Summertime Creations

The challenge this month from Artbeads was to create something with a summertime theme using glass beads, charms or pendants. My first thought was to do a charm bracelet with some shell or boating themed charms. However, I wanted to do a little something different.

I fell in love with the simplicity of the sand dollar sterling silver pendant. Artbeads has a great selection of pendants to choose from. Normally that is where I start with an idea for a necklace, with the pendant, because it is the focal point in the design. I liked the shades of green and blue in the glass pearls and added some Swarovski crystal for a little sparkle.


My favorite colors right now are orange, red and yellow. I like vibrant colors during the summer. In browsing the selection of glass beads it was hard to narrow it down! I selected a strand of big bright flower beads as they were not something I would ordinarily pick and I thought they might be fun to try. I combined them with some lemon yellow swirled beads I had in my inventory and thought they made a good combination. This is a fun piece to wear on a hot summer day!


My final piece uses one of my very favorite design elements - furnace glass beads. I just love these! I picked the bright citrus package with random beads, some solid and some striped. I really wanted the solid orange bead to stand out so I put in some big bold silver beads. The pinstripes on the other beads remind me of candy. I really like this bracelet!


As always, I really enjoy these challenges as they allow me to think outside my normal style and have have a lot of fun with it!

Disclosure: The sand dollar pendant and glass beads were kindly provided free of charge by Artbeads.com as part of their blogging program. The author of this blog has not received any payment from above-mentioned company. The post represents the personal opinion of the blog author.

Masonic Home Show in Shelbyville

I recently set up with other Bluegrass Etsy team members at the Masonic Home Show (Celebrating Life Through Art) organized by our friend Donna Williams. It was a hot, hot day. Between the chilled wine, some ice from the cooler and team member Carolyn's nifty misting fan, we managed to stay cool! Here are some pics of our booths that day. This is always a fun event because of the constant entertainment and live music. Not to mention the good food and the good company!

Handcrafted clutch purses & accessories from Toni Johnson of Vernon Ave.

My Creative Eye Studio booth featuring jewelry and greeting cards.


Awesome pieces created by Joey and Kelly Graves of Whimsy Beading.

Metalsmithing extraordinaire Carolyn Mallin of Fanciful Expressions.

Wordless Wednesday

Rescue Kitties

Last month these amazing babies showed up at my husband's office out in Eminence, Ky which is a rural area. The four kitties were dumped there (our guess) and there were two pairs from two different litters. They seemed a little skittish but friendly. They were not feral cats at all. Each time the door opened they would sneak inside which isn't good for business and people were annoyed.


Knowing that they might be put down at a regular shelter, we knew we had to do something to help them out. All of the no kill shelters or organizations that we called said they could not take any more kittens at the time. My husband was able to borrow a large crate from a local shelter for several days. We set it up in our garage until we could figure out what to do next. We already have two cats and could not take any more. And we couldn't let the kittens around our two cats because our existing cats were not thrilled to see them in the garage.

We didn't have any baby shampoo or cat shampoo so we bathed them warm water with Aveda Shampure, clipped their nails and gave them a mini spa treatment. They really seemed to like it. And they smelled really nice!


Putting my marketing degree to use, I took cute pictures, gave them sweet names and made little fliers to help promote them. We posted their pictures on Facebook and told our friends and family. One day at work I mentioned our cat Tucker to a coworker and he said he was looking to get a kitten. That was wonderful to hear! At the same time, we had contacted the lady we knew at Shamrock (we worked with her to adopt the two we have) and she agreed to foster the kitties until they found homes.


It worked out that my coworker took the two small ones (Oreo and Pumpkin Spice) because he didn't want to break them up. I am so happy to report that they are doing great! They are spoiled rotten in their new home. And the best part is that I get regular doses of stories about their antics and pictures of them as they grow.


We are hoping that Isabella and Fiona find homes soon. They are beautiful orange, black and white calicos. They are currently at the Feeder's Supply in Middletown and I hear that someone is trying to decide between the two. I am excited that maybe at least one of them will go home with someone nice. I go up to see them on the weekends and sometimes on my lunch hour. I like to think that they remember me or know my voice, but they probably don't. They are just so happy to have someone to hold them and love on them.


So remember to spay and neuter your kitties so that we don't have to work so hard to be sure they find good homes. Ours will have a happy ending, but that is because we took an interest in them and because of great organizations like Shamrock.

To learn more about Shamrock or make a donation, please visit them here. Do it for the fur babies.

Trip to Stream Cliff Herb Farm

I recently took a trip to a little place called Stream Cliff Farm in Commiskey, Indiana. What a hidden jewel this is! I knew nothing about it until my friend Amy suggested that we take a trip there to celebrate our birthdays. It's about an hour or so from Louisville and well worth the trip if you have lunch at their quaint restaurant.

They have a wonderful selection of plants and herbs. And if you love to take photos, you will find lots of great spots to take pictures. There are gardens and water features, a little sanctuary area for weddings, craft classes, a winery, a restaurant, gift shops, some friendly goats and a baby donkey. We had quite the sampling of food in the restaurant and what is really cool is how they use the flowers on the plates as edible garnish and there are herbs (like lemon verbena) used in the lemonade and tea. Be sure to try the "bird seed pasta" if you go.


If you are looking for a nice place to visit in the country, give this place a try! It's worth the drive!

Wordless Wednesday

A Mother's Day Lesson from Birds

Every year I get two large ferns to hang from our front porch. After about a week my husband noticed a bird flying out of one of the ferns whenever he opened the front door. Upon further inspection when watering the ferns, we found a bird's nest already built. Within a day or two there were eggs. And imagine my surprise to see two different sizes and types of eggs in this nest!


I wondered how this could happen so I did a google search and learned about "brood parasites" What this means is that a mother bird (frequently a cowbird) will find a nest that another mother bird has built (the host bird), then lay her eggs there and she may or may not ever return. In some species of birds, they aren't capable of building a nest so they just find one already built for them. In most cases, the host bird will come back and lay her eggs with the others. She may abandon her eggs when she notices there are other eggs in her nest. Or the brood parasite bird may come back and remove the eggs that are not hers from the host nest.

As you can see from the photo that I took, the speckled eggs are much larger and they tend to be the ones to hatch first. I really had to wonder how 7 babies could even fit in this tiny nest. It is probably about 3" wide.

Unfortunately, I read that when all the babies have hatched, the host mother will feed the babies that are the biggest and have their mouths open first. She may not even realize that the babies are a different species. This endangers the life of her own babies, and she is feeding birds that aren't even hers. Her smaller babies may end up starving because of the competition for food. Or they may get thrown out of the nest by the larger babies. I have read that this practice has possibly reduced the number of songbirds, while increasing the number of (brood parasite) cowbirds.

For days I struggled with getting involved in this circle of life. It didn't seem fair that a "squatter" bird's eggs should jeopardize the 5 blue eggs that were laid by the mom that built the nest in the first place. I considered removing the cowbird eggs myself. But I decided not to interfere with nature and see how this plays out. I hope that all these babies will have a chance at life.

Last night we checked and the 7 eggs were still there. Today I checked and the two speckled eggs have hatched! I hope this new mama can take care of all 7 of her babies. I only see 4 blue eggs now, but hope that the 5th one is under the new hatchlings.



More pics to come in the days ahead, if mama allows it.

Happy Mother's Day!