Our Roxy Girl

Here is quick picture of our dog Roxy. And this is what she does a lot! Lays around the house and sleeps. We got her about a month ago, and she is a retired racing greyhound. She raced in 80 races. Now she just rests.  We just love her!!We adopted her from a group called the Greyhound Adoption of Ohio. They always have lots of dogs that are looking for a forever home.

Fall Bracelet

I'm going to put this bracelet up on Etsy tomorrow.  The colors are perfect for fall!  Which I hope doesn't come too quick!

Rock, Paper, Scissor Treasury

I made it on another treasury! I love the theme Rock Paper Scissors!  This treasury was created by RobinsFlight.  I've made these scissor fobs from my lampwork beads for a long time and sold them in a local shop.  Now I've decided to put some up on Etsy and see what happens.

My bead soup arrived!!

I got all my beads today and it was so exciting opening up that package. Everything is in purples and coppers with some blues and turquoise thrown in. My partner is  Natalie McKenna and her shop name is Grubbi. She lives in Liverpool. She makes really cool clay beads and likes to work with copper and brass.

A lot of the items she made herself. A number of polymer clay beads: some are swirled with different colors, one is painted in copper, and one has been covered in metallic powders. She also sent 2 squares that have designs embossed into them and then they are covered in resin. They are so pretty, great colors,  I really love the leaf!  The toggle she made is out of copper and has stars stamped onto it. It is really a nice size. She sent some white leather cord, some purple sari silk and a piece of Louisa Harding Sari Ribbon.  And then a lot of accent beads that are czech, toho, pony and seed beads. So much stuff!!

I already have some ideas. I can't wait to get started!

Hitting the Beach

Kate and I!

We just got back from a week in Virginia Beach.  This was our first visit to that area.  We usually go to the beaches in North Carolina. But we were looking for something just a little different. We stayed in Sandbridge Beach, which is a little south of Virginia Beach actually, not quite so many people.  We rented a condo that was very nice, and the outside of the building was painted in bright colors.  Very festive! I love going to the beach. I love sitting on the beach, reading a book, and watching the dolphins play in the waves. It's very relaxing. The other thing I love about the beach is looking for sea glass. It is so much fun to walk the beach and find little pieces of frosted glass. But we couldn't find a single piece of glass this trip.

We went to the aquarium and they had sea turtles that were only a year old, they were so cute.  There were two alligators that were huge and for awhile I thought maybe they were just statues, but we did see them finally move. There were a lot of really good exhibits.

The other thing we saw in and around VA Beach, was a sculpture project called a Dolphin's Promise. Local artists decorated life sized dolphins made of fiberglass.  The money raised from this project, helps to support cancer research. I don't know how may dolphins there are, but we spent some time searching for and photographing them. They are all really well done. I will post pictures of some of the ones we found later.

Here's just a couple pictures of our adventures!

View of the new Cape Henry lighthouse from the old one.

Brian made it to the top of the lighthouse!

Mom and Kate did too!

The Sanctuary where we stayed

The last evening there

I'm in a Treasury on Etsy!!

My Etched Mojito Green Lampwork Pendant Necklace is featured in this treasury called Object of Desire by trecivettesulcomo.  Thank you so much!  There are some really awesome pieces in the treasury, so check it out!

Frit Happens

Last night I made frit! It was the first time I had done this and it was so much fun!! I met someone the other day who made me realize how easy it would be to make my own. So I was playing around with some colors and this is what I came up with.  I am really happy with all of them. There is one that is fall colors, one that is halloweeny, one that is like a garden exploded, and the last one is my favorite colors of greens, blues, and turquoises. I am excited to see how they look when I make beads with them....hopefully today.

Bead Soup

I just signed up to do Lori Anderson's Bead Soup....so very exciting!.....but scary too. So now what am I going to make for a focal bead?!