm highly concerned about my upcoming trip to the frosty North).

I mentally cursed the guy who ran past me in the opposite direction bounding along at twice my speed wearing shorts and a t-shirt covering more ground in one step than I do in four...see earlier comment regarding Heffalumpness...I'm not petite (5'10" to be precise with big clunky size 10 feet) and I still recall high school when someone made a comment about my tendency toward limp floppy wrists when I ran...let me tell you that I'm particularly aware of not flapping when I run now (although of course the only photo of me in a 5k was with floppy looking wrists).

My hands got too hot by mile two so I shoved my gloves in the back of my pants...ran the rest of the way home looking like the hunchbooty of Notre Dame...

All right, if you made this far I think you deserve to see some bead pics!  I finally managed to get some fun little poppies in my last firing...

And since I'm freezing my tush off, snowflakes seemed appropriate...

And it's been a while since I've made stars so a few of those made it in too...

I have a bunch of new shapes and patterns and old shapes that I haven't made in ages bisqued and just waiting for me to get them glazed so I have a busy weekend ahead!  Maybe I can even get myself coordinated enough to get another blog post up before Monday...a girl can dream...

In the meantime, cross your fingers for my attempt at something more than 8 miles this weekend...ouch!

Hibernating or Shopping?

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  Have you gone out to brave post turkey shopping crowds or been like me and just hunkered down at home?

We spent a lovely few days in Napa and Sonoma leading up to Thanksgiving, lots of rain, lots of food and a moderate bit of really good wine!

My favorite new winery stop this trip was Hop Kiln in Sonoma (get it, kiln...ceramics...ironic right?!).  The building was a very old, very cool place where hops were processed until the 1950s.  On top of the beautiful location, everything they poured was fantastic (although I'm partial to Pinot Noir and that's their specialty so the odds were ever in their favor). 

We discovered that Healdsburg is a very dog friendly town...the pupper learned that many of the shops had a bowl of biscuits and/or water right inside the door.  The result was essentially a canine directed treasure hunt around the square!

Here she is posing in front of the knitted tree cozy by the yarn shop...

We always end up at the Round Pond olive oil mill and winery when we're in the area... The colors and scenery there are gorgeous regardless of the season and it's always a wonderful and relaxing experience to visit there.

 

Other than our little road trip, I've been spending hours each day in the studio working on creating new pieces like crazy!  If you haven't noticed, I have a big 40% off bead, button and pendant sale going on over at my website if you use the code: ARTBEADS40.  I don't offer a discount like this EVER so this would be the time to jump on it! 

Go grab them while they're still available, the sale ends Monday!

Super Sneaky Sale!

In preparation for Cyber Monday I'm giving my faithful blog readers a jump on my big sale!  I'll be participating in the Love My Art Jewelry Art Bead sale on Monday the 26th (also my niece Madison's birthday!) but I thought I'd give you all a shot at things you might have had your eye on before the big day...

I've gone crazy and I'm offering 40% off all beads, buttons and pendants starting NOW! 

Use code: ARTBEADS40 when you checkout.

Here's the catch though...no made to order pieces, I'm not going to say when the sale ends but it's not going to last long, and I will not be restocking my site before Cyber Monday so if you see something you like...GRAB IT!!