Think spring!

I have spring fever. To celebrate, I have been making some outside-the-box necklaces using fresh color combinations. Example: Fuchsia Swarovski crystals with lime green seed beads as spacers. They pop! The necklace itself is very simple. I think it's elegant, and I can imagine it with anything from a bridesmaid's formal gown to jeans and a t-shirt. Yummy!

After making this one, I looked at my stash and decided to play all day. Instead of watching the Academy Awards (tm) show last night, I listened while I beaded. I made 7 sets of necklace/earrings in all:
1) The fuchsia and lime green
2) Clear crystals with orange
3) Clear crystals with blue
4) Mocca crystals and dark brown crystal pearls with cream seed beads
5) Dark green crystal pearls with rose crystals
6) Rose crystals with olive seed beads
7) Cream crystal pearls with clear AB crystals and clear seed beads (necklace, bracelet, & earrings)

None of these sets is made using beadweaving techniques, but they are pretty. Simple. Elegant. Sparkly. Fun.

I do love beads.

Merry Christmas and welcome back

I have neglected this blog for over a year. I've also neglected my beads! I did a few projects this year, but I also had hand surgery in February. That was a temporary set back, but after it healed, I could use pliers again pain free, so it was a good thing.

My New Year's resolution is to be a better blogger and to take more time for beading. Last week, I made myself a little Christmas present from a special rock I had been saving for a long time. It's a rock from the Allegheny River at Camp Dandy. If that weren't enough to make it special, it was in my fish Marjory's aquarium for 7 years. After Marjory died, we gave the aquarium to a teacher friend of Craig's, but I kept this rock. When I wear it, I'll think of the cabin, Marjory, and how much fun I had making the necklace. Beading is so relaxing for me; it's a very spiritual thing, too. The minute I start working on a project, I feel calm. As my beader buddy John and I used to say, "Beading is cheaper than therapy."

Where, oh, where did September go?

Oh, I know, my day job ate it all up. Don't get me wrong. I love my day job. It's never the same day twice, and I like that very much, but it does take time away from beading. And this month I had to rest my hand. I have a trigger finger (ring finger, right hand) and carpal tunnel stuff going on. So I had a shot of cortisone (ouch!) at the base of my ring finger and wore a brace thingy for a while. Not fun. But, as I always say, it could be worse.

Now we are off to the Tyrone, PA, farm/city day. Gotta buy those raffle tickets to support the Tyrone-Snyder Twp. Public Library. Best little library in the state. Un, make that best little library in the world. I love the library director, my daughter. :)

Phun in Philly

Back from the BeadFest. Again, it was a great time. Again, we stayed with my cousin (Hi, John), who is a wonderful host. He always makes us feel so pampered. For dinner, his cook made the most fabulous eggplant parmesan. (Maybe I should explain that John is a priest, and that's why there's a cook.) I know that it isn't always easy to entertain vegetarians, so I really appreciate the effort. Besides, it really was delicious.

As always, my favorite booth at the BeadFest was Dikra Gem (http://www.dikragem.net/index.php). I love working with cabochons and seed beads, and I love shopping at the Dikra Gem display. It's not the fanciest display in town, but the staff are the best. As I posted last year, David Kramer makes us feel like his best customers, and he does it without seeming like a phony. I told him on Saturday that when I grow up, I want to be David Kramer. Then today I got home from my day job to find a very lovely message on the phone from David thanking me for my comments on this blog last year and for shopping with him on Saturday. Even my hubby said, "Isn't that nice?" If only we all treated each other so well....

Also this weekend, we visited with my college roomie and her hubby. What fun! Carolyn had dug out a bunch of photos from our dear old Penn State days. We had wonderful times then and thinking about them now.

I have put photos from the weekend on my Facebook page for friends to see. Here is a photo of my new haul of cabs.

I'd rather be beading!

I don't keep up with this blog very well because I would rather be beading. And in the summer, I don't have Internet access when I'm at the cabin. But I thought I'd share this latest with my blog fans. :) WHO are you???

I bought the vintage-style button at Stitch Your Art Out, a great quilting/knitting shop in Pine Grove Mills, PA. Check out Cynthia's blog (see list at right). She is a much better blogger than I. She probably doesn't sleep. :) The seed beads are Toho glass triangles in a double peyote stitch. I love the way they work up, so I recently bought some in various colors. If anybody wants a custom bracelet, let me know. That's what I do. :) If you want this particular bracelet, it's for sale at my Etsy shop.

I hope everyone is having a great summer.

Latest project

Here's my entry in the Etsy Beadweavers' June challenge. The theme is "humor." http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=25957437.
It's the cork cap from a bottle of Veuve Clicquot champagne for which I made a beaded bezel. I made a similar one a while back for myself, and when I wore it to work, my friend Maggie asked, "Is that your mother?" That really tickled my funny bone, mostly because of the hairdo. :)

Allie's brother!

This photo is of Allie's brother (litter mate), Milo. Amazing, isn't it?

They don't call them Springers for nothing!

Where does the time go?

I just heard from an old college pal (Hi, Gary!) and gave him the link to my blog. And then I thought, "I haven't updated it since January!" I guess by now everyone knows that the Steelers won the Super Bowl, but dear old State lost the Rose Bowl. Talk about heartbreak. Of course, if a loss in a football game is my worst heartbreak, I am one lucky person.

Dragonflies! I never did show the world what I did with that special bead I wrote about way back in August. So here it is. NOT for sale. Unless, of course, someone makes me an offer I can't refuse. :)

I promised my hubby I would work on taxes today.... Bye!

Happy New Year!

I beaded up a storm over our semester break, so I will be refreshing my display at the Polished Edge. I'll have some special STEELERS items and some jewelry appropriate for Valentine's Day wearing or giving.

If you live in the Altoona/Hollidaysburg area, stop by. You don't have to schedule an appointment to shop the jewelry display, but if you do, you won't regret it. Treat yourself to jewelry and a relaxing massage, facial, or manicure.

Here are some samples of my recent beading. The two beaded pendants are available at my Etsy shop right now, but I may be moving them to the Polished Edge this week. Let me know if you have a preference.

Are you sick of talking (complaining) about the weather? So am I. January is half over. That's the good news. This was the view from my office window on January 15. Enough said.

Christmas Eve--oh, what a night!

Merry Christmas! As my family and friends know, I tend to have mishaps around holidays. Distracted? Me? Well . . . there were the eight stitches the day before Thanksgiving when I washed an espresso pot and didn't notice the chip on the rim. And then there was the incident with the knife twirling off the kitchen counter on the Saturday before Thanksgiving in 2004. I spent five days in the hospital that time and very nearly lost my right foot. Last year at Christmas, I sported that nasty burn on my hand.

Yesterday, Christmas Eve 2008, I thought I had made it, even though I did cut my index finger on my right hand opening a can while making dinner. All day I chatted with our daughter about whether she should drive here for Christmas Eve dinner. 9:00 a.m.: No, icy; noon: No, still icy; 3:30 p.m.: Stay put, still icy; 5:30 p.m.: Yes, we are going to church, but we have all-wheel drive and you don't. The 6:00 p.m. conversation was pretty funny in that she called to see if there was some kind of catastrophe in Tyrone because she had been hearing sirens for over an hour (she doesn't have cable). We checked the news--no catastrophes. Then she looked out her window and saw the fire trucks bringing Santa Claus to town.

Okay, so while I am chatting with her, I notice some flour dust on the bottom drawer of the kitchen cupboard by the stove. Oh, I think, I can get it with my sock. I wipe. The sock gets stuck on the drawer handle. I try to unstick it, losing my balance. I fly. The phone flies. I scream. My daughter, of course, thinks I have been murdered or something. With the phone on the other side of the kitchen, and me flat on my back on the floor and having wrenched my back, twisted my right wrist, and slammed my butt (well padded, thank goodness), I say . . . what else? "I've fallen, and I can't get up!" But I really could, and by this time, Mr. 13% hearing in his right ear heard the commotion and came to my rescue. But Allie had already rescued me by licking my face.

Now, why am I writing this on my beading blog? It's Christmas Day. The baking is done. Presents are wrapped. I have a whole day to relax. Do I dare pick up a needle? Stay tuned.

And have yourself a very Merry and relaxing Christmas.

What????

What is a nice beady gal like me doing with a link to a libertarian blog? It belongs to my student, Dave. Hey, Dave! It's true. I will read anything, especially if one of my students writes it.

Go Nittany Lions! Go Steelers! Go Golden Eagles!

Of course, my blood runs Penn State blue, so I made myself some Penn State earrings to wear while watching the games. We are . . . Penn State! Go Nittany Lions! Beat USC! For those of you who may not have heard, the Nittany Lions will play USC on New Year's Day in the Rose Bowl. We had an 11-1 season. Our only loss was a real heartbreaker.

The Pittsburgh Steelers are having a great season. If they beat the Ravens tomorrow (Dec. 14), they could take the AFC championship and start working toward the Super Bowl. Several weeks ago, I also made myself some Steelers earrings to wear while watching the games. Don't you love seeing Troy Polamalu run down the field? He always looks joyful, like he's having a good time. Maybe it's the bouncing hair... Anyway, it occured to me that other football fans might like something pretty to wear while watching Troy and the guys.

And . . . now that my daughter is the library director in Tyrone, I made earrings to honor the Tyrone Golden Eagles, who also had a fabulous season this year. You can buy these earrings at the Tyrone-Snyder Public Library or at my Etsy shop (http://www.pfordcustomjewelry.etsy.com/). If you buy them at the library, the library gets to keep all the money. If you buy them at Etsy, I make a little money to buy my next batch of beads.

I will be uploading several versions of my sports theme earrings and bracelets to Etsy in the next day or so. Check them out, and if you would like custom earrings in your team's colors, let me know.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello beady people and other friends and family!

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day. I have much to be thankful for, including our 34th anniversary, which is also tomorrow. In addition to a wonderful hubby, I have the best daughter in the world, a cute dog, a great job, and a wonderful passion for beads I am able to support by selling a few items here and there.

Right now, I am working on a piece for the Etsy Beadweavers December Challenge. The theme is Snow Queen. I love this theme. First, not all of us celebrate Christmas. Second, because it will be white and will be suitable for winter holidays or for a bride. There's a lot of red and green on Etsy right now. I made some cute little Swarovski crystal earrings that look like Christmas trees. Just on a whim I searched Etsy for any Christmas tree earrings and got 847 hits. The bad news is that my earrings are not unique. The good news is that the going price seems to be $18 plus shipping. I will be selling mine for $15 at the Polished Edge Day Spa in Altoona. No shipping charges.

That's the other good news. The Polished Edge will be setting up a display of my jewelry to sell. Anyone is welcome to stop by and take a look. The spa is located at 2612 Broad Ave., Altoona, PA 16601. The phone number is (814) 949-3442. Stop by and take a look. While you are there, schedule a massage, manicure, or pedicure. They are fabulous.

Don't forget (marketing switch on), if you see something you like at the Polished Edge, but you'd like it in a different color or length, etc., just let me know. That's one advantage of custom jewelry: for less than you'd pay for comparable mass-produced jewelry, you can have exactly what you want.

I also have a few items left at the Art4 Gallery in Hollidaysburg. Many thanks to the customers who bought most of what I had on display there.

This weekend!

I'll have a selection of jewelry at the Harvest Fest at the Lutheran Home in Hollidaysburg. It's not too early to think about Christmas, so I have lowered most of my prices to reflect the fact that I don't have to pay for shipping, insurance, PayPal fees, etc. when I sell in person. Also, I do realize that some people want cool gifts for holidays but might have lots of financial issues right now with gas/food prices and such.

See you there! For details, see http://www.alsm.org/events/events.html

Yikes!

Check this out: a beady friend had a very interesting visitor to her home:
http://marlainephotos.blogspot.com/2008/09/big-bear.html

Hi, Mom!

My mother doesn't do computers, but she's staying with my brother (hi, Dave!) while waiting for Hurricane Ike to do its thing, so he will show Mom my blog. Is this fun or what?

Philadelphia or bust

My hubby and I attended the BeadFest last weekend. It was really great, but I had this headache. Ouch... I spent about half what I had budgeted because it hurt to lean over the tables.

The tables. Full of beads, bead-related tools, findings, books, ideas, colors, and wonders.I saw a great lampworked bead with a dragonfly (my logo!) in shades of blue and purplish and green. Hmmm. It was on sale. Such a deal! I couldn't pass it up. I had just bought some seed beads a half hour earlier in the same shade of blue. Okay, the bead gods want me to have this bead. And at home, I have those vintage beads I bought two years ago and have been waiting to find the perfect focal bead for. Okay! Mine! I will post a picture when I finish the project because the vintage beads are absolutely perfect with the dragonfly bead.

I bought a whole bunch of seed beads and cabochons. I always want to buy cabs in person because they are hard to photograph. David Kramer of Dikra Gems (http://www.dikragem.net/downloads.html) must be the best salesperson in the world. Every year at BeadFest he greets me as if (a) he remembers exactly who I am and (b) I am his best customer. This year I spent about $30 at his booth, so I am definitely not his best customer. He just has that salesman's personality that is super friendly, but doesn't seem phony. See you next year, David. Maybe one of these years I will surprise you and visit your shop in NYC.

We stayed with my cousin, John. (Hi, John!) What a gracious host! He made us so comfortable, and we enjoyed visiting and remembering fun cousin times. Thanks, John!

Hello, everyone!

Isn't technology great? I have a brand-new laptop and a brand-new blog.

Family, friends, and customers know I have a little shop of jewelry on Etsy: www.pfordcustomjewelry.etsy.com News from that shop: In 2008, I will donate 10% of all purchases you make to the Lutheran Peace Fellowship (http://www.lutheranpeace.org/ ). Please take a look at my Peace Bracelet. All profits from this bracelet will go to this wonderful organization.

Other news: On September 13, I will have a table of jewelry at the Autumn Fest at the Lutheran Home at Hollidayburg. See this link for more information: http://www.alsm.org/events/events.html

I also have a few items available at a wonderful new art gallery in Hollidaysburg: Art4 Gallery.