Happy Birthday Blog. I have been blogging for 1 year and a lot has happened in that year. To celebrate I am giving away the necklace pictured below. I made it with the cultured sea glass from znetshows.com . The wire coils are magnetic copper wire. In case you don't know what that is, it's the wire used to make electric motors. It has a coating so that the wires don't short out by touching. The wire is a darker, richer color than most copper and I think it is beautiful. Another advantage of the coating is that I believe the coating should prevent the green color that copper gets from forming on the areas where it is used. It was leftover from fixing the headlight motor on a 1966 corvette. I haven't found any other artists who use it   To be in the drawing just leave a comment on this post. Comments will be open until midnight central standard time March 6. Good luck and thanx for reading my blog.

The very talented Sally Russick of The Studio Sublime prompt for this weeks focusing on life challenge was monochrome. This week finds me longing for warmer weather since the last round of snowstorms. I looked out my front window and saw the ice hanging off the barbeque grill and wished it was warmer so I could use it. I wanted to see right through those icicles to summer. Before this hop I thought everything was better in color. Thanx Sally for helping me to see better.

Hi, I am taking part in the BSBP#7 (in case you don't know about it here is a link to Lori Anderson"s blog because she is the amazing lady who puts on this wonderful challenge   http://www.prettythingsblog.com/  ) As I said in my last post my partner for this bead exchange is Cris Peacock and since she has received her beads I can post what I sent her. There are two pics of the focal because both sides are very different. This beautiful  lampworked bead was made by the very talented Jeff Barber( http://www.lakesideartglass.com/). I covet his beads so it was hard to let this one go. I am looking forward to seeing what Cris does with it. I also sent a strand of green stones that I forgot to label but I think they are serpentine. Green glass pearls,Swarovski bicones,and faceted drops complete the green that I sent. For the purple I included AB glass rounds, more Swarovski bicones, and striped purple glass in several shapes. I added white cats-eye for the white stripes in the focal. The brass toggle clasp I bought from Lori herself. I included brass chain too. There is one more filigree piece that didn't make it into the pic too. I hope Cris has fun with what I sent.

I am participating in latest bead challenge by  the fabulous Lori Anderson of http://www.prettythingsblog.com/ . It's called Bead Soup Blog Party #7. Today I would like to introduce you to my swap partner. Her name is Cris Peacock. She lives in Hawaii. How great is that? Her blog is http://www.crispart.blogspot.com/. She also has an etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/crispart?ref=seller_info_count  where she sells beach themed jewelry and other products. She fuses glass too. The pic above is a pair of earrings she has for sale in her shop. Aren't they beautiful?

Here's the wonderful bead soup Cris sent me. I got two focals. The black one she fused. The top pic (because it won't post where I want it to) is a closeup of my focals. The one on the right is a Hawaiian bottlecap that has a island and sailing ship backround with two small shells set in resin. Cris did the resin work too. Isn't she great? I can see a lei forming around that one also using the delicate green and other pearls. I also have an ides for the black fused glass. The beads I got from Cris are probably as close to Hawaii as I will ever get so they are special to me. There is hill tribes silver, cathedral beads, fun glass, links, and beautiful boro drops. She used alcohol inks on the tin she sent them in. That's something I have on my list to try soon. Then she added another  sheer bag of goodies to the envelope. Everything was packaged in hand dyed paper and had hadmade notes attached.
It was like opening a Christmas present. Thanx Cris. I'm going to have fun playing with my bead soup. Please check out Cris's sites to see more of her wonderful work.http://www.crispart.blogspot.com/  http://www.etsy.com/shop/crispart?ref=seller_info_count The other 500 participants can be viewed by clicking on Lori Anderson's site http://www.prettythingsblog.com/ I want to thank Lori for the opportunities that have come my way because of this magnificent hop she puts on. She is the reason I have my blog. Thank you from the bottom of my heart Lori I know that this can't be easy.

Focusing on Life: flowers. For several years now I have stitched squares for the breast cancer quilt which get auctioned off at the Bead and Button show. Last night I finished my square for this year so here it is. I followed a pattern they gave and got it about 3/4 done and didn't like it so I peyoted a ruffled flower and herringboned the stem. It will go in the mail Monday.

I found a way to have a flower to look at even when there is snow outside. The last craft show I sold at the couple next to me sold dragonflies made out of spoons. When he brought out this spoon flower It was mine. It is right next to my steps and even though there are snow piles in my yard  several feet tall and spring feels like a long way off I have a flower to look

I was away from home for the last 2 posts and by mistake I packed my old laptop which doesn't connect to my camera or the internet most of the time so the next 2 pics are from the last 2 prompts. The first pic is a heart shaped rock that my husband gave me many years ago. We have wondered about the hole in it many times. Our best guess is that it sat somewhere that water dropped on it and over time it wore away the rock. In the bottom of the hole there are tiny spots where the softer material has worn away. Can you imagine how long it sat there to wear away stone? It sits in my kitchen windowsill and I look at it every day.

My post for feel the love is Frank. He loves me unconditionally.  Even when I'm having a bad day he loves me. He wants to be in the room I am in. My husband wanted a lap dog because our bulldog was too large to sit on his lap anymore. I wanted to wait until spring because dogs are easier to train in the spring but when I saw Frank (in January) it was love at first sight. Well he didn't make a very good lapdog. He has much too much energy for that. He make me smile almost every day.