Cherry blossom time

A spring tradition, going to see the cherry blossoms at the Washington Park Arboretum.  Here's a few of this year's pictures:


Cherry blossoms by dbvictoria on deviantART






I ended up spending a lot of time looking at tree trunks and branches this year, it seems.


Mossy tree by dbvictoria on deviantART


Moss on red birch by dbvictoria on deviantART






The full set is here.



...

May Flowers!

I avoid the garden. I have a black thumb. Really. If I look at a plant wrong, it dies. When I went off to college, my mother gave me a cutting of a plant that she was given a cutting of when she went off to college. That was in the 1950s, and my mom still has this plant. My cutting died the first semester. All I had to do was leave it in water. It didn't like sunlight. I had it on my desk away from the window and kept the vase full. It still died.

So I stay out of the garden, except to take pictures from time to time. But my husband humors me and buys and plants things in the garden that he knows I'll like. Today, he presented me with some black petunias. He loves me. He really does!


Black Petunias by *dbvictoria on deviantART




~

Goodbye, Summer!

I spent all day yesterday laid up with the onset of my regularly scheduled autumn cough. It is settling today. Well, the cough is, at least. My sinuses are a different matter. I don't know which is more miserable, the coughing or the sneezing. And we have the first PTA meeting of the new school year this evening, and the kickoff assembly for our fall fundraiser tomorrow morning. Oh, joy. I will make a wonderful first impression, I'm sure. *aaaaCHOOOOO!* *sniffle*

In protest for summertime going bye-bye, here's a couple of flower bouquet necklaces:





Iridescent Bouquet of Flowers Necklace



Wish me luck for tonight, I'm fading fast.

A year in the making, day 320

I got an unpleasant surprise today. I've been neglecting my twitter and facebooks, because with the allergies my eyes have really been bothering me and they burn and itch worse when I'm staring for too long at a white computer screen. I've been doing my work stuff and not much else for the last two and a half weeks. So about the only thing that's been hitting my Facebook wall was my RSS feed from Twitter with my new item listings. Bad!

They were marked as abusive and now whenever you click on a link to one of my stores, all you get a warning page from Facebook that my shop links are blocked for abuse. It's my own fault for setting these things up and not paying attention to them. I don't even remember which service I used to feed my Etsy to twitter - it wasn't the popular TwitterFeed or HootSuite. So I finally figured out, after an hour or two, how to get things to feed to my fan page, which I should have done months ago, and then this wouldn't have happened. Live and learn.

Did get some productive work done tonight, too, in between bites of tasty pepperoni pizza (or, as my daughter would say, Macaroni Pizza!).

Purple Glass Flowers Tassle Necklace on Sterling Silver



Agate Teardrop Necklace on Sterling Silver



I've also got a lot of 5 fire opal cabs listed in my meagre supply section. I got them in an odd lot of bits and bobs, and they've been sitting around staring at me making me feel guilty that I couldn't use them, so now hopefully they'll find a good home.



I also got over my wibbliness and listed the cinnabar butterfly piece in my Artfire shop:

Antique Green Cinnabar Butterfly with Glass and Purple Fluorite




Now off to finally watch Alice in Wonderland, which I missed in the theatres.

A Year in the Making, day 278

Back in the beading saddle again, as promised! I actually have been making things the last few days, just not posting them. I nearly ran out of chain, but my supply order came just in time to save the day.

With the camera charged, I was able to list the two pieces I made last week finally!

Freshwater Pearl and Celtic Knot Necklace



Amethyst and Freshwater Pearl Necklace:



And on to the new stuff! I was already romping through the red/purple/pink box, and I have these wonderful huge rose quartz beads that finally demanded I do something with them.

Rose Quartz and Amethyst Choker



This one isn't going to be listed, as it's going to be gifted shortly:

Apple Green Lampwork Glass with White Flowers



And now I'm off to find something to satisfy my sweet tooth. I am craving pudding, but I am out of milk with which to make some. I may have to settle for yogurt. Ick.

A Year in the Making, day 247

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!

I had a wonderful day. First, my husband made me a crab omelet for breakfast:



Then, the munchkin gave me the mother's day card she made in computer lab. Here's the exact way it's typed:

der mom I love you I hop you had a gerat tim at werk hapermunderays [supposed to be happy mother's day, I'm told] i love you fum gwen ps you are a gat momy ps you are a gat mom i like the thing

And there are little pictures on it of a skunk, a rabbit, and a toad.

Afterwards, we headed out to the beach to enjoy the gorgeous weather:





I took a few pictures of the plants:




Driftwood and Bushes 1 by *dbvictoria on deviantART

I tried to catch a crow in flight, and this is the best I managed (tricky little buggers!):



The husband and the munchkin started a sandcastle:







I hid from the evil yellow hurtie thing while they played:



And then a big hole was done and the munchkin decided she needed to bury her feet:









The husband discovered that she was now just the right height:



We stopped for beverages and cuteness ensued:



Came home and I made a new necklace, and finally added a clasp onto a piece I made weeks ago:

Upcycled Brass, Copper, and Amber Glass Necklace with Vintage Parts



Amber Glass Pendant strung with Peridot and Freshwater Pearls on Brass



Then I went to go see Kick Ass, which kicked ass.

And now the husband is making shrimp kabobs for dinner and I am sipping a glass of white wine while typing this all up. It's been a good day.

A Year in the Making, day 232

Today, I explored the front and back yards. We have a variety of growths that we can take absolutely no credit for except that we planted them, sometimes years ago. The fact that they are still growing and thriving is entirely due to Mother Nature's benevolence and their hardiness.

First, the berry tree:


Red Berries 2 by *dbvictoria on deviantART

Next, several shots of some tulips I planted probably 5-6 years ago. They still keep coming up every spring:


Lavender Tulips by *dbvictoria on deviantART


Red Tulip 1 by *dbvictoria on deviantART


Red Tulip 2 by *dbvictoria on deviantART

Here's a lavender plant from the front yard, just coming into bloom:


Lavender 1 by *dbvictoria on deviantART


Lavender 2 by *dbvictoria on deviantART

And this plant has taken over most of our back yard. I have no clue what it is - any of you know?


Backyard Mystery by *dbvictoria on deviantART

And lastly, the jasmine bush by our front stoop:


Jasmine by *dbvictoria on deviantART

In between uploading these, I was packing up a few sales from MissVictoriasVintage, and thought share an un-pretty but eco friendly packaging tip. We buy our wine by the case, Charles Shaw from Trader Joe's, and the boxes get put to a bunch of interesting uses around the house. The cases store my vintage stock, for one thing. And the dividers get cut up and used to card trim to keep it from getting tangled, or cut into smaller strips like this, to prevent delicate jewelry bits from getting crushed in the mail:



This adds a lot less weight to the envelope than a gift box would, and it doesn't add to the expense of shipping either! Win!

As I'm typing this, I see a patch of flowers growing out of the rock wall of our neighbor's house across the street through the open front door. More flower pictures! Ack!

A Year in the Making, day 198

Well, day 193-198 - this is what I've been working on all week, another installment in Artbeads' Beaders who Blog program:


Swarvoski Spring Waterfall by *dbvictoria on deviantART

The theme this time was "The Beauty of Spring", and I decided to try to recreate the look of a field of wildflowers. Sparkly wildflowers. Make another necklace with Swarovski crystal beads? Twist my arm!

The style is the same as I used in my Manna from Heaven necklace.



Their shipments always come so nicely packaged!



I used 3mm peridot bicones and fuchsia flowers in this set:



And here's some more close-up images of the finished product:







There will be a second installment to this post, as I have a dragonfly pendant from their Sterling Silver Components section that has flown away and is looking for more flowers someplace in my living room or dining room!

And now off to rest my arm. It seems I did something horrendous and violent in my sleep, as when I went to bed things were fine but this morning my left arm is very unhappy. I can't extend it all the way without painful twinges, and it's letting me know that it very much does not like picking anything up or typing. Luckily I am a master of one-hand typing, thanks to the cat. And I'm grateful that if one arm has to go out, at least it's my left arm.


***Disclaimer: I have received the products showcased in this post free of charge from ArtBeads, and I am honestly reviewing the products and have not been paid for my endorsement of the products received.