My second day in my flameworking class was great. I had gone in early to take advantage of the lab time. Looking back now, I got a little over excited and tried to plunge ahead of the class and attempted to make dots on beads before the lesson. It was fun, but after the class had ended I can see why I should have waited for the instruction before. It was still a learning experience. :) I should have practiced making my lifesaver shaped beads instead. I did kind of do that, but then I put some wonky dots on them too. :D
The lesson plan for the day was to learn how to make dots, and then put dots on dots. As my teacher said "Dots nice". ;) The final ideal bead was to be an eye bead. Eye beads are used for protection. They ward off the evil eye, bad luck, and bring good fortune to the wearer. By the end of class, I had a few eye beads, and a couple nice dot beads. I also had a few less attractive beads, and some plain lifesaver beads too. The other lesson I learned from that class, don't rush. Don't rush thru making a bead just to make another one. I have a couple beads I stuck in my vermiculite that were too hot and ended up getting damaged. Some might think I should ditch these damaged beads, but I could never do that. Its a journey, and I want to be able to see the distance I've come since the first class.
Tomorrow is Valentine's Day. I am still having a sale in the shop thru the end of the holiday. So if you see something you like, you can get 15% OFF with the coupon code LOVEYOU during checkout. :) Hope you all have a Happy Valentines Day!
My best eye bead with two plain little green beads.
A day for family, friends, memories, good times, big meals, and more. This year, my family had Thanksgiving on Monday. It was the only day that we could all get together without work conflicts. Then today, I gathered for Thanksgiving part two: Turkeys Revenge. Well, more like Thanksgiving lunch, hot turkey sandwiches. It was delicious. :) Soon we will be gathering again with more family for some T-Day dinner of some sort.
I just wanted to take a minute to say how thankful I am. I'm thankful for my Sweetheart, my family, my friends, my health, my home. I'm thankful for the food I eat, the clean water I have, the heat in the winter and air in the summer. I'm thankful for my car and my job. I'm thankful for the ability to express myself creatively.
Hope for those of you celebrating have a Happy Thanksgiving.
While risking sounding like a great big holiday sap, I'm going to share a story...
Tonight was my friends holiday cookie exchange. A tradition that I have been lucky enough to take part of for the last 3 years now. The first year I got invited was because one of my friends mothers friends couldn't make it at last minute, and they asked me if I would like to be a part. Well, I think she did end up being able to make it or something, but I think I ended up having to bake 13 dozen cookies. This year and the last its been 12 dozen, and I'm pretty sure that will end up being a set number from now on. More than 12 dozen cookies gets a little out of control.
Anyway, this year has been hard for me to get in the spirit, but I would like to thank my 6-year-old Goddaughter, and her little 2-year-old sister for rekindling some of that magic for me. Though the budget was tight, I picked up a little book for them, and made them each an ornament.
When I arrived I was greeted by my Goddaughter, and shortly after she told me she had a present for me. She ran to the kitchen and right back with a little box in her hands that she proclaimed proudly that she had wrapped all by herself without any help, and with what had to have been an entire roll of tape. That alone makes me smile. There was a little gift wrapped and taped to the outside. It was her gift to me from her schools Santa Shop. Its crazy to me, because I remember Santa Shop when I was a kid. Mom would give me money and I would get to go shopping for my family members, picking out each thing specifically for them. I unwrapped it, and it was one of those magic towels. In case you are unfamiliar, basically a compressed cotton brick that you put in water and it expands and turns into a towel. Mine has penguins on it. The bigger box I unwrapped had an ornament just for me with "Godmother" in red on a silver bulb. It was very sweet. It had to be the look on her little face when I looked up, how excited and happy she was to give it to me, that really struck me right in the heart. She gave me a big hug, and when I told her I had something for her and her sister, she got so excited. By the end of the night, her and I ended up on the couch, reading the story book I got her together.
Christmas is different being a grownup. Its harder to keep that magic going sometimes. My Goddaughter reminded me tonight though why I like Christmas. She was so happy to give me a present. She didn't even know I had something for her. I had gone there, planning to surprise them with a little gift, when in fact she surprised me. She gave me a better gift than she even knows.
Well, time is just flying by. Thanksgiving today. I'll blink and it will be Christmas tomorrow. I've been working on a few custom orders. Some new jewelry. Trying to get my present and card list in order. I've only got one present so far. Debating on the big black friday rush, but I don't need a flat screen tv, or mass amounts of DVDs, and I would LOVE to get myself a new laptop, but I would imagine people who want those are already in line. Which means, I am already too late for something like that. So, I don't know if black friday is something I will be participating in.
So far this season, southern Michigan has had a pretty mild November. It doesn't feel like Christmas time to me at all. Makes it hard for me to get in the mood for it all. Snow might help, but then that means snow. Which means boots, shovels, heavy jackets, cleaning cars off.... ETC. Don't know if that is what I really want after all.
I planned on being ready for it. I meant to have my cards done, and most if not all, of my presents collected. Not necessarily wrapped, but ready to be. I right back in the same situation as usual. Scrambling to get things done. So, I am going to try like crazy to get it together in the next few days. Play some catch up. Or at the very least, get my custom orders done so someone else can have a nice holiday and not be scrambling.
OH! I almost forgot to say what I am thankful for... I'm thankful for many things. My sweetheart, my friends, my health, my family, my animals, my life. There is more, but it would take forever to write it all out. So, to all of you out there celebrating, Happy Thanksgiving.
