A New Adventure

Recently, one of my co-workers asked me if I knew how to make horse hair jewelry. I had never done anything like that and have never even seen any horse hair jewelry. I looked at some pieces on line and looked at a couple of tutorials about round braiding (which looks so much nicer than a regular flat braid). I checked a couple places on line for the silver pieces needed to finish off the jewelry and decided to go ahead and give it a try.

My co-worker was happy to be a guinea pig for me. She needed four bracelets, three of which were to be Christmas presents. I ordered the silver end caps and beads. She gave me the hair from four horses. I took a deep breath and started. My biggest challenge was learning the round braid. I printed off some instructions for one website. At first they didn't make sense to me. I watched several tutorials on You Tube, but they left me in the dust after the first twist of hair. I finally decided to use the instructions I had printed. It took me several hours to come up with something actually looked good, but after that it was pretty easy. I still have to learn how much hair to start with. One bracelet was so thick, I couldn't get the bead I'd purchased to fit over it.

Shortening up a long story, my co-worker was extremely happy with the how the bracelets turned out. Let me know what you think!

A New Business!

Check out my husband's new shop on Etsy! He makes beautiful handcrafted game bird calls. The link to his shop is: www.pacificnwwoods.etsy.com. He can take any of the ones he has listed and change out the reed inside to a different bird call.

I think they're gorgeous. Take a look!

I've been snookered!

You would think at my age, I would know better! I had someone come to my Etsy shop and want me to make five more bracelets like one in my shop for her bridesmaids in her wedding this summer. I said, "Yes" and well......., got ahead of myself and had the beads made by a lampwork friend of mine and bought the silver beads to go with them. I put them all together and sent an email to the buyer with pictures. She loved them! She said she couldn't pay until the end of the month (that was February). I have since sent her several emails, but have not received any answers. Boy, did I get burned! I just trusted that she would keep her word. I should know better...... Well, I'm not going to let it get me down. I learned a very valuable lesson. Wait until the money's in the bank before starting any custom work. It's time to move on....... a wiser person now. I'm putting in pictures of those bracelets.... They're beautiful!

A visit to San Antonio

Last Thursday evening I arrived in San Antonio, Texas to visit my daughter, Audrey, son-in-law, Bob, and granddaughter, Emily. They just moved there last August for Bob's new position as an ER nurse at So. Texas Regional Med. Center. My luggage didn't make it past Denver until 7:00pm the next evening! Had a great time shopping and talking and looking at the beautiful lampwork beads my daughter creates.

My granddaughter, Emily, will be 16 this coming weekend. She'll be getting a bouquet of tulips for her birthday from Papa and me. I started the tradition with our oldest granddaughter and have just kept on with it. I have one more granddaughter who will be 16 in a few years and three grandsons after her (don't know what I'll do for the boys).

We visited with my nephew, John and his daughter, Grace (named after my mom). Had a great time with them. Audrey made cookies with Grace and Emily painted her face and had her blowing bubbles in the backyard. They don't spoil her at all when she comes over to visit. It was so good to see them and hug their necks!

Two Lovely Days at the Beach

We had some cousins come to visit us from Michigan this past week. Since the weather report was for some nice weather on the Oregon coast, we decided to take them to Newport, Oregon for an overnight stay. The weather was awesome! Sunny, warm (65-70 degrees), no wind...... We walked on the beach, shopped, ate and just had a wonderful time. We saw an eagle sitting out on the rocks near Yaquina Bay Lighthouse and a Peregrin Falcon sitting in the trees. It was awesome! Could have stayed a few more days if we had had the time.

Are Diamonds a Girl's Best Friend?

About three weeks ago, while changing the sheets on my bed, I realized that I had lost the main diamond in my wedding ring. Now I have had that diamond for almost 50 years so I'm a little emotionally attached to it. We looked everywhere, crawled on hands and knees looking for the darn thing. So far, we haven't found it yet. I'm 95% sure it's in the house somewhere.

Well, anyway, I did have a diamond I could use as a replacement. It just happened to be in my grandmother's engagement ring that I had inherited. Of course, I had promised my youngest daughter she could have that ring when I passed on. And, my wedding ring was to go to my oldest daughter.

Now my kerfuffle (I learned that word from my dear friend, Terry, who is from New York) is that the two rings have merged. We just returned from the jewelers and my grandmother's diamond is now the center diamond in my wedding ring! It's gorgeous! I love it! And it's back on my left ring finger where it belongs! Looks like my girls will have to work out how to handle the ring after I'm gone.

The jeweler told me I should have the points on my rings checked every six months..... I don't think I have had any of them checked for six years. So do yourself a favor and stop by the jewelers and have the points on your rings checked. It's free at most jewelry shops!

Fabritopia.com

My daughter-in-law has a wonderful website called http://www.fabritopia.com/ where she sells fabric, patterns, quiliting magazines and much more. She has such an eye for color and puts together the most beautiful and interesting combinations. She also has a blog at http://www.jonag.typepad.com/ where she has great ideas, great pictures (even some of my darling grandchildren) and even some instructions on how to make binding, scarves, and more. I'm putting a few of her pictures in this post. The Shop Girl apron pattern is her newest addition. I think I'll make one of those. That darling little boy is our youngest grandson!