MWPAI says Thank you!

When I woke up this morning there was 1,007 Fans on the Munson Facebook page. Now it’s at 1,011~ I can’t believe we did it, overnight. It’s amazing and I thank all of you who joined in.
Below you will find the necklace that I created to give the lucky winner of the random drawing.
If you didn’t become a fan yet, there’s still time. I won’t draw a winner until tomorrow. So go ahead and become a fan, but leave a comment on this blog post so I count your name in the drawing!

This necklace is an asymmetrical beaded piece, with 3 glass seed beads strands up around the back. Flanked by a Green Girl Studios skull bead on one side, and a lovely handmade lampwork tab from Kabs Concepts on the other. I also added this very cool Shield connector made by my friend Lynn Davis of ExpeditionD. Vintaj Brass chain around the front, and the hook clasp is from Vintaj as well. That black shank button is antique. Metallic green lucite nugget beads are below the skull. Hope you like it! I had fun putting it together!

Step Right Up

Photo courtesy of Dave Revette Photography, Syracuse, NY

Did you know that I work in a really cool Art Museum in Upstate New York called Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute? That’s my full time gig. It’s the bomb. I get to manage the art collection there, it’s what I went to school for, it’s close to my house, and it’s one of the best, most prestigious art/culture centers in Upstate NY.

We have been trying to get Facebook fans on the MWPAI’s facebook page and we’ve been quite successful in getting 900+ fans. But that’s not enough. One of the goals is to get 1000+ fans by 2010. That’s just 1 day away.

So here is where I ask your help. Go here to the MWPAI fan page. Now, click that little button at the top that says BECOME A FAN.

what’s in it for you?

Do it before 12:00a.m. January 1st, and I’ll put your name in a drawing to win one of my handmade necklaces. I’ll make up something special and show you tomorrow. Leave me a comment to let me know you’ve become a fan.

Let’s get to 1000!!! now, GO!

It only took 2.5 years to finish!

That’s right folks. The bathroom is finally finito. Done. Fin.
And I must say,

it’s my most favorite room in my house right now.

Here are some before pics of the bathroom when we moved into the house. The full bath on the first floor off the family room, was partially gutted when we moved in due to the previous owners starting the project and then splitting up due to unfortunate circumstances.
Little by little Joe has gutted the rest, tore everything out and replaced EVERYTHING new.
A bathroom reno is expensive so this is the best way we could do it. Piece by piece.

and now it’s done.

and I couldn’t be happier.

or prouder of my handy hubby. Thanks Joe. You’re the best!

Next on my list: create the reading nook.

Yesterday I went online and bought this cute chair for the reading nook. I have this weirdly long shaped family room with this little space that we have yet to fill with furniture. Last year we put the Christmas tree there. This year we couldn’t, mostly because all of Joe’s tools and the toilet from the bathroom were using this spot.

Now it’s all cleaned out. And empty again. So my plan is,

a round area rug. This cool chair. a side table. floor lamp. a cozy blanket. a small ottoman. a candle. a book. a cozy nook to snuggle up and read.

And then maybe those ugly closet doors

could be ripped out, and I could revamp the shelves

into book shelves.

yes, indeed.

a good idea.

Can’t knock this beader down

I created some new jewelry on Sunday night and had intentions of getting them photographed and listed on Monday. But then I got this awful stomach
bug, a 24 hour thing that kept me in bed all day. Dang it.
Still not sure what that came from, I thought maybe food poisoning but I’m
not really sure. Especially since I had a fever all day too.
Today I am better. WHEW.

This first necklace features a Marsha Neal Studio ceramic floral pendant

in a beautiful chocolate brown, paired with bright pink. Wood two-tone rondelles,

fuschia dyed aventurine, and faceted aqua jade rounds.

This chunky bracelet features lampwork from Kelley Wenzel, and Cindy Gimbrone,

with large copper hollow beads and a faceted Amethyst nugget, glass, and filigree beads. Hammered toggle from AD Adornments.

I like how this Wisdom necklace turned out. Ceramic Wisdom heart focal from Diane Hawkey,

Wood briolettes, cream recycled glass, turquoise rondelles, wood cubes, and bone tubes. The handmade ceramic toggle is from Every Heart Crafts.

Colorful beaded bracelet with brown waxed linen cording, a Pewter heart focal from

Green Girl Studios, ceramic coin bead from Jubilee, glass, ruby quartz, fuschia briolette, amazonite, and Bali glass rounds. Silver

button.

These dangly earrings feature cool handmade skull charms that I got from Andrew Thornton.

I paired them with pretty keishi pearls, faceted glass, and taupe colored Swarovski Crystal

ring beads from Artbeads.com.

Sweet Chicadee earrings with Marsha Neal Studio image transferred charms,

and bumply beads from Pinocean.

And these cuties are fun and colorful too, with Candice Wakumoto charms,
brown waxed linen cord, jade, ruby quartz, and glass in bright tones.

I also have a few new pieces going into My Mom Pattie’s shop on Etsy.

Post Christmas Update

Ahhhh. It’s good to be back home. We headed out to Connecticut to celebrate Christmas with my in-laws on Thursday morning. The plan was to spend Christmas eve and Christmas day in CT and then Saturday, head to my parents in NY to celebrate there and then travel home Saturday night. This is a bit much, as far as traveling goes. The weather didn’t cooperate and so we canceled with my parents and are going to head there for our family Christmas, this coming weekend. So we headed home yesterday and had a nice quiet evening. We don’t usually watch many movies but we were in the mood so we ended up getting one on On Demand.
Taking Woodstock.

It was alright. Not great, but pretty entertaining. Demitri Martin plays the lead and there are some other big names in the movie too. It was a bit bizarre in parts but overall we liked it.

Christmas eve was a small family get together of Joe’s cousins, and their parents, Joe’s Aunt and Uncle. We had some great food, drinks, and then enjoyed watching Joe play Santa. lol The kids are oblivious that Santa is actually Uncle Joe. We get a kick out of Joe in the family Santa costume. Every year it induces mad giggling. And lots of adult innuendos that the kids never pick up on. 🙂 On his way out Santa asked me for a Kiss which caused the kids to bust out laughing. Too cute.
We stayed the night at Joe’s sister’s house and it was great waking up with Max and Alexandra on Christmas morning and doing gifts there. Christmas day was nice and calm and low key. We started a new tradition with my Mother-in-law and go to the movies for a matinee. This year we enjoyed It’s Complicated, with Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin, and Steve Martin. It was outstanding. I loved it. Meryl is such an amazing actress. I love everything she’s in.

When we got home yesterday I had this beauty in my mailbox. I blogged last week about a necklace that I made for Nancy (Round Rabbit). Well, lo and behold, she made this for me! I had read on Facebook a few days ago that she was putting together a special bracelet for a special person with a certain special bead and had no inkling that it could be for little ol’ me. I was shocked and blown away by her act of of beadiness. Look how amazing this piece is! It’s amazing! A show-stopper for sure!

After a nice hot shower last night, I sat down and read the first few chapters of The House at Riverton by Kate Morton. It’s the book club book that we are starting for January. I like it so far. It’s easy reading and is very interesting. I’m excited to get further into it to find out what the 98 year old main character is hinting at, when she mentions a Poet whom she was a servant for, supposedly committed suicide back in the 1920s. A big unknown secret lies beneath the rumors-

And as for beading. I’ve been meaning to get my butt up in to the studio today but it’s already 3pm and I’m still not there.
*sigh. I need some inspiration. Seen any good inspiration lately? Care to share?

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from my house to yours!

I’ll be back tomorrow to catch up…

little glass sculptures

Mika – I heart you and your beads so much.

… little glass sculptures, delicate and lovely. The colors of these beads are so unique and I love the combination- teal with a pine green. I recently bought several sets, there was a sale. You know how that goes. Cannot resist a good sale. So now I’ve got quite the dragon’s hoard of Pinocean beads in my stash. I suppose I can finally start using them now. Maybe.

Mika is so friendly and ships her beads so fast. And she appreciates every single sale she makes, and wraps each bead set carefully in bubble, in a box, with the prettiest paper cover I’ve ever seen, stamped with a custom stamp in red. It’s like a special little present that shows up in my mailbox and you just can’t beat getting little presents in the mail.

I also ordered some glass beads from Ellen Dooley. They are on their way and should be arriving today, can’t wait to show you those. They are beautiful as well.

Some gifts.

Hoping someone isn’t reading this blog or I’m ruining her surprise!!

Lisa Peters sent me these copper components to put something together
for her Mom for Christmas. I created this 3 strand bracelet with large
connector focal. The flower that sits on top, was separate and I wired
it on with copper wire.

This last necklace was made for Nancy.
I found this cool pendant at Lynn Davis’ shop, ExpeditionD. It
screamed Nancy, because she’s got the cutest bunnies ever.
I bought it with the intention of just giving her the pendant to put into her own
jewelry but with how busy she’s been lately, I thought it would be better to
put it into something that she could wear right away. She received it already
so I’m not ruining her surprise. I hope she loves it!

Update: okay so- Yesterday I was completely convinced I was pregnant. I even went to the drug store and took the test at work. I did the thing, and waited. and waited. and waited. The little timer on the digital test, blinking and blinking and blinking at me in the stall. Then: NOT PREGNANT. Might as well have been blinking and bright red, with a fog horn attached.
I’m not pregnant. Pretty disappointed (*really disappointed) but I suppose we’ll try and try again next month. I am thinking about getting acupuncture done. I’ve heard some good things about it and figured it would be worth a shot, before I start getting into the whole Clomid thing. I’m sure that the stress of the holiday season didn’t help matters much and my Mom thinks I need to calm the F down and relax. I think she’s right. So maybe acupuncture. and maybe YOGA. and maybe the book club that I am joining will help. I am participating in a virtual book club with Nancy at Round Rabbit. She’s hosting. We are reading The House at Riverton, by Kate Morton. You should go over and check it out, we won’t start til January so there is still lots of time to get the book. I am looking forward to being able to get through a novel all the way to the end. I haven’t finished a book in ages.

Another winner is named in place of the missing Phyl.

Sorry Phyl, but I had to pick another winner since I never heard from you. The new winner of the $25 gift certificate from ArtBeads.com is:

ALLI!

alli said…

I would get their awareness charms!

northssclub at yahoo dot com

Thanks Alli- I’ll send you an email this morning!!

And the Winner is….

The winner of the Classic Bead tree pendant is comment number 28!

SARAH said:

I wish for health and happiness for everyone that needs it this year. I’m so blessed in my life I don’t need or want anything. And I hope you get your wish. Mine came true for me this past year and I couldn’t be more blessed. Happy Holidays!

12/18/2009

I was unable to see a blogger profile for the Sarah that won, just be aware there are a few Sarah’s that entered this week- one that I went to school with, and one that I didn’t.

Thank you everyone for all of your nice wishes and comments! Sarah, Contact me via email and I’ll send your pendant right away!

ALSO- if you know PHYL, the winner of the Artbeads.com gift certificate giveaway, please tell her to contact me ASAP because I need to send her the prize! If I don’t hear from her, I will need to pick a new random winner!!!