Greene's Annual Arts & Crafts Festival

I will be at the Greene's Annual Arts & Crafts Festival again this year. It is next Saturday, July 24th from 9:00AM - 4:00PM. My tent will be in the same place as well. (The map, above, shows a portion of the festival's layout and where I will be located: Booth 206.) I hope to have a flag made for the outside of my tent to make it stand out a little more. We'll see if I actually get that done. As usual, many things to do before next Saturday.

My friend, Daniele, of Thistle Farm will be my neighbor again in booth 207. Keep your fingers crossed for nice weather. Hope to see you there!

Smoke 'em if ya got 'em!

Settle down, I'm talking about ribs. I hate cigarettes! Bleh!! My sons and I got my husband a smoker for Father's Day. Bob finally got his smoker assembled for the 4th of July. We bought hickory chips and two racks of spare ribs for our foray into the smoking world (or into the world of Dinosaur BBQ as Bob would like to believe).

The experiment was a huge success. We debated on a couple of things we might do differently next time. Our house sure smelled like we walked into Dino BBQ and that's a GOOD thing! Next time I think it will be a whole chicken with apple wood chips/smoke. Yum! (I hope...)

Happy 4th of July!

I thought I'd blog some of my favorite quotes from our founding fathers as a reminder of why we, in the U.S., celebrate today. Amazing people who laid down the groundwork for this nation and for those who are now protecting these principles. Thank you to those who are in the armed services, the families of these brave people, our veterans and those who have lost their lives in protecting our freedoms.

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It may be laid down as a primary position, and the basis of our system, that every Citizen who enjoys the protection of a Free Government, owes not only a proportion of his property, but even of his personal services to the defense of it.
George Washington

If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.
George Washington

Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories.
Thomas Jefferson

I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.
Thomas Jefferson

Belief in a cruel God makes a cruel man.
Thomas Paine

But such is the irresistible nature of truth, that all it asks, and all it wants is the liberty of appearing.
Thomas Paine

He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.
Thomas Paine

Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man.
Benjamin Franklin

Hide not your talents. They for use were made. What's a sundial in the shade?
Benjamin Franklin

(That last quote is for all you talented people out there...)

The Many Faces of a Coneflower

While my youngest son and I were waiting for the bus this morning, I noticed the various states of bloom my coneflower was in. None of them are in full bloom quite yet but I think they're beautiful none the less.

Allergies and the Muppets

You might be wondering what in the world do allergies and the Muppets have to do with one another. Take a good look at the guy on the left. This is the way my eyes feel and sort of look like due to my lovely seasonal allergies. Just thought I'd share this and hopefully give you a laugh at the mental image. What is my bag?! That would be eye bags.

Lorelei's Gotta Giveaway!

Lorelei Eurto is having yet another great giveaway on her blog. Visit, leave a comment and you're in for a chance to win some beautiful beads donated by Nan of Spirited Earth!

A Little Help Please...

I needed some help with my PMC work and also wanted to learn a couple of new techniques. Who to turn to?! Erin from Dragonfly Beads in Manlius, of course! I've taken a few courses from Erin now and it's always a pleasure to go to her shop and pick her brain. It was her shop that I got all the beautiful turquoise from at a trunk sale she had.

Here is the lentil bead that Erin helped me make. I just finished sanding it this morning. It's so pretty and fun! Now the decision is whether to antique it. I think I will in order to highlight the flowers. I can always sand it all off again (ugh).

What about the ring? Well, I made this a while ago however it looked quite different then. To be frank, it was downright ugly. It had the garnet in the middle but a different surround that I had textured and three round pieces on either side. I had also antiqued it. It looked like some goth piece of poo.

It's not perfect but it is miles better than it was. I talked to Erin at her trunk show about what we could do with it and she gave me a couple of options: add a couple more embellishments or saw off what I didn't like. Guess which option I chose. Erin was too nice to say the original was ugly but I know she was just being nice.

Erin is a great teacher. She taught me a few tricks and made me realize that I knew more about working with PMC than I thought I did. She even asked me if I had bought the ring blank. Nope, made it my very self, first time too. (Yes, that was a very blatant pat on the back.)