Tiny Dancers

Hello all! On Friday Madelyn and I....okay, mostly the little girl-pest, made earrings. For her. Contrary to what my inner Mommy is saying about her being too young for dangle earrings.....I have this terrible vision of them being caught and pulled out, like ALL the way.....we made teeny-tiny dangles. I bought, oh like a MEGA TON of these enamel components from Firemountain Gems a few years ago....like in EVERY shape, size and color....I kid you NOT! And like most things, they have sat in their little plastic shoebox container. Madelyn opened the container and went "Oooooooooooo....". And there you have it! Little Tiny Dancer earrings were born! We made 19 pair! Yeah. Seriously. I do not know if you can tell from the photo, but they are itty-bitty. I should have taken a picture of Miss Maddy with a pair in, but since she like changed them every couple of minutes it was hard to catch her with a matching pair! Oh, and I had to order more sterling silver earwires as she used just about the entire package I had on hand! Again....not kidding! Oh, I sound like I am complaining, but in truth, her little face just lit up, and she could not even wait until Daddy was in the door before she showed them to him. I gave her my black earring display frame you see in the photo until the one I ordered for her on Etsy comes in.....I HAD to get one to match her room right? And don't tell me I could have made it because seriously, I know I could have, but why??.... when someone else can!

All those bright colors DO have me in the mood to make some Katie Earrings that I used to sell a ton of. That might be on tomorrows agenda! I need a pair of my own! Something to brighten up these cold, dreary winter days!

Thanks for stopping in! Have a great weekend! Enjoy!

{This Moment}

From SouleMama "{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember."

Heart-Shaped Paper Clips

Picture courtesy of How About Orange

Hello all! Just thought I would stop in a show you all something that I thought was really cute and SUPER easy to do! I found the directions on the blog How About Orange, and came across a quick video how-to on Youtube also. Take a look and go make some of your own! Great for the kids for Valentine's day. We are going to make a bunch, tie them with a cute ribbon and give with the store bought valentine's for Madelyn's kindergarten V-Day party! How fun! Thanks for stopping in!

Bead Table Wednesday......BTW

Hello all! My Bead Table Wednesday is showing a work in progress (WIP). It is a gift for my mother. Don't worry.....my mom does not read my blog. It is Nancy Jones Dragon Bangle design as seen in Beadwork Magazine February/March 2011 edition.

What is on your bead table?

Tuesday Tutorial...and Nice People!

Hello all! And thank you to those who commented on my poor-pitiful-Polly-prissy-pants post yesterday! Thanks for coming back! :)

Ok. Long post coming here! I had an extremely talented photographer add me as a contact on Flickr the other day and I got up the gumption to contact her and tell her just how beautiful her photos were! I explained that I just got my camera and have been basically playing, reading and Googling anything about my new camera and taking pictures, and if she had any words of wisdom to feel free to educate me!

Her name is Aimee Edens, and she responded so VERY nicely stating, "I am so happy you contacted me and thank you so much for the lovely compliment! I just started in May of 2010. So I am pretty new at all of this as well." She went on to say that if I had any questions to feel free to ask. She also told me about another Flickr account that has fantastic textures to use as along as you credit the artist. Oh my heavens was she not kidding! FANTASTIC textures! I could have spent hours...no DAYS with them! Check them out HERE!

Why am I bringing this up you ask? Because I have also been inspired by the great Heather Powers of Humblebeads Blog to give you a little lesson (she has been doing Picnik lessons!). The lesson I am going to clue you in on is one that I did NOT know how to do! So.....here goes!

Using Picnik upload your photo. Choose which texture you would like to add to your photo! Ah Ha! THIS is where I was going crazy!!! I COULD NOT get the texture off of the Flickr site.....

Yes, yes, I know! NOW that I know how, I feel kinda silly, but it took Aimee to tell me how. Click on the texture you like until it brings it up all on it's own....and I mean ALL on it's own...the page where there is a black background. Ok, up in the top right you will see View All Sizes. Click on that! Once it is up, choose Large if it is not already. Then right-click the mouse and Save Picture As... and save to a new folder if you wish. One just for photo textures. And that's how you save Flickr pictures that are shared by others. Seriously, do you know how long I looked for this?? No...don't say it...please!

Check out this Youtube video below on how to add textures, or in this case a TTV texture to your photo. In the video where they pull the TTV texture up from a website, you would choose From Your Computer and pick from one of your saved textures.



Just another little tip before I go. After you have added your texture layer to your photo and have chosen your Advanced Blend Mode (I use Multiply a lot), you can change the color of your texture by playing around in the Photo Color area above the Advanced Blend Mode and also Fade the texture with the slide bar to show a little or a lot of your texture!!!! Hope you have fun and enjoy playing around with this as much as I have! Take care! Hope I did not confuse or bore you all to much! Happy Tuesday!

I Think....

....the weather is getting to me. I know I have a Vitamin D deficiency, but I take my supplements, so what could it be? I am tired, sick, drained, grouchy, NO energy, just plain pooped. I seriously feel like flopping face-down in bed and sleeping for a few years. Maybe I need to go to the tanning booth in town for some sunshine therapy???? What is up with me? This is seriously a boring rant.....but my brain is not functioning....I ramble! Seasonal affective disorder thingy??? Multivitamins not helping. Even WITH added iron and Vitamin C. I tried adding more protein to the diet. Drank cranberry juice with added energy stuff in it...., tried that Emergen+C stuff....

I mean, my eyebrows need waxing, my hair needs cut and colored....no energy to get the basics done. Dear Lord.....PLEASE do NOT let it be a relapse of depression....I AM TAKING MY MEDS! Ooops, TMI, SORRY! PMS? Ooops again! :)

I feel dysregulated.....a great word we use at work. Maybe I need to use DBT Skills! Ok, so I am NOT feeling as bad as THAT!

Does anyone else get this way this time of year? Could it be the season? The weather? Constant illness in this house? Plain old whinny-ass syndrome (bet that's it!). Need a good kick in the pants?

Ok, I am done....move along now, nothing to see here... :)
Hope YOU ALL have a great day! Thanks for stopping in, and if you made to the end of this post......GOD BLESS YOU! And, if you choose to come back again.....I LOVE YOU! :)

Take care!

Snow Day