BTW and other goodies

I recently purchased Diane Fitzgeralds Shaped Beadwork. Oh, the projects! Packed full of cool stuff. I needed a quick birthday present, so I chose to make an open diamond. I think it turned out very pretty, and the recipient loved it!

 Love the fact that I opened this book, and landed on this page. The photo says, "Monarch's jewels on display" ! How funny is that?

As a hobby beader, I try to be careful about the amount of money I spend. I joined a bead swap recently, and really wanted to send some artisan beads.  I ordered these lovelies from Captured Moments.  They are truly beautiful!

And my final pic for you is....food!  The kids and I went back to the blueberry farm we visited last year.   They are just the sweetest people, and these are the best berries I've ever had.

So if you have any blueberry recipes, share 'em! :)

Blessings, Shirley

Bead Table Wednesday-Not

Ok, so I don't have beads on my table today, I have....bread! My husband took some orders at his office, so these babies are all ready to go with him tomorrow. No, you can't make nearly as much mula on bread as you can on jewelry, but you can create some repeat customers! :)

These are blueberry-chocolate chip muffins.

Check that crumble topping!

What lurks under that white cover? Why, cinnamon rolls of course! And the topping is seriously divine. It's called Mock Devonshire Cream.

You can use it for all sorts of things. Awesome as a fruit dip. Topping for brownies, smeared across your hubby...oops, did I say that? I meant on top of your bagel. Yeah, that's it.

Anyway, it's super simple, you just gotta try it. My kids were extremely upset that it wasn't staying in house!

Mock Devonshire Cream

8 oz. (1 brick) cream cheese, room temp.

8 oz. sour cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 to......   powdered sugar

Beat with hand mixer til smooth. The reason I gave a vague measurement on the powdered sugar is cause I do that one to taste. Start with 1/2 cup, and move on til it gets to your taste requirements. I think I ended up with about 2 cups this time. And I used light sour cream and Neufchatel cream cheese. So I'm sure it would be even better with the full strength stuff.  Now that you're hungry, go  make some and find some graham crackers to dip in it. :)

Blessings, Shirley

Beads (Giveaway) and Bread

Well, it is the name of my blog, after all.  Don't you just love beady giveaways? Me too! So, you need to head on over to Andrew Thornton's and jump in on his fantabulous giveaway! Seriously, he's got over $200 worth of beads in this goody bag!  Then you can come back here and drool over some bread. :)
This was a new recipe, Herbed Cheese Muffins. And, of course, I made it with freshly milled whole wheat. I used white wheat for this one. The herbs I chose are oregano and parsley. Together with the sharp cheese, they are definitely some delicious bites of bread!

 These poor little pics just don't do it justice.

 See that yummy cheese? Screamin' good!

 And I just had to make some banana bread for the sweet treat. Those I made with red wheat. It adds to the nutty goodness, dontcha know?

Now you probably need to go get a snack.

Blessings,

Shirley

Bead Table Wednesday-barely

Well, just barely made it! After a very productive day of running errands, and a phenomenal hamburger at one of my favorite joints, I'm finally able to sit down and post my pics. This was what I was working on for last month's Margie and Me Challenge. I adore the colors, and I know it will come together eventually, but I am frustrated.

Do you see the lovely matte silver grey 6's on the outside swirl of the cellini? Well, I also used them as the core bead for the triple spiral lying next to it.

 You can just see them peeking out at the bottom in this pic. Got them from A.C. Moore. When I started running low, I drove the 45 minutes out there, confident of getting more. Cause they always have more, right? Well, imagine my dismay when I couldn't find them. So, I quickly chose some things for the other painting for that month, and moved past the disappointment, figuring I'd pick some up later, when they restocked.

So I wouldn't have to travel 45 minutes for nothing again, I called to make sure they had them in stock. Gave her the name, and sku number. Asked the hubs to pick them up for me, since he was heading in that direction anyway. He does (cause he's nice like that) and I happily take the bag from him to finally finish the necklace. Wrong. They are SHINY metallic silver beads. WHAT?? Sure enough, the sku and name are the same as my lovely matte beads. So now I'm back to the dilemma of trying to finish this piece. 

This beautiful triple spiral (thanks Mandy) is so pretty and lush, you just wouldn't believe it. And I know the core beads don't show a lot, but I'm kinda ADD on stuff like that.  The color of the beads below didn't come thru correctly, cause they really do match very nicely to the colors in the piece. So, I could use them. But I really want to finish the spiral! (whine, whine).  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

So what's on your bead table? :)

Blessings, Shirley

Cool Science Stuff

As a homeschool mom, I have had to experience many areas of life in which I am not an expert. Period. Totally clumsy nerd. Science is one of those areas. All those theorems and hypothesis and experiment after experiment?? Yawn......BUT, I really dig the cool action/reaction stuff. Know what I'm talkin' bout? Yeah, those "if I do this, here's what happens" kits.  Last year at the NC homeschool convention, I bought the kids some geodes. They were history in like...15 seconds. But they totally loved them. And I was instructed to purchase more this year. So I did. And some other stuff. Then I get home with all of it, and the kids and I are tearing into the packages, and the hubs says, "why don't you open just a few things at a time? Save the geodes for later." Uurrkkk! We all looked at him, and sadly put away the geodes for "some other time". Yes, I was just as excited as the kids.  Here's the pics from last year.

Look at those faces! And, they STILL have them! Ya'll know how fast a kid can lose something he's not excited/interested in anymore.  So, we are patiently waiting on the DAD to let us bust up our rocks.
In the meantime, check out the other cool thing we got.  These are a crystal growing situation. (Yes, I'm sure there's a scientific name, but come on!)  Anyway, you pour the liquid provided into the little base, and watch the crystals grow!  Everyone else thinks its water, but my argument states: If it's just water, they could have told you, "Pour 2 tsp water into base." So I think it's something else.  Anyway, it's really awesome to see the crystals that formed. Check 'em out.

This is at the beginning.

 See how it looks fuzzy?

 This was fully formed.

 Isn't it cool?

Now go get your own, and start playing!!!

Blessings,

Shirley

My first Bead Table Wednesday

Not that I'm never beading on Wednesday, just that I usually realize on Thursday that I missed it, again.  So, I'm delighted to actually have a new project that I started today, to show off.  Last week I received my copy of Beth Stone's book, Bead, Play & Love.  I have been devouring it ever since.  I decided to start with this lovely stitch.  She calls it "Let's do the Twist".  She has wonderful inspirational quotes thruout the book.  It's a good thing, cause I was ready to throw this puppy in the floor after ripping out for the 4th time. 

Do you see the smaller sample in the back? Kinda looks like Russian Spiral, doesn't it?  Well, it's the very same stitch as the one in the front!

  In this sample, the green's are 11's, and the pink's are 8's.

  Here, the pink's are 8's and the white is a size 6.  I think I started over a total of 7 times before it finally clicked with me.  I absolutely love the look of it, but I'm not sure if I'll ever make another once I get done with this one!  Since it's giving me such a hard time, I think it will have to be my birthday present to me! 

Blessings, Shirley