Tuesday, August 25, 2015

New jewelry

I've been inspired lately to make a couple of new necklaces.  The first is made from a recycled bullet.  It seems as if bullet jewelry is popping up everywhere--magazines, Pinterest, Facebook, etc.  Travis had one used bullet, so I nabbed it and made this.




I used E6000 to affix a Swarovski crystal to the front, and accented the pendant with a pearl.  This gave it a rugged, yet girly, look.  

A few weeks ago I was browsing in my favorite local clothing store, and I came across a long necklace I loved.  I started to buy it, but then decided to make my own, using materials that fit my taste.  It's not an exact copy, but instead I used the necklace I saw as inspiration for my piece.



I love the long length, and the mix of copper beads, silver wire, and brown leather for the chain.  

I wore this to work yesterday and got it hung on my desk, pulling one of the jump rings attaching the copper bead links together loose.  Luckily I had tweezers with me, and set out to make the minor repair just as two new employees came into my office.  Naturally, I fixed the necklace before completing their paperwork--priorities, right?  Besides, they were a few minutes early, and who wouldn't want a free jewelry repair 101 lesson?  (Okay, probably those two men, but they didn't seem  upset!).

I'm currently working on my website.  It's a somewhat slow process--there are so many decisions to be made!  Hopefully soon I'll have it up and running!

Saturday, August 22, 2015

Summer Vacation Recap

It's been a couple of weeks since our family vacation and I wanted to share some of the pics.  Don't worry--this won't be a looong post about every little thing we did.  It was such a great trip, though, that I wanted to share.

First, we stopped in Canton, Ohio to visit the Pro Football Hall of Fame, which was quite possibly the highlight of the trip for Travis.


In case you can't see the pic well enough, Travis' team is the Dallas Cowboys.  We didn't have to physically drag him away from the bust of Troy Aikman, but I was concerned for a while.

Next, we went to Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio.  Being the extremely large chicken I am, I didn't ride any rides, but I did have something incredibly exciting happen to me in the hotel.


Yes, folks, I met Snoopy!  And, yes, I embarrassed Hannah and Katie (especially Katie).

After a couple of days at the park, we headed to Canada, and Niagara Falls.  We spent our first full day in Toronto, taking in the CN Tower and a Blue Jays game.





The CN Tower is intimidating--especially for someone with a phobia of heights (me!), but the views are well worth it!

Niagara Falls is incredible.  This is a view from the American falls from the boat tour.


It was impossible to get a picture of the Horseshoe Falls from the boat because of the force of the mist (which felt much more like a pounding rain!).  However, I did get a few good pics from our hotel room.


When we left Canada to head home, we stopped on the American side of the falls.  There were gorgeous sights from that side, as well.  You can really get close to the Falls!




We also got to see some other sights--Marble Head Lighthouse, Niagara on the Lake, fireworks over the Falls, etc.  It wasn't the most relaxing vacation we've ever taken, but it was definitely one of the best!