beadworkbybetsy

On October 20th my hubby turned 38.  Sadly, this marked the end of a year of him quoting Monty Python.  We all made cards for him.  I included photos of the sentiments the kids wrote because I love seeing the phonetic spellings.  Pete, being terrible at spelling, enjoyed reading the cards immensely.


Elijah was inspired to make a card by cutting paper because he thought about how much Pete enjoys this animation of Star Wars.  The song is also pleasant to listen to, too.  I really like the thought Elijah put into the card, but the sentiment sounds like he's a teenager.



Luke used a pre-stamped image that I made for Ruth.  She has a stash of stamped card stock that she can cut and use whenever she desires to make a card.  Wrestle = resl.


Ruth likes adding ribbon and tags to her cards.  I can't imagine where she gets the inspiration for embellishing!  God blessed me with a crafty daughter, for which I am very thankful.  She told us that she added the tag because she wrote too many xoxox's and ran out of room to sign her name.  The image was stamped using Bake Me a Cake by Lawn Fawn.


When you read the left side and then the right side, this is what Ruth's message says: "I love you so much.  I like when you hug me and kiss me and ask silly questions."


I didn't know how I was going to help John make a card and get dinner made on Pete's birthday.  While I was in the kitchen I could hear Ruth saying, "What do you want to say to dad?  I love you?  Do you want to sign it xoxox?"  At that moment I knew she was helping John to make a card.  She drew light sabers because that's what John wanted.  They both decorated the card with lots of stickers.


My card to Pete included some sewing, some eyelets, and has a book mark that he can remove and use.  The image is from a sheet of paper I bought at Stamp Fever.

Brandi, Brooke and Betsy

Beer and pretzels come super-sized at Oktoberfest.

This is a gingerbread cookie booth.

Lots of rides and booths.

Yes, look closely at the OX on a spit.

Look at all the tables inside just one tent, waiting to fill people with food and libations.

More rides.

This shows the exterior of just one of the sponsor tents.

Brooke and I on the antique ride.  Note that the bar does NOT pull down.

This year was the 200th anniversary so they had a separate section set up to show things from past Oktoberfests.  We rode on a ride that was built in 1939.  The ride operator actually used a hand crank to help power up the ride.  It went much faster than we expected.  So fast that I was a little concerned about  my safety.  It was a great time.

Alison and I with some crazy guys in a giant leiderhosen.

Posing by one of the horses that pulled the Paulaner beer float.

I am going to Paris very soon.  With my sisters.  Brandi (the oldest) and I are traveling to Munich to visit Brooke (the middle), who is living there for about 9 more months.  From Munich we will fly to Paris, see lots of sights, then take the Eurostar to London and see more sights.  My lovely British friend Sharon will spend a day with us.  Then we will return to Munich to see the opening day parade for Oktoberfest.  A trip to see some of Austria is also in the works.
I made these pendants using some collage sheets of Paris pictures and magic gloss by Lisa Pavelka.  I let Brandi choose her favorite.  She picked the only one that has a crack or bubble that formed while the resin was hardening.  I attached some dangles to the pendants when I wire-wrapped loops to attach them to chain.  I have one pendant left over, so I will list it at etsy.

I just finished making a bracelet (a paid job for which I am very thankful) for Lisa.  Two years ago I gave her one for the birth of her third child, and each child was done with their birthstones.  I made it in gold and silver to go with either type of jewelry she might wear.  Some friends pitched in to help buy the beads.  The one I just made for her is all silver with black and clear crystals, per her request.  Lisa wears a lot of black and wanted a mother's bracelet that matched more of her clothing.




This is a picture of my bracelet, which I made 3 1/2 years ago.  You can find pieces like this on-line here or here, but the cost is pretty high.  If you are ever interested in having one for yourself or to give to someone else, let me know.

You should try making this lovely Blueberry Lemon Cake. I first made this cake six years ago for a Memorial Day party. The recipe is from Bon Appetit. This year I made it, with some help from Ruth, as our contribution to the Wilson family July 3rd celebration.

 I also took my children to a blueberry farm in June.  We had a great time picking blueberries in the fields.  We had no idea they grew just like grape clusters.  I highly recommend going to the farm next year.







I also have a great recipe for Blueberry Bread.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup softened butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 2/3 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup milk
1 cup fresh blueberries
1/2 tsp. grated lemon zest (we just used a whole lemon)

For the glaze:
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9x5x3 loaf pan; set aside.  By hand (or with mixer), whisk together softened butter and sugar; beat in eggs.  In a separate bowl, sift flour with baking powder and salt.  Add to butter mixture alternately with the milk.  Mix until just combined.  Fold in blueberries and lemon zest.  Pour bread batter into prepared pan and bake for about 50 minutes.

While the bread is baking, heat lemon juice and sugar in a small saucepan.  Cook until mixture is the thickness of syrup.  Pour glaze over baked bread while it is still in the pan.  Allow bread and glaze to cool before removing from pan.

Pete and I have yet to get the glaze right on the bread.  It doesn't harden.  We think the portions in the recipe are wrong.  If anyone has suggestions about the glaze, please comment.  Even though our glaze hasn't worked out, the bread is still fabulous.

This card is in honor of our bee situation.  I love to stamp the bee on tan card stock.  Then when I color the wings with white prismacolor, it really stands out.  The bee stamp is an old one by Lisa Hindsley.  She is working for Stampendous.  I also have a lady bug by her.

Below are some photos of the drones, just waiting to hatch and build more honeycomb inside our wall.  It was hard for me to poison the bees, but we knew we couldn't have them in there.

Bees moved into our wall on June 4th.  That night I googled and learned a lot about our options.  Most bee saving outfits come in, cut through your stucco and collect the hive.  On June 4th our new stucco had just been completed.  We didn't want anyone cutting a hole in our stucco.  We still tried to be environmental and called up a bee keeper on June 5th.  They said they could be at our house by 5 pm and it would cost $150.  For what?  They said they would poison the bees and cut a hole in the outside wall to clean it out.

We decided we could poison the bees ourselves and then we could cut a hole in the interior wall and do the repair.  After being in our home for 13 years we feel we have more expertise in the area of patching drywall.  Or at least my hubby does.  He poisoned the bees on June 19 (poison I bought from the Orange County Farm Supply).  We thought it would take a couple days to reach the queen, but it didn't.  Pete had to poison again.  Finally we saw no more activity going in or out of the hole.  A roof repairman closed up the hole on July 1.  So that means the bees were only building for about 3 weeks before the poison took effect.  It is amazing how much they built and how many drones were waiting to hatch in such a small amount of time.  The honeycomb is about 2 feet long.  In some places it was already as deep as the wall would allow.

This shows some of the honey glistening inside the honey comb.

I got to do demo.  I misjudged on my first attempt.  That just meant a bigger drywall hole to patch.  We started the clean up on July 9th, had the hole patched by the 11th, but we didn't get to the texture or painting until the following weekend.  For us to start a project and complete it in less than two weeks is amazing.  Of course we had to get it done so that Luke and Elijah could have their room functional again.

These small chandelier pendants are waiting to be placed on chain.  Even this part of making jewelry offers choices.  Do I put them on copper? antique copper? real silver (costs more and tarnishes)? silver plated? gun metal?  I have to decide and get them listed for sale.  For these pendants I used subtle papers.  I now realize the glass can take much brighter images and I look forward to making more.
I also have two different shapes to offer in a larger size.  The chocolate/turquoise flower pendant is  2 1/2 inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide; the one with the flowers in the center is 2 inches long and 1 1/8 inches wide.