Thoughtless Thursday

Little Rylee Jade - photo taken a couple of weeks ago on her first day home.

Have you ever sat down to write a letter to someone; you know you need to do it, you know you should ... must ... do it; but as you sit and look at the blank sheet of paper your mind is a blank? It may be a letter to dear, loving aunt Matilda who dotes on you, relishes your letters and to whom you've not corresponded with in far too long ... plus you really need to thank her for that thing-a-ma-bob that she sent you for your birthday ... have no idea what you'll ever do with it but it 's the thought that counts.

You begin to write; "Dearest Aunt Mattie - Hope you're fine. The weather here has been..." The words seem forced, contrived, so you crumple up that sheet of paper and start over again. Then you realize that though you adore auntie Mat, your heart and soul just are not in tune with your brain and it is impossible for you to write that much needed letter.

Well guess that has been me for some time now. Not just with blogging but with a number of other things as well. I've been playing an exasperating game of catch-up and find myself consistently falling behind. As they say; "The hurrier I go the behinder I get" !

Scattered across my work-table and desk-top are too many projects to count, all in differing stages of incompletion. Most are in need of an item such as a special focal item, a bead or beads, a certain size of jumpring or the right clasp. Frustrating! Annoying!
About the only thing I've completed in the last couple of weeks was a bird's nest necklace.  It was my first attempt at making a bird's nest. 

I found that my vast stash of beads was lacking in small oval, egg-shaped beads. The best I could come up with were these 8 mm x 6 mm oval, Dalmatian jasper beads.  Some eggs do have spots, don't they ?  

Once the nest was complete it needed a necklace, however all the chains in my supplies were either the wrong size or the wrong color.  This brass tone wire (called "Jeweler's Bronze")from Fire Mountain Gems is not the easiest to match, especially where chain is concerned.  And the color of the Dalmatian jasper was a pain to match with seed beads.  I now own at least half-a-dozen more tubes of seed beads, all in tones of beige or tan and not one of them is a dead ringer for the gray-beige background of the jasper.  I ended up settling on a
gold-lined cream.  Not perfect and in the photos it looks white but is really a soft cream-tone, very neutral.

It took several tries to finally come up with a combination of beads that complimented the bird's nest and that would fit through its bail (I should have used a larger mandrel to form the bail on). 
 Next problem was to find a clasp and, naturally, nothing that I had on hand matched.  A hook and eye clasp would have to be handmade out of 20 gauge wire of the same color; "Jeweler's Bronze".

So it's done; one project, out of far too many, that's finally complete.  Funny thing is that my first attempt at making a nest turned out fairly well though not perfect,  my second attempt however ... well let's just say it looks more like the wire in my wire scraps jar.

A New Arrival in 2012

My great-granddaughter, Rylee Jade, came into the world early Tuesday morning.  Weighing in at 5 lb 11 oz she is neither too big nor too small ... she is just right and truly beautiful.  New mother, Marci, is doing fine and very happy to be able to finally hold her lovely baby girl.  Our grandson is beaming with pride just like a typical proud daddy.

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!

Wishes to All for a most Happy New Year !

May your new year be blessed with good health and sprinkled generously with happiness.  May 2012 be a year abundant with peace and goodwill to all mankind.

To all I wish a joyful and prosperous 2012.