The Happiest Place On Earth!

We had a whirlwind weekend at the happiest place on earth! You know it! The Mouse's House! The BIG D! Disneyland! A good friend had free tickets and how could we say no?! The last time we made the trek, Calder was 5 and Magnolia was 1 1/2! We hatched a plan for it to be a surprise. I tell you, making plans in secret is a trick! We had to rent a car to take our whole little group, which is usually a tip off that something is up. Luckily our cars are such POS's that we can give a realistic excuse for the rental!

We even went as far as getting up for school, packing lunches, driving up to the school for drop off (we nearly ran over the principal!) As we drove to school we made statements like "Wow! It sure is a beautiful day! It would be a shame to spend it inside!" and "What should we do today? We have this great rental! We could drive almost anywhere!" As we pulled through the drop off lane I told Robert to just pull through and we'd find a spot to park. Darn, nowhere to park! We pulled down the block and asked Calder if he minded walking from there (something we've never done!) He looked confused but said "OK." Then I turned around and asked if he didn't mind if we parked a bit further away, "The exercise will be good for you!" and Robert just kept on driving. We got a few blocks away and asked "Should we skip school today?" Calder was shaking is head vigously YES and Magnolia was horrified that she would miss school. I said "Ok, let's get some breakfast and go in late." Tee hee he! We drove about 15 miles to have breakfast and then headed out asking "Is this the way back to school?" We then drove to pick up our friends! At their house they asked "Should we go for a picnic?"

Can you dig C3PO?

I thought for sure the street signs with the word disney all over them would have tipped the kids off. Nope! Not until we pointed to a shuttle van with the famous scrolly Disney font and the words Disneyland did we get a flicker of recognition! The perfect surprise! Ya!

We had 12 whole hours of fun! Can we do it again!?!?!?

The thorny side of life

Even with their thorns, cactus grow amazing flowers. I have to remember that, when things look their thorniest, there may be a beautiful flower just around the bend. 

Remind me to tell you about the day we ditched school and work and went to Disneyland...

Just Playing Around...

I took this photo and was resizing it in photoshop and wondered what would happen if I clicked this button

and that button

and moved this toggle

Now to get colors like these from a glaze!

Whee...

Have you been playing or experimenting?

The Visit!

It is always a treat to meet people you've only spoken with on the phone or through email. Sandy is one of those people! Sandy and Steve were celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary and decided to visit Ojai. I was lucky enough to catch a quick visit with her! I brought my trays of beads for her to dig through. She brought a treasure trove of her designs (awesome gemstone and copper with... my beads!) to show us as well as some beautiful beaded bracelets that were designed for our birth signs! Thanks for the lovely visit Sandy!

Out in the beauty...

For mothers day we decided to get our garden in order. Summer is a bore with out some home grown tomatoes. So off to the nursery we went...

I couldn't help but be enchanted by the flowers that were on display, I mean really?!?

What did you do for mothers day?

Just added

Kidlet charms are now available as beads! 

Happy Saturday!

Ears are for earrings

Having a tiny matching pair of itty bitty hearts makes making earrings a joy. I am obsessed with these tiny tiny ceramic hearts! I had ordered these tiny green peridot beads on etsy, not realizing just how tiny they were. They have been sitting patiently for the right time and place. Their time is now. Their time has come. I now wish I had more of their green goodness! I will be playing with beads today and finding other odd or lost items from the deepest darkest parts of my bead boxes. Have you ever bought some beads with an idea in mind and then those dearly needed beads got pushed to the back of your world? I say it is time for those hidden gems to rise up and unite! Come out of hiding I say! Bring joy to the world....

The details...

of my experimentitis...

I've been watching several other crafty folks play with the ice resin and have been chomping at the bit to try this technique. It had dawned on me that I could sort of reproduce a similar effect with glaze and bits of fired clay... I had a few pieces that were already fired and glazed, ready for hair clips. They did slide a bit and I realized that was because the floor of the pendant was not as flat as it could be. I'm really pleased with the colors though!

Help! I've got.... Experimentitis!

It's not a rare disease but you will get it when you least expect it! 

First I started to see stars...

Then I broke out in stripes and spots...

Then it moved onto alphabets...

And I thought I was framed...

Who knows what the cure is?!?!

Happy Mothers Day All You Mama's!

Hello! My name is Sucker" update

So I told this customer that I'd only deal with USPS, UPS or FedEx and I think they figured out that I'm not falling for their scam. Pegs posted a comment on the original post saying that she'd gotten an email like this at her office and the scammers own the "shipping company" and take your money when you give them a credit card to ship the package. I really hope no one falls for this scam. Who do you even report these things to? I'm going to give their email to my I.P. and see if they can do anything.

This sounds like a similar scam....

Was I ever 15?

Apparently. And I have the photos to prove it! My friend Andrice Arp sent me this compilation of photos she took as a budding young artist, when we were about 15 or 16. I can't believe we were ever that young? I still feel like I'm about 15 on the inside. Come to think of it I still act like I'm that age! Check out the seriously theatrical make-up! And those gloves! A skull? HA! Seeing these photos brought back so many memories. I can even smell her house when I look at them. The time we spent lounging around being bored. Can you imagine being bored now. I wish I had the time to be "bored". Her mother owned this big house in Malibu and was an artist. I don't even think I comprehended what an artist was at the time. They knew so many interesting people and were so generous and kind. They let us have our ideas and encouraged us. Thank you, Andrice.

Hello! My name is Sucker!

Have you ever gotten this email....

Hello,

I would like to order 1500 of your item "x". I'll pay by credit card. Here is my shippers information. Contact them to find out shipping costs. 

Thank you,

Customer

Well, I got an email like this and having been around the block at least once in my life immediately had a red flag go up. I decided to play along. Ok. An oder of that many would weigh 45 pounds, check with your shipper. I find it interesting that the price quote they got from a shipper that I've never heard of and does not come up on any google search is going to charge them $3,620 to ship to New Zealand. Wow. That's interesting considering you could buy yourself a round trip ticket for that amount and have a heck of a vacation to boot while hand delivering the goods. I guess I'm in the wrong line of work. 3,620? Is that in yen or dollars? Maybe rupees? I sent them an email letting them know that I only ship with USPS, UPS or FedEx. I got a quote from USPS for under $400 and that would take 3 days and be fully insured. I can't wait to see what happens next....

P.S. Have a great weekend!

More Baby Steps

I've been making baby steps toward a web site revamp. A new image here and there. Updating pages from a million years ago. Things that have been over boiling on the back burner are getting some attention now. I got rid of those icky looking paypal generated "add to cart" buttons and added my own image. Ah! That feels good. If I could only get a going on the color chart. That seems to be a complaint by many. The images are so small. They need to be larger and pop-up to show more.

I just love adding little bits of newness!

Springtime wrist favorites!

Having fun with bracelets....

Ceramic bird frame bead, pastel organic rounds and a turquoise nugget.

Hand painted ceramic daisy bead, pastel organic rounds.

 Ceramic mermaid beads with a chunk of chalcedony.

Rectangles

I wish I had made more of these ceramic rectangles charms last firing. I really like their wideness. Maybe there will be more in this firing!

I can't get enough of this turmaline!

Love Is Love

I love the way the irridescent water colors reflect the light! I dropped off a stack of cards to our Made In Ojai shop yesterday. These were in the stack. I am happy with the way they turned out. They were intended for any day but could just as easily be a Mothers Day card. 

If I were a fairy....

Is this what the world would look like all the time? Giant house sized flowers casting their ominously beautiful shadows where ever I went? I would choose to live here if I were a fairy.

As I crouched down to take these photos, I seemed to catch a local fellows attention...

He needs a hat. No?

This looks pretty threatening. Can't imagine a beautiful and delicate flower emerging from within it's barbed exterior! 

I think I'll be moving here soon. Care to join me? I think we could forage enough jewelry making supplies to never set foot outside of our flowery jungle again.

Interview on BOC Blog!

I was contacted last week by MaryAnn who is a contributor on the Beads-Of-Clay blog to do an interview! You can check it out on the Beads Of Clay Blog! Thank you MaryAnn!