Memories, Old Friends and Facebook

Yesterday was a rush to the past for me, and I had so much fun with it. It started in the early morning with a long-time Facebook friend putting out a post for an old group I belonged to to check in - to speak out and think about the community we once had. Before you know it, many of us had posted, reminisced, commented on the posts of others, remembered those who were no longer with us, and generally joined a rather good-sized parade walking down memory lane.

The topic snowballed. People were contacted by other friends and joined
into the conversation. It was rather amazing as the day progressed. So many
old friends and good memories. 

It was so much fun when we first got together. It was the early days of the internet - one step above the old bulletin boards, but far below the multiple social network posting options we have available to us today. These were the days when there was no massive money machine behind "Bead & Button" magazine. These were the days when "About.com" and their beadwork section was read by thousands of us every week, everyone downloading the latest pattern and asking questions about stitching and finishing techniques. These were the early days of AOL, CompuServe and Prodigy. This was the group that I joined in 1996.

Most of us actually joined earlier than Version 5.0. I think
I joined in 1996, and 5.0 came out in 1999. As annoying as
AOL might be (and might still be in some respects), it
managed to accomplish something revolutionary and beat out
its competition over the decades. 

AOL was king in those days - sending downloadable disks into everyone's mailboxes and saturating the portal market. The competition crumpled under AOL's onslaught of advertising and their depth of news and communities. One of those communities was in their crafting section - a beaders community that chatted every day, shared tips and techniques, arranged for exchange boxes and bead swaps, and started an annual beading challenge to raise money for cancer research.

We gathered together, the AOL Beaders, at the Tucson Gem Show, the early stages of Embellishment/Bead & Button Show, and others. We rented extra rooms at the hotels for a beading room and met there after classes were finished for the day to bead, chat, and interact. Firm friendships were formed that still exist today. Yesterday, on Facebook, we joined together once more, this time in cyberspace. It was wonderful!

I'm not fond of Facebook, but I do check in every few days. Yesterday I
was checking in often, just to talk with old friends, and I ran into another
old friend on a completely different board. I haven't had so much fun
with social media in a long time. I wish it could always be like that. 

Noises were made about possibly starting a FB group just for us - those who had been together in the early days of the craft, before it had been blown apart by big business and people running after the immortal dollar sign. It might happen or it might not. Even if a new group is formed, I don't think it will have the same magic. The friends, though ... yeah. I'd join just to be in touch with my Beady Buddies one more time.

Have an awesome weekend. I'll be swimming in the 50-meter pool today, then off to work. I want my weekend, so I'm just patiently waiting for the close of business tonight (or maybe NOT so patiently). Be back on Monday *throws kisses out into cyberspace*.

A Choice of Priorities

We are approaching the end of July and I am still uninspired with my project for Beading for a Cure.  I made glass for it, worked the arrangement out, and started the beadwork while at Bead & Button in June.  Since I returned from Milwaukee, I have picked it out of its bag several times, looked at it, and put it back.  I have illustrations still to do for Darth, and I have weekly writing, beta work, and other projects in my mind.  I asked, several weeks ago, what we had managed to raise for dollars from the autions earlier this year, and still have not received an answer, and I fear that BFAC could go along treading water for a long time, but never really get very far in raising money for colorectal cancer research. 

I love BFAC.  As a charity, I have helped with it and supported it since the 2nd year of its inception.  I served on the Board of Directors for several years, handled the incorporation and the application for non-profit status with the IRS, and served as its Treasurer and its Secretary at various times.  I supplied beads for the challenges on alternate years for eight years.  But, when I look at my time and where I want to spend it over the next month, it isn't with this project.  I'll make a project with the glass that I made, but not for BFAC.  I'm officially pulling out of the Challenge and will no longer participate.  It's time to move on.  If I decide that there are finished projects that I would like to bid on, I can support the charity through my bids, but I will no longer make beading projects for BFAC. 

Fulfillment and Happiness

So after more than two hours of frustrated work to get the lettering onto my Big Bang collage, I finally succeeded in exactly what I wanted.  I may still go over the lettering with my wood burner, but I'll test that out with my signature panel on the back of the piece first.  What I can say, happily, is that it is DONE and I will be photographing it this week so that I can Email it to the appropriate people.  Whether or not my author will consider it to be worthwhile?  Hard to say.  My artwork is always off the mainstream.  But my DH, although he did criticize part of the image, generally liked what I came up with - a surprise since he rarely has anything good to say about my artwork at all.  So I'm happy - fulfilled, even. 

The central image is an antique ivory comb that was

heavily carved in the center.  It's a stunning piece!

Yesterday I thought I would work up some userpics and banners for my Middle Earth Fan Fiction award nominees, and noticed that I had been nominated for a sixth story.  Yippee!  I'm so incredibly honored and just floored that anyone would find my writings moving enough to nominate.  Thrilled doesn't even begin to describe my feelings.  So I worked up a banner for Morning Song shown above.  I'm still working on my user pics for my LJ pages.  So, I'm doubly happy.  Unfortunately, I'm looking at four days in a row of work, definitely a downer.  But...I've got good books to read on my NookColor, good coffee and oatmeal for the morning, and only the chapter headings still to draw for my Big Bang things (and those are bonus, not required), so all is well.  Now to get beading on my BFAC piece for the year...

Two Days Looming, Vacation Thoughts

I get two days of vacation in a row off so rarely, but because of the Memorial Day holiday on Monday, I actually get Sunday and Monday off.  Oh, we'll do some housework - mow the lawn, do some cleaning - but generally speaking, it will be such a joy to be able to sleep in for two days. 

Then, at the end of next week, I leave for the Bead & Button Show - a chance to see old friends and meet new ones.  I have projects that I will bring with me, mainly my Beading For A Cure piece and my sketchbook for the illustrations for my LOTR Big Bang story.  Things are starting to come together in my head for both projects and I need some computer art time for my Big Bang illustrations.  My heavy class days will be the beginning days - Sunday through Wednesday.  Thursday is mostly open, Friday has a few things scheduled, but is mostly open, and Saturday has a breakfast and then I check out and leave.  I know I won't get as much done as I really want/need to, but I'm going to try my best to really get something accomplished on both of my major projects.  After all, the clock is ticking. 

Of course, in order to leave, I actually need to pack, and I haven't started that yet.  I'll start getting my things together on Wednesday, but I'm also thinking about what, if any, tools I need to buy for the trip.  Money, after the expensive car repair bill, is quite tight, and every tool has to be justified six ways from Sunday.  So I'm looking over the class supply lists and determining what items I already own, what items I will get extended use from, and what I might be able to borrow from other students in the class or that the teacher may have available for us to use.  I don't think I'll need to buy much, maybe only a single hammer.  Or maybe I already have everything which would make me very happy.  At least I'm finally thinking about this instead of just throwing things into a suitcase on Friday night - LOL. 

Oh, the Pain, But Forging Ahead

I thought that my car was going to cost me close to $1000, bad enough when I don't have ready money available.  It ended up having more issues than I had originally thought, and ended up costing me $2100.  My Discover card is groaning, and I'm trying to figure out how many months of my life it will take me to pay this one off.  I have a safe and drivable car with good brakes and a totally fixed suspension and alignment, but I'm absolutely sick at the bottom line and I know that I still have one more thing that needs to be looked at.  That won't be until 2012, though - closer to the 100,000 mile mark.  The car has almost 93,000 miles on it, so I shouldn't be surprised at the cost to maintain it.  And I fully admit that $2100 is much less than buying a new car would be.  It's just that funds are very tight this year and this was an expense that I really didn't want/need. 

But, sorry to unload on all of you, and I'll move forward.  I brought my glass and my BFAC beads together yesterday, trying to see how they will all work together.  It's starting to pull together, but I think I need to at least start my bezels around the stones and then I'll be able to tell much better.  I'm still unsure about whether I want to bezel or do bead embroidery for this, but I have to move forward and have to decide before too much more time has passed.  And the illustrations for Big Bang are becoming  more clear in my mind.  So I am forging ahead, even if I don't know where the path is leading me.  Live creatively today! 

Adventures in Life

This is the week that my father-by-marriage is getting his electricity re-done.  It is also the week where we are meeting the man who I hope will become our new accountant (on Wednesday) and the week where I get my brakes done on my car because they are dangerous at this point (on Thursday).  Whew!  I think I've got WAY too much going on this week. 

I hope my brakes aren't this worn out!

My DH has been very kind and forebearing, but I think it is time for me to start working on the den again, finishing the clean-up.  It is a disaster and shouldn't be.  The only problem is time - I don't have any to waste on my "day off".  And on Sundays, I prefer to spend my time with DH.  But, I may have to make some changes in my schedule and just get this done because it's bugging me too. 

And I have my BFAC beads sitting in front of me trying to tell me how they want to be attached to the glass that I pulled out of the kiln.  I'm very happy with my glass.  It took what seems like forever to get them formed properly, but it's all good now.  So, I'll have to dive back into my art and do less writing for a while - bummer :-(

Success with Glass, Squirrels and Tornados

So, the more aggressive firing for my glass worked.  I finally have the look I wanted for the pieces and I can start the beading this week.  This will allow me to work on my BFAC project while I'm at Bead & Button, so I'm happy.  I don't have a roomate this year - I decided to allow myself the luxury of not sharing since this will probably be the final time I attend this show.  I'll miss it in a lot of ways, but I have other things that I would rather spend the time and the money on, and I need to focus on that.  I would like to visit some of my on-line friends next year so I'll save my money for some shorter trips to different places instead. 

I was starving by 3pm yesterday and DH and I went to the local sports bar - Grumpy's - for dinner.  They had $4 build your own Bloody Mary's and $2 beers.  We were happy.  The food was really good too.  When we got home, DH went outside to look at the damage that our patio has been experiencing.  We have a drainage problem and we're losing a lot of soil and coming close to flooding the den with heavy rains.  Some serious work needs to be done.  On the way back into the house, I heard some serious noise coming from the fireplace (DH, with his lousy hearing heard nothing, of course).  The D____ed squirrels have built a nest in there and they now have babies and they are making a lot of noise and I'm very uncomfortable with having the darned four-legged critters living that close to me.  But I don't think I have an option right now because I won't evict young ones. 

And yesterday was an afternoon/evening for tornado warnings.  We didn't get hit as hard as Joplin, Missouri, which was hit very, very hard.  But we did get some touchdowns in northern Minneapolis and had a lot of property damage and one death.  The season is starting a bit early and with some serious clout.  Not good! 

Fighting with Glass

So, I ground down and did the final shaping on my glass on Thursday night, then figured a firing schedule that should have allowed some slump of the glass.  I set the program, fired the glass, and nothing happened.  So, I adjusted the firing schedule, set the new program with some longer times, and fired that yesterday.  Again, I still didn't get the results that I wanted.  So, today I will get aggressive (and hold my breath hoping that I won't ruin things by doing a more aggressive firing).  Before I leave for breakfast today, I will have the kiln firing for the third time on this group of glass.  I have two other batches waiting for this group to finish.  Oh well, eventually it will all work out.  It's pretty, and I can work with it the way that it is, but I would prefer to have my glass slumping in the way that I envision. 

It's been a great ride so far and I've enjoyed all of it.

The world is supposed to end today, or at least the "Rapture" is supposed to happen...on a rolling schedule at 6:00 p.m. tonight.  I guess I'll meet all of you later tonight since I certainly won't be Raptured anywhere.  The whole thought of being with people who are that single-minded, without the different opinions that a variety of belief systems can inspire.  But, if the world does happen to end...well, it's been a great ride and thanks for all the fish. 

Progress!

Well, Malcom came through and I was at his glass saw yesterday at 1 pm.  I love using these - they just cut right through like butter.  I do have to grind things smoothly before placing them into the kiln for a final melt, but I'm really happy with the results, and it was fun seeing Malcom again.  We figured out that I've known him for about 20 years now.  He's doing some wonderful things with custom lighting fixtures - very nice.  He also showed me his larger equipment that I'm welcome to rent time on - his large flat grinder...oh, the possibilities :-)  I now have the pieces scattered across the top of my clothes washer and I hope that tonight I can spend some time with my grinder and do the final shaping so that I can set the kiln to start cooking again.  If all works smoothly I will be able to start beading next week.  At least on some parts.  I still have drilling to do also, and that, potentially, can cause the entire thing to crack open, so it has to be done very carefully. 

This is NOT one of Malcom's lights, but it's very cool, isn't it?

I got my author assignment for the LOTR Big Bang and was contacted by him last night.  I think we'll be able to work very well together.  I've never done story illustration before in my life - I only have to produce a single picture, but who knows?  I need some clarification from the organizers on the deadlines, but once I receive those and do a bit more thinking about what I want to portray, I'll be ready to start work on this.  How fun!  Have a great Thursday! 

Aarrgghhhhh!! and Other Thoughts

Oy!  Have I said lately that I just can't win?  So, Malcom has a time conflict.  I had Emailed him to confirm my 11am time at the glass saw, and it turns out he has a TV interview for an art crawl that ended up getting into that slot.  He would be able to fit me in tomorrow, but that won't do me any good because I'm only off on Wednesdays.  But I have a good shot of making it out there this afternoon sometime between 1 and 3.  I gave him my cell phone number and told him to call me.  His studio is only about 15 minutes away from me, so it won't take me long to get there when he calls.  Otherwise, we'll have to schedule for next week which will push me one more week behind on this project.  NOT happy! 

Harmon Killebrew died yesterday.  For those of you who are not baseball fans, he was one of the nicest people ever!  His standard biography states:  Born June 29, 1936, Harmon was signed by the Washington Senators in 1954 at the age of 17. Harmon “Killer” Killebrew amassed numbers matched only by the game’s very elite. In his 22 years of hard work and productivity, he was named American League All-Star 13 times, the 1969 American League MVP and a six-time American League home run leader. In 1984, Killebrew joined baseball’s immortals with his election into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.  He was so respected in baseball that even though the Twins were playing an away game in Seattle, the Mariners pulled down all team flags and flew their own flag at half-staff in respect.  They also held a minute of silence.  This from an AWAY game.  Pretty amazing.  We'll miss you, Harmon.  You were a very classy and polite player and will be remembered throughout the league as a beacon.  RIP. 

Falling Into Place

It's been a hectic week, but things are falling into place.  My father-by-marriage lost power earlier this week and it turned out that the reason was something that will cause an electrician to remedy.  Unfortunately the code requirements that he will be required by law to deal with are major, so I contacted two highly recommended people (thanks, Angie's List) and the first walk-through was Friday morning with the second contractor coming to bid on Tuesday morning.  Then we can go on from there. 

I also have been on the hunt for a new accountant since I was dumped by my previous one over an IRS action.  I think I may have found a good one (another thank you for Angie's List).  I spent quite a bit of time speaking with him on Thursday and I will schedule an appointment next week to meet him face-to-face along with my DH and we'll see if everyone gets a good feeling.  If so, I will have found a new accountant and that would be a load from my back. 

I did a drabble that seeems to have hit people very well, I've gotten a lot of positive comments on it which makes me feel great.  I got the first step completed for my Beading for a Cure 2012 project.  I have it sitting in front of me now to figure out Step 2, but that will come clear by Wednesday when I can proceed.  I've had several excellent books that I've been reading on my Nook, so my mind has been happily immersed in some alternative worlds.  And, of course, there was a wedding across the Pond that turned out to be well worth watching and enjoying.  All in all, it was a good week. 

Step One Complete and a Wedding

Step one of my BFAC is now complete (there will be a lot of steps, so don't think that I'm that far ahead of anyone - LOL). But the glasswork that I wanted to make for the piece turned out very well. Now I have some decisions to make - size and whether or not I'll do any embellishment. I have a bit of time to spread my beads out again and make sure I have everything that I want to use available.

Happy Wedding, Kate and WilliamWe're getting close to the arrival of Kate Middleton to Westminster Abbey, the Queen is in her car coming to the Abbey just now, so things are well under way. The Royal Brothers are spiffy in red and blue, and the Queen is in yellow. Carol Middleton was in a lovely lilac and I really enjoyed her hat. The hats at this wedding are over the top. I really hope that someone does a fashion spread of the hats, there are so many marvelous ones. Camilla is very conservatively dressed - that's appropriate. And Prince Philip is in red, just as Prince Harry is. Apparently that's the dress of the Irish Guards. All I know is a lot of cochineal beetles gave up their lives for that red - LOL. The Queen has arrived and the bells are peeling.  Party on, London and ye Brits.  Enjoy your day.  Well, I'm going to watch this wedding and enjoy it. I think that they are a great couple and I wish them all the best in what is bound to be a very public married life.

Playing with Fire

So today I'm back to work, my rose is sitting next to me brightening up my day, two electricians were found to make quotations on rewiring my father-by-marriage's home, two new CPA's have been found to phone and switch my business to one of them, and my kiln is still clicking as it goes through a VERY long cycle to fuse the first 4x4 square I'm making for my BFAC pieces.  It's rather like cooking a souffle - you can't open the oven to check the progress or everything falls apart.  I don't have a peephole or window in my kiln (I've been wanting one, but $ isn't there).  So it's an unknown until I open the door.  Either I will have a nicely fused 4x4 square of 3-layer glass, or I will have a serious puddle on the floor of my kiln which won't make me happy at all.  I still have one more piece to fuse before I can start the next stage.  I'm crossing my fingers that my fusing program had accurate times and temps for the complicated program that I input. 

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Off to Work I Go

I'm caught up on writing challenges, so I can either spend my mornings working on art or beadwork, or I can continue working more chapters of my Original Female Character.  She's been very well received by my fellow writers and is turning into a very popular character.  I have a good book that I'm in the process of reading all - that's probably where my efforts will go today.  I'm too tired to expend a great deal of energy.  24 Hours and Counting until the Royal Wedding. 

Busy Studio Day

Today I get to go glass shopping. I have an idea for my Beading For a Cure kit, and to do it I need to play with glass. "So" disappointing (just ignore this big grin on my face). So I need glass, I also need to drop by Barnes & Noble, and my box people. I should be able to get some experiments done today because glasswork is not as time consuming as my metalwork can be.

 Yesterday, my DH was awakened by my father-by-marriage phoning him shortly after 7am. He complained that his power had gone out shortly after 4am. So, I got to phone the utility company and report the outage. They came over and checked, and it was actually in the wiring going into the fuse box, so then I had to call an electrician to come over and get that fixed. Well, code won't allow them to do anything but a temporary fix because the electrical system needs to be upgraded and brought up to code. So next week the electrician will go over the house with DH and his father to give them an estimate about bringing the wiring up to code. Anyway, when I arrived home last night, there was a stunning red rose in front of my place at dinner with a note thanking me for my help. Sometimes my DH comes through in spades!

I have two stories in for crit right now, and I'm actually happy with both of them. So those will be posting onto ErulisseDances soon, if you are subbed to that board. Look for them by the end of the week.

Optomistic for the Week

I'm optomistic for the week to come, at least I will be until I take a look at last week's sales number - they weren't so great. But, we're hanging in there and that's all I can ask for. And I'm still on track for the various commitments that I've made.

 I received my kit for the 2012 Beading for a Cure last week, and have been thinking about what I want to make since then. I've almost made up my mind, but I need to do a test piece or two first, so I'll have to try and get come items cut and try some experiments this week so that I can see whether my initial thoughts will work or not.

 I had a lovely Easter Sunday. My sister-by-marriage invited all of her kids and their kids and her father and us over for an Easter brunch. We were instructed to not bring anything, so we didn't, but there was lots of excellent food from all of the kids and she had a large ham. There was bacon, an incredible egg bake, french toast, fruit, carmel rolls, it was really awesome. And the kids were fun too, in spite of the fact that kids are not always my friends. The oldest, Emma, is six, Lexi is five, then there is Ian and Flynn, both around 2 and the two babies, Izzy and Delaney. Delaney is our newest grand-neice and is cute as a button. It was lovely to see the nieces and nephews and their spouses again, I had a really nice time. Two hours later we were back home and playing LOTRO with my friend from California for a few hours, and then we topped the night by watching "Jesus Christ Superstar". A perfect day. I hope you have a great day today, and think of some creative project for your week to come.

Scheduling and Time Frames

So I received my kit for the 2012 Beading For a Cure yesterday (to view the current 2011 auctions, follow the link).  This annual charity that I participate in has a variety of beads in the kit.  Each bead must be used at least one time in the project.  I've got an idea in my head for what I want to make, but I need to draw it out and spend a bit of time working it out.  My problem, as always, will be time, or rather the lack thereof. 

I want to continue writing, and since most of what I write is short that's probably not going to be a major problem.  But I also edit for two friends, and that cuts into my time also.  It's worth it, but it's time. 

I committed to produce artwork for at least one story in the Tolkien Big Bang.  I knew I would have the BFAC commitment also - I have done this challenge for years.  But I still need to fold everything into the 2 hours or so that I have in my nights and maybe an hour in the early mornings. 

And I have charms to make for the Metal Clay World conference, enamel work to finish, other beadwork projects sitting on my desk (currently there are four in process) and...and...and.  I need to design something for BFAC that will not be a time hog but will look excellent and meet the criteria of the challenge.  The designs are already shifting in my head, just by writing this down.  It'll come clear...

Winding Down the Week

I think I haven't been so grateful to have a week come to an end in a long time.  This week has been very difficult - the toothache, the snow shoveling, the customers (lots of hand holding and individual guidance for my customers this week) and then I pulled one of the stories that I wrote because I just hated what I had written and had to take the time to write it again.  *sigh*  Today is Saturday - pasta for dinner tonight, something that I look forward to all week.  But today's story focus is already causing me conniptions, oy! 

 Is there a book, or at least a novella hiding inside my computer?  My

on-line friends who have been reading my stories for the month are

trying to convince me to continue writing.  Maybe....

I hope to be able to relax a bit tomorrow.  I'll play Lord of the Rings Online.  They had an update earlier in the week and changed a bunch of things that will take me a bit to get accustomed to.  And I'll try to write, although Sundays is a bit harder for me to find the thinking time.  I'd like to do some beading, and I really have to start thinking about some of the art projects that I have hanging over my head :-) 

The etched copper disk on the top of the box has the Tengwar

script for the translation below which is on the inside cover.  Etching

copper is one of my art forms.  I have done it for many years. 

This is my FINAL update.  Please look and bid - BID HIGH - on my hand-made Tolkien-inspired jewelry box.  It really is an amazing piece of art along with being a functional item, and all of the monies go to help alleviate colorectal cancer.  Dig deep, people.  Let's start making a difference by one beautiful item at a time. 

Raising a Flag of Cowardice

My back tooth has been aching.  Not hurting because sharp pain would drag me into the dentist quickly.  Just aching.  But enough that it woke me up at 2:30 am and I only slept fitfully until my alarm was almost ready to go off at 3:30 am.  It started aching after my icey pratfall a few weeks ago when I chipped my front tooth.  I guess I jarred the back filling or crown, whatever it has, a bit loose also and I'm not looking forward to getting it taken care of. 

My dentist is a member of the Minnesota Music Hall of Fame and

plays with the Surf Dawgs - a Beach Boys-type of band.  At least

he's not boring. 

There are tortures that people put others under.  Of course, those who do that have given up their right to be called people at all, but that's neither here nor there.  I almost equate dentistry with that, except that dentistry is necessary torture.  But I always feel that I should get a friggin' award ribbon after surviving any type of dental procedure.  And it's not the procedure that bothers me - it's the shot(s) of novacaine.  I have such an extreme amount of needle-phobia and I just can't handle it.  My dentist is awesome - he gives me gas (calls me his rabbit in the headlights look if I haven't gotten the gas) and also prescribes tranquilizers for me when I have to promise that my DH will drive me back and forth.  I can't get work done without those crutches.  But at least they allow me to survive the experience with bearable stress levels.  And so I look at the possibility of having to get work done on this tooth, and I resign myself to hanging in there and seeing if the ache gets worse before calling for an appointment because I really would rather avoid this if at all possible.  So am I a coward?  Oh yeah, in this instance, I plead the white flag of cowardice. 

And please remember to bid high on my box for Beading For A Cure, or if you see other items there that appeal more to you, then bid high on those.  Just follow the link and then click on the Auctions button to get to the eBay location. 

Studio Day is Misnamed Today

So normally today is my Studio Day.  I do have the day off, but no art or writing will be taking place today (unless I get really lucky late in the day).  Tonight I have an appointment with my accountant to prepare our personal income taxes.  That means that today is spent getting all of my paperwork into order, printing out my monthly statements for the past year, and organizing everything so that I will have an easier time finding the numbers that she will need.  Last year went smooth as silk.  I suspect that this year will be a bit rockier. 

Thank you to all of you for your kind comments on my box.  I will be posting again as we get closer to Sunday's auction start.  It is important to me to get as much publicity for this as possible to build up the dollar amounts that we might get for the charity, so although you might become tired of it, I'll try and keep the publicity reasonable - as much as possible :-)

The interior of my jewelry box is two sectioned levels, one of which

nests on top of the other and lifts out.  This crazy box took me way too

much time to make because of all of the internal construction.  But it

was a lot of fun too. 

And I am progressing with my B2ME writing.  In fact, I'm rather amazed that I am continuing on with this.  I am finding that I am enjoying doing some creative writing again, and the fact that I know the backstory (all of Tolkien's writings) as well as I do certainly helps things just click into place when I need to figure out an angle to explore in my own efforts.  What fun!  I am really looking forward to the end of the month.  That's when everything will be complete and I can organize them chronologically and post them to a couple of other story archives as a more cohesive whole.  But since I don't know the prompts for the rest of the month until each day arrives, my topic for each day is a welcome mystery that is helping to expand my thought processes.  Happy me (except for my income tax appointment - LOL). 

Beading For A Cure Update - Finally

As many of my readers know, I have been involved with Beading For A Cure for many years.  Founded in honor of a friend, Layne Shilling, a beader who died from colorectal cancer, we have had a beading challenge each year with the finished projects auctioned off on eBay and the proceeds donated towards the erradication of colorectal cancer.  I have participated on the Board of Directors in earlier years, and for many years I was one of the bead kit suppliers.  For several years now I have made an item for auction each year, and this time my "Rise of Anar" jewelry box will be up for auction. 

The top consists of bead embellished hand painted silk featuring

an etched copper circle with an entrapped Swarovski crystal. 

This box which I handmade from a large flip-front box, had a two-level divided interior as well as a flip-front ring holder.  The inside of the lid features an etched copper plaque translating the Tengwar script that is etched around an encased crystal on the top of the lid.  The top beaded and embellished fabric is handpainted silk. 

The interior etched copper plaque translates the Tengwar which

is around the crystal on the top.  The quotation is from JRR Tolkien's

book "The Silmarillion". 

I have additional pictures and descriptions on my personal web site and you are welcome to take a look.  The auction for my box (and other items) will start on March 21st.  Auctions end after one week, and then other items go up for sale until the final items which will be sold on May 2nd.  If you love JRR Tolkien, or know someone who does, please let them know about my box and encourage them to bid.  I would love to raise some good money for cancer research through the sale of this and I also would love for as much publicity, both for my box and for the charity, as possible.  Please help to pass the word.