My Joey's 11th Birthday

My sweet little boy recently turned 11.  He thinks it's so funny that at 11 years old he is just as tall,(actually taller than me, but I will not admit it to him just yet). He might not be little anymore but he still is so very sweet. He still holds my hand and hugs and kisses me every morning when I drop him off at school no matter if his friends are there or not. He is his own person and really could care less what others think of him, personality wise he's like me in that aspect because I don't much care what others think I am always true to myself and my beliefs. He makes me proud every single day. He has a kind disposition,is caring,kind and so stinking funny and clever he never ceases to entertain me!
 So every year for his birthday we have some sort of theme, since he's been old enough to choose I have left it up to him.

 So when I asked him this year what theme he wanted he informed me that he would like a Family Guy party.  I told him that that might not fully be an appropriate theme since there were to be elderly family members and young children in attendance. Please don't think less of me but  I do admit that I love Family Guy. I love the absurdity,vulgarity and crassness of it all. I am truly a juvenile in mind and at heart. For example at a work meeting someone mentioned something about a duty  and I almost peed myself laughing,of course I heard (doody). So that being said I told him to mull it over and think of something else, after telling him it would be okay as a theme when he was older.

So all of about 2 seconds later he said how about Zombies. I had already shot down his first choice and him loving zombie killing games and the show The Walking Dead,which by the way my husband and I like also,I gave in so zombies it was. I tried to make gruesome food to match the zombie theme. So my ideas and creations were these things (some pictures will follow)
1- I added green juice to a surgical glove tied it and stuffed it in the freezer. I them made punch and floated the "Hand" in the bowl and added gummy worms (please note that gummy worms don't float) and they swell after a while good idea,bad out come.
2.Deviled eyeballs  aka deviled eggs with a slice of black olive.
3. I made green chocolate covered pretzel rods and used a pipping bag to draw the knuckles and a red gummy as a fingernail to make "zombie fingers".
4. I made "zombie brain" which was a hollowed out cauliflower with guacamole dip to fill the hollow and I added some red licorice strings threaded into the cauliflower to mimic veins.
5.I arrange cocktail shrimp and sauce with a touch of gelatin and roasted red pepper slice to make yet another brain (this one being human of course.
6. The most awesome local cake decorator and shop "Cakes By Stephanie" made the zombie cake. If you live anywhere near me in Michigan I highly recommend her cakes they are about 8" thick and so moist and delicious I get excited just thinking about eating a Stephanie cake,if you have ever had one you know what I mean.

So here comes the pictures I hope you enjoy them as much as My Joey did!!

My Blog Soup Pieces...

In my previous post I showed you all the goodies I was sent by my partner http://lorisglassworks.blogspot.com/  I generally don't use pearls. Pearls are my birthstone and growing up in an Italian family ment lots of Italian jewelry and so many of my jewelry had pearls that I grew sick of them at an early age.  I have never used Ukanite before either the color combo never did a whole lot for me, but I think I have become pretty fond thanks to Lori!!

I always donate the pieces I make from these sort of challenges to a local charities for fund raising events but this first piece I totaly love and am going to keep. I make so many necklace and favor making necklaces but I NEVER wear them. I have this odd quirk that I can't have anything around my neck(all of my shirts are even scoop and v-neck) I know bizzare.But the bracelet I am sure I will wear it often. In this bracelet I used both the focal and clasp that was sent and mandatory to use. Have I told you that I love it??

Next is the piece that took me the most time to complete I tried to use every kind of bead and spacer that Lori sent to me. Since I used the focal in the bracelet I made a soldered butterfly pendant to use as the focal of this piece. I am very happy at how this necklace turned out.

And lastly another necklace. I was trying for a more modern edge with this one. Dark chain and every style of bead I was sent.

So there it is by big Bead Soup Reveal. I can't wait to hop and check out all the pretties you all have made!!

Bead Soup and The luck of the draw...

I was chosen by the luck of the draw to participate in the 5th Bead Soup Blog Party. My Partner Lori who's blog can be found here lorisglassworks.blogspot.com sent me these goodies.....

I enjoy participating in these types of challenges because I have to work with the items sent. And as a jewelry artist I tend to like,use  and purchase things that appeal to me which is okay because that's my style and I enjoy making things that show a little of who I am and what I like. But this helps me so much to leave the comfort of which I am used to.

So I am working with Ukanite beads,Cherry Quartz (which I Love!!),glass pearls,some glass beads and silver spacers.  I have had about a thousand different ideas of what to do and I keep changing my mind. For any swap or jewelry challenge I donate the piece or pieces I make to different, local fund raisers. I have never kept a piece for myself. But with the cherry quartz I may be tempted to be greedy this time.

Oh and this is what I sent to Lori....

These things are all my style,both soldered pendants and the vintage button pendant were made by me and I added some vintage luctie beads,crystal,glass and ceramic beads too. So as you can see the difference is huge in materials and styles. So please wish me luck that I make something worthy so that a local charity would even consider using the piece I make to raise funds. See you at the reveal!!!

New Resolutions....

I was sitting at my work desk the other making a few new things and it dawned on me that I hadn't posted a new blog entry in months!! I had to check if that was true and guess what,it was so true.  I couldn't even believe that so much time had gone by without a single entry on my part.

I am not a huge fan New Years Resolutions. I  have always made resolutions and pretty big ones too,but I then fall off of the wagon. So this year I made resolutions that a normal person could maybe keep. I will share the ones I made....

1.Try to list 2 new items in my Etsy shop daily.
2. Create at least 2 new of jewelry per day.
I will cut myself a little slack so that totals 14 pieces and 14 listings per week. If I happen to have a super ambitious day, I will cut myself a break on my long work days or lazy days. So I figure 14 total of each shouldn't be too difficult to attain.
3. Try to eat a bit better and religiously take my vitamins and supplements.
4. My new one, as of the shocking discovery of my poor,sad,neglected blog,is to valiantly try to blog  once a week or at least once every two weeks.

So that being said I would like to wish you all a very Happy,healthy,blessed New Year!!

I will leave you with a few pictures of a couple of sneak peaks of new things I will be listing on Etsy. Since I bore and tire easily they very eclectic array.

Back To School Necklace Swap Update....

Well I've been on the mend my migraines have been better so I have been able to be a tad more productive. I am still trying not to over do things,but for me being on the go and going from morning to night is a habit I find hard to break sometimes and then my health suffers,but I have been doing better.

Since I did feel a bit better I finished my necklace for a swap I participated in and was able to send it out. My partner  Marla Baer-Peckham who is an bead weaver extraordinaire is very talented she works with so many tiny seeds beads,just the thought of it makes my eyes cross and nearly gives me an anxiety attack! I enjoy these swaps because I generally receive something I would typically never make for myself or even purchase for that matter, but I am glad to have little works of art from so many talented people!

This is the necklace that I made for her. The vintage back space key was my element of back to school and then I added some crystals and Czech beads to give it an overall Victorian feel. I think it has an element of fun along with a little sophistication. I liked the result so much that I am in the works of making one for my Etsy shop.

Some Reflection On being an overachiever...

My reflection is as follows..... as I have written before I enjoy joining different swaps and was working on my Bead Soup Party piece along with a back to school themed necklace for my other swap,along with making jewelry to supply  a local yoga studio,where I practice, my museum trunk show,the shops I supply and the farmers market, all on top of my day job,my etsy shops and the most important thing being a mom to Joey, so all I can say is that I am almost to busy for words.

So I have been trying to plug away and really get things done(overachieving).

And then BAM!!!  my illness began rearing it's ugly head this past week, just when I have zero time to be down and out. I try to stay as positive as possible about my health issues,sometime I tantrum,sometime it's so bad I cry and ALL of the time I wish it was different for me,I rarely discuss it because of how others react, I don't want a pity party,or to hear you poor girl,or the people who just shake their heads in dismay, I've had to come to grips it's just what it is and it's now part of my life.  I suffer from  facial and cranial neuralgia, migraine headaches and fibromyalgia.
Starting last spring I went from the epitomy of health to a disaster practically overnight.
Oh yeah I had every doctor completely baffled,neurologists,family doctors,alternative doctors,if there was a doctor or specialist I saw them,yet not a single one could figure out what the hell my problem was. So countless amounts of doctor visits,dentist visits,tests oh and a truckload of cash later, One specialist decided to paste a generic name on what I have(at least I think it's generic) it just means head,face and all over body pain. And the  guess is, that a non contagious strep infection in my blood is to blame. So after 6 months of hard core,and extremely painful, I might add, antibiotic injections 3 times a week,several oral antibiotics, they found out that this particular strain is resistant to antibiotics. Yep screwed.
I  would have been nice to know that, before my hair started breaking off,me becoming anemic from the injections,my teeth being discolored and my body and immune system being totally wiped out from these lovely antibiotics.

So being disgusted with what was happening to me I took matters into my own hands  the only things that the doctors were doing was screwing me up more than I was to start with. So I began  a hardcore life change which includes a supplement plan,a restricted eating plan, an exercise plan and I got off of those nasty antibiotics,started to build up my immune system with herbs,fighting the infection with colloidal silver and have been functional for about 6 months. Then of course since I was beginning to feel a bit better,maybe not my old self but way better than I had in over a year, I  completely lost my mind and started wear myself thin,by overworking and under sleeping, my already (stupid)fragile body and bite off more than my sick ass can chew. The migraines back full force this past week and face,neck and body pain from out of this world.

So the moral of all this drivel is that I took a look at my miserable reflection and said "Hey asshat,snap out of it, you need to relax a little before you are totally worthless to everyone." Every once in a while it's good to give yourself a little shake and reality check. So I guess what gets done gets done and what doesn't doesn't. Not a great motto but for now it's going to be my motto!

My Bead Soup Blog Party Reveal

I have already shown you what my lovely partner Marie from http://moreskyjewels.etsy.com sent to me in a prior post. So many pretty focals to choose from and of course if you have ever visited my etsy  shop you all know my love of butterflies, so again here are the pretties I was sent.....

This I suppose is the before

I was sent many focals and just a spattering of Marie's lampwork beads and a beautiful verdigras hand forged clasp. I sat and looked and mulled all of new stash over and over again and came up with a whole lot of nothing. So I dove into my never ending stash and things started coming together,or so I thought. Well lets say I made and remade this necklace 3 times before I was happy with the outcome. Hopefully everyone hoping will enjoy it too!!

My finished necklace so then this is the after.

 

I have never done this before,sure I have done finished exchanges using all of the things that I have,make or gravitate towards. Make a theme piece and then send it off to a partner.I working on one of those as we speak. But this was a whole new experience for me,it helped me to work outside of my comfort zone,use lamp work beads which I rarely, if ever use,and add elements that I would not have thought to use or add.

I am so overjoyed and happy with what this has done for me creatively I will now seek out such swaps as much as I can,or if I can find any others.

Now here is  the link to the other participants so if you liked seeing mine,as much as I liked showing it,I'm sure others would be thrilled for you to check out theirs' too. Yeah I know, the I'll show you mine if you show me yours innuendo is a tad over used but I just couldn't resist.So here's the link 
http://lorianderson.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=7d27f8dfca54ef70719fc9ded&id=227e47ab13&e=69e7ed692f