On My Table

I don't have any finished pieces to show you today, but I can give you a hint as to what I'm working on.  No, lol, I'm not working on all of this!  I'd lose my mind if I had that much on my table.  Would be fun to sit and go through to get some wheels spinning though.  I've definitely got some much simpler things going on.




First, I'm working on a necklace?  bracelet?  Oh, I don't know, in these colors...

They do look kind of boring sit side by each like this, but hopefully they will look pretty once they are all finished getting beaded up.

Then, I've also got something started (I also don't know what the finished piece will be for this one yet) in some colors I found in a bag I haven't used in a while.  They're not my typical colors, but I found them so I decided to see what I could do with them...

I hope it looks ok when I'm all done with it.  The first thing I tried with these colors was the horrible mess of ugliness I mentioned the other day that I ripped out.  The second project is going better.

Finally, I also found these tubes of beads that I haven't started working with yet, but I really like them and I'm trying to figure out what to do with them.  I probably won't put all of these in one project...that may be too much.  But I'm really liking the colors.  Something different for me, but I'm really loving that blue and that green.

I have started to become very good friends with someone I inherited from my mil, Beth A.  She's very creative herself and does work with scrapbooking and card making.  I'm going to take some of her classes.  Next to my son Matthew, Beth says she's my biggest fan.  :)  She's been a great promoter for me, and I am really happy to have her as a friend.  I told her about my new bead classes here in Scottsdale / Phoenix that will be coming up, and she has been helping me spread the word.  Turns out that I may have 3 or 4 students already!  So my first class will be scheduled for June 11.  I'm really looking forward to it!  Thank you Beth!

And, what kind of mother would I be if I didn't show off my kids?  Here is a very short video (just over a minute) of highlights from the game on Monday.  Come on, you can spare a minute to watch some great kids play ball, can't you?

Hope your day is a happy one!

All in the Family (and some beady things too!)

What is more wholesome and family-oriented than little league baseball on a spring evening with families all around rooting on the kids playing the all American game?  Nothing in my book.  It's about as good as it gets.  Just some highlights from Monday's game.  Matthew pitched a great game, as usual.  He doesn't have the strongest arm and fastest pitch yet, but he is very accurate and gets them swinging and missing.  Sara plays 2nd base and when Matthew isn't pitching he plays Short Stop.  So the batter hits the ball - a pop fly - and Sara catches it for an out!  Then she is quick enough to realize the kid on 2nd ran on the pop fly so she turned and threw it to Matthew who ran over to cover the bag.  He caught it and made the out at 2nd for a double play by the Criswell kids!  woohoo!

As the game was winding down, the other team had the last at bat.  We were already ahead by 6 or 7 runs, so there was no way we could lose the game.  In our league at this level you can't score more than 5 runs in an inning to prevent anyone from getting completely crushed and dominated.  So even if the other team scored all 5 of their runs, we'd still win.  So Jeff, my DH and the kids' coach, decided to have some fun out there.  He switched everyone's positions and told them where they were going to play.  All but Sara.  She asked where she was going.  He said, "You're pitching!"  She had a serious heart attack and you could hear her panicked scream, "Noooooo!" in the bleachers.  He whispered to her, put one hand on her shoulders and one hand on her chest (which he said later her heart was racing like crazy) and gave her his vote of confidence in his calming daddy way.  So she went up to the mound and gave her first warm up pitch. (Mind you, she's never ever pitched before.)  It went straight down the pike!!!!  Let me tell you, once those kids got up there to bat she really held her own.  I think we have another pitcher in the family.  With some practice I think next year she's going to be pitching and striking a whole lot of boys out.  We were so proud!  So much fun, let me tell you.

We also got their baseball photos on Monday.  Here is Sara (9) and Matthew (11)...

And this next photo is pretty special.  It has 3 generations of Criswell's participating in Little League.  Jeff is the head coach, my fil is an assistant coach, and our two kids...grandpa, daddy and little ones.  How neat is that?!?

I'm so proud of my family, and I love them all so very much!

On to beady things to give you an update.  I worked on a new necklace for two days, thought it was a horribly ugly monstrosity and ripped it apart and resorted the beads today.  Started working on another new stitch, once again inspired by Mandy over at Beads for Brains: 365.  Maybe will have something new to show in a few days.

Also, I am going to formally start promoting myself as a teacher and work on getting together some small groups to teach stitches and techniques to in my home maybe once a month.  Won't that be fun?!  If you live in the Phoenix Metro area and want to take some very affordable classes and make your own beautiful custom jewelry, please contact me.  If you haven't beaded before, don't be afraid...I'll make it very understandable and enjoyable!  For those of you who have done some beading, maybe you'll learn a new thing or two and have some good company for a girl's afternoon.  If you know people who live in my area, please pass along the word.  I will provide a kit in their color choice to include beads, clasp, etc., a set of written instructions to take home and a link to a private youtube video showing how to finish off the clasp if they don't get to that point by the end of class.  All that for a mere $25!!!!  A screaming deal!!!!!  So please help me out and spread the word.  I would really appreciate some help in the blog world network...remember...sunny Phoenix!  (Actually I'm in Scottsdale, but easy access from anywhere in the Valley.)

I hope everyone is having a very happy week!  Getting kind of bored and lonely all day here by myself...drop me a line!

What a Fantabulous Day!!!

I had a really great day today.  Jeff got up early this morning to go down to the union hall to try to get one of the seven jobs going out today.  He was #106 on the list.  The way it works is that you have to show up to get one of the jobs.  So he needed 99 people in front of him to not show up.  Miracle of miracles...HE GOT ONE OF THE JOBS!!!!!  He starts on Monday.  We'll find out then what type of project it is and how long the job will last, but I am ever so grateful for each and every day he is employed.  This is also his first job in his new role as a Journeyman Electrician.  He had been going to school and getting training for 4 or so years and was an apprentice.  This past winter he passed his final exam and collected all his required hours, so now he's a Journeyman.  This is a very good thing.  Now he'll be supervising and training apprentices himself and could get on as a foreman or something if they like his work.  And Jeff always impresses his bosses...he does impeccable work, he shows up on time, he's never drunk or on drugs (a big problem in the construction world), etc. etc.  He's VERY good at what he does.  I'm so proud of him.  *beaming smile :D*

Next, today is my 17th wedding anniversary!  Jeff and I went through two years of total, complete and pure hell and were one month away from our divorce date when we got back together again.  Ever since getting back together, we have been happier than ever and stronger than ever.  During our time apart we both learned and grew a lot, and now we are better for each other than we ever were before.  I love my husband.  He is the most perfect man in the world to me, and I am one lucky lady to have him as my husband and father of my children.

Then, I got a package in the mail today.  Do you know Mandy over at Beads for Brains: 365?  You should go check her out.  She is determined to learn, practice and blog about a new stitch every day for a year.  Pretty amazing.  She had a giveaway, and I was the winner!  This was a fun project because it was a trash to treasure piece.  The bright blue you see being woven throughout the bracelet is plastic bags.  Here are a couple pics...

Thank you Mandy!

AND on top of all that...I sold TWO items in the last day!  I sold a Swarovski square button wire wrapped ring...

and my Greenman in Springtime necklace!

Do you know what that means?  BEAD SHOPPING!!!!!  woohoo!!!  Thank you so much, Beth A.  I've got a deal with Beth that she will wear my pieces when she goes out and about, because she is out A LOT and knows so many more people than I do, so hopefully she'll enjoy wearing some of my work and I might get a customer or two in the process.  But she decided she wanted the Greenman for keeps.  So now it has a happy new home.  Matthew is sad.  That was his favorite. 

Also had fun at the baseball game tonight.  The kids played the Yankees, which is the team that is stacked with all the really good players.  Our team put up quite a fight and made a great ball game.  When it was all said and done we were only down by 1 run.  Way to go Bulls!  We play the Yankees 2 more times this year...they better watch out next time!!!

Yes, it was a very good day.  I can go to sleep with a happy smile on my face.

Baseball

I have 4" of rope left to go, so I have nothing beady to show you today.  But I wanted to show off my kids at their baseball game this past Monday night.  Sara came up to the plate, and got straight down to business...she doesn't mess around!  Jeff has her first in the lineup because over all the boys on the team she's the most consistent hitter.  So, here's Sara!

And Matthew pitched a fabulous game!!!  He pitched 4 innings, 8 strike outs and only allowed 1 run.  Way to go Matthew!  I just put a sampling of his pitching and strikes on this video...but in the first few seconds you'll see Sara playing 2nd base backing up her big brother. 

Up All Night

Had an anxiety attack, and when that happens it takes my body a VERY long time to get back to normal.  Therefore, I didn't sleep a wink.  But you know what that meant?  An all night clay-fest!!! 

I got some molds in the mail, but I wasn't altogether happy with them.  It was partly my fault.  I didn't look at my measuring tape to see exactly how big they were going to be.  I wanted BIG.  Sadly, 25mm isn't really all that big.  And one mold was so tiny I know I'll never use it.  But also, one that was big has a floral pattern in it and the pattern is very shallow so it doesn't give the best impression.  Bummer!  I decided to make my own molds.  I dug and searched and hunted for any cabs I had and larger beads with an interesting shape, got out my mud clay and made me some molds.  I don't know why I didn't think of that before I spent the $27, but it was because I didn't know to make a mold from the clay itself.  'doh!

I played around with some colors, some translucent, some mud, some glitter and some powder pigment.  How can you go wrong with all that???  Making cabs, I discovered, will take some time to learn the nuances of; but I think I came up with some interesting things.  After baking some I sanded and buffed and some I didn't.  I coated them all in Diamond Glaze.  The only problem with that is that it left some eeny weeny bubbles.  Bummer again!  Could be my cheap paint brush too though.  Ok.  Here's what I made in my all night party of moi...

These were made from my mud from my canes the other day.

This I used some kind of brownish color, gold and a hint of red.

This was made with slivers of my cane from the other day covering a base of clay.

For these I used translucent and raspberry and glitter and threw them in an ice bath after baking.

These were interesting.  I used a translucent light blue, a royal blue and some blue pigment powder.  When I mixed them there were large streaks throughout.  After baking it looked solid blue.  But after sanding and buffing, some little details came through that I think are kind of cool.  Love the color!!!

This was made with a lot of translucent white and a little blue.  I threw it in an ice bath after baking.

There you have it!  My party for the night.  I am pretty happy with what I created, and my mind is already working out what I'm going to make with these babies.  I'm thinking the pink ones will be first up!  Oh, I forgot to say...don't pay any attention to the edges.  I didn't quite get the hang of nice clean edges, but it won't really matter anyhow because they'll be covered up with beads.

BASEBALL HIGHLIGHT!

Watch Matthew's great at-bat from last night's game.  We won, btw, 13-3.  Go Bulls!

"Proud Mommy Moment" of the Day

A little break from beads.  My 8 year old daughter, Sara, who I've posted a couple pictures of, plays baseball.  She refuses to play softball with the girls...she wants to play with the boys.  It's not just my opinion, as I overhear other parents talking about her in the stands behind me, she is probably the best athlete out there.  One grandfather I was told was even talking about what an outstanding player she is to other parents at his grandson's game in a town over from us.  So, I am not biased in this.  She is an outstanding athlete.  (Not just in baseball, either...you should see her play soccer.)  Anyways, my little 8 year old girl schooled the other kids out there tonight.  She not only hit two doubles and made two outs, but she hit her first HOME RUN!!!  It was the only home run I've seen at this level in 3 years of being a part of it. 
WAY TO GO SARA!!!!  WOOTWOOT!!!!

Purple Bracelet (because I can't think of a better name)

Here is my next cuff bracelet.  I just hate how the camera shows the, um, "quirks" so much.  But in person it looks rather nice.  I just need a little work on my peyote stitch.  I think the problem was that bottom row was 6/0's and the next rows were very skinny 11/0's, so the size difference made it difficult for me.  I'm just learning peyote, though, so be gentle with me.  Also, my picot stitch in person looks pretty good but the pic doesn't make it look very good.  :(

So what should I call this one?  Come on ladies...I know you're all creative!  Give me some good ideas!

I had a fun thing happen today.  I showed this and my mom's cuff to a couple people today.  One lady just flipped over my mom's bracelet and wanted to buy it from me right then!  I told her I couldn't sell it to her, though, because it was specifically for my mom.  So she ordered one!  yea for me!  My first cuff order!  She didn't give any specifications except to say that she wanted some gold beads in it.  Ok...I can do that.  Off shopping I go tomorrow!  woohoo!

Off topic from my beading.  I have to show you my two little ones.  It's the start of baseball season, so between their two teams we're at the field about 4 or 5 times a week.  Very tiring, busy nights!  But here they are, Matthew (10) and Sara (8).  I know I am a little biased, but I do believe I have beautiful babies! :)