pay it forward 2011

I found this on Beads by Breul's Blog.......... Pay it forward 2011...The first five people who respond will receive a handmade gift from me (it could be anything) In return you must write a blog post explaining pay it forward 2011 and send your first five commenters a gift handmade by you, its a great way to make new friends and spread some handmade love around blog land! So the first five people to respond to this post will receive a gift from me...........if you follow through! Please leave a way to contact you or follow my blog  to find out if you are one of the first five

Happy Mango Give Away

Happy mango is having a wonderful give away! Just look at these yummy beads......don't you just want all that beady goodness? head on over and check it out.......

Andrew Thornton Thursday Give Away

Andrew Thornton is having a fantastic giveaway on his blog today! Three sets of ceramic beads and a ceramic focal, all from Golem Studios! They are gorgeous!  Also a trio of soft flex also very wonderful!
so head on over and check it out!

tool time

yesterday my son and I decided to get out my new punch and die set and my doming block and punch set , and play a little bit, I didn't want to waste my new copper sheets when I am just learning to use the tools..... so we cut apart some tins with designs on them.  I had seen some bead caps here in blog land made out of old tins, so thought I would give it a try.  the first few came out kind of crinkled because I didn't realize you need to start out in a larger dome and work your way down....after I figured that out it was working pretty smoothly.  I think I am going to enjoy my new tools!  The tin we used was from Christmas cookies a friend had given  to us,  it had a holiday theme, so we got lots of solid red  disks, and some with a vivid sky blue as the main color, with bits of odd things thrown in, like ice skaters, and windows with Christmas wreaths in them, its kind of fun trying to figure out just exactly what it is on each one!  I think I may have to go to a thrift store, and do some shopping for some more tins!  It was fun collaborating with my son on this loud but fun! it gave us both some thing to do on a very blustery day...
  I will post some pictures later