What Easter means to me and days gone by..

Here we are a long time ago celebrating Easter!

My brother Russell and I here in our Easter finest!

This brings me back to my childhood where at Easter time the crocus' were coming up and the dogwoods bloomed with the azaleas. Mom dressed us in our finest Sunday clothes. Mom and I wore pretty Easter hats and we wore patton leather shoes and our outfits wouldn't be complete without our white gloves (mine to the wrist and Moms to her elbows). That was exciting! The freshness of everything and the growth of death to life even was in the nature around us. 

We would wake up and find our Easter basket full of chocolates behind our bedroom doors. Then my brother and I would go out into the living room and have to find the Easter eggs, which continued for hours. We had such fun.

Then on to church in our finest and home for a wonderful set table of china, tall water glasses and soon to be bowls set with wonderful foods! We picked up Grandparents and what a day we had. I'm thankful today for the parents that gave me gifts of good memories. Years later I carried on my Mothers traditions but had fresh eggs from my chicken house. Later on the adults played cards..what great days!

But to me and much as I love the bunny's 
and chocolate its all about the Lamb 
and not the Bunny!

This is the bunny cake my Mother made every year
(pic taken from the internet)

And this is the fine china set of "Beverly" I have today..and it says made in occupied Japan! My Mother used with the bunny that adorned our table

Wont that be grand day when the lion lies down with the lamb? But according to scripture one fine day this will happen. And what a day this will be! We celebrate Easter in our home by celebrating Jesus death on the cross that we all have a chance at eternal life!


The Easter Parade

What shall I wear for the Easter Parade?

A dress that's the colour of marmalade

With a border embroidered

in light blue cornflowers

Like the edge of the meadow

after spring showers

And a matching hat round

as a top you can spin

And an elastic to hold it under my chin

And brand new shoes

whiter than newly poured cream

With heart shaped buckles that gleam;

And Ill carry a small purse

0f butterfly blue

With a penny for me and a penny for you

To buy us both glasses of cold lemonade

When we walk, hand in hand

in the Easter Parade

William Jay Smith

Happy Easter!
ox

Where do the days go? Its Bead table Wed and I thought it was Tuesday

Lampwork beads  my Little Pink fingers made on Bead table Wednesday..

Where do the days go? How could Tuesday of slipped by from under my glance?

Well Bead Table Wednesday it is and here is what Ive done and am aiming for Lampwork beads that I can live with and love. Ive made a series of beads to match this focal (above pic) I bought from Birgitta Lejonklou. I have to say I'm quite enamoured with the results and I can now string something together using my Own beads that I made. Super happy about this now!

Who doesn't love love love Shabby chic beads? Well Ive been doing a study trying to make some glass Lampwork ones to look like ceramic ones. Not bad I say! I see a nipple kind of on one of the dot ones that wasn't melted in like it should of been. Practice practice. Michelangelo started some where too I say smiling here. 

My Son moved and we did alot of work moving him in. You should see this place Good golly it looks like Shangrala! (someone said the other day.."what does that mean" I must be getting Old!) That is the word for paradise. I think I need to move to his apt. Its like hes living in a resort wow its a beautiful place!

And he did it all by his self almost! We helped him a bit and bought him this set too.

Wow I'm happy for him...but do miss him.

At least hes nearby around the corner and a few blocks away..

This is what he looks out this beautiful Palm lol gee nice..

A present from us! My husbands forked out a fortune on my kids so I'm esp proud that my eldest did all of this on his own almost.

Have a great Wednesday!


May the Lord bless you!

Bead table Wednesday!

It's Bead Table Wednesday once again and here are my new beads from Janet the beginning Lampworker! Lots of dots..I think I will be doing dots forever! But I will work on other things too. Dot placement in the beginnings are tricky. Even dots, all the same dots, even placement even tho you thought you placed them right, gads but Im determined to get there! I can really appreciate Lampworkers who do beautiful things because they have worked long and hard. Its alot of work and learning curve!

Heres my work table and my Sons furniture in the back. My Son is moving out on Sunday. He was such a sunny spot in the house! I will miss him alot, but he will be right around the corner. Man I love my kids..

My new glass I won from my Lampworking guild on Sunday at the Auction (you can read about it here). Im so thrilled!

This is a great book and a  great help with Lampworking..

What is your bead or craft table like today?

Thank you for stopping by!

Im really not a bad Blogger tho I seem like one..

Im really not a bad blogger..
life just seems to get in the way!
(and how to root Roses)

My husband (Isn't he handsome) and I went to the Annual Houston Society of Glass Beadmakers Auction yesterday and what a great day it was. The auction had many tables full of so many Lampwork related items, jewellery, frit, bead release, tools, books and of course wonderful rods of glass! We had two hours to put our silent bids down. The last 15 minutes were exciting where you could up your bids in an effort to win. It was such a great day and our Lampwork Society was able to raise $3106.00! A great day and Auction! To the Company's who donated I want to thank and to the individuals who worked hard at organizing everything. What a great day. I had only 15 rods of glass to my name and my wonderful husband bought me all of this glass, loads of frit with the won bids! What beautiful glass! I also want to thank the lovely and very talented Diane Woodall who really helped my husband and I pick the right glass and to stay away from others. 

***

Ok here are some wonky Lampwork beads below I made and YES they are wonky. But I do make round beads now. But I'm showing that even beginner beads that I made when I started can be incorporated into a necklace I made. Bubbles you say? Bubbles are not my goal no but they have added variety into this piece as well as an uneven encased bead. "In the beginning" we all started and the unevenness can be made into a beautiful piece I believe! I'm a work in progress and I will never be a snob (insert smile here).

***

Why I haven't blogged lately:

Besides the Auction Ive been really running doing things that I feel like a bad blogger. Some new people are following me ..thank you! Even tho this would be considered a jewellery blog theres so much to do in life and these things make for fine dining. 

So Ive been rooting roses. My Grandma Cammie Jean rooted roses many years ago, so I went to find out how to do this. So after much research I took the plunge and they are doing well after four days!

How to root roses from your bushes or wild ones:

** take a 6 inch cutting from new growth. Woody growth will not due. Take off all the leaves except the last two on top; one on each side.

** wet you bottom inch of the cutting and dip into a rooting hormone. But I know my Grandmother did not have that the many years ago. So its not imperative. But for extra measure I did.

** keep moist but not soaked.

** wait for more frown and grow in small pots. Transfer later.

So I'm looking forward to good results and I hope that I do.

Here is my yard now..the grass all dappled and beautiful!

I hope your day is great and thank you for stopping by!

Be thankful today..it is the key to happiness!

I made a Treasury!

I made this today and will be featuring more talented Artisans in future. So many people are doing wonderful things! With the weather changing in many places and soon hopefully to change in others..we all dream of Springtime ahead!

       

I hope you enjoy!

You can see it HERE!

  

      

Bead table Wednesday and wonderful beads from TesoriTrovati and Yolandasclay

Well at least Bead table Wed was the reason my desk got cleaned! So thank Wednesdays are indeed good! Ive been working on Lampwork beads and these are my 2nd batch out of the kiln. I need to be working everyday on it, but will kick myself in the bum soon to do so!

The bead on bottom is this great Dahli Lama glass that changes colour when you cool and strike it in the fire. Love this green one. I won the glass from my Lampwork Beadmakers Society so I wont be using it alot right off the bat since I am only beginning. This is an expensive glass.

Bubbles in the blue. Its a learning curve, but I know how I did this now. I'm just starting so bear with me..

Really happy days with this new glass cutter tool. My husband is always buying me great things..what a man. Husbands are The Chocolate Chips in life!

 I had to make this picture LARGE so you could see how wonderful Yoli Miramontes (birds on the L) and TesoriTrovatis (on the R) beads were. I love these beads! Theres nothing like designing a necklace and having different interesting things on them. Check these fine ladies out!

On a further Note..

This below isn't BTW but I wanted to show you this French country  hutch~china closet whatever you choose to use it for piece I just got. Unfortunately my neighbors and to sell up quickly because their bank foreclosed on them. This was $50.00 and me to take them to the airport. How could I resist? I tried to pay them more but they said no. Unfortunately the bank foreclosed on them and this was criminal, because they were paid up until 2013! Frightening. You can read more about what happened here. I will be praying for them!

A shame to meet such special neighbors on a very very sad note..

(CDs in here my husband has 100s of them everywhere in the house!)

Its 58 here today a nice cool day but it has been 68 to 70..beautiful 

Spring weather. 

This is one of my roses in bloom now

the ever beauty

Rosa Mundi

 This is an English climber below..

Here is another English climber..this just goes to show that I should of 

cut this back last year or I am in fast need of an Arbor!

Here is its Rose..

This is on the side of my house..

Beautiful weather right now! Its a very hard thing here in Houston to garden with the hard clay you've got to drag alot of soil in. Such a struggle! Ive dumped alot of Miracle grow soil around these. Must spoil the Roses!

Well Id better scoot or there will be no Lampworking today!

Ok some people have asked Let me see your Beads...so here they are..

My Lampwork!

I have had my tools for a year and for this and that reason I was unable to Lampwork. I have taken a proper class and finally here are my beads. I'm excited!

 * These are my 1st beads! Please bear with me! I'm learning. And the learning curve is so big. The colours arent fancy sassy, but I'm so proud because they are my first beads! So I took a class and I dont think they are so bad!?!
* Round beads gadzooks.
* I don't have alot of beautiful glass yet as I bought light clear colours to practice with..whites and black too.
* I will need some pretty colours soon.
*And any journey takes time. I know many Lampworkers can totally relate to their 1st days, the early days. When you want to do it all already. When the desire runs ahead of the skill. But I'm just really thrilled to finally start my journey.
* The kiln Saturday night I thought didn't ramp down. But actually I didn't change the setting when I was finished. So much to learn! And Ive asked myself is it worth it? You could just buy it. But no Ive got the want to to travel as so many others have and to learn and practice. 
* My hands shake but thats ok. I know they won't always.
* Tomorrow I'll pull stringers; the long thin rods that will make my small dots. 
* So I just wanted to show y'all of my little glass fellas. One looks like the beginnings of a hedgehog? It is fat with dots but I'm practicing! There is so much joy in a new adventure...Im so thrilled.
* Is it worth it to me? If something makes your heart sing and you cant forget it I say..really try to do it. If you can't shake the feeling..find a way to do it.


* Thank you for stopping by it means alot. And for listening and sharing my joy.


* And PS Thank you Springtime you've finally arrived! So I bought 2 Bradford Pear trees today in celebration. Ill dig into the hard Texas soil tomorrow and my heart will smile and smile!

It was Time for a Lampwork class

I'm so excited about torching now! My husband and I took a class 3 years ago, a really long time ago to forget things. But actually it was basically an introduction to Lampwork. And a watch class 2 years ago. Then months ago my husband was in hospital several times. So now with the classes so far back I thought "You need a class to learn basics and to learn what you're doing". Learning and taking a class you cut right to the quick without wasting great time and glass. So yesterday I was really Stoked to take a private class. I drove way up into the countryside of Montgomery and met Leah Nelson. She was so forth coming and I really felt the Joy come back as Lampworking has been a passion of mine for a long time. She taught me the basics, but actually I did pretty well I think. She was great in answering basic questions too. There is one thing about watching videos but to have a hands on personal teacher was what I knew I needed. Leah was just great! I cant show you beads right now, but she will mail them to me. Just wanted to share my Joy and my latest doings. 

Part of Leah's work area station..

So here is my teacher Leah Nelson..

pretty as a picture!

Leah's house..

***

So what am I doing today? 

Lampworking!

(what else is there?)

Have a great day and thank you for stopping by!
xx

Another Bead Table Wednesday! And my Donation to an Auction..

Another Bead Table Wednesday!

Where do the days go? They just fly. They remind me of the butterflies that are in migration right now..I was speaking to my brother the other night about the Monarch butterfly and how right now they are in migration from North to South. They travel hundreds of miles North, lay eggs and they grow and so the migration turns around with the new Born's to the South. I want to raise some eggs but for the Monarch you need live things like parsley, and the butterfly bush. For swallowtails I remember carrots. And then there is the tomato horn worm that eats your tomato bush. But let me tell you they turn into good sized beautiful moths! My father and brother used to raise butterflies. You might of called them mini entomologists in their studies. You would be surprised how many people raise and send eggs thru the US Post Office. At night he had a black light and a box, wow you should of seen the things that landed in it. One time a bat, then many stick looking things and moths. In morning they all were no longer prisoners! Even in Summer we went to "The Butterfly Farm" in the Catskills. A German boarding house run by an older couple. What did we do? Well we did hunt butterflies!

So with today being Wednesday here is my Bead table Wednesday here is part of what Ive been working on..

Ingrid who owns Potterygirl on Etsy made this great focal and Ive strung it all up. 

It will be donated to 

The Houston Society of Glass Beadmakers 

Annual Auction April 10th. This Auction will help our great Lampworking guild!
(we also donate beads to Beads of Courage)

Next I will be using Nan Emmett's  focal of  

SpiritedEarth. I love the colours, they are so beautifully subtle shades of turquoise and a hint of purple. This is so pretty! Nan makes such lovely ceramic things..

Messy work table after finishing ugh..

Here is the Monarch..

in all of its glory..

Have a great day!