Tuesday, July 31, 2007

nap time at good manor...

well, it is another lazy day at good manor and it is definitely the"dog" days of summer...
***************

have look at the pictures below..
janie come on over, chance marie is waiting for you!!
xoxoxox
chance marie~the queen beekaj larue who really is a cat...
ruby loves to sleep 24/7...
nelly on her ottoman


and finally the bigman himself...biggie b

Monday, July 30, 2007

and the winner is.....




chance selected miss dot from australia!! the bracelet will be on its way something this week....

another giveaway will surface sometime next month..so stop by and have chance marie serve you a nice cool ice tea, but im betting she will make nelly do it as chance marie is quite the queen bee..hehe

Saturday, July 28, 2007

not your typical saturday!

well, the day started out like any normal weekend saturday, trip to starbucks and to run errands! after the errands we were supposedly off to my cousin's daughter's birthday party..which we never made it to because.....

well, julie always likes to cruise this car lot to see if they have any bargains as she really is need

of a new car...well, 5hrs later and i have a 2004 nissan xterra-bright yellow, how obnoxious is that color!!!hehe and she is the proud owner of a 2007 xterra-toffee, she got a great deal on her car and a great trade in value on her SUV, everything was going wrong on that..so we thought if she got a good deal on hers what could we get on mine.....well, i just had the climate control system go out, need rear/front brakes, the electronic driver window is dead and figuring all this, we decided that this is the perfect time to turn my volvo in too...so i have the big bird now.....
the only bad thing about getting my car is that my budget is blown and i cannot go to artfiberfest now, which is really really sad, but sometimes i have to just let go, there is always next year...BUT, i will be going to ARTFEST, no two ways about that......
ps..remember tomorrow is the last day to sign up for the pineapple quartz bracelet giveaway..scroll down.......

Thursday, July 26, 2007

sleeping moon necklace

well, i finished another necklace and this one is up for sale if anyone is interested..just check my
esty shoppe on the right side...
used a silver wire that has a copper core and then oxidized it with liver of sulfur...the sleeping moon is set in sterling silver and the toggle is sterling silver..the sleeping moon is made from some kind of bone material and the beads are vintage agate from an old zodiac necklace that a
dear friend gave me....hope you like.....
xoxox
  • sleeping nelly while i work..

  • Wednesday, July 25, 2007

    flower necklace

    this is a necklace that i made today and i LOVE it!!!! it is nina knots in sterling silver with turquoise pieces..the silver piece is a PMC piece that was stamped with a flower and my intial on it..it was made in a class taught by nina bagley.......below are various pictures of the necklace...
    i finshed harry potter last night at 330am and it was awesome and harry didnt let me down with non stop action....
    dont forget to leave a comment also on yesterdays blog for a chance to win the pineapple quartz bracelet...!!!




    Tuesday, July 24, 2007

    bracelet break & GIVEAWAY!!!


    this is a bracelet ~above that i just finished last night, it is copied from a design that was made by ruthrae's best friend deborah, owner of bella luna beads..she made the big pmc "ART" charm and i had to have it....she has a beautiful bead store in illinois that we went to last weekend, although i like to call it a bead boutique, it is a very cool shop and deborah is so sweet and beautiful and very very friendly....

    ruthrae's display of her work in cloth, paper, scissors..she will be teaching her beautiful designs

    next weekend at bellaluna beads

    deborah talking to julie, laura & trixie..

    now here is the deal...leave me a comment and chance marie will draw a name on sunday night to win this pineapple quartz bracelet that i made......

    bon chance!!!

    xoxox

    now back to harry potter

    Monday, July 23, 2007

    harry potter in the house

    harry potter is the main object of my time in the next day or so..

    i will update my chicago tootfest weekend when i am finished reading

    or if i need a break.......

    Wednesday, July 18, 2007

    tootfest deux*

    well, off to another wild weekend with my
    chi-town buddies
    for our tootfest #2..
    we will leave tomorrow and hole up in an
    embassy suites for
    a weekend of art, antiquing, friendships and
    eating of course!!!
    it is such a blast i cannot wait to land in chicago
    for a
    rally to our
    fav place-Portillos.
    this tootfest will include myself,
    julie , laura ,
    janie and trixie...


    tomorrow we will lay low and get our food staples

    together

    and art supplies....friday we will be making a

    stop at

    bella luna beads, this is the best friend of ruthrae ,

    anyway,

    i am a bead whore and cannot wait to get into her

    shop to see

    her beauties......in a nutshell, we are going to one

    of my

    favorite places in the world with 4 of my favorite

    people

    in the world...all met through the wonderful world of

    blogging...thank~you laura and janie for picking up

    my ATCs....

    xoxoxox

    Tuesday, July 17, 2007

    goodies from michigan

    this is the top of the tissue box that we constructed out of a heavy chipboard, shari showed us
    how to layer with paper, paint-the lightest color first and then more paper and embelishments..i am not finished on this box as of yet but will finish it..it was a great class and i so needed the layering technique help!!!




    here is the small faerie book i made in lani's class, the pages were peeled off down to the cardboard..i wrapped the edges of each page with hockey tape and then colored them with oil pastel crayons.....i am not finished with this little wee book either but wanted to let you see what i did do....





    Monday, July 16, 2007

    trip up north recap

    the above mural was outside the Ann Arbor Chamber of Commerce taken on our last drive through town....but let me back up this train....we pulled into our lack luster short of icky hotel around 9:30pm....apprehensive as we check in but then out of nowhere appears miss shari beaubini to welcome us into this sketchy hotel....i must give it some credit it was clean and no bugs but i just never felt at ease....but as julie put it..."the company was 5 star" .....within 5 minutes we were in our room chatting it up with shari, julie telling stories using her wallet and keycard in lieu of sugar packets and it felt like a reunion of long lost friends....even though it has only been two weeks and further to have known shari for such a small amount of time the connections is one to cherish.........below you see me in class with my wonderful, patient and talent instructor shari...we had a wonderful class and I came home with a cool totally tricked out tissue box..thanks shari for sharing your techniques and laughter throughout the day

    Later in the afternoon, julie snuck in to snap a couple shots of me with the teacher
    Next up -- Lani's Faerie Book class -- I met Lani at Artfest this year in Port Townsend...she is a real hoot, quiet at first but funny and witty once you get to know her
    Below are Lani's two sisters who joined us in the class....one lives in Ann Arbor and the other one drove over from Iowa City to complete the reunion of sisterhood.



    Lani had to teach another class after this one was over...julie finally convinced shari to take a trip down memory lane and head to campus for a quick tour. Shari showed us around campus, where she worked, where she danced, where she lived although MoJo was under renovations...and then we jumped out of the car while julie drove around...isn't she so so nice...and bought a few U of M souvenirs to take home. Back at the hotel we had to say our goodbyes to Shari and we had dinner reservations with Lani at 10pm....quite the social animals we were. i am so glad shari threw out the suggestion of julie and i driving up to ann arbor...little did she know we actually would....i hope she doesn't regret that suggestion.....thanks shari it was another memorable adventure...........


    Now onto dinner....we ate at Zingerman's..i had the ultra healthy fried chicken...what else could a girl want to top of a saturday night....a great day of art, great company and some good ole comfort food....here we are the three of us...julie, me and lani after dinner and many laughs...although we had to say farewell to lani, it will not be for long....her travels bring her Columbus in September and we will not let her leave town without a visit to Good Manor....to top it all off --Ellen-- will also be joining us.....and Lani already has a art challenge in the works...it is funny how the stars have just fell in line this year....artfest, artiscape, classes at valley ridge..the friendships and bonds i have formed with so many wonderful souls just blows my mind....I cherish each and everyone of you!!!



    OK - back to the trip --Sunday we interrupt our regularly schedule starbucks ritual to try out the joe from Zingerman's road show...look how cute it is how could you resist - julie got a cubano - a double shot of espresso poured through a layer of milk and sugar..not my bag but she enjoyed it..i had some concoction which was good but i must admit i was at starbucks within the hour. the donuts were so-so but again this set up is just irresistible........below in the roadshow let me introduce you to Nick and Mike who made us Ohioans feel welcome in Michigan....they were really cool as we were indecisive and obvious roadshow rookies.We are about to leave town but not before driving past Michigan Stadium just long enough to snap this parting shot:

    Now safely back at home, for a moment, we regroup, repack and reengergize ourselves for our much anticipated trip to Chicago for Tootfest 2 courtesy of the Embassy Suites....thank you to all the noisy children that annoyed us just enough in Tootfest 1 to receive a comp weekend back in Chicago. ps...we would still go comp or not.....Laura, Jane, Trixie can't wait...julie and i are ready to roll.....beth, are you sure you can't make it??? Our summer travel tales will live on but happy trails for now.........

    Thursday, July 12, 2007

    friendly necklace

    i needed to art to today and decided to make a necklace ala the wonderful jewelry artist-NINA BAGLEY
    my supplies
    charm
    cocoon beads..these are so fun to make
    more
    finished necklace....
    i used 2 turquoise vintage buttons from my collection....
    i think it looks nice....