Featured at the Art Zoo!

Wow things have been crazy here. So much going on, I'm hoping to have some really great news to share with all of you by next week. But I have to wait for the official news to get here first.

Me and J have been enjoying SummerFest here in Milwaukee. We went to go see The Tossers, Dropkick Murphy's, and The Offspring last Friday. Then our plans for today are to got see Cage the Elephant and The Airborne Toxic Event. And then the rest of the week our plans are to see No Doubt on Thursday and Anberlin on Saturday. So we have a pretty fun filled week ahead of us. I love SummerFest.

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And with everything going on I was so pleased to find out that I had been featured on The Art Zoo again. (Thank you very much for giving my the heads up Rose from Random Creative!!)

My 80s-tastic beaded cuff is featured right now. This just put a big smile on my face. I love this cuff and I'm so happy others do to.

The Puppies are Here!!!

This is not bead related, but when you see these pictures you'll forgive me (they are too cute!)

So as promised, I have some adorable pictures of the puppies. Me and J stopped by my mom's yesterday to see these tiny little babies.

Here's the back story of how my mom ended up with 6 little puppies.

My mom use to have a neighbor that raised pugs. Well he ran into a few life problems, like we all do, and just couldn't do the whole breeding thing anymore. He had a female that was unsupervised with the male. Well we all know what happens in this situation. The female got pregnant, and my mom's neighbor was just going to bring her to the human society because he couldn't deal with another litter right now. Well my mom wasn't going to let that happen.

She said she would take the dog in until she had the puppies and find good homes for all of them. So for the last couple months she had been looking after a very pregnant pug; making sure she was healthy and in a good place.

*side story - my mom just lost here pit/greyhound mix last November. He lost his battle with bone cancer. It was very hard for her. She loved that dog so much. He was also a rescue, and I'll have to tell his story another day.*

Last Thursday, I got a phone call at around 6:00 am that the first puppy had been born. A healthy baby boy. And then around 11:00 I got a second phone call telling me that she had seven puppies. This was a little shock because they though she was only going to have four puppies.

So my mom is now looking after six (they lost the smallest one) little fawn pug puppies. All of them are healthy, and my mom only has to bottle feed the one, because he is too small to nurse. They are 9 days old in these pictures.

We stopped by yesterday to see these little guys. They are so cute. They make the tiniest little squeaks. Their eyes and ears are still closed and they just do a little belly scoot to get around, but they are still cute.

This is Willow, the proud mommy. She is such a good mom to these puppies. The whole time we were there she would go back and forth between me and J and make sure her puppies were okay. It was too cute. She's a very good mom that makes sure her puppies are safe.

Me and J will (more then likely) be taking one of these little guys home when they are ready. We've decided to wait until they are a little bit bigger to decide on which one. A pug will make a great addition to our family. They are super lovable dogs that make great pets. Now we just have to wait and introduce Toonces and Nacho to the little guys. That should be interesting. And my mom will be keeping Willow and the smallest male (the little runt). I think she has formed a bond with him because she spends so much more time with him when she bottle feeds him.



I'll make sure to have regular updates on how the puppies are doing for the next couple months. I hope everyone doesn't mind puppy pictures instead of bead pictures every once in a while ;)

Sorry for the Absence

So I have been completely absent from the online world lately. I've had so many things happen all at once, it's just been crazy here. I ended my research position with pathology and started a new position in a different department. J started a new class; which is Mon and Wed and lasts till 9:00/9:30, so we don't get home until 10:00 those nights. I don't have a car because my tires wore really funny, and they are a danger to drive on. So I'm waiting on my new set to come in. It's hard not having a car. It's killing me. Also my mom's dog just had puppies. Don't worry I'll have pictures and the back story this weekend. They are super cute. And now that it's summer, well a free weekend is a thing of the past. So it's been crazy here and I want to apologize to my readers that I've been seriously behind on new blog posts, new item, etc., etc. I promise to be back to normal in a week or two.

I do have one thing to show off. With all the craziness that's going on, me and J went out and got ourselves new phones. We both were using 5+ year old phones that didn't keep a charge for more then a few hours, were acting up, and well, they were just old. We've never been the couple to have the most trendy phones, we pretty much just needed something to make phone calls with. But after my PDA crapped out on me last winter, I needed a replacement. I have been looking at smart phones for a while now, trying to decided which one is right for me. I needed one that had a large screen like my PDA, one that had WiFi, so I could get my email on the road, one that had maps or GPS (oh did we miss this after the PDA died), one that was easy to use, and of course make phone calls. So after doing months, and months of research (hey I am a research assistant), I decided on one.


Me and J both got iPhones. It was a difficult decision, with all the cool smart phones out there, but the iPhone met both of our needs. And I can say, I have used it extensively since we got them. I have a bunch of apps that make my life a lot easier, I have pictures of all my work uploaded, I have Internet access where ever I am, and it is a whole lot of fun. This is a picture of mine in it's crazy bright green case (sorry for the picture, I took it at my desk at work). I really am happy with it, and I'm learning about new functions all the time. This phone isn't for everyone, but it is a perfect match for me and J. (and J's dad loved it. I've never seen him interested in something electronic before, but he couldn't put it down that last time we were over there. It was cute.)

So as I said before, I'll be back to my normal self again soon (I hope). Please keep stopping by to check for me returning to normal. I'm working on my next challenge piece. I'll have pictures of it soon. This one is crazy.

Oranges - Beaded Hoops

Well life has been something else lately. You know the saying, "When it rains, It pours!" Well isn't that the truth. But enough about that. I have a new pair of beaded hoops, which is way more important then boring life stuffs.

This awesome pair of earrings is made using silver lined Delica seed beads in a super bright shiny orange. I then added little glass bi-cone beads in the center. They are so cute.

I like these earrings a lot. They are bright and fun, so they can be worn during the summer months. And they would also make a great addition to any fall outfit. Multipurpose; that's the best kind of accessory.

These hoops were part of a whole bunch of new beaded hoops I made up, but they are the only ones I have left. I sold all of the new ones at my last show. Which is awesome, but I sold them before I got the chance to take any pictures :(

If you want to check out more about these earrings, just click HERE.

Because It's Friday!

This is the band J is in; 4 Asprin Morning! He's the hot and sexy guitar player (he's in the back on the left side). The quality of this video isn't the best, but you get an idea. This was taken a couple of weekends ago and it was their first time playing in front of an "audience". Enjoy!!!

June Voting Has Begun

So I am extremely behind on getting this post up and I apologize. I have been super busy closing down my old lab and starting my new position. I'm hoping in a week or so I'll have some of that stuff people call "free time"!

But enough with that. Voting has begun on the Etsy Beadweaver's June Challenge. This month's challenge theme was humor. It was really fun coming up with something for this challenge and it has been fantastic seeing what everyone else came up with.

Stop by the Etsy Beadweaver's Website to vote for your favorite. Voting is on the right hand side of the page (and don't forget to hit vote at the bottom). There are 20 fantastic entries this month, so it will be hard to choose just one. :D

Here is my entry for this month's challenge. It's my second attempt at a free form cuff. You can read more about it here and if you're interested you can click here to see more pictures.

Ooooh, a Treasury

I found myself in this treasury today. I always feel a little special when I find myself in these.

This treasury is so pretty, it's all black and white beadwoven items. These items are so beautiful, and who doesn't love black and white. It's so elegant.

My modern circles cuff was featured, you can see it in the middle.

I want to thank Green Envy Designs for featuring my cuff in the wonderful treasury. Don't forget to stop by and check out all of the items in this treasury.

My Humor Cuff!

This cuff was created for the June 2009 Etsy Beadweaver's Challenge. This month's challenge was HUMOR.

This free form cuff was stitched using tiny little glass seed beads, cube beads, larger seed beads, and a flower bead. It is then finished off with a beaded toggle clasp.

I was excited when the June EBW theme was announced. I was just starting to experiment with free form stitching; I thought 'what a great way to show some humor. I'll show everyone my attempt at free form.' And this is what I came up with.

The humor in this is twofold. The first is my feeble attempt at free form, and the second are the bright colors and patchwork. I envisioned a jester, with all the colors in a harlequin pattern. And this is what my mind came up with. Fun, colorful, and funky; that sums up this wonderful cuff.

This cuff measures approximately 1 1/2 across, and is about 6 1/2 inches long.

All items are made in a smoke free environment, in my small studio in Southeastern Wisconsin.

You can check out this cuff HERE in my etsy store. And don't forget to click HERE to check out all the other fantastic entries for this month.

Voting will begin June 9, 2009 and run until June 15, 2009. You can stop by the Etsy-Beadweaver's website to vote (voting is one the right hand side, and don't forget to click submit after you make your decision)!

My Little Potted Garden!

This year I decided I was going to grow a garden. This is a huge deal for me because I can't keep plants alive for anything. Every single plant I've ever owned has died on my. I've killed a calla lily, a Christmas cactus, and a spider plant.

So what made me think that I could grow garden plants? I'm not really sure. I just love fresh produce and I can never make it to the farmers market. So I guess a garden is the next best thing. Right?

I have narrowed my plants down to the ones that I can make salsa out of. I have a Roma tomato plant, a green pepper plant, a hot pepper plant, a number of different herbs. Maybe next year I'll try a few more plants.

So so far so good. The tomato plant is just growing like crazy. It's easily three times the size of when I bought it. And all the herbs have sprouted. Yeah.

I'm so excited about this. Like I said before, I can't keep a plant living to save my life. So hopefully I'll be able to keep these plants living, and before long, I'll actually have some veggies to show for it.