Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Mother of Pearl beaded collar makes it to competition finals

OK, I'm so excited I could just bust!!!  Many of you have seen the Mother of Pearl beaded collar that is up for sale at Art by Andrea.  I recently entered it into Fire Mountain Gems and Beads 2010 Beading Contest in the Seed Bead category, and apparently they liked what they saw in the photos.  I made the finals!  Keep your collective fingers crossed; I'm sure I'm up against some stiff competition. 

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

What's new at my Etsy shop

I'm still debating about this whole blogging thing. It would work a lot better if I could just hook up the computer to my brain directly, so I could write whenever the thoughts enter my brain, which is actually quite often. I'm just terrible at sitting down at the computer to do the real writing! Perhaps now that I have hired myself a real, live web technician to help with a lot of the work I hate to do, related to actually getting my created items up for sale at Art by Andrea, I can work on more frequent blogging. Yeah, yeah, yeah... My web tech, Abraham, is very motivated and a quick learner, so he's actually been spurring me into a real work mode around here. But the kind of work I have to do, rather than the creative stuff I like to do. Consequently, there are a lot of new items for sale on my Etsy shop: blank notecards with an old world Italian style, new photos, new jewelry, cheaper photos, cheaper jewelry, and lots more coming on a very frequent basis. Sooooo, check out my shop, and have everyone you know check out my shop!!!

Saturday, January 23, 2010

New items for sale at my Etsy shop!

Cupid is coming! Cupid is coming! Cupid is coming!
I have created a few sets of vintage-styled Valentine's Day cards. Check them out!
And look for two types of pearl and seed bead bracelets coming soon as well. A double stranded bracelet I'm calling a 'unity bracelet', which is intended for brides, and a ladder stitched bracelet. Both types of bracelets will be available in a variety of sizes, with matching earrings available as well. And custom work is always available!

Friday, January 15, 2010

Vacation in Hawaii

Part 3 - Oahu It's been a while since last I wrote, but well, life happens! However, the splendors of our stay on Oahu are still fresh in my memory. They have to last me until we go back in August and I can make new ones! We stayed at a Marriott time-share resort in Ko Olina. Honolulu doesn't really appeal to me, at least not to stay there, in the city, again. So, Dale thought I might like it out at Ko Olina, on the other end of the island from the city, out in the country. We both loved it!

The swimming pools looked like reflecting ponds, and the kiddie pool even had a real sand beach and water only 1 foot deep. There were gardens surrounding the pools and even in the middle of the pools. And if you're more of a beach person, there were 4 large, spectacular lagoons, all within walking distance. The grounds were even more spectacular than those on Maui and Hawaii, which I wouldn't have thought was even possible. The resort had loads of activities for folks to join in if they chose, including feeding the fish at 7:30 in the morning at one of the lagoons. OK, so Dale fed the buggers and I took photos. No surprise there.

Then we discovered that if we were to take a look at the time-shares, we could get a half-day cabana rental and a 3 hour katamaran ride, which included snorkeling and dolphin watching, for free! Now if I'm going to get a chance to shoot photos of real,wild dolphins, I'm definitely there!

In the late afternoon or early evening, we'd make our way over to the family home for a big family dinner cooked by Elton's wife Maeva. The whole clan would gather each night, which was great fun. And Maeva can make a ton of really excellent food! One night she did Hawaiian food, another she did teriyaki, and another Chinese. All homemade, from scratch. 'The real kind stuff!' And the two of us would sit out in this great little garden area she has fixed up with plants, garden gnomes, and lights, and drink wine and smoke and 'talk story' and laugh and complain and laugh some more! I'm looking forward to doing that a lot more often with Maeva......