We're ALL mad here.

I have the pieces of a miniature curved-brim Victorian top hat waiting to be assembled on my desk. They're done in Christmas designs because that's what I had available when I started the project. Also, the morning, I ordered a pattern and directions for a garden hat that can be made into a pirate hat with just a few modifications, so two in one, really. I'm excited for it to get here.

No glass yet. I'm avoiding the oxygen concentrator problem, still.

Husband has a satellite launch at work tomorrow, and if it goes as planned, he'll be home on Wednesday. If he's home, we're planning a trip to the millinery supply store in Denver. I'm rather OBSESSED with hats right now. Fascinators too. But until I have the wire and things I need, I have to stick with making them in miniature. Fair enough. I don't know what I'll DO with a bunch of tiny hats, but I'll figure it out eventually, I suppose.

Not a whole lot else happening here. I should be planning and working on the cake for Son's birthday party, but I'm mad enough at him to skin him alive at the moment, so I'm ignoring the whole thought of a cake and a party.

It's Looking Like Spring

Son's final total for Jump Rope for heart was $275, so he passed his goal. He came home from school sick again one day last week, but has been fine since. Nothing much new to report there, except that he's going to be eight in 11 days. I'm thinking about making him a pirate's treasure map birthday cake.

No new glass beads. I've come to find out that my oxygen concentrator is no longer under warranty and I'd have to ship it to Texas and back on top of the cost of whatever to fix it if I send it to an authorized repair place. I should look up any kind of repair place around here, but the whole situation has me terribly discouraged, so I'm ignoring it.

I've started another project in the mean time. I have a large (4" diameter) glass ornament that I've covered in purple polymer clay and started sanding. Here's what it looks like as of now.

I haven't decided yet whether to carve out a design and backfill it with black or white, or if I want to do some raised floral-y type pattern like those frequently seen on wedding cakes. I could do one of each, but just covering the ball and getting it not-quite-fully sanded took an entire day, so I'm no too eager to jump right in and start again.

I've recently been wanting to learn to make hats and British-style fascinators, and I've got lots of neat ideas, should I ever actually start down that route.

Also, I've been slowly gathering supplies to start doing some bead embroidery, and I finally found some pretty Czech glass beads to use as accent points, one of which I plan to incorporate into a Victorian top hat design that's forming in my mind. Here are my Czech glass beads that I got from Astrid Boyce (who also makes glass beads and has Regaliz supplies and stuff- she's a peach, you should give her a look). 

We finished Oldest Daughter's new bedroom last week, and it's all bright colors and shapes and wonderful. Also nice that she'll be able to grow up in it and we won't have to change it from princess theme to something else when she gets older and starts complaining. Husband has painted the ceiling in Youngest Daughter's room-to-be, and we'll start the painting in there soon. I haven't decided where I want the furniture yet, so I'm not sure where the accent wall will be, and that's a large part of why we're not painting it yet.

Also, the people who lived in this house before us were disgusting pigs. That is all.

Bad Dog Number Two has taken to jumping the fence lately, but only when he knows someone from the family is out front. He was a stray who had been hit by a car when he went into the shelter, and he was there for a couple months being treated for his injury before he was able to be adopted. He has a scar that runs from his foot clear up the inside of his leg past his knee, and he's pretty leery of moving cars now. That said, he jumped the fence when I was talking Son to the bus stop this morning, and ran in front of a car when I tried to grab his collar. The driver, thankfully, was paying attention and had slowed way down when they got close, and was able to stop before the dog got in front of the car. We're going to electrify the top of the fence where he always jumps and see if that solves the problem.

That's my news as of late. Thanks for stopping by :)

A Sim-ulation of Life

So there's been no new glass work lately as my oxygen concentrator with less than 200 hours on it has some unidentified major problem and I'm having trouble finding anyone around here to do repairs AT ALL, warranty or private pay. It's becoming a huge hassle and I'm getting more than slightly annoyed with the whole situation. 

Son is doing the Jump Rope for Heart fundraiser for The American Heart Association and is $25 short of his $250 goal at the time I'm writing this. Today is the last day, and he'll be turning that in and having class pictures taken tomorrow. He fell on the playground yesterday and hit his head, so the whole afternoon was spent watching for signs of concussion. He's fine this morning. 

Yesterday was the release of The Sims 3 University Life and the new SimCity, and both were delivered to me early in the morning. I'm obsessed. I have mixed thoughts about the new version of University. You can go to class with them now, unlike the way it worked in The Sims 2, but it's more of a hassle because they have classes ALL DAY three days a week and they never eat in between classes on those days. That said, I had my first graduate yesterday. The new SimCity is the same as the older versions as far as I can tell, except that you don't have to lay down pipework for water or power lines for the power station- the game does it automatically. Also, there are online regions and any Joe Shmoe can build a town in your region. I turned that option off because I don't play well with others.

There should be more for me to talk about, I suppose, but I got nothin'. Thanks for stopping by. 

Trio

Back in October, I told my sister I'd make a set of bridal bracelets for her, my mother, and my cousin. Today, I finally finished the last one. I'm sick of looking at and thinking about them, so I'll be glad to get them in the mail.

Also, I've kinda been trying to branch out to working on floral beads. The first couple I made weren't terrible, so I think I'll keep going with that. 

I don't know that there will be much to show over the next week because my brother-in-law's wife will be in Denver for a conference and she should be here to visit a couple times, so I'll be busy cleaning house and things. 

Thanks for stopping by. 

Scandal: Etsy, Pandora, and react.org

Recently, a bunch of lampworkers were flagged and had items deactivated for "copyright infringement" because they had something similar to "fits Pandora" in the titles of bead listings. Said items were flagged by a woman over in Europe who works for react.org, which is supposedly a counterfeit item tracker. Companies pay a minimal fee and someone goes around on the internet and reports "counterfeit" items or copyright infringements. So as long as your Etsy title leaves the name out, everything is fine. In the email they send, they specify that it is a "confidential matter" and is ABSOLUTELY NOT TO BE DISCUSSED IN THEIR FORUMS OR ANYWHERE ELSE. When someone DOES ask about it, they close the thread as fast as the can with some response about taking it up with administrators.

Pandora is so concerned with hunting down single lampworkers rather than going after the sweatshop factories in China and Thailand that crank out thousands of the counterfeit beads and sell them for two or three dollars.

That said, Etsy also has in its Terms of Service that items must be either handmade or supplies if they're not genuine vintage things- yet there are hundreds of people who import things that are all ready made in third world countries, make the prices up 500% or so, and sell them as "handmade". When Etsy is called out on this, they ignore it or say they didn't know. What it boils down to is that these resellers make a ton of money for Etsy, so it's okay. They go after "counterfeit" or copyright infringement in case a company decides to sue them. Whoever makes them money gets preferential treatment.

That said, I'm seriously considering closing my Etsy shop all together and moving to handmadeartists.com or setting up my own site and selling from there. A lot less in fees I'd have to contend with, anyway.


If you're looking for beads that will fit Pandora chains, do a search for "European beads" or "European charms". You'll find thousands of one-of-a-kind beads that are high quality and made by people who genuinely care about what they create.

today's bead

A new dread bead

I happen to really like this one, despite the fact that everyone keeps saying it reminds them of The Matrix.