Tyler and Emily's Wedding

October 6 was a gorgeous warm autumn day in Pullman, Washington.  This was a very good thing when you're close to the 45th parallel and going to an outdoor wedding.

God truly blessed Tyler and my grand neice Emily on their wedding day.  Such fun for my husband and me because we got to stay with my younger sister who lives in Pullman for several nights.  And afterwards with my older sister in Pomeroy, Washington.  I love the wheatfields of home - they draw me like the ocean draws a sailor.

Here are some pictures from this lovely festive day:

The Venue

Colors were aubergine and lime

 My granddaughter walking in:

 








My brother's darling grandsons:

Bride on father's arm:

Ceremony:

Husband and wife!!

Bride with my granddaughter Sarah, one of her five attendants:









My sister with granddaughter on right and her friend:

Learning how to salute from my sister who despaired of the rest of us.  This was a take-off from everyone looking into the sun at the bridal party during pictures after the ceremony.























Sarah and me:

Matron of honor - sister of the bride:

 

 . . . and mother of the newest member of our family in his daddy's arms (he wore a tux that day too  :)

 
First dance:

Aw!  the kiss!!  (see those lovely wheatfields in the background)

Cake, accompanied by - you guessed it - lots of cupcakes in three flavors:

Beautiful couple:

My sister with her first great grandchild!!!

Bride next day at the firehouse where the reception was held - she is an EMT and finishing college:

 

Congratulations Emmy and Ty! 

Wishing you God's Best in your marriage!!

 

 

Misty Winter's Dawn

I was so pleased to be able to finish an original creation for the Etsy Beadweaver's Team October Challenge titled 'Misty Winter's Dawn'.

My two bead choices for this challenge were gray tilas - a bead I have never worked with - and Swarovski black diamond bicones.  From there I looked through my stash for appropriate accompaniment.  My first design was to make a path of tilas bounded by distant mountain peaks with the bicones, clusters of dark green bead forests and gentle peyote rolling hills, a stream crossing with tiny chain boundaries, etc.




 But time was not on my side. 




After several starts and stops (tear outs) I got the top of the drop in place. I had no idea what would transpire after that.  On a road trip to southern Oregon - the Rogue River area - I sketched a drop that fell naturally to a 'v'.















The execution was not as was on paper, for as I worked down the 'v' and got the four tilas in place and was working on 3, it became very apparent that they would not center, I would either adjust or have to give up the project - no time for another tear out.

The temptation to give up at this point was very strong - on my graph paper diagram I had not completed the other side and I felt stuck.  I decided to just put two with a drop in the center and proceed.  I wasn't far from finishing.



I got over that discouragement and finally finished to a successful point.

Few days at home and off on another trip to a family wedding.  In my sister's home in Pullman, Washington, I finally came up with a design for the finishing strands that hold the triangular pendant in place.  It incorporates the tilas and bicones in a beautiful finish, I think.

The length can be as short as 15.5 inches or as long as 18.5. 








My sister's dining area faces north and is completely windows on three sides - the perfect place to take photographs.

My final challenge was to write a description that would fit the theme and describe what I thought and felt as I created this piece.  The tilas were the wet pavement, the bicones - city rain, the gray, a Misty Winter's Dawn.  Inverted it would be a tiara. From the air, a cityscape. 

I love the rich dullness of the gray tilas, and how movment causes the bicones to intermittently and randomly sparkle.

My challenge piece was entered with just a couple hours to spare!!  It is an elegant necklace in one of my favorite colors - gray.
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Please visit the Etsy Beadweaver's Blog between October 9th and 15th and see the team's entries and VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE:  http://etsy-beadweavers.blogspot.com/

Thank you for visiting!

Knotted Crystals with Spaces

If you have been with me for awhile you know I have a customer who often brings vintage jewelry and beads to me for repair or update. 


A big departure from the Bear Claw Necklaces project I blogged about earlier this year is a necklace she would like me to do for her.  It involves gorgeous clear crystal rondels in graduated sizes, the thread being knotted to leave space between each bead. 











THE PROBLEM

The thread is broken and unraveling.  I cannot tell but what it may have been completely broken at one time or had some other beads along this thread for there are no knots there.  One end of the box clasp is missing.



I decided to redo it with what is here and not add anything but I needed to keep the spacing with the knots.  I loved the novel design (new to me at least) and wanted to challenge myself.



The vintage necklace got a little bath - strung.  Usually I unstring beads for their bath.  But on this one, I didn't want to have to use a caliper to correctly string them in graduated fashion, so decided to cut them one by one as I did the stringing. 







SPACING

My first thought after measuring the spaces was to use 3mm bugle beads and crush them later.  Wow!  Problem solved, or so I thought. 

But the size 10 silk Bead Cord I purchased to simulate what had been used before would not fit through the bugle beads.    I looked up the hole diameter of size 11 seedbeads and saw that they were a little larger than bugle beads.  They are generally 1.8mm long so I decided using two would work; they didn't fit on the cord either. 

Well, seedbead size 6 did fit over the cord.  I put four crystals on with these as spacers and crushed them just to make sure the space was right.  It was a little short but that was not the worst of it.  Crushing these glass beads cut into the silk thread and caused it to fray looking very unsightly, certainly not safe!


Glass was not going to work.  I had to use another substance that could be put on and taken off after the 'knotting'.  I had several metal findings to try and finally ended up with a 4mm crimp cover which I tightened just enough to let the cord slip through and hold it in place through the procedure.


Voila!  - - - A process in place, clicking along . . .






Until I got to the bottom of the curve and realized the beads on the curve were looking crowded.  Easy enough fix - just lengthen the spaces.

But now the beads look a little jumbly on the bottom - a couple bunching together and leaving a super large space.  Hum!  I think I need to finish the piece and mull this over a bit.  Perhaps glue on the cord in the middle of the space - but that will take away the free flow of the piece.  Do I care?  I don't know?!?!?!?













FINISHED

It was great to put the finishing touches on this necklace - here was familiar territory.  Here is a picture of the finished piece.  Still not sure how or if I will change the bottom curve.

Thanks for stopping by!

A Happy Combination

When grandchildren come to visit, the world stops for awhile.  I love the mornings when we amuse ourselves with lively conversation all scrunched up in our robes with mugs of coffee and hot chocolate.  Plans are made for the day starting with feeding the dog and proceeding to what we'll have for breakfast.  Then on to where we are in our art project and when we'll go feed the cows or if we'll get to the State Fair which is held here because Salem is Oregon's capitol city.  We go on bike rides or walks, listen to the crickets, the wind in the trees.  We watch Disney movies or play Uno. 

Because our grandchildren live hours away, when they get to come by themselves in the summer, we really try to make it a change from the routine.  A life away from soccer and swimming and tennis and school and schedules.

Our youngest grandchild is 10 years old, an only child.  Because her life is so hectic, there is no time for a pet in the home, so when she is here, I think her most favorite thing of all is our dog Slippers.  They are buddies.  Following are a number of pictures of them together, taken at our home and on the beach.



Walking down to the beach at Devil's Punch Bowl

 This girl is so strong!!

Oregon schools had already started so she was the only child on the beach that day.

Driftwood adventures! 



Only Anna could entice Slippers to walk up that log which was braced to act like a teeter totter.

My dear granddaughter poses Slippers and then takes pictures.  We laugh so hard at this silly dog!




It was a most happy visit!  We had great times and made wonderful memories - who knew this girl loves to go garage saling!?!  

Slippers and Anna will see each other again in November and take up right where they left off  . . .

In the Pink

I'm working hard to regain momentum with my jewelry making.  Keeping home, yard and farm chores together with the absence of my husband's able bodied help has truly been much more time consuming than I thought.  He is not 100% yet,  about 70% of the way back.  If you are in one of my Etsy Teams or a follower of my Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest, you'll should be noticing a great deal more traffic in the days to come

I've finished three new projects.  Although different from each other, they are all three in the pink range.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/107482511/beadwoven-crab-charm-or-pendant

When I finished my Nautical Peyote Charm Bracelet, I promised myself I would make some of the elements in it into separate charms.  My first charm is finished and for sale - the crab.  I am quite happy with the result.  The legs are independent of one another yet maintain their positions.  My biggest hurdle was to figure out where to put the sterling silver closed jumpring.  Included is an silver bail which may be exchanged for a silver jumpring, both large enough to accommodate a fairly substantial chain. 

https://www.etsy.com/listing/107481641/pink-beadwoven-necklace-peyote-stitiched

Secondly, I finished another peyote v-necklace.  I have to laugh because the delica beads I chose for this necklace are called "Light Topaz/Soft Rose" and in the tube they look dark rose with a slight cinnabar or rust tone.   But the necklace turned out decidedly pink and has a lighter peachy pink accent bead running up the borders.  Beads when they are strung can look so different from what they look like in a container - which can sometimes result in a not so happy surprise for a mono-color project.  Although this is different from what I expected, I think it turned out quite nicely.  It looks great with everything in the neutral and pink peach range.  I also like the way it looks with the lavender/peach/ tan/terracotta scarf I chose to pair it with in photos.  Elegant don't you think.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/107482279/champagne-pearl-necklace-and-earring-set

My third is the first of a new jewelry line I am starting for my elsielight online store.  I needed to learn how to knot pearls in order to fulfill one of my special order requests.  So I took a class and made myself two knotted pearl necklaces.  Then decided it would be great fun to do a few for the shop and see how they go.  This first one is made with 8mm champagne glass pearls.  I made very traditional style two pearl dangle earrings to go with.

I plan to make several more, using freshwater as well and glass pearls - it will be a lot of fun to add this new section to my online shop and make them for family and friends!!








Thank you for looking!

The Art of Visiting

My husband had successful hip replacement surgery three weeks ago.  So many lovely people visited him in the hospital and have come to our home. Their outpouring of love and support was a wonderful for us!  He is doing very well.




Brookie Biglands' Etsy shop BCB Puzzles
http://www.etsy.com/listing/99604016/visiting-a-friend-by-nancy-laberge-muren

This short change in lifestyle started me thinking about how the meaning of visiting has changed in my lifetime.  It doesn't mean someone just coming over for a limited sitdown conversations - unless it is to visit a person who is homebound or in recovery.






Marlene Schuler's Etsy Shop WillowsWorks
http://www.etsy.com/listing/104647868/diane-barry-visiting-jacket

These days, the word visiting very often means having family or friends from long distance come for a few days.  The more I got to thinking about it, my current idea of visiting is associated with 'going out for coffee', or combined with 'going shopping', or  'going for a jog' together, or having a 'playdate' for the young.





Etsy Shop 2ChicksAndABasket
http://www.etsy.com/listing/79768568/the-dog-lives-here-youre-just-visiting







 To 'come over for a few minutes' kind of visiting seems to be associated with a more genteel time - a time when there was nothing electronic to fill up leisure hours and watching the kids chase fireflies from the front porch was the entertainment and backdrop to conversation.






Valerie Bean's Etsy shop ValDraws
http://www.etsy.com/listing/80036597/inspirational-art-girl-chasing-fireflies

 I also wondered how it might have been when one 'came to call' or 'to tea', activities associated with the mid to late afternoon and evening.  In one way I think a revival of something like this would be wonderful - in another, I think I would need to plan my time a lot better!






Etsy Shop luvcrystals
http://www.etsy.com/listing/91365344/vintage-postcard-style-tags-birds

As I mused on these things, I put the word 'visiting' into the Etsy search and came up with the lovely finds you see on this post.





Michele Johnson's Etsy Shop mljart
http://www.etsy.com/listing/74928382/visiting-boat-norway

May your 'visits' be for all the right reasons, at just the right time, in the best tradition of our time!

Many thanks to those who have had us in their thoughts and prayers.  We felt them in very specific ways through the days of Chuck's surgery and recovery.  He continues to make steady and quick progress.

Blog made for Etsy Castteam Mid-Week Blog Blitz.  See other entries:  http://www.etsy.com/teams/6326/christian-artists-street-team-cast/discuss/10766400/