Root Beer Barrels

The larger brown beads are glass lampwork. Jim calls them his root beer barrels. They are a hollow bead and if you look carefully, you will see some off white dots for a little decoration. The larger white bead in the  necklace is white turquoise.  

Happy Birthday Mom

This coming Thursday would have been my mom's birthday. She did get to see my handmade cards, but I have improved so much since then. I wish that she could see the ones that I make now. My mom always talked about how important it was to have a hobby. She was a wonderful seamstress. I can barely sew on a button, but I have my music and my cards. Lisa has helped me so much in improving my cards and helping me cope with my mom's death by giving me a place to improve my card making.

Fall Arrives

Fall will be arriving soon. This jasper necklace is perfect for fall . It can be worn with so many autumn colors. Of course, those of us living in the southeast lose our leaves in about February or March and have a while to wait for some cooler weather.

Is This Turquoise?

No it isn't turquoise but that is the exact impression you are suppose to get with this piece. It is actually lampwork glass. Jim never liked glass beads with dots on it until he saw this bead in a catalog. The whole necklace was this bead. This one is meant to be a little more casual and is adjustable in length.

Bead Boutique Contests

The Bead Boutique is the local bead store that we go to buy fill in beads and findings. About twice a year they have a contest where you buy a set of beads that you must use in a piece. You add your own beads to what they give you. These are the pieces that he has made for the past three contests. The girl won third place, the turquoise won second and the pink one was a first prize winner.

Glittering Glass

These pieces are examples of dichroic glass. One the glass is cut, it is fired in a kiln to smooth the edges. Once they are done, there is a special grinder blade to cut around the edge of the glass so that it can be wrapped with silver. When the sun hits these, they really shine and glitter.

Tiger Beads

The glass beads on this necklace are all handmade lampwork. If you look at the larger ones carefully, you will see they are striped. We call them tiger beads. This necklace looks good with browns, yellows, and those popular animal prints.

Some Sympathy and Others

This is just a variety of cards with flowers that happens to have two in the selection that are sympathy cards. I never had sympathy cards made up ahead until just recently. It just didn't feel right to me. At craft shows people were asking for them. When I told people I didn't like making money on others sadness, most people told me it was just a part of life.

Lettuce and Tomato

Jim calls these hand made lamp work beads his lettuce and tomato beads. I think they look like turquoise and coral. The red beads are hollow. He starts with two discs like the green ones and pinches them together. The hot air gets trapped between the discs and puffs out forming the sphere.

DVD Tin Scrapbook

During the past year we have had a lot of babies born and weddings to attend. I made scrapbooks similar to this one as shower gifts. The first picture shows the outside cover of the altered tin. The second picture is the first page you see when opening the tin. My friend Whitney gave me this kit Sunday and I made it up right away. I think it is my best scrapbook tin yet. Sorry to those of you who received an earlier wedding tin.

Paper Clothes

With one exception, you should be able to tell that each of these cards either is a piece of clothing or has clothes on it. Just in case you can't tell here is a summary. You should find two men's shirts, two aprons, a onesie, a woman's coat, a tux, a woman's dress with purse, and a bride and groom in their wedding attire. I wish I could say the ideas were my own, but they were CASEd from SCS. My supplies are from Stampin Up, JoAnn and Sizzix.

August Birthdays

Most of us think of peridot as the August birthstone. I know I do. Onyx can also be used as an alternate stone. This is an onyx and sterling silver necklace and earring set. He even made the setting for the stone.

Happy August birthday to Heather and John.

Crystals and Silver

This set is just as the title says, crystal and sterling silver tubes. It really is a dressy piece but could be worn with jeans. I never have found quite the right top to show this necklace off.

Happiness is a Journey

We were on several trains during our trip to Alaska. We took a bus from Skagway to the Yukon in Canada. We returned to Skagway on a train. Click on the picture to enlarge it to get a better idea of what it looks like. We also took a wonderful train from Talkeetna to Denali and then on to Fairbanks. Maybe that is why when I got home I decided to use my Stampin Up Happiness is a Journey set. When I first saw this set I knew I had to have it. It reminds me of my brothers and the trains they had when they were young. My nephew also had Thomas the Train.

I wish I could say the ideas were all mine but I got my inspirations from many samples which are posted on Splitcoast Stampers. I am so glad that I found that website. There are many samples and plenty of advice.

Glacier Gardens

After leaving the glacier we took the city bus to a place called Glacier Gardens. The entrance to the garden is a green house full of hanging pots full of flowers. So many different colors and big blooms. Not what you expect after being at the glacier with the snow and ice.

After paying the entry fee, we were put on a tram that resembled a large golf cart. This tram took us up the mountain and into the rain forest. The lower part of the mountain had these upside down trees. They are dead trees, dug up and replanted upside down. The root area is filled in with some of the same flowers that were in the greenhouse in pots.

Mendenhall Glacier

One of the ports we stopped at was Juneau. This picture is taken from the visitors center at the glacier. You can drive to within a mile or so of the glacier. It was the first glacier that we saw and we were very impressed. There really is blue in the glacier but you can't tell from this picture unless you click on the picture to enlarge it. Off to the right and not visible in the picture is a waterfall. We asked the ranger how far it was to walk to the falls and he said about a mile and a half round trip. So off we went to the waterfalls. He did say there were a few rocks you had to climb over right before you got to the falls.

The Ruth Glacier

We just got back from 12 days in Alaska. We took a cruise through the Inside Passage and then went to the interior of Alaska. One of the excursions in Talkeetna was a plane trip to one of the glaciers. The ride to the glacier was amazing. It was a clear night and we had spectacular views of the mountains surrounding Mt. McKinley. Mt McKinley is behind the mountain that you see in the picture. In the picture, we had just landed on Ruth Glacier. It really wasn't that cold. Being from Florida, we did have a little trouble walking in this white stuff. We will post a few other pictures later in the week.

Turquoise Silver and Pearls

Turquoise can be used as a December birthstone. One lady that purchased a necklace similar to this one bought it for that exact reason. She had to go home to get money to buy it because she just happened to walk by our tent. We sold this one to a woman who was taking it back to England. We only had those two to sell but we now have this piece in pink turquoise with silver or orange turquoise and copper.

Bubbles

This is one of my flamework glass necklaces. The large beads with the bubbles in them are made with baking soda. I start by making a small colored bead like the spacers in the necklace. While it is still hot I roll it in baking soda and then give it a coating of clear glass. The hot clear glass causes the baking soda to do what it does in a cake, to rise, which causes the bubbles to form. These are a fun bead to make and it makes a pretty necklace. It is strung on a cord and adjusts to any length from a choker to a long necklace. I have a choker of 5 dark blue bubble beads that I wear quite often. If you click on the picture it will be larger and you really can see the bubles well.

Pearls and Brides

If you were born in June, you know that Alexandrite and Pearls are your birthstones. This freshwater pearl necklace would look great with a black suit. For a more casual look, the necklace can be worn with a sweater or nice T-shirt and jeans.

June is also the month for brides. With the right dress, this would make a stunning necklace for the bride to wear on her big day.