Yeehaw It's a Moving to Texas GIVEAWAY!

Yessirreee Bob and whoever else might be reading this.  To celebrate the big move I'm having a big giveaway.

Here's how it all began.......

A couple days ago, the second most interesting man in the world calls me out to the balcony to see this

Gorgeous, right?

I'm thinking "awww what a romantic."

Not so fast, sister!

cuz two seconds later he holds this up with a

delighted look on his face.....

The official name of this giveaway is

"Snakes on a Plane.

Snakes on a Train.

Snakes in a what and why?"

All you have to do to enter is this;

A. Guess what this actually is and why a grown man with usually sound logic would have it. 

 Believe me, he has a reason.

and/or

B.  Concoct an entertaining and/or interesting story about it.  You know me, I do relish an entertaining story, so go to town.

What will you win?

Behind door #1-

Asymmetrical earrings

 made with components by the fabulous

Petra of Scorched-Earth fame.

Would you like a closer look as well?

Don't want this little lady from 

Small Bronzes  to have all the fun?

Well then, here you go...

Dagger, Claw and Eye

which is self explanatory except for that the roundish-gray

component that the striped bead is attached to, is a beach pebble

that Petra collected while strolling along her beautiful seashore,

 then drilled and sent over to me from the UK.

Behind door #2;

Amazonite, leather, brass and

chrysocolla.

This is a version of the bracelets described in this technique article...

hmmm, super pixalated.

Sorry about that.

I'll see if I can't dig up a better photo of that for you.

Ok, so here's the deal.

The first one I copied off my Pinterest board, "Published"

and the second one I copied from my computer files.

Worth spending a few extra minutes for a good picture, eh?

Behind door #3;

 

A papered and soldered glass necklace

with a faceted teardrop embellishment.

Simple for everyday wear.

and last but not least behind door #4;

A hand-dyed cocoon pendant topped with sterling silver components.

The handmade sterling beadcap was given a

raw silk treatment to compliment the silk making aspect of the cocoon, 

see cuz silk worms made the cocoon,

Oh  nevermind.  It's a long process. You get the idea.

Then I stuffed the cocoon with

vintage German tinsel.

So if any of these appeal to you,

all you have to do is wow me with your wit.

And you know, I'm easily amused.

But that's not what you all want to hear about is it?

Nope, you want all the gory details of the move don't you?

Huh, huh?

Sure I have a few photos to give you the flavor of the ordeal.

And if you stick around long enough, 

there's even a few new pieces of actual jewelry to share with you.

But first things first....

This is why I want a private back yard here in Texas

 

Yup that's another view of my back yard in Illinois during game time.  

And you thought it was all flowers and morning doves, didn't you?

This was a small turnout.

Yes it was a blast, but time for a change.

This is a really fun storm we had before the big move

Yes the skies do get that black and they get that way in a hurry.

Then they do this

and finally they do this...

Sure sure, it rains in Texas.

And everything is bigger in Texas, but 

I don't have any good storm photos from here to show you yet,

so we'll just appreciate what I left behind, shall we?

So we loaded up the cars, 

drove separately...

and away we went.

to here.....

See those crisp blue skies?

That's a Texas sky.

This is an Illinois sky,

 which Fanci correctly  describes as 

living in Tupperware.

But weather is not what you want to see is it?

Oh No!

You want to see my fancy studio

at our temporary housing digs, don't you?

Prepare to be impressed.....

This is my workbench....

Yup, a paper plate with a few random tools

and an empty cookie box (thank you C for sending all the scrumptious traveling goodies)

with some supplies.

Oh and that's my entertainment system there on the right.

The one that has very limited and spotty

access to the internet.

Cuz I have a mediocre data plan

that runs out in no time when I'm using it to look at pictures, 

which load very sloooowly (designed that way to test my last nerve, I'm pretty sure)

Oh but there's more...

Tools and supplies.

The bench pin and c-clamp are there to torture the hubs.

He's really nervous about me ruining the rental furniture

with my wild working style.

hahahaha

so of course I have to show him all the possible places

I could attach my bench pin .

Oooops, didn't mean to slip and saw right through

the rented table!

Yup, having some fun with that.

Not having so much fun working in this box lid.

As you can see, not a bit of

hammering taking place.

In spite of this I managed to put together a few things.

Including the earrings for the giveaway from some old and some new 

supplies from Scorched-Earth.

Here's some of her more recent work.......

I'm showing you this because if you blink you'll miss it in her shop.

Flying out of there at lightning speed.

Love these glazes and textures, shapes and styles.

and these beauties......

and more scrumptious nails to make earrings similar to these,

which you may remember are mine cuz I couldn't part with them.

 They get worn constantly, right now matter of fact.

there's these first ones using this batch of nails.....

Turquoise, sterling and Petra's 

amazing, lightweight nails.

Love Birds

Baltic amber, game commission bird leg bands,

olive seed beads and Petra components.

currently named Crusty Crystals.

Petra's crusty dangle drops, 

watchhands and acrylic crystals, 

which I used instead of glass to keep the earrings light enough to be

 comfortably worn.

Pyrite, smoky quartz, glass beads and you guessed it...

Petra's leaves.

She's making such incredible stuff

that I'm putting it in everything.  Kind of like my

Numinosity Beads batch of earrings from

a couple of months ago.

Her Rustic Romantic Dreams Fulfilled.

I dunno why I named them that.

Seemed like a good idea at the time....

assorted components and headpins by Havana beads.

and finally, these, which don't feel finished to me. 

Whenever I try to keep things simple this is what I get...

Do they need something along the bottom arch where Petra's porcelain pods are hanging?

The top is pretty busy.

Hmmm, thoughts anyone?

And these....

Headpins by Nadin.

These originally looked like a tomato and a chile pepper, 

probably because we had just eaten Mexican food,

but now they look like a thorn that pierced a heart.

And they look unfinished.

Need something else.

as do these...

maybe chains hanging from beneath the rose?

The Hands of Time Upon my Ivory Rose.

I did get these finished up before packing my studio in Illinois

Thank you all for your suggestions about how to fix these.

I went with a wider engraving of the sun's rays, then oxidized it, 

and went back in 

and engraved some thinner rays on top of the wide ones.

Also added some rays coming out from the rhinestones at the top of the earring on the left.

The scratched rays are still visible on the earring on the right, but I'm happy with the end result.

After all that, I realized they perfectly match a bracelet I made myself a few years ago 

so I decided to keep them.

Will have to make another pair for the shop, minus the ridiculous itty bitty sun rays.

This little bit of jewelry making has helped me keep my sanity 

while we've looked at I won't even tell you how many houses.

Let me just say our realtor is a dream and a very patient man.

Cuz we have looked at a bunch of houses.  A BUNCH!

And at the end of the long hot

looking at houses days,

sometimes this happens...

awwwwww.

He's a keeper.

Check out this cool pool house we saw at an abandoned lake house that we both loved.

Sadly, not the right time for us to be able to restore it, but it 

will be a beautiful place for someone when completed.

 

Don't you love it?

The house was once a glorious place, I'm sure.

Yesterday the hubs had to leave for a weeklong business trip.

It went something like this...

(in my alternate universe we look like this.  work with me here, ok?)

me- "But I just got to Texas. Do you have to leave so soon?"

him-"Listen, I got you those snakes to keep you company while I'm away.  Besides, I moved

you to this fabulous place with the amazing sunsets....."

me- "yes, what am I thinking/  It will be just wonderful while you're gone. I do have the sunset to look at, to while away the oh, 15 minutes it actually looks like that, since there's no internet in our temporary digs.  And since there's no tv in our temporary digs. 

And since I have my first bonafied Texas head cold and sore throat....

and have to go find free wifi to even write my poor neglected blog."

ok, it didn't go exactly like that......

but you get the picture.

He was good enough to buy me some organic (did you see that, Ellice) 

ice cream chock full of pecan pralines and caramel before he left.

Yes, ice cream is the way to my heart.

Opals are also nice.

So my first two weeks in Texas have been a whirlwind.

But not a single feral hog in sight.

A bit of blog news before I sign off....

In addition to her wellness blog ,

my daughter got a new gig writing columns about

 holistic health practices 

for those of you who might be interested.

You can read them here...

holistic-health-in-denver

Congrats, Ellice!

and many of you already know that Flotsam Kim

has opened a lovely new store with the

sweetest of romantic jewels.

You can visit it here

PennySweet 

Please pay them both a visit and

give them a little blog love.

so let's hear what you have to say about this.....

 

Since some of you (and I won't mention names) 

had quite the adverse reaction to the 

scary moving monkey on my last post,

I'll leave you with this

 How's that for a sweet face?

Don't want to be upsetting you delicate types.

Viszlat (Hungarian)