Itty Bitty Beads

Itty bitty beads ... so lovely, so delicate, so pretty, and so feminine!
Wanna' see them? Then click ----> HERE

Organized Chaos

I dream of having one of those perfect designer studios where everything has it's place, it's always tidy and highly organized, beautifully decorated with comfy chairs - pillows - pictures - fresh flowers, very well lit with scads of natural light streaming in, and so on.... A girl can dream. Sound familiar to your dream too?

Whelp, for the time being my comfy little work space has to house my entire "bead supply shop" AND include my "jewelry factory" ... so it's gotten a little cramped over the last few years. I'm not complaining and I suppose it could be alot worse as far as space goes. Many don't believe that I create all the beaded items I offer -- trust me, I have plenty of stuff to prove I've got the goods to do allllll that beading! LOL I've learned to work well and be very productive in my 'organized chaos' situation. My mascot Wilma Flintstone is always encouraging, and BobSqPants throws me a giggle when I need a pick-me-up ... they don't seem to mind the chaos ... much. Heck, I even have help to "hold the fort down" too. It appears my work-table is a pretty comfy place for a nap at times too. Sweet dreams ... the two brothers are our tag-team nappers!In my little world, there's too many beads ... never enough time. So it's back to work for me! Oh yea, I just listed over 50 NEW necklaces at my website & 50 more to go!!
Please take a ----> LQQK

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Giving comes from the heart....

When the horrific tragedy happened in Haiti, I wanted help in more ways than $one$, but wasn't sure what it would end up being.

One day, while I was twittering ... one my lovely customers I follow, Beki, was tweeting about a necklace she designed and was making a $10 donation from each sale. I clicked on the necklace link and noticed it included a freshwater pearl and that she had (at that time) sold more than 230!! WOW!!! I tweeted to her asking if she needed more pearls and that I'd be so happy to help by donating ivory pearls for the cause.

Here's the rest of the story....

I copied this is from Beki's blog today 2/09/10:

"When I decided to sell the Blessed necklaces for Haiti, it was a split second decision. (I'm good at those...)
I hadn't even thought about cost of the product involved in making the orders.

The orders began pouring in.
I contacted a few companies hoping someone would match our donation. No one did.
Our story was submitted to local tv stations, but they didn't pick up on it.
We were a bit disappointed by the lack of support from local people and big bloggers who had no interest in helping the cause grow.
But obviously God knows what he's doing.
There was huge support overseas, particularly Australia, and across the US. Just not locally.

And out of the blue one day I got a note on twitter from Beth that said, "Can I donate pearls?"
Oh my goodness! YES! What a huge blessing that was!!
She donated hundreds of gorgeous pearls and didn't expect anything in return.

So thank you Beth for listening to God's little whisper to you!
It allowed us to donate over US $3,000.00 to help Haiti and we wouldn't have been able to do it without you."



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I felt it was the least I could do to help Beki in her fund raising efforts, as she has been a long-time customer of mine. But more importantly, to me it was a simple act of giving and giving back that would hopefully help in the aide for those suffering so badly so far away.
~Beth

What am I up to....BEADING! What else?

I've been selling supplies like crazy! Everybody must be beading!! I know I am ... I've been making & taking time to hit the worktable all this last month. I've got a bunch of photos of new things posted on my website, but I have to get their descrip's finished -- I simply run out of brain power for creative writing at the end of the day. Ooey.

Boy, have I been a busy lil' beader, let me tell you!! While cleaning out my bead bins & storage boxes to list bead supplies for the Valentine's Day sale, I re-discovered a bunch of tidbits I had totally forgotten about ... "out of site, out of mind" really fits here! Re-finding those gorgeous goodies really gave me a boost and jump-start I needed. Yay!!

Ok, enough chitchat ... gotta' get back to the worktable! Today's project is to complete all the earrings that will match the necklaces above. Hope you're having a productive day! I am!! :D

WARNING!! This is addictive - I won't be held responsible!!

I am absolutely addicted to Archer Farms Chocolate Drizzle! But, I can't seem to land a bag of this deeelisheeeous stuff when I go to Target! Sooooo I made up my own recipe!! Enjoy :D

Beth's Chili Chocolate Chex Mix

Crunch Mix:
2 boxes of Honey Nut Chex cereal
2 cups pretzels (any shape will do)
1 - 2 cups toffee candy-coated peanuts
2 - 3 cups other chex cereals (your choice wheat, corn, or rice)
Pour all dry ingredients into lg roaster pan

Sauce:
1/2 c butter or margarine
3 Tbsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper*
2 Tbsp Worcester sauce
1/2 tsp liquid smoke
2 - 3 tsp hot sauce*
*adjust the amount of heat to your preference*
Melt butter & brn sugar together, then stir in remaining ingredients - stir 'til sugar is dissolved and sauce is well combined. Drizzle small amounts over cereals & gently fold in, repeat until well coated.

Heat oven 250 degrees -- Bake 15 min's intervals gently stirring mix each time for 60 min's.
Spread mix onto lg cookie sheets or jelly roll pans.

Drizzle Topping:
1 each - 12 oz bag white chocolate & milk chocolate chips
1 - 6.8oz bar Hershey's Milk Chocolate (break into lg pc's)
Kosher salt (omit if you wish)

Microwave white choc chips in glass container for 1 minute on low power, repeat 'til smooth - drizzle over dry mix. Repeat same process with combined milk chocolate chips and broken pc's of chocolate bar - drizzle over mix. Sprinkle small pinches of kosher salt over coated mix and cool completely. Store in air tight containers or ziplock bags, then in cool location or 'fridge.

Merry Christmas from our house!

~ Can you have too many ornaments on a Christmas tree? No! ~

~ Not to self: "Try not eat too may goodies ... yea, maybe next year!" ~

~ Our little mantle forest ~

~ H o m e ~

~ P E A C E ~

~ Wishing everyone a very loving Merry Christmas & a wonderfully happy Holiday! ~