A challenge?! How dare she?!

My friend, Daniele, of Thistle Farm presented me with a challenge a couple of days ago. Each Thursday, we are to blog about a creative accomplishment we achieved during the week. I agreed. What was I thinking?!

It's 9:15PM and I got nothin'. I know. I know. A very lame start to be sure. I'm hoping to have something to post for tomorrow. I've had many ideas swirling around in my head and it's time to produce these imaginations. This will certainly be a challenge as my desk is covered with new beads, works-in-progress, papers... and that's just the top layer. Also, I'll have the kids and my husband at home as everyone has the day off.

Hopefully tomorrow I will have found my desktop and been able to transform an idea into a lovely piece of jewelry. Thanks for keeping me on my toes!

Is this mine?

Meet one of my four cats, Taz (aka: "Naughty Man", "Bad Boy", "Big Boy Bad Boy" and many other nicknames). He's found a new place to claim as his own. This is a six drawer chest I bought at an auction last week. It has shallow drawers so I was thinking I could use it in my "studio" (which is actually my former living room that was rarely used and now more accurately should be called a drop-off zone). I'm not sure if this will end up being used to help me organize my studio or to help me organize another area of my home but one thing is for sure, Taz and I both like it.

Watchya' been doin'?

This is my latest adventure - torch-fired enameling. I had read Barbara Lewis' article in "Belle Armoire Jewelry" and then bought a bead pulling station from her etsy website. On the right are headpins I had made with copper wire that I balled the ends of. From there I heated and added different colors of enamel for this cool layered look. It was a good idea to start with headpins as the beads are a little more tricky. Getting the beads where you need them in the whole process will take a bit more practice but I'm happy with how these first tries turned out. I've been digging through my beads, scrap and anything else I can think of to start throwing them in the flame! Thank you Barbara for my new obsession!

Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler!

It's Mardis Gras time! This is the King Cake that my son, Ethan, and I made yesterday. His French class will be celebrating Fat Tuesday today with all kinds of French/New Orleans food. It's the first time I've made one of these. I found this recipe on www.epicurious.com (although I used a different glaze recipe). There are a bunch of recipes out there but this one had the most flavoring added to it. I have no idea what's traditional.

Here is a picture of some of the steps: raw dough after being braided, baked dough (an egg wash made it shiny - not sure why I did this as it ends up getting covered by the glaze) and the final baked product.

Summers Studio Giveaway!

LeAnn of Summers Studios is giving everyone a chance to win a BOWL FULL OF BEADS! Don't miss out on this opportunity. I know I'm not! Good luck!

GoD and DoG

My aunt (extreme animal lover) sent me a Windows Media Video from this website. Anyone dog lover/owner will appreciate (and agree with) this. Enjoy! (www.WendyFrancisco.com)

Photos from the Martha Stewart Show

It's almost been a month since I was at the Martha Stewart Show but I didn't get a chance to post these photos until now. Above is the view from our seats. Yes, we got the "back of the bus" seats and were in the last row. Now you know why so many people are looking at the monitors when they go to live shots of the audience. We can't see what's going on!
Here's Martha getting a touch up between segments. (Viewed from a monitor).
Here's one of the audience giveaways for that show. A set of two Riedel Champagne crystal glasses or tumblers. They're so light! Maybe since they're not so tall and not on a stemmed based I will be less likely to knock them over...
I think Martha has a professional photographer take pictures of her with the guests she has each day. This was a shot after the end of the show. From left to right: Bertha Gonzales of Casa Dragones (makes a mucho expensive sipping tequila - sorry no giveaways there!), Bronson Van Wyke (event planner), Emeril Lagasse, Martha Stewart, Danny Meyer (book giveaway "Mix Shake Stir"), and Jen Sgobbo (bartender).