Jewelry, Jewelry, jewelry!

I have been really loving to make jewelry lately, the instant gratification of a finished product in a short time, (compared to making clothing) with beautifully colored gemstones is very satisfying.  Earrings are also really fun to make and can be made very quickly; I could bead for hours, and often get all the beads out and sit at my table with a computer loaded full of old movies and I bead, bead, bead!  Here are some of my newest items!

The necklace above is made from feldspar, agate, citrine and the pendent is painted shell.  This is a longer necklace and a real eye catching piece.  Find out more about it here.

One of my new favorite stones for purely visual reasons is this dyed magnesite.  It's a man made stone which can be dyed easily,it's unique cracks with the contrasting dye create really fun and colorful beads!  I was able to make all the necklaces for my sister's wedding with a particular pink color of magnesite.    Each necklace was unique and the colors matched the dresses perfectly!

This pendent necklace is sure to get you some compliments!  This beautiful green centerpiece is emerald jasper, paired with stunning white shell beads, silver metal, and picture jasper oval beads.  You can find more info here.

The hand blown glass pendent below reminds me of the blue of Lake Michigan in the morning.  I love the water and it's one thing I miss in Colorado.  This blown glass pendent is very unique and it's paired with sodalite which brings inner peace and glass seed beads.

You can find these and lots more on my website.

Jewelry, Jewelry, Jewelry!

I have been really loving to make jewelry lately, the instant gratification of a finished product in a short time, (compared to making clothing) with beautifully colored gemstones is very satisfying.  Earrings are also really fun to make and can be made very quickly; I could bead for hours, and often get all the beads out and sit at my table with a computer loaded full of old movies and I bead, bead, bead!  Here are some of my newest items! 

The necklace above is made from feldspar, agate, citrine and the pendent is painted shell.  This is a longer necklace and a real eye catching piece.  Find out more about it here. 

One of my new favorite stones for purely visual reasons is this dyed magnesite.  It's a man made stone which can be dyed easily,

it's unique cracks with the contrasting dye create really fun and colorful beads!  I was able to make all the necklaces for my sister's wedding with a particular pink color of magnesite.    Each necklace was unique and the colors matched the dresses perfectly! 

This pendent necklace is sure to get you some compliments!  This beautiful pendent is emerald jasper, paired with stunning white shell beads, silver metal, and picture jasper oval beads.  You can find more info here. 

This pendent reminds me of the blue of Lake Michigan in the morning.  I love the water and it's one thing I miss in Colorado.  This blown glass pendent is very unique and it's paired with sodalite which brings inner peace and glass seed beads. 

You can find these and lots more on my website.

Wedding day is here! Part 3

Wedding Day!!
My only sister getting married was a pretty big deal and I was nearly as excited as I was on my wedding day for her! Everything had turned out perfectly, the dresses fit, the jewelry was a hit, all the family was happy and healthy and here, and it was a beautiful sunny summer Michigan day! We arrived at Headliners in the morning for our hair up-dos and wedding make-up. It was so great to hang out with my cousins and sisters friends for the experience, I don’t see my cousins very much, but we always seem to pick up where we left off and have a great time together. I can say that about lots of my cousins actually on both sides of my family; the Raineys and Mahers are definitely a great family to be a part of.
We all got beautified at the salon, watching and commenting on everyone’s up-dos while eating breakfast and drinking coffee. After the salon we drove to the church to get ready, I was excited and antsy waiting for the festivities to start, fortunately my cousin Amanda had the foresight to order a pizza delivery to the church so we were able to get a bite to eat.
My sister had asked all of the girls to wear navy blue shoes of their choosing for the wedding, and being a nature girl myself, I chose a simple wedge with medium sized heel so that I could walk and dance easily; however all of the other gals chose heels that were crazy tall and I looked tiny compared to everyone else. I tried on Leah’s shoes and it was pretty comical watching me walk in those heels, but the other gals rocked theirs.
The wedding started out to be a tear-fest but somehow lightened up and we all enjoyed the ceremony without too many tears. For me, this was due to the 4 year old flower girl and Cody’s cousin Almy who sat next to me. She chose me as her new “BFF” (best friend forever) and continued to crack me up with her nonstop fidgeting and talking during the ceremony. The comic relief allowed me to enjoy the ceremony rather than fighting the tears while trying not to cry 
After the ceremony the bride and groom rented a stretch hummer limo for the large bridal party stocked with beer and champagne for the 3 hour time difference after the wedding before the reception for photos. I had insisted Laura and Cody spend a good amount of money on a photographer they really liked so they could enjoy their wedding photos forever. After our wedding photo experience, I wanted her to learn from my mistakes. Their photographer Vince was incredibly nice and had a great eye for urban shots; I cannot wait to see how they turned out!
Once we got to the reception the realization that I had to give my maid of honor speech hit and I got really nervous, but after talking to Justin, the best man, and finding out that he was even more nervous than me, I calmed down and knew it would be O.K. Both Justin and I promised each other loud laughter during our speeches and wished each other luck as I went first. The speech came easily to me and I enjoyed sharing it with the families; Justin’s was even better and received a lot of laughter from the family and a little embarrassment from Cody, as it should be.

After dinner the real party began as the DJ started playing music and I tried to spend time with family even though I could have spent the entire evening on the dance floor. My favorite piece of the night was talking with my cousins who I rarely see, and dancing with my grandparents including with my grandpa to Cotton Eye Joe, a fast bluegrass song.
It seemed the evening ended all too soon, and we waited impatiently with a group of cousins and friends for a cab to the Hunt Club for a nightcap and some deers ears (potato skins). Unfortunately the kitchen was closed and I insisted Josh call a cab so that we could drive through Burger King for some grub to soak up all the beer I drank all night. Fortunately the cab came quickly and we drove through the drive through before being deposited at the Country Inn for the evening. I hear the party at the hunt club continued till 2pm, then on into the evening for the true partiers. I, however, was ready for bed. What a great night, I wish I could make it back for the next big family wedding in August.
My parents had planned a family party for the 4th of July the next day to enjoy the out of town visitors for another day. This was a great idea and we were able to visit with family in a relaxed setting. I had a great time talking to my cousin Jim and uncle Rob, who I didn’t get to talk with as much as I would have liked the day before. We enjoyed kayaking in the lake, and then taking the boat out onto the lake for fireworks with the newly married couple to watch their first 4th of July fireworks.
After many tearful goodbyes we packed up our suitcases for the next leg of our trip with Josh’s family and to start our weeklong camping trip across the country.

Wedding day is here! Part 3

My only sister getting married was a pretty big deal and I was nearly as excited as I was on my wedding day for her! Everything had turned out perfectly, the dresses fit, the jewelry was a hit, all the family was happy and healthy and here, and it was a beautiful sunny summer Michigan day! We arrived at Headliners in the morning for our hair up-dos and wedding make-up. It was so great to hang out with my cousins and sisters friends for the experience, I don’t see my cousins very much, but we always seem to pick up where we left off and have a great time together. I can say that about lots of my cousins actually on both sides of my family; the Raineys and Mahers are definitely a great family to be a part of.

We all got beautified at the salon, watching and commenting on everyone’s up-dos while eating breakfast and drinking coffee. After the salon we drove to the church to get ready, I was excited and antsy waiting for the festivities to start, fortunately my cousin Amanda had the foresight to order a pizza delivery to the church so we were able to get a bite to eat.

My sister had asked all of the girls to wear navy blue shoes of their choosing for the wedding, and being a nature girl myself, I chose a simple wedge with medium sized heel so that I could walk and dance easily; however all of the other gals chose heels that were crazy tall and I looked tiny compared to everyone else. I tried on Leah’s shoes and it was pretty comical watching me walk in those heels, but the other gals rocked theirs.

The wedding started out to be a tear-fest but somehow lightened up and we all enjoyed the ceremony without too many tears. For me, this was due to the 4 year old flower girl and Cody’s cousin Almy who sat next to me. She chose me as her new “BFF” (best friend forever) and continued to crack me up with her nonstop fidgeting and talking during the ceremony. The comic relief allowed me to enjoy the ceremony rather than fighting the tears while trying not to cry 

After the ceremony the bride and groom rented a stretch hummer limo for the large bridal party stocked with beer and champagne for the 3 hour time difference after the wedding before the reception for photos. I had insisted Laura and Cody spend a good amount of money on a photographer they really liked so they could enjoy their wedding photos forever. After our wedding photo experience, I wanted her to learn from my mistakes. Their photographer Vince was incredibly nice and had a great eye for urban shots; I cannot wait to see how they turned out!

Once we got to the reception the realization that I had to give my maid of honor speech hit and I got really nervous, but after talking to Justin, the best man, and finding out that he was even more nervous than me, I calmed down and knew it would be O.K. Both Justin and I promised each other loud laughter during our speeches and wished each other luck as I went first. The speech came easily to me and I enjoyed sharing it with the families; Justin’s was even better and received a lot of laughter from the family and a little embarrassment from Cody, as it should be.

After dinner the real party began as the DJ started playing music and I tried to spend time with family even though I could have spent the entire evening on the dance floor. My favorite piece of the night was talking with my cousins who I rarely see, and dancing with my grandparents including with my grandpa to Cotton Eye Joe, a fast bluegrass song.

It seemed the evening ended all too soon, and we waited impatiently with a group of cousins and friends for a cab to the Hunt Club for a nightcap and some deers ears (potato skins). Unfortunately the kitchen was closed and I insisted Josh call a cab so that we could drive through Burger King for some grub to soak up all the beer I drank all night. Fortunately the cab came quickly and we drove through the drive through before being deposited at the Country Inn for the evening. I hear the party at the hunt club continued till 2pm, then on into the evening for the true partiers. I, however, was ready for bed. What a great night, I wish I could make it back for the next big family wedding in August.

My parents had planned a family party for the 4th of July the next day to enjoy the out of town visitors for another day. This was a great idea and we were able to visit with family in a relaxed setting. I had a great time talking to my cousin Jim and uncle Rob, who I didn’t get to talk with as much as I would have liked the day before. We enjoyed kayaking in the lake, and then taking the boat out onto the lake for fireworks with the newly married couple to watch their first 4th of July fireworks.

After many tearful goodbyes we packed up our suitcases for the next leg of our trip with Josh’s family and to start our weeklong camping trip across the country.

Wedding Preperation and summer days ~ Part 2

I have only one sibling, my sister Laura, who is seven years younger than me and living so far away in Colorado I felt out of the loop in helping my family to prepare for the festivities. I was eager to get to my parents to help out, and even more eager to figure out what we were going to do about dress disaster I was experiencing with my maid of honor dress. It didn’t quite fit in the, *ahem* top area, and was much too low cut for the wedding in a Catholic Church.
We arrived at my parents house early that morning and were greeted with hugs and then a ‘to do’ list for Josh while the ladies went into town to the seamstress and to run errands. Fortunately, after an unspeakable amount to the crazy seamstress on the fly in Jackson, we were able to get the dress finished and much more appropriate for the nuptials.

When we finally made it home, we were able to begin celebrating my father’s birthday with some beers and a boat ride. Josh and I put our bathing suits on for the boat ride and dove off the boat into the deep and warm lake water for a quick swim. This is a luxury I grew up with and do not have in Colorado, so I enjoy the swimming every chance I get! After the boat ride we went out to dinner at my absolute favorite restaurant The Beach Bar in Brooklyn Michigan. The dinner celebration turned into a big party when my sister’s fiancee and his out of town guests joined us for dinner and drinks. My dad had a great birthday, he turned “30” which he exclaimed several times as we cheered “happy birthday.”

It has been years since I have been home for his birthday or anyone’s for that matter, and it was so much fun to join in the celebration.  He fell asleep shortly after we got home, and I snapped a few shots of the birthday boy; I particularly like the cases of beer behind him :)
Friday was the day I was looking forward to most, getting a manicure and pedicure before the wedding, I rarely treat myself to such a luxury, but the wedding was special, and I was even more thankful when my sister treated me as a wedding gift. Some of the other bridesmaids joined us at the mall for a quick mani-pedi before going home to change and then drive back into town for the rehearsal.

The rehearsal at the church was a lot of fun and I loved seeing my sister and Cody so excited about their wedding day. I was very nervous for everyone in their family to be in attendance for the nuptials because just before my wedding day, my grandmother broke her back and my grandparents missed my wedding. This is something which still brings me to tears when I think about it, and I found out the news at my rehearsal dinner, which is clouded in my memory with the sadness of my most treasured family not in attendance. Cody’s brother, Kevin and his wife live in Kentucky, she was not able to come due to being 9 months pregnant, but Kevin nearly missed the day because of some complications, fortunately, he drove in for the rehearsal dinner and made it just in time for the wedding!

After the rehearsal my mother created a slide show of my sister and Cody, photos from young through old for both of them and it brought me to tears. I am turning into a sap in my ‘old age.’ Then the bride and groom gave their wedding gifts to the bridal party, which included 6 necklaces made by me for all of the girls including myself. My sister had asked me to do this and I was honored to be asked; everyone loved the jewelry even more than I had hoped and I was sooo pleased with all of the compliments that they and I received. The jewelry even lead to several necklace sales while I was home to family and friends, and I can thank my sister for that.

Because the wedding was at 1pm the next morning, and our hair and makeup appointments began at 9am, we left the party around 10:30 to catch some shut eye before the big wedding day!  We heard the next day that the party didn't end until around 3pm...maybe that's why the groom was late to the church ;)

Road trip to Michigan for my sister's wedding, Part 1

Since my sister and my new brother in law picked their wedding date last fall, we have been planning a road trip back to Michigan for the wedding. Both our families live in Michigan, just a half an hour from each other, so when we visit home, we see both families, which is convenient but busy! I was excited to come home during the summer for a family gathering because not only were we able to see all of our family because of the wedding, but we were visiting Michigan during the summertime, which means swimming, kayaking, boat rides and fireworks over the water! It has been a few years since we were back in Michigan during the summer season, as we tend to only go home once per year at Christmas time, and we were both excited for the trip.
The one thing we were not excited for was the drive; it’s 1,190 miles from Golden to Hillsdale, Michigan and we have never done the drive without stopping to sleep during the middle of the night, it usually takes us 20+ hours.  This trip took us 23 long hours, including several stops for road construction through Nebraska and Iowa and traffic in Chicago, we slept in a few rest stops along the way which added several hours to the drive.
It was nice to drive through Iowa, with the green rolling hills and lush river valleys, one of my favorite things about Iowa are the large windmills used for generating power. There are more and more each drive, though not as many compared to Minnesota we found out, on our scenic road trip home from Michigan.

We arrived at Josh’s mother’s house in Hillsdale Michigan at 6:30pm Wednesday night June 30th. The family was very excited to see us, Josh’s oldest brother Phil and his family were also visiting from California. We were able to spend the evening hanging with their family before getting some rest and then heading to my parents in the morning for wedding preparation!

Wedding Preparation and summer fun!

I have only one sibling, my sister Laura, who is seven years younger than me and living so far away in Colorado I felt out of the loop in helping my family to prepare for the festivities. I was eager to get to my parents to help out, and even more eager to figure out what we were going to do about dress disaster I was experiencing with my maid of honor dress. It didn’t quite fit in the, *ahem* top area, and was much too low cut for the wedding in a Catholic Church.

We arrived at my parents house early that morning and were greeted with hugs and then a ‘to do’ list for Josh while the ladies went into town to the seamstress and to run errands. Fortunately, after an unspeakable amount to the crazy seamstress on the fly in Jackson, we were able to get the dress finished and much more appropriate for the nuptials.

When we finally made it home, we were able to begin celebrating my father’s birthday with some beers and a boat ride. Josh and I put our bathing suits on for the boat ride and dove off the boat into the deep and warm lake water for a quick swim. This is a luxury I grew up with and do not have in Colorado, so I enjoy the swimming every chance I get! After the boat ride we went out to dinner at my absolute favorite restaurant The Beach Bar in Brooklyn Michigan. The dinner celebration turned into a big party when my sister’s fiancee and his out of town guests joined us for dinner and drinks. My dad had a great birthday, he turned “30” which he exclaimed several times as we cheered “happy birthday.”

It has been years since I have been home for his birthday or anyone’s for that matter, and it was so much fun to join in the celebration.  He fell asleep shortly after we got home, and I snapped a few shots of the birthday boy; I particularly like the cases of beer behind him :)

Friday was the day I was looking forward to most, getting a manicure and pedicure before the wedding, I rarely treat myself to such a luxury, but the wedding was special, and I was even more thankful when my sister treated me as a wedding gift. Some of the other bridesmaids joined us at the mall for a quick mani-pedi before going home to change and then drive back into town for the rehearsal.

The rehearsal at the church was a lot of fun and I loved seeing my sister and Cody so excited about their wedding day. I was very nervous for everyone in their family to be in attendance for the nuptials because just before my wedding day, my grandmother broke her back and my grandparents missed my wedding. This is something which still brings me to tears when I think about it, and I found out the news at my rehearsal dinner, which is clouded in my memory with the sadness of my most treasured family not in attendance. Cody’s brother, Kevin and his wife live in Kentucky, she was not able to come due to being 9 months pregnant, but Kevin nearly missed the day because of some complications, fortunately, he drove in for the rehearsal dinner and made it just in time for the wedding!

After the rehearsal my mother created a slide show of my sister and Cody, photos from young through old for both of them and it brought me to tears. I am turning into a sap in my ‘old age.’ Then the bride and groom gave their wedding gifts to the bridal party, which included 6 necklaces made by me for all of the girls including myself. My sister had asked me to do this and I was honored to be asked; everyone loved the jewelry even more than I had hoped and I was sooo pleased with all of the compliments that they and I received. The jewelry even lead to several necklace sales while I was home to family and friends, and I can thank my sister for that.  

Because the wedding was at 1pm the next morning, and our hair and makeup appointments began at 9am, we left the party around 10:30 to catch some shut eye before the big wedding day!


 
 

Road Trip to Michigan for my sister's wedding, Part 1

Since my sister and my new brother in law picked their wedding date last fall, we have been planning a road trip back to Michigan for the wedding. Both our families live in Michigan, just a half an hour from each other, so when we visit home, we see both families, which is convenient but busy! I was excited to come home during the summer for a family gathering because not only were we able to see all of our family because of the wedding, but we were visiting Michigan during the summertime, which means swimming, kayaking, boat rides and fireworks over the water! It has been a few years since we were back in Michigan during the summer season, as we tend to only go home once per year at Christmas time, and we were both excited for the trip.
The one thing we were not excited for was the drive; it’s 1,190 miles from Golden to Hillsdale, Michigan and we have never done the drive without stopping to sleep during the middle of the night, it usually takes us 20+ hours.  This trip took us 23 long hours, including several stops for road construction through Nebraska and Iowa and traffic in Chicago, we slept in a few rest stops along the way which added several hours to the drive.
It was nice to drive through Iowa, with the green rolling hills and lush river valleys, one of my favorite things about Iowa are the large windmills used for generating power. There are more and more each drive, though not as many compared to Minnesota we found out, on our scenic road trip home from Michigan.

We arrived at Josh’s mother’s house in Hillsdale Michigan at 6:30pm Wednesday night June 30th. The family was very excited to see us, Josh’s oldest brother Phil and his family were also visiting from California. We were able to spend the evening hanging with their family before getting some rest and then heading to my parents in the morning for wedding preparation!