Turquioise Bracelet

This bracelet has been on my beading board for several weeks, just waiting for me to put on the clap, and I finally got around to it Friday. Don't you just love turquoise and red!

Turquoise chips beads accented with Sworowski Siam round faceted crystals, and Bali spacers.

click to enlarge

Gemstone Information:
Turquoise is a soft, porous stone. Its blue-green color varies depending on the amounts of copper, iron, and chromium present - the more copper, the bluer the color and the more valuable the stone. Most pieces have black or brown veining.

Historically, Persia (now Iran) was the primary source for turquoise. Today, the southwestern United States is the leading source of turquoise. Sleeping Beauty and Kingman varieties (named after their respective Arizona mines) are among the most valuable. The gemstone is also mined in China, Peru, Mexico, Tibet, Siberia, Africa, Australia, and Europe.

Source: Bead Style Magazine, Spring 2008

Amethyst Earrings

When I go to the bead store I don't touch ALL the beads, just the majority of them! When I saw and touched the Amethyst quartz beads I knew that I had to buy them. They turned out great, and added the right touch in Carla's watch band. Since I had some left over, I thought I would make myself a pair of earrings.


Here they are Amethyst quartz with a Swarovski Light Amethyst crystal. This is how the earring looks on the leverbacks...




And on my favorite silver hoops that I wear everyday. I've worn them for the last three days on the hoops, and had not a stitch of purple on, but I felt fabulous!

One happy beader!

More Lanyards...

I had a request for two black lanyards earlier this week. Yeah! This one has gemstone chips, the Miyuki bugle beads and seed beads.

Click to enlarge

The second one has Black Onyx beads, Miyuki bugle beads and seed beads. They both were a big hit! Thank you ladies!!

Click to enlarge

Interchangeable Watch

My friend Carla commissioned me to make two watches, I suggested having them be interchangeable so that she can use the same watch face and just change the bands. She loved the idea, her colors were purple/black and pearl/black, this is what I came up with...

This is oval faceted Amethyst Quartz with Swarovski 5mm round faceted Light Amethyst Swarovski crystals, Swarovski 5mm Jet spacer crystals, Turkish sterling silver beads with a lobster claw clasp at each end.

Because the band is strung on the stretchy cord, you don't have to unhook the clasp to put on the watch, you can just slid it on your wrist. This idea came to me yesterday - you can also wear the band as a bracelet by attaching the clasps to a metal connector. Talk about versatile!

Here is how it looks with the watch face. Gorgeous!



This is the second band that I made for Carla, it features Swarovski 6mm round faceted Jet crystals sandwiched between Swarovski pearls, Czech faceted glass beads, sterling silver spacers, Jet seed beads and a lobster claw clasp at each end.


Here is how this double stand band looks with the watch face. Carla said this is what she pictured in her minds eye! Very regal.


Carla e-mailed me one morning and said, "I've come up with your next jewelry line... watches!" I have the BEST of friends, it makes my heart swell knowing that my friends are just as excited about my beading as I am.

Good Cooking!

A few weeks ago my friend Michelle invited us to dinner, Michelle reminds me of my dear friend Tracey over at In Word Adoring, who can serve you a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and it will taste like a fancy gourmet meal! They both have the knack to make you feel right at home and give you a terrific meal. Friends are a real treasure.

Michelle made this wonderful sauce for the spaghetti that was so good, I don't think I will be buying jar sauce again. I made the sauce last night, and it was a hit, Michelle was kind enough to share the recipe, try it - you will love it! It really is the perfect sauce. The second recipe is the appetizer she served, even Eric, my "I don't eat cheese" man enjoyed it.

The Perfect Tomato Sauce
From The Pampered Chef - Food, Family and Friends Cookbook, 1995

1 medium onion, chopped
5 -6 garlic cloves, mashed
2 – 3 teaspoons olive oil

1 can (28 oz.) Diced Italian tomatoes, with juice
1 can (28oz.) Crushed Italian tomatoes

1 can (6 oz.) tomato paste*

1 tablespoon dried basil
1 tablespoon dried oregano

Salt to taste

Finely chop onion and mash garlic cloves. Combine onion, garlic and olive oil in saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring frequently, 6 to 8 minutes or until onions are translucent.

Add both cans of tomatoes, stirring to mix all together. Add tomato paste. (* Michelle uses a whisk to get the paste to mix in with the rest of the sauce, and usually does not use the entire 6 oz. – about half is all you really need to thicken the sauce – you can freeze the other half.)

Add basil and oregano. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Reduce heat to low and cook 45 minutes, stirring frequently. Season with salt to taste. Serve with pasta.

This make a larger about of sauce so you can freeze half for later.


Mr. Walsh's Favorite Appetizer Dip

The appetizer recipe was easy - it's just 3 ingredients:

Jimmy Dean sausage (in the round plastic, I used regular, but they do have spicy)

8 oz. cream cheese

1 jar salsa (I used Tostidos mild chunky salsa)

Brown the sausage. When it is fully cooked, add the cream cheese and stir until it's all melted. Add the salsa and stir to mix. Serve warm with Tostidos Gold chips - they are sturdy enough to hold the dip.

Michelle's served grilled chicken breast, with the spaghetti and sauce. Last night I had broiled chicken breast with mine. You have got to try these! Thanks again Michelle!

Move Over Mrs. Smith!

I can not tell you the last time I baked a apple pie (or any other kind for that matter), I should be ashamed because apple pie is my hubby's favorite, but he will eat store bought pie just fine. Well tonight I made my man a pie! Okay, pick yourself up off the floor, you read correctly, I made Eric a pie!

My mother-in-law gave us a bag of apples from a friend's apple tree, plus two pies she made; one of which is already gone, so I thought I would try my hand at baking. Here is my pie before I put the top crust on - no I didn't make the dough. Baby steps, remember!




And here is the final results! She might not be the prettiest but I know she will not be thrown away. So, move over Mrs. Smith, there is a new pie maker in town! Maybe tomorrow I will make apple sauce, I have lots of apples left.

Back to School

This was our first week back to school, and it has gone surprisingly well. I like to start off on an abbreviated schedule and then work our way up to a full schedule. So, this week our focus was on math, English, spelling, writing, and science, most days we were finished before 11 am.

It never amazes me that I can have everything all planned out, and still need to make a copy of this, or oops I need to print this out or something is missing! Even with all my goofs we still had a good week. Their student notebooks are all ready, I still need to search the basement for two empty binders for their Science notebooks, but will have that all squared away before our next Science lesson.

On Friday the kids needed to type their compositions and boy did that start out very hectic; for some reason Microsoft Word didn't want to load on the computer downstairs, not a problem, switch to Plan B - have them type up their work on the laptops, but I wanted them to save the document to a CD, only that would not work! Finally, I just had them save the document to the hard drive, then they can copy to a thumb drive so they will be able to print out the masterpiece. Sometime those really simple things take up way more time than they should! Am I the only one this happens to? I hope not.

AWANA started this week, the kids were all excited, Gene will now be in the Trek group which meets on Wednesday evening, and Nicole continues in T & T which meets on Friday evening. I almost forgot about taking Nicole on Friday, after dinner I was ready to lounge on the couch like a lazy cat and then suddenly remembered I needed to take the girl to her AWANA meeting!

Next week for school, the focus will be on our Tapestry of Grace Year 2 studies, so I'm off to complete our schedule.

Amber Necklace and Earrings

Is this beautiful or what! My friend Ms. Magdalene saw my amber lanyard and told me that she would like for me to make her a necklace and earring set in the amber to go with her new outfit. I think they turned out great, she loves both! Be sure to click on the picture to enlarge, it is so pretty. Thank you Ms. Magdalene for allowing me to make this for you!!!

New Jewelry

I have been busy over the last two weeks making jewelry, take a look and let me know what you think...

The picture does not do this bracelet justice. This is a multi colored fresh water pearl bracelet with 2mm clear crystals between each pearl to give it a little sparkle. I plan to make the necklace and earrings to match. Click the picture to enlarge so you can get a better look!

This bracelet features Swarovski pearls and fuchsia round faceted crystals.

The earrings to go with the bracelet above, I didn't want to use the fuchsia crystals so that I can wear the earrings with more things. I really like pearls because you can dress them up or down, and they always make you feel pretty!

This is a multi colored lanyard, I think this one is my favorite (this week!) I'm thinking of making a necklace to match, this is so cute.

The next two lanyards have a Native American feel, turquoise has been one of my favorites for years, and it really pops in this piece.



This one is more muted with turquoise and the amber and bronze beads.

My "All Things Red" lanyard, I even included red focal beads on this one. This lanyard will help brighten even the most hectic of days!

Someone at Eric's job saw the green lanyard I made with the pineapple clasp and wanted one just like it! This one is not exactly like the other one, but made with the same beads and of course the same pineapple clasp.

One happy beader!

Planning, Planning, Planning

I have been busy, busy, busy putting the final touches on our resources for the new school year. The UPS man should be coming to my house several times over the next couple of weeks. Of course I use the public library as much as possible and yesterday we had two canvas bags full of books - some are for school, some are just for pleasure. Here is what will be using:

Math:
Teaching Textbooks 7
Teaching Textbooks 5

English/Grammar:
Easy Grammar Plus and Daily GRAMS
Bob Jones English 5

Spelling:
Spelling Power

Science:
Christian Kids Explore Biology (will tweak for Gene)

History, Literature, Arts & Activities, Worldview, Geography:
Tapestry of Grace, Year 2: Between Ancient and Modern

Writing:
Institute for Excellence in Writing

Also:

Latina Christiana

Bible Study Guide for all Ages

Gene and Nicole will participate in a Public Speaking class this year, for their first class the instructor has asked them to prepare something to recite. Gene selected Psalms 23 and Nicole Psalms 100 each already know the verses, but spent some time this morning practicing, tomorrow I will dust off the video recorder and record them as they practice (this should be fun!).