Tuesday, December 15, 2009

2 of 3 swaps...

From the bead group Bounties of Beads Boutique. An ebay bead group. I recieved this great collection of beads from Trish :)



+ a cool felt Christmas bag and candles and beautiful Christmas card.

So many fun creations waiting to be made. Already made a fun christmas bracelet and a matching bracelet to go with my necklace and earrings set :)

1 of 3 swaps recieved...

From the bead group... Bead Beads and More Beads. An ebay bead group. I received this great collection of beads from Cornerstoregoddess :)





Thank you... So many wonderful treasures :)

Bounties of Beads Boutique Blackout Bingo

I'm running a blackout bingo in the group, "Bounties of Beads Boutique". We are an ebay bead group.

Jackpot has all kinds of goodies, beads, and jewelry.
Here is the jackpot... So many pretties :)



Bracelet and earring set and sweets from...
AngelsCreation (Me)

Earrings from...
Cornerstoregoddess

Earrings, beaded spider, wine charms, key ring, cell charm, and ornament from...
Julie's Jewels

Looses beads from another group member.

This is gonna be one Happy Winner :)

Tis' The Season

Twas' several nights before Christmas.
When all through the house,
only the cats were stiring and not the dog.
The stockings are hung on the wall.
In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there

Nobody's home to be nestled in their beds,
So no visions of sugar-plums dancing in heads.
And mamma in the car, and hubby too,
Had just taken a drive to see all the sites.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
And nobody home to see what was the matter.
Back to our home we flew like a flash,
Tore out the camera and threw up the flash.

"Now Dasher! now, Vixen! Who did this to you!
On, neighbors! On, family! On, whoever this was!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!"

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Long Time

Wow... I didn't realize it has been a month since posting. Alot has been going on and with Christmas right around the corner. It's been busy :).

Worked on and mailed three different swaps... Two jewelry swaps and one beads/findings swap. Recieved two swaps so far and they are awesome, so many goodies. I will post pictures tomorrow for all to see.

One other project I've been working on. I have been running a Beady Blackout Bingo in Bounties of Beads boutique (an Ebay group). Running a regular bingo at every 5 words. So far we've gotten 2 regular bingos at 5 words and 10 words. Next bingos will be 15 and 20 words. Then the big blackout at 25 words. The jackpot is sooo cool, tons of beady goodies :). I'll post pictures of the jackpot tomorrow.

Working on Christmas goodies here at home. From baking, paper crafts, and jewelry.

Stay tuned for pictures :)

Friday, October 30, 2009

Craft Show

Mark your Calendars! Come join in the Fall Celebration!

WATC (Wichita Area Technical College) is hosting thier 1st annual Wichita Arts, Treasures and Crafts event.

There will be baked goods, art items, treasures of many kinds, crafts, and breakfast and lunch items from the kitchen. Several activities will take place and local vendors will be participating. We will also do free blood pressure checks and possibly some other screenings by our health faculty.

Date: November 7th from 8 am – 5 pm.
Where: 4501 E. 47th street south.

Bounties of Beads Boutique Halloween Swap

Bounties of Beads Boutique is an Ebay group for beaders. Whether you create them, string them, mold them, or wear them.

Goblins and Ghouls was the theme for our Halloween swap. We had another successful swap. Everyone made some really awesome creations. Here's is what I recieved and what I sent.


Recieved this ghostly necklace... What a friendly ghost it is too :)




Made and sent these cute pumpkin witches, strung on hemp, with my poly clay lentil beads.

A Haunting we will Go...

Happy Halloween





I will be having Trick or Treating withdraws this year. No sneaking the occassional little candy bar. Oh yea, I mean checking the candy for bad candy... That is.

It will be our first year not going out. Our girls are too big, well my 17 year old will still trick or treat, nothing like a big bag of candy :), however the friends are more important than us old fogies :(.

For the last several years, we also took our neice and nephew trick or treating. This year they want to go out with thier dad. Unless they change their mind between now and tomorrow, looks like we'll be staying in :(

It's been a fun Holiday for creating. I sold several of these cute little beads. Stop by my shop at AngelsCreation.etsy.com to see all my handmade beads.




Wishing everyone a safe and Happy Halloween :)


Monday, September 14, 2009

Aim and Shoot... Pictures, Pictures, Pictures

This drives me nuts... how about you????

Before diving into the enchilada sauce. I spent the afternoon re-taking pictures for my etsy shop (angelscreation.etsy.com). I got about 1/2 of my items done.

I've spent the last couple of days re-taking pictures with different lighting. Not liking any of them. Finally I decided to pack up and go outside. After we went to wally world and got some yard spray for the skeeters (yes, they are awefull here).

I was happy with the outdoor pictures. Once I get caught up, it shouldn't be so bad. Taking the pictures outside. If I can just get in the habbit of taking them when I finish something and not letting my creations pile up first.

Please feel free to comment and tell me... Do you take your pictures outside or use lots of lights inside? I've been looking at one of those photo cubes for indoors. Do you use one of those? Oh one last thing, what megapixel is your camera?

Here are some of my befores and afters. BIG difference :-)



Enchilada Dinner

What a night... Enchilada dinner always takes up time. I can't just make a few. I always have to make at least 2 dozen. Tonight I made ground beef w/cheese and plain cheese inchiladas and made 1 dozen of each.



And rice...


This takes about 1 1/2 - 2 hours to make. Mostly prep work.

Here's the completed job...


And 10 minutes later...


Sooooo much work for such little time... Oh but it's well worth every savory bit :-)

How to make these: (1 dozen)
1st. Brown your ground beef (about 3 lbs). Drain any grease. Place in a large mixing bowl. Add maybe 1/2 cup of enchilada sauce to taste (enough to flavor how much beef you use). Add the shredded cheese. Mix all together. Set aside.

2nd. Add one large can (28 oz) of enchilada sauce to skillet (large enough to dip tortilla in). Using another skillet, add enough grease to cover tortilla. Low to medium heat on both of these skillets.

Putting it all together:
Dip tortilla into sauce skillet (long enough to coat). Now dip that tortilla into grease skillet (long enough to coat). Lay on a plate and fill with meat mixture. Roll it up and place in spray coated 9x11 baking pan. You can put 2 layers in this size pan.

My shortcut is to coat and pile my tortilla's onto a plate and then do all my filling at once.

Make your own enchilada sauce (when I'm in the mood)...
Large bag of dried chilli pods. Cut open and remove seeds. Cut into large chunks or not. Put pods into a large enough pan to hold them and cover with water. Once pods are tender add pods to a blender with the water and blend them pods up. Strain the liquid into your skillet (yes strain, so you don't end up with pieces of pods... No NOT peas in a pod).

And now the punch line... LOL
After all this work. My daughter walks in from work with a bucket of finger lickin' good KFC.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Bounties of Beads Boutique August Swap

Wow... We had a really awesome swap for August. Oh yea, for most that don't know. I'm the leader of an awesome bead group, that can be found in Ebay. Our group name is Bounties of Beads Boutique. While most of our swap creations are known before hand. In August we chose to have a mystery swap. Only partners knew about their creations and for all other swappers eyes once creations were recieved. It was up to each partner what they would like. Both my partner and I wanted something that best represented our work.

For the August swap, I was paired up with another great beader. She can be found using her name... cornerstoregoddess. She makes the most awesome charm bracelets.

Don't you just love this charm bracelet... Me too :-)


And earrings...


Knowing my partner loves my clay work and knowing she likes Halloween. Here is what I chose to make my partner, along with some extra BOOtiful beads.

Crystal Dragonfly Tutorial

Supplies:
36" fishing line (no larger than .011 dia)
23 4mm clear crystals
1 4mm pink crystal
2 4mm black crystals
1 4mm red crystal
1 6mm crystal roundell
1 clear or pink seed bead
4 6mm tear drops (or possibly 8mm)


1. String seed bead to center of line.


2. Bring both lines together and string 1 pink, 7 clear, roundell.


3. Separte lines, string 1 clear and criss cross line, so line goes in both sides and comes out both sides. Pull so crystal nestles evenly into roundell.



4. Separate line and string 1 clear to each side.


5. Repeat step 3


Picture of steps 3, 4, and 5 completed.


6. Repeat step 4,3


7. Repeat step 4 using black crystals.


8. Repeat step 3 using red crystal.


9. Repeat 4,3 clear crystals


10. Repeat 4,3 using clear crystals


11. Repeat 4, 3 using clear crystals
12. Repeat step 4, using clear crystals.
13. Separate lines and feed through each side of crystal closest to roundell. (This will pull body together against tail)


14. Separate lines and string 2 teardrops to each side.


15. Separate lines and string through each side of red crystal. (This will pull wings in and nestle into gaps on side of body)


16. String line through other crystals on body to tighten then tie off.

Wallllaaaa...You have yourself a Dragonfly.

Incase pictures are hard to look at, due to string shadows. I also made up an illustrated version.


Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Daughter's 21st Birthday

Well... I finally finished my daughter's journal. She got a sneak peak a few days ago, since it was her birthday then. I wanted to add some of her pictures before she could take it. She really liked it. Oh yea, my niece LOVED her journal.

Here's a few pictures of my daughter's journal. She really likes monkeys and I got these really awesome polyclay monkeys in a swap. I've used an arrary of papers, from sketch paper, double sided cardstock, printer paper, patterned. I also folded them both ways, depending on the page it was on.






Here are the videos where I learned how to stitch these awesome journals. And to whom I feel I owe credit too. Very easy to follow and friendly too.

Step 1 video
Step 2 video

Friday, September 4, 2009

Niece's Birthday

Wanting to make my niece something special. I decided to try something that I've always wanted to do. This is my first stitch binding journal with a leather cover. I gave her some plain white paper and pattern papers from my scrapbook paper stock. Her favorite colors are red and black, so she got red and black beads on the end of the book tie. I'm mailing it tonight and she should get it tomorrow... I hope. If not she'll have to wait till after the holiday to get it.



I really like the journal and am ready to tackle more of them. I'm already making another one for my oldest daughter's birthday... coming up this Sunday. Her birthday gift request was a scrapbook of her. So I will be adding pages of her and pages for her to write in. Thinking about adding some envelope pages as well and tags here and there. So many thoughts come to mind after I make my first item.

Among various paper crafts, I also really enjoy making jewelry. As I create, I will post my creations for all to see. I'm still getting the hang of this blog... it's my first and there's so many option for this and that.