Tangible Tidbits 2012 #40: Twenty Seconds of Insane Courage

Hi, everyone! Last week, I promised to let you know why I couldn’t post until Tuesday. Well, I had the post all written and ready to go, but I’ve been having problems with my web browser for quite a while...my versions of Mozilla Firefox and Adobe Flash Player are not cooperating. Considering how much Flash is used on so many websites these days, I kept getting pop up messages saying that Flash Player wasn’t working. On Facebook alone, I’d get the message at least half a dozen times in the span of five minutes! That made getting anything accomplished next to impossible, not to mention frustrating. So, I was in the process of switching my Favorites links over to Opera, because I know the Flash Player works on it, but I couldn’t access my Blogger account. I’d had the password saved in Firefox, and I apparently remembered it incorrectly. Finally, I ended up accessing the account in Firefox and changing the password. Don’t you just love technology? :P

Last Wednesday was my first productive day off. :)) I created four new social media posters – I just posted one today because my nieces slept over this weekend and I didn’t get online at all. ;) I also emailed The Revere Academy of Jewelry Arts regarding its 2013 Scholarship for Beaders. As it turns out, I can apply now and defer it until next fall...or wait to apply until next year. The response I received back from my inquiry said, "That would be fine." :-O I asked for clarification regarding which option would be fine and he replied "It’s up to you." So, I think I will apply this year and if I don’t get it, I can always try again next year. :)

At the suggestion of my former wire jewelry teacher/friend, I contacted the vendor from which I purchased my set of Lindstrom pliers…they are high quality pliers, and not cheap. It turns out that the first batch made in Spain instead of Sweden had bad springs on them, which explains why mine keep popping out. I love the pliers, but working with them has become a pain. My friend told me they should send me a free replacement set of springs – they usually cost in the ballpark of $25, she said – if I contact the technical support area, as they are aware of the problem. I’m relieved to report that a new set is on its way to me right now! :D I find myself avoiding using the tools because of the problem with the springs...I didn’t even realize replacements could be purchased! Now that I’ve got my issues with my computer AND my tools straightened out, I guess my next hurdle is sorting out the mess in my studio/office, which has spilled into my bedroom! :-/ Maybe by the end of the year I will have my life together. One can only hope. :))

I received a letter from Rings & Things stating that I didn’t place in their Pick Your Palette Crystal Jams™ Challenge with Swarovski Elements, so I nominated the same piece for Fire Mountain Gems and Beads’ Swarovski Elements Jewelry-making Contest. Fire Mountain won’t let you nominate pieces that have won awards in other contests. I just received notification that their Metal Jewelry-making Contest is now open for pieces featuring Precious Metal Clay (PMC), metal beads, wire, and/or chain…I’ll have to look through my work and see if I have anything appropriate to submit for that one. At this point, I have so many pieces that I try to enter existing ones in contests rather than creating new ones from scratch. ;)

Don’t forget! Please vote for my two entries in Stones and Findings Component Design Contest! Voting closes 4:00pm EST, on October 15th. Thank you! :D

I watched "We Bought A Zoo" over the weekend with my nieces. Matt Damon’s character had a fantastic line: "You know, sometimes all you need is twenty seconds of insane courage. Just literally twenty seconds of just embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will come of it." I LOVE that! B-)

Take care and have a great week! B-)

Tangible Tidbits 2012 #39: It's A Good Thing I Have A Sense of Humor!

Hi, everyone! I will explain the delay next week. :-O Let’s start with a chuckle today, shall we? ;) This was my Facebook status update this past Saturday:

“Just got a hot cider at Dunkin' Donuts...Fall has arrived! If only the kid at the register didn't tell me I could have a free donut with an AARP card. :P”

For my international friends, AARP is the American Association of Retired Persons. I believe you have to be at least 50 or 55 to join. :-O The kid was lucky...I just laughed it off. :))

I posted my last social media poster yesterday, so I have to make some more this week. I try to make a bunch at a time, so I don’t have to think about it every week. ;)

It looks like I didn’t place in Beadaholique’s Autumn Colors contest, as the top 10 entries were posted on Facebook for public voting and mine wasn’t among them. :-/ I think I’m going to submit it and a few other pieces to the The Revere Academy of Jewelry Arts’ 2013 Scholarship for Beaders. The scholarship is open to “anyone who makes beaded jewelry and would like to learn more about traditional jewelry making in metal” to apply. The winner will receive a scholarship for full tuition, kit fees, airfare from anywhere in the U.S., and lodging in San Francisco!” Can you imagine? The deadline for applications is October 15. I have to call them to check and see if it would apply for the Spring; if so, I can’t do it because I will lose the MJSA Education Foundation scholarship for $900 to attend MSU next semester. I’m hoping it would be good for all next year, in which case I could go in the fall if I won. Not that I expect to win…but I will never know if I don’t try, right? ;) It’s really too good of an opportunity to pass up with literally everything covered! :-O In addition to the glass Opal ring, I want to submit my Totally Twisted Swan, Pretty in Purple, embroidered red and green teardrop rivoli, and black & gold embroidered pendant necklaces. I think they are the best examples of my beadwork to date. :)

Speaking of MSU, I made my first payment in September toward alleviating my debt, and I’m now enrolled in a payment plan. I want to have it completely paid off before the beginning of next year, so I have three months to get it done. It should be manageable...although throwing the holidays and my sister’s new baby in there may make it a bit harder than it would be otherwise. :-/

Some of my sister’s stay-at-home Mom friends are throwing her a pre-baby luncheon in mid-October and she asked if I wanted to attend. She’s not really comfortable with people making such a fuss about it, since it isn’t her first child. She said it wouldn’t be on a Wednesday because one of the hostesses works on Wednesday, so I may try to switch my day off that week if I get enough notice. I have a Gund My First Puppy already for the baby because my older niece has a Pink Puppy (which is now gray from constant companionship! :)) ) and the younger one has a Blue Puppy. The style the girls have was discontinued, but we all wanted Mackenzie to have the same one in a different color. I was lucky enough to find a tan one on eBay, so I snatched it up. The girls were so excited! :D I figure I will bring that to the party if I go, possibly along with something else for my sister. ;)

Here’s the link to my Wire-sculpture.com’s Feature Artist of the Month page! WHOO HOO! B-)

And please vote for my two entries in Stones and Findings Component Design Contest! Voting closes 4:00pm EST, on October 15th. Thank you! :D

Gotta run now. Take care and have a great week! B-)

Tangible Tidbits 2012 #38: I'm A Featured Artist!

Hello, everyone! I got some exciting news on Friday via email. I will be Wire-sculpture.com’s Featured Artist for the month of October! :D I applied sometime last year and kind of forgot about it -- of course, it’s always in the back of my mind when I get the email announcing their selection each month. ;) Now, it’s finally my turn! :))

At Thursday’s BSNJ meeting, we started – I can’t imagine anyone finished that night ;) -- a sun catcher crystal decorated with either a winter or Halloween scene. I chose the winter scene, so I’d have a bit more time to work on it. ;) This was my first time working with a pattern, so that was a valuable experience for me. I also used a Peyote Quick Start card, which Deb Moffett-Hall, the speaker, recently developed. It definitely makes starting a new Peyote piece easier, IMHO. Peyote itself is a pretty easy stitch, but starting it off...actually, starting off any new piece for that matter! :))...can sometimes be a bit daunting. :P After restarting my piece three times, due mostly to counting errors in reading the pattern, I made a fair amount of progress. Naturally, I haven’t touched it again since that night, though. :-O

Yesterday afternoon, I was finally able to submit the new ring -- also featured as the new Focal Piece of the Month -- to Beadaholique’s Autumn Colors contest, as well as a bracelet in Fire Mountain Gems and Beads’ Swarovski Elements Jewelry-making Contest. It’s the same bracelet I entered in Rings and Things’ Pick Your Palette Crystal Jams™ Challenge with Swarovski Elements. I doubt it is complex enough to impress the Fire Mountain judges, but I figured I would give it a shot, anyway. :P

Stones and Findings did accept my “Battered Heart” pendant drawing, posted here. I was thinking I might submit a few other drawings, but I doubt I will have the time to make any good ones before the deadline. Maybe they’ll do this again next year, and I will have more time to plan ahead if they do. ;)

Here is this week’s social media poster, which didn’t get posted until late Saturday. :\ I did end up going to my colleague’s wedding ceremony on Friday night, but I skipped the party afterward. It was a really nice ceremony and she looked really happy. :)

I did schedule myself to take Wednesdays off from the office for the next five weeks, as I mentioned I was contemplating last week. I will end up working extra hours on Thursday and Friday to keep up with the work load, but it’s better than trying to catch up after being out for a whole week at once. :p Hopefully, I can use the time to get my life organized, as I don’t really have the energy on the weekends after keeping so busy during the week. :-O

And on that note, I will sign off. Take care and have a great week! B-)

Tangible Tidbits 2012 #37: Having A Seriously Social Week

Hi, folks! I am happy to report that I am feeling much better this week after taking the day off work last Tuesday and a visit to the allergist on Friday. He thinks I actually had a cold, but that by the end of the week it kicked in my cough-variant asthma. He renewed a few subscriptions and gave me one for an antibiotic, but he wanted me to wait until after the weekend to see if I really needed it. I’ve pretty much decided I won’t take it. :)

Our Facebook page hit 1,200 Likes this week! :-bd

I did not yet enter the opal beaded ring I made last week in the Beadaholique contest as I said I would, but I did fix up both drawings for the Stones and Findings contest and entered them. The Angel in Flight component – I changed it into a connector link for the contest – has been accepted and was posted here. The Battered Heart drawing – now a pendant – is being reviewed, as their artist has to decide if they can do it as a wax cast, which was how I created the original. The drawing turned out really well, so I’m hoping it’s accepted. :)

This is going to be a crazy week! I am assisting with a class at the Madison, Chatham, & Florham Park Adult School on Tuesday evening. The school is celebrating its 75th anniversary with classes from when it was founded with 1937 prices, and my former wirework teacher has 24 students registered for her one-time class. She asked for assistance, and I offered to help. In exchange, I basically get to take the class and pick up one of the project kits for free. It’s a simple earring project...should be fun! Then, we have our first Bead Society meeting of the new year (we meet September through June) on Thursday. We have a guest speaker coming with a hands-on project for holiday decorations, so that should get us into the fall spirit in a hurry! O:-) Finally, on Friday evening one of my coworkers is getting married. I want to go to the ceremony, although I haven’t decided whether or not to attend the reception at her house afterward. She emailed the whole department with the Save the Date information last week...I didn’t even know she was getting married until after the email went out! :))

Somewhere in there, I want to apply for 1978 Arts Center’s B.A.N.G. (Buy Art Now Guys!) VII, which will be held December 1 & 2 and 8 & 9 from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. I've been lucky enough to sell items both years I’ve participated, so I don’t want to miss it! ;)

I'm contemplating taking five vacation/personal days from the office, one a week in October. This will leave me with two vacation days in case something comes up before the end of the year. I may take Wednesdays off, but I have to check with TPTB (The Powers That Be) first. I back up a supervisor who has 13 days left, and she's thinking about taking some Mondays and Fridays. I figured that me taking Wednesdays would create the least amount of conflict. If I do this, I am hoping I will take advantage of the time to really get my act together in the computer room/studio, but we'll have to see. Being out regularly will require me to work extra hours on Thursday and Friday to keep up with the workload, since I don’t have much help. That will mean extra money that I can put toward school next semester, so this may be the best solution all around. ;)

I almost forgot...here's the link to this week's social media poster.

That's all for today. Take care and have a great week! B-)

Tangible Tidbits 2012 #36: The Wonderful World of Allergies

Hey, one and all! Well, it seems allergy season kicked in with full force here over the weekend. I drafted this post yesterday, but I couldn’t bring myself to do anything at all last night. I can’t breathe, my throat is raw from post-nasal drip, and I slept even worse for the past few nights than I usually do. It's going to be a looooooooong fall season if this is any indication! :P

While we were in Ocean City, my younger niece kept pointing out the video cameras on traffic lights, installed to catch people who run red lights. I'd read a column about them in The Star-Ledger that cited an instance in Newark, NJ, but I was not aware how prevalent they are. Since we got back, I've started noticing them around town. One in particular is at an intersection where I occasionally "race the light" on my way to work in the morning because I will have to wait three minutes for it to change again if I miss it. It occurred to me yesterday morning that I also have to start paying closer attention to which intersections allow a right turn on red and which ones do not. If I miss the sign and make a turn anyway, it will now most likely be caught on camera! #-o The article I read stated that the ticket the columnist received was $85. I don’t know if that is universal or set by municipality, but I can't afford that! :-O

On Sunday afternoon, my sister and nieces met me at the 1978 Arts Center's 3rd Annual Members Show. My younger niece dragged me around by the hand to look at certain pictures and pieces. She said she particularly liked the two jewelry pieces – I was the only jewelry artist in the show this year ;) – and asked me if I knew the artist. I told her, "We're very close." :)) After touring the exhibit, we went down to the center of town for frozen yogurt. The weather was nice and sunny...unlike Saturday, which was pretty gray all day...so it made for an enjoyable afternoon. :)

Here’s the link to this week’s social media poster, which I posted for the anniversary of September 11 this week. :(

I finally finished the October Focal Piece – an embroidered glass Opal ring – and added an elastic Swarovski Elements crystal band to one of my watches, as I wanted to wear both to the exhibit on Sunday. The colors in the ring are perfect for Beadaholique’s Autumn Colors contest, so I will be entering the ring in that contest this week. In addition, a member of the Bead Society sent a message to our Yahoo Group regarding the Stones and Findings' Sterling Silver Component Design Contest, which I also plan to enter. I looked through my sketch books from MSU and found a really good one of my Angel in Flight pendant that I'd like to submit, although I have to edit the scan because I have some notes on it and lines pointing to certain areas of the design for clarification that I want to remove. Did I ever mention that I added resin to the original piece? I haven't had a chance to clean it up yet, but I mixed some light peach together – using orange, white and pink – while I was playing with the Apoxie® Sculpt resin a number of weeks ago. I had already inserted the white parts for the angel's gown during my classes at MSU, so this was the last step toward finishing it. Anyway, the component in the contest would just be the silver outline without the resin added. I also want to fix up the sketch – or possibly start over again – of my Battered Heart ring and submit just the heart portion as a possible pendant or link. We'll have to see how ambitious I am between now and the October 1 deadline, as up to 10 entries may be submitted per person. ;)

Enjoy the Back-to-School weather while it lasts! I hear it's due to get warmer again by the end of the week. Is it any wonder people get sick this time of year? 8-|

Take care and have a great week! B-)