If I Made New Year's Resolutions

If I made New Year's resolutions, which I don't, here are some I would make. I saw this article in one of my bead magazines and it is definitely MY mantra!

I will never have enough beads.
I will never have the right colors when I want them.
I will never have enough time to bead.
I can never collect too many magazines or books about beading.
I will bring home new beads in the exact colors I already have.
I will always "need" to go to a bead shop or bead show.
I will sacrifice any manicure for a good beading session.
I will sacrifice sleep so I can keep beading.
I will always gladly spend my allowance on beads.
I will continue to buy the same colors because I like them.
I will not try new colors just because someone said I am in a rut.
I will try new colors and never use them again.
I will run out of beads one row before I finish something.
I will run out of a color one bead before finishing something.
I will gain weight from sitting at my bead table.
I won't care about weight because jewelry is one size fits all.
I will want to keep for myself half of the things I make as gifts.
I will want to give as gifts half the things I make to sell.
I will need ever higher strengths of reader glasses.
My cat deserves credit for some of my designs.
I will always want to start something new before finishing what I'm working on.
I will start at least two new projects before finishing the one in progress.
I will start something new before cleaning up, so my work area keeps shrinking as the mess gets bigger.

New May Jewelry

I am creating a lot of new beaded jewelry right now, as I have new beads from the Renaissance Bead Show I went to last Sunday, as well as beads from the bead stores in Tulsa and Kansas City. The dichroic pendant is from a bead store in Tulsa. I added a strand of seed beads, a blue silk cord and a blue silk ribbon.

The turquoise pendant came from a silver and gold buyer. Last week I took some kinked gold and silver chains and exchanged them for cash. He had a box with odds and ends in it and I bought this pendant. I used turquoise nuggets and silver spacers on the necklace. The two silver charms are from a pair of earrings I bought from Goodwill. (See my blog from March 13 on the jewelry I bought at the Goodwill store. I sent the other earring to my sister to use in a piece of jewelry.)

The green and blue focal bead on this necklace was purchased from Lumina Inspirations at the Renaissance Bead Show in Grapevine. I added copper colored seed beads and blue and green Swarovski crystals up the sides.

All of these necklaces can be purchased from my website: www.neeneeandcheechee.etsy.com

Cat Bracelet

MY new cat bracelet! Bob's daughter Jenny gave me the silver cat face toggle clasp for Christmas 2008. I decided right away that I wanted to make a charm bracelet using the toggle clasp. I started collecting the silver cat charms for my bracelet. I had planned to put them all on a silver chain -- Boring! Last Sunday I went to the Renaissance Bead Show in Grapevine and I saw these little ceramic cat beads that I could not resist. I bought two of them. I was going to dangle them down on my charm bracelet with the other cat charms, until this morning when I decided I wanted beads on my bracelet. I looked through my bead stash and I found these white and red vintage beads that I bought from Reduction Nation on Etsy some time ago. I had no plans for the beads. I bought them because I liked them. I am keeping this bracelet for myself, but if you want one similar to mine, contact me and I will see what I can do.

Industrial Chic Necklace

There is a new line of "beads" at Michael's Craft Stores called Industrial Chic. The "beads" are actually talismans or charms in bronze, gold metal, silver metal, copper, etc. and they come in lots of different shapes and fun objects. As soon as I saw them I knew I HAD to make a necklace! Here is MY Industrial Chic necklace. If you would like one similar, contact me, as this will not be for sale on my website right now.

Ft. Worth Botanical Gardens

Today I drove to Hurst, TX to visit my friend Ann Gutierrez and her kids, Micah and Rachel. I wish I could have seen Joel too, but he was teaching. I worked with Ann and Joel at Project SEED from 1996 - 2000. They are mathematicians who taught in the Dallas schools. I was a receptionist/secretary. I've stayed in touch with a lot of my SEED friends. I've never driven to Hurst and I was a bit nervous, as I don't drive on the Dallas expressways very often. But, thank goodness for the GPS in the car. I made it there and back just fine. Ann took us to the Ft. Worth Botanical Gardens for lunch and exploring. It was a beautiful day and we all enjoyed it very much! You can see more of my photos on my Shutterfly album at
http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=ee109e82741bc6a2f12f12eb75ef82b5&sid=8EbMmLJq3aKLYQ

Renaissance Bead Show - Grapevine, TX

My friend Mary Kulpon and I drove to Grapevine today for the Renaissance Bead Show. Mary had never been to a bead show and she thoroughly enjoyed it. She didn't get around to all of the vendors though. We were there for nearly three hours as it was. I went to this bead show last year and it was my first one. I was very overwhelmed to say the least. I have been to several bead shows since then, so I was prepared. Usually when I go to bead shows, I buy things I like and then try to incorporate them into jewelry projects. This time I decided to make a list before I went of things I needed for jewelry projects. Well, I still ended up buying a couple items I wasn't looking for, but all of these beads will eventually be used. So watch my website and blog for the jewelry I make with these beautiful beads.

Lots and Lots of Beads!

DeWayne, the recipient of Cavan's liver and left kidney and lives in Jacksonville, FL, called me last week and he was very excited. He had been to a garage sale and found a tackle box full of beads! He purchased them for $3.00 and then he sent them to me! He's the sweetest! The package of beads arrived today and I spent some time sorting them out to see what all was in the box -- homemade polymer clay beads in lots of colors, acrylic beads, lots of buttons, pearl beads, plastic beads, seed beads, bone pendants and lots of odds and ends kinds of beads that I haven't identified yet. I'm looking forward to looking at these beads and trying to figure out what kinds of jewelry I can make them into. If you ever see any beads at garage sales or if you have any broken strands of necklaces or bracelets, send them to me and I'll send you money for postage. I am very excited about my new bead collection!

Boho Frida

Introducing Boho Frida! Frida is a Kamibashi String Gang Doll that I ordered from www.kamibashi.com. One of the String Gang Dolls was featured in a beading book I purchased. When I looked at the Kamibashi website, I fell in love instantly with Frida. She "empowers you to paint your own reality", it said. I thought this described me and she was dressed in PINK -- my favorite color! I had to have her! There were several Kamibashi String Gang Dolls that I also liked. One was the "Moody Cow". I will probably have to order more of them. I am keeping this necklace for myself, but if you would like one, pick out a Kamibashi String Gang Doll from their website and let me know which one you would like. I can put it on a plain black leather cord or add beads and chains. You tell me what you would like.

Flashback to the 60's

I just learned how to make a friendship bracelet! Here is my first one with silver peace symbols and flowers. It has a flower button and loop clasp. It will be for sale on my website.

Love Makes the World Go 'Round

Here is my newest piece of jewelry I just finished. It is made with a laminated canceled stamp from Uruguay. There are chains with "little people" dangling from them. The little people are from train sets. I found them at Hobby Lobby. I saw this idea in a new book, Jewelry & Accessories from Everyday Objects. When Cavan was young, he wanted to collect stamps. I saw an ad to receive some free stamps, which I did and I happened to run across this envelope of these stamps recently when I was cleaning out my bag of scrapbooking items. I do not know what happened to any of the other stamps he had been collecting. Anyway, I think this necklace is very unique and fun. I will put it for sale on my website -- www.neeneeandcheechee.etsy.com

Silver & Gold Buyers

When I was cleaning out my dresser drawer, I found quite a few necklace chains that were tangled, kinked, unworn and some without clasps on them. I decided to take four of them to a Silver & Gold Buyer to see if they were real and if I could get any money for them. Three of the four were real silver and gold and I received $45 for them! Here are the rest of them. I do want to keep a couple of them, but I think I'll take the rest that I don't want to keep to the silver & gold buyer and see if I can make more money on them. I have read these articles about eBay that tell you to look through your junk drawers and closets and that you might have a gold mine and not even know it. I think I'll clean out my drawers and closets and see what else I can find that is unused. I am going to a bead show this weekend so the extra money will come in handy!

Valerie Made Me Do It!

A couple of weeks ago, Bob, my friend Jeanette who was visiting us from Atlanta, and I went to our friend Mary Tomas' art gallery -- www.marytomas.com/studiogallery -- to see a new showing. We knew many people who were visiting the gallery and our friends Valerie and Ken were there. I commented on a beautiful blouse that Valerie was wearing and she told me that she had just bought it at Nordstrom's Rack at the new mall across from Northpark Mall. I had not been to Nordstrom's Rack or any of the other new stores that have sprung up there within the past year. The next day, Bob, Jeanette and I went to Nordstrom's Rack to check it out and I bought a top similar to the one that Valerie was wearing. I told Bob that "Valerie made me do it!" It has been too cool in Dallas until today to wear it.

What do YOU do with Nutella?

What do YOU do with Nutella? Eat it spread on a banana or apple? Spread it on graham crackers? Or straight out of the jar? I've tried all of these ways. My friend Kathryn Anderle told me about Nutella several years ago and I fell in love with it! I just found a good recipe for Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti that uses Nutella and they are delicious! Here is the link to the Food Network for the recipe:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/chocolate-hazelnut-biscotti-recipe/index.html

By the way, if you missed my blog about my cute, little cookie plate, you can read about it on my September 20, 2009 blog.

Free of Debt Bracelet

Yesterday I was looking for something in my dresser drawer and I saw my old credit card holder. There were over 20 OLD credit cards in it. I haven't used the credit cards for 10+ years and some of them even had my previous name of Linda Tubbs on them. I noticed what a colorful array of them I had as I was cutting them up for the trash. I decided they would make a very unique and colorful charm bracelet. So, here is the photo of it. The bracelet only cost pennies and a little time while I was watching TV last night. This will not be for sale on my website, but if you have some old credit cards and you would like a piece of jewelry, contact me.

Good Idea, Bad Idea?

Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night thinking about a GREAT idea for a project? I was looking at some of my beading magazines last night before I went to bed. They always inspire me. I woke up at 3:30 a.m. with this really terrific idea for some necklaces. I was going to use silver wire and make just outlines of different things -- a tee shirt, a girl's head, horse head, etc. -- and add one Swarovski Crystal on each one as an accent, then put them on a black leather cord for a simple necklace. My head was swirling with ideas! I wanted to get right out of bed and start making my silver wire outlines. But, I stayed in bed. Then, I started thinking about what I was going to call these necklaces -- Linda's Loopy Designs, Linda's Coloring Book Designs, Linda's Outlines. I imagined myself walking into the Neiman Marcus jewelry department, wearing one of my outline necklaces and the sales ladies going gaga over it! I heard Bob's alarm clock go off at 6 a.m., so I got up shortly afterwards and went right in to my "beading studio", a.k.a. our dining room table, and I made this silver wire outline of a tee shirt. I was going to secure it to a black leather cord, but then I decided to scrap the whole idea. Maybe it is too simple? I doubt that Neiman Marcus or anyone else would buy it. On to the next Big Idea!

From My Afternoon Walk

I decided that I needed to take a walk and clear my head of some negative thoughts. They say that exercising boosts the endorphins that make you feel good. I needed some of that today. On my walk, I found a golf ball in what used to be the Hank Haney Driving Range across the street from our apartment. I occasionally walk through the grass there to take a short cut to our apartment if I have had enough walking. I look at the ground a lot these days when I'm walking, as I have fallen a few times and this area is very lumpy. Bob says I'm not the most balanced "little filly". I also look at the ground for "found objects" to use in my bead work. I see these unique pieces of jewelry with "found objects" and I think it would be fun to make a piece with some "found objects" of my own. Well, I did make a bracelet with some of these "found objects" when I was looking through a box of some of Cavan's items I have. You can see the bracelet and read about it on my blog dated June 23, 2009, "In Memory of Cavan". Anyway, back to the golf ball, I see that is says "Limited Range" on it. I Googled that and it says it is made to travel less distance than an average golf ball. I suppose I should throw it in the trash then. I don't play golf, but Bob does and I'm sure he won't want to use a ball with "limited range". Maybe when I take my walk tomorrow I will find something more useful.

Walk On Turtle Creek Boulevard

I have been trying to get outside to walk every day now that the Dallas weather is so nice. I would rather walk outside than stay inside and walk on the treadmill in our fitness room. I will have to use the treadmill none too soon when it gets too hot to walk outdoors. I try to vary my walk each day. Since we moved to our new apartment, we haven't walked on Turtle Creek Boulevard yet, so I decided today I would take my walk there. My friend Dennett and I used to walk on Turtle Creek in the late 90's. I was a bit uncomfortable walking there today, however, as I didn't see many other people. I saw squirrels, birds and a homeless man lying in the middle of the sidewalk talking to himself. It is a beautiful area and I plan to take more walks there, but I think I will wait for Bob to walk with me next time. I will keep my daytime walks to the West Village area where I feel comfortable and safe for now.

Miss McGillicutty Necklace

My March 13th blog was about my Goodwill Store jewelry purchases and my March 17th blog was about the story of my necklace I named Miss O'Flarity. The photo of the necklace on the left shows another remake of a piece of jewelry that I bought at the Goodwill store on March 13th. The pendant on this necklace that I named Miss McGillicutty, was half of a pair of earrings. The other half I sent to my sister to use to make a piece of jewelry. Since I named one of my necklaces Miss O'Flarity, I thought it was only fair to name this one Miss McGillicutty.

From Earrings to Necklace AND Earrings

On Sunday at church when we shared the peace, Emily shook my hand and then she told me that she had a challenge for me in her purse. I figured it was a beading project she was talking about. After the service, we were in the fellowship hall for coffee and goodies and Emily pulled out these earrings that her daughter-in-law had given to Emily for her birthday. Her daughter-in-law had purchased the earrings from an online website and at the time she didn't realize that the earrings were so long. Emily told me that the earrings weren't exactly "her" and could I fix them to something more wearable. I told her that I could shorten them and use the parts left over for a matching necklace. On the left, you can see the original earring. On the right are the shortened earrings and the matching necklace. I hope Emily will like my creation. If not, I'll buy them from her and put them for sale on my website.

New Cell Phone - Finally!

Bob and I decided to get into the 21st Century! We bought a "new" car, a 2007 Mercedes E350 and traded in our 1991 Mercedes. Then, I decided I needed a new cell phone. My old Sprint cell phone was purchased when we moved to Sarasota in 2001. Well, I guess that is in this century, but it was certainly out-dated. And, the screen was very scratched and faded and I could hardly read it to make a phone call. Sometimes it was like playing Russian Roulette to see whom I ended up calling! I told Bob that since I had been with Sprint for so long, I felt like I was being disloyal if I changed to another carrier. He looked online and found this Samsung Sprint phone for me. I love it! I now can do texting, emailing, accessing Google and taking photos, among other applications. Bob and I were walking on the Katy Trail a couple weeks ago and I said I wanted to get a pedometer to keep track of my steps. He said, "There is an app for that!" He downloaded Cardio Trainer on my cell phone that keeps track of my steps. My phone does a lot of things that I doubt I'll ever use, such as make chirping sounds that sound like crickets! And it has a flashlight and a level. But, now you can send me a text! Try it out! I'd love to hear from you!