Getting a kiln

I bit the bullet tonight and ordered myself a kiln..........I just hope its a good one, I really don't know much about this sort of thing, I have a microwave kiln, and have fun with it. But this one can do every thing, from anealing beads to precious metal clay, to ceramics........so I am excited and a bit scared too, it wasn't exactly cheap.......hopefully I am not getting in over my head

Painting With Fire

 Barbra Lewis's bokk Painting With Fire is now available for pre order on Amazon..........so she is promoting it with a wonderful give away.......the beads in the above photo, in your choice of color!!!
So just head on over to her blog and check it out!

finally getting my garden planted

Today feels like we finally got something accomplished! We have had such wet weather, it has been hard to get started on the garden, but today hubby built four raised beds, filled them with good soil, and I planted several things.........asparagus, Jerusalem artichokes, two kinds of sweet peas, and three kinds of tomatoes heirloom, chocolate cherry, and brandy vine.......but I still have a lot more to plant.......now I am wondering if I will have enough room for everything! we also want to put in a fence to protect the garden from animals and to keep our dogs in......my little pom kept us company all day in the garden, I think I am going to have to put the strawberries in a fenced place of their own, because pumpkin the pom, likes the plants for some reason, and I know he likes the berries, he was kind enough to share my strawberry short cake with me tonight!
  I still have cherry bushes to plant and raspberries and blackberries too, we need to rebuild the support  for the existing blackberry plants, so we got the supplies for that today, now we just need another dry day to work on it, maybe next Sunday.......if hubby isn't busy with other things

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