My Birthday Weekend

I had such a fun birthday weekend. On Friday I went to the Monthly Get Together at Graceful Custom Studio in Gilroy. It is nice to spend time with people who do lampwork, especially when it's Jelveh and Grace. Jelveh did a few lampwork demo's and Grace had plenty of food to snack on while watching. (I also stopped by Napa and brought my favorite Macaroons to the studio.) I can't say how much I enjoy spending time with Jelveh and Grace they are such wonderful people.
Sunday was my actual Birthday. After telling people for the last year I was 33, I finally did turn 33. (The senility is already kicking in folks.) My husband made the best French Toast for breakfast, then every hour or two he would have me open a present. The first present was a tripod I have been wanting, but unfortunately it wasn't the right size for my camera. ( It's the thought that counts, and we can use it on a different camera anyway.) My next two presents were cupcake T shirts from Etsy http://www.etsy.com/shop/dressingOnTheSide. Love them.

I also got a pair of jeans. I need jeans desperately, mine are old and starting to rip or are too big.

My next presents were books. I read all the time and and am always running out of books to read. These are perfect for me. (I read Chelsea Handler's first book and it was pretty funny.)

Then that night we went to dinner with my dad. Of coarse he had to tell the waitress that is was my birthday, so they did the whole embarrassing birthday production. When we were finished with dinner my dad gave me a present.

He got me a replacement Kitchen Aid! I appreciate it so much, I know how hard the pink is to find and how expensive they are. I have the best dad. (Please remember I am a spoiled only child.) :)
I am so happy to welcome my new baby into our family. I brought her home, sat her on the kitchen table and gave her a hug. I feel a little guilty about pushing her older sister to the side. I love my original pink Kitchen Aid. I got her from my grandmother-in-law several years ago. I loved her so much she no longer has lower gears and sometimes smells like she's burning when I use her for long periods. (I use her almost everyday sometimes twice a day.) So I am putting her out of her misery and sending her off to storage, where she can grow old. I plan to teach my new one the ropes this week when I make cake for my son's school carnival. (I will post pictures.)
Thank you to my family for a wonderful birthday. I appreciate the time, money (Dad you spent way too much), thought and love you put into everything. I can't thank you all enough. I am so excited to be 33 ......again.

I Was Going To.......

I was going to work at the torch after I picked up the kids at school.

I was going to finish sewing my daughters curtains.

I was going to go to the store and buy curtain rods.

I was going to take pictures of her finished room.

What I DID was nothing! And I loved it.

I was so cold when I got home I put on sweats, wrapped up in my Snuggie and watched Oprah. I did pry myself off the couch for 20 minutes to make a potato side dish to go with our leftovers. They were yummy.
I made some new beads on Tuesday. I am really loving the large lentil shape. It's hard to tell from the pictures, but theses beads are pretty big. They are about 1 1/2 inch focal beads. I am planning on taking them with me to Mexico next week and turning them into fun necklaces.

Hopefully the weather is warmer tomorrow and I am more motivated, so I can show you new beads by Friday.

Burning The Candle At Both Ends

So I had quite the busy weekend. There was a little of everything lampworking, sewing, cooking and a some yard work for extra measure.

After a small meltdown at the torch on Friday I designed a new game plan. You see, I have Creative A.D.D. I have had it for years. I start a project get far enough to see how it is going to turn out and then move on.(I have a drawer of almost finished scrapbook pages to prove it.) One of the benefits of lampwork is that you get a finished product the next morning. The problem is that I never do the same bead twice. I am always trying something new which doesn't always produce the best bead. I know how to improve it for next time, but there is never a next time because I have moved on to a new design. So, after looking through old photos of my beads I decide to go back to some of those designs. I love my beach beads, they are the next best thing to the real beach. I cranked up my surfing playlist and revisited some old friends at the flame. They turned out so cute, if I do say so myself. So it will be beachy beads for awhile. Which is actually fitting since we are heading to Mexico soon.

Some of these scrapbook pages are from 2005.

This is a shell that was inspired by an ocean pendant I have.(Its hard to see in this photo, it looks much better in person.)

This one was also hard to photograph.

And because I just wouldn't feel right if I wasn't juggling more than one thing I decided to break out the sewing machine. I found this fabric several weeks ago and fell in love with it. I had no idea what I was going to do with it but I had to have it. The colors are so fun and how can I turn my back on fabric with pink feathers. So I pulled it out this weekend to make a patchwork purse. I have never done patchwork before but I thought I would give it a shot. I got the body of the purse done but after three different fabric stores I haven't found the right coordinating fabric for the top and straps yet. It's another project left in progress right now but I am definitely going to finish it. I have one more fabric store to try, and it won't take more than hour to complete once I have the fabric. Stay tuned for a fabulous handbag.

Now for the cooking. I have been eyeing this recipe in my Baking With Julia cookbook since I got it for Christmas. It's a Chocolate Truffle Tart that has a chocolate crust. Yummy. Like all of Julia's recipes it is quite time consuming. And for dinner Chicken and Dumplings from America's Test Kitchen Cookbook.
With the sun finally shinning we had a opportunity to do some much needed yard work. We added some new plants and some fresh bark to the front yard, and we moved the trampoline and pruned some of the fruit trees in the back. We have much more to do in both yards but it was a start. I'm so happy spring is almost here. I am now off to spend time with the family. They are watching GI Jane. YUCK!

Finally Free Time

I have been busy, just like everyone else this time of year. Christmas was fun. I love the decorating, shopping and baking. Of course there was no time for beads, nor did I get or ask for anything bead related this Christmas.(I did get great stuff from Etsy.) But I will be at the torch soon enough. So here is a photo recap of my past few weeks.

The Calm After The Storm

Things have gone incredibly well. I really had my doubts about everything, only because I had so much planned. The croissants were quite an ordeal. I started on Friday and by Sunday morning we were eating yummy croissants. They weren't as good as Bouchon's but they were so much better than Starbucks. Mission accomplished.

Next on my to do list was my sons Halloween costume. I knew this was going to be a difficult costume, but I had no idea it was going to be this difficult. All it was going to be was a rectangle with 2 holes for arms and a hole for a neck, then came the hard part of the details. I was wrong the entire thing was hard. First I had to find stiff vinyl, found it put it was twenty something a yard. I ended up with a thin costume vinyl and use a stiff black backing on it. The Vinyl its self was a nightmare to work with, when using vinyl any needle hole can be seen permanently. So I had one chance to sew it right, and of coarse I didn't. Then I had poor planing on the arm and neck holes and ended up cutting them after I sewed the costume together. The apps I printed and laminated were the wrong size so that had to be done over again. The industrial strength glue had a mind of its own. The final touch was the lettering, and any mistakes on it and the costume was ruined. So last night, the night before his costume parade at school, I was in panic mode. Everything did turn out good in the end, and he had a pretty cool costume. Most importantly he was beyond happy with it. Oh, and my daughter decided to go trick or treating with her friend last minute and made her own costume which was a big hit. I am always so proud of her.


So, this weekend I will do some beads and tell you about them and the incredible class I took from Corina.

Buttercream and Beads

I did get my beads done and took photos to prove it, but first I need to talk about sweets. I made chocolate cupcakes with chocolate buttercream frosting last week and they were the best I have made so far. The cake it's self can still be improved, I'm using a vegan recipe. But the frosting was to die for. Out of all the bakeries I have been to the best chocolate cake I have had surprisingly comes from Costco. This frosting was like the Costco frosting only better. So speaking of bakeries I made a trip with the family to Bouchon again. This time I got my staples; Bouchons, Chocolate Donuts, Peanut Butter Cups, Nutter Butters, and Croissants. I did try something new, the Lemon Tart. It was good, creamier than a lemon meringue, but I didn't fall in love with it. I am so glad I don't live closer, because I can not control myself around their treats.


So here are my beads. They aren't that special. Plain transparent turquoise, but they are perfectly round.(Mostly) It is so boring I don't even have any meltdowns to report. So now I am going to make these beads into a necklace with some pretty chain that I purchased a while ago and hopefully be able to post photos of the necklace on Monday. Meanwhile I am continuing to make plain round beads with a different color just to get more practice before my class this month. Maybe photos of those beads too on Monday????

Reminiscing about the old days

When I was in high school my friends and I would ditch school at lunch and go to the only place that served food within 15 miles. Raley's. I have always been a picky eater and every time we went I ordered white rice and a bag of fortune cookies. I love fortune cookies. They might possibly be my favorite cookie. This week we had Chinese food and I ate everyone's fortune cookie, and still wanted more. I hinted to my husband that I would love one of those GIANT fortune cookies you can have delivered. Sometimes he is clueless when it comes to my hints. (Sorry sweetheart.) So, today I made my own fortune cookies. I was happy with the way they turned out, thank goodness, because they were a lot of work. And now I might finally be fortune cookied out.

The other "B" word

Baking not beads is what I have been working on. I have had different cupcake ideas in my head and today I had a chance to implement them. My daughter had a cakewalk at her closing ceremony of softball and I made yummy cupcakes for it. Every time I make cupcakes I try a different cake recipe, because I cant find just the right one. The last time I made them the cake was perfect, but I made up my own recipe and didn't right it down. So these cakes were pretty tasty and good consistency but next time I might make just a few changes. (and write them down) So for the frosting I made Gumball and Cotton Candy. The Gumball tasted like my favorite childhood ice cream. The Cotton Candy tasted like SUGAR, which I guess means it tasted like cotton candy. I still have a few other flavors to try next time, but lets hope I get some beads made before that happens.