Bead Table Wednesday

On my bead table today is the continuation of the cab piece from the floor a few posts back.  Here is the progress I've made:

I have also added:

Smaller turquoise cabs for accent - or clasp.  Haven't decided which yet.

There is some chain, and silver, and probably LOTS of feathery fringe to be added still. 

Below is the whole kit and caboodle that I've thrown together for this piece.  It will have a peacock themed name - but it hasn't come to me yet.

And as an extra added bonus:  I made these a few weeks ago to add to my "Metal-icious" line - I absolutely LOVE the pendant - and it may have to be a keeper if it doesn't sell right away.

Happy Leap Day!
Peaceful Beading,
TTFN

Cool Moon and the Coyote

As you may have seen from the link and the profile to the right, I am 'into' metaphysics. I have worked in the field for over 10 years, but have been drawn to various spiritual paths for much longer than that. I am also an Astrologer, a Reiki healer, and a Feng Shui expert. I currently spend many part time hours holding down the fort at Coyote Wisdom, a wonderful store on the northern edge of Lansing. It's in a converted house (house stores always seem to be so cozy), so space is limited - and filled to the brim with ALL things new age, spiritual, mystical and beautiful. I also have my beads and jewelry there, and am developing a following with many of the regulars. I took my camera with me to work today, so I thought I would treat you to a tour - of my space, and of Coyote in general. (Thanks to fellow Coyote-ian James Wortz for providing the Coyote store photos.) So grab a beverage, and sit back and enjoy.... 

My "Cool" space in the bay window. 

I specialize in mystical pieces, and usually incorporate at least one type of semi precious gemstone bead into each piece I make.  The Buddha piece in this photo is done with Sodalite, which is for mental accuity, and aids in reaching spiritual enlightenment.

This shelf is based on the feminine, with the Ankh featured in several of the pieces. 

A selection of mostly semi precious beads - there is also a tray of glass for accents, and a tray of Sterling Silver beads and findings.  I have strings of beads hanging from rods in the window, as well as focal pendant beads in bone, stone, wood and glass.

THIS is the book nook.  The Astrology section of our little store.

A very small selection of the different types of semi precious stones we carry.  These are our biggest sellers, with people spending HOURS and LOTS OF CASH on stones that hold various energies and properties.  Our stone section is the best in the area, and it grows regularly.

We also carry a large selection of Essential oils, incense, candles, Tarot cards, and all types of import items from the middle East, India, Africa and other exotic places.
I would like to thank you for taking my little 'tour', and invite you to visit our store or at least - our website. 
www.coyotewisdomstore.com has a video tour on the home page of many other features of the shop.

Peaceful beading,
TTFN

Designing from the floor

People are always asking me how I do it;  how I combine colors, textures, and simply find my ideas.  And I gotta tell ya - most of the time, they find ME.   What happened this morning is a perfect example.   I just got some cool seed bead & Swarovski mixes from Fusion Beads that included not only a pretty turquoise shade, but some lime, and some deep greens as well.  So what do I put with them?  I pulled out my bag of cabs - there are probably about 50 cabs in this bag.  I pulled out some turquoise.  Ok.  Now we're forming a plan.  Then I pulled out a serpentine/pyrite cab in the lime color.  Ok.  But not floating my boat quite yet.  I went through the ENTIRE bag of cabs, looking for the perfect companions for what I knew was going to be Turquoise, Lime and Dark Green.  Finding nothing better - the serpentine/pyrite became the choice.  OR SO I THOUGHT.  I looked down, and on the floor - there it was.  The PERFECT companion for the dark green shade in the seed bead mix, a Moss Agate cab, screaming PICK ME, PICK ME!:

And THAT is how I end up designing most of the time.  I let the pieces tell me themselves when and how they want to be used, and just as with "Vintage Wynter", they tend to turn out more perfectly than when I take the time to plan ahead.  Hence the reason for the box of UFO's!  :0)
So here is the beginning of the next project.  I'm thinking of the peacock theme for this, and matched a few colors to the feathers I keep on hand:

A little more subtle shading than normally seen when designing around the peacock theme, and there really is a bit more lime (more peridot/olive) in the bags than you can see in this photo - but I kind of like it. The lime will be more of an accent than an in your face!  Just gotta wait for the glue to dry on those cabs, and then I'm off to the races!

Peaceful beading,
TTFN

 

Drumrolling, part 2

I had to resort to plan B.  The focal, the way I showed it in the previous post, just didn't hang right once I had the necklace portion created.  I was afraid of that, but was so excited that I had gotten so far that I felt I need to try various things before giving up.  Luckily, I was on a bead play date with my friend Sally the other day, and she suggested that I make them three separate pendants, (as I had originally thought) that can be changed out, depending on  your mood.  And ONE of them has a pin on the back - so it can be worn as a brooch.  I really like the simpleness of plan B better, anyway, I think.  How about you?:

This is focal piece 1, with the simple spiral rope necklace.  Each pendant bail is large enough to slide off the rope:

Here are the second two:

All in all - very happy with the result.  Hope they're a seller! 

And on a sort of related note - I LOVE the affect that the closed cover of my laptop gives to the background of my jewelry pieces.  I used to take the time to lay out fabric, or find the right size display, but I gotta tell ya - I love the contrast of the gray background. 

Now I've gotta come up with another project!  Probably bead embroidery, as my play date the other day consisted of actually showing Sally, previously just a stringer, how to bead embroider.  And wouldn't you know?  We've addicted another one!  She was so excited to learn not just bead embroidery, but peyote stitch too.  She still has to learn to attach the backing (sometimes the most boring part, I think), and also what to do about finishing the piece.  But all in all - how fun that I taught someone else one of my favorite passions?  I know that what she's going to want to focus on for our next few dates, so I better be prepared.  I may have to loan her a Sherry Serafini or Jamie Cloud Eakin book too.  Those will really push her over the addiction edge!  LOL!
Peaceful beading everyone,
TTFN

Drumroll, please

Actually, TWO drumrolls.  The first - I made it to 7700 visitors!  7702, as a matter of fact!  YAY!  I wish I had a way of knowing WHO my lucky number visitor was - it almost seems prize worthy.  
And the other drumroll - and I apologize to the readers who feel back patting and horn tooting aren't cool - because I'm patting AND tooting today!  lol!   My dream of how I wanted Vintage Wynter to be changeable, from a 3 focal piece pendant, to one single - has been realized....I honestly don't know where the ideas come from, I believe something higher than myself is involved in my creativity lately - but here is what it looks like so far:

After much thinking, and planning, and a little bit of trial and error with some box clasps (thanks, Sally!), I came up with the hook and eye idea.  I still need to add bails to the top of each - I haven't decided about whether I want a big peyote bail on them all, or if I just want to create seed bead loops.  I will be creating a simple spiral rope for the necklace, using all of the purples and the white.  Unfortunately, I had to order more of one of the purple colors, and wouldn't you know, during a week with a government holiday, putting the mail behind a day.  So this may be where I stop with this piece for another day or two.  I'm very please with how it looks so far, though...

This photo is how the center pendant will look (minus bail), when worn alone.  I really love the dangles, which help disguise the eye rings needed for the hooks. 

The only part about this necklace that didn't quite work out as I planned, is that I had originally thought about making EACH pendant so that is could be worn separately.  Having used the hooks on the side pieces, though - they don't look quite right just hangin' out there alone. 
So anyway - this is what's on my bead table this Wednesday!

Peaceful beading,

TTFN

Soooo close

Only 55 more views and I'll have had 7700 people visit my blog!  So glad you've been stopping by, and I hope many of you are returning readers.  I will probably have some more changes for the blog soon - including a link to my reopening Etsy shop!  Not sure when - so I'm not putting a time frame on it - but hopefully by mid April (before the East Lansing Public Art Gallery ART! Expo).
Vintage Wynter is coming along, for those of you that have been reading about it. That 3rd piece of the 3 piece focal is driving me MAD - but I'm not ready to give in yet. Can't remember if I posted the update with the progress of the other two pieces, so here it is:

There will be little tiny box clasps between each piece, along with large peyote bails.  They will attach to each other with the box clasps to be worn together, or remove the side pieces and wear the center leaf piece alone.  I know, right?  I can't wait to see if my vision will actually become reality as easily as my mind THINKS it will!
Peaceful beading,
TTFN

Do you Pinterest?

It seems to be the new craze right now, and it's very addictive.  I spent so long on that site this morning, I used up all of my precious quiet bead time before the dogs and hubby got up!  That's pretty bad/sad.  But it's fun - and informative, and dangerous all at the same time.  Fun to see what others - complete strangers, close friends, and even family members, like and find interesting.  Informative because of all the great IDEAS pinned - decorating, crafting, clothing - it's a wealth of information, with links back to the original sources, which will in turn have even MORE ideas.  It really is a wicked circle.  And it's dangerous, because it's made me already want to make some changes that involve buying new storage items, and I've got lots of ideas for my garden for summer.  And the recipes.  Oh, my goodness, the recipes.  We'll have extra ingredients for some scrumptious stuff on our grocery list for weeks to come!  Even my husband is a follower, and has asked me if I saw this or that, and would I make him that cookie or cake recipe.  It's give us something to talk about other than dogs and bills for a change!
Another reason to use it - it's a great marketing tool!  More and more of us that are designers, creators, and artists in one genre or another are pinning to boards that are shared and re-pinned, and re-pinned, and re-pinned again.  Talk about exposure! 
If you haven't tried it yet (I'll be surprised - it seems as though EVERYONE is Pinteresting) - here's the link.  You can browse a little bit without signing up - but it's really worth it!  http://pinterest.com
It's easy, it's free, and it's sooooooo fun!
Have a peaceful, Pinterest-ing Sunday,
TTFN

Sneek Peek

Yesterday's Bead Table Wednesday beads are becoming something quite unique - just as I suspected.  And of course,  NOTHING like what I originally envisioned.  Here is that sneek peek of where I am this morning.  Heading out for my yearly optical check up, though, and because they will be dilating these baby blues, I may not get back to this until later this evening. 

The name that came to me for what I had together yesterday was "Wynter's Path".  However - the pearls have given it a much more vintage look than I had expected, so it is now "Vintage Wynter".  I have two more sections to add to the main focal, sort of a bib affect, I THINK.  I am also considering working some thin silver chain into the actual embroidery too.  Once again - totally different than I envisioned.  That may have to be ANOTHER piece!
Have a peaceful, beady Thursday, everyone
TTFN

UFO's (No, not THAT kind of UFO) & Bead Table Wednesday

I have a HUGE basket of UFO's that I've been gathering pieces and parts for, yet the NEW ideas just keep on coming, and THOSE are the ones that seem to feed my creativity lately.  So instead of choosing from the UFO's - I put this all together this morning, just in time for Bead Table Wednesday.  The idea and design came from my favorite soap opera, The Young and The Restless.  Their stylists have been doing a great job lately of putting some unique pieces on a couple of the actresses - and the seeds of this piece - which has already named itself "Wynter's Path" came from a piece Genie Francis' character was wearing.  So I grabbed my sketch pad, and took note of the general design - very 'bib' like, which is very popular right now.  I'm sure that mine will look NOTHING like the piece being worn, (hers was in much darker colors, for one thing), but I love how it helped give birth to MY idea - which will, in turn, be unique.
Here's what has been gathered together to begin "Wynter's Path":

I'm thinking some Russian Leaves, and definitely some bead embroidery.  This one probably won't come together in a day or two like "Harlequin" did - plus I've got to stop and do actual non-bead THINGS this week (horrors!), but I'm liking what I have scetched and planned so far.  Keep in mind, though, that even though I sketch things out sometimes, they still go off in their own direction more often than not.
Enjoy - peaceful beading,
TTFN

Unexpected surprises

This is why occasional organization and cleaning of the studio space is a good thing.  The beginnings of this piece were put together almost immediately upon receiving the beautiful flat matte rock from a friend that had recently found it on the Maine shoreline.  I had those great matte black and white agate, and thought they'd go great together.  Into the 'not quite ready for bead time' drawer they went.  And were finally salvaged on Saturday.  Along with a plan - finally.  So out it stayed and I began working on it immediately.  THIS is Harlequin:

I hadn't planned to make it quite so detailed - sometimes black and white deserves a simple design.  But general consensus when posting the preview on Facebook was to - and I quote Dot Lewallen: "Fringe and more fringe".  Even my mother agreed.  So fringe I did.  And I'm glad.
I also just received word from my friend in New York state for whom I made the wonderful "Jewels of the Nile" necklace, bracelet and earrings.  She's coming into to town this weekend, and will plan to retrieve her lovely jewels then.  YAY!  I'll hate to see it go, but can't wait for her to wear it, and I hope she truly enjoys them.  I'll always have Holly's beautiful photos to remind me of it too:

Another free day tomorrow before continuing my busy week, ending with a fun birthday party for my 9 and 7 year old great-nieces - I'm planning to create little beading monsters by gifting them with bead boards, tools and fun colorful beads!  More competition in the family!  lol!
Peaceful beading,
TTFN

More change

As a person that went to school for interior design, you would think I would appreciate change in my interior design more.  lol.  But it seems that in my old age, status quo is comfortable.  Change throws a monkey wrench into things.  So imagine my surprise that along with all the design ideas rattling around in my brain lately, came the idea of how I needed to change my studio space.  Which meant cleaning off and moving not one, but TWO, cases full of stuff.  I wish I had a before pic - in fact I thought I had one somewhere, so I didn't take one.  Can't find it though, I'm assuming it's lost somewhere in the 'tween of the old laptop to new laptop transfer.  But anyway....here is the after.  Ah.  Much better.  Doors that close to not only hide some of clutter (mostly display boards and trays), but also to protect some of the jewelry pieces from light, dust and dog hair. 

Basically, the blond cabinet with doors is what I added, and removed the open book shelf that was standing there. ( I switched spaces with them - the bookshelf now has it's home in the dark of the hallway. ) And you can't see it very well in this photo, but the matching shelving unit to the blond cabinet is on the far end of my desk, holding all the trays of seed beads ~ color coded, of course.  This feels better, and gives more room behind me - it was gettin' hard to roll around back there!  I would still like to add a shelf to the wall in front of the desk, but am happy with what I've done.  For now.  It all really started with the thought that, come November, when I participate in the Holidays in Holt craft show, that there could be literally 100's of people passing through my house - so I need as much under cover as possible, not just to make it look nicer, but for safety too.  I know, November is a loooooong way away, but with the show schedule quickly coming, and the HOPE of having much free veranda lounging time this summer, the sooner I get that one thing out of the way, the better.
Well, back to the bead table for my last day of beading freedom.  I've completed several pair of earrings, the black and white cab piece I posted on Facebook, and completed the layout on the design board of how the strap will look for that piece as well.  Consensus says I need to fringe it - so I'll be working on completing that task soon, too.  My schedule next week is pretty crazy (and MORNING crazy, too, silly me), so it may not get done as quickly as I hope!
Peaceful SUN-day beading (and it is a sunny day, too)
TTFN

Bead Table Wednesday - PLUS!

Here's what WAS on my bead table this morning - I've since finished the pair of earrings, and am ready to begin another. 
I also completed another pair of earrings in what is my "Metal-icious" series of jewelry - I've completed two pair of earrings, and a pendant.  I may do a chunky bracelet with all the metallics, just to complete the series - but honestly, the trends seem to have changed from bracelets to big earrings, and I have not sold a bracelet other than a special order in a good long while.  So I have TONS.  They are the quickest thing to make, and the also the quickest and most economical to TEACH.  No wonder I wear 3 or 4 on my wrist everyday - I would never get to some of them if I wore them one at a time!  lol!



These are the round ones.  See the photo below for the oval version...

Looking forward to a pretty much bead filled five days ahead.  I have several things I would love to go out and do, but alas, I have no gas, nor cash FOR gas, until Friday.  So what a great excuse to just sit and bead!
I did, however, take the time to do some blog hopping today.  And came across a thread on Beading Daily about how we beaders should blog to reach the right audience.  Apparently one of the thead posters finds fault with those of us that put NON-Bead issues on our blogs.  But you know what?  I think a nice mix of beads and real life issues makes for a more interesting blog.  Truthfully, I get bored with the daily, clockwork postings of  'what I created today' and nothing else.  I find myself checking BACK to the blogs of fellow bloggers that post PET issues, especially.  I also enjoy blogs about home remodeling projects, and how those things impact their beading lives.  I post what I did today every day only IF I am truly excited about a piece, but more often, I post every few days, with rants and 'babble' (hence the name of my blog), here and there as well.  At least I'm blogging!   I HATE going to a blog that belongs to a somewhat notable designer, someone who's name is in the bead news alot, only to discover that they haven't even updated their blog since AUGUST of LAST YEAR!  Now maybe they started a new blog, or have a legitimate reason for stopping, so sorry if I offend you with that remark.   I had even given it up myself for awhile last year, so I probably shouldn't be speaking ill of the blog challenged.  But I realized that I missed it.  I missed the outlet it gave me creatively.  AND I decided that NO blog equals NO news, and that anyone coming across MY NAME (and isn't that what internet networking is about?) deserves to have at least CURRENT babble. 
There.  I've been ranting on and on this year, and it's liable to get worse.  Just so ya know....and I know I'm at least getting visitors to the blog - the number on the counter grows every day!  You may not comment - but at least you are here!  yay!
So whether it be beading, reading, weaving, or creating in general - let it be peaceful....
TTFN



Gallery Days

Time to toot some horns!  Getting excited, and already planning my table layout for the Art Expo! at The East Lansing Public Art Gallery.  I'd planned to link you to a website for details about this wonderful facility, but can't find an exact link.  If you'd like, you can go to www.cityofeastlansing.com and look for arts and recreation info. 
Anyway - many of you may not know that I was featured for an entire month as an artist/exhibitor a few years back, and had a wonderful experience.  The facility is beautiful, and the director is, well, to put in mildly, very enthusiastic about 'her' artists.  She does a wonderful job of marketing, and makes sure each of us has ample media coverage.  This Art Expo! (just the exclamation point gives you a clue about her enthusiasm) is her brainchild, and is open to each of us that have exhibited there in the past, as well as any other art worthy individuals that we believe would fit into the mix.  I put one of my fellow artists in touch with her, and she'll be included that day too!  It's even more fun to do these types of shows when you know other vendors that are participating!
Here are a few of the photos from the exhibit I did in May of 2009 - The Beaded Garden.  The main focus of the entire exhibit was nature and flowers, my specialty:

If you've ever wondered how you could do an exhibit like this, where gallery patrons are constantly passing through to view the work, sometimes without gallery personnel, shadowboxes, the kind that open in the back, like a photo frame, are perfect.  I also had access to TWO beautiful boxed in display windows that could be viewed from two sides of the gallery. 
I'll post more info about the details of the event as time draws nearer.  Can't wait!
Off to start my busy day.  My 'book club' girls and I (there are 3 of us.  Does 3 constitute a club? lol) just finished "Water for Elephants", and decided to have a movie day this time - and watch the movie.  We've got a specialty popcorn store just down the road from our meeting space, so Sandy's bringing the movie, and I'm going to stop and get some special popcorn.  D'Onna is providing us with the office space/big screen TV.   Should be fun!  Roll 'em, Ferndock!
Peaceful beading,
TTFN

Another day, another rant

Seriously.  Wish I had more happy bead stuff to blog about, but life just hasn't been treating me to the warm fuzzies of the bead world lately.
Today's rant is twofold - and does somewhat involve jewelry.  But I digress.  Firstly - have parents STOPPED teaching their children how to be respectful and responsible when it comes to other people's time?  Honestly, today was the THIRD Monday that I am in the middle of turning off lights to close at 4 (which it clearly states on the front door), that the SAME young man, probably high school grad/college freshman, has come in to browse, and purchase stones.  If you've never been to Coyote or to their website, that's not something that is quick.  We have HUNDREDS of different kinds of semi precious stones, each having it's own little container with a little description card of properties and energies.  It's what we're known for.  So when he came in AGAIN, just a few minutes before 4, and just started browsing, and then decides at 4 oclock to ask "am I keeping you?" - I wanted to scream at him.  Every week he has done this for last three times I've worked on Monday.  And I've told him every time that we close at 4.  Oblivious.  I am always thoughtful and respectful of closing times for stores.  I've never expected anyone to stay open late for me.  If I do happen to be in a store that is getting ready to close for the night, I hurry, and choose my purchases so that they can continue with their lives. That's how I WAS RAISED.   But it just seems like in the last decade or so - no respect.  No responsibility in that regard.  They just don't care about anyone but themselves.  And it's sad.   Makes me want to slap their parents, actually......
And then their was my FIRST customer of the day.  She came in planning to purchase one of our large salt lamps that are on sale for 35% off.  Everything was great until she found out that even with the sale discount, the price was still over $150.00.  Yeah, lady, that's a big rock.  What did you expect?  FREE?  So I had to void the purchase and plug it back in.  I'm really glad it was too heavy for me to lift and was at least still on display.  THEN, after all that, she decided she would get one of my jewelry pieces.   Yeeee-ha.  Wait. Not so fast.  I had her try it on first, having just explained to her that it had been redesigned since the last time she saw it, with another customer in mind.  That other customer did not commit to purchase it after that, so I was putting it back on display in it's new incarnation.  She tried it on, and sure enough.....she wanted it back the way it was the FIRST time.  Sorry.  Not going to happen.  First of all,  freeform beading is just that.  I rarely know how I do things from one time to the next, let alone be able to change it back again exactly the same.  So she wasn't happy about that either.  Couldn't win with the customers today.
Hoping to do some beading tonight - maybe I can please someone else with what I create.
Peaceful beading, as time permits, 
TTFN

Competition

Decided to surf the Etsy listings this morning, just to see what is being put out there right now.  I'm still contemplating opening my shop again, and want to get a feel for the current competition.  And then I found this:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/87066056/bridesmaid-giftsbead-necklacebeaded?ref=sr_gallery_1&sref=&ga_search_submit=&ga_search_query=beaded+jewelry&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_ship_to=ZZ&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_page=2&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_facet=handmade&show_panel=true

THIS is why it is so hard to compete in the beaded jewelry world.  If I make this necklace, with the materials that this person lists (from China) and put the time into it that I believe is only right to be paid for, it is going to be significantly MORE than the $19.00 list price they have on it.  That's right.  $19.00.
I don't even think I could buy quality Turquoise for that amount.  Let alone wire or sew all the flowers together and create a NICE, QUALITY piece of jewelry.  And that is probably what it comes down to.  Although I can't state for a fact that this is shoddy work (can't tell what the back or closure looks like), my guess is it isn't first rate.  And we already know that items coming from China are made by laborers who are paid very little. 
Not sure there's anything I, or any of us can do but shake our heads, and continue to try and create what we KNOW is quality work, with the higher price tag - BECAUSE IT'S WORTH IT. 
Beaders unite!  Be confident in what you do, and price your work accordingly.  I'm stickin' to my guns.  I hope you do too.
Peaceful beading,
TTFN

Tough Decisions

I've been debating on whether I wanted to blog about this, but I really need to vent again, so here goes.  All this week, I have been serving on the jury of a criminal trial in court in downtown Lansing.  There were actually two related crimes involved - criminal sexual conduct 3rd and criminal sexual conduct 4th.  Basically a rape trial.  It really was very stressful to have to sit and listen to all the witnesses, see and hear all of the personal and way too intimate details, and watch the victim break down on the stand, and not be able to react. I am a very emotional being.  But I gotta tell ya -  DNA really does say it all.  If you would have asked me yesterday to find a verdict on this with all the other so called evidence, and didn't even HAVE DNA?   He would have walked.  He would have been free to think he got away with something.  But DNA had him.  In fact, it had him so completely and confidently that we wondered why we were there.  It seems like he would have changed his story (basically a he said/she said from almost FIVE years ago), knowing that it proved so convincingly that he did it.  Ultimately, it all came down to today's expert witness with her chart and her confidence.  It didn't take us long at all once we arrived in our room - most of us had our minds set on the verdicts of each count after the DNA testimony and the KILLER closing by the prosecutor.  He may be new, but he nailed it.  There were only THREE of the 12 that had to be convinced otherwise, and with the help of the copious notes taken by two of the jurors, as well as the presence of a scientist with a PHD in a related field ON our jury, it didn't take us long to come to a unanimous conclusion.  To add to my stress - they appointed ME foreperson.  The one who had to do the leading in the room, and the one that had to read the verdicts out loud in the courtroom.  One of each:  not guilty on the lesser charge, and sadly, but truthfully, guilty of the rape charge.  It was very hard and we talked about it a long time after we decided to be sure we were all REALLY sure.  They are both so young.  They were just barely 18 when they both made stupid decisions, and now he will have to pay for that decision for 15 to 20 years.  Of which he will probably serve about 1/3.  But her life has been forever changed by the unfortunate incident, too, and she deserves some peace, that I hope she will get, from the verdict.    I never experienced the college dorm thing, nor have very many of my family members.  We lived close enough to campus that my brothers commuted. I just did a semester at Lansing Community College.  I'm sure that being able to be out on your own for the first time and make your own decisions is exciting, so I just hope that I can appeal to any college students that may read this, or even their friends or family members, PARENTS - underage drinking and parties in the dorms are NOT a good idea.  It can lead to so many problems, and in this case, a choice that is going to change both of their lives forever.  So sad.  He's just 21.  She's in her early 20's too.  Babies.  He's going to prison.  Not just JAIL.  PRISON.   So sad.  It was hard to read that verdict, and even though we were led immediately back to our jury room afterward, we heard screaming and crying coming from the courtroom.  We could only guess that it was the release of stress and accusations between the two families, culminating after all this time.  The judge on the case came back to talk to us for awhile, and was very sad, too, that the decision (the right decision in his mind, too) had to be made.  A few of the jurors had teenagers themselves that are probably right this minute getting HUGE lectures from their parents about dorms, and drinking and decisions they make. 
So there's my vent.  My rant.  I just had to get this off my chest after, of course, needing to stay silent for the past week.  I hope I don't have to do that again.....EVER. 
Back to the bead table - which will take the stress away.....
TTFN

Bead Table Wednesday!

Finally!  I haven't been able to participate in Bead Table Wednesday for AGES!  Now I've got a new laptop, and a new year, and even a new month - so what better time to show you the next new project -Desert Treasures:

I don't work with earthtones very often - they usually tend to run purple-r and brighter, but this focal, I believe it's one of the million of kinds of Jasper, caught my eye the last time I was at Bead Haven in Frankenmuth - it's rough rather than polished, and is center drilled.  I added an eye pin with bone and jasper drop to the bottom already.  The plan is for another asymmetrical affect - I just can't seem to get away from those these days.  I have lots of 'treasures' to add to the piece, I'm hoping to continue working on it this afternoon.  The clasp still has me stumped - I may have to do a peyote tube and ring toggle.....
I finished this piece this morning as well: 

Break of Day, which is made up of lots of Labradorite and Swarovski crystal.  The focal is especially beautiful, purchased on the same shopping trip as the above Jasper focal.  I like this one a lot, so it may be a keeper (I'm surprised I have a big enough space to hold all of my "keepers"!)
I also have a few unique Valentine themed pieces to work on, though, as well as preparing "To the Trees" in it's newest formation to take back to the gallery tomorrow. 
What's on YOUR bead table this week?  If you aren't a member, go check it out!  There are over 250 members, and most of us post photos of our messy spaces and new projects or bead loot on a weekly basis.  Just another fun way to stay involved in the bead world....
www.flickr.com, and the name of the group is Bead Table Wednesday! 
Peaceful beading,
TTFN