Chartreuse Orbs

Couldn't resist. These big o' tasty chartreuse green beads practically screamed out at me from the website I saw them on, so I had to buy them. The beads are 22mm - just under 1" round. I've paired them here with two small square glass beads and a length of oxidized chain. They dangle a shoulder-dusting 3.25" total. Tasty, no? I call them (cleverly enough) Chartreuse Orbs and they are available in my Etsy shop.

Today's Reality Check

"Sorrowful homecoming: Four-year-old Caden Lawson Parrish salutes as an Army honor guard carries the casket of his father, Army Spc. Charles Dustin "Dusty" Parrish, off a plane at the Alabama Air National Guard base in Birmingham. Parrish died June 4 after being mortally wounded in Jahlad, Iraq."

Cube Studs

I don't usually make little, tiny things. Most of what I make leans toward the chunky, dangly, bigger side. (Guess it's because I'm big.) I had a smaller piece of some heavy square stock and thought how cute it would be to saw off little squares of it and make little posted studs. Voilà!

I think they are so cute. Solid sterling squares that are 1/8" on a side. I call them Cube Studs. Available in my Etsy shop.

Pebble Bracelet

While vending at the Portland Saturday Market a couple of weeks ago, I was approached by a family to see if I could make a bracelet for the girl, a teenager. She was graduating from high school and her parents said they would have a special bracelet made for her. She pulled out a baggie with several pebbles in it and described the sort of thing she wanted. These weren't precious stone pebbles, these were just your basic run-of-the-mill pebbles, but apparently they were precious to her. Her mother explained that they had a whole heap of sentimental value for her, that they were from someplace very special.

When I got home, I sketched out a design and after a few back and forth emails, we settled on something. I created hewn, fine silver "pebble" discs and bezel set three of the little stones. The discs were then riveted together with lengths of wire. I hustled to get it done in time for her graduation and did. She was thrilled with the results.

Today's Reality Check: Inspiring

"Toes-on lesson: Jessica Cox shows Brian Tagalog how to check the oil on a single-engine Ercoupe during their pre-flight check at the airport in San Manuel, Ariz. Cox, who was born without arms, made headlines recently when she obtained a license to fly a plane with her feet. Now she has inspired another armless Tucsonan to do the same."

Liquim? I don't even know him.

"There's a sucker born: When Del Monte Superfruit Smoothies asked a thousand women who they would most like to lick, they picked the newest Bond, Daniel Craig. So Del Monte got working on a limited-edition "license to chill" ice lolly based on a beach scene from "Casino Royale." It's no doubt the first popsicle with abs."