I’m off to my favorite flea mkt today with my favorite guncles. But first I wanted to show you some of the jewelry displays for this weekend’s sale at Good Juju. I’ll have pics of the rest of my goods later wish me luck today! I want to fill my truck.
Garage sales haven’t been prolific so far this spring, but what I’ve picked up has made up for the quantity in kick ass quality.
Like this vintage violin with inlaid mother of pearl flowers!
Just in case I’d hit the jackpot (don’t we always have that lingering hope when out junking?) I popped into a music store that specializes in string instruments to be sure it was “craft quality.” I was reassured that it was old and beautiful, but in need of too much repair to be marketable, so I began digging through my jewelry supplies to find any shell, mother of pearl, or abalone bead that I had.
Our mosaic club now meets 3 days a week, and I drop by when I can and often bring other crafts, or just inventory that needs tagging to hang out and visit friends. But I rarely do any glasswork. I just like the company. The group is varied, people come when they can, we could have two, or fifteen there.
At first, I thought I might collage the instrument, but realized it was an ideal candidate for some gluing and grouting instead. I covered the neck with tiny, textured black tiles, then placed my shell pieces into flower blossoms onto it.
Next was the tricky part, I cut those green leaves myself!
I’m not much of a glass cutter. Actually, I’m not at all. The great thing about our mosaic club is that there are shelves and shelves, generously overflowing with precut, tiny squares of glass available in any color, sorted and ready to work with. Wow, huh? What a treasure chest!
Makes me wonder why I do not create more, since the hard part is done. And my pal, Shan is a professional glass artist, she offers to cut anything I need, I just do not want to take advantage of her.
Not only is there precut squares of glass to use (like the white ones I’ve started to apply). There are containers of scrap glass. That’s where I found the shades of green to make leaves that coordinate with the abalone leaves I’d added in the center.
The plan is to add a few more green vines, then fill in the background with the iridescent white squares. In tight spots, I’ll have to snip some of those in half to make slivers or triangles to fill in better. Then, I’ll grout it all in either dark gray or black. The sides will be decopauged with sheet music, and I’ll leave the back as is, it has a lovely inlaid wood design on it. The back is so pretty that I should probably display the finished piece on a stand instead of hanging on the wall, so people can see the inlay.
Hmmm…… looking at these photos, makes me want to pull off the squares around the scrolly holes and line the edges of it with tiny pearls first. Then do white squares around that as I fill in the background. What do you think? Ooh, or itty bitty, shiny black beads not pearls?
My sling is off! While it will be quite a bit til my arm and shoulder are moving comfortably, my hand is back in business.
When I opened my bead bins, my eyes went directly to the colors of spring. Flowers peeping up from the ground are the inspiration for this pile of bracelets.
I’m not supposed to do any big movements, like using my arm to paint a mural. But painting small canvases or making jewelry is encouraged.
I don’t need much encouragement either.
After weeks of inactivity, I am missing my life and being creative.
On the other hand, it surprised me that I accepted my convalescence period so well. I was not as resentful of my downtime as I expected to be. I actually needed and welcomed those weeks to rest.
Even now as I am feeling better and doing more, I’m still taking things slow and my drive to be doing, doing, doing, is more of a trickle of energy than a raging river of it. Well that metaphor might be twisted, but you know what I mean.
I’m glad to be recovering, and am trying to do a small project each day. Instead of a week’s worth in one day like I usually do.
Because I was so sick in November and December, I dint get to make all of the jeweled Christmas trees I’d been saving vintage jewelry and pretty frames for.
They are not going to waste- instead of trees, I have valentine hearts.
While my boy was here, we did some beading. I did not get photos of all the necklaces he crafted, there are a few more. Then the last day, we had a crimper failure, every one we finished that night, slipped apart.
At first there was heart ache and doubt- did we do the whole week’s worth of creations wrong and each would become a series of beads escaping across the room when worn?
Then, we tried the tool on the crimping beads separately from a necklace and watching closely how they closed. It looks like we simply wore that tool out and the crimping beads were no longer closing correctly. They came out twisted and smashed.
There is some worry about when this began. Were the previously made ones getting progressively worse as we went along, or did it happen all at once? There was one moment when the tool locked up pretty hard, maybe that was it?
I advised Adam not to wear one of the pieces on his flight today, that maybe he should only wear them around his house until he knows they won’t break, and keep a bag in his pocket to gather up beads just in case. He also filled bags with the bits and pieces of the ones he created that the closures failed on, so he could buy a crimping tool and recreate them at home later.
A lot of my time went into making bracelets to sell at Good Juju. I put together a couple necklaces, my last one is where we discovered our catastrophe with the tool. Luckily, it fell apart in my hands as I was finishing it, so I didn’t have to crawl under the table looking for gemstones. I put some tape on the ends of the wire, will go buy myself another crimper, and repair it later. But I’ll be fixing it alone, Adam will be back in North Carolina.
I’m going to miss my babies when they leave.
Not just me, the furry side of our family will be thinking about Dewdrop when she is gone.
They got lots of attention from her
You know what else I’ll miss? My jeans. I doubt if they will fit now.
We had over the top, magnificent meals every night. A friend had given us a cooler full of t-bones, lamp chops, roasts, and more, all grass fed and raised on his farm. Our dinners each featured a a delicious selection along with fresh veggies, I made bread and cinnamon rolls multiple times. Sugarwings perfected a recipe for coconut sugar brownies, and kept busy making them every couple of days. Adam doesn’t eat cane sugar, so I did some experimenting with how I made cookies and rolls too. Probably a more healthy choice, but hey, handfuls of cookies and plates full of meat every day still is a lot of food.
We had a BIG and utterly wonderful meal like that every single day. Plus, Adam took charge and my participation was minimal. Not only will I be missing the wonderful food, I’m losing the chef too.
He has a good life in the mountains, and I know he loves being there. But it’s very far away from the plains of Kansas.
We were blessed to have this time with our family, and I treasure each moment.
Thoughts of Ryan were with me throughout. I wore his pj pants, watched some of his favorite shows, and closely noted things he would have loved. Losing him makes every moment with his brother even more precious.
It was a beautiful week.
Of course Randy and I made time for hanging in the craft room!
One of our go-tos is making crowns.
Lots of crowns!
Then we have fun playing with them, finding critters around the house and yard to wear the new creations.
Soooo much fun! We never have quite enough time for all the projects we want to get done, but we love the heck out of each we do.
We enjoy traveling with our dogs, and there is no better place to take them along than to the Guncles’ house in Jax. They get the full royal treatment there, complete with a throne to rest upon.
They aren't the only ones feeling queenly on this vacation. Randy and Kevin make us all feel special with their pampering.
See how they feed us? Deliciously beautiful! 
We’ve been crafting, touring the antique mall they have a spot in, drinking good wine, and playing with pups.
As well as being fed the best meal I think I’ve ever had. Honestly, the red snapper and rosemary honey carrots rank at the top of anything I’ve ever eaten.
The dinner was so perfect that we couldn’t think of erasing it from our taste buds by eating dessert. So, I’m considering having this tart for breakfast instead.
I’d brought fresh peaches from our tree and made this a little differently, with a tiny bit of brown sugar, spices, and some white wine drizzled over the fruit. I think it will be an appropriately decadent breakfast for Guncleland.
The girls are enjoying the trip as much as we are. They travelled well, stopping at dog parks along the way. All are freshly groomed to be their loveliest selves for the adventure, including Honey. We take the doodles into the groomer a couple times a year, with home trim ups as needed, and regular baths in the garden hose.
But not their mama dog, I didn’t even think about getting a haircut for a golden retriever, til I saw one being styled when I picked up the golden doodles from their appointment.
So Honey Bunny got the full treatment, including a furminator brushing. Worth every penny! On the drive here, no clouds of hair were wafting from the backseat and floating up my nose. Who knew you could avoid fluffs of fur like that? And doesn’t she look pretty for going to see the Guncles?
We are heading out to a cruise this weekend, and the dogs are staying behind in the lap of luxury here on Sweet Cherry Lane. I know they will love every minute of it. That’s how we all feel here.
While I was in Indy, the gem show was also in town! Great timing!
My Sissy and her two girls took me there and we made a day of it with lunch, shopping, then home to create with and play with our finds. I guess we made a night of it too, we played with beads til bedtime.
I am thinking about a project that requires some neutral tones, so I grabbed these beauties for it. Quartz, citrine (but not the typical canary yellow), and pearls were ideal for what I am making.
I have been on the search for these gold rimmed stones for over a year. I know they can be found online, but for more than I wanted to pay. Plus, I prefer buying my gems in person so I get exactly what I want. There wasn’t a wholesale area at this particular show, but I always ask if there is a volume price.
Some dealers say yes, some no, but you gotta check it out right?
Luckily, if I bought multiples of these, they were half off, even better than I’d hoped. Glad I asked.
When my boy and I were at the gem show in KC, we wanted opals and spent time picking out a few strands, just to find out we had read the sign wrong and what we thought was an “each” price was actually a gram price.
oops
The opals went back to the table instead of home with us. But we regretted not getting at least a few. At the Indy sale, they were priced by strand, so I knew upfront what they cost. Sticker shock was still in effect, but I braved through it and purchased one anyway. They have more rainbow colors in them than what shows up here. I’m looking forward to crafting with Adam and using the opals I splurged on.
This doesn’t look like my typical haul, does it? I usually go for the genuine stones, or find vintage pieces to take apart if I’m using crystals. But for the craft I had planned, these multi colored, multi faceted strands of various shaped crystals were exactly what I went there for.
Rainbow colors were perfect for the sun catchers I was making to take into Good Juju for the spring sale.
I’d brought all the supplies needed to make the ones with ring shapes for a family craft, but for myself, I just wanted the simple ones to hang on a suction cup in a window.
Here are a couple my neices made with the rings.
Silly me, I didn’t get pictures of the rest. The girls made some beautiful pieces.
And did I mention they were beautiful girls? And such fun to be with. I had the best week, and miss them so much already.
While we were together, we tried to plan a beach adventure in October that is still up in the air, but might work out. Although if it doesn’t, I’m every bit as happy hanging out in Pendleton, IN with my family- beading, crafting, laughing, and being silly together. I love the Florida trips, but I love simply being with them even more.
This is different for me, a sports themed display. But my own way, pretty things to decorate your home for a baseball party, and pretty blue jewelry to add to your own look.
Im not exactly a fan of games myself, but I appreciate how much my adopted town supports its team.
For a giggle, I put in a tray of mood rings. If other fans are anything my husband, moods can fluctuate as viewers watch the score of a game fluctuate too. It would be fun to wear a mood ring and keep track of the colors going back and forth.
Isn't this is such a lovely blue?
I added crowns too.
And I found some cute lil baseball charms to hang onto the blue bracelets.
For the Super Bowl, I’d made a few Cheifs color pieces of jewelry that were well received, but I didn’t do a big display like this royal blue one.
I hope it goes over well!
Here is one of my boy’s creations from our beading nights.
We headed to the gem show with a plan this time. First stop, our favorite pendant lady. We picked out set stones then filled our bags with beads to match from the other vendors.
This one is some sort of agate that looks like a window into another world. It has a polished, clear dome that you can see down into. I wish I could’ve gotten a better photo, and that I could’ve bought more of them.
This mother of pearl pendant has a similar look, but in a completely different way. The agate was naturally clear, the MOP has been layered with a faceted quartz over it to create the window effect.
I put this “doublet” on a double strand of tiny garnets and finished it with silver findings the jump rings are hearts! This is for my Sissy, garnets are her birthstone. And there was a store we would visit in Florida on our sister trips with Bobbie that specialized in these layered stones.
While my son was doing beadwork based on the Fibanocci theory (his stones were placed in a very planned sequence!) I decided that mine would be simple strings of one color to hold the pendants that I’d bought.
These are for the Spring Good Juju sale. Along with tons of lovely blues that I’ll be selling for ladies to wear with their Royals shirts when they cheer on the local team.
A lot of my time was also spent in re-organizing my beads. There is a slight chance, well honestly, a very BIG chance that I got carried away with my purchases… I had to make room for my new preciouses.
While I typically buy only genuine stones or take apart vintage necklaces for my creations, this time I picked up a lot of new crystals. I’ve had sun catchers on my mind and wanted to give them a try. Since the gem show is only in town twice a year, I went all out and bought a pile, hoping my idea plays out.
We had hoped to make them while Adam and Quelyn were here, but simply ran out of time. I’ve never made these before, but when I get my curiosity tickled, I go all in. I doubt this haul of shiny beads will go to waste.
But I do wish the kids were here to make them with me.
