A Helping Hand

Well the beginning of the year has been good for many, but has been sad and hard for others. I want to take time out of my normal blog posts about my latest creations or funny pictures of Yoda to tell you about some of the fund-raising efforts that is going on for these people.

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First off is fellow blogger and Etsian; Tanya Boden of Aardvark Silver. She is in desperate need of heart surgery. She needs this surgery and cannot have it until she has raised the funds. Please stop by Tanya's Blog and read her story. She is offering discounts in all of her online stores, as well as having a $250 giveaway. Stop by her blog, Facebook Page, or Etsy store for more details.

You can visit the Have A Heart For Tanya Facebook Page for more information and also items from fellow crafters and artists that are donating the proceeds to Tanya. You can also donate HERE, any donation, even if it's $1, helps. Please help her out.

I will be donating all the proceeds from the sale of the above earrings to Tanya. Please click here for the earrings. **These beautiful Earrings have sold, but you can still donate to the Mayday Fund for Tanya!**

Though I do not know Tanya personally, I have gotten to know her through Facebook and her blog. Please donate.

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We all have heard about the horrible earthquake that has hit Haiti, and then they were hit by another this morning. The people of Haiti need help.

A group of Etsians have gotten together and opened the Hearts for Haiti Etsy Store. It's a collective of donated items from Etsy Artists and all of the proceeds (minus etsy and paypal fees) goes toward the Earthquake relief.

I donated a pair of beaded hoops. These hoops, along with a large variety of other items, can be found in the Hearts for Haiti Store.

These earrings will only set you back $25 and you'll be helping the relief effort. Click here for the earrings listing.

Please stop by the Hearts for Haiti Etsy Store and help a wonderful cause.

Also check out the Craft Hope Etsy Store!!

Black Tie

One of my New Years resolutions was to go through all those half finished projects I have laying in my bead room. I wanted to divide them into two groups; take apart and finish.

I have accomplished the first part of this resolution, I've gone through all of them and taken apart the ones I didn't like or knew I would never finish. And I've started finishing the second group of projects.

This was the first project on my list. I started this necklace a long time ago. Probably about this time last year. I wanted to make a thin beaded lariat necklace. I always love the way these look, but have never tried on. Well, then I slowly started to loose interest in this necklace and it got set aside.

But then came the new year. I want to be more on top of things this year. So I started back up on this necklace. It was going well until I noticed I was going to run out of silver lined seed beads if I tried to work the full length. I knew I would loose interest with this necklace again if I had to wait for a bead order, so I decided to change the design.

I shortened up the necklace so it's only about half as long as the original design and I added a bunch of branched fringe on the ends. I had no idea how

I was going to finish off this necklace. I tried to think of as many different ways and I came up with the beaded ring. I used this design before on my Rising Sun Necklace. I used it to add a little bit of visual interest.

In this black and silver necklace it adds a visual interest, but it also finishes up the necklace and allows the wearer to adjust the length a little.

I'm pretty happy with how this one turned out. I really like the way it looks on . It adds a touch of class to any outfit.

This necklace is in my etsy store, so for more info click HERE.

Treasury Thursday!

I need to get this posted before this wonderful treasury by Momgen expires. My Rising Sun Necklace was featured in this fantastic treasury; Be Mine..... Thank you so much Momgen. Please make sure to check out this beauty and click on all the other fabulous items.

Yoda!

Yoda's been itching her ears again, so we have been making her wear the cone again. She looks so cute!

Voting Time!

Don't forget to stop by the Beadweaving Emporium Street Teams blog and vote for your favorite entries in this month's challenge. The theme this month was Winter Splendor and the entries are just beautiful. Go vote for your favorite today (voting is open until the 15th).

Matching Bracelet!

I have really been enjoying working with the St. Petersburg stitch. I really like the way it looks. It's very pretty.

So after working on my necklace with my ArtBeads items, I decided to make a cuff that went with my Antheia's Bounty Necklace (I finally came up with a name).

It's just a simple blue and black cuff using the St. Petersburg stitch. I think it looks really pretty.

I finished off the cuff with two metal flower beads I have been hoarding for the perfect project.

It really compliments the necklace well. It brings all the beautiful blues out in the necklace and because it's simple, it doesn't overpower the necklace.

I'm happy with this one, I can't wait to make more with this wonderful stitch.

This one is available in my etsy store, HERE.

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I've started applying for art shows for this year. I've already applied for my first one that will be held in Madison on February 13th. I'll know by next Tuesday if I was excepted or not. I have my fingers crossed because I really think this will be a good show (and it's in a bar, a fancy one, so J will be happy he can get a cold one if the show is too boring for him). So hopefully I'll have good news early next week. And then I'll keep everyone posted on other art shows.

Green Triangles

Just a quick post for me today.

I listed these great little beaded triangle earring this morning. I made them last spring and I just forgot to ever list them, I can't believe it. I love these little guys. They are so much fun. The beads are this great super bright green color. They really pop.

If you'd like to learn more click HERE to go to my etsy store.

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I hope everyone had a safe and happy new year.

We had a quiet celebration with just the two of us. We went to one of my favorite Italian restaurants for dinner (it's in an old church) and then just spent the night at home celebrating with some wine J brought back from his last trip to Canada (we forgot to get champagne). It was very nice.

Now with only a few days left of my vacation I'm trying to get everything done that I promised myself I would get done over these last two weeks. I do this every year. The only real thing we accomplished was spoiling the dog into thinking she doesn't need to be in the kennel any more. Now she just sits in there and whines, bad owners!