Week of March 18 - 24, 2007

I decided today that I am in desperate need of a full week's vacation, where I don't have to run any errands or do any housework, no one calls from work, and I'm home alone all day. Why? So I can get some crafting done and finally have some decent pieces to post up on my Etsy shop. Its frustrating to not have any time in the evenings, look forward to the weekend, only to end up having a million other things that must be done instead over the weekend. Its a little depressing actually, since crafting is my sanity, my zen, my meditation. I have so many ideas, so many new techniques and projects I'm just itching to try, but I just can't seem to find the time. I have the supplies and equipment for three different projects piled up on the living coffee table now (my workplace of choice if there's something good on TV). I put everything out on Saturday. Did I get to touch them yet? Nope. Here's hoping I get to do some more beading this coming Sunday eh?

*Sigh*

Bead-wise, I was on a mission the other day to find silver-lined orange 10/0 seed beads. I had trouble finding them. I had every other color of the rainbow in that style except orange (I'm working on a rainbow colored piece, could you tell?). I went to the shop where I had bought all the other colors. They had silver-lined 6/0 orange seed beads, and every other color in the 10/0. Grrrr. Went home. Next day, I went to another shop. No such luck at first. But then I found them. *Heavenly music and spotlight appeared at the end the bead aisle* So that's on the agenda for this coming week/weekend, get the rainbow colored earrings started. I also picked up some neat "fruit-shaped" beads, so look for another pair of fruity earrings being added to the collection in the near future. ;D

I did finish the clasp that was giving me fits a post ago. I scrapped the idea of making something with clay. But I may dig that out in the future and see what I come up with. It has possibilities for future projects, just not this one. Instead, I ended up using to hook-and-eye style clasps. Seemed to work well. I need to get pictures. That's my motto for the year, I need to get pictures. I say it just about every post.

Today I set up a Flickr account and a My Space page. I uploaded a couple of pics to the Flickr account, but haven't added tags or any of that. Not sure what I'll do with it, Photobucket has served me well thus far, but Flickr has networking potential, and everyone seems to use it and love it, so I jumped on the bandwagon. We'll just have to see. You can feel free to visit my Flickr page, but its not much yet: Beaded Desert Does Flickr

Same goes for MySpace. Frankly, I never thought I'd bother to join. The place kind of scares me. A lot of strange people crawl around there..... But then again, it has networking potential, a lot of people use it for that, and with successful results (based on what I've read in the Etsy forums), so I'm giving it a try. I haven't really set up much there yet, created the account and filled out a few profile details (though I kept it vague): Beaded Desert's MySpace Page . I have thought about setting up a page there for our foster dogs, but I have no idea if that would help to give them more exposure or not. Be interesting to see how many friends they'd get though, wouldn't it?

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Final sewing class tonight. Last week, I cut out the patterns and the fabric, then stitched up each leg. Tonight, I get to attach the legs together, put in the elastic waistband, and sew up the hem of the pant legs. And viola! New sleep pants for me. I'm looking forward to trying more sewing. I don't always sew a perfectly straight seam, but that will come with practice. I've been looking at patterns online, mostly for tops. But I think making some simple pillow would be good practice for me too (and if I screw up, the dog will still enjoy sleeping on them). So next time you're looking for me, if I'm not in the bead aisles, I might just be hiding in the pattern books or behind the mounds of fabric at the local craft supply store. (Just one more reason for my husband to dread my going to the local craft shops.)

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Here's hoping I'll do a photo update in the next week or so. Thanks for reading and happy beading!