January is upon us...

Man, I cannot believe that another year has passed.  Shucks, I can barely believe that two weeks have passed since my last post.   Hmmmm, what have we done?  Well, the fridge went out and we attempted (unsuccessfully) to live out of coolers in the garage until the repairman arrived.






Fortunately, the repairman had the necessary part for the fridge and we were back in business.  We did have to toss out the food that I tried to keep, but the weather got unseasonably warm here and no amount of ice was going to stave off the botulism.  Gave the fridge a thorough cleaning and off to the grocery store we went. So we're all stocked up again and the fridge is sparkling and working like brand new.


The hubby wanted a new desk for his home studio and after numerous (probably five or six) visits to the few furniture stores that are in our area, I convinced him to build his own.  He is a residential carpenter by trade, specializing in trim, so I knew he could do it. He has built shelves in the past and did a great job on them. He spent several days on the internet, looking at plans, and YouTube videos and decided not only to make his own workstation, but to video the procedure.  Here is a quick shot of him in the initial stages of building the desk.

While he was doing his research on the desk, I was getting together a rather large order from Fire Mountain Gems.  I usually replenish my stash several times a year and FMG had such a good sale going on that I really racked up the items for under $200.00.

They had tons of books on sale for $2.00 and ...

lots of beads that looked interesting. I also got "findings", those little bits and pieces of metal that go into making jewelry look professional. Crimps and clasps and eye pins and such.

I made two bracelets this weekend and

I also strung together some spotted jasper donuts for a simple necklace that works so well with the black long sleeve knit shirts that I seem to live in lately...

I also put together a faceted plastic necklace that is very lightweight, but will definitely fill the bill when I need a bit more sparkle...

Of course, this picture doesn't do this piece justice.  It is very reflective and has the look of hematite in a plastic bead.The beads are reversible Not my usual type of design, but I like to at least try to step out of the box sometime.

Well, that's it for now.  I'm hoping that everyone is having a great first week of 2012.  Keep doing your art, staying creative in whatever manner is you.  Staying true to yourself doesn't mean doing the same thing all the time, unless you have a certain style that your livelihood depends upon.  If that is the case, you can always branch out some, just for yourself.  Like I said last time, it's ok to get your groove on, but stay out of that rut.

That's all, I'm outta here!