Trinkets and Treasures

My treasures I found last weekend at the Arts and Crafts
Fair. I think I got some pretty good ones this time around.
My garden statuary....

I'm thinking I'll just store it in the barn till next spring, its
too late to do much of anything and I am not feeling the pull
of nature like I do in the spring. And if you look, you can see
that the leaves are slowly falling from the trees. Not the full
beauty of fall, but hey, autumn officially begins on the 22nd of
September.

While we wondered around the park last weekend I found
these cool wooden objects. I really liked the little bird house.
I know the man, Don Olson, and over the last couple of years
I've watched his work get better and better.

I also picked up this wine stop for Geary for Christmas.

In the park are these huge oak trees. Scattered all over
were acorns. Now I love gathering acorns as much as a
squirrel. I use the tops for caps on woolen acorns that I
make. So the day after the show I went back to the park
to get some the acorns before the hordes of squirrels who
live there could get them. I swear as I was standing under
a tree, I heard this squirrel doing his little bitchy squawking
above me and darn if an acorn didn't fall out of the tree just
missing my head! Do I think he had sense enough to drop it
on me? You betcha, little tree rats that they are!

Anyway these are some of the perfect acorns I brought home
with me. There was this different tree that had these sweet nuts.
Look at those caps! Are they not the cutest? I'm not
sure if its an acorn tree , so I brought a leaf home with me to look
it up. Alas, I haven't done it yet, but I will.

Next week is the Allegan County Fair. My favorite thing to
do in September. And only two more days before we travel
to Ohio to see about that sweet little girl, and hopefully we
bring her home with us. I'm sure we'll fall in love with her.
I saw a pamphlet from the Humane Society, their logo was
this: Come and Get Your Love

Saturday Fun

Having a fun kind of Saturday night. Went to
the opening of the new Michael's today. it was
pretty crowded in there, but I managed to find a
couple of treasures, not of the beady kind. Then
we hopped over to JoAnn's and I got a couple of
new magazines....Bead Unique (that's a good one
to get). But the one I liked best was Living Crafts.
It's packed full of all kinds of fiber fun. A really
cute set of knitted acorns and leaves that you felt.
Nicky Epstein created the pattern, she has a lot of
great books on knitting and embellishing your knits.
I have a book or two myself. Then there are a couple
of needle felted cuties...a hedgehog for one, that is
almost as cute as Humblebead's hedgies. Lots of
cute children's hats. What I thought was really great
was a section they had called FiberWorks. It lists a
lot of places to get your wool to work with. And one
page was dedicated to my favorite yarn and wool shop;
Mar-Haven Wool Farms. Barb has a great shop and
her own line of wool yarn. She's a really sweet person
to visit with and willing to help you if you need it. With
all those fiber ideas, I think I'm gonna put my beads to
the side for a bit and go back to the thing I really love.
I have a sweater to finish and blankets to make, not to
mention the stuffies I want to get done before Christmas.
I better get my rear in gear or I'll never make it.
So I'm leaving you with this fun little video I found. Thanks
Bev for helping me figure it out, but I really have to thank
Lorelei too. She posted directions to a friend one time and
I remembered to look for that...so thanks Bev and Lorelei!

Found Treasures

I did what I said I wasn't gonna do...bought more rummage stuff

again this year. Can't help it, the rummage hunter is in me. But

who could resist this owl basket? Not me! Had to have it.

Fits in good with all my Fall/Halloween stuff. The rummage sale

was a huge success again this fall. In one and a half days we raised

over $3000.00! The Lord DOES work in mysterious ways,

the rummage sale is proof of that. I was totally exhausted,

but not so tired I couldn't walk the Chapel Hill Craft show on

Saturday.....

Huge crowds of people. Four Fair barns full of high quality crafts,

all handmade and ripe for the picking... If you could get close enough

in the booths. I managed a few purchases...just little ones. You can

see more pics on my Flickr page if your interested. Even the kettle corn

tent had a line of about 20 people waiting to buy a bag. Our plan

of attack was to walk down the middle of the isle and scope both sides out.

Then if we found something that caught our eye we would jump right in.

I got my mixes for dips, those things are so good!

My sister Sue and niece Kayla. First time for this show and I think

it won't be their last! Even my Mom made it through. She had this

seat/carry thingy, that she could sit on whenever she got tired.

It stored our purchases in the bottom too. Real handy piece of

equipment. We all say "thanks, Bev" for that.

After the crafts, we stopped at our favorite pumpkin place and bought

our pumpkins and gourds. She sells the coolest pumpkins, not your

regular tall orange, but these fairytale ones. They look like something

Cinderella used to make her carriage. That's my Mom and her sister

Marie hiding in the shadows.

They even have these huge ones for sale, anywhere from $75 to

$200 per pumpkin. I'm talking BIG, HUGH, MONSTROUS things!

This is what I do with mine. A little vignette of pumpkins and

gourds. I like to stack them (it's not my idea...I have to give

credit to Martha Stewart for that one). Oh and that metal egg basket

I picked up at the rummage sale too. Another treasure.....sigh!

Treasure Hunting

Saturday I decided to get in my boat and sail myself to
Grand Rapids to treasure hunt at the Rings and Things bead
sale. I'm glad I did cause I found some great treasures. This
fall they had an exceptionally large amount different stones.
Lots of pearls, like the kishi ones I found below. Nice quality!

I also picked up:
a strand of apatite roundels
2 strands faceted smokey quartz (I love that stuff)
some yellow jade faceted coins
A really cool stone called blue ryolite...yummy!
amethyst roundels
gold stone faceted roundels
and an excellent quality of lepidolite that I haven't seen in a
long time. I had one strand once and never found the same
quality as that one until Saturday.

There were lots of people and long lines, the rain didn't seem to stop
people from getting out. So I sailed back home safely and here I am.
Speaking of rain, we've had so much here, that today I saw a turtle
leaving the pond for higher ground...lol! It filled the pond up and
than some. It seems to be moving out now.

What the Heck?

One minute I was having the time of my life (ok,

maybe not that extreme...lol). And the next minute

I'm laying in the hospital being used like a pin cushion

and dragging around an IV. I had a spot on my leg

that decided it wanted to turn into a Staph infection.

So last Friday I was put into the hospital and didn't

get out till Tuesday morning. Missed my niece's wedding,

reception, and an all girl sleep-over (I love those nights).

Only saw my sister once before she went back to

New Orleans, what a bummer.

On the brighter side though, I haven't had to work all week.

I had a guest for a couple of nights (Heather's long time

friend, and recently mine, Melanie from Earthenwood Studios).

She is such a sweet person. We all went bead shopping one

day together and they let me just hang out with their

creative minds whenever I could. We played with beads

and in the end I came out the winner, cause I have a pile

from the two of them that just makes you giddy to look at.

I swear I am gonna quit playing around and get my

projects done. But really those two ladies have

the mindset to keep their bead business going forever...

It's not a hobby that's for sure.

We do have some fun things planned before

Heather leaves, gonna pick our blueberries,

picnic at Sue's, sail on a tall ship. Heather will need

another vacation just to rest up from this one!

My Treasures

Okie Dokie...I promised I would show my goodies

I got at the Bead and Button Show. I didn't take many
pictures while I was there...my hands were too busy

touching all the beads on every one's tables. IMO I

didn't think there were many people there. But we

were there on Friday, maybe the weekend was better.

Bev and I hung around Melanie at Earthenwood Studios.

She did demos at Vintaj using a combination of her

beads and their brass. Beautiful things!

I love the "earthy" qualities of her beads. Probably how her

business got its name. Dah! Anyway we had a lot of fun

visiting with her. She is such a nice person.

I found a few great looking strands of pearls. Speaking of

which Art Bead Scene's monthly challenge is called

"Pearls of Wisdom". Check it out and if you have a design or

two to enter, you should do it. They have great give aways

to the winners.

I guess this time around I was pretty cautious about

how I spent money. I think I finally have enough...NOT!

I met a lot of people, especially from Michigan. In fact

one from the South Haven area. A PMC artist from around

Three Rivers. We are gonna get together for some beady

fun this summer. I'm excited...

We also met a woman all the way from Australia.

She flew 14 hours just to L.A., how nuts is that?

She was shopping for her business. There was another

woman from Ontario who lives at the very far end closest to

the North Pole, raises Icelandic sheep.

Another fun thing that happened was Bev and I went to

talk to people about sponsoring the Bead Cruise 2009 and

there happened to be the last three women who signed up

standing there. One was going for her birthday and she

talked her two friends into going with her.

Bev was wearing The Queen of Denial necklace that

she's teaching. It just made it seem more real and

exciting to the women. All in all, I had a very good time.

There was even a tornado in Milwaukee, but no one

knew and just kept shopping. Nothing can stop us

bead shoppers...didn't even hear the sirens going off.

To top the evening off Beverly and I went a spent a

little time with Dona Anderson. She has some great new

beading projects going. Handle It is a really nice bracelet.

She is a special person and I am blessed to know her.

So that's my trip to Milwaukee...more pictures are on my

Flickr page. I'm off to put the inspiration I was bombarded

with to some use. Night!

Vegas Treasures

Treasures from my trip to Vegas. I love

Swarvoski, can't help it, I'm drawn to it like a

moth to a flame, like a raven to a shiny jewel.

I found a Swarvoski store in one of the casinos.

Since I couldn't make up my mind I got two pairs.

Merry Christmas to myself!

My daughter also took me to some bead stores

around Vegas. Love R Beads and Vegas Beads

Found some treasures to bring home, of course

there are crystals, rose montes, that I found in

different colors, some two hole sliders, and some

top drilled crystals. I found a black round bead

that had dragons etched on them. They are hard

to see, but nice. Also found some jade drops.

Viva Las Vegas!