Early July Morning, Cocoa Beach, Florida

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Fighting Cancer



It is so weird sometimes, when things are on our minds. The other day, I made a visit to the dermatologist to get a couple of moles taken off. They were new ones that I just noticed. Both were dry, itchy, and irregular shaped, all the signs of ones that need to be removed and checked. I am one of those who, as a young girl, spent many hours on the beach and at the pool slathering baby oil all over me to get that tan, AND...on top of that I am very, very fair. Still a very light natural blonde with very fair skin. I know it is probably only a matter of time before I pay for those actions.

As I was sitting in the office, I picked up a magazine and found an article that caught my eye. It was about a lady who started Ears To You, a non profit corporation who gives earrings to women undergoing chemotherapy. I thought how cool, I should see about donating some earrings to our local cancer center if they would have any.

One other thing that I have been working on for several months, is growing my hair out to donate. My daughter has just donated her hair for the 5th time. This time she donated 14 inches!!!  She has always been known for her beautiful long blonde hair. She first donated her hair when she was about 14. She had been babysitting for a couple of little girls from church, and they were playing with her hair. They asked if she was a princess, because their daddy said that all princess have long hair. This got her to thinking about all those girls who have lost their hair due to various reasons, from cancer to alopecia, etc.  This time her hair is much shorter than it has ever been. She feels like Rapunzel in the new Disney movie, because it is about that short now, and it looks good. She will continue to grow her hair and donate, as long as her hair keeps growing fast. I think she realizes that it won't always grow so fast....just look at me, her mother. Anyway, slowly, I am trying to be able to do the same.

Today, I made a hair appointment, and am thinking that maybe I will have enough to donate. I've been looking at the Pantene website for a few weeks now. My daughter has always had to donate at least ten inches, but Pantene only asks for eight, and I think I am almost there. If not this time, the next time I go in for a trim.

Well, I mentioned earlier about how sometimes things that pop into your head are a bit strange. Thinking about all this cancer stuff, I mean. Just to let you know, my biopsys came out fine, thank goodness! One thing I did find out tonight, is that an old friend of mine was just diagnosed with beast cancer a month ago. She starts chemo tomorrow.  At one time, we were pretty close. Our daughters danced together, and we both took adult tap classes and had a blast! The last time we danced together, was in a recital and I was 6 months pregnant with my youngest (who is almost 17 now). Boy, how I miss that time!  Anyway, my mind will be on my friend. It's been some time since we've talked. Thank goodness for facebook, lol, as that is how we now keep in touch. I feel she will be fine. It will be a long hall, but I have had several friends that have survived cancer, and the doctors tell my friend they can cure her, which is great news. So, Robin, hang in there, you have many people who are rooting for you, and who will be keeping you in their prayers, including me.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

I Am A WINNER!!!!

Today has been a pretty busy day, as much of my life has been lately. I decided to check my blog, and what do I fine?! A nice little note on my blog under my Phone Wire Jewelry from Elisabeth of Beads for Busy Gals.  My name was drawn for some really nice goodies, I can't wait. You should go check out what I won, and also check out her blog.

Elisabeth, you made my day! :D  THANK YOU!!!!

Friday, September 23, 2011

Phone Wire Jewelry


I have had these buttons for years. I believe I bought them when Ashley was little thinking I would make her a dress or something and use them.  If you look at the upper left hand side of the picture, you will also see some wire.  This wire came from my dad. He has quite a bit of it and gave me some. It is actually old telephone wire from the Kennedy Space Center. Years ago, like in the late 60's early 70's they were redoing the telephone wire, and there was gobs of this stuff in the trash. My dad asked if he could have some, and they told him to take as much as he wanted, so he did.  I can remember making jewelry with it as a kid. 


 Halloween is coming up, and I wanted to make some jewelry to wear during this fun time of year. I decided to use the phone wire with these buttons. Now, what?  At first I thought about putting them into a necklace, but it was a bit much. So this is what I came up with:


A pair of bat earrings,


spiders and their web, 


                                                           and some orange buttons!

I was on a roll.  I started going through my stash and came across some crosses someone gave me last year. I thought, "Hmmmmm, I wonder what these would look like with the phone wire." And this is what I came up with :

 
                                                                    So, what do you think?

Oooops!


So, yesterday, I was inspecting some of my newly made jewelry, and noticed some beads were missing. Hmmm, I know I put those beads on them. Then I realized that the beads had made their way into the bigger beads beside them. That's weird, I had carefully made a fit check to make sure the small beads would NOT do that, but, well, I guess I was wrong, now I need to restring, and repost the picture on to my Treasures by Terry facebook.  This is why every piece I make, I carefully check before I sell them.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

"Oh, Them Cotton Fields!"



In 2001, we moved from the area we live  now, to Indiana. At the time I was homeschooling our four children ages 13, 11, 8 and 7.  We had a really nice homeschool group. In this group we went on a lot of fun field trips. One field trip we went on was to a cotton field. The kids had so much fun playing in the harvested cotton and riding the farm equipment.   I had enjoyed all the cotton fields in the area. When we moved back four years ago, one thing I was excited about were the cotton fields. To my surprise, they were gone, replaced with corn and soy...something we had A LOT of in Indiana.

This past year, I noticed the cotton fields were back. I was so excited, and knew that I wanted some pictures. Soon, I heard and saw the crop dusters flying overhead.  I knew that the cotton would be opening and ready to harvest, so I had to get out there and take the pictures. This would probably be my last year to live around the cotton fields again.

Here are some of the pictures I took of the cotton fields around close to our home...







Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Wooden Daisies


                                    Aren't these the coolest?! Wooden flowers in four different finishes.







Here is that cool fuzzy wood pendent I sent to my BSBP partner. Not sure what I was going to do with it, not sure if I might take it apart or not, but I just love the daisies!



Here is another cool pendent I found. I paired up with black wood beads. Below is a closer look at the pendent. Strings are woven through it.

Jewelry, Squirrels and Colorado?


As I have mentioned before, this summer has been a busy one. One of the things I was able to do, was to go  to Colorado with my parents.  Both my mom and dad were born and raised in Colorado, so I have several family members there. Growing up, I remember going to Colorado every year. It was so fun visiting with my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.

This trip was not only to visit with some of my family, but to also close down my parents small apartment there. You see, they live in Florida (where I grew up). In  past years, they have traveld to Colorado several times a year. Now that my grandmother has passed away, they probably won't be going as often, and it is cost effective to let the place go. Since they will only be going one or two times a year, they can just rent a motel.

The trip was not only a trip of work, and visiting with family, but my mom and I also made some jewelry. The two weeks we were gone, was a very busy one, but one can always find time to make jewelry, right? Well this time anyway. I thought I would share some of the stuff I made.


For my birthday, my sister sent me several jewelry making things, one of which were these Eiffel Tower charms.  While in Colorado, my mom and I went bead shopping, and I bought some white and pink beads which had black veining. I had brought some crystals from my stash at home, and this is one of the pieces I created.


                                    This is the necklace I made to go with the Eiffel Tower earrings.

Now this next piece, I made from some stuff I brought from home. I had bought these beads and focal the same day I bought my BSBP partner's soup.  I used turquoise glass seed beads, crystals, and glass pearl seed beads.


This next piece, I had already made before we left. We really got into the butterfly mode this summer with my daughter's wedding.  I had seen these butterfly charms and really did not know what I was going to do with them, I just liked them. They are plastic,  but since they were so fun, and I did not use them for the wedding, I decided to play with them, and this is what I came up with. I like them, and wear them quite a bit.


This last piece, I made at the library here at home.  I had the privilege to teach several classes on jewelry making.  If you click here you can see a blog on one of the classes I taught.

The place I took these pictures was a nice little park just across the street from where my parents had their apartment. You could actually see it from their 6th story place.  As I was taking these photos, I noticed a little visitor spying on me.


                                 I think he thought I might have some food, because....


He kept getting closer, and closer. I think if I had had something for him to eat, he would have taken it right out of my had. I'm sure, people bring them something all the time, and that is why he was not that afraid of me.


                                                                 Isn't he cute!!!


After I got in the car, I noticed he came up to where I had been taking pictures to see if just maybe, I might have left him something. Sorry, little guy, I had nothing for you. What a nice experience I had with this cute little guy.

Friday, September 16, 2011

Caribbean Seas

As I have mentioned before, I got some really beautiful beads from my Bead Soup partner, Heather Marley.  If you have been keeping up with my blog, ya'll know what a wild summer we have had. Between one of my sons graduating from high school and starting college, my daughter graduating from college, getting married (in Washington DC plus two receptions--one in Indiana and the other one here in Louisana),and her and her new husband moving to south Louisiana,  then I went to Colorado to visit with family after which I return to no internet for two weeks. Now...we are in the middle of a move to Kentucky. Needless to say, I was shocked that I was able to even participate in this party. But, I did it and this is what I came up with.
At first I played around with the beads A LOT! Hmmm. What should I do with them? I wanted to do something different than I did last year.  First I thought maybe I could make a long necklace incorporating each kind of the beads that were sent. Then I thought about all the multiple strands everyone was wearing and thought maybe I could do something like that. As I thought about it, I decided to maybe just do a lot of different necklaces, then you could wear them altogether, or one at a time, or maybe even wear different combinations of necklaces.  So, now I'd like to introduce you to all the necklaces I made.
This necklace is made of green and blue sea glass beads, and blue rectangular glass beads. I added some blue crystals I had on hand. I made this one choker style, so you can double it up and wear it as a bracelet.
I just love these colors! Reminds me of the Caribbean Sea.

The next piece is about 17 inches and made of greenish blue (or blueish green) fresh water pearls, blue rectangular glass beads, sliver flower beads, and the blue crystal beads I added from my stash. You can't tell in the photos but the crystals next to the pearls sparkle, reminding me of the moon shining on theCaribbean Sea at night.

I think this next piece is my favorite. It's also 17 inches. I used the freshwater pearls and crystals, and the clasp...oh I just love it. I thought it was so pretty I used it as a focal. 

This next piece is very different. Again, it is 17 inches. I used all the beads in it. The focal is a green glass square bead, and some beads that heather sent me that I had not used are the blue speckled beads. 

I had to show you the speckled beads up close, aren't they pretty?


So, here they are all together. Well, that's it. I would like to thank Heather for all the pretty beads, and Lori for hosting the party. Now it's time for ya'll to visit all the other sites. I know it is a lot, but maybe you can take several weeks to visit, or just hop around, but for now at least go see Heather's creation with the beads I sent her click here to see her blog. And I hope you all go see my sister and her partner's creations too. I highlighted their names and my soup partner, Heather and my name below.

Here is everyone:
The Hostess, Lori Anderson and her partner, Manuela Wutschke




19. Anna Sabina­­­­ and Erin Siegel








70. Eszter Czibulyas and Helena Fritz




 


 


 


 
151. Natasha Lutes and Pam Ferrari





For a total of 362 people making jewelry!