Not much new around here...just been a busy bee! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, although it was a little sad without grandma, and all of the the other loved ones we have lost over the last few years. We had Thanksgiving at grandma's house. Everyone decided we would have Thanksgiving and Christmas there before they sell the house. Boy that is going to be a sad day!!!
So, Thanksgiving, I took my Wii over there. I got that game Guitar Hero III the other day. It is really fun, and everyone enjoyed it! I've never been much for video games, in fact, I think the last game system I had was a Super Nintendo... :) ...but I love Wii! I don't have much time to play it, but it's fun when everybody gets together! I shot some video Thanksgiving of my mom and cousins playing Guitar Hero 3...it's pretty funny, my mom is funny...or maybe I'm just easily entertained! LOL Anyway, I have to upload the video sometime! :) It turned out a little dark. I'm still trying to get used to my new camera! The macro setting works much better than my old one, but I still have a time taking pictures! I need to take a photography class! I know the guy at Best Buy that helped me pick out a camera thought I was an idiot! :) I am so computer and technology illiterate!!! I wonder some days how I manage! :) The really funny thing is that people call me all the time for computer help! The truth is I'm just as lost as them! :)
I've got my house about ready for Janice to move in. I've been renting my house for about 2 years...I guess most of you that know me, already know that! (I moved back in with my mom, when my dad passed away.) The last guy that rented it TRASHED it. So much for 9 months of remodelling! The worst part is that I knew him, and thought a lot of him! Oh well, I guess people sometime fool you! His kids painted and drew on I think every wall in the house! ...and the bedroom floor. Not to mention it looked like he hadn't cleaned anything the whole time he lived there. ...and that is only the half of it! Words can not described how I felt when I walked in the house after he moved out. He ruined my furniture, broke and threw away my new $500 washing machine, broke 2 windows...plus destroyed the house. Oh yeah, and spilled fingernail polish remover on the hardwood floors I had refinished...yeah, I refinished them!!! ...and it was a job, let me tell you! My dad borrowed a big industrial belt sander from a friend, showed me how to use it and let me have at it! I will never do that again!!! They turned out good, but boy was that a job!!! A piece of advice to anyone wanting to refinish there's...it's worth every penny to hire someone! Don't do it yourself! Chris, my cousin that passed away last October, helped with one room and my dad helped some...but I did a good portion of it myself! Oh, and even funnier, I pulled up the carpet, tack strips and 1 billion staples! Chris helped with that too! Him and my dad taught me so much! I'm better good with power tools! LOL Watch out! :) I had lots of help with the house...my other cousin, Josh is an electrician, a friend of a friend, David, did all of the plumbing...and as my dad said, "he let my mom paint in the closet!" LOL :) ....where know one would see! :) I must confess, I love my bathroom! It is huge! I think that it, the front porch, and the french doors are my favorite parts of the house....and that my great-grandparents built it...oh yeah, and my cherry red kitchen cabinets! I looked through what seemed like millions of books and magazines to see what red cabinets would look like, and found nothing, but I went ahead and painted them. Now, wouldn't you know they are in every magazine! Same thing with couches, when I bought my first house...I must have went to 50 stores, and no red sofas...I couldn't even find a store that had red fabric to have a custom one made (except Purple Picket...and it was way out of my price range! I love Urbana Furniture!!! Now, there are red couches everywhere! I settled on a custom black chenille-like set from La-Z-Boy.) I may regret it in the future...but I love the red now!
Although I'm still mad thinking about the house, the other day this thought kinda popped into my head...I guess this is a little payback, for painting our basement walls when I was little. I now know how my daddy felt when he walked in there! :) ...but you know, it's still not right for a grown adult to treat someone elses property that way. It's a shame that some people are so thoughtless and disrespectful. I mean he is a single father, and I went above and beyond, even let him use my stuff because he was in a predicament and didn't have furniture or anything. I know I'm naive, but I just always try to see the best in people...it seems like they just always try to take advantage of me. Boy I got taken this time. I had a signed lease and deposit and I guess I could go to small claims court, but I think it would be more trouble than it was worth. So, I'm going chalk this up to a lesson learned, and move on.
In other news... :) I listed a few new pieces of jewelry on Etsy and my website.
I named this piece "Paint the Town Red." You know, red is my favorite color, I absolutely loved these garnet beads...they are just gorgeous. The color is so vibrant.
I think this is one of my favorite pieces....I named this bracelet "Enchanted Evening." This piece took quite a while to make. It has over 30 feet of sterling silver wire in it.
The other month, there was a "how-to" section in one of the jewelry magazines I get that showed how to make post earrings. I have made a few pairs, but this is the first pair I posted to sell. They are rhodolite garnet...peridot, chrome diopside, carnelian, and citrine. Some one asked the other day, where I learned how to do wire work like this...I believe it is just like anything, a little trial and error, tips picked up from other sources like books, magazines, the Internet, and other artist, and the combination of many techniques we learn along the way. I buy a lot of magazines! ...and read a lot of books! LOL :)
This too was inspired by a "how-to" in a magazine. I believe this one is put out by Lapidary Journal...I'm terrible with names! The say that is a left-handed thing!!! At least I blame it on that! LOL :) Okay...so, here something weird about me! I was born with 2 thumbs on my right hand...I had one removed when I was about 2 years old...but the thumb I was left with doesn't have a joint, so it doesn't bend. It always embarrassed me as a kid...to have a crooked thumb. They said when I was older and had finished growing, I could have surgery and have it fixed, but by then, it didn't bother me. Anyway, they say it is hereditary, although no one in my family has ever had this. (They also say throughout history it was associated with, and a sign of royalty! LOL Well, I am Princess Jennifer! :) LOL ) Anyway, my parents said when I was really little I always tried to use my right hand first, but since I had problems with the thumb, I would get frustrated and try my left hand. Perhaps this is why I'm left-handed. I still use my right hand for everything except writing.
Anyway, back to the bracelet...I think the magazine was Jewelry Artist, or Art Jewelry(???)...another Etsy artist wrote the "how-to," her name is Amy. She had directions on how to make a link bracelet with forged heavy gauge wire and hand-fired head pins, like I used in some of my pieces several months back...which I learned from another magazine! LOL See what I mean about combining all of the techniques you learn! :) So, anyway, I totally screwed up the bracelet and as I finished it, I broke one of the links...in the process, I noticed that one of the ends that I had gotten hot was more pliable than the link I broke...because the more you work with metal, the harder it becomes. Later I was reading the magazine again, and there was a section on annealing. AH HA! I thought...and it clicked...so I annealed the piece and put a few folds in it. Then, I thought wouldn't it just be cute stamped...so I stamped it! Then antiqued it, and presto change-o! Another happy mistake! I really like this bracelet...there is something about the rough image of forged metal with the femininity of pearls...hmmm! Oh well! LOL
I haven't listed this piece yet... A funny thing happened...a friend, Jennifer asked me to make her a snowflake necklace...This is one I was working on at the time! Could it be that great minds think alike? LOL :) What a coincidence though! ...that I was already working on one. I have a couple others with snowflakes too. Maybe it just being in the Christmas mood that makes me think of snow. Funny, I've never had a white Christmas! I'm staying hopeful though, maybe this will be the year! :) LOL
I haven't made that much lately...it seems like there just haven't been enough hours in the day. I've had these pieces for a while. I am the slackest person when it comes to uploading pictures and listing pieces online! I have tons of pieces I've never listed! I just enjoy making them soooo much more than taking pictures and writing descriptions!Oh well, I guess that's it for my rambling for the night! I'm going to go for now!
XOXO
