Babies, babies, everywhere....

No....not me silly! Everyone around me. Seems like there must have been something in the air six months ago because there are a TON of people around me who are due to have babies come June. In the spirit of baby-ness I've started knitting. Not very original I know but these make good use of some fantastic yarn I've got and by the time the kids get to Winter of 2009 their teeny little heads will be just the right size for these noggin warmers :)

I'm just about 2/3 of the way through the green/purple one. I think I like this particular colorway alot! Good thing I have a bunch more skeins stashed away for another project. I think I have to crank out another one or two of these totally cute head toppers. I think these test the limits of my knitting abilities i.e. knitting in the round and decreasing stitches but I have to say I'm very proud of how these are turning out. Watch out world....I'll be knitting socks in no time!!

Say nothing about the fact that I've made no beads in the last 3 weeks and that I should be studying for upcoming tests and whatnot. A girl's gotta make time for some fun stuff, no?

Runny nose, sore throat....

I've got the cooties and I'm gonna kill the person who gave them to me. Well...ok maybe kill is too strong a word. I seriously hate getting sick. I've got that sore, scratchy throat. I feel that dry, feverish burning behind the eyes. I get chills every 2 seconds. I'm just miserable. And I have to go to work tomorrow. Sigh.

Studying gets difficult when all you want to do is turn on the bed warmer and climb under the covers. I'm such a wuss.

I'm going to dig me up some Thera Flu, climb into my jammies and call it a night.

Phew....

It was a busy week. I got certified as a critical care nurse (YAY!). In short, I think this means that critical care is now my area of specialty :) By no means does this mean that I know everything about everything but I definitely no more now than I did a couple of months ago! See....studying does pay off!

School started back up after a week off. 'Nuf said.

I'm totally feeling unmotivated right now. I feel like I busted my butt for the certification exam and even though I only have 2 weeks until my next major exam my brain is on strike. I think I'm going to take it easy this weekend and spend it hanging with Kev and then I'll get back in the studying groove on Monday.

Have I mentioned before how I've never studied this hard or this much in my life? Seriously, I think if you put all the time I spent studying in highschool and university it doesn't come close to how much I've studied since January.

I love winning!!

Well, not that I've actually won anything....yet. But I'm hoping that I do :) I entered this frit challenge contest that Lori Greenberg is holding and am hoping that I will be the lucky winner of Val's Frit Secrets book!

I've been using Val's frits...well...pretty much ever since I started lampworking. I'm more for letting the frit blends speak for themselves and love to use them mostly in crystal shaped beads where the colors really shine. Someday I'm going to take Val's class where I'll hopefully learn how to do more with frits than just put them on a bead and encase them :D

Here are some of my faves....the ones above were all made with Val's Glow frit on different bases, encased with different colors, with silver, without silver. Very neat!

These ones to the right I used Raku frit for the background which I thought gave these beads a lovely earthy feel.

Below is more yummy Raku-ness. Gosh is this particular glass every hard to work with though. Very tempermental.

I don't think I've used Raku for much in a long while. Maybe it's time to whip it out to see what it'll do for me now that I have a new torch setup. Maybe it'll play nice. It was like pulling teeth for a while. I'm really envious of anyone who can make Raku sing. Like Kim Neely...and a whole bunch of other beadmakers who are infinitely more Raku-blessed than I have ever been!

My faves though are the crystal beads with just the colors and a nice thick clear encasing to make them shine. Yup...those I love the most.....my ROX. All made with Val's frit blends except for the last set which I blended up myself as a special request for "Java Blue".

As promised...

Here's the pic of my silver haul from yesterday. Snapped really quickly and so not the best picture but you get the idea. Now to find the time to actually put them on the beads :)

Today I'm off to a quiet place to study, study, STUDY!!!! Have a great one :)

Nonsense and whatnot....

Hello world....(or at least those of you who happen to be reading this!),

I wish I had tons of interesting stuff to tell you but, alas, my life has been quite boring as of late. The good news is that I wound up doing quite well on that last test that I was stressing about. Now...the question will be whether I can repeat that on the next one.  The next one promises to be a ball-buster and I'm being realistic about what the possible outcome might be.

In the meantime I've been preparing for an upcoming certification exam.  Seems like all I ever do these days is take tests :(  I can't wait for this part of the year to be over with. 

Today I took a break from the books and decided to break into the stash of PMC3 that I had lurking around.  I finally got all the knick-knacks "needed" to work with the stuff and I decided that there's no time like the present.  So...in the end I churned out a ton of bead caps that I hope to use for my beads.  I also made about a dozen large hole spacer beads that look quite neat on my Pandora bracelet.  I'll try to post a pic as soon as I get one taken.  I have to say that I'm quite addicted and am already searching for affordable sources for more PMC3.

Other than that I haven't lit up the torch for a while.  I got a bunch of stuff done earlier that I listed on Etsy.  A couple of the bigger beads I finished I was hoping to core with silver - hence the decision to play with silver clay.  I'm also waiting on some additional supplies to come in so that I have the right size of tubing for the coring.

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow because I'm treating myself to a 2-hour massage!!!  It's going to be the best day :)  I hope you had a good one and I'll catch up with you again soon.

Shameless self-promotion :)

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade theglassturtle.etsy.com