Spooky!

My girls really know how to do Halloween. Martha Stewart has nothing on them. Amiee's front yard was filled with ghoulish things. The neighborhood block party was huge success! Heather planned a surprise birthday for Amiee before the Halloween fun began.

My daughter in-law Jennifer is a rock star with her creations and costuming. Star Wars costumes are her forte. This year she created Mumford a Tauntaun. She is well traveled making an appearance at a Star Wars convention, hanging out a Tiger's game in Detroit and helping out with the Tricks and Treats. If you would like see more of Mumford's adventures she has her own page on Facebook

Costumes for the family included a Twi'lek, Garrus, Luke Skywalker, a zombie and a cat from Dr. Who.

I hope your Halloween was spooky fun and full of treats!

Urban Stripes E-Book

I've always been one to color within my favorite color palette. I am drawn to the matte finishes with a hit of metallic accents. Judith's Urban Stipes project fit that criteria letting me choose my colors.

You can see examples of different color combinations for the Urban Stripes by the members of the original on-line group who participated in the project here

Urban Stripes by Judith Giffin is now available as an e-book at Bead-Patterns.com

I am grateful and excited to have my finished Urban Stripe necklace displayed in the gallery along with the color numbers for this project.

In the book, you will find:
º Urban color inspiration
º Design and construction tips
º 3 necklace & 1 bracelet project
º 16 length adjustable pattern sections
º 48 pattern repeats
º Adding in thread and invisible closure
º Blank graph paper to copy and use

This book has it all. What are you waiting? Get out there and pick your color combination and let the fun begin.

This is my sister Rosanne. We look a like don't we.

We were in a bead store shopping and a woman looked at us and asked "So which one of you did your Mom like better?" We both laughed at the same time and said neither! We aren't twins!

This my younger sister Susie and her pup Zoey.

I am having family withdrawals. My two week visit wasn't long enough.

I think we all favor my Mom. Rosanne and Mom have birthdays two day apart. I am so glad we were able to celebrate together. I hope I look as good as my Mom does when I turn 78!

Inspired by Nature

My trip home this month included a whirlwind of travels with my daughter Heather Powers. There was a bead retreat inspired by nature, along with a book signing and trunk show. In my many years of traveling to bead shows, bead cruises and bead retreats I learned skills that I can incorporated into my beadwork. Heather's taught us how to capture the beauty of nature with our cameras and incorporate them into our jewelry designs.

My only regret is that I did not have a good camera to take pictures with. With My trusty iPod I did get some great inspirational pictures.

There was a trip to the farmer's market.

I had the best time sharing this adventure with Heather and Rosanne.

There are more pictures and stories to tell but they will have to wait. In the mean time treat yourself to Heather's book Inspired by Nature. You won't be disappointed.