Bling

I made myself some new things to wear to the concert on Saturday.  I'll have to manufacture a reason to wear it all now, but that's beside the point.

The quickest was the jewelry.

I started with an interesting kit, but the materials supplied weren't enough for the length I wanted.  I remembered the store had more kits and individual components for sale, so I went back and restocked.

Here are the results:

Tiny Baubles

Some of the gifts I made this year for family were earrings. Namely both of my moms and Auntie Rose. 

Artan may have kept me from putting my most delicate treasures on the tree this year, but he didn't do anything to these.

These were such fun.  I think I may play with these beads again when I have some time.  Maybe make some for next year's Guild auction.

Christmas Eve 2010

First of two posts today.  I had planning on combining them, but there are too many pictures.

Christmas Eve saw FH off from work since Christmas was on a Saturday.  Snow was coming down thickly so we shifted our plans around to deal with that.  We had word that a pregnant friend had gone into labor that morning so off we went to buy a "Baby's 1st Christmas" ornament.  We got the last one in the store... no choices... Classic Winnie the Pooh or nothing.

Then we did some food and spirit shopping (yay for Jameson) and went to see our borrowed kids while their mom was at work.  That's when things got "interesting."  The kids weren't at home and their mom had no idea where they were.  Keeping in mind the hazardous weather AND the simple fact of them not being allowed to leave the apartment without their mother's permission.  Also the little darlings knew we were coming by.  This was planned the night before.

Once they reappeared (only because they had a minuscule bit of forethought and had a cell phone) they were bodily tossed into our car with me barking like a drill instructor the whole way.  Apparently they were "bored with waiting" for us to show up and it was snowing so they decided to go outside.  They neglected to call either their mother or us before disappearing, which of course was their major blunder.  I told them since they couldn't be trusted to be at home by themselves to consider themselves grounded until their mother got to our house after work. 

I proceeded to shovel the driveway just to be outside and not looking at them for a bit so I could regain composure.  They were allowed to read, but were confined to the kitchen table for the remainder of the day.  Little D was allowed to finish his mother's Christmas gift, but that was it.  Grrr.  The really irritating part is the boy is almost 16... more than old enough to know better.

Anyway once their mom got to our place and heard the full story she decided that since I had succeeded in putting the fear of God into them, and that they'd been in detention for over 6 hours, that they might have learned their lesson.  Maybe.  We'll see.  But the three of us are watching.

The actual fun part about this post are the pictures of the things the kids made for each other and their mom.  So here they are:

Medicine wheel Little D made for his mom.

Detail of the center carving.

Necklace and matching earrings Hummingbird made for her mom.

Leather bracelet Hummingbird made for Little D.

Back of the coin purse Little D made for Hummingbird.  Her name is carved on the front and looks great.

Oh and before I forget, Jackson Mathew entered the world around 6pm eastern time on Christmas Eve.  He's healthy and gorgeous.  His mother is doing great and ready to be at home.

Sneaking In A Project

I decided to help someone learn how to make simple jewelry earlier this week.  We had a great time with a fast and highly rewarding project and I thought I'd share my half of the deal.  I cannot show the other half since a mutual friend (who might read the blog) is receiving the pretties for Christmas.  However once the gift is given I can fill you all in on the rest of the story.

I neglected to take step by step photos, since I didn't even think about it.  But here's the finished products.

I bought the snowman beads at a semi-local bead shop.  I just love snowmen.  We used Swarovski crystals to keep the headpins from slipping right through the bead.

My little guys were done in about five minutes, accounting for me stopping what I was doing to give instruction to my companion.

I picked up some other shapes while I was shopping.  I plan on turning them into earrings and stash them for gifts next year.  Less stress by planning ahead.  I'll see how many I can put together with the supplies I have on hand, perhaps yet this weekend.

For now I must feed Castor, since he's currently between me and the laptop, and crash for the night.