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BIG NEWS...my blog is moving!

Why hello there!

Bet you thought I wasn't around anymore, eh?

Well I am, and I'm here to tell you good news!

I have a brand new website!

Up until now, my domain name just redirected you to my Blogger site but now, my domain Second Surf is actually a website! Pretty cool, eh? What I'm most proud of is that I've done it all by myself! ~well, mostly....with a lot of help from my amazingly talented, patient and handsome technology director ;)love you Mr. Mike!

Here's a little sneak peek!

What this means for you:

*If you currently subscribe and follow me on google, blogger, or another feed burner, you'll need to update your reader. all you have to do is enter http://secondsurf.com into the little do-hicky in your reader and that should do it!

I won't be posting anymore on my blogger and I've moved ALL of my posts & comments over to the new site! YAY!

It is still a work in progress and I'll be adding more functionality over the next few weeks but I was too excited to hold back anymore! There is also a shopping cart on over there and that's fully functional, although a little empty, but I hope to remedy that very very soon!

Art studio on the cheap.....vol.2 Torching on a budget

my ghetto metal smithing set up. ceramic tile, paver, worn out tweezers and home made earth-friendly pickle all on my kitchen range.

Today, in Art Studio on the Cheap we're talking about a cheap torch setup.

Yesterday, one of my jewelry peeps posted a funny update on Facebook about her fear of soldering. I commented with a reference to Stephanie Lee's Homesteader's metal class and semiprecious salvage book of whom/which I am a big fan. I facetiously called what I do not even homesteader's metalsmithing, more like ghetto metalsmithing...so I thought I would show you my ghetto metalsmithing set up. This is a great set up for those just beginning or with limited space who want to whet their appetite before investing into a larger setup.

When I was in college, I took two basic metals classes. The professor I took for both, who was a former Buddhist monk (just an interesting side note there) advised us once, when we were complaining about wanting to continue our metals studies but without being jewelry majors, we wouldn't have access to the studio if we weren't enrolled in a class. He told us a very simple setup could be obtained in one's own kitchen.

Okay: here is the disclaimer to this post. Please don't take what I am saying as gospel, because I'm not an expert. Please wear safety goggles when torching and remove basically anything that might catch fire in the immediate area. Tie back long hair and pull back long sleeves and wear normal clothing that won't get caught or in the way. This isn't the time to be wearing flippy-floppies and loose fitting shifts. Save that for the beach. Please be safe, you're using fire and heating metal to a red hot state. This is nothing to fool with people. Use this tutorial at your own risk and safety.

When you torch, you need several things:

1) your torch. I use both a simple propane unit obtained at any hardware store with disposable propane tanks or a butane micro torch (kitchen model).

2) A kitchen range with an exhaust hood. This is essential for propane because the flame produces carbon monoxide, which is toxic and can kill you and you need lots of venting. I usually also open the window too if I'm involved in a lot of torching that day. If I'm just doing a couple of headpins or annealing a small piece, I just turn on the range exhaust on high.

Alternatively, you could do this outside or in an open garage or carport. Save it for a day when it's not too windy. Wind isn't good for torching. Remember, fresh air is good when working with gases.

3) You will need a fire safe surface as well as a fire resistent surface. There are lots of commercial firing surfaces. I bought a paver at Home Depot for 43 cents (the torching I do doesn't require much heat, I mostly just anneal metal and make headpins) and I grabbed a piece of tile left over from when the kitchen was tiled as the fire resistent surface. DO NOT use ceramic tile for torching. It will take a bit of warmth but will EXPLODE if you torch on it. The tile will act as your work surface and the paver or torch brick will act as your torching surface. This is a cool setup because you can move it when your done and make dinner. :)

4)Pick a spot on your kitchen range and/or surface to light your torch and make that the spot where you will always light and turn off your torch. You are in a living space that probably has cabinets and other flammable objects nearby. Form an early habit of always lighting the torch in the same spot, away from cabinets and flammable things. Remember this is a hot flame, people, you need to respect it.

5)ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS clean your torching area BEFORE and AFTER you torch. I mean like you would lick it like a lollipop clean. This is easy for me because I keep an immaculate kitchen, but if you fried fish last night and haven't cleaned your range, you could be headed to a full on 5-alarm fire. When you're torching, you're often using flux which contain nasty chemicals that you probably don't want to eat. Keep it that way. CLEAN BEFORE AND AFTER.

6) A bowl of water to quench your metal pieces.

Like I mentioned above, this is ghetto metalsmithing. If you've never worked with a torch before, you should take a class someplace local first. Don't do this if you've never used a torch before. But if you've taken a class or two, and don't have a setup at home, this is a very good way to start, especially if you have limited financial resources.

I also make a home made metal pickle. This is a great recipe for kitchen metal torching, because there are no nasty chemicals to mix up. I use a recipe of 1 Tablespoon natural (pickling) salt to 1 Cup distilled white vinegar heated up in a microwave safe container. That is in the picture above but it needs to be changed. It shouldn't be blue. That is a result of putting a verdigris patinated copper piece in the pickle after the fact. When I'm ready to torch, I put the pickle in the microwave for about 3 minutes to heat it up, do my torching (making sure to quench my pieces) and throw them in the pickle. Make sure you rinse them with water after you remove them from the pickle or else you will get a green verdigris finish (on copper) hence the blue pickle above. :) My pickle is blue because I threw the ones I forgot to rinse back in.....

So, I hope this helps those out there who want to make some headpins or anneal a piece without fear that you need to invest in a $1000 torch area. This serves me very well doing simple annealing of copper, brass and sterling and making sterling and copper headpins. All for about $25 or less if you can scavenge some things around the house!

Breaking out, try again.....

dream big. a painting from last year....

BE prepared for a large dose of brain vomit here.....and proceed with caution....

As you may or may not have noticed, I've been scarce around these parts lately. I'd apologize but I have no intention of misleading you by posting crap in an effort to get you to visit just because I blog everyday.

I've been hunkering down and doing a lot of thinking....The world at large has me contemplating so much lately. The devastation that has happened and will continue to happen in Japan, the ongoing clusterf*ck in the Middle East and northern Africa. My basic need to worry about the world's problems and how I can better serve the world.

So I've had a hard time verbalizing what is going on with me and how I feel about it. I feel like a tool posting new things about my shop (not that there have been many) when people have had their entire lives and families ripped away in one foul swoop of mother nature's awesome power. Hey! Tens of thousands just died and there's an impending worldwide nuclear disaster! wanna see what's new in my Etsy shop???

Anyway, I digress....I hope in a good way. I've taken the several weeks off to contemplate all that is my business....whatever that is, because I'm not sure I actually know. I get glimpses sometimes about what it is, or what it could be, and what I do or do not like about all of those things.

I dislike production. and I don't want to feel like a bead making machine. Because that isn't enjoyable. Etsy, as of late, has really started to disenchant me. I love Etsy, from way back in 2005 when I first listed a few paintings and low and behold, after 3 months, I actually sold one. However, to become a successful shop and seller, there is a rote that I have become very uncomfortable with in order to keep selling. I love my customers. Please don't misunderstand me. But the constant production, the constant marketing involved with listing, social networking, blogging. It is exhausting and I know many of you can relate. If I am making handmade things, and the efforts exhaust me to the point where my joy is negating the actual pleasure of making them, what makes me different than any garbage you can buy at a big box store that comes from exhausted workers in third world countries who work ungodly schedules to provide basic sustenance to their families? Because in essence, that is what I'm doing. I'm constantly robbing Peter to pay Paul and deciding if we'll have a decent dinner.

In this vein, I constantly question capitalism and if it's really the answer. I research blogs, I find successful artists who are making it. How have they become successful? Have they enjoyed a lucrative licensing deal where there goods are then mass produced overseas? Many times this is the case.

This point hit home for me today. A few weeks ago, while visiting family, we were perusing gift shops. An artist I truly admire, who has a very successful licensing career, was prominently displayed in this gift shop. I had this moment, where I said to myself, HOW DO I GET TO THIS PLACE? Span forward, to today when I was at the Goodwill, and I saw one of said artist's mass produced items in the fray. Is that what I'm seeking? A piece of the pie? To be rich and find my stuff discarded at the Goodwill? After some reckless consumer has decided it's no longer their taste?

Not always, but a lot. And I'm not comfortable with that. I want to be at home, with my craft. I want to inspire others. I would like to write a book someday. But I want to be true and that is the reason for the break. I'm thinking about all this and where I fit in...to the grand scheme of things. of these things we call art. and how they are all just things. how they could all be wiped away in the blink of an eye and how they figure into this grand thing we call life.

If you read this far, thank you.

Thank You....

I just wanted to thank everyone for helping support the auctions I held for Bead Soup Blog Party. Whether you bid on the auctions, helped by spreading the word, and just left me words of encouragement, I am truly grateful.

Thanks to the generosity of two very special people, I was able to donate $50 to Beads of Courage! Your jewelry is in the mail!




According to the Beads of Courage website, that is enough to provide two children with their amazing program. The Program is a resilience-based intervention designed to support and strengthen the protective resources in children coping with serious illness. Through the program children tell their story using colorful beads as meaningful symbols of courage that commemorate milestones they have achieved along their unique treatment path. To read more about this program visit this page. I have been so moved by the unique approach to supporting the psychosocial health of children battling serious illness and believe the work they are doing is so very vital to children's emotional and mental health during their unique critical fight.

I received several encouraging emails from the folks at Beads of Courage and I hope to continue to raise money for them in the future. Stay tuned for more info about that!

Bead Soup Update!

be-loved by pleasebestill on Etsy


I just wanted to say THANK YOU for all of the most wonderful comments on my bead soup. It really warms my heart to read all of the nice comments! I'm still hopping and leaving comments as I'm able but I'm far from being finished. I wanted to make sure to spend quality time reading everyone's posts and making an informed comment, so if I haven't visited you yet, I will be!

Lori was such a wonderful hostess and did such a great job and did you see she's already planning the fall hop? She's an amazing lady.


I also wanted to thank everyone who was able to bid on the eBay auctions for Beads of Courage. There is still time to bid and the prices are still pretty low!

Small Disclaimer: This is my personal eBay account and I also sell used stuff there, I didn't have any up over the weekend because I didn't want to give people the impression that I was driving traffic to my auctions. But now that the party is winding down, if you go there, you may see a few things that aren't related to the bead soup/BOC auctions. In no way do I remotely want to plug my auctions :)

MONDAY MILITIA!!

Oooooh!


I'm back and on time! (Thanks m.d. It was a big boost for me!)

This weeks mission (if you choose to accept it):

PATIENCE.

I've been reflecting on patience a lot this week. My own patience and lack thereof.

Other's patience and lack thereof.

And it led me to some pause for reflection.....

As an example, I drive like a complete granny. And my partner does as well. While we were out recently, a man started honking relentlessly behind us.

Eventually, he got the opportunity to pass us by and gave us the finger all the way past.

Which got me to reflecting:

What was his hurry? (we were going the speed limit)

Why should this even bother me?

but it did. and I stuck my tongue out at him as he passed. (with great restraint, I might add, instead of flipping the bird)

....I also realized that sticking your tongue out at someone is so much more fun and more offensive than flipping the bird!!!!

HOWEVER,

Why should this even happen? Why are we in such a hurry?

And I used this man as an example but I think we could all be used as an example as well. We've all been guilty of getting annoyed in a line or waiting, waiting, waiting....

and, really,

WHAT is our hurry?

I really don't think there is a hurry. EVER.

And if there is...please examine the cause....because LIFE is so, so

SHORT.

We're here a very, very short time.

Shouldn't we be enjoying each moment?

And not be worried about how many moments can be packed into each time frame?

PATIENCE.

Patience is the state of endurance under difficult circumstances, which can mean persevering in the face of delay or provocation without acting on annoyance/anger in a negative way; or exhibiting forbearance when under strain, especially when faced with longer-term difficulties. Patience is the level of endurance one's character can take before negativity. It is also used to refer to the character trait of being steadfast.

Preface to BEAD SOUP! Beads of Courage

I wanted to spell this out in a bit of detail beforehand TO GET YOU ALL EXCITED....

Tomorrow is the Bead Soup Blog Party and I'm doing a giveaway...but not just any giveaway....it will be for a good cause.

You'll see my gluttony tomorrow.... but I got DOUBLE SOUP from my partner Diana of Suburban Girl Studios and I want to pass along the love and good karma....

So I will be giving away 2 or more pieces, but to win these pieces, there is a caveat...

I will be listing many more bead soup pieces that I've made on eBay. To win the pieces I'm giving away, you must bid on the Ebay auctions. The auctions will be uploaded on Saturday to coincide with Bead Soup Blog Party.

All proceed from the eBay auctions will benefit Beads of Courage. To read more about what Beads of Courage does, go here.

SO that is the footnote. You will get 2 (or more) for 1 and you will help out a good cause....

You don't have to be a follower.

But here is the fine print:

1)You must comment on TOMORROW'S post AND bid on at least ONE AUCTION. There should be a away to contact you via your comment i.e. I can contact you via blogger or leave your email.

2) You must state in your comment your eBay auction ID...so I know that you actually bid.

3)If you blog, tweet, FB this giveaway, you get an extra vote, but only if you bid on the eBay auction. PLEASE LEAVE A SEPARATE COMMENT AND A LINK IF YOU DO THIS to be considered.

All of the auctions will start at 99 cents! International bids are welcome!

MONDAY MILITIA!! on Wednesday!

Ooooooh.... So I totally dropped the ball this week, eh?

I had a good reason, I promise...

I'm on a tight deadline for all my posts...I post as I'm able and I post for Monday Militia basically on Sunday night and I had some {good} interferences so that is why I'm late....


I was doing this....

This is my much loved nephew whom I love with my whole heart!
ummm, and we got to spend time at the beach!!!!





hey, if that's not a reason to interfere with Monday Militia, what is?

So, that's my kindness for this week...

So, if you didn't fulfill your mission this week, what did you do? Did you have smiles at the beach? Did you enjoy a story with a small person? Did you live a joyous moment abundently? and share your joy?

Do tell...

How are you enjoying joy and SPREADING it???

OR, perhaps you had the most CRAPTASTIC week ever...did you?

Did you want to wallow in your own crap and just die?

Well, STOP!

SMILE!

YOU!

YES!

YOU!

are not alone....

and tomorrow....

will.

be.

better.

or. not.

but perhaps the day after.

and.

we always have....

HOPE!

LOVE YOU ALL!

A project for this week...

I've been finishing a stack of beads that I made earlier this week and am beginning to upload them to the shop. One of the projects on my to do list has been to find the right background set up that is neutral enough to accommodate several different styles and is also portable. In the past, I've used ceramic tiles, a rusty old white chair, and a worn out table. I never dug the way the photos looked on the tile, and the rusty chair and worn out table weren't portable in that they stayed outside all the time so if there was rain, it made it difficult to shoot photos.

The worn out table is getting really worn out. The other day, I tried to drag it into better light and one of the legs began to crumble away so I decided it was finally time to come up with a more permanent solution.

I pondered all of the different solutions: nice scrapbook paper, my stash of handmade paper, old books etc. but I really wanted something that was mine all mine, and differentiated my work from other's work out there, especially in the glut of mixed media work that is on Etsy already.

So, I decided to paint my own background.

I painted 2 base pieces for shooting pieces flat. Then I also painted several small blocks to match that I could stack and get a bit of height for laying out finished pieces or leaning pendants.





I painted to base pieces so that there was extra room to butt them together if I needed more space or alternatively, I can prop one up to make a wall behind if need be.



I'm really pleased with how the first batch of shots turned out and I'm digging the finish I put on them. I feel like the careful consideration and all the trial and error up to this point was worth it.



*Little tip, make sure you use a matte paint or else you'll still get a glare. Use decorator acrylics, or if you're using nice acrylics, mix in a bit of cheap craft store acrylic to matte it down a bit.

There are some new things in the shop today and a few more over the next couple days to come as well. Be sure subscribe to my RSS feed on Etsy to stay up to date or become my friend on Facebook.

MONDAY MILITIA!!

Sorry, for the late posting. I mean to have these up bright and early Monday morning so they give you a bit to chew on while you're digesting the monday morning coffee and facing your week!

So....how did you do this week??? I've already heard that some of you did well but I can't wait for you to dish in detail!

ME:

I SUCKED ROYALLY. Total fail on my part. Something was seriously off with my mojo this past week. I couldn't seem to get anything made in the jewelry realm and my horoscope completely blew....something about something affecting my natal planet transitioning through my 9th house.....or whatever. But seriously, I couldn't figure out what was my freaking problem and then I saw my giant horrible horoscope and that basically confirmed my suspicions.

If you have any doubt that I was in the wrong place, you only, ummm, have to look at my last post....that should tell you volumes...because in a good place I wouldn't have posted that....but I left it up to show you the foul, snarky mood that overtook me.

Soooo, try again I will this week.



Did you know that this week, sort of appropriate for V-day today is National Random Acts of Kindness week? No kidding, and while we're at it, why not make it INTERNATIONAL Random Acts of Kindness week since we're all friends here. I know some people get their panties all in a bunch about Valentine's Day. and yes, it probably is a totally made up holiday for selling roses and cards and jewelry (hey! i make jewelry!) but seriously, a day to celebrate LOVE is pretty cool in my book. Here, at our house, we don't get toooo over-the-top about any holiday...we like it that way. And since we're both creative souls, we try to incorporate handmade gifts wherever possible. So, above you see the handmade valentine I made for my valentine (inspired by this post, that I customized with a little handmade polymer clay heart/arrowhead), and as soon as I post this, I'll be off to the kitchen to prepare some brownies (from a box,as I don't bake)and a delicious (I hope) vegetarian indian dinner. Over the weekend, we went to our most favorite Indian restaurant ever! ...and although, for a white girl, I make some mean curry, this place is tops so I've devoted the last several days to seeing how I can improve my Indian cuisine skills. So if you like to cook and love Indian food, you have to see this website. I swears, I've been watching her cook all day!

All that aside! Here is this week's mission!

NEXT MISSION:
Perform one (OR MORE!) random act(s) of kindness this week! It can be very simple or very complex, depending on how you choose....

Pay for someone's coffee or food at a drive through or restaurant.....

Bake or cook something and randomly give it or show up at a friend or neighbor's house with it....(if you have a neighbor that you constantly annoy or who annoys you, all the better!)

Stop and pick up bagels or pastries and take them to work....for no reason at all.

Take a small thing you handmade (almost like a valentine) and give it to someone at the grocer or bank or doctor's office or wherever! maybe it just says... I HOPE YOU HAVE A WONDEFUL DAY! or YOU DO A GREAT JOB! or just THANK YOU! (but for a no reason whatsoever thank you, get it?)

So, let's get on with this! I can already imagine my neighbors sniffing my cookies and wondering if they are laced with arsenic....my neighborhood is just that strange that they would probably be concerned.

The dirty backside of auctions...

...Auctions involve compromise & sometimes, that compromise involves butt cleavage & pit bull t-shirts....but I am a soldier.... And I will prevail!
Aloha,
b.

MONDAY MILITIA!!

Thank you for all of your positive comments and feedback for the Monday Miltia. It really helped reinforce my feelings that I need to do this thing.

I really started this as an exercise for myself and thought it would fun personally to document my progress, even if just for myself. I am really shy by nature. I'm extremely uncomfortable in groups of people I don't know and I think nice thoughts all the time that I think maybe I should share because it seems like they might have the power to change the world in a better way...and what happens if I just DO THAT?


Soooo....how did you do with your mission? Did you complete it? Did you fail and forget?

No matter, try again!

Here's my story for the mission this week:

It took me until...Thursday?....to find the right opportunity to fulfill my mission....

I went out to do some errands and needed gas. I took our second car, which is rarely driven and has been on empty the last 3 times I've driven it.

So I pulled into the first gas station, which happens to be outside a members-only gas station (like Costco, Sam's)of which, I am not a member but I'm thinking "hey, I'll just have to pay the non-member price, right?"

and there's a line.

and I hear my car idling. wasting gas.

nope. no go-go juice.

A large sign says MEMBERS ONLY and you have to insert your member card to pump.

DAMN. and I'm really getting worried that I might run out of gas!

So, off I go to the next station. I pulled into the Sunoco and inserted my card. And I got the "see attendant" bleeep.

CRAP! now I'm really concerned because I have no cash and I just spent several precious vapors of gas idling in the BJ's parking lot.

...and I'm getting mad and anxious and very nervous. and I go inside, and there was the most lovely lady. She was super tall and graceful. She looked to be of some African-Caribbean descent. She was wearing cute cowry shell earrings and I mumbled grumpily that my card wouldn't work, could she try it in here?

"Of course, baby." was her reply.

And then, after I swiped my card, she started humming and singing to herself in a sort of reggae fashion, "AUTH-oooorrrr-RIZING!!!" because my card was authorizing.

Then she handed me my receipt and gave me the biggest, most gorgeous smile! You know the smile! Gorgeous white teeth and just HUGE!

and then...I seized my opportunity!

I half-whispered (because I am shy) YOU HAVE THE MOST BEAUTIFUL SMILE.

and her smile got even bigger!

and she said:

"You are so nice, baby! You have a beautiful day, lovely! in her thick accent...

And then, I did! I went down the road, singing to my Pandora Ingrid Michaelson channel and pulled into the store parking lot and the woman next to me unloading her cart saw me and SMILED. And said,

"It looks like you're having a great day!"

and I said,

"I am! I hope you have a GREAT DAY too!"

and then she smiled.

Then I was still smiling as I walked into the store and several more people started smiling when I smiled at them!

WOW! my whole paradigm has just shifted....IT IS JUST. THAT. EASY.

I would love to hear your experiences from your mission this week!

NEXT MISSION: Take one negative thought you have this week and make it positive.

It can be as simple as "SCREW this LAUNDRY!" and then you do the laundry and put it away.

OR it can be negative words that you think and try to repurpose your thinking. For instance, Why does so&so do this???? Surely they do it to P*ss me OFF!

Maybe think of WHY they are doing what they are doing and see it from a different point of view!

OR, perhaps you say something unkind and you need to make the situation right. Perhaps an apology is in order, or a phone call, or a small token of friendship.

Weekend project

I've been out of business cards since.....October?

And I really want to do a redesign and eventually I'd like to pay someone to do the whole she-bang for me complete with etsy banners, blog headers, avatars, cards, stickers....the whole shebang.

So I didn't want to print anymore but it's getting a little ridiculous so I spent Saturday afternoon coming up with something suitable for the interim.

I've recently had come into my possession sick printer....and I've been trying to use up this stack of really nice cardstock I bought when I worked for a printing company ummmm....a loonnnng time ago.


So, I decided in the mean time...I would print my own until I use that cardstock up.

I designed them in photoshop.

Simple design and a take off my old cards but with updated colors.


So here's the easy version:

To start:

1) I created one file the size of the finished business card - 2" x 3.5"

2) I laid everything out and saved the original. Then I flattened the image and saved it as a .jpg

3) Then I created a new document letter size -8.5" x 11" and used the guides to create a grid (insert basic math skills here) and copy a pasted my .jpg image onto the grid. I can fit 10 cards on a letter size sheet but I have to trim them out.

This is what that file looks like:



4)Print out and cut on a paper cutter.

Here's the photo that will go in my Etsy listings:



Interesting side note/tip about cutting:
You want to set yourself up a little system so all the cards come out square and straight and all the right size. so 10 cards centered on a sheet will leave you with a border of .75" on the left and right and 1/2" on the top and bottom. So I trim that off first and then cut the main vertical. Then you can trim the long strips of 5 cards down into individuals. I sort of make notes of where I'm cutting on the grid of the paper cutter so I can cut faster and more methodically. It's actually sort of zen...

I know that's kind of hard to picture but if you want I can try to do a tutorial on the cutting thing. What do you think?

just in case you were contemplating.....

Lens: Helga Viking
Flash: Off
Film: BlacKeys B+W

Why estate sales rock.....

.....because seriously. The lady whose estate this was used to make jewelry & specifically at one point was very into enameling so there was an entire old tool box FULL of copper stampings!!!!!!



Man I scored the mother load! I also got a rack of old lace trim...I don't think I'll keep the rack. I don't have the space for it but whoah....all that copper would have set me back mucho dinero.



It isn't fair to horde it all to myself so I think I'll do a little giveaway in a few days to spread the love....


Aloha,
b.

Soup Ingredients!

Lawd have mercy, I've been neglectful in my Bead Soup Blog Party posts....


Sooooo, if your not my friend on facebook, then you don't know that my partner is Diana of Suburban Girl Studios! Diana makes gorgeous porcelain components and jewelry!

Being a woman of extreme means, I don't often get to buy art beads from other artists so participating in BSBP is really special for me because I get to trade beads with other awesome artists.

*side note: if/when I win the lottery, look out art bead makers everywheres cause i'll be on the loose with copious cash and suppressed ogling....

So Diana makes porcelain beads and we exchanged some brief emails discussing favorite colors etc. What I LOVE about BSBP is that you get to exchange a bit of discussion and then a little package arrives and it may or may not be what you expect! Sort of like Christmas....

So, Diana and I talked about colors, we were both into blues & greens etc. I told the "yeah, I like those colors but whatever, I'm completely flexible and I don't mind a challenge" (or at least that was what I was thinking)

SOOOO...I was completely tickled when I got this:




Because these are the colors that are way outside my comfort zone.

I got:

gorgeous lapis lazuli, AB czech glass, & to die for sari silk....



deep teal focal (and is it just my ignorance or is this so completely awesome that the back is glazed and the front is half-glazed, thereby making what is usually the ugly back of a ceramic into the totally awesome front?) because i know it is a complete pain to glaze both sides and the front is usually the one that gets glazed....





periwinkle toggle (super excited about this)....



periwinkle & teal beads and gorgeous green lampwork made by her husband (can we just uttter a collective jealous sigh that her husband makes lampwork beads?)



....and raku! gorgeous raku....Can I marry you raku? Oh wait, I swore off marriage after the first one went bad....okay, can we have a long, arduous, tempetuous affair? okay, good....



I'm so excited because this is a more cool blue/green palette than I normally visit. There are smatterings of purple (which I usually avoid) and deep royal blues and true teal/pthalo greens. I'm normally an aqua/robin egg blue girl so this is going to completely shatter my paradigm here people!

Diana's work is so lovely. I'm just bubbling with ideas! I think I change my mind daily when I gaze at the beads! That raku is just KILLING me literally. Those little raku charms (the ones that look like beads but are actually charms? Those knock my socks off...seriously.)

MONDAY MILITIA!!

I've been thinking about ways to focus my energy in a positive way and how, by focusing those energies, they might impact the greater good....So, I've decided to start a weekly focus called:

THE MONDAY MILITIA


YOUR MISSION: (if you choose to accept it)

To positively impact the world by simply following the prompt each week.


SPREAD THE WORD:

Post the badge on your website. And link here.

Or don't and simply follow the prompts and join in the joy.


My goal is just to spread a bit of positivity each week. To pass it on. To make the world a better place. one time. this week. I don't think that is too much to ask, is it?

None of us are perfect. Me, the least of all. But, if we put a little button in our brains each week to consciously do something good, maybe, just maybe we can impact the world for the better. It doesn't have to do with politics, or anything else in the world, JUST BEING NICE.

That being said, your mission for the week is:

TELL ONE PERSON THAT THEY ARE BEAUTIFUL (OR HANDSOME!)

Just the way they are. Maybe their inward beauty strikes you in the supermarket, drugstore, or at the gas station. Maybe it's a friend who is feeling particularly ugly that day, maybe it is the woman at the diner who is ringing you up and her hair looks nice. Maybe a friend smiles at you in the broadest most gracious way. Just say it! YOU LOOK BEAUTIFUL TODAY!

There is also a badge on the sidebar. I'll be tweeking it in the next couple days so you can grab the code easily.

Will you link the badge here?

True-ing up...vol. 1.2 & an awesome RECIPE!

Soooooo..... I'm down 15 lbs. now! Almost halfway!!!!! And it has been a bitching struggle the whole way, I tell ya.

I love food and the hardest part has been watching my carbs and moderating my portions because I love me some SECONDS and THIRDS! (I can forgo the dessert any day for some extra mashed taters!)

So, my guilty pleasure of each week has been PIZZA NIGHT! I have the blessing of having an actual ex-pizza man in my life. Mike actually can do the twirly dough bit if he wants! So, I get the job of making the perfect dough and I have finally perfected the perfect recipe. I mix the dough, he does the kneading and stretching, and we're all good.

I do the mixing in a bread machine on the dough cycle, because I'm baking deficient. I imagine you could use the same recipe in a Kitchenaid or do it by hand and it would turn out, but don't quote me. I adapted this recipe from Google-ing the term "best pizza dough ever". People who make pizza at home are a cult. And I belong to it.

*I make this dough a wee bit healthier by sub-ing in part whole wheat flour. On my current diet, I use 3 cups whole wheat flour to one cup whole white bread flour. I have also used all variations/mixations of flours and it always turns out...but you may have to add more water as the dough progresses. Add warm water by the tablespoon until you reach the desired consistency. If you use my 3:1 whole wheat method, you will probably end up adding as much as 1/8 c. more warm water to your mix because of the whole wheat flour. If you only use white flour, the recipe should stand.

**or buy store bought dough. not as healthy, but also tasty.

**or order pizza. DEFINITELY not as healthy but also DELICIOUS.

PERFECT PIZZA DOUGH

Add in order to a bread machine:

1 3/8 c. warm water
1/4 c. extra virgin olive oil
2 T. honey
3/4 t. sea salt
4 c. flour
2 T. yeast

Makes 2- 12" pizzas. Great for families or couples who don't like to share toppings (with leftovers if you're on a diet or eat the whole damn thing if you're not, cause you'll want to!)

And you will get THIS!

the mister is a purist so his pizza has tomatoes and peppers and whatever meat we have around the house which in this case is NONE.

and my pizza....

mine has copious amounts of veggies, since i'm watching my weight. this one has grilled eggplant (from the night before) tomatoes, peppers, kalamata olives, spinach, low fat feta, and mushrooms.

Because, in my infinite wisdom, I figure the more toppings I pour on, the less slices I'll eat....and I'm fancy like that. And I feed the border collie the crusts because he enjoys them more than a dog treat and who can resist this face?

I LOVE PIZZA CRUSTS!!!!!!

My first ever video and an intro to a tutorial....

So, I've been pondering about what to do for a fun tutorial and I was inspired by Malin's little vlogs she's been making. I think it is so fun to hear all the voices of those whose blogs I read everyday, don't you? It just makes it all so personal.

So today I had a giant brainstorm. It was such a lovely day and I was reading everyone's blogs that I lurk on about snow days and snow storms that I thought to give you all a little vacation.

There is an actual tutorial bit coming, but being my first vlog tutorial, I need to edit it down a bit.

When you see the meaty-goodness part you'll see what I mean....but I think it turned out rather well being my first one and considering I shot it with my right hand while painting with my left hand and simultaneously being distracted by weird-o people jogging with their entire heads wrapped in scarves....Seriously...it was nowhere near cold enough for that. Without a stiff wind it was actually quite warm in my long sleeve shirt and jeans.

Anyway, it may take me a few days to get it edited but in the meantime enjoy a little taste of the salt air and sunshine!