Sookie Stackhouse Bracelet

I finally did it. I created a bracelet for Miss Sookie Stackhouse! (pronounced: "suh-kee" -- NOT "sue-kee") It will be put up tomorrow. I have ONE on hand, but duplicates might be possible. :) To give you a hint... it's red... her favorite color! Gotta love the Southern Vampire Series!

In other news... I need to retract what I said about Natalie's arm... she was NOT hit by a ball as I originally thought. The little boy didn't see her coming and he kicked the ball... it was his FOOT that hit her hand. Thus the "snap". She's healing nicely although it's really sore, you can't touch the top of her hand at all. She can use most of her fingers but she can't do much in the way of putting pressure on anything. Her hand cast-thing (?) is getting filthy. Tomorrow night I'm going to bleach it. lol i figure she can sit in the living room and watch a movie while it's in the wash, plenty of time before bed. The cast is made of thick canvas fabric and has laces and ties everywhere, can't really explain it, but i'll take a photo of it this weekend.... after we bleach it! Ick. It's gross.

Did anyone see Kirsty Alley on Oprah today? Funny stuff!! She made me laugh out loud, always the battle of weight. Boy, can I relate to that. Boo hiss.

Well, ladies and gents... I's off fer the night. :) I'm going to finish three more custom orders and take photos of the Sookie bracelet, which, turned out beautifully! It's whimsical and fancy, all at the same time. A true Sookie bracelet. :)

Right now, while I sit here writing this blog post, my sweet little Bells is asleep just underneath my neck. She's the sweetest little thing. She spazzes out when the kids come home from school, wanting to romp with them outside. She is babied and carried around...still. She's growing too! (which I'm so thankful for because she still can't get up steps...NONE of them! LOL) If Emily would send me photos ::cough cough:: ::screaming:: ::stomping feet:: EMILY!!, i'd post 'em. :) Soon peeps, soon.

Nite!

Oh the moaning!!! (and smells)

(do you notice the time? ::sigh:: it's now just 4a in the morning and yours truly is wide awake. nice. so much for going to bed early and getting a good night's sleep!)

The husband is making noise. It's not like he never does this but it's bothering me. We run a fan in our room to keep the noises around the house, outside, etc to a minimum because I am and have always been, a light sleeper. Right now, my sweet husband is moaning. Well, I can't say that it's "moaning" necessarily but it's sure something! It goes like this...he takes a breath and then there's this long "mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm" like he's tasting something good or ... just moaning. it's rather off-putting, especially since it's been going on now for the last forty-five minutes and it has caused my brain to fully wake itself up. ::grrr:: it continues... breathing. mmmmmmmmmm. breathing. mmmmmmmmmm. breathing. mmmmmmmmmm. do you get the picture? yeah. not good.

In a firm voice I say...

"STOP."

It stops.

Well!! That was easy! It was just like pushing the Easy button from Staples!! Why didn't I think of that before? Where was my brain nearly an hour ago when this began? Oh right. ASLEEP. Argh.

So far so good. Quiet.

Okay, I'm going to try and go back to sleep. Wish me luck. ::crosses fingers::

Oh, and he farts in his sleep too. :0/ Again. not good.

(see you tomorrow, or should I say this morning?)

A really. really. good day!

It was a good day. A really good day. Aren't good days the best? :) Yeah. I reckin' they are.

I posted about twelve boxes this morning before leaving to have lunch with friends. We laughed ourselves silly, talking about books and who's reading what and when and whether or not I should try any of them. I'm a chick-flick book reader, we've already hashed this out so there's no need to talk about it again, but some of my girlfriends like reading books that make them cry.

Booo. Hisss.

No matter. They like what they like! I don't care! I stand firm. I am vigil. I shall not be defeated!! NO. NO I will not!

Anyhoo... we had a great time as usual and then I came home to what? To kill bees. Yup. You read that correctly. I came home to see my darling hubby sitting on the porch working on client stuff and enjoying the romping of Bella and Sallie in the front yard.

So. The bees?

Yes. We have bees. Bees that burrow into the wood of the house, right by the roof line and under the gutters. Darn those bees! We've dealt with them for five years and although the problem hasn't necessarily gotten any worse than it did that first Summer we moved in, we still do NOT. LIKE. THE. BEES. No. NO. NOOO! So I spent at least an HOUR with a red rake, swatting them to the ground and then stomping on them with my feet. :) Happiness. I think I stomped on about thirty of them by the time the hour was over. Yeah, and I don't want to hear about how they make honey and all that global warming crap. I no wanna hear it. Is that not very PC? No, I guess not. So pout about it. I don't care.

These are wood bees and they're destroying the wood on my house. We do not need these bees. They are trouble-makers and we have enough trouble-makers in the world. :) And, I had a lot of fun swatting their fat little furry bodies to the ground and making sure they were Dead To The World. :) (yeah, did you catch the Sookie Stackhouse title? :) Good one!!)

After the killing of the bees we took all the kids to the Mall where we made a fun stop at The Gap. :) The kids are now ready for Summer. Ahhhh... the joys of Summer. So much fun to be had! We will soon have our Summer pool pass and visit the water every single day when the sun is out. :) Joys abound!

We came back from our shopping spree to kill yet more bees, watch Bella play with the neighbor doggies and do a lot of sniffing. and running. and chewing. and chasing. It was fantastic! :) As soon as Emily has some more photos edited (cough cough!! EMILY hurrrrry!! cough cough!! -- I mean really, is school work that important???) I'll post them to the blog. :)

Well my peeps, I'm outie until tomorrow! I'm working on a few great things for Mother's Day. I'm also doing an Earring give-a-way. :) Have a great night. I'm working tomorrow... so I'll be around for emails. Talk atcha later!

Laurie

This was meant to go up earlier, but I wanted to get some things posted today so it had to wait. I used a variety of gemstones in this piece, quartz, agate, coral, amethyst, sardonyx (more white than black), adventurine and laced it with large freshwater pearls (triple grade, gorgeous polish!) and boro lampwork beads. It's a true tumbled beauty! I hope you enjoy it! Click HERE to view.

Also, an update on the Peace and Love Bracelet and Earrings sets that sold at my Spring Sale... the beads should be arriving next week and they won't take me long to string up and mail out. Everything else is already here, waiting (toggles, silver, gemstones etc). Thank you for being so patient! I had a lot more orders than expected and had to have more boro beads made up. Thanks so much!

Talk to you later :)
laurie

Namaste Bracelet Set

Good afternoon! I wanted to put this up before the day gets away from me. :) You can see it here...

In other news... I didn't get anything shipped yesterday. Around 1p I got a call from the school nurse, telling me that Natalie had been in an accident. Another student was playing with a ball (a soccer ball, we think) and he didn't see Natalie walking in front of him, likewise Natalie didn't see him getting ready to kick the ball. ::sigh:: As soon as she spotted him, the ball had already been kicked and Natalie put her hand up to stop it. Snap! So, long story short... it turns out that she broke a bone in the top of her hand... the bones that lead into the wrist. So, the rest of my day was consumed with that... it's always something around here, isn't it? One of these days people are going to think I make all this stuff up!

Natalie's doing okay, a little sore, but otherwise okay. Poor thing! You know, last year she broke her elbow because the neighbor filled a hole on her property with bricks (difficult to see, easy to feel!) and natalie fell into the hole while running between the houses. Here's to hoping that this is the last accident for Natalie!

I need to scat! Work to do and stuff to mail out! Have a great day! :)
Laurie

Don't miss Blog Specials!

Hey! Do you check my blog every day? I post just about every single day and sometimes I put specials up here that I don't put in my Shoppe. Did you know that? :)

One of my customer-friends stopped by and was shocked to find the Clay Pots bracelet up here and not in The Shoppe (altho I did just add it in), so I thought maybe I should get you all to sign up for Blog Updates via email. You can stop the subscription at any time, but should you want to stay tuned for specials, you might want to sign up. :)

Put your email address in the box below, and then make sure you go through the verification step. It's super easy. Many of you were signed up with my Typepad blog but since I moved to Blogger, those notifications will no longer continue. So sign up! :)

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Honey Lampwork Earrings

Hello! How are you!? How has your day been so far? Me? Okay...

Jeff made Zupa Tuscana soup for our teacher's appreciation week, remember two weeks ago when he made it and I had the date wrong? So we had that soup for three straight days for lunch and a couple times for dinner? lol Yeah. So, today he makes it for them and it was a HUGE amount (enough for 40 or so) and he says, "do you want me to make some for us?" My answer was easy. "No." How come? Well, aside from the fact that the soup is fantastic, I said that I'd burnt myself out on it and that it would be just fine if we made something else for dinner, and by "we" I mean "him" (he does the majority, if not all, of our cooking). I know. I'm lucky! :)

Anyway, we took the soup into the school and of course I had to bring Baby with us. :) She was immediately welcomed by anyone who realized she was, in fact, a puppy and not a stuffed animal. I don't know many adults who carry around stuffed animals, but whatever. lol So after we made the soup drop-off to all the hungry teachers awaiting its arrival, we did a few rounds of classroom stops. Many of the teachers are friends and I just love seeing their little faces! It was nice. Normally I don't go into the school very often so when I do, I like to stop in and say hello to all my peeps. :) ("peeps" is the slang term for "peoples", in case you didn't know this... just fillin' ya in on that)

Then we went to MacDonald's for a Southern Fried Chicken Sandwich with tons of pickles and a coffee. :) Me Likey the Coffee at Mac's. Speaking of "likey"... my husband was the one who put "me no likey" on the post about the dogs. He's such a goof!! He made the mistake of telling me. Me no likey the hubby's humor sometimes. LOL!!

Okay I need to scat. If you like the earrings, grab 'em up. I can also make them in any color. This pair is a shade of honey and sparkle in the sunlight. They're short but not dainty, they're a nice size and very noticeable. Fantastic! :) $26.99 with free shipping...

Bella & Deanie

Emily took a photo of Bella and Deanie. Now let me say that Deanie just happens to be the one with Bella most of the time, as she tends to think that Bella is her dog. Despite the fact we tell her all the time that Bella is every one's puppy (mainly MY PUPPY!), we still need to share her. lol Deanie carries her around and has only dropped her twice. ::sigh:: Bella is such a joy! We just love her little face. :) Thanks Emily for the photo!

We had a wonderful weekend and as much as I'm sad that today starts a new week of work, I am very pleased that the weather will be sunny for a few more days before the rain pours in. We do need rain! My plan was to do a bit of gardening but that didn't happen, instead my day was spent doing a ton of nothing and it was wonderful. Ahhh...

Today is spirit week at school, today's fashion was "bling". When I was growing up we never had this as a day all to itself. Bling? Really? Is that necessary? Our "bling" consisted of Nathaniel wearing all of his award medals from his years in school (many!--very noisy) and a football jersey, although he's no longer on the team. I didn't understand the reasoning behind the football jersey, I'm guessing in some circles that too is considered "bling?" LOL! I don't know. Natalie wore a nice outfit with my Esprit necklace and my Wicked earrings. :) That was enough 'bling' for her (thank goodness). The little girls both wore dresses and necklaces that they'd made themselves. They too chose to wear just one item rather than the overload that Nathaniel decided upon. lol I'm sure they'll have a wonderful day despite all the noise. Now that I'm thinking about it, I'm sure that Nathaniel's teacher will have them remove those jangles cuz, uh, can you imagine teaching with that clanging going on all day? I can barely stand people chewing around me, I can't imagine the noise of constant sounds of out-of-tune wind chimes going on. Ack! lol

I have work to do! You have a great day!
laurie

Lazy Sunday in the Sun ...

These photos were sent to me by a wonderful customer-friend, Tina. She has the cutest dogs ever! :) Akitas. This one is Maui, isn't she adorable! :) Huggable for sure!

I hope you enjoyed your weekend... there's only a little of it left ::sigh:: but thankfully Monday and Tuesday are supposed to be nice here in Kentucky. :) Yeah!

My Sister's Keeper - the movie

I read. No. Wait. Back-up. I listen. It helps pass the time while I'm torching or cleaning the kitchen or folding laundry or beading or, or, or. It began with the upset that I couldn't finish the final Harry Potter book and desperately needed to finish it. Jim Dale happened to be on tv to receive an award for his narration. Why not? I thought. So I bought the seventh book on audio and I haven't looked back since.

I suppose one might ask why I wasn't reading something of more substance, say a book on how-to-anything or on the life of some great person that I don't know. Nah. That's not for me. I'm a chick-flick kinda gal and have zero interest in bettering herself with the know-how's of someone else who already figured it out. *smirk* No, wait, I do want to better myself, YES! But I really like to 'escape' when I'm working, have my own place to go in the midst of the beautiful chaos that lies in front of me... oodles of colorful rods stacked on top of one another, ahhh the color. I so love the color. (here I go again with the color!) Okay, let's put it another way...

When I began this thing that I do, this awesomeness thing of making jewelry, it was a hobby, or I thought it would be a hobby. Fast-forward seven and a half years later? Yeah. It is so not a hobby. It turns out that it's more than a hobby, it's a job. Someone once said that if you want to succeed in life you must do what you love. Well, I don't know if I've necessarily "succeeded" in life but I sure do LOVE what I do. At night, I think about beads, I dream about beads, I wake up thinking about what I can do with beads... well, you get the point. So, yeah. I love what I do. For that, I am more than grateful and cannot believe how this gig landed its way into my lap. Awesomeness on a platter.

Yup. So now that my hobby has become my job, I have no hobby. I needed a hobby. Oh boy, now what? WHAT NOW? I could take photos or scrap (like *someone* I know) but I'm not really good at either of those things and as much as I'd love it, I don't have that kind of "extra time" to devote to a true HOBBY.

So. My hobby is this. Listening to books on my iPod. At any given time I carry around fifteen books with me and it's fantastic. I flip through them as if I'm turning the pages of my favorite magazine. My eyes glaze over when the book becomes intense and the thrill is creeping up on me unexpected, I have to pay close attention. Is there no better feeling than getting lost in a good book? Okay, I'll answer that for you... no, there's not! And, it's not like I just picked up the habit of "reading" yesterday. LOL Nope, ladies and gents, to your amazement I have been reading novels since I was a child and yessss... I read them. Puleeze. I see your eyes rolling at me. What's with that anyway?! (growing up my favorite book series was Flowers in the Attic -- yeah I know it's a gross story but come on now, it was a GREAT series!) I think I've just evolved into the next level of reading. Listening. (no eye rolling!)

Currently, I am listening to Charlaine Harris' novels about Harper Connelly. I love them. I actually just finished them and in great need of a new book series that I can sink my teeth into (no, they don't have to be vampire books!--Harper isn't a vampire, mind you).

A few of my friends suggested that I read, My Sister's Keeper, by Jodi Picoult. I have to say that I found it thoroughly entertaining and completely plausible, although I was LESS THAN THRILLED with the ending. Which is probably why I stopped reading all the Jodi Picoult books (ie: 19 Minutes) because I was tired of being in the courtroom (most of her books develop in the courtroom). Not my thing. Plus, the endings! OMG. I am NOT a fan of bad endings. Sad endings. Slightly sad endings (ie: Odd Thomas) or anything close to being sad. No. Didn't you hear me before? I like CHICK-FLICKS? So translate that into CHICK-BOOKS and we're on the same page. :) Yessereee. I so love me a good story where everyone ends up together in the end. :) What's wrong with that? I'm also not a fan of crying while working. There has been more than one occasion where I had tears streaming down my face (and nose) and dripping onto my work table. Uh? Yeah. That's not fun. I like drowning in happiness and laughing. Escape! Remember? Keep up!

However, having said all of the above, I need to mention that My Sister's Keeper was simply fantastic and had me on the edge of my seat the entire time, not knowing where it was going until the final scene and then and only then did I realize that it wasn't going to end ANYTHING like I had in my mind. That's a good book, if you ask me. So, when I found out that a movie was being made of the book, well I got a little excited and thought I'd share the video from youtube with you all. :) Now, don't go out and read the book. Just wait for the movie. The book is about 20 hours long and unless you have a lot of time to kill, just wait and see it in the theaters when you can have a nice cold diet coke and a bag of gummy bears. :) That'll do.

Remember, if you want to watch the clip, scroll to the very BOTTOM of my blog and turn off the playlist music player so you don't have two things going at once. :)

Clay Pots Gemstone & Lampwork Bracelet

Hello everyone! I hope you're enjoying your afternoon! I managed to list the bracelet I'd made the other day and believe it or not, here it is. :) It's a little different than my normal style, but perfect for the Summer months. It's filled with gemstones and lampwork discs, a nice large-sized Bali ornate bead and a cute little Karen Hill Tribe Elephant charm. There's no crystal in this bracelet because I think it should be worn at the beach, poolside or hiking in the mountains... and crystal isn't really good to take to any of those places... (maybe if you're poolside and just lounging... now that might be okay... lol). So, this bracelet is just right to take along wherever you travel this Summer. You can find Clay Pots here. Enjoy!

Blooming Bright ... on this happy Friday!

You know how wonderful this day is? It's Friday. No plans. Nothing major on the agenda that we need to do, maybe a little yard work and that's it. I am SO excited! The kids? Now that's another story. lol They have plans. Nathaniel is going to Noah's. Natalie's having Amber spend the night. The little girls (ie: Colie and Dean) are headed to Gracey and Katey's. I do believe that's the plan ... for them. I, on the other hand, plan to make some beads, take some photos and do some relaxing. This week was long but went by quickly, I'm thankful for that. With each passing day it brings us to the warmth of Summer and the happiness it brings.

The kids are elated to know there are roughly 30 days of school left, can you believe it? Yeah. Me neither. We're all looking forward to it! :) I love Summer! Don't you? :)

On this happy day I thought I would show you a custom order I completed, Blooming Bright... I had a good time making these beads in yummy Spring and Summer colors. :)

I might be back later on, I have a few specials to throw up... it just depends on my day. I'll keep you posted! :)

xo,

laurie

Specials All Sold

Thanks to all those who purchased the specials today. They're all sold and shipped. If I don't have to resize things, it makes it much easier. I'm trying to make bracelets a standard size, a normal size is roughly 7 3/4ths in length, but I understand if a different size is needed. Anyway, thanks again and now I need to get back to work! :)

Dream of ... relaxation Lampwork Bracelet

Gorgeous new style in The Shoppe.

Two new specials for the week.

I wanted to laugh this morning when I saw the news about the phone calls, saying "the warranty on your vehicle is about to expire" and how people are being inundated with these sorts of calls. I am one of those people. Each week I probably get ten to fifteen of them, that's right, ten to fifteen. It drives me bonkers. Sadly, it turns out that I can't even get off the list as it's just a recording making the phone call because I sure would like to get OFF of that list and stop receiving these calls. The only other alternative is to change my cell number and that's not going to happen, I've had that number for twelve years. :) And I like it. LOL

The weather is supposed to be nice today. I sure hope so! Yesterday was so pretty, that it made my work day just wonderful! You all have a great day too!

Possibilities Lampwork Bracelet

A new style in The Shoppe.

Ahhh the SUNSHINE!

I can't tell you how elated I was to begin my day with sunshine streaming into my studio room. It made my workload easier, lighter, happier.

My day started with the cleaning of my floor. You know? It's not like my 1964 oak hardwood floor, with its scratches and lines from chairs running across it, is all that ugly. It's not. It's quite nice even with the scratches and lines. And I do care about the kind of space that I work in, but when I get rolling, like I have been the last week and a half, I just throw stuff when I'm done with it. Well, I don't really "throw" it, I just drop it. At my feet.

My work table is high. My chair is high. My feet cannot touch the floor unless I get off said chair. lol Why don't I have a rubbish bin? (I love how the English call them rubbish bins, so I'm copying for the sake of sounding cool) I used to have one. I just don't any more. Someone stole it. Probably a child wanting to use it as a bucket to use for pretend play. Possibly my husband who tends to steal a lot of my stuff, ie: my favorite pink tool set that I snagged from Target a couple years ago. Nice. I sure miss that tool set. And then there's the unknown somebody who tends to take a lot of things around this house. So, like I said, I have no trash can. I need one. You should see the one we have in our kitchen. It's garbage-can-sized only it's galvanized and silver in color and AWESOME. I love its lid. I digress.

So my floor was cleaned properly today. It's pretty again and all is right in my room. My work table itself is tidy too. It happened because I was looking for a missing charm that I didn't think wanted to be found but alas it came out from hiding and in the process my wooden table top was cleaned. :) It too is happy again.

Just don't ask me about my glass work-area. It is NOT clean and I hate to even admit how upset it looks at the moment. Ask any lampworker (who's a good lampworker, not these fly-by-night people who rarely make beads and have cleaner-than-clean work spaces... they cannot possibly be a true lampworker! if you're someone whose area is tidy and neat and you make hundreds of beads a week... then well, there's just something wrong with you! LOL) and they'll tell you that the creative process is sometimes at its best when the area is full of color, used-up short rods of glass, twisties that you made because you were waiting for your kiln to ramp up, stringers of every color and jars and jars and jars of unused rods in front of you for sheer inspiration! This is how my creative mind works its magic and feels at home. I love my work station. :) Altho I wish I had a pair of sexy glasses to wear, but they're very expensive and are on my LIST. (again, with the list!! -- banisters, new steps, camera, roof, gutters, deck, bed, vacation, carpeting... yeah, remember? the LIST?)

Well, I best get back to it. Today I finished another ten orders so you'll be getting them in the mail in the next couple of days. Florence P., Tina L., Jennifer P., Jessica A., Kellie W., Christy W., Tamela C., Wendy S., Carol T. and last but not least... Fran. E. :) More tomorrow!! I won't be putting much up until I can get the majority of these finished.

Talk to you later, have a great afternoon!
laurie

My Own Style Gemstone Necklace

Hello Everyone! Turns out that I had to take Deanie to her Jazz class tonight (normally Jeff takes her) so I'm a bit late in putting up the necklace, but... HERE I AM! :) lol

This 19" necklace with 2" extension chain has natural gemstones and pink Jade (dyed). The AAA grade Onyx puffy oval focal sets off to the side and all the little rondelles in between the gemstones are also Onyx. I found these stones at the show and had to get them. They're $34.99 with free shipping, a super gift for Mom's Day.

If you'd like to purchase one of the My Own Style necklaces, click the button below. :)

New work in the works.

Aside from making over a hundred beads last night at the torch, I finished up eight more orders! Yeah! It's getting better, I feel good. :) lol I loved my time at the torch, I have to tell you, because I finished some gorgeous colors. Lately, I've been in the solid-color-mood and it just feels so nice to make some simple yet rich-in-color beads. Gorgeous stuff, I tell ya! I'll be putting them into work soon.

Later today I'll have a special. It's a gemstone necklace with lots of muted colors with hot pink thrown in, I have seven in stock and they're going to be $34.99. Yup. As soon as I put the photo up I'll attach a pay button, but it will only be on the blog. The photos are already edited, I just need to post them up here.

Be back soon!
laurie

Happy Monday!

Hello All! :) How was your weekend? Hope it was nice.

Lots going on in my house this week, getting the remaining orders out the door. :) Thank you for being patient with me, I'm taking them one order at a time. At one point last week I had more than 60 to complete and I was a tad frantic, thinking I'd never finish, but now I'm better. LOL Thank you so much!

Not much to tell, just stopping by to say hello and to show off another one of Emily's photos. Soon, she'll have a site where she can put her work but when she photographs my Miss Bella, well, they'll still land here. :)

Talk to you all later,

laurie

Bead Show. Fun. Rain.

Okay. So. The bead show? It was great. It wasn't nearly as large as the show's that come to Cincinnati but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Not many people there to crowd around each table, making it difficult to even see any of the items for sale, nope... maybe fifty people walking about. Awesome stuff. I found a lot of wonderful pieces that I absolutely cannot wait to use! Avacado greens, Fiesta corals, lemony yellows, candy apple reds... ahhhh, the beauty of color! At one point, I thought I was going to eat them right off the table. :) lol Moon came with me and thankfully she understands the addiction one might have to these sorts of things... she with her love-affair with paper and punches and me with all things beading. However, I really like paper too! I just never get to use it.. I need to make time!! ADD IT TO THE LIST!! :) So after the bead show, Jill, Moon's GPS navigational systems helper, took us promptly and EASILY to Rafferty's, one of our favorite lunching places. You can get a salad and soup for 7 bucks! And, it's a great salad. Definitely check it out if you have one in your area. :)

Later, we met back up for dinner. We had my folks, Moon and her kiddo's and my crew. Pizza. Roasted marshmallows over the fire pit, making S'mores. Charlie throwing golf balls in random fashion (classic!). Charlie trying to help Jeff build a fire. Charlie wanting to carry HUGE sticks cuz he so strong! Girls giggling and making their food talk. Moon chasing after Charlie. Us laughing. Sallie and Bella playing--sooo cute! I did a lot of watching. LOL It was fun!

It's raining today. We have very little internet connection. Odd how bad weather can cause this. We have mild rain. Nothing major. Just rain. And no connection. Nice. I'm using the wireless thing that Jeff takes with him on appointments. I love that thing!

Talk later,
Laurie

My Newest finds!

Hello! I just wanted to make a quick post and let you have a sneak peek at my newest finds! :)

This next photo is from a customer who asked me to create something in these colors, I think I did pretty good, don't you!? I LOVE the strands that I purchased and this is just a drop in a big bucket. :) I really grabbed up a LOT of beautiful sizes, colors and shapes.

Talk to you later!
Laurie

My Baby Bella

She is just the light in our lives, we adore her. She makes us giggle and we all want to kiss her constantly. :) I thought I'd show you a couple photos that our wonderful and extremely talented fourteen-year-old neighbor took of her! :) Emily, you're awesome girl! The one below is my ABSOLUTE favorite! Isn't she precious? I know. I know she is. :)

A great day! Soar Necklace.

We had a great day with Nathaniel on his eleventh birthday, still can't believe my long-haired, very in-style son is eleven. He's grown by leaps and bounds this last year and it only shows me what's ahead, ack!! :)

He asked for money this year, something he's never done before really so this was a new change. I didn't mind, I am not a big shopper, believe it or not, I rarely go to the mall. I find it to be very annoying, too many people, and if it requires me to spend a lot of money I do not have, then I definitely want to stay away from it. LOL! Jeff, on the other hand, is a "window" shopper and in our nearly fifteen years of marriage has never EVER understood how I can't find "window" shopping fun. Yuck. Not a fan. LOL Oh well, to each his own. Anyway, The Boy asked for money. So we gave him money and we bought him a set of golf clubs, something he's been wanting for a little while now. You try finding a set of nice junior-sized golf clubs for a left-handed person! It ain't easy, folks. LOL But, the hubby was savvy enough to find this great set at Dick's and he snagged them right up. :) Nathaniel LOVED them. I was so glad. Next, he'll need lessons. Tiger Woods, here we come (lol).

With his money from both Grandparents and some saved money from other holiday gifts (Valentine's, Easter etc), he plans to buy a netbook, a small version of a laptop. My friend Shelley has one and she loves hers so this is what he wants. In the end, I don't know what he'll choose, a desktop or a netbook, but either way it will be a computer of some sort. He's tired of sharing with the girls, who like to play on Barbie, Webkinz and Build-a-Bear (mainly). We used to have three computers for them but two of them have died and we just didn't see the need to buy more just now.

Last night we met up with some friends and went to Sonny's. Had a great time and although Natalie didn't enjoy her BBQ pulled chicken, she did enjoy being with the kids. :) Nathaniel got a little cake from the Sonny's crew and they even sung to him. :) Good times.

So, that's it. His day was a success! :)

My parents come this afternoon so I need to get going, we still need groceries. I'm debating about just going to the mexican place in town to keep me from cooking. I don't know, we'll see. I have a lot of work to do. Talk to you later and have a GREAT weekend! I'll probably be back with my news from the Bead Show. Boy, I can't wait!!

Laurie :)

PS: I posted a photo of the Soar Necklace too. :) Earring photos coming.

Cobblestones Oxidized Sterling Earrings

Beach Girl Oxidized Sterling Earrings

Ocean Blue Oxidized Sterling Earrings

Sterling Silver Oxidized Earrings!

Hello Everyone! :) I hope you have a great Friday. My folks are coming for the weekend so I'll be busy but I'm sure I'll find time to post (during the night) so definitely check back in. I have some new things to post.

For about three years I've been talking to my friend Caryn about oxidizing sterling, and I've finally made some sterling silver earrings after being dipped in a solution to oxidize them, making them "sterling black." Personally, I love this look, something I'm drawn to and felt like I needed to get some made. So, here they are... just these three to begin with but I have more coming.

I'll also be posting Soar. I love how simple and fun it turned out and can't wait to get it up. I'll do that later today. I just need to make paypal button for the blog since there's only one in stock right now.

Talk to you soon!

laurie

ps: all the earrings shown are 24.99 with free shipping.

Happy Birthday Nathaniel!

Our son turned eleven today. I can't get over it! ELEVEN! Next year he'll be in middle school. What? How did that happen? I have no idea. ::sigh:: We love you bud, and hope you have an AWESOME day!

Today Jeff and I are heading to WalMart to get one of those cookie cakes, Nathaniel specifically asked for it. We'll take it into school around 1p. for his class to enjoy. :) We also need some groceries as my shelves in the frig are getting empty, that happens a lot around here. lol

I'm sooo looking forward to the bead show this weekend, I cannnnnot wait! I probably say that about every bead show I attend--no judging! I love beads, can't help it. Whenever my FedEx woman arrives at my door with her hands full of packages via overseas, I get weak in the knees. :) Can't wait to rip them open to see what's inside.

Also, the five spots filled up pretty quickly so I'm going to keep the Saturday day instead of going with a number. If your wait-time gets over a month, I'll tell you, but so far all of the custom orders are going to be fairly easy for me to finish. Stone Trails, Patience, Summer Goodness SET, Pink Fluff, Fresh Slice and a couple others... these are all things I've made before so it won't take me long to finish them. :) Anyway, if you want to place an order, let me know.

Talk to you later, have a great day!
laurie

Thank you.

I'm taking a break for a minute, been working all day and I still have more beads to make. The rumble of my concentrator is running just above me on the upper floor. I've often thought how interesting it is, this thing that I've gotten myself into... this glass, these beads, all that "stuff" that seems to come together seamlessly and effortlessly. There are days where I think this was such a fluke that I had this talent, that anyone can do this.

But then I get emails from gals who just adore their pieces and long for more, that makes it so worth it. Yeah, I am not so out-of-touch with the reality that there are so many that do this, design and create, but do they take it to heart as I do? I don't know. I suppose. I am sure they do. Yes. I am sure. I am so grateful for that.

This weekend I will be heading to the bead show to yet again purchase more "stuff". I am giddy with excitement, my mind racing of the designs that I want to create, the designs that I long to design. So much going on upstairs in this brain. :) You've no idea how fantastic it is for me to walk into a large space filled with tables, strands of gems, trays filled with new silver pieces and pearls... ahhh the pearls... I'm in need of them, can't wait to find some more!

For all of you who're waiting on your things, thank you for being patient with me. I've had a lot going on here these last few months. For those of you (and you know who you are!) who keep adding to your orders... LOL... no worries, they're all here and I'll ship this and next week.

Thank you so much. I just thought I needed to make a thank you post for all those of you who keep coming back for more "stuff" and making me feel very, very special. :)

xo,
laurie

Finishing touches!

Hello! How are you? I hope things are going great on this fine, fine day! I've been busy working on my blog and in between doing customer orders. I'm still working on finishing touches to the blog, but the two things, Facebook and Twitter, have been added! Yee haw! I love being connected, awesome stuff.

If you don't Facebook, you really need to check it out. If you think you have no friends or don't have anyone who's looking for you, I can assure you, you're wrong. Moon found a friend she hasn't seen since childhood and now they're getting together in Hilton Head (I'm quite jealous!), I don't think I have any friends who're wanting me to go on vacation with them. LOL Oh well. LOL A friend from my childhood found me this morning and I learned that he's a diver and goes on amazing sea exploration trips all over the world. Wow... who knew? I sure didn't. See? That's one of the amazing things about Facebook, you get to find out what everyone has been doing for the last, oh, twenty-five years (or more). Definitely worth some time. My Mom is even on there! And if she can do it, anyone can. Oh, My MIL is too. See?! Even the older gals can get on there. :) Even if you want to stay connected to those who aren't that far away, it's just the best. Ok, enough on the Facebook commercial. Wait! Click the linky to the right and become a fan of byLGD!

Become a follower too! Just below that you can become a follower of my blog and get updates when I make them. I hope it will encourage you to make your own profile and possibly your own blog. Who knows, you just might end up loving the blogging experience and put up fun recipes and things you did on your last holiday. :) Remember now folks, it's free and you SO cannot beat free! (another commercial? LOL I suppose.)

I'll have a few specials soon. Either tomorrow or Thursday, I can't say just yet since I still have orders to get out the door.

You all have a terrific day and check back soon.

Hugs,

laurie

It's Official. I'm on blogger.

Phew. I've been working on my blog now for about three hours. I'm still not done! LOL It's okay, it's mainly moved and in place. My next job will be to add Facebook, Twitter, RSS and a few other things and possibly a few fun little pictures and that's it I think. Not sure just yet. :) I flip back and forth. I love the clean look with the colorful header... it's more me.

Be sure to become a follower! It's super easy to sign up and make a profile, I did it in about five minutes. I don't have any followers yet... wha! (lol)

I will reply to all the emails tomorrow. I'm exhausted and need to go to bed. :)

talk to you later!
laurie

Welcome!

I'm still working on it, but I'm finally on blogger. Does that make me an official blogger? I guess so!

Jeff moved all my typepad files over for me and while it will take me some getting used to, being on Blogger, I'm glad for the move. I hope to add some fun widgets and make my blog as happy here as it was on typepad. :) You just can't beat FREE! If you don't blog, definitely think about it, I get so much joy from it and so do many, MANY of my friends. Get bloggin'!

See you later,
laurie

My Old Blog Posts on Wordpress.

You can find all my older blog posts from the last few years here. :)

Sometime I might consider moving officially and/or exclusively to Wordpress but for now I'm just not ready for a new learning curve. LOL In the last few years I've had MANY learning curves and while they're super for making your brain step it up a notch, they put me behind with my daily work load, plus they keep me up at night. :)