The Gossiping Goddess is giving her heart away!

Lesley the creator of The Gossiping Goddess is giving away a beautiful lamp work heart pendant.

So if you want a chance to win this beautiful pendant go on over the The Gossiping Goddess and follow Lesley's instructions.  She is trying to get 100 followers before the end of August.

Happy beading Y'all
Therese

Bead Soup Blog Party Partner

I'm so excited about being a part of the Bead Soup Blog Party, this is my first BSBP.  I signed up early on the morning of August 1st and waited with bated breath for the email that revealed my partner.  My partner in the BSBP is Lola Surwillo at Bead Lola Bead.  Lori Anderson did a great job at pairing us up.  Lola and I have similar interests not just in beading but in other crafts as well.  I mailed out my bead soup mix to her today and can not wait for reveal day to see what she has done.  Go visit Lola's blog and her etsy shop she does beautiful work.

Happy beading Y'all
Therese

I Heart Macro - Shells and Rocks

I decided to take a few of the shells and rocks that my nephews have given my Mom over the years and take my macro shots of them.  It is so hot out that I just did not feel like walking around outside looking for something interesting to take a picture of. Ya feel me?  So without further ado I present Shells and Rocks...

I like the colors and texture of this shell.  I also like the way the light is in the picture, how the shadow has a shadow.

I like the pattern on this shell.

 This rock I find interesting because of it's color and I wonder what it would look like if it was made into a cabochon.  I bet it would be beautiful.

I don't know if this is Amethyst or not, probably not, but I still think it is a pretty rock and so did my nephew.

 Aren't they pretty all together?

Well there you go more of Nature's beauty.  What do you find beauty in these days?  To see more beautiful images head on over to Studio Water Stone and check out what others have contributed to I Heart Macro!

Happy beading Y'all,
Therese

A Gift For My Son

My Son's 28th birthday is on August 13th and I made him a bracelet.  He is always saying to me "Mom why don't you make me anything!" when he sees what I give to my Brothers or my Newphews for their birthdays or Christmas.  I don't know why he says that because I make pieces for him too I have made and given him three necklaces.  Oh well, what is a mother to do?  Anyhow I made him a simple nothing fancy or flashy bracelet, that I hope he likes.

I made it using 8 mm Howlite round beads, 4mm hex shaped Hematite beads and 3 mm Peridot gemstone beads (I found the Peridot in a bead shop in San Antonio last month when I was there visiting family) I hope that he likes it.
Well it is late and I have to work tomorrow, but I wanted to share this with y'all and I hope that you are having a good weekend so far, good night.

Happy beading Y'all
Therese

SoftFlex Giveaway

Sara with SoftFlex is giving away The Twist and Curl tool and some soft flex wire

Twist and Curl Mini Set

Price 25.95

22 GA Flex craft wire price 3.99 a spool (3 spools your choice of color)

So click on the path to her blog above and check it out.  Just follow the instructions and get into the running for this neat tool.

Good luck and happy beading Y'all,

Therese

Work table top

Hello Y'all,

Well I stained my work table top today and I'm very pleased with the results.  I chose a classic Walnut stain and it made the top just the right shade of dark wood.

This picture was taken about an hour after I stained.  I should have taken the top outside, but I did not want the cat walking on it.  I did not think you could smell the fumes, but I was wrong.  The smell is not that bad, it's a good thing I did not get the stain with the poly in it, my Mom and I would have both been high!

All put back and ready to create.

Oh yeah one more thing before I close.  I won the giveaway at JennP1751's blog.  Jenn was celebrating her 200th sale in her Etsy shop and so she had a giveaway.  The giveaway is a pair of her feather earrings (really cute) and one of her rings.  Looking forward to receiving my prize and also Jenn is a fellow Alabamian, cool huh!  Go check out her blog she does some pretty neat feather earrings.  I also want to thank Hope of Crafty Hope blog, she posted about the giveaway on her blog you can visit Hope's blog here she is very talented and she too is a fellow Alabamian.

Happy beading Y'all
Therese

BTW - Projects

Well it's Wednesday again and I have been working on a couple of projects.  The first project is a necklace for my cousin in PA.  She asked if I could make a necklace to match the bracelet with the pearls and flowers and of course I said DUH!, just joking, no I said "of course I can no problem."

I could have added daisy spacers, but I decided to keep it very simple and let the flowers stand out.  I hope she enjoys wearing it.

The second project I'm working on is a bracelet for a blog challenge "Long Days of Summer" on Charlene Seiver's blog The Bead Dreamer's.

I'm not really feeling the direction I'm going, so I'm going to sit back and think about it for a little while.

As you can tell from the pictures I have not stained my work table top yet.  I have the next three days off from work on regular off days, so I'm going to stain it before my hubby to be comes home this weekend.  I want him to see that I can do more than just string beads. LOL!!

One more thing before I go.  I received a book this week that I have been wanting for a while now  Sherry Serafini's "Sensational Bead Embroidery".  I am so excited to get started on a project.  It will be something simple just to get the feel of embroidering with beads.  I will post my progress on my blog and any of you that follow my blog that does bead embroidery, I will be welcome to constructive criticism.

Happy beading Y'all
Therese