What I am up to, A Few pics and a Tip

Good evening Y'all!!!!    Here it is December 2nd!!!   WOW!!!!     I feel like I am in the Twlight Zone where days are being taken off my calendar and I can't stop it.   Does anyone else feel like that?  Oh, maybe it's just me.   But anyway, I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving and didn't stuff yourselves too much.   hehehe    Oh, what business is it of mine if you "Gobbled till you Wobbled"?    Hahahaha    My family had a great time.   We all got together at Mom's on Saturday after Thanksgiving and we all gobbled till we wobbled!   hahaha     No, I didn't.   I can honestly that I did not stuff myself, this time.    Oh, I wanted too, trust me.    Mom makes the BEST EVER dressing and I wanted to take a pan of it and hide, seriously!!!    But we all had great time.   Some of my nieces and nephews was missing but that was ok.   It's hard to get everyone together on the same page at the same time.   On Thanksgiving Day my husband and I went to Shoney's out of town and a wonderful meal.    It really was a pleasant time for us.    While he was off, I did do some serious cooking so we would have some good easy meals and that always pays off to have it prepared, heat and eat style.

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I have so neglected my blog this year and I am to the point of being ashamed of myself.   I have been busy with first one thing and then the next.    I have been doing a lot of different crafts and aiming to share them, but I move on to the next thing and forget to post.    Well, a couple or three months ago, I think I found my niche.    Of all the things I have done, this seem to be the most pleasing, for now anyway.   hahaha     I used to roll paper beads many years ago, but never did much with it.   But you know how the crafting world is these days.    It's "go big or go home" and I have went big, I guess.    I started rolling paper beads and more and more and more.    I have an addiction!!!   Seriously!!!   But that's a good thing.   Only in crafting is an addiction a good thing.   hahaha     I think so anyway.   hahaha

I was working on a swap a few of months ago and I used a piece of 12 x 12 sheet of designer paper to make an envelope for the card that I had made the lady I was sending my card to.    I had a couple of pieces left of the paper and I couldn't bear to not do something with it for her.   So, I started thinking and finally thought of making paper beads and turning it into jewelry.   Well, you know how you can get lost in the "rabbit hole" when you are trying to learn something.     I got lost and bit by the bead bug.    I got the beads rolled and found out how to seal them and preserve them and made the earring wires and then strung the beads and bead finding on the stretchy cord and it turned out soooo beautiful.   When I sent them to my swap lady, she really loved them, as I was praying she would.  She said her friends at church really liked it and the the bracelet and earring went perfectly with her sweater.   That made me so HAPPY!!!!!

They are not perfect, but they was made with a lot of love!!   I put some light blue rondells between each bead on the bracelet and put on my signature cross.   Each piece I make has a cross on it.   And for the earrings , you can see the crosses and I also put on some silver bead caps and I also made the ear wires.   And she really enjoyed receiving this.   In all of these, the paper beads is what ties them together.

So, the next set I made was this set.  

This was from one whole sheet of 12 x 12 designer paper.   I cut it in varying strips and made mostly bicone beads and a few short tube beads and a couple of barrel beads for my earrings.   For the necklace, I put together a focal point of several different pieces in varying lengths and colors of metals and you see the cross.   There is also a rondell between each bead on the necklace.     The bracelet has silver bead caps and a round silver bead between each bead and the the cross.   Then the earrings are the same as described above.   Everyone really likes it.

While rolling beads, many beads, I found the designer paper for the next set, and I love it too.

This paper came from a designer pad that I had gotten a couple of years ago and I had been hoarding it!!!    I didn't know what for, but NOW I DO!!!!!   I made varying lengths of tube beads and I love them soooo much!   I dipped each end of the beads in chocolate brown metallic acrylic paint and let it dry.   Oh how I wish you could it in hand, it is stunning!   I also glazed each bead with deco art glamour dust acrylic paint.   It is clear when it dries, with just a tiny bit of sparkle.   I have done each and every bead that I made that way and then I put 3 or 4 coats of sealer and then at least 2 coats of a glossy finish on each bead, by hand.    Blood, sweat and tears come to mind!   hahaha    And lots of prayer, seriously.    Again, I used rondells between each bead on the necklace.   I used different spacer beads between the beads on the bracelet and then I made the earrings as previously described.   With each piece having my signature cross.   They don't match at all, other then each cross on the earrings match, but the crosses on the 3 different pieces in each set does not match.   I love that they don't.

So, with that set came the one I am about to share.   Keep in mind, I have made several hundred beads over the last 2 or 3 months, like I said it is addictive!!!   So, I have many, many of the beads from the set above.   I love making those.   They are so vintage looking and they feel so good in my hands.   Ok, back to this next set.    I LOVE this set.    It truly was a labor of love.   I will have a hard time parting with, but I don't plan on it any time soon, maybe not anyway.   hehehehe

 The beads are really big!!!!    25 to 30 layers big!!!!     I'm not gonna tell what they are made from, but it was a hoot and a half making them.   Can you guess?   Bear in mind I said I put a coat of glamour dust and then 3 or 4 layers of sealer, actually pc petrifier.    And then 2 layers of vibrance, a glossy finish. 

So, this a very time consuming craft, thus the neglection of my blog.   hahaha    So, it has been with good reason that I haven't been around much.    I can't wait to get more beads made.    hahaha

I put different types of bead caps on all the beads and a rondell between each bead.   The paper beads are the focal point of the necklace, so there is nothing hanging in the center like the others had.    But I did put my cross on the necklace up where the chain is attached to beaded area.   A cross on one side and a heart on the other side.

Here you can see the earrings pretty good.   I know I have said it already, but I do love this of jewelry.  It makes me so happy.    On the bracelet, you can see some of the saucer beads I made.  These are kinda smallish and then there are short bicone beads.   A bead cap on each end of the beads with a rondell between each bead.   Lots of glitz and sparkle.    I wish the pictures could capture the beauty.

I should have put a quarter down in these pics so you could see the size of these beads.   The ones on the necklace or huge.   In the above picture, that is the center bead on the necklace and it's almost the size of an english walnut.

This pic shows the HUGE cone bead that I used as the connectors, kinda.    It was gonna be a bicone bead, but before I put anything on it other than the glue, instead of getting it centered, I pushed it all down to the end and it made a very nice cone.    I made 2 of them exactly the same size for that purpose and it worked.

See the cross on the top of the necklace on this side.   The other side has a small heart on it.   I also forgot to mention that I put 3 little bangles on the bracelet.  One was the heart you see above and in the middle was a silver cross and then the third piece is a silver disc that says "live love laugh" and I love that.

I also made my Mom a 3 piece set but, can you believe it, I forgot to take a picture of it!!!   I am so mad at me!   hahaha    But she loved it and that's all that matters.   Oh my gosh, I have been having so much fun with this!!!!   

So, I need to tell you what I have planned.   I pray that I can pull it off.    I hope to start combining my paper beads with antler tips and  and antler beads and antler discs.   If that works out, it will be the best of both worlds for me!!!

I was looking for more pictures of my beads, but they are not on my computer, they are still on my cell phone.   When I get them transferred over, I will share them.   Lots of beautiful beads to run my fingers through.    Oh, I will making Christmas presents with a lot my beads, so I will be sharing them and not hoarding all of them.   hehehe

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I have a neat tip for you tonight.    With the weight loss and "trying to get healthy" journey I have been on this year, sometimes I just crave stuff that I know is bad for me, really bad for me.   You know, like junk food or party snack food.  I was craving it tonight while I was working on this blog post.   So, while my pictures was uploading, I hit the fridge.   The thing that I really like a lot around this time of the years is cream cheese and buddig lunch meat rolled in little straws.   Well, my tip is to get the fat free cream cheese and look for what ever really thin sliced meats that is 10 calories or less per slice and indulge!!!    My supper for tonight was a piece of naan bread, five fat free cream cheese and ham straws and eight really large black grapes.   It's hard to believe that is filling, but it is.    I had grain, dairy, protein and fruit.   I had a lot of veggies at lunch, so I got that covered.   hehehe   But I hope you will give that a try sometime when you are craving stuff that is bad for you, clean it up a little, a whole lot actually and have a little fun while you're at it.   It was a fun plate of food, colorful and delicious.    That's my tip and I hope you can use it.

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As I think about the turmoil that our planet seems to be in, and I don't see it getting any better, it really breaks my heart.    Right here at home, we see people disrespecting one another in every imaginable way.    We see hidden sin coming to light.    We see the NFL getting more full of themselves every day.    News media is so biased.    Hollywood is full of yesterdays garbage.   People are still figuring out more and more ways to hurt others.    In the work place, in the market place, even in our churches, people keep on hurting people.   I ask myself sometime, "will it ever stop"?    The answer is yes.     Yes, it will stop.    It will stop when God says, "Son, go get 'em, bring 'em home  now!"    I do not know when that day will be.   I just know that day will happen.    I know it will happen.    Do you?    Are you ready for that day to happen?     I sure hope and pray that you do know it will happen and that you are ready for it.    If not, there is no time like the present  to admit that you are a sinner bound for hell, and believe that Christ is the Son of the Everlasting God and that He died on the cross and rose from the dead and is now seated at the Fathers right hand, waiting for you to call on His name for salvation.    Ask Him to come into life in a very real way and lead and guide your direction from this day on.   He will save you!!!!   He will save you from an eternity in hell.   Yeah, I have had people laugh at me.   That's ok.    I still believe it.   Just because someone laughs at me, it doesn't negate the fact that they are going to hell if they don't make the decision to follow Christ.    Following Christ is not easy.   Jesus, Himself, said , "pick up your cross and follow me, daily".     If it was easy, He would not have called His Way, a cross.    So, it ain't easy.    But it is rewarding.     A former pastor spoke from the pulpit many years ago; Brother Larry Craig, was his name.   He has since gone home to be with his Lord and Savior.    But he spoke about a hobby of his.   It was going to cemeteries and looking at headstones and reading them.    He told about some of the funny stuff he had seen and read and he also spoke of the serious ones.    The one that I will never forget is this.   "God is.   All is well."    I hope and pray that before you lay your head on your pillow tonight that you can read that quote and feel that same peace.    So when we think about all the turmoil that is taking place over this planet, let's take our eyes of the world and focus on the cross and what Christ has done for us and say in our hearts, "God is.   All is well!"

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Well, that's just about it for tonight.    I hope you seen or read something here tonight that put a smile on you face and a tickle in your heart.    Keep Christ in Christmas this season.   Say Merry Christmas every chance you get.   I hope and pray that everyone has a wonderful night of refreshing, healing sleep and rest and that you wake up tomorrow with a new purpose in your life.   Pray for those that are in need and hurting.  There is so much need around us.  Tell someone that "God is.   All is well."  They may need to hear some good news and that's some good news!!   Always remember that God loves you and so do I.   Till next time, hugs and love, Patty