Playing with resined paper, nickel metal, charms & crystals~~

Blessed week to you all!

Peace Pendant ICE resin

Donna has been cutting my hair for years.  When I tore the ligaments in my right wrist a few years ago, she colored my hair too.  She does whatever I ask, is always on time and always kind and friendly.  When she asked me to make a necklace for her "hippie" cousin, I said yes. 

 I have a tendency to make myself nervous about commission pieces.  "Is this what she wants?"  "Is this going to work?"  "Does this look terrible?"  I work myself into a dither.  Whatever a dither is, anyway.

Just finished this pendant.  Still need to string a simple necklace and add some charms.  I hope she likes it!  But if she doesn't, I'll take it to Benicia Bead and they'll find a great home for it.

Two wonderful things this week:  My braces came off!  Yay!

And our new fridge arrived on Wednesday.  I never realized how much I LOVE having a working fridge!!!

It's all good.  Hope it's all good for you, my friends.

ICE Resin "Look at the Big Picture" Faith Pendant

 Made a pendant for myself.  I'm playing with little copper boxes that I fold from thin-gauge metal and fill with resin, and I always make the "experiments" for myself.  I'm the guinea pig here~~

I'm also reminding myself to stop a second, in the midst of the daily stresses, and remember what I believe, what is truly important.  To remember Who I trust.  

 The back~

The side~

It's a rainy December 1 here in Northern California.  My DH is watching "The Santa Clause" and the orange kitty just stopped walking over my keyboard and rubbing against my hand as I try to use my mouse. :-)

May you all have a lovely day~It's Advent time!

Another Resin Pour~~ICE is getting a workout!

Rainy Wednesday in Northern California.  My day off, and after errands I poured more resin.  Still works in progress, so I'll put up better pics when I get further along.

Hope your week is going smoothly~

ICE Resin Charms and a Broken Refrigerator

I finally finally finally poured my ICE resin yesterday.  I'm such a chicken~  I'm afraid I'll mess up my little works of art! It went well, but not perfectly.  Two pieces need another doming coat of resin, but fortunately that's not a big deal.  I'll show you those pretties later, I promise!

Our refrigerator died yesterday morning...a moment of grieving, please, lol!  No warning, no funny noises...just died.  My DH found water on the floor in front of it.  And the frozen food inside was all mushy.  RATS!  So, dumping food, salvaging what we can. 

The repairman looked at it yesterday afternoon.  Our 12-year-old fridge was going to cost close to $900 to repair.  We thought about it and decided that we will replace it.  UGH...an unexpected expense right before Christmas.  Oh well~~

My wonderful DH spent most of last night running to assorted stores, then returned home and used his Ninja Shopping Skills on an internet search.  He showed me what he came up with, and we think we have it narrowed down.  More searching today after church.

Well....it could be worse.  And luckily we don't keep as much food in the fridge as we used to when the kids lived at home.  And I've heard tell that the new fridges are more energy efficient...It's gonna all work out.

Here's to a new week~~May it improve and lead us into the joy of Advent.  The big picture: We are so very blessed.  Amen!

Goofing Around on a Saturday Afternoon

Had the stamped copper piece sitting on my bench for weeks.  Finally wrapped the beads and finished it!  And yes, filthy fingers are part of jewelry-making~ :-)  At least for me.

 My hairdresser Donna wants a peace sign necklace for her cousin.  I found this copper pendant at Benicia Bead .  I sawed off the loop at the top and stamped it like crazy~then I made this little copper box to hold it.  I'm working on cold connected copper bezels for a resin pour in my future.  Little by little....

May your Thanksgiving week offer you gratitude and some peace~

And my humble thanks to God for my blessed full life~

Operation Christmas Child

My church and Bible study group encouraged us to donate a  shoebox of gifts for Operation Christmas Child .  We'd bought gifts for children in need many times in the past, but this concept was a first for us.  

We thought about the child, and decided that we wanted to get gifts for a boy 10-14 years of age.  Samaritan's Purse , the organization that sponsors this event, had a print-out sheet of directions and recommendations.  

As we pondered and gathered our gifts: colored pencils, small drawing pad, hard candies, small binoculars, solar powered calculator, wristwatch, toiletries and wash cloths, we thought about the boy that might receive them.  

We were trying to purchase a few last items, when we asked a young man working at our local Target if he could help us find washcloths.  We told him what we were doing, and he said, "I got a box from them when I was a boy".  I asked him if there was anything he could recommend, and he said a yoyo would be good to give the boy something fun to occupy his time.  It took 4 different stores, but we found the yoyo!

We'll be praying for that boy.

If you would like to participate in this wonderful event, please   click the link above.  We know you'll be blessed more than the recipient!