Merry Christmas!

It's the first Christmas at my new house.

...It has been cozy and warm, full of presents and food and good company, and I am utterly content.

 Christmas morning!
Presents under the tree, warm Christmas lights, and the smell of coffee.
After our busy year, today has been low-key and perfect.

I'm about to trundle off and play with my Christmas haul (beads!)... May your day be full of love and peace, laughter and joy. 

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Bead Hoarders Blog Hop - Reveal!

Hurray! It's time to reveal what I made for the 2nd Annual Bead Hoarder's Blog Hop, hosted by the one and only Lori Anderson!

I had high hopes of making lots of pieces for this blog hop, but because of other things going on (hurray new house! hurray moving!), I was only able to make one set. 

But! It's a lovely set... And, to make it, I used this pendant:

 
That? Is a fused glass piece made by the talented Marianne Baxter over at Simply Seablime Jewelry (the above picture was from the original listing). I acquired it shortly after participating in 7th Bead Soup Blog Party--because Marianne was my wonderful partner that year, and I wanted to buy more of her work.

So, why was I hoarding it?

Well, simply because I wanted to do it justice. It really is a lovely pendant, and I wanted to make it into a necklace that really highlighted the artistry that went into it. Of course, that desire led to trepidation, which led to me not touching the pendant at all until this challenge.

But, I was finally able to get over my hesitancy... And here is what I made:

It's a necklace and earring set, made with glass in shades of purple and green, paired with gold-plated metal. The construction is pretty straightforward--wire wrapped links--which I hoped would not take attention away from the loveliness that is the pendant.

...And now, for more glamour shots:

So, there you go! I really do love that pendant, and I'm glad that I signed up for this challenge--because it means that I finally made something with it! 

Thanks so much for stopping by... Please feel free to go here to see the list of all the wonderful participants in this blog hop (there are almost 100!), and be sure to stop by Lori's blog to see what she made!

Thanks again, and have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Hello, December!

Wow, December has totally sneaked up on me.

As in, the other day I was thinking "I need to write my beginning-of-the-month blog post because it'll be December soon"... and now it's December 5th. Oi.

Time flies when you're busy moving everything you own to a new location! 

Still Life with Flowers and Diplodocus
The flowers were a housewarming present from my parents.
The diplodocus? Well, sometimes it's fun to decorate one's new kitchen with dinosaurs. :) 

Still, I am happy to report that things are going quite well... My husband and I have come to the realization that there is more to do than we have time or energy for, so we've gone ahead and hired professionals to help pack and move the rest of our things. Next Tuesday, all of our belongings get to come join us at the new house!

...So exciting!

I am excited about my new craft room. I am excited about having my own house to decorate for Christmas (heh, need to get on that). I am excited that we now have space so that we have people over and not feel cramped. 

But, more than that, I am excited about this next chapter in our lives. There's a lot more to be done--but it's exciting to see things coming together, and our hard work paying off.

Here is to an exciting--and exhausting--December!