Stretch cuff bracelet for I Might Make That! Monday

Stretch Cuff Bracelet from Pretty Quirky Pants

Source: prettyquirkypants.com via Geneva on Pinterest

Today does not feel like Monday to me. I had to work on Saturday and got today--Columbus Day--off, so it feels like Sunday instead of the end of a three-day weekend.

Normally I write my posts on Sunday evening, but this installment is coming to you in real time!

I discovered this lovely stretch cuff bracelet on Pinterest. The designer is Pretty Quirky Pants, and if you click on the link, you'll see step-by-step photos and instructions.

I like stretch bracelets because I like a close fit (I spend too much of my time at a keyboard to have something jangling around on my wrist with every keystroke.) The multi-strands of this cuff would give this extra security, I think. Note that these are plain cubes, not two-hole Tilas. The squares provide a nice texture.

I will also provide a tip about stretch bracelets that I haven't tried myself yet but definitely will. I thought it was part of this pattern, but I must have seen it elsewhere in my Pinterest-surfing. Many people complain about the knots on stretch bracelets coming loose, even if you put a dot of glue on them. I have had this happen myself. Last year, I read about using crimp tubes to secure stretch bracelets--i.e., you treat the elastic just like it's beading wire. I did that last year for some bracelets I made for some holiday craft shows, and that seemed to work pretty well.

But that's not the tip I'm passing along. One ingenious artist--and I wish I could credit her--suggested that you knot and crimp. She strings a crimp bead on each strand end, ties a knot, then threads the knot ends that you would usually trim back into the crimps on either side, then crimps them (trimming the extraneous ends at that point). That sounds really secure to me!

I don't give a font! for Need a Laugh Wednesday

Source: trfling.com via trfling on Pinterest

Every journalist I know who came of age when people actually read newspapers has a love affair with typography. So for my newshound friends, as well as my designerista friends, I present:

Source: themetapicture.com via Geneva on Pinterest

Source: thehandmadehome.net via Geneva on Pinterest

Source: shweiki.com via Geneva on Pinterest

Source: failblog.files.wordpress.com via Bert on Pinterest

Source: flavorwire.com via AlexanderInteractive on Pinterest

Source: behance.net via Geneva on Pinterest

Source: google.de via Shannon on Pinterest

Etched metal focals for I Might Make That! Monday

Rings & Things' copper etchings

Whew boy. Real life has set in--work (including a few Saturday commitments), school demands, a few extraneous volunteer commitments, building inventory for a mid-November craft sale. I intend to keep blogging through it all, but expect a lot of short, quick posts like this one for the next few months.

Here's a great tute on metal etching from Rings & Things that I'd love to try. Lots of pics and lots of links for those who want to read more. Has anybody tried this? Share in the comments if you have.

(Yes, I know I've fallen behind in keeping my IMMT!M archives current. I'll catch up eventually.)

Yom Kippur

Good yom tov to all observing Yom Kippur. It doesn't seem appropriate to post a Need a Laugh Wednesday on a day of atonement, so I'll do one later in the week.

Post earring roundup for I Might Make That! Monday

"Easy Peasy" post earrings from For the Love of Beads

Yikes, I'm discovering that this Monday feature is now competing with my Monday-night class for my precious Sunday hours. (Because, of course, I could do my reading and other homework over the course of the week, but inevitably put it off until Sunday night. Ditto this blogpost.)

Anyway, enough whining. I have been on the search recently for some earring tutorials. Tutes for ear wires, whether you mean French hooks, old-fashioned kidneys, or something more arty, are fairly easy to find. But frankly, I prefer to wear post earrings (either simple studs or something with a smallish dangle.)

Tutes for post earrings are much rarer. Most of what I found in my Internet quest involved buying posts with flat pads like this and then gluing a cabachon, half-drilled pearl or even a cute button onto. I have some of those findings, and yes, they're fine, but not terribly original.

Here's a roundup of some different looks.

The pic at the top shows some square spiral post earrings from the blog For the Love of Beads. I wasn't familiar with this blog, but the author is a glass artist. She has some other tutes, many of them lampwork-oriented, at this link.  (She throws in some hot dish recipes, too!)

Spiral Wave earrings by artless

In a similar squiggly mode are these earrings at left. They are called "Spiral Wave." Here's a link to the tute, which isn't free, but the price is only $3. The designer's name is listed as "artless."

And continuing on the spiral theme (I'm not going to post a pic for the next one, because I've mentioned the site before), WigJig has a tute for simple spiral posts here.

The next tute isn't a free either, but it's absolutely lovely. A steal at $6. The artist is the very talented Nicole Hanna.

Nicole Hanna's stunning geometric post earrings

If you're not familiar with Nicole Hanna's blog, she's very funny. This link will take you to the site for purchasing instructions to make what she calls "Geometric Post Earrings."

Below is a free pattern I found on Craftsy. I love this one.

Gailavira's Beaded Spiral Post Earrings

The designer is Gailavira. The link shows it in several variations.







And I'll finish up with this one. It does start with one of those flat-pad post findings, but it's unusual enough to include here. The designer uses poymer clay and nail polish to create an unusal finish for these studs.

Chic Metal Earrings from Quiet Lion

And if I do wind up making my own ear posts, I now know how to use a cup bur to file the ends, thanks to a great post by Pearl of Beading Gem's Journal on sanding and filing.

Need a Laugh Wednesday: Gone to the dogs

Source: bijouandboheme.blogspot.com via Geneva on Pinterest

As I shared in my recent tribute to cats, I haven't had a dog since childhood. But I certainly like dogs, and I understand the appeal of their unabashed loyalty.

So here's equal time for the canines.

Source: iwastesomuchtime.com via Geneva on Pinterest

(If you're not familiar with the Tumblr blog Texts from Dog, check it out!)

Source: google.com via Geneva on Pinterest

Source: epicfail.com via Geneva on Pinterest

xxxxx

Source: memebase.com via Geneva on Pinterest

Ok, now the image I'm about to share is, hands down, the funniest thing I've ever seen on Pinterest.

















Not the funniest dog pin, the funniest pin, period.
















So put down your coffee mug so you don't snort coffee out your nose.

















If you're at work, be prepared to stifle your giggles.


















It still makes me laugh every time I see it.


















Readers, I present to you:

Source: Uploaded by user via Geneva on Pinterest

An honor to be nominated, and a tribute to my nominator

(Mandy of Beads for Brains' Blogger
profile image)

Recently, Mandy of Beads for Brains nominated me for the One Lovely Blog Award!

I was both honored and flattered to be recognized by her, and to be included among the creative and talented bloggers she gave a shout-out to.

Because this award is similar to the Kreativ Blogger Award in which I already shared seven random facts about myself, I'm going to hijack the award rules and instead list seven awesome things about Mandy:

1. She and I have never met in person, but she exudes such warmth and humor through her blog that I feel I know her.

2.  I learned about her 365-day project (in which she took on the challenge of trying a new bead project every day) from some other beading site, when she was at about day 60, and I was so intrigued by it that over the course of a couple weeks, I back-read her posts all the way to the blog's inception.

3. What I liked about her blog was that at first she was a newbie like me, so I could relate to her experimentation. But within weeks she far, far surpassed my ability. She is a poster child for how accomplished a person can become through sheer practice and diligence!

4. Her relentless online search for beading patterns has taken all over the world, where she has promoted the work of bead artists from Russia, Hungary, France, Italy and elsewhere. Thanks to her, I installed Google Chrome on my computer so that I could read the (amusingly wonky) translations of these patterns. And she taught me that with a good schematic, words aren't that important.

5. Through her, I discovered a number of great beader-bloggers, such as Sally of Wild Sally Road, as well as some non-beading blogs, like Clutter-Busting. (Unfortunately, just reading a blog does not put stuff away. Still working on that one. But this post is about her, not me.)

6. A few months ago, she published her first pattern--in Bead & Button, no less!

7. A rough patch about a year ago has prevented Mandy from finishing her project in 365 consecutive days, but she is continuing her beading journey on her own schedule, and I continue to look forward to every installment. I hope she knows that there is an army of beader-bloggers out there cheering her on to the finish line.

Seeing double for I Might Make That! Monday

I promised a double feature last week, so here are two patterns for two-hole Twin beads.

Although these have been on the market for awhile, I have not purchased any yet. But I already know I prefer their rounded, more organic shape to the square Tilas. (I did get a small packet to play with when Preciosa Ornela staged a giveaway, but haven't had a chance to experiment. There were enough beads to make a focal, but not a full bracelet.)

But I have been collecting Twin patterns. To the left is one for a bracelet featured on the Preciosa Ornela website.

Click this link for a downloadable PDF of it.

During the Olympics, the company also published the pattern at right. I'm not sure what the "support the athletes" headline  is about. Apparently the Czech and U.S. flags have the same red, white and blue color scheme and it just refers to showing team spirit; I don't see anything about actual money going to the Olympics.

Besides promoting the Olympics, Preciosa was also using the pattern to introduce its new pressed-glass Twins, which allows the company to manufacture them in many more colors.

I think this pattern has the worst name in the world--"bracelet with small bells"--because the junky jingle bells are the most forgettable thing about it. What's really cool is the illustration that shows the beaded beads done up with spirals, stars, zigzags and diamonds. (The pattern schematic shows only the spiral, but once you made that, maybe you could decipher the patterns for the other designs shown.)

I'm highlighting only two patterns here, but there are many more on the Preciosa Ornela Twins website, plus an inspiration album.

[Previous I Might Make That! Monday entries can be found by clicking the widget at the top-right corner.]

Non-Profit Humour for Need a Laugh Wednesday

Non-Profit Humour

After a long career spent mostly in hard-nosed daily journalism (no, I did not keep bourbon in my desk drawer, but at both the AP and Washington Post I knew people who really, truly did), I entered the nonprofit sector in 2008.

(Insert joke here about newspapers having become nonprofit organizations too.)

Nonprofits, I soon learned, have their own lingua franca. "Donor engagement." "Impactful." (I refuse to acknowledge that one.)"Aspirational peers." "Planned giving."

If you have also ever worked for a nonprofit, you will appreciate the humor of the excellent blog Non-Profit Humour. (It's Canadian, hence the "u" in "humour.")

Here are some recent headlines that I found amusing:

Hospitals fight over last remaining volunteer under 60

Street fundraising gets results with leghold traps

Charity's YouTube video just makes them look even more lame

Some other observations about the difference between nonprofit work and journalism:

1. Once, after I'd stayed way late and knocked myself out to meet a deadline but discovered that no one else had met theirs, a colleague said, "We view deadlines as, well, aspirational goals."

2. People who work for nonprofits generally do not swear like sailors.

No I Might Make That! Monday! today

I was traveling all last week on a last-minute trip. I was organized enough before I left to write and schedule last week's posts in advance, but not prescient enough to plan something for today as well. I promise to post a double installment next week!

Need a Laugh Wednesday: Pinstrosity

Is uber-snarky Regretsy one of your guilty pleasures? Are you addicted to Pinterest?

Then let me introduce you to the metaphorical offspring of their unholy union: Pinstrosity.

I stumbled on this site a month or so ago, and it cracks me up on a regular basis.

I guess it's not really fair to compare it to Regretsy, because that's a site in which the editor(s) make fun of godawful stuff they discover on Etsy, and the people submitting to Pinstrosity are sending in their own failed attempts to recreate a Pin on Pinterest. There is usually good-humored discussion about what went wrong (and it usually involves a confession of not quite following directions or a creative approach to substituting ingredients.) Occasionally the authors report "Pin Wins"--successfully duplicating a Pinterest project.

I haven't seen too many jewelry experiments yet--mostly food flops and craft fails. Have you seen that Pin that shows you how to create a flower by gently melting plastic spoons into petal shapes? The picture sequence is too long to republish on this blog, but here's a link to the Pin and the Pinstrosity.

It's nice to recognize that most DIY projects don't come out looking like a Martha Stewart staged shoot.

Here's one of my favorites from recent weeks:

You can read the full post here.

Soldered pendant for I Might Make That! Monday

Soldered pendants from Stampington & Co.

Does a soldering tool count as a power tool? A while back I wrote in one of my IMMT!M features that I got into beading because it didn't require special tools, then I found myself coveting a Dremel drill when I saw what other crafters were doing with them.

Although I grew up in a household of three brothers and a sister who was handier than all of them combined, this was still the eras of Girls Take Home Ec Boys Take Shop Class and I never learned how to use the simplest tools, like a soldering iron. (Is it called an "iron" or a "gun"? See how clueless I am?) There's been nothing stopping me learning how as an adult save for lack of motivation, and I happened to marry a man whose lack of skills matched mine. We do our best to support the local handyman industry.

I knew lots of jewelry makers used this technique, but I always assumed soldering to be part of advanced metalsmithing that I would need to take classes in. (I have to confess, I was much more interested in learning why it is pronounced "sah-der" instead of "sole-der" than how it was done.)

But whoa, Eva Maria Keiser just posted this video on soldering on her blog a few weeks ago.



I'm sure soldering is more complicated than this demo makes it look, but the fact is, I had never even seen soldering done. This looks easy! And look how girly this soldering kit looks!

So maybe I'll give it a go. Please share your soldering experiences too!

New/old work ... and some more cats

Here's a piece that I actually began working on in early July, when we went to Chautauqua, New York, for a week. On the long car ride there, I attempted two or three bead combos but didn't get anything I liked, and kept frogging. (Do beadweavers say "frogging," or is that strictly a knitting term?)

Once we were at our destination, I played around a little more and got this Cellini spiral started, and worked on it on the drive back. Once I got back home, I found my bead swap beads from Dot waiting for me, and knew I shouldn't distract myself from creating my bead soup necklace, so this has set on a corner of the bead table. But I can pick it up again now.

Interestingly, the beads Dot sent me were in mostly browns and greens, and I already had pulled out all of my beads in those colors for this experiment, so they were easily accessible for adding to the bead soup I made for Daphne of the Woods.

And I do have one quick update to the cat humor I featured last week. I learned from the FB post of a friend who lives in St. Paul about the Internet Cat Video Filmfest at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. (I thought it was a spoof, but no!) Here's a link to New York Times coverage of the event.

And below is the winner of the Golden Kitty award!

Need a laugh Wednesday: cat humor

At some point I'll run out of humor topics relating directly to me, but this week's theme fits that bill. Although I love dogs and had one growing up, at some point our family made the decision that we were Cat People.

So here's some feline hijinks that I hope will make you smile. (Because, you know, there isn't enough cat humor on the Internet already.)

Source: animaltalk.us via Geneva on Pinterest

Source: cheezburger.com via Marissa on Pinterest

Source: haha.nu via Marissa on Pinterest

Source: 9gag.com via Geneva on Pinterest

There's lots of cat jewelry out there, but here's one I especially fancy:

Source: etsy.com via Geneva on Pinterest

Fleur-de-Lis knotwork for I Might Make That! Monday

Fleur-de-lis knot by Tying It All Together

Many people think of the fleur-de-lis as a symbol for New Orleans, but it is also a symbol associated with Louisville, my home town, which is named for the Louis XVI. (It's been many years since I've been back, but at one time there was a fountain downtown near the waterfront designed to spout water in a fleur-de-lis shape.)

I'm a real francophile, so I've always loved these symbols. (Did you know that the fleur-de-lis is supposed to represent an iris?)

I recently learned about a great video tutorial series on knotwork from reading Stormdrane's Blog, called Tying It All Together (by J.D. Lenzen), and when I subscribed to the channel, this stunning fleur-de-lis knot was the first to arrive in my mailbox:



No set of diagrams can duplicate actually watching someone do this--Lenzen's tutes are pure gold!

I can just picture this embellished with beads in the loops to accentuate them. (I wonder if you could make a beaded rope flexible enough to be tied like this?)

(New to my blog? An archive of previous I Might Make That! Monday tutorials can be found via the widget in the top right corner of my blog.)

Bead Soup Reveal: Daphne of the Woods

The third and final reveal of the sixth Bead Soup Blog Party is upon us, and I have been stitching for three weeks on this one! I wanted to do justice to the lovely soup that Dot of Speedie Beadie sent me, and since she emailed me a sneak-peak of what she had made from the beads I sent her, I wanted to put as much effort into my creation and she did into hers.

I will also make you, dear reader, do a little work by posting step-by-step pics before revealing the completed necklace.

First off, here's the soup Dot sent me back in early July:

Crappy photo, I know, but there were tons of seed beads and bugles in shades of gold, brown and green, as well as some larger beads, coins and rings plus a raku face.

The point of the bead swap is to challenge yourself, and this was indeed a challenge, because the raku focal had no holes, and I had to figure out a way to make it the centerpiece of a necklace! My first thought was to bezel it, although I had never actually bezeled before.

My regular readers may recall that I blogged about my first bezel attempt a few weeks ago. (Dot, if you saw it, you were probably the only one to recognize your cabochons in the photo!) I started out doing the round cabs to get the hang of a peyote bezel, then I planned on tackling the diamond-shaped raku face. However,  after completing the cabs, I realized that in order to secure the face in a bezel setting, I would have to stitch up over the edges and thus partially obscure the eyes.

Gulp. Plan B: bead embroidery. I had gotten a copy of the Heidi Kummli/Sherri Serafini book The Art of Bead Embroidery several months ago and had vague ambitions to give it a try, but hadn't actually gotten around to it. A trip to a sewing goods store for Lacy's Stiff Stuff and ultrasuede backing were in order.

I thought the gunmetal green (I just made that color name up!) seed beads Dot sent beautifully matched the patina on the raku face, so I started with that. (Note that the Lacy's Stiff Stuff has been colored with a marker in a color I will call The Only Sharpie I Had on Hand Green. Yes, brown would have been a better choice, but I didn't have brown. I figured glimpses of green peeking through would be better than white.)

I had decided I wanted to make a freeform netting necklace like I did for a fairy tale-themed bead swap organized by Lori last year, which was inspired by the Wander With Color necklace design of Beverly Ash Gilbert. (It's on the cover of her book Beaded Colorways.) So I started pulling out all the seed beads in my stash in hues of brown, bronze, gold and green and stirred them up in a bowl to supplement what Dot had sent.

Beading round and round that raku face, I got to know that gal pretty well. In fact, she told me she was a wood nymph named Daphne, and that she liked to hide amid the tangled vines and leaves of the forest floor, so could I please whip up something like that to adorn her in.

Here's a completed Daphne gazing down on the bead soup, which she told me met her approval.

So OK, I had done bezeling and bead embroidery, two new things I had never done before, and I hadn't even started the main body of the necklace! I knew I could do the freeform netting, but I wasn't exactly sure how I was going to attach Daphne. I was just hoping that I could weave beads over and around and through her beaded edging, and that it would hold and look nice.

Here's how the "base layer" of netting looked just before I stitched Daphne onto it.

You'll see that I was working on a bead board. I was trying to learn from a mistake I made when I created my freeform necklace last year. I had stitched that flat on a bead mat, and it looked gorgeous, but when I put it around my neck, it didn't lay right, because I hadn't contoured it. I wound up stitching on several more rows while having it hang from a neckform in order to correct that.

So this time I used the bead board's furrows to create a U shape. This worked brilliantly until the necklace got too bulky, and it was a pain to rotate the board every time I got to an end and was ready to switch directions. I took it off the board and laid it on a mat.

This was my one mistake of the creation, because once it came off the board, it was hard to keep it balanced. One side would get a little wonky during the stitching, so I'd add a row of beads to smooth it out. Then I had to do the other side for balance. But wait, now this side is an inch longer. Let me add some to the top of the other side.... This went on and on, hour after hour over these past several days.

But here it is finished, your reward for reading this far!

A closeup:

I am absolutely thrilled with how Daphne came out--the swirl of beads does look like she is peeking out from a tangle of vines, as I envisioned. (You can't see it in the photos, but there is a little turtle bead at the top of the left shoulder that adds to the woodsiness--that was one of the special beads Dot sent.)

The piece is so dense with beads it feels more like beaded fabric draped around my neck than a necklace.This is one I'm definitely keeping for myself (A: I love it. B: I could never sell it for a price that represented the hours I put into it!)

Oh yes, about those bezeled cabs. You may have noticed they aren't part of it. I tried placing them in the design, but they stood up too high and took  attention away from Daphne, so they will shortly become a pair of beautiful post earrings for moi. 

I didn't use quite all of Dot's beads. I set aside two raku cubes to make coordinating earrings for the Daphne necklace, but I ran out of time before I could make them. They are next on my to-do list, because I'll want to wear them together with the necklace.

I also didn't get a chance to use the four green bead-frame circles or the gold Chinese coins, and I hope to make a bracelet out of those items. I still have a few of her opaque gold faceted rounds left too, although lots and lots of them were woven into the necklace. Lastly, there was a packet of wing-shaped French sequins. I have no idea what I will do with them, but they are so cool and unusual that I love having them in my stash until inspiration strikes.

Thank you for reading to the end of this long-winded post--please be sure to check out what my partner Dot made from the beads I sent her. And here is a list of the other participants in the 3rd reveal. So start hopping!

Hostess, Lori Anderson, Pretty Things

Agi Kiss, Moonsafari Beads 
Alice Peterson, Alice Dreaming

Alison Sachs, Beads by Earthtones

Amanda Dittloff, Passion Smashin'

Andra Marasteanu, Bijoux de Monanage

Angie Szlovak, SweetBeads

Anitra Gordy, Leelu Creations

Ann Sherwood, Ann's Blog

Arlene Dean, A Glass Bash

Audrey Belanger, Dreams of an Absolution

Barb Solem, Vivi Magoo Presents

Barbara Blaszczyk, laboratorim Flory

Becky Pancake, Becky Pancake Bead Designs
Beth Emery, Stories by Indigo Heart

Bianca Odenthal, Zydies Glasperlen

Birgit Klughardt, GitesBeads
Bobbie Rafferty, Beadsong Jewelry
Bonnie Coursolle,  Jasper Gems
Cece Cormier, The Beading Yogini
Charlene Jacka, Clay Space
Cherrie Fick, En La Lumie're
Cheryl Foiles, Get Your Bead On
Christie Murrow, Charis Designs Jewelry

Christina Miles, Wings n Scales
Christina Stofmeel, Feng Beads
Christine Stonefield, Sweet Girl Design
Cindy Cima Edwards, Live to Design
CJ Bauschka, 4 His Glory Creations
Claire Smith, Embergrass Jewelry
Cynthia Riggs, Cynth's Blog
Dana Fowler, Trunk Full of Treasure
Dawn Pierro, Turtle Moon Designs
Dee Elgie, Cherry Obsidia
Donetta Farrington, Simply Gorgeous

Dot Lewallwn, Speedie Beadie
Eileen Snyder, Dorset Hill Beads
Elizabeth Bunn, Elizabeth Beads
Eva Kovacs, Ewa gyongyos vilaga!
Evelyn Duberry, Sheba Makeda
Fay Wolfenden, Torch Fairy
Fen Li, Bead Flora Jewels
Gail Zwang, Angel Moose Enterprises
Geneva Collins, Torque Story
Grace Dorsey, Fan of the Flame
Gretchen Nation,  Art Food Lodging

Hannah Annear, Squintessential
Hajer Waheed, My Beaded World
Heather Goldsmith, As I Bead It
Heather Otto, The Craft Hopper
Heidi Kingman, My Bead Therapy
Hope Smitherman, Crafty Hope
Isolina Perez, Isolina Perez
Jacqueline Keller, CreARTelier
Jane Haag, Did You Make Something Today?
Janeen Sorensen, Wild Vanilla Designs
Jean Peter, Jean P. Designs

Jennifer Judd, Jen Judd Rocks
Jennifer L Justman, Soul's Fire Designs
Joanna Matuszczyk, Bizuteria z filcu
Joanne Brown, Jo's Jewels
Joanne Lockwood, Jo Bunkum
Joyce Becker, Joyce's Joyful Gems
Judy Riley, Three Red Beads
Karen Mitchell, Over the Moon Design
Karen Williams, Baublicious
Karin von Hoeren, Creative Ideen

Karla Morgan, Texas Pepper Jams
Kashmira Patel, Sadafule .. always in bloom!
Kate Richbourg, We Can Make That at Home

Katrin Lembke, AllesPerle
Kathy Combs, Torched in Texas
Kathy Lindemer, Bay Moon Design
Kay Thomerson, Kayz Kreationz
Kelley Fogle, My Life, One Bead at at Time
Kelly Hosford Patterson, Traveling Side Show

Klaudette Koon, Only Road
Lara Lutrick, Lampwork Beads by Lara
Laura Guenther, Blue Antiquities

Laurie Lalonde, Simply Mod Jewelry
Lilik Kristiani, Soul of My Embodiment
Linda Younkman, Lindy's Designs
Lisa Chapman, Beach Cat Beads
Lisa Lodge, Pine Ridge Treasures
Loretta Carstensen, Designs by Loretta
Lori Bergmann, Lori Bergmann Design
Lori Dorrington, Lori's Adventures in Etsy Land
Lupe Meter, Gem's PC Corner
Lynn Davis, LLYYNN

Malin de Koning, Beading by Malin
Mandi Effron, Craft-o-licious
Mandy Williamson, Mimi's Beading
Margot Potter, The Impatient Crafter
Maria Rosa Sharrow, Willow Street Shops
Marianne Baxter, Simply Seablime Jewelry
Marina Dobrynina, Savon Feutre
Marjolein Trewavas, Room for Change
Marelene Cupo, Amazing Designs
Marsha Neal, Marsha Neal Studio

Marta Kaczerowska, uhuhu
Mary Govaars, MLH Jewelry Designs
Melissa Trudinger, Bead Recipes
Menka Gupta, Menka's Jewelry Blog
Michelle Burnett, Reverie and Revival
Michelle Escano-Caballero, The Cabby Crafter
Miko Wiropati, Uniquely Yunikua
Milla Hope,  LB Creative Arts and Crafts
Mimi Gardner, Other Curiosities
Miranda Ackerley, MirandackArts
Natalie McKenna, grubbi

Noemi Baena, fuego, metal, y color
Pam Ferrari, Ferrari Originals
Pam Sears, Crazy Creative Corner
Penny Neville, Copper Penny
Rachel Baron, R. Baron Designs
Rachel Myers, Rockabead Jewelry
Rana Wilson, Definitive Designs by R. Wilson
Rebecca Anderson, Song Beads
Rebecca Sirevaag, Becca's Place
Riki Schumacher, Riki Jewelry

Rose Binoya, Ahtee's Blog
Rossana De Gaspari, Rdegas Blog
Sally Anderson, Wild Sally Road
Sandi James, Do Be Do Bead Do
Sandi Volpe, Sandi Volpe
Sandra Wollberg, City of Brass Stories
Sarah Goode, Pookledo

Sarah Small, blog by salla
Shai Williams, Shaiha's Ramblings
Shawn Mills, Shawn Marie Designs with Bent Wire
Sheila Davis, Stone Designs by Sheila

Sheryl Stephens, Babble Bead
Shiraz Biggie, Secret Song Designs
Solange Collin,  Ahowin Handcrafted Jewelry
Sonya Stille, Dreamin' of Beads
Stephanie Dixon, The Dixon Chick
Susan Kennedy, Sue Beads
Susan Sheehan, Strands of Thought
Suzann Sladcik Wilson, Beadphoria
Sweet Freedom, Sweet Freedom Designs
Tabatha Dinger, Modernly Created
Tania Hagen, Pelima Jewellery Design

Tanya Boden, Fusion Muse
Terri Gauthier, Blooming Ideas
Terry Carter, Tapping Flamingo
Tracy Stillman, Tracy Stillman Designs

Need a Laugh Wednesday: Coffee Humor

Source: narcyzagambier.tumblr.com via Geneva on Pinterest

This installment of Need a Laugh Wednesday is as revealing about me as my grammar humor one was--people who know me well know that I am a coffee fiend.

Hey, I had a French press coffee maker way back in 1982 and was drinking cappuccino in the days where the only places you could buy the stuff outside Europe were a handful of coffeehouses in Greenwich Village. A pinboard devoted to coffee was one of my earliest Pinterest projects.

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I have to confess that I used to drink quadruple shots of espresso.

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Source: via Geneva on Pinterest

The one below is not humor, but it's so magnificent I have to share--it's a portrait made of coffee rings.

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And look--since this is a jewelry blog, I'll finish up with a different kind of coffee ring. How cool is this?

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P.S. some of you may have missed my last Need a Laugh installment, featuring Tina Fey--I published it last Wednesday but with the wrong date, so it showed up among the July posts. I've corrected it.