More interesting pieces

So here are a few more of the pieces I've made. Some are Christmas presents and others I just like.

I know you can't tell, because my camera stinks, but these ones are gray, black, and purple.

Brass leaves, pink pearls, and clear crystals.

This one is very similar to another one that I made previously but I like that the cameo reminds me of a fairy.

 These three are a set and you can't really see them all that well.

These calla lilies have crystal butterflies at the top.

One, Two, Three Jewelry!!

Okay so I know this is different from the posts I regularly do, but my mother visited my sister this past week and she told me that Brandi wanted pictures of my newest hobby. So here it is. I started beading with my mother. The goal being to make pretty bands for her medical ID bracelet and the ones online were ridiculously expensive. So we invested in some beads, wire, tools and the like, and to my surprise I enjoyed it so much I've been experimenting with different materials ever since. Now I don't know if I'm doing any of this right, I'm sort of just feeling my way through.

My first big project was this one. It is supposed to sit off center when you wear it. The largest flower the superior most piece.

Next I decided I wanted something a little more dangley but still using the lily filigree piece. Here is three different shots of that one.

A friend of mine saw me wearing that one and she wanted one in black and red to go with her Halloween costume (she was like a vampire or something). So I needed to go to the store to buy another flower piece and while I was there I saw this cameo that I sort of fell in love with. Now normally I don't do cameo's, I don't know why, but this one spoke to me so I bought it and made this,

Usually I tease mom when she goes out of town that she should bring me something back. This time she and Brandi decided I could use some more beads, so I took a break from my homework last night to make this,

And here is a picture of all of them so far. I am going to add earrings to a few of them but I have to wait until the flowers I ordered get here in the mail.

Well that's basically it.

Another Random Piece

 So I've been bad about writing things lately. I'm in school again and the amount of time I have for extra things like reading, writing, and jewelry making has drastically decreased. So I decided to do a little exercise in comparing and contrasting. Yay!

   

                  Lord Ashley’s Dilemma     

            The Lord Ashley looked quizzically over his glass of scotch eyeing the two young ladies sitting across the room with their heads bent over a piece of artwork they were admiring. As he watched them his feelings became more and more muddled. They had both come into his house as prospective brides but the two ladies couldn’t be more different.

            How was he to choose between them? He thought to himself. One was as fair as a clear winter morning. Complete with a frosty complexion that shone in a uniquely pleasant way, sparkling and beguiling. She was perfect. With her halo of fair hair that fell just past her shoulders and emitted a faint reddish glow when seen in a certain light. Her eyes were equally as beautiful. They were an icy blue that glimmered when she laughed as she was doing now. He could feel the corners of his mouth twitch upward as he thought about those eyes and how they made him feel when they laughed because of him. He sighed as the sound of her laughter filtered through the quiet room like a tinkling of tiny bells.

She was his Winter Queen, as glorious as a freshly frosted morning and just as warm, which is to say she wasn’t. Despite her beauty Lord Ashley’s winter queen was a cold as could be. She rarely spoke to anyone beneath her station with anything less than disdain.  She acted as though the world was her playground and everything in it belonged to her. What she wasn’t given she would just take. With her radiant smile she could coax money from a beggar, take candy from babies and seduce any man whether he was inclined toward women or not.

Lord Ashley’s gaze focused on his Winter Queen as she studied the back of her hand with some determination. She glanced up at him and smiled. This smile, however, was not the sweet smile that she turned on so many unsuspecting victims but the smile of a predator. She was born with a title but little money and he had plenty. It was for this reason he knew she was here. Lord Ashley admired her ambition and knew that she would look good standing next to him for the rest of his life, there was nothing the two of them couldn’t do and that thought thrilled him.

The other lady was quite different from the first in many ways, if the first was his Winter Queen than the second was a warm Summer Breeze. She was shorter and looked rather plump sitting next to the Winter Queen but not unpleasant. She had long hair that curled delicately as it fell. He noted with some surprise that her hair, which was a warm tawny sort of color, was the exact same shade as his scotch. The thought made him smile. Her eyes were also blue but with touches of green mixed in. Not that muddy brownish green that so many people have but a deep sea green that made him feel like if he was not careful he could loose himself in their fathomless depths. She had a light dusting of freckles across her nose and a dimple on the right side of her mouth when she smiled.  Though not classically beautiful, he thought, there was something about her that unsettled him, or maybe that was the scotch.

At that moment there was a knock on the door and his new page boy tumbled in bearing what could only be the long awaited correspondence from his younger brother who was currently serving in the Kings army. The boy looked to be about eleven years old though not even he knew his real age. When he showed up on Lord Ashley’s doorstep only the day before begging for a job he was dirty, bruised, hungry and covered in lice. The boy who stood before him now proffering the letter was, after much consternation on the lads part; clean, fed and although still bruised was no longer covered in lice.

The young boy shook, whether from excitement or fear no one knew.  Lord Ashley excused the boy and as he turned to leave he tripped over his own feet and landed head first into the table knocking over the bottle of scotch which splattered all over the two ladies.

The Winter Queen gasped and began frantically wiping at her skirts which were far less soaked in the precious scotch than the skirts of the Summer Breeze.

“Lord Ashley I demand that you dismiss this boy at once.” The Winter Queen shrieked.      

“Please ma’am I have no where to go” The lad pleaded reaching out to grab her skirt.

“Get off of me you good for nothing piece of trash” She yelled as she kicked the lad squarely in the ribs causing him to whimper and curl up in a ball before she stormed from the room shouting for a maid servant.

Lord Ashley watched her go, the letter from his brother lay forgotten on his lap. It took a few moments to remember that although the Winter Queen had left he was not alone. Slowly he turned his head back to the lad who no longer lay curled in a ball on the floor but sat sobbing into the shoulder of his Summer Breeze. She ran her had down the lads back as she made soft soothing sounds telling him everything would turn out right.

“But the Lady…” he sobbed.

“Pay her no mind.” The Summer Breeze said “she never learned how to be kind.”

This woman, Lord Ashley thought didn’t need his money she had enough of her own. She was not in his house to become rich or gain status. She didn’t mind holding a penniless boy with no family in her arms as he cried; in fact it seemed she rather enjoyed it.  It was then that he realized that she didn’t need him. How could that be? He wondered. How is it that this woman who could remain unmarried if she wished was here on his sitting room floor soaked in his best scotch holding a weeping lad?

The boy’s voice interrupted Lord Ashley’s musings

“But I canna loose my job. I’s doing so well.”

“You will not loose your position in this household. Do you hear me?” Summer Breeze said as she looked up and determinedly to meet the Lord’s eye. Her gaze was direct and beautiful as her eyes held him captive and it was in that moment that he knew he’d rather spend his days in summer than glory in the beauty of winter.

So the following story like my first one on this blog was an assignment. This one, however, was the product of our how to assignment. Again many of my classmates wrote about semi serious things like "how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwhich" or "How to lie to your parents, kids, boyfriends etc." There were even a few about how to build car engines or radios... that sort of thing . One woman even wrote about how to give birth, which if I'm being honest I could have lived without. Not me. Again I decided to take it to a fictional level. I hope you enjoy my story entitled "How to Kill a Genetically Altered Superfly"

How to Kill a Genetically Altered Super Fly

“Bzzzzzz…..”

“There it is again” I said.

            I had been hearing the same infernal buzzing noise for days. On the first day I thought I was hearing things. On the second I knew I wasn’t. On the third the little bugger really began to bother me. He would fly past my ear with a mini sonic boom and buzz away again. On the forth day it was like he was an Allied plane and my head was Berlin. Now I’ve had flies in my apartment before but this one must have been exposed to some kind of DNA altering radiation. On the fifth day he was just mocking me. That is when I decided to implement Operation Kill the Super Fly.  

Before I could kill it I needed to find it. I lived in a one room studio apartment and I didn’t think it would be too hard to find the blasted fly. I searched high and low but I found no fly, not a wing, or a leg, nothing. I began to think the fly had finally died and would bother me no longer when I heard it again, bzzzzzz. I whipped my head around no fly, bzzzzzz, again no fly. Bzzzzzzz……Ack! I was spinning in circles trying to follow the sound of its tiny wings which I swore to my self I would tear off one at a time when I finally got a hold of him.

 I had just finished watching one of those martial art movies where the student learns to catch a fly between his two fingers and I thought since running around my room looking for the stealthy fly wasn’t working I would wait for him to come to me.

I sat down on my bed, legs crossed, my hands resting palms up on my knees, eyes closed and listened. I waited...., and waited. Finally I could hear him coming, faintly at first and getting louder. Bzzzzz bzzzzzz bzzzzzz he came, laughing at me, mocking me. He began to fly around my head, orbiting it like the sun, closer and closer he came. I struck out as fast a lightening with my hand and just when I thought I had him he dove away buzzing all the while.

Now it was war!

Every war needs armor, I thought to myself, but what kind of armor is good for killing super flies? I went to my closet and found an old tie which used to belong to my brother and tied it around my head like Rambo. I added some war paint under my eyes and on my arms. I thought about painting myself blue and going to war in that old Scottish fashion but thought better of it I was after all waging war on a genetically altered fly not the English.

My armor complete all I needed now was a weapon. I looked around searching for anything I could make a super fly killing weapon out of. It needed to be something with a long handle in case I cornered my enemy near the ceiling. It also needed to be strong enough to smash the fly. I had suspicions that the fly had a skeleton fused with adamantuim and an ordinary fly swatter just wouldn’t do it. I finally decided on my broom reinforced on the bristle end with its accompanying dust pan.

Now it was time to begin offensive maneuvers. Going to my fridge I pulled out some Chinese leftovers from the night before. I placed them on my table sat down, weapon in hand and waited for my enemy to come to me. Everything was still. I could hear my heart beating, thump-thump, thump-thump. Bzzzz-bzzz. He was coming. I held my breath as my eyes searched for the approaching insect. I knew the smell of decomposing Asian food would be too much to resist, even for a super fly. I spotted him coming lazily towards my trap. My heart beat faster in anticipation, my grip on my weapon strong and sturdy. He landed. I lashed out barely missing the fly.

Urgh!!!!

I decided to try again. I would not give up; I would have victory over the fly if it killed me I sat down to wait again, knowing he would be back. It was no longer just a battle of strength it was now a battle of wills. The fly and I were locked in a dance of waiting and striking, waiting and striking for what felt like hours. He was weakening I could feel it.

Finally when the sun began to go below the horizon he came again. I positioned myself on eye level with the table top, crouching in the shadow cast by the table. He was circling slowly until he landed atop the sacrificial food one more time. Whack!

At last the war was over. I counted the casualties, one plate of old Chinese food, one broom, and one ever so devious super fly.

Prologue

 So the following is a rough draft of the prologue to the book I'm writing. Some of you have already read this. I know there are sections that need some work but overall I like the idea behind it. The main reason I am posting this is hopefully to give me the motivation to keep writing this story. I have hit a road block with some of the story's details and haven't worked on it in months. Anyway enough of my rambling read and enjoy.... or not (I can't tell you what to think).

How did I get here? She wondered as she stared across the dancing flames at a smile that shone menacingly from one of the most beautiful faces she’d ever seen. One moment she was living her schedule-driven monotonous life, and the next she found herself sitting in the dirt, her back pressed up against a log across from one of the most contradictory, albeit intriguing persons she had ever met.

Her companion stared at her. Something flashed silver in his hand as he held it out to her.

“Take it,” he said his voice flat.

She stared at his hand disjointedly noting that the thing he held out to her was a silver dagger. It had sapphires, the same flashing blue as his eyes, set into the hilt with intricate designs that literally swirled and danced across its wickedly sharp blade.

“Damn it Madelyn take it!” he roared. 

Why was he yelling at her? It was his fault she was here, wasn’t it?

If he hadn’t run into her, spilling her bosses overly priced designer coffee all over her new blouse, which she couldn’t afford, she would never have yelled at him as he careened past. If he hadn’t turned around at her shout and stared at her in astonishment she wouldn’t have been in the way of the arrow as it shot directly at her. If he hadn’t jumped towards her pushing her flat against the pavement she would be dead. Instead she was sitting across a camp fire from that infuriating man waiting for heaven only knew what would happen next. His fault, all his fault, the childish voice raged inside her head as it pounded its little fists against her skull.

“I told you no one calls me Madelyn but my grandmother and she’s dead”, she said as she reached out her hand and took the blade.

My first stupid story

Umm.. well here I am thinking wouldn't it be great if I had something fun and witty to share. A while ago I was enrolled in this writing class where we had to write a bunch of different kinds of essays. Now I am not one for essays per say, or at least not real ones, so in response to every last assignment I made something up. The following story, no, more like snippet, was the product of the assignment to write a cause and effect paper. While the rest of my class took this assignment to heart and began writing papers on politics, religion, sociology, philosophy, psychology and the like I took a completely different approach. Enjoy.

The Adventures and Subsequent Dangers of an Early Morning Shopper In Rexburg Idaho.... In The Winter.

As I was walking to the store on an icy winter morning I slipped on the ice and fell. I then spent the next four hours waiting in the emergency room to get four stitches in my chin. That damn ice.

Okay, okay, so I know that was a total cop out but I just couldn't help myself.