Bling Girl

I Moved!

2010-10-21T18:28:00.000-07:00

I recently moved from the fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada to beautiful Phoenix, Arizona, and so my blog has moved as well. Since I'm no longer in Vegas I decided to start a new blog for my new adventures in Arizona. You can now find me at
A Whimsical Flea Market!

Queen Baby Jewelry

2009-10-13T07:54:00.000-07:00

About a month ago Troy bought me a Queen Baby necklace.

I had never heard of them & was curious what their other items were like,

so I did a quick search and found out they have two lines,

one for men, King Baby, which I think was the original line,

and one for women, Queen Baby.

While browsing the web I came across this super cool video!

Rock 'n Roll, Chopper Rides & Jewelry Making,

doesn't get much sweeter than this!

You can buy either line here.

BikeFest '09

2009-10-06T07:39:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I went to BikeFest.

I could hardly believe it, they had a bike fit for BlingGirl!!!

The bike, helmet & licence plate were all covered in Swarovski crystals!!!

This one was pretty cool too,

painted in BlingGirl colors!

I think this was my favorite bike...chopper!

Love the colors & that it's a chopper!

Right as we were about to leave, this helmet jumped out at me.

A skull & crossbones with a bright pink bow in her pigtails!

Love it!

Later that night we went downtown with some friends to NYNY Casino to the Dueling Piano Bar, one of our friends thought he was a photographer that night...but we ended up with some fun pics of Troy & I.

I have so much fun with him, I LOVE YOU BABE!!!

Visted By MY Auntie M

2009-09-28T18:33:00.000-07:00

I am known to my nieces as Auntie M, but I also have an Auntie M of my own! Mariann came and spent four days with me this past weekend. She came bearing gifts, it was like Christmas! She made me this sweet button flower bouquet, I'm one of the luckiest girls ever, I just LoVe it!

Thursday night we went to dinner with Troy & Tanya (Troy's sister who also happened to be in town) to RA, a sushi bar downtown. It was Mariann's first time to eat sushi & she loved all of it expect the eel.

Friday we went to see Karen, The Button Lady, we got to dig through her bins & bins of buttons! This is Mariann going through her favorite, shell buttons! We had a great time.

Later that night we got to go see Dat Phan at The Improv Comedy Club, another first for Mariann, it was a great show!

Saturday we went to see Carole, aka, The Ribbon Lady, we got some yummy treats & learned how to make ribbon roses!!!

We went to Bellagio for dinner and walked through the atrium, they've got it decorated for fall, it was beautiful. They had a miniature display of the Bellagio complete with the fountains, huge 800+ pound pumpkins, a giant scarecrow with crying tress, a giant leaf fountain, a talking tree & a giant tree gnome. The glass leaves were beautiful, when looking up at them they gave the illusion that they were falling.

On Sunday we decided to make something, I made the creepy pumpkin guy and Mariann made the cute stacked pumpkins, they are really small, only about 2" tall & 1.25" wide. Mariann also made a broach & then tied a ribbon around the bottle and pined it on ~ two for one ~ Broach & Fall Decor! How cleaver!

I had a super fun weekend and can't wait till our next visit!
Love you Mariann!
Mwah!!!

Papa Green

2009-09-15T06:24:00.000-07:00

My Papa Green was a great man, an inspiration to all who knew and loved him. Whenever I am down or feel like I can't do something I just think of him, try to gather strength and courage like he carried with him throughout his life. One of the biggest lessons I learned from him is to never give up, you CAN do anything! Just yesterday when I cut a piece of wood, the smell reminded me of him, every time I work with wood I will be reminded of my Papa.

I love you and will miss you Papa!

This was written by my Dad, Papa's oldest son.

MY DAD
A eulogy written by Dennis Green

Paul LeRoy Green was born on May 25, 1929 in Wilson, Wyoming. He was raised on a small ranch on the river bottom of the Snake River. Those who knew my dad as I did, know he was a great man. He was, above all, very devoted to family. His father was a devoted family man, and passed this down to his children, as my dad to his. He was most happy when he was with his children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, nephews, and niece. This was evident by his broad smile when we could gather with him.

He was an exceptional athlete during his school years. He was quarterback and captain of his football team. His first love, though, was basketball. He was also captain of the basketball team. I’ve been told by many throughout the years that he excelled at both.

My dad was a very proud, strong and courageous man. He was severely injured in a car accident in 1956; he was only 25. His brother, first cousin, and friend all lost their lives in the accident and my dad was the only survivor. He came home from the hospital in a wheel-chair, and the doctors told him that he would never walk again. He and my grandpa disappeared into the mountains for several days. When they finally came back, Dad was bruised, cut, and scraped, but he was walking. He proudly raised a family of six children dragging one leg and then the other, working in the lumber and timber industries.

He thought the sun rose and set on my mother and always remembered her birthdays, their anniversary, and all the important days to her. He called her babe. She always seemed to idolize him as well, just as all six of us kids did. They were married for 62 years.

He raised us by example. He was extremely loyal to his family, very hard working, and as honest as the day is long. He started taking me and my brothers to work with him when we were at very young ages. He tried to instill his work ethics and honesty in each of us. The bar was set high for us all, brothers and sisters, and he always did his best to help us achieve our goals. My goal has always been to try to live up to what he was, and I have never felt that I could achieve it. I consider myself to be extremely fortunate to have worked side-by-side with him and grandpa, to be raised by them, and to be my dad’s son. God has been generous to me.

As the years have gone by, life has continually gotten harder and harder for Dad, although he rarely let on. I don’t know of anyone who ever heard him complain about being crippled or how hard things were for him. He eventually went from dragging his legs, to using canes and walkers, to being permanently restricted to a wheel-chair. In spite of his immobility and hardships, he kept himself busy with firewood, wood working, and of course, following the Jazz. He always heated his homes with firewood. He rigged up a cart that he could haul the wood into the house with by himself. He was always the one to build and tend the fire. He built a front deck with steps and a ramp on the front of his house, and he built a front porch with steps on the front of my sister’s house, all from an electric wheel-chair. He built work benches and tables in his small tool shop. He started building drawers in cabinets for Mom. Once he got started with the drawers, he couldn’t seem to quit. Behind almost every cabinet door in their house there are drawers, drawers, and more drawers.

He loved life. As I’ve stated, he loved his family above all else. He also loved the outdoors. He loved and loyally supported the Utah Jazz. He loved his little dog “Teddy” who he referred to as my little brother. He used to love camping, hunting, fishing, or just driving or riding in the forest. Every fall for the past several years him and Mom used to ride the Sheep Creek loop with me and Candy to take-in all the fall colors, and have a picnic lunch. He loved the forests and the timber. He loved working with wood, whether it be firewood, crafting something, logging, or the manufacturing of lumber. He took great pride in anything he did and insisted on the job being completed right.

I have searched my soul this last week to try to understand his untimely death. It is so inconsistent with the way he lived and loved his life. This just wasn’t him. I guess nobody will ever know or understand something like this, but I have my own theory. I think that he wanted to die the way he lived, with dignity and pride, and I know for a fact that he did not want to burden his family.

I love my father so much that it is impossible for me to express it to that extent. I know one thing that is as sure as I am writing this: At the moment he died, he started running away from that wheel-chair and his crippled body, and is in fact still running as hard and as fast as he can go, shouting “look at me go babe….look at me go”. This is the way I ask you to remember him when he occasionally crosses your mind, as I will…..running with the wind with that broad smile on his face, because I know in my heart of hearts that is the way he would want to be remembered.

Godspeed

2009-05-11T07:18:00.000-07:00

We had the honor of attending a Deployment Ceremony

for our good friend Cory last month.

Afterwords we came back to our house and

had a little departing party for him.

The next morning he flew out to Camp Atterbury in Indiana,

where he'll be until June when he leaves for a

one-year deployment to Afghanistan.

In addition to many other things Cory is a musician

who writes & performs music;

without fail the guitars come out whenever this

group of our friends get together.

I'd like to share with you one song that Cory sang for us that night.

We will miss you!

Here's to a safe journey & safe return for you

and all the men in the 1st Squadron, 221st Cavalry.

Thank you for your service!

Can't wait to have your Welcome Home party!

Lenka

2009-05-09T07:33:00.000-07:00

I had a BLAST in Hawaii, one day I will live there,
it may be 30 years from now, but I will live there someday.
Anyway, I'm busy trying to get my studio finished
but next week I'll have a few new posts for you,
one will include some Hawaii pics.

I discovered this music while browsing the web the other day.
It's great and know a lot of you will like it too so I thought I'd share!
Enjoy!

If you go here you can watch the video for The Show,
it's a fun video, I couldn't add it to my blog, sorry.

~♥~Love this Life~♥~

Domestic Construction

2009-04-17T09:11:00.000-07:00

Went to the bookstore the other day, was browsing mags and stopped as soon as I saw this.....

...how cool are these!!! Yes, these are tea & coffee cups that are made into a chandelier with a bowl to cover the electrical in the ceiling!!! I just love altered & re-purposed stuff!!!

I didn't want to buy the mag so I put the website in my
long term memory storage container that seems to have a leak now days
so when I got home I couldn't remember it...
...then just a few minutes ago it just popped into my head!

I sat down and went to their website, they have the most incredible video right on their homepage, you have to watch it!

But wait!!!

They also have an Etsy store where you can buy these little beauties, this one will run you a cool grand, but they have singles for about $60!

If you click on the Surface & Space tab on their website they have a bunch of cool photos of their various designs....I don't know which one I like best...too many cool things! I also LOVE their "bubble" dresses. I'm going to have to watch for a vintage pattern and make myself one!

Third Time's A Charm

2009-04-15T18:48:00.000-07:00

....I hope.

I have my entire upstairs completely torn apart right now. I always forget to take before pics,arrrgh!@!%$!@! But thought you'd enjoy seeing the mess I've got myself into anyway!

I decided yet again to move the room that will end up being my "Studio"!

I've decided to make the room most of you know as
"The Beach Room" into my Studio.
I know, I know....but I'm not getting rid of
the beach room, it's just moving is all.

The next two pictures are of most of the major furniture from the beach room in my hallway. A big mess!!!

This cubby hole of a closet was my first work station, you can still see my Pretty Little Things shelves in there......now Troy gets the closet for a while. As you can see my entire upstairs is a wreck, it's slowing leaking into every nook and cranny! When finished this room will be Troy's computer room/music recording studio/guest room/exercise room!

This room was my second attempt at creating a studio but I just had way too much furniture, it was cramped, dark and I just couldn't get my muse. Now it's totally torn apart, getting packed for the move down the hall! This room will become The New Beach Room.

Yes it is, third time is a charm! This beautiful open, light, airy room will be my new Studio! Yea! It was a beautiful beach room but will be an even more beautiful Studio. I will post more pics as I get stuff done. My Studio won't be done for well over a month, we are leaving in a week for a two week vacation to Hawaii! Yea! Perhaps I'll come back with some new additions for "The New Beach Room"!

I'm having so much fun, this room is going to be great, I'm so excited!!! Yea!

Unconditional Love

2009-04-07T08:40:00.000-07:00

This is truly an awesome story!!! Thanks for sharing Steph!

If you want to see more of this story tune into Animal Planet, Thursday, April 9, 7PM and watch A Lion Called Christian.

There is also a book for all you book lovers.

I LOVE ART & MUSIC!

2009-03-14T21:07:00.000-07:00

I LOVE ART!!!

I LOVE MUSIC!!!

This is one of the coolest things

that I've seen in a long, long time.

A combination of two of my favorite things....enjoy!

2009-03-08T15:50:00.000-07:00

Too Long

2009-02-28T17:31:00.000-08:00

I know it's been forever since my last post, I read this quote a couple days ago and thought it very fitting!

"Only good girls keep diaries. Bad girls don't have time."

-Tallulah Bankhead

Soon, I'll get a post on here soon!

My Studio

2009-01-26T16:45:00.000-08:00

I am so excited, I finally moved the bed out of "My Studio"/Guest Room and so now I can actually call it My Studio with out the quotation marks and back slash! I will be working on getting it set up in between all the projects I have going on and I thought I'd share the process with you start to finish!

STORAGE

Right after AU last year Jackie sent me a picture of a ribbon storage idea she found on the web. It was a mannequin and they had tied the a ribbon around the waist to make it look like a skirt, I think it was less than a week later Gabrielle was born! She is one of my favorite things in my studio. I tie and untie ribbons, lace and fabric scraps as I buy and use them so her "outfit" is constantly changing. Thanks for the idea Jackie!

I added more shelving to the closet.

I always forget to take before pictures so here is a

midway pic and after pic of the front of the closet.

And a before and after pic of the end of the closet.

And yes, I did all of this all by myself,well,
with help from my trusty nail gun and jig saw,
my husband states it best....
"you are the girliest Tom Boy I have ever met."

LIGHTING
Again, forgot the before pic, so I took a pic of the box. I got this chandelier at a Lowe's clearance sale about two years ago for around $25, original price $250. But I didn't want a black one so I took it completely apart and painted it. The wiring that ran through it was black too, all the metal covered it up except where it went through the chain from the top to the ceiling. So I made a little tube out of some silk fabric and wa la a cream chandelier. I love it and all the crystals are genuine Swarovski so it's bling is BlingGirl approved!

This was a salvage yard find. It reminded me of a crown and me being the Queen that I am I could not resist, and heck it was only $10! I had to rewire it as it had just been cut out of the ceiling from where ever it came from. Instead of making it a chandelier I made it a lamp. I found the crystals at Carole's, The Ribbon Lady's store. They are crystals that came from a chandelier from one of the imploded casinos here in Vegas. I think I've had the crystals hanging on there 12 different ways already and am still not sure that this is what I will settle on.

Next up is going to be a new work table, I've got a couple ideas, but I think I want it to be at standing height, I usually end up working standing up or sitting on the floor, so I think counter height....and painting, I'll be painting the whole room, inside the closet and probably the Jack&Jill bathroom that is connected to it, I'm thinking....pink...no...green...no pink...will post more pics as I get stuff done!

New Favorite Tee

2009-01-26T15:44:00.001-08:00

I got a new T-Shirt and loved the saying so much I made a digi image with it. I used my new pen mouse thingy to write Love, Mwah and draw the peace sign heart.

Enjoy!

If you want to buy one for yourself,

go here.

If I Had More Time

2009-01-23T08:22:00.001-08:00

One of my friends asked me why he had not seen hardly any new posts on my blog in a while. And I started telling him, I've been busy with this and busy with that and he interrupted me and said "so what your telling me is that you are out living your life instead of sitting at your computer typing about it?" I had my ah ha moment and then remembered looking at someones blog who had posted just a few lines about each picture on the post instead of these insanely long paragraphs...

...so, here is a little of what I've been up to since August.

If I had more time I would tell you more about how much I love our boat, going to Lake Mead and wakeboarding.

If I had more time I'd post a bunch of links to the music of one of my favorite bands the Toadies and tell you how great they were in concert and cool it was to meet Clark Vogler and talk to him at the bar, how their opening band had a drummer who not only in looks but in the way he played the drums reminded me of my dear friend LuE.

If I had more time I would tell you how great the Joan Jett pool side concert was, we were able to get so close and rock out. Like always she R O C K E D!!!!!!

If I had more time I'd tell you about Troy's 20 Year Class Reunion and what a great time I had drinking & playing poker with a dealer who is an Elvis impersonator.

If I had more time I'd tell you how sad it makes me that my doggies are getting old & how their medicines take up more space in the medicine cabinet than the meds for Troy and I combine.

If I had more time I'd tell you all about the cat I call Cheshire that antagonizes my dogs in the summer and how much it loves to lay in our cool grass, a rare thing here in the desert.

If I had more time I tell you how sweet my Mom is, she not only made me one apron to wear when I cooked Turkey Dinner at Thanks Giving but she made me another one to wear in my studio that just screams BlingGirl! Thank you, Mom, Mwah!

If I had more time I'd tell you more about the "Best Stop Ever" driving from Vegas to Phoenix and how they let everyone sign any and all parts of their store and how Amanda and I also left our marks!

This year I'll try to give you more little glimpses into what's going on in BlingGirl's world!

Thanks for sharing this blog and your friendships with me!

Teaser

2009-01-23T06:27:00.000-08:00

I made these cupcake pincushions for

my Mom and Aunt out of ribbon & lace!

They are just so yummy I had to share!

Last month my "First Wednesdays" Club started a charm swap.

These women are amazingly creative!

I still have not had a chance to make mine

into a bracelet yet but it's on my list to do!

Our next swap is in February,

a romantic theme, here is a teaser for the girls.

I know there has got to be an easier way to do this!

Oooh but I can't wait to get them finished,

I think they are going to turn out great!

Spoiled Rotten

2009-01-23T05:43:00.000-08:00

Talking about Spoiled Rotten, I think I am the most spoiled person I know!

A friend sent a pic of what she got for Christmas and asked what everyone else got, so here is a pic of all my X-Mas loot. I got a new computer without even asking for one! And lots of other exciting stuff!

Thank you everyone, I had a wonderful Christmas!

For those of you who don't know,

my birthday is only 13 days after Christmas.

My Mom & Dad give me new SnowBabies to add to my collection every year. They always find ones that are perfect for what is happening in my life, I got two little AuntieM SnowBabies this year!

I love them, thank you!

This year I got to celebrated my birthday with some wonderful friends.

Jackie made me an M (for Mandy) that I put in my den

along with this great Peace Sign from Jerry.

Amanda gave me an "oh so Mandy" Betsey Johnson bag and

Tanya made me an AuntieM diaper bag and beautiful business card holder.

Thank you all so much you all are so special

and made my day a very happy one!

And I got a load of crafty books from Jean, Dave, Mel & Cindy! I can't wait to get started making some of the things in the books!

Troy got me a toy I've been wanting for a while now,

the Xyron Wishblade.

It has not arrived yet hopefully sometime next week,

I can't wait to start playing with it!

I bought myself a present this year, a new cell phone!

The Sprint Samsung Instinct.

It's Sprint's version of the iPhone. This is the coolest phone E V E R !!!!! I've only had it for a week so I don't think I've even touched what it is capable of doing, but I love it already. I went in to buy it and didn't even know but two days earlier they released a pink version, so not is it only the coolest phone ever but it's metallic pink too!

Again, thank you everyone for making

my holidays and birthday extra special this year!
MWAH!!!

Only In Vegas

2009-01-12T13:46:00.000-08:00

Only in Vegas will little girls playing in the snow carry umbrellas!!

While getting snap shots of the snow storm we got in December

I couldn't help getting a couple shots of a group of

little girls playing in the Vegas snow.

For a girl who grew up in Wyoming enduring below zero blizzards
I couldn't help but giggle at these girls.

I had to wonder.....how do you build snowmen & have

snowball fights when you are carrying an umbrella!?!?!

The next day I got a great shot of a boy shoveling his driveway,

it was his last load so I don't know how much he shoveled before

he got the idea to use the wheelbarrow, but what a smart boy!

These are shots of our backyard early in the afternoon and

our front yard towards early evening. We ended up with a

lot more snow than this before the storm was over.

The Boys could tell something was happening but they were

not quite sure what to think, they sat on that couch for about

an hour just staring out the window!

The next day.......

....by the time I got up it was warm enough in the backyard
to start melting. However, before I could get my car out of the
garage in the front of the house I had to shovel my driveway.
I'm sure I looked hilarious, we only had a tiny little shovel!

What a great surprise, a White Christmas in Vegas!

1 Week 2 Babies

2009-01-03T23:27:00.000-08:00

Preeclampsia - a disorder that occurs only during pregnancy and affects both the mother and the unborn baby. Affecting only 5-8% of all pregnancies, it is a rapidly progressive condition characterized by high blood pressure and the presence of protein in the urine, swelling, sudden weight gain, headaches and changes in vision. It can cause blood pressure to rise and puts the mother at risk of stroke, impaired kidney function, impaired liver function, blood clotting problems, pulmonary edema, seizures and, in severe forms, maternal and infant death. The standard course of treatment is magnesium sulfate. This simple salt saves mothers lives.
The only cure is delivery of the baby.

With only 5-8% of pregnancies being affected by preeclampsia, it's beyond my comprehension to learn that not only did my sister, Corinne, develop preeclampsia and have to deliver her baby 3 weeks early,
but today my sister-in-law, Tara, was life flighted from Bullhead City, AZ to Sunrise Children's Hospital here in Las Vegas
to deliver her baby 10 weeks early due to preeclampsia.

Corinne delivered Lily Ann on December 27, 2008 at 6:44 pm,
weighing 5lbs 13oz & 18 1/2" long.

Both Corinne & Lily are home from the hospital now,
Lily is beautiful and doing fantastic, Corinne is still on bed rest;
Christopher is taking great care of both of them.

Tara delivered her baby today, January 3, 2009 at around 5:30pm,
weighing 2lbs 9 oz & 13 1/2" long.

Tonight Tara is doing better and her beautiful baby is doing well.

Will keep everyone updated, thank you for all your love.

Want to see more of Auntie M's nieces and family stuff

check out my other blog

www.SpoiledRottenByAuntieM.BlogSpot.com

Free Food

2008-11-11T06:35:00.000-08:00

Hi, all you animal lovers!

The Animal Rescue Site is having trouble getting enough people to click on their website everyday to meet their quota of getting free food donated to abused and neglected animals.

Their corporate sponsors/advertisers use the number of daily visits to donate food to abandoned/neglected animals in exchange for advertising.

This is pretty simple, takes less than a minute (about 20 seconds) & doesn't cost you a thing! All you have to do is go to their site and click on the purple box "Fund Food for Animals", that's it, your done, you helped to put food in an animals belly!

Here's the site, pass it on!

The Animal Rescue Site

I'm making this my home page so I won't forget to click it every time I get on the web! My friend emailed this to me this morning and she checked it out on Snopes and they say it's real.

Guaranteed

2008-11-06T09:57:00.000-08:00

I love these songs, I was listening to the Into The Wild soundtrack by Eddie Vedder this morning and wanted to share.

Guaranteed

Society

Rise

One more of his solo songs that I love from the movie & soundtrack Body of War.

No More

I've always loved Pearl Jam but creating his first solo album, polar opposite from his Pearl Jam music, in only 3 days, Eddie Vedder inspires me to dig a little deeper and find my true muse.

Music is in my blood & soul, for me Eddie Vedder is one the great musicians of my era.
I hope you enjoy this music as much as I do.

It's A Girl!

2008-09-29T11:28:00.000-07:00

Make that two girls! Corinne & Stephanie are both having girls!

Yeah! I have to get busy making Baby Bling!

Karma

2008-09-12T01:27:00.000-07:00

An Even Dozen

2008-08-25T12:06:00.000-07:00

Troy & I celebrated our 12 year anniversary on Friday.

We ate dinner at Stack Steakhouse & then we to see the Cirque du Soleil show Love.

It was a perfect night, as have been the last 12 years. On the day we got married we had only known each other 6 months & 9 days, not knowing what the future would hold, we jumped in with both feet. It took us a while to get things figured out, but neither of us drowned. Looking back I don't think that I would change a thing, there have been really high ups & some really low downs in our lives as a couple as well as individuals, but I wouldn't be who I am today with out all of them & especially without Troy being such a huge part of my life.

Some things I've learned the last 12 years.
I've learned to admit when I am wrong, only say I'm sorry if I really mean it, don't say "you never" or "you always", that the little things are huge, that in 12 years from now I won't remember a clean house, but I will remember that time we laid in bed all day watching movies, that being mad hurts me more than anyone else, that making someone else happy is one of the best feelings in the world, to give more than I think I can and expect nothing in return, that I really am strong & can handle more than I ever imagined, that I'm not as strong as I think and sometimes I need a shoulder to lean on, that I will always have a best friend, not to say "I will never" or "I won't" because when it comes down it I will probably do the opposite, to live in the moment, that I can laugh at things instead of getting mad or being sad, not to hold grudges, to try things I wouldn't normally do, true forgiveness, to show appreciation, to frequently tell him that I love him, that true love really is unconditional, and when it's true love it really can be
Forever & Always!

Mike's Hard Lemonade

2008-08-21T05:33:00.000-07:00

Who would have thought that Mike's Hard Lemonade would have a quote on one of their bottles that I would deem worthy of posting on my blog. Okay so maybe quite a few of you....but that's beside the point. In the last couple months I have been involved in conversations about jewelry designs being "copied". Last night at dinner it came up again.

Throughout the discussions & conversations my thoughts have been that anyone & everyone can copy your designs. If you put your work out there to sell, to be showcased, or even just wear, your design can and probably will be copied; and you can almost guarantee your work to be copied if you teach or get published.

There is a wide range of how & why you are copied. There are those that can just look at your design and go home and make a copy. There are those who may copy your design simply because they can make it themselves or who don't want to pay what you are asking for your piece. There are those who will copy your design just to make one for themselves & those who will sell them or even teach a class. There are those who even though they copy your design they give you credit for the original, and then those who will copy your design and take credit for the original too. All the same things can be said about techniques too.

With all that said, when asked, I struggled with the answer to the question. How would I feel if someone copied one of my designs?

I would be okay if someone copied one of my original designs, would I want credit for it, before my answer would have been a firm yes, and that is where Mike's Hard Lemonade comes in....Troy & I were eating dinner and I looked over at the bottle and there it was staring me in the face:

It's funny how such a simple little thing can change your way of thinking. I tore the label off the bottle and now have it posted right above my work space. Now I think I'd be okay even if I didn't get credit, would I still like credit, probably, but after all being an "artist" isn't about getting credit, it's about making the world a little bit more beautiful.

Thanks Mike!

Circus Skunk

2008-08-18T09:33:00.000-07:00

I told some of you about my pink hair disaster, but you keep bugging me to see some pics. So here they are, they are really bad cause I only took self portraits with my cell phone. When I would pull it up in a pony tail, I said I looked like a "Circus Skunk"; I had a big blond streak down the center flanked by two hot pink stripes.

I got it fixed about 36 hours later & I'm back to my regular hair for the most part, there are still a little traces of pink, but I can live with it.

Take this advise...

NEVER, EVER, NEVER let someone dye your hair HOT PINK!!!

.....I guess I need to add that these photos DO NOT show how bright or how much pink there was in my hair, these photos make it look like there were just little highlights of pink. That was not the case, I had a 4" wide x 1/2" thick chunk of pink on each side of my head.

It really was as bad as I described, you just can't tell in these photos!

If I Could Design My Own Converse...

2008-08-16T06:53:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I don't know how I got there, but somehow I ended up on the Converse website designing my own pair of shoes!

You can choose everything, inside & outside color, heel stripe, tongue, lining, rubber, racing stripe, lace & even stitching colors!

I call these BlingGirl Goes Converse.

This is just way too much fun not to share! Design your own here and post them on your blog or email me a picture!
Enjoy!

I Can Hardly Wait!

2008-08-14T09:16:00.000-07:00

Before heading to the AU Shopping Extravaganza Amanda & I quickly scanned the vendor list & looked at their sites & blogs. I had decided that Beth Quinn's booth was one of the first ones I wanted to visit. I really wanted one of these rings, but 30 minutes after the doors opened and I finally made my way to her table she was sold out...BUT she said she could make one for me! I checked my email this morning & what a great surprise, my ring is finished, in the mail & on it's way!

I CAN HARDLY WAIT!

Since I ordered mine I was able to choose what my ring would say, can you guess what I picked???

All the glitter, the bling, the crowns, if these don't scream "BlingGirl" I don't know what does!

I was able to come home with a few of her pieces & I love them. What a great concept and design & you couldn't meet a nicer person, she is so sweet.

As soon as I get my ring I will post a picture!

I CAN HARDLY WAIT!

Oh ya, did I tell you...I CAN HARDLY WAIT!

Eye Candy

2008-08-13T13:48:00.001-07:00

I don't have much time today

so I'm just going to post a little
Eye Candy!

Things I've made at or since

I got home from ArtUnraveled.

Resin Charms

Instructor ~ Sherri Haab

Carved Rubber Stamps

Instructor ~ Traci Bunkers

Wire Crochet

Instructor ~ Susan Lenart Kazmer

Sterling & Copper Ring
Made from Sheet Metal & Wire

Instructor ~ Susan Lenart Kazmer

Rock & Etched Copper....Ring or Pendant...Not Finished

Instructor ~ Susan Lenart Kazmer

Woven Sterling Wire Bracelet

Instructor ~ Susan Lenart Kazmer

Things I bought at ArtUnraveled.

Purse Mirror ~ Traci Bunkers

Acrylic Pendant ~ Wynn Studios

Glass Blob Pendants ~ Beth Quinn Designs

"Fairy Queen" Tin Box
Sorry, I don't remember the vendor.

Buttons, Ribbons & Fabric ~ SAS Fabrics
You can buy fabric by the pound!!!

Lots of Other Goodies
Mostly from Hannah Grey & Vintage Charmings

Pencil Ring ~ Susan Lenart Kazmer

This is my favorite thing I bought! When signing up for classes I just signed up for the classes that looked interesting to me, I didn't know who any of the teachers were so that wasn't a factor in choosing my classes. But when someone asked, who's teaching your classes, I looked and I had signed up for almost all of my classes with the same instructor, not planning it or even knowing who she was I feel like to really lucked out and got one of the best teachers there!

After my first class I went back to my room and told Amanda about this ring, I loved it! Susan had been wearing this ring all week long & I had been lusting after it all week long, telling Amanda about it over and over again! In my second to last class someone asked her about pricing. She gave this ring as an example, this ring was one of her favorite pieces and although it was not terribly difficult to make or have a lot of precious metals, it was one of her favorite pieces and would be priced in the hundreds of dollars if someone really pressured her to buy it, where as something that's more difficult could cost less....you get the picture.

In our last class Amanda & I along with a few other people were still there after class got out, Susan had taken the ring off during class and it was sitting on the table. Amanda was admiring it and told Susan how great it was and how I had been lusting after it all week. I said "ya, but she won't sell it" and her response was "ya, but I'd sell it to you guys", without hesitation Amanda handed me the ring, remembering what she said about hundreds of dollars, I took a big gulp and said "how much?", her response "for you guys [pausing] $45". I don't think I've ever whipped out my credit card so fast, I wanted to pay for it before she changed her mind!

Some of you are going to look at this ring and say "I can't believe you paid $45 for that ring!" and the rest of you will understand that when you find something that you love the cost is only part of what make you decide to buy it. Now would I have paid hundreds of dollars for the ring? HELL NO, but I fell in the love with the ring on the first day of classes and was already planning on how to make one for my self when I got home. Having taken all my classes from her, learning so much from her & getting a TON of inspiration from her, and lusting after the ring all week long, to me $45 was a steal!

I just have to say, if you EVER get a chance to take a class from her, even if you are not a jewelry artist, TAKE IT!!! She is so inspiring, just being around her lifts you up, she so willing to share her knowledge as a jeweler, she encourages everyone & makes you feel like what ever it is that you create is awesome & beautiful. So far, hands down one of the best teachers I've had since I have started taking jewelry classes.

I really have to run, gotta get ready to go rock out with Joan Jett!

More later.......

A.R.T.

2008-08-06T13:17:00.001-07:00

~A.R.T.~
Artist Road Trip
It's finally arrived!!!! I've been planning my trip to attend Art Unraveled since the beginning of February, and finally on Monday the adventure began!

Amanda & I drove from Las Vegas to Phoenix arriving just in time to attend a short "Make & Take" class, which turned out to be anything but short and absolutely incredible! We learned how to use an amazing new product, a UV Resin. It's a one part resin that cures under UV light. We applied the resin to these images let it sit under the UV light for about 5 minutes and we got these wonderful translucent resin images! They were really cool at that point but I had to add some Bling! So we added more resin to the backs of the images and added glitter!!!! Once I shape up the edges it will be about 1" square, the perfect size for a pendant!

In the second photo there is a piece of paper behind the bottom half & I held the top half in the light to show you the translucency.

(The rose is just to cover up my ugly thumb holding the charm.)

A side note: the Instructor for this "Make & Take" is from Las Vegas and Amanda & I both knew her helper! What a small world.....go to a new place, meet new friends & see old ones right from your home town!

My first class was yesterday morning. We started off making resin paper, in the photos below I put a newspaper behind the resin paper to show you how translucent the paper becomes when you add resin to it. On some of the papers I wrote out script others I stamped on, some I added glitter to...again with the glitter! And others I just left plain. These papers can be used for many kinds of art projects.

(The paper is on top of a garbage bag because the resin is still drying, I can pull it right off once it's dry.)

Later in the day we shaped wire and added some resin & paper to create pendants and charms. Once the heart is completely dry I will drill a hole in the resin paper and make it into a pendant.

I have not decided if I am going to turn this into a bracelet or necklace but it's the same concept except I added words to into the different layers of the resin.

The next two photos I took to show you how cool these look when they are not laying on a flat surface, they are translucent. In each photo you can see right through the top piece and see the piece behind it. The heart is only 1.5" from the top to bottom & the round one is about the size of a dime about 3/4" wide. I think these will be really cool as charms!

My class last night was learning how to make stamps & stencils from common objects; she uses everything & anything; the bottoms of flip flops for stamps to empty birth control packets for stencils!!!

That was all exciting & fun but my favorite part was when we learned to carve our own stamps! Both of the stamps in the photo are carved out of cheap rubber erasers. We sketched our image and transferred it to the eraser and used a carving tool to make our own stamps! I thought the eyes were not good enough on the first one and so I tried to fix them & then she turned out bug eyed so I quickly made another one! I am amazed at how easy this is to do!

I have another class tonight and two more on Thursday. Stay tuned I'll be posting more of my creations later in the week!

MWAH!!!

An Epidemic

2008-07-17T12:41:00.000-07:00

An epidemic is spreading like wild fire in the McDonald & Green families. You might want to stay away for a while so you don't catch it! Symptoms include nausea, extreme emotions & your stomach starts to swell and keeps growing for about nine months, then one of these beautiful little creatures will emerge. The symptoms only seem to be showing up in the women, however at the end of the nine months the men start showing symptoms too.......extreme emotions, sleepless nights & an empty wallet! If you don't want one of these running around your house I'd stay far, far away!

In one of my last couple of posts I mentioned that we are going to have a total of 3 new babies in our families.........make that four!
Troy's other sister is pregnant now too!

Auntie M is so excited, 4 little babies in less than 11 months.....I have to go shopping............

Congratulations Tara & Jim!!!
Mwah!

Sienna Michelle

2008-06-25T22:45:00.000-07:00

My niece
Sienna Michelle
arrived on Friday, June 20th @ 10:01 pm.
She weighed 7lbs 2 oz & was 19.5" long.

I think she is one of the most beautiful babies I have ever seen & I know everyone is going to say that it's because she's family & my first niece, but I had to say it anyway, I think she's beautiful!

So I've really gotten into the digital scrapbooking in the last week, now that I have such a great subject, it makes it that much more fun! I put together a little slide show for you all to view of some scrapbook pages I put together with photos I took, some sent by the proud parents & others from the grandparents!

Enjoy!

Auntie M

2008-06-16T00:24:00.001-07:00

I've loved the Wizard of OZ every since I was little and it would be quite fitting for BlingGirl to wear a pair of Ruby Slippers, however instead of playing the role of Dorthy I am going to be playing the role of
Auntie M!

Yes boys & girls you heard that right,
I AM GOING TO BE AN AUNT!!!

About a month ago I got a call from my sister I don't remember how the conversation went but for some reason I kept asking her if she was pregnant and she promised she wasn't and the next day I got the call, well, actually it was a text:
EPT +

For those of you who don't know, I have one brother & one sister. At the time I found out my sister was pregnant I knew that my sister-in-law had stopped taking her birth control. I predicted to Corinne that her & Stephanie would be pregnant and the same time...

Yesterday morning my brother called me, he said that he is excited to be an Uncle but not as excited as he is that is he going to be a Dad!!!!

In the next 8 months I'm going to become
Auntie M x3!!!
My sister, my brother's wife & my husband's sister

are all 3 pregnant right now!

Troy's sister, Tanya is going to give birth any day now. She has gone through a lot this last week, she was induced and was supposed to have her baby last Thursday, but her little girl is just not ready yet.

I have to tell of her ordeal, she's an amazing woman.

Wednesday night she was induced & started her contractions immediately, 1-2 minutes apart. They told her she wasn't dilated enough for the epidural and tried giving her pain medication through and IV which made her throw up so they had to stop the IV medication. After that they told her that she could have the epidural, but Tanya has problems with her blood clotting & has to take blood thinner medication, so when her body was finally ready for it her blood was too thin and they couldn't give it to her, 16 hours later she got the epidural.

She started the pitocyn & the contractions were even stronger, but the epidural had kicked in and she couldn't feel them.

28 hours later she was still only dilated just barely above 1cm; still having contractions 5 minutes apart she was released from the hospital and sent home to rest & recover for her next go round. If their little girl doesn't decide to come earlier she'll be back again next Wednesday.

We can't wait to see you and we are sending you all our love and energy!
xoxox
Mwah!

The Grass Is Always Greener

2008-06-09T07:15:00.000-07:00

Love Where Your At,
Love Who Your With,
Enjoy Every Minute,
When You Move On,
You'll Miss It,
You'll Miss Them.

Change The World

2008-05-26T11:08:00.000-07:00

I DARE YA!

I LOVE Joan Jett!!!
I LOVE this song!

Even if your not a punk rocker like me you'll like this song. I've had this song on MySpace for about a year now & I just can't find a song I like better to replace it.

ROCK YOU!

This one's for you, Amanda!

HeadRush Rulz!

2008-04-29T09:58:00.000-07:00

The much anticipated HeadRush Reunion

was a couple weeks ago.

We had a blast, it was so good to see everyone!

For those of you who don't know, my husband was a Rock Star in his past life. Every once in a while all the guys and the GF's (that's short for Girlfriends aka wives) get together to watch old home movies, listen to rock music & the guys jam playing their rock'n music from the past.

I don't have many still photos to share because I had the slam cam in my hand the whole time. I tried really hard but I just couldn't make the video work, so you'll have to watch their famous music video instead!

JEFFERY

LOVE ALL OF YOU LONG TIME!

HEADRUSH RULZ!!!

LuE ~ I'll forgive you for almost killing my dogs and playing catch with glass beer bottles from one floor of the house to another until you missed & it broke, just as long as you promise to come back soon and do it all over again! How are your fingers!?!?!?!?!?

Wire Crochet

2008-04-19T06:30:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share some details about some of the pictures I posted from our trip to San Francisco. We went to museums & galleries, some would let you takes pictures but most would not, the de Young Museum located inside Golden Gate Park did allow us to take photos of all but one exhibit.

The artist of this exhibit is Ruth Asawa and the exhibit was simply called "Wire Sculptures". She is pretty amazing, you can read more about her on her website.

The following are Crocheted Wire Sculptures

made of iron, copper, & brass wire.

These are part of her Tied Wire series.

I love art & love things made of wire and metal so it was easy picking this as my favorite exhibit.

Grand Teton National Park

2008-04-13T13:23:00.000-07:00

Today I realized that I like to do a diverse group of things....okay so we already know that!!!

I also realized that I seem to have a different group of friends for all the different types of things that I do, and that I've kind of gotten stuck only doing those things with those people.

Okay so that wasn't my big epiphany either, it was that very few people know the "Real Mandy", they only know parts of me. It seems that every group of people I know & spend time with each have a different opinions of who I am & about my personality, but in reality they know very little and only know that small part they see once a week or month when we get together......and the opposite is true too.

For example I got an e-mail from a friend today who said "...did you know I wanted to be a Forest Ranger when I grew up? That was my goal in life!" Never in a million years would I have ever guessed she would want to be a Forest Ranger!

I don't think it's a good or bad either way. I think you have to spend a lot of time with someone to truly know them and even then sometimes people will surprise you.

So the reason for the title of this post is that her comment about wanting to be a Forest Ranger reminded me of a time in my life that I don't talk that much about anymore but had a huge impact on me & was one of the best years of my life. I know that some of you will be shocked to learn that Little Miss BlingGirl once was a toilet scrubbing, backpacking, Birkenstock wearing, mountain climber!

I lived & worked at a resort called Signal Mountain Lodge located right on Jackson Lake inside Grand Teton National Park. I worked as a maid cleaning the guest cabins. We were only paid like $100 a week, the rest of our compensation was in exchange for room & board. I lived in a dorm type environment and shared a room with one other girl. I meet some very special people & had wonderful experiences that I will never forget.

While I was there I learned to Rock/Mountain Climb. Every chance I got I was out climbing mountains with my two best friends Scotty & Bubba.

(Yes this picture is of me!)

I was so active that I was always hungry & usually had some sort of food in my hand. If I was no where to be found you could always check the cafeteria and you'd probably find me. Bubba worked at the food mart, the forest service puts out these little cards about not feeding the bears where ever food is sold. So one day he took one of the cards and changed it from

"A Bear's Story" to:

So I guess the point of this post is that getting to know people & their true personality is a little like reading a book. Every time you flip the page you learn something new, and you might find something out on the last page that completely changes the story. And when you think you've read the whole book and that's the end of the story, they come out with a sequel! And just because there are pretty flowers on the cover doesn't mean that the content is all roses so.......

"Be Kinder than Necessary"

.......you just might not know their whole story!

"The City"

2008-04-01T08:31:00.000-07:00

Even though our camera wasn't working for a day and a half I took a ton of pictures on our San Francisco trip. I thought I'd share some of my favorites.

Eat Your Cake Too!

2008-03-16T10:12:00.000-07:00

Okay, this is the last one, I promise!

I feel like a comercial, promoting these TV shows but......

Another show I've been recording & watching is

Ace of Cakes.

They make some of the coolest cakes I've ever seen!

Here is a clip of them making a cake to look like a Campbell's Tomato Soup Can! It's "uncanny" how perfectly they can re-create these things into cake!

Ha, ha!

In my opinion this is the most creative, artistic group of people on TV right now. Not only are they cake artists, they are musicians....sculpters....art teachers....just to name a few. They have so much fun making cakes, it makes the show a blast to watch!

Here is Geoff performing in the bakery,

you've got to listen to this song!

I love it!

To Quote Duff:

"That's awesome!"

DIRT

2008-03-16T09:16:00.000-07:00

I saw this show advertised and set it to record

the series just in time to record the re-runs of the

last three episodes of last season, season 1,

and the season 2 premier.

After watching these 4 episodes I'm hooked!

This is a must see, it pokes fun at Tabloid TV & magazines, it has really great acting & good plots.

Here is a little bit of one of the shows from last season.

Dexter

2008-03-11T15:00:00.000-07:00

Now all of you without ShowTime

can watch one of my favorite TV shows!

Season One just started on CBS, 10:00pm, Sunday

This is one the best opening credit videos, a great job of making you think you are watching one thing when it's really something else.

Hmmmm....

2008-02-26T20:39:00.001-08:00

I went antiquing with some friends & Jackie found these bowls, they are perfect for holding my beads or stones when I'm working on a project. They came in a set of five, the one larger bowl and the four smaller bowls. Every since I bought them I have been wondering what their original purpose might have been......does anyone know, can you satisfy my curiosity?

Regardless of their original purpose, I love the cherries & the pretty scalloped edges. I'm so glad Jackie saw these, I love 'em!

Recent Projects

2008-02-25T20:47:00.000-08:00

Okay, finally!

For all those far away, here are some of my recent projects that I keep telling you about, now you can finally see them!

Lots of Love

2008-02-15T09:03:00.001-08:00

I had a great Valentine's Day!

I got pink roses with pink heart beads

from my friend Colleen;

I got white roses &

this very Mandy bracelet &

dinner at one of my favorite steakhouses,

Del Frisco's, from Troy!

I made Troy this very manly bracelet.

It's a Full Persian Chainmaille weave using

sterling silver jump rings & black rubber rings.

I think he really liked it,

he wore it last night & again today.

I hope everyone had a Valentine's as good as mine!

XOXOX

Be Mine

2008-02-14T07:42:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day Everybody!

This song is dedicated to my ChimpDaddy!

Love You Chimpy!

Poor, Poor Piggy

2008-02-14T05:40:00.001-08:00

I took Elvis to the Vet on Monday so that he could start getting shots for his allergies. His eye looked like it had been getting worse so I had the Doc take a look at it.

The Doc was visibly concerned, he explained to me that the "scratch" was trying to heal but it wasn't healing properly. To quote the Doc "If we don't do surgery his eye will explode." I think my eyes probably bugged out of my head, so he explained that the pressure building up in his eye could cause the eyeball to actually burst!

He asked if he'd already ate breakfast and I said yes, can he come in tomorrow or can we do the surgery later today. He said no that he needed to get in right away that he didn't want to take the chance that it would burst, so they had to give him medicine to make him vomit so that they could give him the anesthesia.

His left eye is stitched closed and he has to wear this massive cone so that he won't scratch at his eye. (His right eye is fine, he was just a little groggy when I took this picture.) He had a hard night Monday night but each day he's feeling a little better.

Not only did the poor guy have to go through all of this but when he was out they cleaned his teeth and he ended up having to have two teeth pulled!

This little guy sure is a trooper!

Oh, a quick funny. On Monday night I had fallen asleep watching TV and Troy went into our bedroom to brush his teeth, when he came back out he woke me up asking "Where's Piggy, I can't find Piggy." We both are walking around the house calling his name looking for him but we couldn't find him. I don't know how he did it (and he hasn't been able to do it since) but even with that cone on his head he got through the Doggie Door to go outside to go to the bathroom! What a good doggie.

Wednesday's Love

2008-02-13T08:27:00.000-08:00

A new digital scrap I created just for all of you!

Tuesday's Love

2008-02-12T10:40:00.000-08:00

It's special for my Mom, she loves winter, she loves the snow & she has a TON of it right now!

(This is a picture I borrowed from the web & my friend Jackie...she had it on her blog in December.)

Love

2008-02-11T19:51:00.000-08:00

Valentine's Week!

I'm going to send love to all of you every day this week!

I LOVE YOU!

Tell someone today and mean it with your whole heart!

This is my Valentine's Bling!
Last year at Valentine's I hung this sign from the chandelier in my den, every since I've been hanging things from it for the different holidays.

I added the glass heart ornaments this year.

(The glass hearts are actually Christmas ornaments that my Mom gave me years ago, they are very fragile so I only have three of them left. I decided to take them from my Christmas stash and use them at Valentine's. It makes them a little more special.)

Digital Scrap

2008-02-11T08:00:00.000-08:00

I've discovered digtal scrapbooking!

I've been cardmaking and wanted to try out some of the digial stuff so I took a pick of my desk all messy from making cards so I could play a little.

I added a digital border to the pic, I'll be making my pics all nice & pretty for you from now on!

This is going to be too much fun!

Just what I need something new to get into!

Poor Elvis

2008-01-23T13:17:00.001-08:00

Poor Elvis has a hurt eyeball.

Somehow he managed to get a scratch on the cornea of his left eye. He can hardly open it, only a little sliver. The vet shaved some of the hair away from around it, I think he looks as bad as he feels, the poor guy. The vet drew some of his own blood and then made a mixture with some other stuff for drops to put into his eye twice a day. We will see in a couple of days if it will help, if not he may have to have surgery.

Spoiled.....Who, Me?!?!?

2008-01-08T14:57:00.000-08:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

I got to celebrate my birthday for about 4 days!

It started on Friday with the girls giving me a birthday celebration, Jackie got me a beautiful white cake that was so yummy I think we only had one piece left!

Troy spent the weekend taking me around town doing pretty much what ever I wanted to do.....he got up early took me to breakfast & he even spent about 3 hours in the bookstore with me on Sunday.

Monday morning these Birthday flowers were delivered from my Mom & Dad! We went out for lunch, went to a movie and then had cupcakes for dinner!

Thank you for all the great gifts!

I am really spoiled, but I love it,

and I love all of you for spoiling me!

Thank you!

XOXOX

Beading

2008-01-05T16:03:00.000-08:00

I took my first beading class, which was a Beaded Bead.

We took beads and stitched them together to make one bigger bead. I ended up changing the pattern up a little bit every time I made a new bead. I made bails on some to make them into pendants.

I took a couple and made them into necklaces.

And a few more into a bracelet.

I'm not convinced that I'm going to love beading. However I have already sensed how I can incorporate it into other things that I do love!

Happy New Year!

2007-12-31T23:59:00.000-08:00

I hope this year brings you tons of what ever it is that you love, tons of time to do it & tons of family and friends to do it with!!!

Happy New Year!

Pictures at Matt & Steph's

2007-12-30T15:55:00.000-08:00

These are some pictures I took at my Bro's house that I liked and thought that I'd share them with everyone. Enjoy!

I love Icicles!!!

Matt's dog Killer must have been a good boy cause Santa brought him a really big bone! I played fetch with him with snowballs but instead of bringing them back to me he'd eat 'em!!!

Matt & Steph's pretty horses in their pretty back yard.

White Christmas

2007-12-26T15:38:00.000-08:00

We were lucky and got a very white Christmas this year!

This is a picture I took of Matt & Steph's (My Bro & Sis-in-Law) front yard.

And I had to take a picture of their Christmas decorations so I can claim that someone actually has MORE trees up in their house than me!!!! I think that I counted a total of eight trees!!!

Matt & Steph - I loved your decorations!

My parents, Corinne, Chris, Matt, Steph, Troy & I all celebrated Christmas at my parents house in Wyoming. On Christmas day we got to go visit Grandma, Papa & Teddy.

Thank you to my family for making Christmas very fun and memorable this year. We love you all!

Apple to Apples

I still agree with Dad....Boyfriends are more confused than Helen Keller! Of course that gave me the last green card to win the game too!

Santa Came Early

2007-12-22T12:32:00.000-08:00

Santa Clause always comes to early to our house! We open gifts we give to each other before we leave to visit our family. We had presents overflowing from under the tree, we both must have been pretty good because we both got everything we wished for and more!

Thank you!

2007-12-20T16:25:00.000-08:00

Thanks to all the girls for coming over and celebrating! I had a wonderful time at the party and enjoyed having all of you at my home. Thank you for all the wonderful gifts! I will treasure them always.

Jackie took this great picture of me and my boys; Elvis & Otis. And yes my Santa hat is pink and does have rhinestones all over it.....what else would you expect from BlingGirl?

Naughty or Nice

2007-12-12T18:33:00.000-08:00

I got to sit on Santa's lap this year, he asked me if I've been Naughty or Nice. I told him that I'd been a little Naughty. Troy said a little Naughty is Nice. I guess that means I'm on the Good List, can't wait to see what Santa fills my stocking with...

Jackie's comment made me remember that I was going to point out that it was very fitting for Santa to have a "Diet Coke Throne" for the "Diet Coke Queen"!

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!

2007-12-06T19:39:00.000-08:00

I would like to wish everyone a

very Merry Christmas!

For those of you who don't already know:

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!

Every year one of the things I look forward to the most is watching the movie:
"How the Grinch Stole Christmas"

staring Jim Carrey

I love getting a big glass of eggnog and a plate full of cookies and watching the movie with Troy, I think he enjoys it just as much as I do!

I'm starting off the Christmas section of my blog with the trailer from the movie, if you've never seen it, it's a MUST for the holidays & if you've already seen it you know that you just can't get enough! It's chalked full of adult humor, definitely not just for the kids.

~Enjoy~

My Shopping is Done!

2007-12-06T19:32:00.000-08:00

"That's what it's all about right? That's what it's always been about! Gifts, gifts, gifts, gifts, gifts, gifts! Do you know what happens to your gifts? They all come to me...in your garbage. Do you see what I'm saying here? IN YOUR GARBAGE! I could hang myself with all the bad Christmas neckties I found at the dump! And the avarice...[points to mayor] The avarice never ends! "I want golf clubs!" "I want diamonds!" "I want a pony so I can ride it twice, get bored, and send it away to make glue!""

-The Grinch

Instead of giving gifts for the sake of having a present to open on Christmas my family has decided to give the money we would have spent on gifts for each other to a family who can not afford to give Christmas to their kids. My Sister-in-Law, Stephanie found a needy family in Utah through her friends church. The family gave us a list of what they needed & what the kids want for Christmas and we get to go do the fun of shopping for the kids! None of us have kids of our own so it's fun for us to get to shop for toys and give someone a gift that truly needs it and I don't have to do any Christmas shopping! Yeah!

All I need is a reindeer...

2007-12-06T19:25:00.000-08:00

Grinch: All I need is a reindeer.

Narrator: The Grinch looked around, but since reindeer were scarce, there were none to be found. Did that stop the Grinch? Ha! He simply said:

Grinch: If I can't find a reindeer, I'll make one instead.

Narrator: So he took his dog Max, and he took some red thread, and he tied a big horn on the top of his head.

I always say that I don't dress up my dogs,

so okay I guess I dress up my dogs!

Otis makes a better Reindeer & Elvis a better Santa.

Elvis is very easy to take pictures of, when I put costumes on him he acts like he is paralyzed on won't even walk around. It's actually quite comical, I'm laughing as I'm typing picturing him, it's like I put him in a straight jacket or something. Otis is of course the opposite & very hard to take pictures of , he moves like crazy. A combination of the lighting & him moving around Otis looks like the Grinch in this picture.

Looks a Lot Like Christmas

2007-12-06T19:17:00.000-08:00

It's definitely way past beginning to look

a lot like Christmas at my house!

We've got a full blown winter wonderland!

The decorations are up & the stockings are hung with hopes that Santa Troy will bring me lots of presents this year! I love the "Whoville" kind of decorations they are my favorite. If I could turn my house into "Whoville" and make it look like this picture I would!

I talk about how much I love Christmas & how our house gets transformed during the holidays but not everyone lives close enough to see the magical transformation; so as promised here are the pics!

This first tree is the one we have in our Family Room/Kitchen area. It's the slim 12' tree & is decorated with what I consider traditional Christmas. I made about half of the ornaments on this tree, we have popcorn garland (yes it's real popcorn), cinnamon "cookie" gingerbread men, cinnamon stick "snowflakes", yarn "balls" & felt stockings. I bought the rest of the ornaments and topped it off with a pine cone star. I put garland around the fireplace, it looks really pretty with the white lights at night.

(Click on the pictures to see them in a larger format.)

This is the fat 12' tree & what I call my "Whoville" tree; my favorite tree. It's in the Living Room it has red, green, white & silver ornaments and has lots of real & fake candy. I add red & green "Whoville" lights in addition to the white ones, it makes the whole room glow red. This tree is decorated with about half made & half purchased ornaments. Troy even strung some gumdrop (yes real gumdrops) garland for this tree!

(Click on the pictures to see them in a larger format.)

And for the first time ever I've decorated a third tree. We actually got a new fat tree this year & I kept the top portion of the old 12' tree, it's about 5' high. The plant in my den died when we went to Florida & I have not put a new one in, so I just plopped the tree right into the pot, I'll get a new plant after Christmas.

I call this tree my Beads & Bling tree. Everything on this tree is either beads or bling. All the decoration are either clear or white and it's topped with a silver star. I have pearl garland, beaded icicles, glittered snowflakes, diamond drops and lots of other beads & bling!

I might have a new favorite tree!

(Click on the picture to it in a larger format.)

We are having two parties this year. The girls are having one of their own in addition to our traditional party. We love to share our holiday spirit so for those too far away to come to our party I hope that you can sense it from what you can see here.

We love you all!

Merry Christmas!

Monty Python

2007-12-06T08:32:00.000-08:00

"It's only a flesh wound."

In high school one of my favorite movies was Monty Python & the Holy Grail. My friends & I would watch it over & over again, laughing every time! Last night Troy took me to see Spamalot at the Wynn & I LOVED it!!! It was so funny!!! If you liked the movie you'll LOVE Spamalot!

Those of you in Vegas, if you want to go see it, watch your mail, we got a postcard & got our tickets for half price!

I think I'm going to add the movie to my Christmas wishlist!

Ooo la la....

2007-12-03T18:04:00.000-08:00

I love my beautiful pink scarf that my Mother-in-Law, Jean, brought me back from France. It was perfect weather for it the other day & looked gorgeous with my silver sweater and jeans.

I love it!

Thank you!

Favorite

2007-12-03T13:09:00.000-08:00

It's so hard to pick because I love them all so much, but when pressed I think I have to say my Purse Snowbaby is my favorite!

tis' the season

2007-11-29T17:56:00.000-08:00

I've started decking my halls and jingling my bells!!!

Every year I decorate two 12' Christmas trees, plus tons of other decorations all around the house!

(Yes that's 12 feet, not 12 inches, it's not a typo!)

I decorated one of my trees and decorated

the family/kitchen area yesterday.

I'll post pictures of the tress & the rest

of the house later in December.

This afternoon I set up my SnowBabies.

(There are two of each picture, one with the flash and one without, it's hard to see the figures without the flash, but you can't get the full effect of the ice cube lights with it...so there's 2. Click the pictures to see a large version.)

Every year my Mom buys me these cute little decorations; she's never been able to see the cute display that I make with them so this is for her.

Thank you, I love you!!!

I hung glittery aqua snow flakes from the chandelier in

my den, BlingGirl can never get enough Bling!

Gobble, Gobble

2007-11-29T17:30:00.000-08:00

We had a turiffik Turkey Day!

The turkey was done about 2 hours early! We figured that it's weight must have been mislabeled. Luckily I checked it when I did! It turned out great!

We visited, went for walks, watched movies,

and ate and ate and ate and ate and ate!!!

Oh & my pretty pumpkins looked great on the table!

Thanks for helping to make it a special weekend!

We LOVE you guys!

Pretty Pumpkins

2007-11-18T07:31:00.000-08:00

Colleen and I got together and played "Martha Stewart" for a day. We covered real pumpkins with pretty paper. Then of course "BlingGirl" has to have some bling for her "Turkey Table" so I came home and glittered it up! We decided that next year we will do it on fake pumpkins instead of real ones, it was too much work to have to throw them out once the pumpkins go bad.

Logan Canyon

2007-10-09T13:54:00.000-07:00

This last weekend I went to visit my Sister and see her beautiful new house. I had a great time, we shopped & did more shopping and I helped her hang some decorations around her house. She has gorgeous views of the mountains from almost every window in the house & a huge yard!

It rained and snowed while I was there, but they kept my room nice and toasty so I wouldn't freeze at night! From the airport you pass through Logan Canyon and that is where I took these great pictures. I took them on the way home, the colors were even more bright on my way in. It was amazing the amount they changed in just a couple days; I think the snow helped them change a little faster!

Remembering Maggie

2007-10-03T13:29:00.000-07:00

Our Doggie Niece Maggie passed away last night.

In Memory of Maggie

We thought of you with love today,

but that is nothing new.

We thought about you yesterday,

and days before that too.

We think of you in silence.

We often speak your name.

Now all we have is memories,

and your picture in a frame.

Your memory is our keepsake,

with which we’ll never part.

Heaven has you in its keeping.

We have you in our heart.

I made this remembrance stone for my sister.

We Have Spiders!

2007-10-01T13:24:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween!

Guitar Pics Take Two

2007-09-29T12:32:00.000-07:00

Here are my final three Guitar Pics. They were sent to

Velvet Boutique in Gilbert, Arizona.

I hope they sell!!!!

RockStar Pendant

RockAngel Pendant

RockDiva Pendant

Oh, by the way I've chosen

Jagged Edge Jewelry as my company name and

Rock & Roll Couture as my tag line.

Work Bench

2007-09-26T12:24:00.000-07:00

I made this work bench out in my garage and I made it all by myself!

It took me about a week.....I'd never attempted a project like this before so I had a few bumps along the way;

but the finished results are exactly what I was after!

And of course I couldn't just have a black and grey work area.....even though I do boy things I am still a girl....I had to add the pink

& if you look close you can see I even have pink duct tape!

Thank you!

2007-09-22T12:22:00.000-07:00

Thank you for my presents....Betty....Colleen....Jackie!

Rose Ring

2007-09-22T12:20:00.000-07:00

I finally made a ring that fits!

I used silver clay to make the rose and then used sterling silver to wire wrap the base of the ring. Fun, fast & easy!

More Copper

2007-09-20T11:42:00.000-07:00

I made this copper set with copper sheet & copper wire that I got from an industrial supply company. It looks great with jeans.

Each copper component is domed to better fit around your wrist.

I used a copper etching solution to make the images raised on the copper.

The ring was just an after thought. I had extra beads and wire so I used a torch and balled the ends of 28g copper wire to use as head pins for the beads and wrapped them around the ring base that was made from 20g copper wire.

It was fun to make I love etching the sheet metal! Being self taught I'm sure I did a bunch of things wrong with the wire wrapping and etching...but it looks cute and I had fun!

Guitar Pics

2007-09-19T17:31:00.000-07:00

Here are my guitar pics, I've only made two so far but a third is in the works!

Rock Diva Guitar Pic Front & Back

Rock Angel Guitar Pick Front & Back

This is to show they are the size of an actual guitar pic.

I can't believe I found a pink guitar pic in my husbands stuff, what luck!

Watch for the ROCK STAR Guitar Pic coming soon!

Teacher.....I think NOT!

2007-09-15T17:07:00.000-07:00

My parents came in town for a week and I really wanted my mom to try the metal clay. So I was the teacher for the day.......not my cup of tea!!!! I keep forgetting to tell her steps & forget about tools she could use! Oh my gosh, did she make some cute things, even with a really crappy teacher!

I'm so proud of what she made, she made all 3 of these using only 10g of clay!!!!!!

She really liked the brushed look and has some brushed silver beads that she's going to use to string necklaces with for these two.

This one I worked on with her.....I was so worried about teaching her that I didn't make anything; so I helped her out with finishing this one. We dipped it in Silver Black and then used steel wool to bring back some of the silver. She really liked the aged look. By the way....her name is Candy!

I think we have us a new metal clay artist...she's talking about ordering a starter kit! Yeah!

Wire Wrapped Bowl

2007-09-12T17:46:00.000-07:00

My Mom's big purchase at the Antique Mall turned out to be $5 dollars for these two glass bowls. The one on the left for $4 and the one on the right for $1.

And look what she did! How cool is this....she just wrapped copper & silver colored wire with beads and made this cool handle. The copper heart charm in the center belonged to my grandmother. A $1 find turned into a memorable keepsake. The lady has got talent!

Zoomanity

2007-09-12T15:20:00.000-07:00

This is defiantly not a show to take your Mom & Dad to see when they come to visit; but none the less I still give it a 5 Star rating. It had some very talented people and I actually enjoyed the show, just go see it with your significant other and take Mom & Dad to see O!

It was worth going to the show just to watch her dance; she was amazing!

Barbie Displays

2007-09-11T18:07:00.000-07:00

My Mom ran across these when we were shopping at the Antique Mall, they are ceramic figures put out for Barbie's 45th anniversary. They are perfect for displaying jewelry & they have the little coil at the top to hold a description or price tag!

And they are PINK & BLACK, my colors, how more perfect could they be???

Photopolymer Stamps

2007-09-06T16:56:00.000-07:00

I played with the Photopolymer sheets from ArtClay World & this is what I got.

It's messy, stinky, sticky & it makes really cool custom stamps! I didn't have a UV light, so I used the sunlight which was free and we have plenty of it here in Nevada. But the sunlight gave me mixed results so it's hard to say if it's worth it or not. I guess I'd say YES if there is no other way to get the stamp you want. The other cool thing about it....you can have it burn into the sheets so that when you press it into the clay you get a raised impression instead of the standard impression. I think you need to play with it & determine the value for yourself.

Copper Heart

2007-09-01T17:16:00.001-07:00

So I've been doing a little playing this afternoon, I took copper flashing, cut it & drilled it, then took copper wire and "sewed" the heart back together. I then pounded it to give it a little bit of a dome effect. And last I annealed it with my torch. I love the fact that the two halves turned out completely different even though I annealed them at the same time! It's going to take me a lot of practice working with the sheet metal, but I really like it so far!

But I've got to be more careful!!! I'm going to get a tetanus shot on Tuesday, don't even ask!

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy

2007-09-01T08:43:00.000-07:00

Last night we went to the Hard Rock "Spy on Vegas" poolside concert and saw Big Bad Voodoo Daddy (for FREE!) with our friends Amy & Allen who grew up with Scoty Morris, the lead singer! They sounded really good, it was a lot of fun, but it was HOT!!!!!

Check Out Some of Their Music, Click Here!

Going to their concert made me want to watch the movie

Swingers again & listen to the Jungle Book soundtrack!

Key Lime Pie

2007-08-30T23:00:00.000-07:00

So here is my first attempt at making Key Lime Pie with Meringue! Turned out pretty yummy! I gave one to Ralphie for his B-Day and for helping me when my battery died. And I kept the other one for me and Troy. Not bad for someone who NEVER bakes!!!

Metal Clay World Conference

2007-08-26T18:06:00.000-07:00

"If you ask me what I came to do in this world, I, an artist, I will answer you: I am here to live out loud."

-Emile Zola

I attended the Metal Clay World Conference for the past three days. I meet women and men from all over the world; seasoned jewelery makers, teachers & artists. I met people who inspired me & reinforced my belief that I am on the right track in finding my life's passion; and on the right road to living creatively ever after.

I was a little disappointed in some of the classes, however others totally inspired me. My mind is going in a million circles right now, I may not get on here and post much in the coming days. I'm going to try to be busy living out loud!

Poor Little Boy

2007-08-24T14:45:00.000-07:00

Little Boy had to have another growth removed, this time from his hind ankle. No surgery this time, just a little local to numb the area. Thank goodness it was benign.

He's such a little fighter! Here are some pics from his last surgery. He had a hard time recovering with this surgery. But he was back to his good old self in about a week.

I had to put a picture of Piggy on here, he's just a resilient old fart.

Just as stubborn, lazy & sleepy as usual.

11 And Still in Love

2007-08-22T08:14:00.000-07:00

Happy, happy, happy, happy, happy Ani-vers-ary!

We have been married for 11 years!!!

I LOVE YOU CHIMPY!

Check out our engagement photo from 11 years ago!

My favorite picture from our wedding.

Mail Packaging

2007-08-21T18:25:00.000-07:00

Okay so I got a little creative with packaging the gifts and thought I'd show 'em off!

After I made the jewelry cards I wrapped them in tissue and made a cute little sticker with my sticker maker.

Then I put them in these cute little silver bags and tied a pretty white ribbon around them.

Jewelry Cards

2007-08-20T17:50:00.000-07:00

I've sent out a couple of gifts and made jewelry cards for them with card stock & scrap booking papers. I've always believed that the presentation of an gift is almost as important as the gift it's self, so I always try to have pretty wrapping even if I have to send it in the mail.

The earring card was the easiest to make; the bracelet card was the hardest.

These are two necklace cards that I made the blue one is the first one I made and the black one is the second one I made and turned out much better.

Betty had matching boxes for all of her glass pieces when I went to her show & I got this beautifully blingy green box to match the Tulip pendant! Beautiful Betty!

Garage Sale Finds

2007-08-16T15:41:00.000-07:00

I got these from a Garage Sale, I bought them because I liked them and thought that at the very least I could take them apart and use them in other jewelry. I think I paid either $1 or $2 for the necklace & each pair of earrings. I was going to start taking them apart and I thought to myself...."I should look at these and see if they have any markings"....so I got out my magnifying lens and sure enough a couple pieces had some markings!

These earrings have a marking of Coventry on them, when I did a quick search the only thing I could find was a Sara Coventry, not sure if it's the same designer, but the earrings look similar to some of her work and so does this necklace. Not real gold, but quality costume jewelry.

These earrings are sterling and are marked so, they are also marked Danecraft. A quick search revealed that the stones are most likely glass. Again, quality costume jewelry. They are beautiful earrings, and I'll probably keep them as is or perhaps try to convert them to pierced from the clipon style and wear them.

These are some other earrings I found there, not sure if it's worth taking to a jeweler to try to find out if they are of any value or not, especially since the rest of the jewelry is only costume.

If anyone knows more about any of this jewelry or an ideas on a way to find out if the studs are valuable or not please leave me a comment! Thanks!

Betty's Glass

2007-08-10T17:09:00.000-07:00

I'm so happy that Betty's show at the Flamigo was such a success!!! I bought a couple pieces from her and wanted to share with everyone.
I named the pieces Tulips by Betty & Purple Flower in Snow by Betty. One is a gift and the other is for me.

Jean's Pendant & Earrings

2007-08-03T15:08:00.000-07:00

This set was made for my Mother-in-Law's 65th birthday.

The front of the pendant has a CZ set in the center of the flower. The outer ring was hammered and I used Silver Black to antique the piece then burnished the flower to give it some luster. The back is stamped with her name and I attached a heart. I used sterling chain and attached some dark blue/black bead & pearls for the necklace.

The earrings match the center of the pendant and have the same beads and pearls as the necklace only smaller.

Steph's Chandeliers

2007-07-30T14:40:00.000-07:00

These are a Japanese chainmaille weave. It was a little tough working with those tiny rings, but I put on my reading glasses and wa la! These earrings are great, you can wear them with jeans and a T-Shirt or with a fancy schmancy dress and they pair fabulously with either!

Twinkle Ring

2007-07-24T14:35:00.000-07:00

This ring broke too, but it broke while I was wearing it. I think it was because I made it too thin. Keep checking my blog, I will make this into something else. It was a nice ring but will be even nicer.............

Laugh Out Loud

2007-07-11T14:19:00.000-07:00

This class was a supposed to be a hammered ID bracelet. Because I'm such a perfectionist I have to file and sand and get everything just so before I fire it. And I broke my bracelet while it was in the dried clay state before I fired it.

I had three words on there, I can't remember what the other two were, but I was able to save one end with the heart hole and the word laugh. I figured I make it into a charm.

I fired it and then it was time to hammer. Because it was supposed to be a bracelet the end with the heart was a little curved. The perfectionist in me wanted it to be flat so I thought that I'd hammer it flat, I hammered it flat! And again I broke it!

I now keep this on my work table to remind me to Laugh Out Loud! It's not the end of the world when something breaks, use it to your advantage and make something else out of it!

South Beach, Florida

2007-07-02T14:05:00.000-07:00

Here we are on South Beach in Flordia on our vacation in June! It was my second trip to Miami and Troy's first. We drove from Miami to Key West and went to the most southern point in the US. The water is so warm it's almost shocking! We had a very relaxing time, we both needed it! I LOVE THE BEACH!!!!