Bead Soup Blog Party 6 Reveal

My lovely partner Shannon of Falling into the Sky sent me some beautiful components.  Here they are again.

The components were truly beautiful.  I was lucky to have such a wonderful partner.  After much consideration, and a couple of attempts, I decided to create a necklace with the focal, clasp, chain, the carnelian rings, and the amber beads.  

I have some ideas in mind for a bracelet and maybe some more additions to the necklace.  Stay tuned for more :) 

Much Love 

Shell 

Bead Soup Blog Party 6 - Just a little late

Oh wow, time flies when time flies!  These kids of mine have had me busy having fun this summer.  Work is all sorts of keeping me busy.  And let's not forget the homework and studying involved in getting my MBA.  So that being said, Sunday or Monday was the first time that I even had a chance to check my personal email, much less anything else.  So here I sit after the party and I haven't even started working on my pretty pretty for the reveal.

So here I sit, getting ready to show you picks on my wonderful soup and to tell ya a little about my partner.

My partner this time around is Shannon Hicks from Falling Into the Sky.  Oh my gosh!  The first time I looked at her blog I was humbled by her talent.  I mean - really - look at this!

picture courtesy of 

Shannon's Pinterest

And then there is her bead stash 

picture courtesy of

Falling into the Sky

So I decided that an eclectic mix of focals, clasps, and beads would work well to give her a variety of pieces to mix with her stash.

picture courtesy of Shannon's blog

When I received her package, I was thrilled and excited!  Everything is gorgeous and coordinates beautifully together.  The collection that she sent me includes glass focal (amazing), carnelian rings, mookite, quartz, amber, pearls, carnelian beads, copper chain, clasps and head pins.

I have some ideas rolling around in my head.  I will have finished up my current class - Financial Analysis - and have some time cleared this weekend to work on my piece(s) for the late reveal.

Much Love
Shell

Special Day & Thoughts

Sunday - June 17th - two of my special guys were able to share a day of celebration.  Sunday was Father's Day and believe me when I tell you that my husband is the best, most wonderful father and husband there is - at least in my opinion.  But Sunday was also our youngest son's 9th birthday.

Here they are last summer spending time together in the pool.  

I love spending time with my boys.  These summer days are flying by so quickly.  I am making more of an attempt this year to spend more time with them.  I want to cherish these days.  Too soon they will be grown up (well kind of grown up) and living on their own.  One more of the five will be leaving this fall to start his college journey.  Of course there will be visits home but even though three will remain here we will feel the absence of his presence.  

I have found that time is simply slipping away from me.  Stray gray hairs are beginning to pop up on my head - so foreign and out of place - but left alone to stay.  I have started thinking about the things that I have accomplished, and those that I still wish to tackle.  I think about how I have spent my days - have I cherished them as I should? or have I simply moved from one day to the next marking time? 

My husband tells me that I am nearing a 'mid-life' crisis - I believe that he may be insinuating that I am getting older.  He may be right - I did just have a birthday - that's one more year closer to 35.  But I wonder why I feel like I am no longer experiencing life - living life - but rather just going through the steps from one day to the next.  

I need to pull myself out of this slump.  This feeling of not moving - stagnating.  So I have decided to do just that.  So there has been less time spent inside and more outside.  Less time engaged on electronic devices - more time just being with my boys.  I am behind on my blog, behind in reading the blogs that I follow, behind at Words with Friends.  But my time with my boys is more important to me right now.  I hope that you will all still be here for my sporadic postings. I will be in and out - catching up with the boys are busy doing other things.  

I hope that you all decide to spend a little bit more time with the ones that you love.  Soak up memories while they are there to be had.  Have fun and experience life and love.

Much Love 

Shell

Tiny Tin Challenge and Blog Hop

When Michelle Mach of Beads and Books announced her newest challenge and blog hop, I knew that I wanted in on the fun.  She sent two small metal tins to each participant in the hop.  Here's what they looked like  - minus the writing on the larger one.

So what to do with two of the cutest tins ever?! Well, my youngest son saw them and was so excited to play with one that I just couldn't say no - I mean you should have seen the look on his face.  So I handed over the larger of the two tins to him.  Here is what he made with it:

This is the top of the tin.  He painted with 3 different shades of acrylic craft paint in blue.  He added some white over the top of that.  He did this painting with a makeup sponge.

On the side, he wanted it to look like hay.  I know that may sound odd to some, but just go with it for now.
He did this with some yellow, vanilla, and brown acrylic craft paint.  He painted the whole side first with all three mixed together, but decided that it didn't look enough like hay, so he added some up and down marks with a skinny paint brush

Then he said that it still wasn't done, but he wanted his daddy to help him with the rest.  So, based on what the hubby told me, some brown paper bag was torn up and wrinkled to be placed inside the bottom.  Then my son had some little tiny fuzzy chicks leftover from Easter that he had been saving.  He carefully glued 5 of them inside the tin to the brown paper.  "One for me and one for all my brothers" is what he said.

And that is what he gave me for Mother's Day.  It was hard to save this for the reveal today cause I wanted to just tell the world!   Isn't it just the cutest thing ever?!

So now on to the teeny tiny small tin.  I new immediately what I wanted to do with it.  It is the perfect size for lip balm!  So I only did some minor decorations to the outside.  I used Mod Podge and some tissue paper to cover the lid.  I applied this in layers in order to have some texture to the outside.  Then I placed a brass flower from B'Sue Boutiques to give it a feminine feel.

The recipe that I used for the lip balm is from Yours Truly, G.   Pop on over to her blog to read her full recipe and how to make this for yourself.

I really did have fun with this challenge and so did my son!   Hop on over to the other participants to see what they came up with for this challenge.  I know that I can't wait to see what they do.

1. Michelle - Beads & Books - Hostess
2. Amy - Amybeads
3. Brenda - B'Sue Boutiques
4. Dawn - Morning Glory Beading
5. Debbie
6. Jeannie - Jeannie's Blog
7. Kay - Palm Coast Art
8. Kim - CianciBlue
9. Mary - MLH Jewelry Designs
10. Mary Shannon - Falling into the Sky
11. Michelle - Firefly Visions - you are here
12. Molly - Beautifully Broken Me
13. Pamela - The Crazy Creative Corner
14. Patricia G. - My Life Under the Bus
15. Patricia L.
16. Robyn - A Ponderance of Things
17. Shelley - Fabric of My Life
18. Terry - Pink Chapeau Vintage Jewelry
19. Therese - Domestic Goddess Enterprises
20. Therese - Therese's Treasures

Much love.
Shell