Jewelry Party a success

A friend of mine at work had a party for me. Five people showed up and we had a lot of fun. Good food and good laughs. Every person there bought at least one item. It was fun, and it was worth it. I was nervous as I'm not a sales-type person, but I think I did okay. We played a couple of games and the winners received free earrings. I also gave out little gift bags with my business card, a pair of earrings, and some chocolate kisses inside. I received compliments on my creations so that was good. I really need the feedback! I guess people like my stuff. I just wish I could sell more on ArtFire, but maybe that day will come soon. I notice that a lot of people look at my jewelry, I just haven't SOLD anything from ArtFire yet. But no problem, at least it's out there and people are looking.

Guess that's it for today. Mother's Day is coming up and I just don't know what to buy my Mom. I'm sure she has enough of my jewelry to last her!

Easter Sunday

I remember Easters when I was young. It always seemed so wonderful to me. Being from a religous family, we would all get dressed up in our new Easter dresses and head off to church (after finding our baskets, of course) and then take off to my Grandma's for dinner. And I'll tell ya, there were a lot of kids there (my sisters and brothers, and cousins) and all of us hyped up on candy. My poor Grandma! She was great.
Well, now I live so far away from everybody and for some reason Easter just doesn't hold the same excitement as it did so long ago. I dragged myself out of bed early today to get to church because it just wouldn't feel right to miss Mass on Easter Sunday. I talked to my older sister a few days ago and she said Mom and Dad aren't even having dinner today! I couldn't believe it! I guess it's because of the six kids in my family, two of us live elsewhere, one is still in rehab, and the other three have other things planned. I don't know. I sometimes wish I wasn't so far away. I was at my parents' house a lot when I lived in California. I went over there for everything! Now there's not much left. - I don't know what my son is doing today. I haven't heard from him for quite a while. I suppose he will go to his dad's house for dinner.
I'll just get to church and then I go to work. That's Easter Sunday 2010 for me. Quite a change from days gone by. But that's life.

Better get rolling. I'll blog again soon.

Needle Felted Kitty

Well, I finally finished my first needle felted project. She didn't turn out that great, but she's my first so she's still special. At least I had practice and learned some techniques, things to improve on, things to avoid in the future. Here's her pic:

I don't know why all those fuzzies are there, I can't see them on HER but I guess they're there? Anyway, she was fun.

I haven't posted any new listings on my artfire account. I did make a few new things, but I was just practicing new techniques. I can't sell them, they were just for practice.

We had a little snow again yesterday, and should expect some next week. But you can really tell Spring is here - we have a couple of hawks who come back every year to raise their babies (in the neighbor's rafters, of all places) I have seen the mom and dad hanging around so the babies are probably in their eggs waiting to hatch. Then they come out and the mom shows them the "facts of life" - how to hunt. Then they're gone. I think this is the third year I have seen these hawks out there. It's really interesting. Soon the quails will be coming around with their little chicks. They're cute. I can't wait.

Work's good - I am just thankful I have a job! The hubby's been on unemployment for over a year now but we are managing. Actually I got a raise, a "step raise", after my evaluation a couple of weeks ago. So that helps. Until the government decides to take half my paycheck for their use. Hopefully that's a ways down the road.

Better run. Things to do ~~~

Needle Felting

I was surfing the internet and came across this interesting new technique for being creative -needle felting. I think I might try it out. I ordered a kit from ArtFire.com and am really anxious to try it. I enjoy sculpting but have a kind of hard time with the polymer clay. This might be a little bit more to my liking.

Other than that, it's St. Paddy's Day so the hubby and I are going to enjoy some corned beef and cabbage (love IT) and probably some "green" beers. That's just what we do on St. Paddy's Day, lay around, watch "Irish" movies, and eat and drink. So much fun. Also, since it's my "Saturday", and I have 3 days off, I will have plenty of time to recover to get back to work on the real Saturday.

The weather's been great - hit 71 degrees yesterday. The weather here is so strange - always changing. But it's fun. I love it. I remember when I lived in So. Cal. and we had a customer who lived in New Jersey - I remember he said "How tough is the job for the weatherman in California? It's always nice and sunny." I have to agree - always pretty nice and sunny, and not much of a change. At least here in No. NV we have the four seasons, and every day is pretty much different.

That's it for now. I'll post some pics when I get my needle felting materials - Hope my "projects" turn out!

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Well, it was one month ago today that my husband's father passed away. What a terrible day that was! But we got through it and we are now just getting back to our daily lives. Very sad.

I made a few new items for my artfire site. I'll post a couple of pictures here:

As you can tell, I'm not too good at adding pictures to my blog yet. But I'll get better! You can see my items at www.tstrinkets.artfire.com. Come on over and browse!

Well, I love making my jewelry but duty calls and today is my Monday. But Saturday as Monday is about as good as it gets. No supervisors, not too busy. It's great.

Better get going, got lots to do before heading out. I'll blog later.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

I made a memory wire bracelet last night that I will be posting at http://www.tstrinkets.artfire.com/ today. I think it turned out pretty. It kind of looks like something a bride would wear, tho. I also made three shell cross bracelets for a girl at work. So I was a little busy. I didn't get my clay out. I'll have a little more time for that type of work today.

I wanted to post a couple of pictures I took when I was visiting So Calif last Thanksgiving. I took a picture of a drawing my brother drew for my mother. He is a very talented artist but only draws for fun. It's too bad because I feel his talent is being wasted. Here's a house he drew:

You have to look close: look at the old car in the garage - the tire swing - the wishing well! He draws just out of his imagination. He's great - All done with pencil, too.

Beautiful, isn't it?

Also, this Victorian, because my mom loves Victorian houses:I'm very impressed with him. I guess you can tell.

Well, that's it for now.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Hmmm-
Well, the hubby went on the drudge report, which he does quite frequently. This was on Monday, two days ago. That darn XP Internet Security 2010 or whatever the heck it is jumped right onto our computer and took over! What a pain in the butt to get rid of it. Here it is, Wednesday, and I finally got the darn thing off.

I owe my whole computer's health to MalWareBytes. They saved the day (again). The first time was when we got that darn Internet Security 2010 virus, now this thing. But it's gone for now. Thank you, MalWareBytes! Stupid old McAfee didn't even detect it. I'm going to actually BUY the full program of Malwarebytes and use them from now on.

Anyway, it's my weekend so I'm glad I got that virus off the computer. What a long boring weekend it would be if I couldn't surf the web. The virus wouldn't even let us on IE, so we were using our old standy. I actually had to download the malwarebytes program onto a thumb drive at my work, from a computer that wasn't infected, and then come home and download it from that. I tried it a couple of times but obviously did something wrong, but thank God this time I figured it out and it worked.

So I'm back. I'm glad.

Nevada has decided to use the National ID driver's licenses. I guess when I go renew my license I have to bring all my proof of who I really am. That kinda bothers me. I just hope they aren't putting that RFID chip (or whatever it is) in the new licenses. But they probably are. How nice that everyone knows exactly where I am and what I am doing at all hours of the day and night. Those chips are bad news. But what can you do? Without a driver's license, you can't get car insurance, you can't use your bank accounts - It's just not right.

Spring is in the air - you can really tell it by all the birds singing and the weather getting so nice. I love it. This is the best time of year. I like the first part of winter, too, tho. But spring - I just love to watch the quails coming around with their little chicks. They are so cute! They look just like baby chickens, just little "fuzzy balls" with legs. Love them. Last year a hen walked by with her chicks, I counted at least 15 of them. Adorable. Now I just gave myself a new idea to try out with my polymer clay - quails and chicks. How fun is THAT going to be?

Better get going before I lose my creative thoughts.

Talk later ----

Friday, March 5, 2010

I created some cute jewelry items last night. I am very happy with how they turned out. I made some St. Pat's Day bracelets and Easter Sunday bracelets. I also made some lovely dangle earrings from emerald swarovski crystals that I would love to keep. But I'm trying to get my webstore up with more inventory, so those will go on there as well.

Here are some pictures of my creations.







This shamrock bracelet is made with sterling silver filled wire and I used a new technique called "chain maille". I think it turned out pretty cute. I like the chain maille. It takes some time to do, but it turns out so lovely.











I think this little pink bracelet would look so cute on Easter Sunday, some little girl would love it. I know I would have when I was little. What a fun way to celebrate Easter.









So, these items are on my website at http://www.tstrinkets.artfire.com/. It's a wonderful website and there are a lot of other things listed for sale there, all handmade items. It's great. I had an account at Etsy but decided I like Artfire better. That's just me. Etsy is great too, but I got tired of having to pay for my listings (only 20cents) but when you're not selling anything, that can add up.

Well, it's Friday and another week starting for me. Tomorrow is my "Monday", which I love, starting the week on a Saturday. Mainly because there are no supervisors around on the weekends, and a very limited staff of people. Great.

I'll write later.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

It's a beautiful day!

I was working in my little space yesterday, my "creative" room. I made a couple of bracelets that I think turned out pretty nice.

The first one is for my youngest sister who is going through a tough time right now. It's sterling silver with Swarovski butterflies and rounds. I hope she likes it!

The second one is a peace bracelet for a girl at work. I guess peace signs are back in? Anyway, it's nice and I hope she likes it. I'm trying out new techniques and twisted the wire links for a different look. I like how it turned out.

It's a lot of fun and so relaxing to make my own jewelry. I'm never at a loss for gifts any more. Everyone loves my handmade jewelry! Christmas was a breeze this year. I mean, for the "women" in my family. I still never know what to buy the guys! Gift certificates are great, aren't they?

Well, guess I better go - got stuff to do. Day off, and all that.

Friday, February 26, 2010

Well, the snow is still around from last Sunday's snow "dump". It has slowly been melting but it is still very evident that there was a lot of snow here lately. Now I hear there will be more snow starting tonight into tomorrow. I guess that's global warming for ya. We'll probably have snow on the first day of Spring. That's nice. Really.

As I said in my earlier blog, we (my husband and myself) have not lived here our whole lives. We both grew up in So Calif. We met during the summer between our Junior and Senior years in high school. He was a friend of my older sister's boyfriend. That's how that happened. He was so special and I just thought he was great. Well, being from different high schools - he went to a different one than me - we just kinda grew apart our senior year. But I still thought about him. Then we saw each other off and on throughout the years, but not too much came of that. Then in August of 2003 I was surfing the Web and went on classmates.com. Well, guess what? There he was, my old flame from high school. I emailed him, he emailed me, that went on for a while. (Unfortunately, he had moved to Florida, of all places, and I, being the homebody I am, was still in So Calif). We met up at Thanksgiving that year "half-way", well, actually, it was Arizona, but still far for me, but a lot farther for him. LOL - We hit it off, got married in January of 2004 and then (thank God) moved back out 'west' to Nevada. This marriage was 30 years in the making. And we finally made it. It's been a great marriage, of course we had (and still have) our ups and downs. I mean, people have a lot of baggage in 30 years, you know? But we're very happy and very much in love. We have our five dogs, no kids for us (too old, anyway). We do have kids from previous marriages - he a daughter, me a son. So that's cool.

But I can go on and on forever.
It's 10:26am and my day off (LOVE IT) -
I work 4-10's at my job so every week I get a 3-day weekend. My weekend is Wed, Thurs, Friday. Love those days. I mean, with no little ones to worry about school, babysitters, etc etc, well, those days work out great for me. Saturday as a Monday is too cool, too. Great life, great marriage, great home - I guess I'm one of the lucky ones.

This blogging stuff is fun. I am enjoying just jotting down stuff that just pops into my brain. Maybe I'll get a little bit better at this and write about something that might interest someone somewhere. Or not. We'll see.

First time blogging

This is my first blog. I have never blogged before because I didn't really know what to talk about. But I decided to just jump in there and try it.

I live in Northern Nevada. We just had a major snow storm (February 21) that left us, where we live, anyway, with about 3-4 feet of snow in our yard. We have five dogs that just love the snow, but at this time of year I am thinking more about springtime and warm(er) weather. Oh well, that's the breaks. Having grown up in Southern California, I am not too swift with the snow. It's beautiful and fun if you just get to stay home, nice and cozy. But driving around in the stuff is pretty scary. Especially the hours I work, which are 12noon to 10pm at night, I get off work and the temperature has dropped to below freezing. With half melted snow and freezing temperatures, it makes for a pretty wild ride home. But I've been pretty lucky so far.

Here is our table on our deck. Nice.

Anyway, enough about the snow.

I started making handmade jewelry about 1-1/2 years ago just as a hobby. I soon had so many items made and not enough friends and family to give all my creations away to, so I decided to search for options on selling my stuff. I joined ArtFire not too long ago and only have a few designs listed there. I am working with my polymer clay to get some St. Patrick's Day things made in time. I think I might be cutting that a little too close. But if anyone out there is interested in looking, go to www.tstrinkets.artfire.com. You just might find something there you like.

Well, like I said, I better get some trinkets made for St. Pat's Day. I'll be blogging again soon.

Thanks for viewing.