Birds of a feather...

So, something kinda cool happened over the weekend. There I was, attending the kidlet’s soccer game all bleary-eyed because we had the “ass-crack of dawn” start time this weekend. I was wishing desperately that I had some hot chocolate and a donut when I noticed something odd down at the far end of the park.

It was a guy. I know, nothing weird about that part, but just wait.

A guy who appeared (and yeah, I WAS wearing my glasses) to have a rather large bird on a string.

Now, people also use this (and some of the other surrounding parks) to fly all kinds of small, remote-controlled airplanes and helicopters and fire off home-made rockets and lots of other strange stuff so I had to keep looking to make sure I was really seeing what I thought I was seeing.

Yep. He really did have some type of hawk or falcon on a line and he was training it. Like something straight out of Bradley’s “Hawkmistress” or one of the other Darkover books or any other story where the nobles go out “hawking.” I was fascinated because I was under the impression that all birds of prey were on the endangered list in this state and that it was therefore illegal to keep them as pets unless you are a licensed by the Fish & Game dept. as a bird rescuer.

I eventually went over and spoke to the man when he was done (yeah, I know, bad me for leaving the soccer field, but the game hadn’t started yet and I knew the kidlet would be so bummed he didn’t get to find out what was going on as the guy had attracted quite a crowd by this point) with his training session and I learned some interesting stuff.

The bird was a peregrine falcon. They are native to the area and there’s been such a successful captive breeding program that their numbers are back up in the wild and they are no longer quite so endangered. If you have the correct license and permits from Fish & Game, it is legal to capture them although this guy’s bird was captive-bred.

He’s a licensed falconer and had to go through a 2-year apprenticeship and be reviewed by both the state and federal Depts. of Fish & Game including visits to his breeding and training facility before he earned his license. He trains the birds as a hobby and then either sells them to other falconers or returns them to the wild (if they are wild-caught to begin with).

This particular bird was 8 months old and male. The females are about 1/3 again larger. The guy was nice enough to let me take some pictures:

Isn’t he absolutely beautiful?


I wish I’d been able to get some shots without the hood on because his eyes were just amazing. You can definitely see the intelligence there. Still, it was an amazing experience to be able to get this close!

It's strange how you can just be going about your normal, everyday, boring life, and then something like this drops right into your lap. It made my weekend!

KJ

The Latest News

Let's see...

The economy sucks.

Politicians are stupid and evil.

I bought new beads*:

I made new jewelry:

Hmmm...guess none of that really qualifies as actual news.

Have a good weekend, everyone!

KJ

*beads are by LittleCrow on eBay

Victory!

I have finally conquered the mystery that is my digital camera. And it only took me 15 months to do it!

I’m quick like that.

While my scanner really does work okay for most pictures (and is quicker and gives me pictures in smaller, easier-to-deal-with format), it occasionally is a really BAD choice for certain pieces.

Either the color isn’t right or remotely realistic, or the piece is too bulky to fit well on the scanner or well, whatever…

I’d thought a digital camera would be a good option in those cases. And it was for a while, until mine died.

And then the one a friend loaned me died, too.

Then, I was lucky enough to receive one for my birthday last year and was so excited to try it out that I took it on vacation and snapped a ton of pictures with it.

Imagine my surprise when I arrived home and downloaded everything and found that, with but a few exceptions, every single picture was blurry or otherwise messed up.

Hmmmm….

Perhaps one ought to read the instructions before one operates the new and incredibly complicated piece of technology?

Naaahhh! I’ll just figure it out on my own eventually (yeah, right).

So, after 15 months of disastrous and unusable pictures (and yes, I did eventually break down and read the instructions…which made no sense), I finally, magically stumbled on the right setting for close-up pictures.

Eh, voila!

Quite some time ago, I purchased multiple strands of faceted cubic zirconia briolettes at a bead show and I finally got around to using them this weekend – they look great with some 14k gold-filled earring components I had in stock.






I did these two pairs in fall colors.




But, since I'm not really a "fall" girl when it comes to color schemes, I had to, of course, do a spring pair, too.




I just loooove me some long, dangly earrings. And long, dangly earring bedecked with sparkly bling? Shut UP!



I’ve had this project sitting around half-finished for at least a couple of years. So long that I lost the paperwork with my original design idea sketches on it and had to start over from scratch. Still, the results are pretty spectacular if I do say so myself. The gorgeous lampwork beads are from a wonderful artist, Luna Beads, who, sadly, is no longer making or selling her work. Thankfully, I stocked up on a whole bunch of sets before she retired a few years ago and they are so yummy. I love the turquoise, sage green and yellows in this set which mix perfectly with Swarovski crystals in matching shades and lots of wonderful, rich-looking gold.

Here's a close-up of the clasp:




And, of course, the matching earrings:





Have a good week, everyone!

KJ

Bonus!

Yes, I’m actually writing back to back blog entries! Try to contain your surprise.

When last we left off, I made mention (amongst other things) of my NEW! LEATHER! COUCH!

(And yes, that IS how I’m going to refer to it every single time. Get over it.)

Anyway, I realized that a mere capitalized mention in typed words could not describe the grandiosity of the new butt support mechanism at my house and, as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words soooo…

Ta DA! Here it is!

Ignore the fabric swatches, pillow and teeny rug. These are just some things I’m playing around with as far as color, etc. Eventually, there will be a large area rug (5’x8’ or bigger) when I find one that matches (that I can afford).

The walls are painted a color called “Greg’s Edge” from Dunn Edwards. As far as I can tell from their website, they no longer make this color, although I’m sure you can still get a match to it. Or maybe they’ve just renamed it? Because I did always think the name was kind of dumb.

You can’t see it in this picture, but the adjoining room is painted in “Jakarta.” It’s warm beige with a yellow undertone that picks up the yellow in the fabric swatches. Dunn Edwards still has that color available in their “Classics” collection.

And another picture because it is JUST THAT COOL to finally have a couch!

The couch itself is a peanut butter color (and NOT baby poop brown as SOME obviously-lacking-in-any-taste-whatsoever-people have suggested). There's a built-in recliner at each end which I plan to use as a platform from which to spend entire weekends watching football and making jewelry...in about 20 years...when the kid is grown and no longer my full-time responsibility and when he has also outgrown this pesky break-stuff-and-smear-Play Do-into-the-carpet-whenever-Mommy-isn't-watching-me phase.

But don't worry about the couch - you can't see them, but I have installed infrared detectors in front of the thing so if the kid even APPROACHES it, all kinds of alarms, horns, bells and whistles go off and a cage descends from the ceiling...

NO! not around the KID! For heaven's sake, what kind of mother do you think I AM, anyway?

The cage..actually, it's more of an impenetrable shield of titianium...descends around the COUCH, thus protecting it's peanut-buttery-leather-but-oh-my-god-expensive-goodness from any and all incursions of small, possibly destructive, small children.

Thus ensuring a long, happy life for both child and couch and a jail-free existence for Mommy.

And we all lived happily ever after.

The End

KJ

Vacation Creations

I took a couple of wonderful, glorious (and surprisingly productive) days off leading up to Labor Day weekend. Not only did I get to catch up on my sleep (thank God!) but I got oodles of laundry done, and I sorted out two car loads of household “crap” (books, kid toys, kid clothes, etc.) to donate to Goodwill in order to make room for my NEW! LEATHER! SECTIONAL! I’ve wanted to put an L-shaped sectional in my family room ever since I bought the house 10 years ago! I finally got around to it and the couch arrived this weekend. After a few more touches (built-in media cabinet, window treatments, pillows and area rug), I will finally have ONE ROOM in my house that’s suitable for viewing and use by family, friends, random visitors, etc.

But, as per my usual, I’ve wandered completely off track.

The other thing I managed to do over Labor Day weekend was put in some serious jewelry-making time. Yay!

Here are the results:

These are just a quick, sweet little pair of earrings using some fun, sterling silver and enamel earring findings and then adding some Swarovski crystals, freshwater pearls and Bali silver.

Now for the more complicated stuff:

This fused glass cab has some strange colors in it: emerald green, metallic orange, hot pink and even a metallic purple. After seeing all the Halloween decorations already hitting the stores, I decided to highlight the orange and the green in my bead embroidery bezel and again in the necklace and then tie everything together with black. The beads in the necklace are vintage glass and Czech glass.

The next cab I worked with is a stone cab (an agate of some sort, I believe) and had a much more subdued color palette of browns, beiges, gray and black. It looks great with these golden glass pearls and matte steel gray Czech crystals for some subtle sparkle.

This is a close-up of the pendant to show how pretty the markings are in this natural stone.



This necklace is composed of materials that were originally purchased to go with the cab shown above, but they didn’t work so well with that piece and I ended up creating a separate set using steel gray glass pearls and champagne-colored Czech crystals. I think it’s no surprise that this romantic and classic-looking piece came to mind just after I had finished reading “Pride and Prejudice.” I can just see one of Jane Austen’s heroines wearing this to a ball or a concert with a beautiful dress and long, white gloves.

Lastly, I made a bracelet lush with tons of dangles to accent this exquisite set of lampwork beads from an artist whose name I just cannot remember. Stupid, 4_- year-old memory! I feel terrible about that because really, the design work on these beads is just so intricate and extraordinary. I wanted to put a lot of detail on this piece and yet not detract from how lovely the lampwork is and hopefully I’ve achieved that balance. The dangles are made of 4mm onyx rounds, 6mm Swarovski bicones in Caribbean opal, lavender Swarovski pearls, purple Swarovski cubes and lavender Czech crystal rondelles. Sterling silver beads and Bali silver spacers and toggle clasp add the finishing touches.

It felt so good to clear some of these projects off my desk and out of my head. I only wish I had more time to keep working on things. But, even though two carloads of crap was a lot to get rid of, shockingly, there’s still more to be done.

Like the closet in the kid’s room which has my ex’s old high school suit, several bridesmaid dresses and my own wedding dress stuffed in the back half of it. Why? I don’t know.

Then there’s the three different shelving units full of books in various locations throughout the house that still need to be purged.

And don’t even get me started on the so-called “office” – which is getting so bad that I can SEE the other side of the room from the doorway, but I can no longer GET to the other side of the room.

Well, without stepping on stuff, that is.

But, I will get there.

Eventually.

Sometime between now and 2010.

One small bit of cleared floor at a time.

KJ

Cheap Chic

While I’m still lucky enough to have a job and a house with a fixed rate mortgage, I know the economy really sucks right now. Although prices at the pump have gotten a bit better recently, they’re still painfully high.

Because of this, I’ve tried to put a moratorium on my discretionary spending where possible. I’ve at least attempted to get things on sale when I do buy anything. Hence this really cute top I got at ON SALE at Ann Taylor:

I liked it so much that I got it in brown, too (hey, it was on sale!):

I desperately needed something pretty for summer, but versatile enough that I could wear it into the fall. These tops look great with jeans and I have also worn them with a denim skirt, a white skirt, white shorts and chocolate brown Capri pants. When it cools off, I can add a white cardigan sweater on top to keep warm.

I wanted some matching jewelry to go with them. They don’t need necklaces because of the pretty, embroidered decoration at the neckline, but I thought a bracelet and pair of earrings would be great. I already had a bracelet and earrings set that I made years ago in shades of brown, amber and gold that goes really well with the brown shirt.

I had NOTHING in that particular shade of blue and I wanted something more interesting than just my white pearl bracelet.

So, I set myself a challenge to make something to match the blue shirt without spending more than $10 on NEW beads (i.e. stuff not already in my stash) and without going over a total project cost of $25.

Here’s what I came up with:

I ALMOST got away without spending ANY money on new beads, but the shirt is a pretty unusual shade of blue and I didn’t quite have anything in the stash to match it. Everything I pulled out was a little too turquoise in shade except for some crystals…and I thought they were a bit too fancy for this look. I wanted something classic, but slightly on the casual side.

So, I had to pick up that strand of dyed blue quartz beads at the LBS

Here’s what I spent:

1 strand 8mm blue quartz rounds $ 7.00 (from LBS)
½ strand Swarovski 10mm white pearls $ 5.00 (from stash)
Misc. pewter beads, spacers and components $ 3.00 (from stash)
1 pr. 14k gold-filled earring hooks $ 1.75 (from stash)
Beading wire & crimps $ 1.00 (from stash)

Total $17.75

That’s $17.75 for a nice bracelet and earrings that go with this cute shirt and will also go with anything white (like a white shirt and jeans), black or brown. I think that’s a pretty darn good deal and just goes to show that while it’s possible (and very easy) to spend a fortune on beads, you don’t HAVE to and you can still come up with something nice and fun as a design.

Of course, the expensive stuff is fun, too. As you’ll see in an upcoming entry.

Have a nice weekend.

KJ

Guilty Pleasures

I thought Friday would be a good day to write an entry about a little something I’d like to call “Guilty Pleasures.” You know, that stuff you love and can’t get enough of, but know is probably bad for you, but you do it anyway even though you feel a bit guilty about it, but it’s so much fun that you don’t care?

Yeah, that stuff.

So, here’s my list (and since I’m trying to make interesting reading here, I’ll just go ahead and skip the obvious ones like, say, chocolate):

1. Short-term GP – staying up ‘til 1 AM on a work night to watch Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson kick butt in the Olympic gymnastics competitions. Go, girls, go!

2. Summer-time GP: A li’l show I discovered on USA last summer called “Burn Notice.” I do love me some Jeffrey Donovan. Mmmmm.

3. Beads, beads and more beads:

I purchased both of these focal beads from Robin Weber on eBay and they are even more stunning in person than in the pictures.

These beauties came from Little Crow, another eBay vendor. They are yummy shades of ivory, moss, olive and gold.

4. Learning new beading techniques – especially things with lots of sparkle like these Rivoli earrings:

These are my latest pair of Rivoli earrings. The scanner has turned them a really funky color so the real beauty of the jonquil rivolis (on top) and sahara rivolis (on the bottom) is not readily apparent.

Here's a scan of what the stones look like by themselves - I got a more realistic view of the colors on this picture than on the earrings:

Even this scan is not completely accurate because you can't see the really gorgeous sparks of sapphire blue that are in the smaller Sahara stones.

5. Walking on the beach during “off-peak” times when there aren’t many people around (okay, so this one is actually good for me, but I still feel guilty because it’s time away from the kidlet)

6. Writing blog entries when I ought to be doing laundry or working or some other truly productive thing ;-)

Have a great weekend, everyone!

KJ

Have some earrings with that whine...

I finally made something with the silver pieces that I created in my Art Clay Silver intro class back in May.

I just added some sterling silver chain, a few crystals (both Czech and Swarovski) and some Bali silver spacers and…ta DA! Instant, cute earrings.

Of course, I haven’t made any new silver pieces since I took the class (and bought all the corresponding supplies) THREE MONTHS AGO! While the material itself is relatively simple to work with and has a lot of creative applications and potential, there’s a lot of set-up and preparation that has to be done before you can sit down and actually work with it and I just do not have the time right now.

In fact, most of my beading is getting done on my lunch hour at work because that is the only free time I have any more. Sometimes I get an hour or two after the kid goes to bed at night, but I’m usually too tired to do much at that point. I certainly don’t feel like dragging out a bunch of stuff that will just have to get cleaned up and put away before I can go to bed.

I’ve also learned from past experience that it doesn’t do me any good to attempt creative work when I’m tired. Either I make mistakes in execution (knots, tangles, skipped beads, etc.) or the designs are boring or bad (poor color choices, etc.)

This lack of time is also why I’ve been doing mostly beadwork rather than stringing or wirework, lately. The short amount of time I have at lunch is mostly conducive to rote work like bead embroidery where I’m just doing the same stitch over and over and not having to read/interpret patterns or make color selections. I only bring in projects that are in a certain “phase” – they’re already underway and the color selections have already been made and I just bring the beads I need. I certainly can’t set out my beading board and fiddle around with potential stringing combinations at lunch. Not enough room and even if I did get a combo I liked, I probably couldn’t get it strung before lunch was over and then I’d have to pack up and lose the design.

This whole single, working mom deal is really, really tough. Even when I can get a babysitter (that I can afford), I have to use the free time to get chores and errands done AND I feel guilty about not spending that time with my son even though I know it’s not something that can be helped and he’s probably happier at the park with the sitter than waiting in line at the bank or dry cleaners with me.

Anyway, I just wanted to say kudos to all the women out there that fill the roles of two parents as well as keeping the household financially afloat. I’m sure there are many who aren’t even as lucky as I am to have the family support that I do. I don’t know where I’d be without my folks around to help out.

Probably under a bridge somewhere, living in a box, eating cat food and making jewelry out of tin cans and grass blades or something.

Okaayyy…on that happy note…time to go to lunch and hopefully, get a pair of Rivoli earrings finished.

KJ

Rivoli Madness - Part Deux

Well, the Rivoli madness continues. I think maybe the reason I resisted playing with these for so long is that I subconsciously recognized the potential for serious obsession with them. Which, of course, is turning out to be absolutely true.

I wasn’t happy with the stitching or color combinations on a couple of my first attempts so I re-did them and I think they are definitely much improved:





I'm now calling htis pair "Amethyst Glitz" and I think they look a lot better than the original design.





When I first made this pair, I'd used some green AB and light amethyst AB seed beads and they ended up looking kind of weird. Much better in just amethyst and gold, I think.


I also have to mention that Rings N Things’ customer service department was kind enough to send me some free additional Rivolis after reading here on the blog about the non-matchingness of a couple of crystals I used in one of my early pieces.




This is the original pair. After I make a second pair using the new Rivolis they sent me, I'll have TWO matching pairs of earrings. {insert happy OCD dance of joy here}

This really went above and beyond the call of duty on their part and I’m beyond grateful. You can be sure I always recommend them as a vendor to fellow beaders whenever I get the chance!

After re-doing those earrings, I decided to hunt around and see what else I could with all the Rivolis I’ve since been compelled to purchase and I found Laura McCabe’s book: “Creating Crystal Jewelry with Swarovski.” Even if you never want to make a project from this book, it’s worth the purchase just for the eye candy factor alone. Wow – gorgeous stuff.

Whereupon I was of course compelled to go out and buy more Rivolis and coordinating crystals to make some of the things from the book. And what luck that there just happened to be a bead and gem show in town where I was able to hit up crystal vendor for a bunch of really unusual Rivoli and bicone colors and sizes.

Sadly, the book also requires size 15 Czech charlotte (or one-cut) beads to finish nearly every single project. Were there any to be had at the massive bead show? Umm…no.

And by “no” what I really mean is that there were several vendors selling size 15 charlottes, but, after purchasing them and bringing them home, I realized that these beads could not possibly be what McCabe is calling out in her book. Because they are larger than regular size 15 beads and the book clearly states they are supposed to be smaller.

Confusing, right? Because a size 15 should be a size 15 regardless of the facet cut, right?

Wrong.

Turns out that what I had purchased were size 15 charlottes, but they were JAPANESE size 15 charlottes…which are BIGGER than regular size 15 beads. They are, in fact, closer to a size 12.

McCabe’s book requires size 15 CZECH charlottes…which are smaller than regular size 15 beads.

And also, apparently, nearly impossible to find.

Not to be deterred, I decided to finish off my Rivoli bezels with just another row of regular 15’s although I culled out the smallest ones I could and pulled my tension as tight as I possibly could. It seems to have worked out tolerably well (other than being a pain in the ass to do) and I should have a finished pair of earrings based on a project from the book to share here in fairly short order.

My other purchases at the show were fairly mundane as I stocked up on a lot of basic findings and other boring stuff. I wish I’d realized while I was doing that that I was running out of both Power Pro and Fireline and need more of both – especially if I’m going to tackle all these crystal projects.

Of course, before I can get going on any more of them, I’ve got to stop staying up til 1 AM watching the Olympics. I’m so glad I lost sleep last night in order to see the US Women’s Gymnastics team completely fall apart on balance beam and floor exercise. Oh, that was SO frustrating and sad. I can only hope things go better for them on the individual events.


Oh, and here's one more necklace (having nothing to do with Rivolis) that I managed to get finished over the weekend after it'd been hanging around for about 3 months in a half-finished state:




These cute, buggy lampwork beads came from an on-line vendor and then I added crystals, pearls, Czech cubes and some sterling and Bali silver beads and spacers. The chain is sterling silver as is the lobster-claw clasp.

KJ

Les livres sont magnifiques...

...ou, comme on dit en anglais*: "Books rule!"

For some reason, I am having problems writing book reviews this year. I’m not sure why, but it’s been like wading through tar to get one done. Hence the reason this one is about 10 miles long – I’m clearing the backlog.

So, first up is Simon R. Green’s “Daemons are Forever” which is the sequel to his first Eddie Drood book: “Man with the Golden Torc.” Although the first book was good, I actually preferred the second one. It’s unusual for the second book in a series to eclipse he first one, but the characters are so busy running around trying not to get killed that there’s not much time for character development. In “Daemons,” Green has more time for insight into Eddie’s character and the further development of his relationship with Molly Metcalf. The side-plot involving Mr. Stab is also interesting. If I have any negative critique, it’s that Green borrows a little too heavily from his “Nightside” books in creating all the odd characters and archetypes that the Drood family runs into. While none of the characters are the same, they have the same “feel” as who (or what) you might run across in the “Nightside” books.

Books 2 and 3 of Kelly McCullough’s “Ravirn” series are “Cybermancy” and “Codespell.” These books are run romps – especially if you are a Greek mythology buff. I wonder if they might be a bit confusing to someone who isn’t up to date on Homer, though. While the computer-tech-geek stuff can be a little overwhelming for anyone who’s not an IT specialist (hello? I’m lucky I can find the power button on my computer), it’s only intrusive in a few spots. I’m not sure I’d be quite as happy with these books if I were paying hardback prices for them because they are sort of “fluff” reading, but as long as they’re paperback, I recommend ‘em.

Tanya Huff’s latest installment in her Torin Kerr series, “Valor’s Trial,” is not quite as enjoyable as the earlier books. I’m getting a bit tired of the “Gunnery Sergeant Kerr is practically God and can do no wrong” bit. Plus, I thought one particular element of the plot should have been totally obvious from the beginning – especially given Torin’s previous encounters with a certain alien intelligence. Still, while this book may be a tad bit mediocre compared to the earlier entries in the series, Huff is such a great writer that this book is still head and shoulders above a lot of other stuff out there. I’d just wait for the paperback version, but definitely pick it up – especially if you’re already a fan of the series.

And now we come to what I like to call the “bite” section of the review i.e. the vampire books.

First is the latest in Rachel Caine’s “Morganville” books, “Feast of Fools.” And yeah, okay, I know this is a “teen” book, but in my defense, I offer the following:

1. It’s better written and more entertaining than a lot of the regular stuff in this genre.

2. Caine’s next “Weather Warden” book just came out last week and I needed to keep occupied until it did.

3. Part of being an adult means getting to make your own choices without having to justify ‘em to anybody so if I want to get my 16-year-old-girl-with-cute-boys-and-vampires groove on, then I will. And you can’t stop me. So THERE!

And as for what I thought of the book:

1. Good book (as is the rest of the series)

2. Sucky ending (don’t buy it until the next book comes out in January and then buy ‘em both together so you don’t get pissed off, like I did.

Then there’s E.E. Knight’s “Vampire Earth” series, which, admittedly, are not really true vampire books (the Kurians being some sort of interdimensional, aura-sucking, alien leeches) and which, also admittedly, are not my normal fave kind of story. They are strangely addicting, nonetheless. I find it especially eerie the way Knight posits how the takeover of Earth and destruction of human civilization might have come about. When you think about some of the recent natural disasters (Katrina, the earthquake in China, the cyclone in Myanmar), the current military situation (our forces spread too thinly on multiple fronts) and the current economic conditions (sucking big green ones), it’s all too easy to see how a slight increase in any of these things could really overburden mankind’s ability to cope. On the downside, I wish there was a bit more in the way of character development and personal relationships in these books, but the action is sure non-stop. I also have a bit of a nit to pick with the transition between book 5 and book. The upside is that there are 6 of these books out in paperback and the 7th just came out in hardback so there’s a lot of reading to do here to catch up if you get hooked (like I did).

At this point, I found myself in a book wasteland as there was nothing new from any of my favorite authors for most of June and July. So, I grabbed a few old faves and re-read them beginning with Sharon Shinn’s “Mystic and Rider.” If you haven’t yet found your way to this wonderful author, you’re really missing out. But if you hurry, you can get caught up on the three published books in her “Twelve Houses” series before the fourth one comes out this November!

Another perennial favorite of mine is Linnea Sinclair. All her books are good, but I’m particularly fond of “Finders Keepers.” “Gabriel’s Ghost” is my second favorite and the sequel to that book, “Shades of Dark”, just hit the bookstores last week. It’s already on my nightstand in the “to be read” pile! I can’t wait!

Then, in the “I don’t know why I didn’t read this eons ago” category, I finally decided to pick up a copy of Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice.” I’ve always loved the film adaptations of Austen’s work and have read most other major works of English literature (during that time period where I thought I would be an English major before I switched over to majoring in French at which point I had to read all the major French authors…in French), for some reason I’d never gotten around to actually reading her books. Frankly, I wondered if I’d find them as delightful to read as the stores were when presented on the big screen. I’m happy to report that their delightfulness is in no way diminished when encountered in its original form. I confess that I find myself strongly tempted to tackle “Sense and Sensibility” next.

Paying homage to approximately the same time in history is Naomi Novik’s “Temeraire” series – the latest of which is “Victory of Eagles.” A sort of “Horatio Hornblower” meets “Pern” idea, the Temeraire books are smartly written and very enjoyable. For the most part, that is. I had a few problems with this latest book – possibly due to how miserable the main characters are as a result of their actions in the last book. Also, the dragons come off as a bit more immature and greedy in “Victory” than they have before. I particularly noticed this with relation to Temeraire himself as he’d always seemed to be a bit more advanced in both intelligence and maturity than some of his scaled compatriots. I can only hope that the next installment brings both the dragon and his long-suffering captain some long-deserved happiness and peace.

Okay, that catches things up on the book front. I should have some fun jewelry things to post over the next few days so stay tuned!

KJ

*Hey - my parents spent all that money on that fancy French degree and I like to feel they are getting their money's worth out of it ;-)

Rock 'N Roll

So, by now, everyone knows we just had an earthquake here in So Cal. 5.8 and epicentered in Chino Hills which is about 32 mile northeast of where I work. We felt it pretty strongly here and most of us dove under our desks just in case, but fortunately, no damage occurred to either people or buildings.

Having lived in So Cal since 1970, I've been through a number of quakes including the Sylmar, Whittier-Narrows and Northridge quakes. I'd say this one ranks below all of them on the strength and "scariness" scale as far as how it felt to experience it. It did seem to be one of the longer ones and had a gentle, rolling sensation to it. I know, I know, how can I describe and earthquake as "gentle?" Some of them start out with really harsh initial jerk or "whump!" and then shake violently. Others feel more like you're on a boat going over some waves - slow up and down motion.

This one didn't shake too hard - which is good. When they go on for a long time like that, though, you do start to get scared and think "okay, time for this to be over now."

Northridge was the worst because it had the big initial "whump!", the really violent and quick shaking AND seemed to go on forever. I knew immediately that it had to be a really, really bad one and that I was lucky to be in the OC and therefore probably far from where it was centered. But it was bad enough even at almost 80 miles away. This is the only one that I ever felt significant aftershocks from, too, so we had several days of "scary."

Whittier was bad, but I think it was magnified for me because I experienced it while in my apartment which was on the top floor of an apartment building on rockers. This magnifies the shaking experience. Plus, this is the earthquake that I was closest to the epicenter of and I was home alone when it happened

Sylmar was probably worse than I remember it being, but I was only 5 or 6 years old when it happened. I do still remember my bed moving across the room into the middle of the floor, though. We had just moved to California and I had no idea what was happening.

There've been a few other minor ones along the way, but nothing really noticeable except one that was centered in Big Bear in around 1990 or 1991. I never really felt this one because it happened when I was underwater off Diver's Cove in Laguna Beach taking my scuba exam. I did always wonder, though, if it had been centered off the coast and had caused a tsunami, what would've happened to us divers...

I do always wonder after we have one of these things...what if it shook just enough to put more stress on another fault somewhere and we're going to get a bigger one in the near future? Just one more fun part of living in So Cal.

But hey, at least we don't get tornadoes and hurricanes ;-)

KJ

Rivoli Madness

Okay, so now that I finally decided to join the whole rivoli craze, I can't stop making these Here's another couple pair that I finished this weekend:

The centers on this pair are rivolis in a color called "golden shadow."




This pair was a bit of a challenge - the rivolis are supposed to be "medium vitrail" but one has much more yellow, gold and rose in it and the other is more blue and green. I think the color coating didn't get applied evenly or something, but I decided to make them earrings anyway.

The fact that they don't really match doesn't bother my OCD/perfectionist tendencies at all.

Really.

I can barely tell the difference.

I swear.

And no, my hands are NOT shaking.

KJ

P.S. I got all the rivolis for the earrings in the last two entries from Rings 'N Things. I'm thinking about another, larger order because I can see a bunch of these babies all linked together as a bracelet which I think would be really amazing.

Oooohhh...pretty...and sparkley....

Hi. My name is KJ and I am a bead slut.

(Hi, KJ)

Okay, I admit it. I have a bead problem. Or rather, a bead buying problem. I just can't resist the pretty, sparkley stuff. I've often wondered if I was a magpie in a former life or something...

Anyway, here are the latest results of my addiction:

These stunning borosilicate lampwork spacers are from 5 Fish Designs. You can find them on eBay. Please go buy up all of their stock and save me from myself.

Then, of course, I cannot resist anything to do with pansies:

And, I mean, why even try when you get not only the pansies, but also leaves, buds and the cutest little ladybug I've ever seen. Oh and sorry, I'm not sharing the source on these babies because they are MINE, ALL MINE.

Now comes the part of my addiction where I attempt to justify the bead purchases by claiming that I make things from the beads:

This is my first attempt at beaing around Swarovski rivoli crystals using a technique I learned from an article by Bia Alessi in the December, 2007, issue of "Bead and Button" magazine. The centers are Amethyst rivolis surrounded by right-angle weave stitch using Japanese Miyuki size 11 seed beads and 4mm Swarovski bicones. These are meant to be earrings - I just haven't put the tops on yet because I'm out of stock on 14k gold filled French hooks.

Oh wait...guess that means I need to place ANOTHER bead order. And, of course, to make the shipping worthwhile, I better add in some more rivolis...oh and bicones...I'm out of those, too.

Are you beginning to see how this sickness operates?

This pair has light amethyst rivolis for centers (really, it does - it's just the scan that makes them look gold). The beading around the outside is done in dark amethyst bicones, amethyst AB and silver-lined gold seed beads. Again, missing the earring tops.

And last, but not least, the pair I actually finished:

These are black diamond rivolis with hematite and silver-lined clear seed beads, navy AB triangle seed beads and silver bicones. The tops are sterling silver French hooks. I think this is my favorite pair so far although I'm still working on a pair that's all shades of gold, cream and green and it's yummy!

That's all the addiction we've got time for today, but tune in tomorrow. Same bead time, same bead channel (perhaps I've been watching too many superhero cartoons with the kidlet?)

KJ

Oooookaaaayyyy...

...so I checked out all the other jewelry entries at the Fair when I dropped my stuff off on Friday.

I am SOOOO not going to win anything LOL! There was some AMAZING stuff there! Ah well, it's been a goal of mine to get something entered for about the past 3 years so at least I can say I finally got THAT done.

Good thing I never made it a goal to WIN anything ;-)

KJ

Are you going to the Orange County Fair? Parsley, sage, rosemary & thyme...

(sing title to tune of "Scarborough Faire" by Simon & Garfunkel to get the full effect).

Well, this is it – Fair entry day. Seems like I’ve been thinking about this forever (well, okay, since January) and I can’t believe it’s finally here. I’ve got everything packaged up and ready to go and will be heading over to the fairgrounds after work to turn my entries in.

Here’s what I decided to enter:

"Winter Serenity"

"Nights in Black Onyx" (submitted w/o the earrings due to display space issues)

Antique Smoke

(Antique Smoke is a “maybe” assuming they let me change categories on my pre-entry form that I filled out back in April when I didn’t know for sure what items I was going to have finished.)

Frosted Fantasy (I think this one represents my best hope of winning a ribbon)

So, if you live in the OC area, stop by the Orange County Fair starting on July 11th and check out my entries along with all the other beautiful jewelry I’m sure will be there.

And if you don’t live in the area…at least wish me luck.

Who knows, I might even win something ;-)

Happy weekend, everyone!

KJ

Birthday Shoes!

Haven’t written about shoes for a while, but since I’ve now seen the “Sex & the City” movie and I have birthday money burning a hole in my pocket, it seems like a good time to re-visit my favorite obsession. Y’see I just love the way shoes can be so expressive. There’s a shoe out there for every personality and every mood.

Don’t believe me? Just take a stroll through the zappos.com website like I just did in search of the perfect summer sandal. Lots of great choices, but I’m down to these:

Or, I can go with this pair if I want to be more impractical (and really, should practicality EVER enter into the selection of a great pair of shoes? Carrie Bradshaw and I both say “NO” to that).

Don’t these just look like a hot summer day on vacation in Greece or some tropical island? Where’s my umbrella drink?!

I have a new sundress with touches of pink and green in it so I thought these might be a good choice:

Plus, they’ll also go with jeans or with my other dress that’s black and white – as an alternative to red shoes. I think pink patent leather is also the perfect antidote to the “I just broke up with my boyfriend blues.” Not that I have those (any more).

But wait, there’s more…because when I said EVERY personality, I meant it.

Like for when you want to channel your inner hooker:

These shoes are called “Lustful” and are made by a company called “Promiscuous” (and no, I'm not making that up). Gee, wonder what market they’re targeting?

And, of course, you don’t have to stop there. You can also channel your inner drag queen:

I’m not sure what’s more disturbing – that these boots actually exist (in two colors no less) or that both colors are out of stock…scary.

Of course, it IS possible to be sexy and hot without slipping over the edge into "trashtastic" as these amazing shoes by Guess clearly indicate:

These are definitely in the running as contenders for "best use of Kelly's birthday money."

Then there’s simply the “I’ve lost my damn mind” shoe:

Because these lovelies by Guiseppe Zanotti cost almost $1,000. Even Carrie Bradshaw might be taken aback by that price. Unless she was too busy whispering “Hello, lover” to the shoes to notice the price tag.

But then again, NYC has public transportation. I need that $1000 to put gas in my car for the next two days.

Stupid high gas prices!

KJ

Music: “Bring Me Some Water” by Melissa Etheridge