A Year in the Making, day 352

Another quickie today, as I just spent the evening trying to find the dining room table. Where does all the clutter come from, and how the *bleep* does it build up so quickly? We're having company next weekend, and my goal is to tackle a little bit of the mess every night for the next 8 days. Then, of course, once I've cleaned a spot, I have to make sure it doesn't become the new repository of stuff when I clean up another spot. Oh, the vicious cycle!

So here's a little Something Blue for the evening, inspired by a friend of mine who just got engaged last weekend:


Something blue by *dbvictoria on deviantART

A Year in the Making, Day 202

Wait a minute. Didn't she just post "A Year in the Making, day 213 a little while back?" Why yes! Yes I did. This is that strung necklace I made 11 days ago that I finally photographed and listed. This necklace is made from Japanese Miracle Beads, and I ended up with them completely accidentally serentipitiously. Several years ago, a coworker was going to visit family in Hong Kong and promised to help me in my previously mentioned long-suffering search for cobalt blue pearls. I sent her with a couple of my remaining stock for color reference and some cash.

A few days into her trip, I got a call. She said she'd found something really close, and should she go ahead and get them. They weren't actual pearls, but the lady in the shop kept insisting that they were better than pearls. Why not, I thought, so gave her the okay. I got a relieved sigh and she said "Oh, good, because I already bought them!" Eep!

She returns with them, and they were drop dead stunning, but definitely not pearls. I sat on them for awhile, not wanting to use them without being able to tell people what they were. Finally, I posted pictures of them to various online forums and communities, and some helpful soul told me they're what's known as Japanese Miracle Beads. They start with a lucite center, paint it with reflective metallic paint, and then add layer upon layer of iridescent lacquer. The result, as you can see, is stunning, and the beads themselves are quite light in weight so they're very comfortable to wear.

I've hardly done anything with them, though, so here's me remedying this sad situation:

Cobalt Blue Japanese Miracle Bead Multistrand Necklace



And yes, that's me playing around with the scrapbook paper for background again.

I might actually try making something tomorrow. The arm is doing much better. I've got pretty much my full range of motion back without pain, and the physical therapist says next week she'll give me some strength-building exercises to start doing. The magic anti-inflammatories, the stretches, the PT, and the ice have done wonders. Well, and not using my laptop or making hardly anything for two weeks have probably helped too. I am, however, going crazy. I need my creative outlet back!

A year in the making, day 155

I'm back in the pearl box again! And the steampunk-y watch bits, too. This style of earrings seems to be rather popular, for which I'm glad, because they're fun to make:

Steampunk Watch Parts and Freshwater Pearl Waterfall Earrings



And here's the last couple of days' work listed now in my ArtFire shop:

Cobalt Blue Glass Bracelet



Sardonyx and Burgundy Fire-Polished Glass Necklace and Earrings

A Year in the Making, day 154

It's been bright and sunny and cold, which isn't nice. The gorgeous skies out the window make you think of spring, but then you go out and freeze. Blue fingers, blue toes, blue nose. So today, you get a blue bracelet!

Some cobalt blue beads, the last of the strand, but just enough to make an 8" bracelet! I added tiny little sterling silver beads to eke out the length just enough: