Otter!

I was so excited to get to see the otter today! Whit was lucky enough to get this photo of him. I guess he comes through the yard daily according to the neighbors....... he likes to take a dip in our pond!

Today on my way home from the store I also saw a mom and dad coyote with the cutest little pup! I would of loved to have taken it home but I am afraid Towanda would of killed me, not to mention Whit!

Today was a good bead making day as well....... my hand is really doing well!

Hearts

Here is just a sampling of some of the hearts I will be taking to Bead and Button. It is a bit tricky to get the silver rivet through the heart but I feel it adds a lot to the look of it once the silver ring and ribbon are attached to it. So I guess it is worth the trouble!

Kryptonites!

Here are just a few of my silver cored kryptonite beads for Bead and Button. I have a BUNCH more that still need to be cored. Also you can see a couple pair of my feather earrings. I have been getting quite a few orders for these so I will see if I can get some more done for the show!

OK back to work............

Remember

Remember them.

Beautiful Day!

Today was just beautiful! I started out working in my studio, kept looking outside at the nice sunny day, worked a bit more, looked outside again....... well that was it. My Vespa was calling me to go for a ride. I cruised over to the Moore's where we all sat out in the sun for a couple of hours, cruised back home where Whit cooked a great dinner for us and my Dad and Sally (who I hadn't seen in a month since I was in Germany and they just arrived home from Michigan today) and then topped it off tonight with this awesome sunset!

If it is this nice again tomorrow I may just have to do a repeat! I do hope it rains (well maybe on Monday) so I can make some more beads for Bead and Button....... it is too hard to be in the studio on these gorgeous days!!!!

For Jake!

Came in to take a quick break from my studio and I found Towanda sound asleep with one of the mice that Whit bought from Jake! Jake was selling these mice to raise money for Second Chance Ranch where he and his father volunteer every weekend to help the homeless kitties!


OK now back to work for me...... I want to play some more with those new colors!

New Colors

Been making beads for the Bead and Button show and received 2 boxes of glass from Double Helix, so of course I had to play with some of them! Now if only I could remember which color was which.

Well we are off to see Harrison Ford tonight ( I will tell him hello for you LOIS )........ and then more beads!
Have a great night!

Post Secret

This book was a gift to us. If you haven't seen it I think that you will really like it. It is extraordinary confessions from ordinary lives.......



Here is a little sampling.....

There is also a blog about it...... check it here!


And hopefully I will have some photos to show you tomorrow of some of my progress for the Bead and Button show!!!!!!!

Check out Nicole Valentine's Beads.....

Check out Nicole Valentine's Beads in her Etsy store!

She is getting some really nice reactions with Double Helix Glass......... and she is silver coring some of them for your silver bracelets!

Masters Glass Beads Book

Have you checked out this book yet? I am honored to be among one of the 40 bead artists selected from around the world. Each artist has 8 pages full of great photos and insightful quotes from each artist about their work.

You can check it out here!

Just a reminder......

Be thankful for everyday and live each day to its fullest...........

Swallows and Home!

Well I am home from a fantastic trip to Germany! When I arrived home there was a raccoon at the window, an eagle in the tree, the mallard ducks in the yard and the return of the tree swallows. Whit and I gathered some feathers the other day at a friend's house and this is a photo of Whit throwing the feathers in the air (that they catch on the fly) for them to build their nests!

Some photos from Germany

These are just a few more photos from my trip. I am at the Amsterdam airport getting ready to come home!

This was a balloon that came right by my hotel. There were many of them, but I really liked this one the best! They were celebrating the Harbor Birthday..... 819 years!!!

Photo from a ferry that I took.....

These 2 are from downtown Hamburg.

This is Lydia's flower!!!!!

Just a cool building at the Harbor.

The ceiling in a Starbucks...

2 door photos for Lois!

3rd class in Germany and ............

Ilknur just sent me these photos of she and I and Pinar!
Thank you Ilknur! I miss you guys!

Today I finished up with my third class here, another wonderful class with incredible people! They are all great beadmakers. I feel that I have made many friends on this trip. I am looking forward to coming back and seeing everyone again!

Just a little sampling of the many chocolates!

This weekend is the Harbor celebration so there will be many Tall Ships coming here. I may go back there tomorrow or Saturday....... not sure yet.

The rest of these photos are from a very nice town called Luneborg.

The Paparazzi!!!!!

This is Nicole! She was the paparazzi taking the photo so she didn't get to be in it so I thought I would add this one!
Hi Nicole!!!!!

I kinda get the feeling this is what it is like to have the paparazzi around all of the time!
I had a great time joking with the students about all of the cameras! I have finished my second class and again the students were just fantastic. I feel that I have made some new and wonderful friends.........

And this is one of my newest best friends Cairny! She is the sweetest dog....... and does she ever love the lamb! Here you can take you dogs into the restaurants with you and Cairny patiently waits till we are finished for her scraps from dinner!

Hi to everyone back home! I miss you all!

Great beadmakers!

Well what can I say...... they start taking classes at a very young age in Germany!

Marie is just the sweetest little girl! She was practicing counting in English and she could count a lot further than I could in German!

These woman are so very talented and such a pleasure to spend time with! I am looking forward to being able to see them again sometime in the future.

quick update

No time for photos this morning! Class is going great, the students are great, the food is great, the chocolate is great........ I guess everything is great! I will get some more photos from class up tonight when we are finished with the first class.

Hope everyone at home is well....... I miss you Whit. Give Towanda a good petting for me!
Hi Dad and Sally!
Hi Don and Billie!

Ok bye for now....... hope you all have a great day!

Nice surprise

After sleeping all day Vo picked me up and brought me to their wonderful studio. We were all working getting ready for tomorrows class and we heard some shouting "Eva" and it was Sage! What a wonderful surprise for me. Sage and Beau were teaching her a few days ago and Sage has hung around exploring the area while Beau continued on to Paris.

This is Vo, Sage, and Eva. Vo and Eva own this wonderful studio and are just the nicest couple, I am looking forward to spending time with them.

And this is me and Sage eating all of the wonderful chocolate that they bought!

When I walked into their shop I said "this is like a kid walking into a candy store". They have every kind of glass imaginable! I will get more photos of that later.

I still can't quite get on their time yet, but it is 5 in morning and I have to teach at 9. Maybe tomorrow I can make it till 7am! I will try to get a few more hours sleep now.......

Have a great day everyone! I miss and love you Whit! And Kathy I wish you were here with me too! Maybe all 3 of us will come next year when I teach here again! Oh yea, they already want me back!!!!!!! Lois you really should get busy on that passport!