Exquisite Bracelets

Today I was playing with the new things I received in my jewelry order, which came the other day. I'd happened to order some stunning spacer bars that evoked a victorian feel with antiqued silver and swarovski crystals adding a little sparkle. I had an inspiration, dived right in, and ended up designing 8 bracelets! I've never made so many 2-strand bracelets before in one day, so it was a new record for me... and I decided it was blog-worthy! :D So, whipping out my little camera, I snapped a few pictures for you.

Aren't they beautiful?

The bracelets are not complete yet, just strung on the Accu-Flex wire, but you get the idea. :)

Looking at these just makes me all happy inside! :) I was also quite pleased to get so much done today. Creativity comes in wild bursts for me... so I've learned to go with the flow and 'make hay while the sun shines'! :D

I actually do this pretty often. Snap a random self-portrait, that is. I rarely share them in blog-world, however. :D Here I am thinking, "hmm, will this angle work, or cut off half my face?"

And here I was thinking "Oh wow, it works!" :) I also love the close-up of the beads... all that shimmer and glitter is nearly overpowering my "sparkle radar". Oooh! SO gorgeous! :D

So what do you think? Did you spy a favorite color amongst my jewelry pieces? (hopefully! I usually just have to guess what people like when I'm ordering beads... sometimes my instincts flop, but most of the time they're pretty accurate) Let me know if you're interested in purchasing one of the completed pieces. These will all eventually be for sale. ;)

Love & Hugs,

Color Combination Happiness

So I was cleaning my room and noticed four shirts lying on my easy chair. They each had an equal amount of space on the chair where they were displaying their various colors. I had to stop and stare - the colors looked so beautiful together! I gathered them all up in my arms and marveled.

Then, I plopped down at my desk and tried to re-create the shades on my computer so I wouldn't forget about this color combination. It was too pretty not to share.

So I had to share it with you! What do you think?

Do you like these colors together too, or is it just me?

Also... While I was playing around, I decided to show ya'll my color scheme for my future kitchen. I've wanted my kitchen to be a soft purple and sunny yellow ever since I first found a picture of a purple kitchen in a magazine.

Isn't that cute?? :D I've already collected some kitchen supplies in the right shades of purple and yellow. (Seriously, it is not easy to find kitchen accessories in these colors) So far, among other things, I have a purple skillet and a yellow colander (strainer). :D

Also, someday, I would Love, Love, LOVE a master bedroom in these soothing colors:

And I would love to crochet a king-size afghan in these colors too. Wouldn't that look nice?

What is your favorite color combination? Do you like pink and gray, or orange and baby blue? Tell me what colors work for you. :)

The late-updating, vacuum-fighting, re-shrinking me

Okaaaay, so after that somewhat (all right, rather... very...) unusual post title, I have an even more interesting post! It could be a little mixed-up, but this is the real Julia, at 10:00 pm with all the wonderful sugar from a vanilla waffle ice cream cone topped with strawberry jam racing through her system. *grins*

Yes, you wanted to see pictures of the homeschool convention. No, they will not be appearing in this post. I'm sorry.  I did not download them yet - they're on my mom's camera and I am unfamiliar with the shiny silver little device. I will share them with you when they are downloaded. But I do have the news!  I sold half my jewelry inventory at the booth, and my brothers sold all but 4 spears and 2 throwing axes. It was wonderful and we are definitely going back next year! :D

Oh, and ehrm... the hotel pool was about 2 feet wide and 6 feet long. I kid you not. Very unimpressive.
The rest of the hotel was really cool! ...But they should have skipped the pool.

And now, we interrupt our regularly scheduled blogposting to bring you... The Beautiful Blogger Award!

Thank you Joanna!! I'm touched. What a sweet thing for you to do! :D

- Thank the person who nominated you and link to their blog.


- Copy the award and paste it to your blog.

- Tell us seven interesting facts about yourself.

- Pass this award on to 15 fantastic bloggers you have discovered.

- Contact your nominations and let them know they’ve won.



1. Today, I started crocheting a RUG! Oh so cute. I must post pictures soon.

2. Tomorrow, we are going strawberry picking - oh joy! I love strawberries, especially freshly-picked!

3. Next week, we are having a Yard Sale at our house and wow did we ever have too much stuff squirreled away that we are (hopefully) getting rid of.

4. Yesterday I had a battle royale with the vacuum cleaner and whipped it into submission, emerging victorious with a spotlessly clean bedroom carpet. This really deserves its own blog post, but I'm squeezing it in here... You see, the vacuum broke a while ago, and so I had to use the 'pet brush' tool on the hose to clean my whole floor. This means I was down on my hands and knees, pushing this ridiculously small tube (attached to the machine with a stretchy hose) across the floor. I was an easy mark for the base, which kept getting tugged when I extended the stretchy hose, and falling over on top of me! Ouch! *grrr.*

5.Remember my "Incredible shrinking Julia" post? Well... I sort of 'un-shrunk', so now I'm re-shrinking! Yay! Already lost 3 pounds. :D
 
6. Mama made chocolate chip cookies yesterday, and we bought waffle cones to make ice cream cones at the store today, so 'shrinking' has been very difficult for me lately! (Tell me I don't need to be eating ice cream.)
 
7. The other day, I actually got a blister from playing a toy accordion. (See? I told you this blog post was going to be weird!) Apparently I was concentrating so hard on trying to pick out the melody of 'Amazing Grace' that I didn't realize I was getting a blister from the strap, which was too small. *facepalm*
 
And now, to award somone else.
 
Rachel. My sweet blogging friend! Rachel's latest post on our devotional blog, Meditations of His love, was exactly what I needed to hear at that moment, and I was in awe of the way God used her to speak to me. My dear, I am awarding you with this award for being the beautifully clear example of God's love that has so inspired me. God bless you!
 
I hope the rest of you will not mind that I didn't do the required 15 awardees. I wanted to do something special for Rachel. :)
 
Time for me to be signing off. Have a lovely weekend, ya'll!
 
Love & Hugs,

In Short...

We did great at the convention! :D I'm thrilled! We weren't able to use the internet in the hotel, so that's why no updates have come from me during the weekend. Currently, my whole family (especially me) is fried. (very tired, in other words) So I'm off to rest! But more details and pictures are coming soon, so stay tuned! ;)

Hugs,