Tangible Tidbits 2012 #44: Baby Watch 2012

Hi everyone! I am sleeping over my sister’s house tonight so I can get the girls ready for school in the morning. My sister is being admitted to the hospital so they can induce her tomorrow and my brother-in-law, naturally, is staying with her. Hopefully, by this time tomorrow MacKenzie Glanzman Linton will be here! B-) Unfortunately, I caught another cold over the weekend, so I may not get to meet her for a while yet. :P

Last Thursday night, we had the November BSNJ meeting with guest speaker Melissa Grakowsky Shippee. She also taught two weekend workshops, and I attended the one on Friday evening. I was working on a beaded Filigree bracelet, and I am probably two-thirds of the way done with it. I’d like to finish it sooner rather than later, but I have a bad habit of leaving things like that undone for a while. :-o Anyway, I had a lot of fun at these two events, but stayed out too late both nights. :-/

On Saturday, I was at the National Arts Honor Society Holiday Art & Craft Fair at North Warren Regional High School in Blairstown. It was about 1-1/2 hours by car each way, so it was a pretty long day. The gym where the event was held was pretty cold, so that’s how I caught the cold I now have. :( I left a voicemail for my allergist’s office before I left there, requesting they give me antibiotics or Prednisone again. :P I’ve got to get better so I can meet my new niece later in the week! ;) As for the event, it was a bust…but I made friends with the vendor sitting next to me, so it made the day pass more quickly, at least. :) All of the vendors were unhappy with the turnout, so it wasn’t just me. I’ve decided not to participate in any “unknown” events without first checking them out as an attendee in the future. I may have to wait a year to participate in anything worthwhile, but it would spare me the wear-and-tear of vending at an event with very little purchasing traffic. :P

While at the show on Saturday, I made a pair of silver and black macramé beaded hoop earrings requested by a coworker. I was really pleased with how they turned out, and so was she! :D

I heard back from the Revere Academy of Jewelry Arts in San Francisco last week. I was not awarded a scholarship. :-/ However, I did clear up my back fees at Montclair State, and am registering for the 400-level Metalwork & Jewelry class for next semester! B-) The downside is that the class is being taught by the director of the program, whose taste differs from mine. :-/ I suppose I will have another chance to win him over. Wish me luck with that! :))

I didn't have a chance to post a social media poster this weekend, so I will post one later in the week and show it to you next week. :)

To those of you in the United States, enjoy your Thanksgiving on Thursday! ;) To everyone else, take care and have a great week! B-)

Tangible Tidbits 2012 #43: Hitting the Highlights Post-Hurricane Sandy

I’m baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack! :)) As I’m sure you already know, Hurricane Sandy hit New Jersey pretty hard. Personally, my entire family – aunts/uncles/cousins/sister’s family were all without power for at least eight days. Luckily, the majority of us got it back within a few hours of each other. At one point, my sister had an electrician hook her furnace up to the generator they bought just before the storm, so they at least got some heat. Mom and I do have a gas water heater, so we could take hot showers. Luckily, my cell phone worked and I can charge it in the car without the motor running, so that was my link to the outside world. ;) We went out to dinner every night and went to bed early, simply because it was the warmest place to be! :P However, we fared much better than the Jersey Shore and other areas near bodies of water. The devastation is unreal…some people are still without power, and many are without habitable homes or any home at all. I can’t even imagine finding sand, dead fish, and boardwalk planks in my living room, as have been reported. As much as we were inconvenienced, we were tremendously lucky. It can always be worse. :-/

I was in the middle of publishing my blog post on Monday, October 29 when we lost power. Honestly, I can’t even remember what happened that long ago, much less what I wanted to write. Here’s a basic list of what’s happened in my life since my last post:

• This is the first time I’ve turned on my desktop since the power went out, although I have monitored my email and Facebook pages via my cell phone. ;) Here’s the latest social media poster, albeit a bit late. :-O

• I couldn’t make jewelry during the power outage because (1) it was dark, and (2) my hands were too cold to make anything! :-O

• My doctor confirmed that I started Perimenopause over the summer. I was not surprised because I had a feeling that it was happening, but hearing it confirmed freaked me out a little. I’m 6-7 years younger than my mother was when it happened to her. As I told my psychiatrist recently, I kind of feel like a phase of my life is ending before I got a chance to really experience it. :( C’est la vie!

• Fire Mountain Gems and Beads has featured me as a Success Story on its website! I’m on a roll! :))

• I started a lanyard for a coworker using my Kumihimo disk yesterday while at the 4th Annual Jewels of New Jersey Show. Even though she picked out the cords herself, it’s bulkier than she expected and I ran out of cord before I could reach her desired length anyway. Back to the drawing board! :-/

• I sold a few pieces at the Jewels of New Jersey show; although not as many as I would have liked. The good news is that the two people who were really excited about my work (Hi, Marlene & Dave! ;) ) are employees of the Monroe Township Public Library, for which the event is a fundraiser. Hopefully, that means they will be there every year! :D Dave wanted two of my wax cast rings, but they were too small. I stretched one last night, and the other one this afternoon. He told me if I couldn’t stretch them, I could make something else for him when I go back to MSU next semester. :D

That’s probably more than enough for now. If I remember anything else noteworthy, I will let you know next week. Until then, take care and have a great week! B-)

Tangible Tidbits 2012 #42: Five Weeks And Counting...

Hi, everyone! I think I’ve finally resolved the blog posting issue with Google Chrome...at least until that browser flakes out on me. :))

Late last week, I received an email regarding the National Art Honor Society of North Warren Regional High School’s Holiday Art Fair. It seems my initial inquiry resulted in the committee reserving a space for me, which was nice of them as registration is on a "first come, first served" basis. I decided to give it a shot, since the show is the Saturday after Jewels of New Jersey, so everything will already be packed up. ;) It’s a bit of a hike for me (I’m thinking about an hour away?), and set-up starts at 7:00 a.m. – I have to find out what time the show actually starts! – but if I can make enough money above and beyond the registration fee, I guess it will be worth it. :P Wish me luck! ;)

Here’s this week’s social media poster. I only have one left "in reserve," so I will have to make some more before next Friday. :)

Our October BSNJ meeting last Thursday was a lot of fun! We learned how to use a Kumihimo disk to create multi-strand braids. I’ve seen them before, but I’d never tried it. It’s pretty easy! :) I made a lanyard for my office swipe card and the November Focal Piece of the Month using the disk. It’s one of those portable things you can take with you anywhere without a lot of difficulty, so I will probably bring it with me to the craft shows I attend to keep me busy between customers. Plus, people like to watch you working on something as they pass by...and sometimes, it even makes them stop! ;)

Friday was the pre-baby luncheon for my sister, thrown by her stay-at-home mom friends. It was nice...she got a lot of clothes! I was the only non-mother there, but it wasn’t too uncomfortable for me because I knew a few people from attending my nieces’ various events and also two people who are her friends from high school. ;) Five weeks to go! Wow, it’s going fast...at least for me! :))

On Saturday, Mom and I attended my nieces’ travel team softball game in Warren. Their team lost 12-1, but they apparently haven’t done well all season. :-O This coming week is their last game for the Fall, and I know their team(s) usually perform better in the Spring. I give them a lot of credit for keeping up with it in the "off season." ;)

On Sunday. I had tickets to see A Chorus Line at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn. I have season tickets for four shows (the regular season is five, but Mom is taking me and the girls to the fifth show for her birthday). They are all Sunday matinees, but I apparently had the wrong time listed in my calendar and missed the first half of the show. :-O Luckily, I was able to exchange the ticket for the evening performance, which I did. It was a good show that I had never seen before. I knew a couple of the songs – and I remember the commercials from when it was on Broadway when I was a kid – so it wasn’t entirely "new" to me. ;) I’m glad I saw it, but I don’t think it’s one of my all-time favorite shows. They’ve dedicated the show’s run to its composer Marvin Hamlisch, who passed away in August.

I told you I had a busy weekend planned, didn’t I? :))

Until next time...take care and have a great week! B-)

Tangible Tidbits 2012 #41: I Love Rock 'N' Roll...

Hi, everyone! Well, posting last week’s blog entry turned out to be even more arduous than the previous week’s had been. :P As it turns out, Blogger is not compatible with Opera, so I ended up trying four different browsers before I could get it posted correctly. I did get the main message posted, but I’d forgotten to add the tag labels, and the browser I used to post the message wouldn’t let me publish an edited post! :-O I ended up deleting the original post and starting over again...luckily, I’d left the other browser windows open so I could just copy-and-paste them. :P I think Chrome ended up being the winner, but I will find out while posting this message. I’d better start early! :))

A little while ago, I submitted my application for the Revere Academy of Jewelry Arts’ 2013 Scholarship for Beaders. The deadline is today, so I kind of waited until the last minute. :-/ At least I DID get it done! ;) Wish me luck! :D

I received a call for entries to participate in a Holiday Art & Craft Fair on November 17, sponsored by the National Art Honor Society of North Warren Regional High School in Warren County, NJ, earlier this week. I decided not to apply for it this year. The entry fee wasn’t that much, but considering I’m not familiar with this show I didn’t really want to take the gamble that I could be throwing my money away. I’ve also kind of made a decision not to start any new projects unless they are for a specific purpose or the result of a class I’m taking. I have an obscene amount of inventory sitting around here, and until I sell off a fair amount of it, I really don’t have the room to stockpile more stuff just for the sake of “playing around.” I’m hoping the Jewels of New Jersey show in November and BANG VII (Buy Art Now Guys!) in early December will help reduce my inventory. :-/

The new springs for my pliers came in this week, and I tested them out yesterday while making a present to give my sister at her pre-baby luncheon this coming Friday. So far, so good! ;) My nieces were over last night and they really like it, but the jury is out on whether or not my sister will actually wear it. Regardless...it’s the thought that counts, right? ;) I’ll let you know what it is and how it was received next week. I don’t want to publish what it is yet, on the off-chance one of my readers sees and/or talks to her before Friday. Better safe than sorry! :P

Here’s this week’s social media poster. ;)

On the social scene, I had a double-header on Friday night…first was dinner with two coworkers who treated me to celebrate my Feature Artist of the Month page on Wire-sculpture.com. They are two of my best clients, so it was really sweet of them to take me out! :) After dinner, I hooked up with some high school friends for darts and pool. I scored a designated driver at the last minute, so I had a really good time! :)) We played two games of darts and three games of pool revolving players on teams...and I was the only one of the five of us who was undefeated! :)) We laughed a lot and got a little silly, but that’s allowed from time to time. :P We left about 2:30 am...and I got to bed about 3:30 a.m. Guess what time I finally got out of bed on Saturday? 4:00 PM! :-O I pretty much missed Saturday, but I guess I really needed the rest. :-/

Mom and I watched Rock of Ages On Demand on Saturday night. I consider the 1980s my "era," so I really like the music in it. I saw the show on Broadway a couple of years ago with high school friends and we had a blast! B-) Mom and I agreed Alec Baldwin was miscast in the role of Dennis Dupree. And I’m not much of a Tom Cruise fan in recent years, but I enjoyed the movie in spite of him. :)) All of the actors did their own singing in the flick, so I give them a lot of credit for that...
especially the ones who are not known for their singing ability. ;) All in all, it was a pretty good weekend. :D

Next weekend will be even busier, but I will save that for next week’s post. Until then...take care and have a great week! B-)

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-)