Grandma Weekends

I love being Grandma; it is so much more than I ever could have imagined!  The little guy and I went out barefoot after a rain this weekend and splashed in puddles.  When we went back in the house, I noticed the little trail of footprints we were leaving and grabbed my camera to go back out and snap this photo.  It makes my heart happy.  

So does this:

And this:

I will confess that I don't get much macrame done when he's around.  I can't imagine the mayhem he would unleash with cord and beads.  Then again, who wants to play with that stuff when you could be playing with him.  After he went home yesterday, I did manage to get a necklace made.  It's not as cute as him, but I'm going to show it to you anyway:

I've been messing with that new knotting pattern that sort of reminds me of ivy.  For this necklace, I added a ceramic pendant and matching beads that I picked up in a little shop up in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado.  I also put in a couple of glass beads in a minty green that seemed to make the perfect transition between the brown ceramic and the soft knot work.

Tomorrow I have to go back to work, and even though it will be Tuesday, it will feel like a Monday.  *sigh*  We are unimpressed.

If At First You Don't Succeed

If you are looking for my Bead Soup Blog Party post, click here.  Otherwise, read on to see what's new with me.

I've been messing around for some time now, trying to come up with a vine design.  My first attempts were not pretty.

Yes, I know, they weren't green, either, but that's beside the point.  I almost had something a couple of times.  I was so close, but it just wasn't right.  And there were more attempts I didn't stop to photograph.  The stench of failure was in the air.  But today, I took another stab at it:

It may not look like much, but after I picked out the good bits, I finally hit on a design I like!  And not only that, but I came up with a couple other ideas I will have to experiment with later.  For now, I'm going to revel.

I shall rejoice in my triumph and I shall vine.  It takes so little to make me happy!

It's PARTY Time! Bead Soup Blog Party 8 Reveal

It's finally here - the big reveal for Lori Anderson's 8th Bead Soup Blog Party!!  This is an event jewelry makers like myself anxiously await all year.  It's like the Thanksgiving of handcrafted jewelry where you can gorge on images of beautiful pieces until you can't stand it anymore.  It's like mardi gras and New Year's rolled into one.  Can you tell I'm excited?  If you're not familiar with the concept (Bead Soup Blog Party, not parties in general), it's pretty simple:  our hostess-with-the-mostess, Lori Anderson, assigns partners from the massive list of participants; the pairs exchange "bead soup" consisting of a focal, clasp and a few coordinating beads; each designer makes something using at least the focal and clasp (they don't have to be used in the same piece); and then we have a party!  This is where you get to see all the amazing things everyone has made.  

This year I was paired with Marianna Boylan of Star Girl Jewelry & Lampwork Glass Designs.  I did this blog post all about her, in case you missed it.  She sent this gorgeous "soup" for me:

Marianna made the lampwork bead and that photo doesn't really do it justice.  I'll give you a closer look:

Isn't it beautiful!?!  I really wanted to use it in my piece this year and I think I just tried too hard.  I had an idea in my head and I just couldn't get it to translate into reality.  I spent hours on it and it just didn't do justice to that focal.  Lori did a blog post about the time I was struggling with it called Don't Be Afraid of the Do-Over, do I decided to take her advice.  I thought I would try my luck with the other focal Marianna sent, the ceramic mermaid pendant by Gaea, so I pulled out some cord and beads and came up with a palette.  

And this happened.

My mermaid goddess.  I'm really excited about this piece.  I messed with a few different design elements and I think the piece has flow and movement.

All the flow and all the movement brings the eye back to the star of the show, the mermaid pendant.

Want to see more?  You can check out my reveals for the 6th Bead Soup Blog Party and the 7th Bead Soup Blog Party or you can hop over to Lori's Bead Soup Blog Party page where she has the entire list (almost 500 participants!) of blogs to visit.  I don't know about you, but I plan on visiting every one of them.  It might take me a few days, but I'll get there!  Happy Hopping!

Riding the Waves, Swept Along in the Tides

I'm trying really hard to go with the flow; trying my darnedest to relax and enjoy life and let it happen.  Today is my daughter's very last day of high school.  It doesn't seem possible.  I swear it was just a few months ago that she was heading off to her first day of kindergarten!  

 

I couldn't figure out why I've been so exhausted lately and then it dawned on me:  I've been trying to keep up with her!  She plays tennis, so I try to go to all her matches.

 

 

She just finished up with Speech and Debate a month ago and dove right into the spring play.

Then this past weekend she went to Prom.  I baked and decorated a cake so they could have an elegant dessert for their pre-Prom dinner, and took her to get her hair done and helped her get ready.  After helping with the dinner, I had to go to the grocery store again and get ready for the second wave - I served breakfast for her and her friends at four in the morning!  She had such a good time, though, that it was all worth it.  And she looked so beautiful!

And if all that isn't enough, this coming weekend is graduation.  I'm too old for all this excitement!  And I'm tired :)

I haven't had time to do very much with my jewelry lately and that's a bad thing.  Micro macrame is how I relax and I feel so much better when I get a little "me time" in.  So after I served breakfast (and took a little nap - don't tell on me), I spent the afternoon doing this:

Ahhhhh..... it's like a trip to the beach.  Soft sand under my toes, sparkling teal waters...  It's my happy place.  Nothing to do but relax and sip my margarita.  A girl can dream.