Hi, I'm glad that you joined me today. It is the reveal of Jeannie Dukic's Do Over challenge. If you don't know what that is  here is how it works. Jeannie sent me a necklace that she made at the beginning of her jewelry career. I am to make something new from it. The top pic shows the necklace that I was sent. My first reaction was wow this needs some color to perk up the grey. I wanted to keep the grey links the way Jeannie made them. I simply added white faceted round glass bead with aqua discs links. I moved the chain to the center as a focal. I added round aqua glass beads, round snow quarts beads, and round dark grey pearls to the ends of the chain. The chain pieces are separated by the shell links. I used all of the Jeannie necklace except two shell links and some of the chain. I took a long necklace and turned it into a two strand. there are two 5mm jump rings between each link. The ends of the strands join a silver link from Cindy Wimmer's new book "The Missing Link". I made the clasp also.  I made a Russian spiral bracelet to go with my new necklace. I hope you like it. Please check out what the other participants made at http://site.jkdjewelry.com/blog/

Focus on Life:All in a day.

This week sally of http://thestudiosublime.com/ asked us to show all in a day. Every fall I try to go on a fall leaf color road trip. Minnesota is spectacular in the fall. This year it was Monday. My son, his fiance, and I headed for Duluth. It is about 1 1/2 hours north of where we live. We took backroads and stopped frequently to take photos of natures glory. The brilliant reds of the maples are mostly gone now as are the light lemony yellows. The colors now are golden , rust and burgundy, so rich and radiant against the evergreens. Duluth is a interesting place to visit. It is on the shore of Lake Superior. The town is built on the hillsides facing the lake. It it's heyday it was very prosperous. There was logging, fishing, and iron ore mining with railroads and ore ships to carry the ore away. There are many grand old Victorian houses in the town. I shared two of my favorite. We stopped at Brighton Beach park and I got lots of great pics there. Did you see the clump of grass growing from the rock in the lake? I also like the pic of the small yellow flowers growing at the edge of the lake in the rock crevasses. Plants have a tough time growing here as conditions are very harsh with the wind blowing off the lake in the winter, sometimes at 30 below zero or more.  We went to Hobby Lobby while we were there. Yeah new bead stuff, plus a skein of yarn so I can knit a scarf. I haven't knitted in many years but I want to give it a try again. Our last stop was Russ' Fish House  in Two Harbor for  homemade smoked trout. Yumm!. The roof with the row of seagulls was a pic I snapped of the house next to Russ'. All in all I had a wonderful day. Please click Sally's link to see what everyone else did all in a day.

While you are here I thought I would post this. Some time ago I was looking at Michelle Mach's blog http://michellemach.com/blog/ and I entered her pay it forward giveaway. I was luck enough to win a treasure box of goodies in the color of my choice.  The pic above is what she sent. I am really pleased with what I received. The idea is to send something handmade (or a treasure box of beads)to the first three people to comment on your post.  Your handmade surprise will arrive sometime in the next year. When you comment you agree to pay it forward in the same way as I did.   It is an interesting way to connect with other beaders. Good luck. 

Connections is the subject of this weeks focusing on life. I found it very appropriate because I received Cindy Wimmer's new book this week. It is a wonderful book filled with wire links which are connections. I can hardly wait to try making several of the links in the book. I am sure these links will improve the quality of my jewelry. I love Cindy's style. I want to thank Sally of http://thestudiosublime.com/ for all the connections I have made this year with all of you. One of the reasons I started my blog was to connect with other beaders. Focusing on life has helped me do just that. Please take the time to check out what the other participants found for connections.

Sally Russick of http://thestudiosublime.com/  who is doing a fabulous job of prompting all of us to take better pics chose "give us a smile" this week. Let me introduce you to Little Miss Megan. She has my favorite smile. She can light up the whole room with her wonderful smile.Megan is my nieces daughter. I am the backup babysitter. Since my household was all male except me(even the dog and cat are male) she warms my heart. I have a great day playing with a little girl when she comes to my house. She is so smart and eager  to learn everything.