Beads, Wires and Dowel Rods

HELLOOOOOOOOOOOO everyone!

I haven't posted since last week, but I have been preparing to.  I've been very busy lately in a good way.  I'm working on gifts for Christmas which MAY or MAY NOT even occur for us.  Some years, our family likes us and some years they don't.  We never know what to expect.  Since it is all about Jesus anyway, we manage to get through it.  Honestly, though, we don't look forward to the holidays.  I haven't seen Jerry's daughter or her kids for 6 years -- Jerry saw her for a few hours one afternoon.  It's heart wrenching all the time, but even more during the holidays.

When our girls were growing up, we ALWAYS had big celebrations for Thanksgiving and Christmas at OUR house, and our parents were ALWAYS included.  I wouldn't have dreamed of not including them.  It was just a "given".  The world has changed so much, and not for the better.

Were my parents perfect?  No!

Was I perfect?  No!

Were our kids perfect?  No!

What does THAT have to do with it?  Christmas is about Jesus.  You come together as a family to show God how much you love HIM by loving each other, whether or not they are perfect or have never screwed up.

OKAY.  I will get off my soap box.  That one is so hard for me to stay off of.  Somehow, I keep jumping back up there every year about this time.

WHAT HAVE I BEEN DOING ALL WEEK???

I'm so glad you asked because I made a video for you to SHOW you.  A picture is worth a thousand words, as they say.  It isn't too long.  Check it out:

Aren't you EXCITED!?

I sure am.  I made a new necklace for myself today, and it was so very easy to find all the things I needed.  I grabbed each object needed for my project, brought it to my table and began the new project while watching church on the computer as we always do.

Here is a picture of my "stuff".  Notice the gold beads that look like little cages.  I had to get those white pearls INSIDE the cages.  You can see that they do NOT fit though those bars in the cage.  Yep.  A new skill I had to learn.

The first few were very hard as I flung several up at the ceiling or across the room.  The pliers kept slipping and falling out of my hand.  I didn't know if I would be able to do it or not, but I finally got the hang of it.



 It took me about 5 hours, but it is done, and it is GORGEOUS.  All of the gold is "gold-filled" and quite expensive.  Much cheaper than solid gold, however.

I'm not about to pay for solid gold unless someone out there comes up to me, looks at my necklace and faints.

The pearls aren't real either, AND, they have a hole going through them.

I finished the necklace about 30 minutes ago.  It is REALLY hard to photograph a necklace.  I am wearing a gray tee shirt with large lemon and orange slices across the chest, and the necklace just would not look right on top of it, and I was too pooped to go downstairs and put on a nice top so I could photograph the necklace.

Next best thing?

Lucy, of course.  Here she is with some of my fabric draped over her shoulders modeling my latest creation:

 This is a really clever clasp.

It is a figure "8".  It opens up like a mouth, and you put one side of the necklace in one loop and the other side in the other loop.  This necklace is actually one very long loop.

Sorry the pics aren't that clear.

Not only did I make this necklace, I made another one this week.  It took me a VERY long time to perfect this one to my satisfaction.  It is a combination of "lessons" that I have bought or watched.  I am learning so much, and it is fun.  I LOVE to learn new stuff.

This project is called "captured beads".  It is not at all like the cages with the pearls inside above.  I had to put this all together from scratch.

I really like this one!

I am going to make a top especially to go with it.

The idea was to make jewelry to match my tops.

Now, I'm making tops to match my jewelry.

I am going to use that pretty green lace SOMEHOW on the top because it is so perfect with the green beads in the necklace.

I am still working on organizing all my wires and strings.  We bought 6 different sizes of dowel rods yesterday.  Two of them work, but we haven't figured out how to put them on the wall yet.

Here is what I have, so far.  Not too attractive, but it will be when I figure out what else to do.  Maybe some paint would help.

And the trashcan holding up the spools is lovely, don't you think?

I better go check on my hubby.

He is outside with our boat in the driveway.  He is going to start the motor to see if it remembers how to run.  We hardly ever use it these days since the grand kids all grew up and don't come visit much anymore.  He wanted me to go out on the lake with him today, but I didn't want to.  I wanted to play "jewelry".  I told him if he would help me make jewelry and sew Christmas gifts that I would LOVE to join him in his hobby.  He just laughed and left.

Hugs,
Joy