Thing-a-day.com

I can’t believe TAD is almost over already! It’s gone by so quickly. As someone else said, it is so nice to be able to look back on your day and see that yes, you WERE productive! Even if you weren’t acutely aware of it at the time.

Today I was antsing to play with the beads I used yesterday, and the other order I placed arrived in the mail so I had that as well. I’m not totally done, but a work in progress is part of my thing today. I want to add a strand of strung beads above the chain.  I LOVE these beads, not sure why, but they have apparently found a way to firmly entrench themselves into my heart and I want more, more, more! You can’t see on the pics so well, but the clear beads (Czech fire polished, faceted) have a bright shiny bronze lining. They add a bit of sparkle to the more earthy colored squares and ovals.

The link is hard to see, the sun was shining so brightly (sorrry, Sarah!) so here’s a close up. Still a bit of glare/too much contrast.

My other thing is cooking. It is something new so I say it counts Butternut squash soup/bisque with a horseradish cream. Heavy cream, whipped, with some horseradish and a dash of curry. Recipes are from my ‘Soup Bible’.

So close to the end. I am knitting a shrug which is a little bigger project and will probably take me a couple more days. I was hoping to have it done to show as a “thing of the day” but don’t think I will make it in time. Today I made some earrings. I have a few loose larger beads that are “left overs” from other projects, so I am working them into earrings.

I can’t believe I haven’t totally skipped a day. Granted, I don’t like using cooking as my ‘thing’ since I have to cook no matter what, but sometimes it’s just a little more/extra/different than normal so in my head, that rationalizes it a tad.

Today’s Thing is for my son’s school fund raiser. They have an ice cream social where you go, eat ice cream (woohoo!), listen to the kidlets sing some songs and bid on baskets put together by all the different classes. His class (1st grade) is making a few small baskets so you can bid with a 1 dollar ticket instead of a 5 dollar ticket. These will be part of a small basket. Hopefully they’ll rake in a couple of bucks I’m including a candle as well, maybe a bookmark (I just remembered the mom asked if I could make a matching bookmark…eeek!). Any ideas for a name? Crappy photo, too dark outside for the clothesline

This TAD should go through the next month because I swear, I would have gone straight to bed this evening. But instead, I HAD to get a ‘thing’ done so here it is. Simple, yet still a thing. Hooray. I think I’m going to open an etsy shop. I have a website but I don’t like updating it and I don’t like making things when I ‘have’ to per someone’s order. I’d rather make what I feel like, and then someone can buy it, instead of vice versa. And it makes more sense to have a site that I only pay when I actually sell something versus one that I pay monthly and do nothing, right? Ok, I’m too tired to be at the comp. I’ll ramble on all night. The Baby is actually asleep right now, which is already better than last night, I should go to sleep myself. Or enjoy the silence. Ahhh, the dilemma. At least I got my thing done.

Too tired to care. BUT apparently TAD is addictive b/c I just could not totally let go. So I sat down and made this bracelet. Not exactly what I wanted, but it was a bit off the beaten path for me. I fell in love with the rectangle links and have been waiting to use them, just not sure this is the use they were meant for. However, I can buy more in the future. If I remember.

I wanted a somewhat random look w/the beads, but sort of screwed that up when I wasn’t paying attention to what I was doing. Since they links were wire wrapped, I couldn’t just take them apart without ruining the entire link so I just left it. I suppose some patterns occur in natural randomness, don’t they? Two similar beads side by side aren’t really a big problem in the grand plan of life. I’ll take that any day if it means The Baby will sleep through the night. And not tease me with a good nap here and there.

So here is my fatigue pattern. Enjoy :)  Sorry for the poor photo.

i know it’s a little early for easter eggs but i felt like making one.

I think the relief of ‘FRIDAY!’ is residual from my own days at school and work. Saturdays aren’t that much of a change around here, The Baby will still make me get up much earlier than I’d like, but at least the pressure of getting the First Grader off to school on time properly clothed, fed and presentable will be alleviated. We can sit around in our jammies and pick our toes all day if we so desire, although I admit we have yet to spend a day quite like that.

Anyway, I had to grab the morning nap to hurriedly throw together a ‘thing’ for today. It’s a simple stranded bracelet with some super cheap blue glass beads I got off ebay a few years ago. The brownish ones are Czech fire polished rounds with a blue coating that you can’t see very well. But occasionally it hits the light just so and you see a nice dark almost metallic blue. I bought these 2 Christmases ago for a project and this month I’ve used up most of the left overs. They are quickly becoming one of my favorite versatile beads.

I figured I may as well try to do something useful with the wire since I dragged it out yesterday, so today I grit my teeth and grabbed it again. Only this time I realized I ALSO have some 18g full hard wire. Still tough, but not nearly as hard on my hands as the 16g. My poor beading tools are about to go on permanent strike. But I got these made. Like my garage floor vs. handy man hammer texturing? There’s lots of sand in these here parts.

That’s right! You get two days for the price of one today! I had too much fun last night (yakitori dinner, Press Your Luck & the American Gladiators season finale) to post so here now is the very simple ring I made out of some leftover buttons:

And also the pendants I worked on tonight:

I used pink sakura printed origami paper for one and a drawing from an Adrian Tomine notebook for the other. Tomine is one of my favorite comic artists so I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out. In the next few days I’ll probably put more layers of acrylic sealer on them to make sure they can last me a long time.

I’m tagging this one as ‘misunderstandings’ b/c I surely was misunderstood when I bought this wire. Do not - I repeat - do not buy 16 gauge full hard wire when you really don’t have a clue what you are doing. Then when you realize your level of ineptitude, do not swing the other way and buy wire that is the thickness of a human hair. It’s really not that useful in this type of thing, although somehow I’ve managed to finagle some wrapped loops with it here. I have actually made some cool earrings from the thick wire, but it is hard to work with and I really don’t have the proper tools. Sure, it’s fun to bang with a hammer on my garage floor, but I’m not sure that’s the kind of texture most people are looking for.

So, I’m not really sure WHAT this thing is, but it is my thing. I had fun playing, it’s been so long since I dragged out this wire. I think I’ll come up with some fantastical story about its magical deep meaning and sell it as a good luck totem on ebay for mad loot.

But I have been working!

 Friday my 8 year old daughter and I made polymer clay beads and baked them, then made jewelry.  Her beads came out WAY better than mine and I’m currently wearing a bracelet she made me. 

 Saturday, we did our cookie booth and sold 30 more boxes for her Girl Scout Troop!

 Sunday, I made it a point to carve out some special time with my husband.  We snuggles on the couch, ate sushi, and watched the LOST episodes we have missed this season.  We really, really needed that.

 Yesterday, my daughter and I delivered all the cookies ordered in the neighborhood.  It was a feat.  I stacked all the boxes in the stroller and strapped the baby to me in the Snugli.  We walked probably three miles that way.  It was an undertaking, to say the least, lol.  I was overly ambitious…but we did get them delivered to all but three houses!

And today I made this as a promo for my shop:

Today I made a simple pair of earrings.  Sterling silver, think I will wear them to park day today.  Working on a pair of socks but those are not finished yet, maybe tomorrow.

I never would have made it as a frontiersman, or woman. This day to day stuff is kicking my butt! However, I was determined to make a Thing for today. Not sure if I should have taken on this endeavor, I have a feeling that I would have been better off photographing my loaf of bread, or cereal bars that I cooked. But noooooo…that just wasn’t good enough for me. So in my deliriously tired state, I threw together something. Call it a ‘collaboration on Spring’ or ’simple desperation’.

Earrings, again. I wanted to put some pastel beads with these leaves to evoke thoughts of budding flowers. But after I threaded and looped the pink beads on silver pins, I realized I didn’t have the proper size silver rings to hook the leaves. I was too tired to attempt making my own loops, or using eyepins, so I said screw it, I’ll combine metals. So the chain was switched out to the brass, using brass jump rings, along with the silver pins in the pink beads and silver ear wires. I could have saved the pink dangles and remade a set using brass pins, but alas…I didn’t think of until just now, and if I had done so, how would the transition to silver earwires work? I only have silver….Anyway, I’ll just keep rambling if I don’t shut up now…

It’s obviously too dark for my clothesline photography, so I used a mirror to further complicate things

I DID get a cute photo of my boys today

Well today I got up early with The Baby, and when he went down for his nap (at 7:45am!) I hurried and threw together a pair of earrings. I figured I’d better move while I had the chance. I think if I had to name them, I’d call them Seaspray b/c of the green, aqua, pale blue and clear crystals. They are very sparkly, but I am not the best photographer so you’ll have to use your imagination.

Then all the boys (The Baby, the First Grader and The Daddy) were up so I decided to cook a real breakfast. I don’t do this often, for selfish reasons. I LOVE breakfast food and it’s hard to restrain myself from overindulging. But I broke out the sausage, the eggs and got busy. I almost didn’t do this next thing. It’s just so hard to resist it. I was going to save myself and toss out the drippings and crunchy cooked on bits but I just couldn’t bear to do it–they looked up at me from the bottom of the skillet with such sad eyes. I caved and made some gravy. Oh sweet hay-soos. It was so good. I was ready to just eat it all with a spoon, straight out of the pan. But I only took a few bites. Maybe I’ll make biscuits for dinner.

Then my most favorite thing. I made the baby laugh. Well, he’s not really got the laughing part down pat but I got some super cool squeaks and squeals from him. Yes, I know my sheets are wrinkled. No, laundry will never be my forte and I don’t see ironing sheets in my future. They are at least clean, which is a miracle in itself with all the baby puke and other byproducts that this little angel produces.

We were making the bed — I say ‘we’ because I couldn’t walk out of a room without him wailing, so I’d put him on one side of the bed, work on it, then move him and work on the other. This quickly dissolved into a game of peek-a-boo with the blankets. He loved it, as you can see

I’ve been making bunches!  I have some really cool single beads though that are coming out great as rings.  I’m excited about an order I’ve got in with a glass artist who does amazing work…can’t wait to get those beads!!

 This one is for sale in my Etsy shop by the same name.

I saw these little stones at the bead shop yesterday and just had to have them.  The colors are amazing! 

If this set sells, I’m making one for myself, lol.

Would you believe it…the baby has taken a decently long nap today.  I was able to make two things and now I’m eating my lunch in peace!

Can we do this every day, baby?

Haha…as if I thought I’d have time for more than that on any other day? But I am a bit more busy today with doc appt, after school event, laundry that just won’t be ignored any longer, etc.

Silver and turquise, with a few bits of glass and crystal thrown in. I thought the triangles were cool. Wonder if my sis will like them?

Today I did some very basic bead stuff. A stranded bracelet and a pair of earrings (clip on) that simply have a charm attached. The Baby is on a mission to keep me from doing this thing-a-day challenge. Expect many simple projects in the days ahead.

Both of these items are requests, so thing-a-day is helping me to not procrastinate my obligations so much! *clap*

Here is my thing for today! I’ve been wanting to put little jump rings on these charms I bought, becuase the ring that was on it already was to small for a necklace to fit through. The other thing I did was make a pair of earrings out of vintage pale pink buttons, and they are ADORABLE! I will sell them on etsy so a lucky someone can look extremely cute! ;-)  - tracy