Quick Update!

I was kidnapped by the yarn pixies a few weeks back. But I managed to escape last week, when I finally finished that darn purple wash cloth. Man, am I slow knitter.

Received my "economic stimulus check" and plan to use it soon to help stimulate the bead suppliers economy. Just have to put the order in. Will post about some of my goodies when they arrive.

Came down with a nasty case of food poisoning last week. Whatever you do, do NOT get food poisoning. I don't ever want to be that sick again. I went into the ER Thursday afternoon, was admitted to the hospital late that night and spent the next day and a half there. Ugh. Worse, I was too sick to bead or craft in any way, so I couldn't even take advantage of the time. I spent it staring at a limited number of television channels in between listening to the woman down the hall pray to various religious figures while yelling for a nurse. It was a restful weekend. :P

Really, photos and content of interest are on the horizon.

Thanks for reading, and happy beading!

Non-Bead Content: Bowl-a-rama Fundraiser!

As you may have read in earlier posts, I volunteer with a local euthanasia-list dog and cat rescue organization called RESCUE.

Right now we are in the final weeks of one of our biggest fundraisers of the year, Bowl-a-rama. We have a goal of $45,000, and right now, we're just shy of $20,000. I have a personal goal of $1500, but so far, I am no where near that. But you can help us out by logging onto our website and making a secure and tax deductible donation today!

You can read more about the event over on my dog blog: http://azdogsofourlives.blogspot.com/

Thanks for reading, now get back to beading!!

What I've Been Up to Lately!

Time for a little photo update of what I've been working on. No shots of the chain maille yet, they're so darn flashy that I'm having trouble getting good shots. ;D But they'll get a post of their own soon.

I've been dabbling in some writing lately, and its been a nice creative break. I've also gotten back into knitting, working on a lovely purple washcloth. And I started the first square of a large crocheted afghan, but crochet tends to bother my shoulder, so it may take me all year to finish that.

As for beading, I'm working on a European 4 in 1 bracelet (its like butta' on the skin), but I have to work in bits, as my tools are not really meant for extended working. I'm going to ordering some quality ergonomic chain nose pliers soon (waiting that economic stimulus check), and then I'll be able to finish up that pieces.

Here is a shot of some earrings I designed for a bead swap on Swap-Bot. I call them

"Cloudy Days":


Cloudy Days by A. Letendre is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at http://www.blogger.com/www.beadeddesert.blogspot.com.

The theme for the swap was "April Showers." I used three colors of 11/0 seed beads and a 3mm faceted bead (glass or plastic? not sure) in a coordinating color. The stitch I used was two-drop peyote stitch. The pattern is my own design. Interested in the chart for it? Email me at beaded desert (all one word) at YaHoo (dot) com and I'd be happy to send it to you, as part of the Creative Commons License.


Here are some more earrings I made for recent beading swaps:

I've have played with PMC but I haven't been able to take any shots of those. Mostly just little charms. Unfortunately, its getting too hot to be firing pieces outside with my torch. I'm hoping to order a kiln (when I order the tools), but until then, I won't be working with PMC for a while.


Wire seems to be big for me this year though. Here are a few rings I made earlier this year:

The one with the pink beads is a mosaic ring. It's two rings with beads woven between them to create a wide band. It's very uncomfortable to wear. ;D

And last but not least, here is a wire brooch I made for a swap. It has a South West theme to it:

Well, that's all for now. Hopefully I'll be able to get some decent photos of the chain maille pieces and the PMC charms soon.

Thanks for reading and happy beading!

Photo Update Coming Soon!

Yesterday, I was going to take pictures of all that I've been working on. I turned on the camera only to find the memory card was not in there. I'm hunting. I hope to find it when I clean up my worktable today, that's likely where it is (since its a mess....that I cleaned up on Friday morning....but looks worse today than it did then.....). But I promise, photo update is coming soon, and maybe even a post of some interest and substance. ;P

Thanks for reading and happy beading!

Phoenix Bead Expo!!

Next weekend is the Phoenix Bead Expo! Its being held at the Phoenix Convention Center. Friday hours are 11am-6pm; Saturday hours are 10am-6pm and Sunday hours are 11am-5pm.

So grab your checkbook and your credit cards, and go nuts!


I'll be taking two classes at the Expo on Saturday. Both are simple chain maille bracelets. Chain maille is one of those things I just can't seem to figure out. I think my main problem is that I don't have jump rings of the proper size and gauge (and I'm not even sure what the gauge is on most of the jump rings I have...). So I'm hoping that taking a class, and actually have someone show me and step me through it, then I'll know if I like it and if its something I want to do more of.

There are still openings in many of the classes and you can register on-site for the classes. So, if you're in the Phoenix area, you should check it out. Look for me in the Bead Bazaar. I'll be the lady with that crazed-for-beads look in her eyes and an empty wallet. Oh wait, that will be all of us at the expo.....



On a side note, I've been busy since January and have not had a chance to post over here. January was spent cleaning the house in my spare time in preparation for family coming in February. February brought company and horrible nasty cases of the flu (I'm sure you all experience the Plague that was going around earlier this year). In March, I actually was able to start making things again. I've been working on a few things and I plan to take some pictures this weekend. Hopefully I'll get to post them all soon.

Until then, thanks for reading and happy beading!

2008 Crafty Resolutions!

Its that time of year again, time for those pesky resolutions. But I'm not talking about losing weight/stopping bad habits/starting good habits types of resolutions. No, those are just way to hard to keep. I'm talking about the truly important resolutions - Crafty Resolutions!

Anyone who reads my blog (all what, 4 of you? ;D) has probably read about my crafty resolutions for 2007 and know that I didn't do so well. But that's okay, I'm cool with that. It has helped me to come up with a better list of goals for 2008. I've learned I must be a bit more vague about my goals, less pressure to actually complete something tangible that way. ;P That and I'm only going to list the beading/jewelry making resolutions here. If you want to read some of my other crafty resolutions, go and check out my Crafting Under a Cactus blog (link is off to the right there).

So, here they are, in no particular order. Drum roll please!

Beaded Desert's Beading/Jewelry Making Resolutions for 2008

• Experiment with PMC and make one small item
• Spiral rope using one of those great lampwork focal beads I bought off Etsy
• Experiment with wire rings
• Learn one complex beading stitch (tubular peyote, herringbone, weaves, etc)
• Complete one piece using the stitch above
• Complete one bead crochet piece (now that I know how to do this)
• Experiment with resin
• Experiment more with metals (cold connections/soldering, actually finishing something...)
• Buy more delicas!! (that one shouldn't be too hard, eh?)
• Experiment more with wire pieces
• Get a total of 10 pieces listed on my Etsy site by the end of the year
• Work on a holiday line beginning in August

See, most are pretty vague, lots of experimenting I want to do without the pressure to actually complete a whole piece. We'll see how I do.

Thanks for reading and happy beading!

A Look Back: Crafty Resolutions for 2007

Well, 2007 is finally winding down. Where the heck did the year go?! I'm still trying to find August frankly (I think its in the closet, behind the fabric bin...). I can hardly believe that December will be ending in just a few days. Can I have a do-over?

I decided that I'd better take stock of my year and what all I managed to accomplish. This meant looking back on that list of Crafty Resolutions I made at the beginning of the year and seeing how I did. Let's take a look together, shall we?

Crafty Resolutions for 2007:

• Complete one amulet bag. NOPE
• Learn tubular peyote stitch and complete one piece. NOPE
• Learn Ndebele/herringbone stitch and complete one project. NOPE
• Complete two complex Eni Oken tutorials (cuff, necklace) and then complete my own variations on her technique. NOPE (not off to a very good start, am I?
• Buy kit/supplies for PMC and complete two pieces. YEP/NOPE (bought everything, haven't done more than pull it all out of the box and oogle it every now and again...but I did receive a PMC book with DVD for Christmas this year, so we'll see what 2008 holds)
• Complete one new metal jewelry piece (cold connection or soldered). NOPE
• Take "Solder 101" class from Metal's Edge Studio. YEP
• Learn basic crochet. YEP (that's what I was doing when I pinched a nerve...)
• Learn to crochet using beads and wire. YEP (with beads)/NOPE (with wire)
• Paint "Zoo" sign letters and Coca-Cola tray. NOPE
• Woodburing: complete two simple projects such as wall plaques or a trinket box. NOPE
• Learn to sew using the sewing machine. YEP
• Learn Byzantine weave and at least one other chain maille weave. NOPE
• Sell 5 items (not for charity or to family). YEP (actually, I sold a few more than 5 even)
• Have a small in-home show by August. NOPE
• Learn to use all the Knifty Knitter looms I have bought in 2006. YEP (though I haven't really made anything, just played with each one)
• Master some complex macrame knotting (micro macrame) and complete one project. NOPE (instead, I admired KnotGypsy's work)
• Post to Blog at least once every week (and get the links set up, add more pictures, etc). um, NOPE

I don't know about you, but I'm seeing way more red up there than blue (11 NOPE's, 5 YEP's, and 2 YEP/NOPE's). But that's okay. I may not have accomplished all my crafty goals for the year, but I did manage to lose 30lbs this year, and that wasn't even a resolution!! ;D (Not that that last part has anything to do with beading or crafting, I'm just very proud and had to share with the few readers I have.) But, this is not something I'm going to beat myself up over. Its been a good gauge of how I work (or don't, as the case may be). Oh, and I blame most of the lack on Swap-Bot, I keep finding new crafts to try there. Shame on Swap-Bot for taking me away from my beadwork. Bad Swap-Bot, no cookie.

I'll be thinking of new resolutions for 2008 (and trust me, it will be a much shorter list) and will post them sometime after the New Year. If you are working on a list of beading or crafting resolutions for your blog, leave us a link in the comments.

Thanks for reading and happy beading! (Hopefully, I'll be back to beading myself soon).

Out of Commission for a Bit

I haven't posted in weeks, but I have a good excuse. I haven't really been working on anything, and that includes writing. I pinched a nerve in my right shoulder in mid-November. This meant resting it, avoiding activities that involve repetitive motion, downing anti-inflammatory drugs, and getting to know my ice packs and heating pad better than I ever wanted to. As fellow crafters I'm sure you know how that went. I was attempting to do things within days of the initial pain. Yes, I'm an idiot who doesn't know how to slow down and listen to my body when its trying to tell me something. So as a result, I'm still trying to rest and therefore not creating much. Its been like being someone with a major addiction to a substance, who suddenly decides to quit cold-turkey. Oh wait, I am someone addicted to a substance (a substance that includes beads, wire, paper, pens, scissors, glue, and weekly visits to craft supply shops)......

So I decided I'd pop in, leave a message to let everyone know I didn't fall off the face of the earth or become buried in an avalanche of yarn, fabric and beads. I've alive and well, and still trying to force myself to just rest. I am getting caught up on a lot of reading though, so I guess its not all bad.

Hope you all have a lovely holiday season. I'm looking forward to the new year and new projects and techniques to try. And I hope to be able to post about a look back at the crafting resolutions I made at the start of this year, see how I've done, and then make new crafting resolutions for 2008.

Thanks for reading and happy beading! (Bead one for me, won't you?)

What Have I Been Working On Lately?

Not as much as I would like. We rearranged some parts of the house last month and its a good thing. I can now actually use my work table and I can actually find stuff for the most part now. But things still have a ways to go as far as organizing everything. I'll get to that in a bit. Needless to say, I haven't gotten a whole lot of bead work done lately. But I did get a new pair of earrings made and posted to my Etsy shop. I call them my "Orange you Glad to See Me" earrings.

They're very light and fairly small. You can see in the picture below just how small they are (pardon how blurry and overexposed it is, I stink at taking pictures):

They were very easy to make and took no time at all. In fact, in less than an hour I'd made three or four pairs (I sent some out for some earring swaps).

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Swap time!

I promised in a previous post that I'd post a link to my next earring swap so here it is: Autumn Earring Swap. The idea is to make earrings that reflect the Autumn season. They can be made of any media and its up to you to interpret the theme. I have 12 participants already, which is a nice number. But I certainly wouldn't mind if a few more folks signed up. You have until September 28th to sign up. After that date, sign up will close and partners will be assigned. Then you have until October 22nd to make and mail your earrings to your partners.

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Getting Organized! (Again...)

Now, I mentioned we're reorganizing and rearranging some areas of the house. Part of that involves my craft and beading supplies. Yikes. I have discovered that I need to respect the Stash and to make my peace with it. But that doesn't mean I shall let it take over my life (or my spare bedroom). So part of this overhaul, besides finding a home for everything, will be to go through all my stuff and reevaluate what I need and don't need.

Here's a before shot of my worktable (before we rearranged rooms):

The bookshelves that you can just see on the left, along with the ones you can't see to the right, were all moved out of the room. We organized and purged my giant book collection (man, do I have a lot of books), found new homes for some of our sports memorabilia and our knick-knacks, and decided that a few of our bookshelves had served their purpose and could now move on with their lives and bring joy and book holding to someone else (ie. we're taking them to Goodwill later this month).

The work table was moved over to the left and on the right is where we moved our beast of a desk. Here's a shot of the new work table area (pardon the mess, works-in-progress and things I'm still finding a home for):

To the right of the table is a tall book shelf that holds a stereo (so I can bead to groovin' tunes), some baseball memorabilia, my beading books and magazines, my ATC binder and some other goodies that still need to find a permanent home. To the left of the table, on the floor, are all my tackle boxes that serve as bead boxes. Then to the left of that is the closet. The floor of the closet holds my two plastic rolling drawer carts and a number of plastic bins (now labeled, yay me) for my knitting/crochet supplies, paper embellishments and ephemera, and my fabric stash and sewing stuff. Still needs work, but that will be another post.

Do you need a little help getting your stash (or stashes) organized? Do you need some ideas on just how to get started? Well, do I have the site for you!

I recently found the Organizing Junkie, via the Material Mama podcast. The Organizing Junkie has a wonderful blog chock full of great tips for organizing, containerizing, and keeping your sanity amongst the clutter while you learn to take control of it all. She has written up some great entries, gives you additional resources to check out and she's also organized her "30 Day Challenges". There are some people who participated in these that organized their craft areas. So if you're wondering what others have done, check out her blog.

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Bird-Brained?

Oh, and there is one more thing I have been working on all summer that I wanted to share. Its more a sewing project but I used beads to embellish it, so I'm going to share it on this blog. I did a one-on-one forum swap on Swap-Bot. My partner asked for a bird stuffie. Well, I had recently made this one for a normal stuffie swap:

It was a fun and easy pattern (from Crafts n Things magazine, you can find the pattern on their website, for free) that doesn't take long (provided you properly attach the beak to the body before you sew up the body seams.....I'm still learning, cut me some slack). So I thought I'd whip another one up in no time for her. The crafting gods were against me on this one. Maybe they didn't like my choice of fabric, who knows. But I messed up on the second bird a couple of times. Then I finally had the beak correctly attached to the body part (some day I WILL remember how to do that before I sew up the body, really, I will). I began to sew the body and my machine crapped out. I ended up hand stitching the rest of it, and that just took me forever. I finally completed her a couple weekends ago though. I decided she was a little bit plain though, so this time around, I embellished her with some beads. Here she is:

Full Body Shot

Close-up of the beading on the wing

Close-up shot of the tail

I thought she turned out pretty cute this time around. The beaded embellishments gave her some sparkle. I just hope my partner liked her. Especially considering how long it took me to get her done and sent. *Sigh*

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Well that about does it for this post. Whew! That was longer than I thought it would be. Guess I'm just trying to make up for my lack of posting most of the summer.

Thanks for reading and happy beading!

Its a Very Cherry Day! (Another Etsy Sale!)

Yahoo! I'm doing the "happy beader" dance today. I've made another sale on Etsy. The very first thing I listed on there back in February finally sold! After over 6 months and more than 200 views, they finally sold. The next time I list them, I'm going to go with sterling ear wires and up the price a few dollars. Maybe that will help them sell faster. And the holidays are coming up, and they're the perfect small gift or stocking stuffer after all.

What wonderful piece of beaded beauty was this you ask? My Very Cherry Earrings of course, silly! They're cute and simple little earrings, and they barely weigh a thing. I love to wear the pair I made for myself.

So that's three sales on Etsy this year! And I made one non-Etsy sale (she bought more than one item, but it was one individual so I count it as one sale). That's four of the five sales I had made a goal for this year. How cool is that?! I know, its a small thing, but for me, its huge! Its such a motivating thing to make a sale, no matter how small. My shop is still pretty bare but now I just want to rush home and start churning out some great new pieces for the fall and for the holidays!

Hope your beading adventures have been a success so far this year as well. Thanks for reading and happy beading!

Whoo-hoo! I Made Another Sale on Etsy!

That's right, I sold another pair of earrings on in my Etsy shop! That's two pairs of the Rawhide earrings this year! I'm almost up to my goal of five items that I made as a New Year's Crafty Resolution. Still no sales of the Very Cherry Earrings. I'm thinking of making them with sterling ear wires and re-listing them with a slightly higher price, see if I get any bites. But I'm happy with just the two Etsy sales, I'm not expecting much out of my first year on there.

And I've started a third blog, one that's for all my other adventures in crafting. I've decided to call it Crafting Under a Cactus. You can also link to it through my profile or the links over on the right hand side of the screen. I wanted to keep this blog about beadwork but I still wanted to talk about my other crafty projects. Figured it was time to start a second blog. So check over there a couple times a month if you're interested in seeing what other creative things I'm working on. I'll also be removing some of the non-bead crafty links I have here and giving them a new home over on the other blog.

Over the weekend, my husband and I decided to undertake the huge task of rearranging the front bedroom (basically, my craft and book storage room) and the living room. We wanted to turn that front bedroom into a study and craft workroom. So we moved the desk into there (it just fit around the corners of the hall, quite the adventure at two in the morning), moved the bookshelves out, moved my craft table to another wall, and re-organized the closet (so all my Stash bins and boxes could now be stored out of sight). We love it. I can actually work at my work table now while my hubby works on his computer at night, and we can still be together in the same room. What a concept! I'll have to take some pictures of the new arrangement and post them here.

And I mentioned a post or two ago that I hosted an earring swap on Swap-Bot. Here are pictures of the earrings I made for my two partners:

The partner I made these for indicated that her favorite colors were blues, green and yellows. I scored the perfect Czech glass rounds a few months back, so I just had to use them. I love them because they're slightly faceted and are the crackled glass. The smaller cube bead and the blue-green round were salvaged from costume/vintage jewelry I found on ShopGoodwill.com.

And the partner I made this pair for had indicated in her profile that most of her clothing was black. I thought these animal print beads would look sharp with black, and at the same time be subtle yet fun.

That about wraps things up for now. Thanks for reading and happy beading!

Week of August 5th-11th, 2007: What Have I Been Up To?

Well, I've been slacking again on posting. I was pretty busy last month with work and RESCUE and really didn't do much jewelry making. Therefore, I had nothing of real interest to post about here. I suppose I could have bored you with something, but I decided to spare you.

Anywho, I'm getting back into the beading swing of things, and I have a few pictures to share.

I've been participating in a number of crafty swaps over at Swap-Bot, and a few have actually been jewelry and bead related. One was to make your partner jewerly using hemp, so I made these for my partner:



(I didn't have a model handy, so I had a bowl stand in for one ;D)





It was fun to dig out the hemp spools and do some knot work again, even if it was just really basic.



I'm coordinating a handmade earring swap. Its closed now, I meant to post here while it was still open, but alas, I've been in La-La land. But I'm planning to coordinate some more on there, we have a number of beady gals, and I'll be sure to post the links here. I'm still working on the earrings for my partners for that swap, but I'll post those when I've completed them.



And I joined one more earring swap. This one had a specific theme to it, the color brown. I had recently learned to make leafy fringe using all seed beads (for both the vines and the leaves). But I wasn't overly thrilled with how the leaves looked. So I decided "Hey, why couldn't I replace the beaded leaves with leaf beads?" (Say that three times fast....) And here is what I came up with, I call it Autumn Foliage:









Hope you enjoyed. Look for more pictures and updates in the coming weeks (no really, I mean it).



Thanks for reading and happy beading!

Adventures In Soldering (I Didn't Burn Down the Studio)

Well, as you may have read last week, I took "Soldering 101" on Saturday. This was one of my Crafty Resolutions for this year, so it feels good to be able to cross something off the list.

Let me just say, I went in a little apprehensive about using the torch and the chemicals. I have taken basic bead lampworking classes, so holding my hands near intense flames was not new to me, but I knew that soldering would be a little bit different. But really, it wasn't that scary or difficult. In fact, I had fun and I can't wait to get some things designed and cut up so I can rent some studio time there and do some more soldering!! I have a small torch of my own, and I can get solder and pickle and the tools, but I may want to take those first few in to the studio so if I need some help or tips, I may be able to pick some one's brain there.

I didn't burn myself or anyone else, nor did I burn down the studio. So I was quite proud of myself. And I didn't even have to remind myself NOT to touch the hot metal with bare fingers. Good me. ;D

We spent the morning going over the different types of solder, safety concerns, and looking at examples of soldered pieces. Then we broke for lunch, because lunch is very important, and had the afternoon to cut up metal into pieces and the practice soldering bits and wire together. A Saturday well spent in my opinion. I learned a lot and had a lot of fun. I feel more confident about soldering (though I still really love the things you can do with cold connections and rivets), and I plan to start experimenting with metals more when the temps here start to cool down (so I can be out in the garage without melting from the heat).





Here are a few pictures of my practice pieces. One didn't work so well, the solder didn't take, but I want to show it anyway, its part of whole "trials and tribulations" of learning to make jewelry.

The other piece I am quite proud of. I may even clean it up and use it in a piece for myself. Or I may just drill a little hole in it and hang it from something on my work table, as a reminder of what I can do now. Taking this class was very empowering for me.

Well, that's the update for now. Thanks for reading and happy beading!

Week of June 19-23, 2007

Wow, where the heck did May go?! I came back from vacation and became a total blog slacker!! I have actually been working on a few things, nothing ready for photos yet. And idiot me, I did an earring swap with the Bead Circle gals and I didn't take pictures of what I sent.

Well, that's one crafty resolution I dropped the ball on I guess, weekly blog updates. But at least I'm making good on some of the other resolutions I made. This coming Saturday, the 23rd, I will be taking the "Soldering 101" class from the Metal's Edge Studio. I'm really looking forward to this. I haven't really had a chance to mess with the metals in almost a year (I'm going to be so rusty with the jewelers saw, hopefully they won't have us do much cutting, just lots of soldering), and I have all these ideas and sketches that I really couldn't do much with until I learned to solder. So I will be taking pictures of whatever I manage to not destroy or totally screw up and next week I'll share that whole experience with you!!

I've been looking forward to this class for the past two weeks now, and its put me in the mood to work with metals, so I think this weekend I'm going to break out the wire again and start working with that some more. I need a break from eye-straining, hand-cramping stitches.

I also made my first sale on Etsy in May! I sold one pair of the Rawhide earrings to a gal who also works with shelter dogs. How great is that?! And I completed a cute pair of earrings that look like oranges. I just need to get some pictures and then those will be listed in my Etsy shop. So keep checking back for those. No, I don't plan to go with an all fruit theme in my shop, I was just on a role.

Off topic, I've also created a new blog, just for promoting the dogs we foster. I'll be posting pictures and updates there, along with plugging various upcoming RESCUE events and fundraisers. If anything, you can check it out for the "Awwwww" factor. Head on over and check out our newest foster, Jade. Of course, I'll still do a little shameless promotion here, but I figured that topic deserved its very own blog. ;D

Wish I had more to report, but I just wanted to check in and let everyone know I'm still around, still beading, just slacking on the blogging.

Thanks for reading and happy beading!

Week of April 22-28th: I'm Going to Disney World!!

No, really, I am. So I won't be posting much this week and don't expect to hear from me next week. I'll be too busy dancing with Goofy, sporting a pair of mouse ears, and riding the Tea Cups. :D

Have a great weekend everyone! Thanks for reading and happy beading!

Week of April 15th-21st, 2007: Update on Goals

I've been busy, busy, busy lately. But I wanted to take some time today to get caught up on my blog. At the end of the first quarter, I wanted to recap on my goals for this year. But I was a bit busy, time got away from me, and before I knew it, the end of April was approaching. So I'm going to do it now.

If you remember, back at the start of the year, I posted a list of Crafter's Resolutions for 2007 . These were crafting and beading related goals that I have for this year. Much more fun than making resolutions to lose weight or exercise more, right? Here's a listing of the goals and my progress with them so far:

• Complete one amulet bag. NOT YET
• Learn tubular peyote stitch and complete one piece. NOT YET
• Learn Ndebele/herringbone stitch and complete one project. NOT YET
• Complete two complex Eni Oken tutorials (cuff, necklace) and then complete my own variations on her technique. NOT YET
• Buy kit/supplies for PMC and complete two pieces. BOUGHT KIT...
• Complete one new metal jewelry piece (cold connection or soldered). NOT YET
• Take "Solder 101" class from Metal's Edge Studio. TRYING TO SIGN UP FOR JUNE
• Learn basic crochet. STARTED...
• Learn to crochet using beads and wire. NOT YET
• Paint "Zoo" sign letters and Coca-Cola tray. NOT YET
• Woodburing: complete two simple projects such as wall plaques or a trinket box. NOT YET
• Learn to sew using the sewing machine (that I bought after the New Year 2006....). TOOK CLASS, MADE A PAIR OF SLEEP PANTS, AND THEY FIT!!
• Learn Byzantine weave and at least one other chain maille weave. NOT YET
• Sell 5 items (not for charity or to family). SOLD 3 ITEMS....
• Have a small in-home show by August. NOT YET
• Learn to use all the Knifty Knitter looms I have bought in 2006. NOT YET
• Master some complex macrame knotting (micro macrame) and complete one project. NOT YET
• Post to Blog at least once every week (and get the links set up, add more pictures, etc). SO FAR, SO GOOD

Well, I wish I had a few more things crossed off the list at this point, but no. I'll start playing with the PMC probably in May, after my course is done. I'll have more time then, and its something that I just need a whole day for really. Same with the metal and wire projects. I need a full day for those, and that's something I just haven't had in a while. I always have something else to do the first half of the day. But summer will be here soon, and I should hopefully have some more free time on my hands. I did buy two CD-ROMs a couple weeks back, one for knitting and one for crocheting. They give audio and video instructions, along with graphics, to teach you how to knit and to crochet. I started with the knitting one first. I just wanted to do something different. Having fun. Still trying to learn to just keep an even tension (tension is really my nemesis in this sort of thing). But I'll dig into the crochet one in the coming weeks. Hopefully it will help me with the bead crochet.

But I recently found a new site that may help me in my goals. Then again, it may hinder me, and keep me from them.... Its called Swap-Bot. Its an online community of Swappers. Basically, people can set up swaps themselves (host a swap) or just join an existing swap, and then send and receive packages in the mail based on the swap criteria. The swaps are often crafty, ATC swaps being the most popular, and some are just plain fun. I joined two bead related swaps. One was to make cell phone charms, the other was to make earrings. Simple, easy pieces, I know. But lately, I've been more interested in larger, more time consuming projects. So I haven't really felt like just making simple earrings. This swap gave me a chance to recollect my thoughts and ideas, and simplify. I cranked out 6 cell phone charms and two pairs of earrings in the past three nights!! That's more than I do in most weeks. Heck, its more than I've done in the past couple of months! It made me feel productive and creative. I felt good. I needed to do that. It was like a breath of fresh air.

And the Bead Circle is doing a little earring swap as well. I'll be working on those this weekend. Its refreshing to go back to the basics, rather than focusing only on complex stitches.

Well, that's about it for this week. Thanks for reading and happy beading!

Warning: Not Bead Related (But Still Important)

Well, I'm still plugging away at some rainbow pieces (a spiral rope and some earrings), and since I didn't get much time over the weekend for beading, I don't really have much to report. I did however get to listen to most of the rest of the CraftyPod podcasts. I just have about 4 more to listen to and I'm all up to date with her podcasts. Check out last week's post for more about sharing in the "crafty goodness."

But today, I just wanted to do a short post about something very near and dear to my heart. When I was 18, I was diagnosed with idiopathic epilepsy. This is fancy-schmancy medical term for "we have no idea why, but you are now a person with epilepsy, you lucky person you." There was some history of juvenile epilepsy in the family tree, but how extensive, we're not sure, as epilepsy wasn't exactly openly talked about in days of yore.

I've been blessed in that my epilepsy is completely controlled by a low dose of meds and that it doesn't really affect my day to day life in a major way. I've been seizure free (knock on wood) for almost 12 years now. But for many of the over 2.7 million people out there with epilepsy, they are not that lucky. It affects every moment of every day. It affects how they are able to live their lives. So because of that, I like to do my part to help out. I'm a member of the Arizona chapter of the Epilepsy Foundation. I donate yearly. I'm even comtemplating being in one of next years Run/Walks, if I can get myself in a little better shape by then. If I tried it today, I'd drop after a mile!!! Uff.

Last night I heard about something pretty cool that is being done to help further the efforts of the Epilepsy Foundation, and I just wanted to share it and get the word out. If you haven't seen the show Heroes, on NBC, you can catch the rest of the season later this month. And I highly recommend you do, its an entertaining show. One of the characters on the show has a son with epilepsy. So they have set up an auction to sell paintings from the show, which will benefit the Epilepsy Foundation. How cool is that?! If you are a fan of the show, you are familiar with the character Isaac, who paints the future. It is those paintings, that were used on the show, that will be up for auction. And some are really pretty neat looking. So go check it out.

Thanks for reading and happy beading!

The CraftyPod: The Podcast All About Making Stuff

What? You haven't discovered the wonders and joy of CraftyPod yet? For shame!

Well, you're just lucky you stumbled upon my blog this week then, so that you can learn about this wonderful site. The CraftyPod is a "blog and podcast all about making stuff", and its hosted by the wonderful Sister Diane. She posts to the blog a couple times a week and does a podcast about every other week. You can either listen to them right there on the site or download them onto your computer. You can also subscribe to her podcasts so that when a new one is published, its sent right to your computer. How convenient!

I lurked on her blog for a few months but never listened to her podcasts, because I couldn't figure out how. But I finally figured it out and I recently downloaded all 47 of her podcasts and have put them on my mp3 player. I have a long daily commute (3 hours per day, 1.5 hours each way) and boy do those podcasts make that commute that much more tolerable. I've listened to about 10 of them so far, and they certainly help to invoke the ol' crafty muse.

She covers all aspects of crafting, from beading to crochet, to papercrafts and ethnic arts. She usually starts out with a history of the technique, then a project or two and follows up with some great related resources. Some of her podcasts are interviews with great crafters from around the country. You're sure to find something to piques your crafty interests. She even did a podcast all about pipe cleaners. Talk about covering all your bases! And her regular blog posts also cover a wide range of crafty topics, including local gatherings and events she attends (such as Portland SuperCrafty and Church of Craft). Its entertaining and inspiring to read. And her enthusiasm for crafting really shines through in her podcasts. She has a wonderful broadcasting voice, clear and spunky sounding. She's fun to listen to. So scoot over there after you read this, or heck, just go there now, you can always come back here later!!!

Through her site I have found links to some great podcasts and other blogs. See her site links list for a complete listing of links. I'm in the process of downloading all of the CraftyChica's Podcast and also those from CraftSanity. Can't wait to finish downloading those and getting them onto my mp3 player as well. Sister Diane, if I could hug you, I would, for introducing me to wonderful world of crafty podcasts! I may have just found a new addiction....

Oh, and I can't forget to mention her musical choices. Love them, love them, love them. I walk around with her theme song in my head all the time now. "Zu-zu-zu zoom zoom zoom". Listen to a few podcasts and you'll hear just what I mean. ;D

That's it for this week. Thanks for reading and happy beading!

What a Way to Start the Week! (I've had a busy weekend...) - Week of March 25 - 31

Saturday we had Chinese food for lunch. I had two fortune cookies (I love fortune cookies, they are beyond yummy). I got the following two fortunes:

"Sunday is a good day for relaxing."
"Nothing can keep you from reaching your goals."

These inspired me I guess, or at the very least, they helped to invoke my muse. This weekend I did more crafty things than I've had a chance to do in a while, and I managed to get quite a lot accomplished.


Saturday morning I decided that this weekend I would finish up the belt my MIL asked me to make for her. We had bought the beads back in October, and in January, I picked up some additional coordinating pearl beads to go with the ones we had bought. But until this weekend, I hadn't really done much with the project. I spent a few hours one weekend sketching pattern ideas, but then set them aside, totally uninspired. But this weekend, that all changed. On Saturday, I strung the beads for the main part of the belt. Saturday night, I had my MIL "try it on" to make sure I had the length right. Then Sunday, I created the clasp and the dangle of beads. This is the finished belt:




And here are some close up shots of the pattern of the beads and of the wire clasp that I made for it using 16ga and 26ga(I think) wire and a potato pearl:



But I didn't stop there on Sunday. I had a "Wrist of Flurries" bracelet that I had assembled back in December, but just hadn't finished it off with a clasp yet. So Sunday, I experimented with one of my clasp ideas, using elastic and a button. It looks a little cheap frankly, not real polished or professional. It works, but I won't sell that version or anything. Originally, I had used a toggle clasp (see the first set of photos) and it worked okay, but I didn't really like the way it "wore". It just didn't look a great when being worn. The bracelet is quite wide, and the little toggle didn't hold it together neatly. I'll have to play with some other ideas. But here's a picture of both the original piece (where I used a toggle clasp) and the new version (where I used a beaded loop of white elastic).
The first is of the original one with the toggle clasp (I love the snowflake buttons, they worked perfectly with 6/0 beads):

And here's some shots of the elastic band clasp version (I adore the white round clasp button, so I'll probably remove the band and try something different with this one):




I had assembled another wide peyote band bracelet in shades of blue-green. Again, I just had the clasp part to work out. So Sunday, I finished that up and used the toggle clasp. It works fine on this bracelet, since it's not quite as wide of the "Flurries" one.

You can see a few imperfections due to not all the beads being the exact same size and shape, but I like it that way. As one author put it, things like that are okay, think of them as your own little spirit beads (check out the great book I linked to above is you want to understand that more).

After all of that, I took all those pictures I'd been meaning to take. I needed new pictures of my Very Cherry Earrings for my Etsy shop, since I made some new pairs (with fixed crimps). I also took some pics of my Rawhide earrings to replace the ones I currently have up on Etsy, since I realized that I took most of those with the Sepia setting on. Doh. If you want to see those, you'll have to visit my Etsy shop. And of course, I took all the pics you see above. Plus, a few weeks back I was inspired by all the polymer clay artists I was seeing on Etsy. Many make mini foods, mini food charms, and mini food beads. I also found some great polymer clay artist sites who are doing the mini foods thing too. These look so fun to make and are always just too cute. So I tried my hand at it and made a slice of Key Lime Pie.

This is what I came up with:

Not too bad if I do say so myself. By no means perfect or sell-able, but it was a fun little experiment.

And here are some pictures of my experiment with making a clasp out of clay:


And in addition to all that, I folded and put away all the laundry, cleaned up around the house, copied some new music onto my MP3 player, cleaned the cat litter, did dishes, downloaded every single podcast from CraftyPod (if you've never seen her site, you must check it out today, look for a post about it later this week) and much more. I got a lot done in just two days. I feel so much better for it too. Its amazing how those little things that you just can't seem to find time to do, can really weigh heavy on your mind, and bog you down. I feel really, well, not to be too cliche, but, free. Just getting something done, accomplishing something, can do wonders for one's mood and outlook. And then the fact that I finally completed a few old In Progress projects, really was just the icing on the cake (or would that be on the key lime pie?).

Add to all of this the fact that our foster dog Dorothy was adopted on Saturday, and it was a great weekend!

Monday and Tuesday I finished up a pair of rainbow earrings (pics hopefully next week), and started a new spiral rope necklace, also in rainbow. The craftiness continues. And on the drive home yesterday, I recorded two more blog posts that I hope to get typed up and posted this week. Wow me.

Oh, and we got a new foster dog on Monday. His name is Aidan and he's a 7.7lb Chihuahua (he's smaller than our cats or out Min Pin). Check him out if you need an "Awwww" moment. :D

Here's hoping I continue to have a productive and crafty week, and that you do too!

Thanks for reading and happy beading!

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!