Love is in the Air ~ and the Murrini!

At long last, Murrini Mondays are back! This week, in honor of Valentine's Day, I'm spreading the murrini love by featuring only heart-shaped murrini. My current supply is dwindling, probably because my critters have been insisting on wearing it on all parts of their bodies.

Here a little wiener dog shows off a simple heart on his side.

This bright blue elephant snagged one of my all-time favorite slices of murrini ~ a red heart with blue and yellow highlights. Super happy slice of murrini!

And this dragon is showing he's nothing but an old softy with a nice light purple slice of heart murrini (topped with clear) on his soft underbelly.

Murrini is brought to you by Lori and Kim ~ each slice is from a different handmade Lori and Kim blend.

Happy Murrini Monday!!!

Light Box = Glow Beads

During the summer months, you may have noticed, my Etsy shop pictures were not the best. That's because we took down our light box (and actually used the dining room table for entertaining) and I took bead pictures outside with my little camera. On good days I had decent pictures. But if there wasn't enough light they would be blurry. So we finally got the light box set back up a couple months ago and my pictures have greatly improved. Of course, now you can see every fleck of dust and each cat hair on the beads (our cats love to sit in the light box when the bright lights are on it - it's must be like a cat sauna), but the quality is much better.

Having the light box in use also allows me to take good pictures of glow-in-the-dark beads. I didn't make any over the summer because I knew I couldn't get any good glowing pictures of them. But now I can! So scroll down slowly and see if you can guess what each animal is . . .

This glow owl is in my Etsy shop. The other beads will be listed soon.

I was able to make the eyes glow on all the critters by using glow-in-the-dark frit. Frit is crushed glass, and Glow Joe Imler of GlowJoe is my dealer, er, supplier. After I put on the whites of the eyes, I apply the glow frit (pictured below). Then I top that with a transparent glass, and then the black of the eye and voila! Glowing eyeballs!

Life Changer

This is a bracelet Annie received from a family friend. It's from Rachel's Cure by Design, which features jewelry designed by a teen-ager with diabetes. Portions of the proceeds go to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund.

I wasn't sure if I should write about this or not, but I think there are more reasons to talk about it than to keep it private. On January 3, our middle child, Annie, was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes, also called Type 1. In that instant, our lives changed forever. I had taken Annie out of school to have her tested because she had a couple of the symptoms that we were aware of (we have a niece with juvenile diabetes, and we also had had a diabetic cat). So when Annie was extremely thirsty to the point of being miserable and was also losing a bunch of weight, we knew something wasn't right. A quick test at the doctor's office confirmed our fears, and we went straight to the hospital so they could regulate Annie's blood sugar and begin to teach us how to care for her. To say it was overwhelming would be an understatement. The first full day there we met with an endocrinologist, a counselor, a nutritionist, a physical therapist, and of course, several wonderful nurses on staff. We learned about counting carbohydrates, monitoring blood glucose with finger pricks and insulin dosing. My husband and I were familiar with giving insulin shots because we had administered them to our cat for years. But there's a big difference between putting that needle in the scruff of a cat's neck and putting it into your daughter's belly. But we learned, and we did it. Despite having a niece who was diagnosed with diabetes at age 3, we didn't know nearly enough about the disease. We knew her parents did a lot of figuring before meals and they talked about a lot of numbers, but we didn't know exactly what it all meant. And more than that, we didn't realize what they must have gone through in the beginning, when their lives all changed. We are so lucky to have our niece (who is in college now) and her parents as wonderful resources while we keep learning to care for Annie. Their knowledge and support has been invaluable.

Since being diagnosed, Annie has returned to middle school. When she feels shaky, she heads for the nurse's office to check her blood sugar. She's still learning about her symptoms, but she is sure to check every time she doesn't feel quite right. For the first couple of weeks back at school, I would come in at lunch to make sure she was doing all right and to be there if she needed help with her shots. Now I include a note in her lunch with the amount of carbohydrates in it and the insulin dose. Annie pricks her own fingers now to check her blood glucose levels, and she gives herself the insulin injections, too. We're super proud of her.

My husband and I do blood glucose checks at midnight and 3am (another thing I didn't realize my sister-in-law and brother-in-law were doing back when their daughter was diagnosed). Annie usually sleeps through them, which is good. Something else I didn't fully understand before Annie's diagnosis is that kids with juvenile diabetes can eat what they were eating before they were diagnosed. They just have to account for it with proper insulin dosing. That's not to say that they should eat a bunch of junk and sweets, but those things are allowed.

So on our last day at the hospital, Annie decided to celebrate with the brownie supreme. You deserved it, girl.

I will probably have posts about Annie on here from time to time. I've learned that most people know someone or are related to someone with diabetes. I've also learned that one of my good glassy friends is a diabetic and another has a son with diabetes. Everyone is so helpful and supportive, and eventually I hope to be able to pay it forward to anyone dealing with a new diagnosis. So maybe a few posts about Annie here and there will be helpful to someone. :)

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Because of this major change in our lives, I've been cutting down on custom orders. I have a few that are still on my list and a couple I have promised and I will definitely do. But lately my free time has been hard to pin down, so because I can't guarantee anything by a certain date, I've had to cut back. I will still be listing new beads in my Etsy shop.

Murrini Monday

These are cookies I made yesterday - they are not murrini. But they kind of look like murrini, don't they? Pretty pink cookies with cherry slices, rolled in sugar - mmmm. The sugar could be the sparkly dichro, the cherries could be, well, cherries. I've eaten way to many of these.

Here's the recipe for Christmas Criss Cross Cookies (or as I call them: Pink Cookies):

1 cup butter

5 T. sugar, plus more for coating

2 cups flour

1 t. vanilla

candied cherries cut in half or pecan halves

red food color - a few drops

Cream butter, sugar and vanilla. Add flour. Add a few drops of red food color until the dough turns pretty pink. Roll into balls the size of small marbles. Dip a fork in flour and press the cookie in both directions (hence the name Criss Cross - but I don't bother with that part). Place a pecan half or cherry half in the center of each cookie. Bake at 350 about 10 minutes. Let cool until you're able to handle them (they are fragile). Then coat in sugar while still warm.

These are so festive and simple, and they are buttery and sugary and delicious! My mom made them when I was a kid, and now my kids love them, too.

It wouldn't be Murrini Monday without some actual murrini, so here's a pair of mismatched mini murrini owl earrings - super cute and awesome murrini from Lori and Kim!

Coconut Cranberry Bars

Here's a festive recipe to add to your holiday baking - Coconut Cranberry Bars. A brown sugar crust and orange in the filling are a yummy combo in these bars. I have a picture of them cooling in the pan, but I forgot to take pics after I had cut them into bars.

Coconut Cranberry Bars

Crust:

1/4 pound butter

1/2 pound brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup flour

1/2 cup finely chopped pecans (I didn't use them because I didn't have any)

Filling:

1 1/4 cups sugar

2 tablespoons flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2 eggs, beaten

1 tablespoon milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon finely grated orange rind

1 cup fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup faked coconut

1/2 cup pecans, chopped (again, I didn't have pecans so our bars were nutless)

Crust:

In medium bowl, combine butter, brown sugar and salt. Mix well. Add flour. Blend well. Stir in nuts. Press mixture into bottom of 9 by 13-inch baking pan. Bake in preheated 350-degree oven 15 to 20 minutes.

Filling:

While crust bakes, combine sugar, flour and baking powder in medium bowl. Mix well. Add eggs, milk, vanilla and orange rind. Blend well. Fold in cranberries, coconut and pecans. Spread mixture over hot baked crust. Return to 350-degree oven and bake 25 to 30 minutes. Cool in pan on rack. Cut into bars.

This recipe is from the Noteworthy Two cookbook (a new recipe collection from the Ravinia Festival)

And the Winner is . . .

I chose the winner of my owl bead giveaway tonight - a day later than I had planned. I did it the old-fashioned way, with names in a hat. Then I had my son draw a name from the bunch. He picked out rosebud101, who I also know as Mallory, a talented lampworker friend. She also makes murrini! Check out her shop at rosebud101!

Thanks again to everyone who entered and spread the word on Facebook. I really appreciate everyone's support and enthusiasm for my beads. :)

1000 Facebook Fans Celebration ~ Giveaway!

A few days ago I hit 1,000 fans (or "likers") on my Maybeads Facebook page. I couldn't be happier to have this many people following my work. Thank you! And what better way to celebrate than to give away a bead! Here it is, fresh from the kiln:

It's an owl wearing the latest in feather fashion - layers. I've been experimenting a lot with this style of chest feathers, and I was quite pleased with this color combination of blue, green and orange.

So here are the rules:

You have to be a Maybeads fan on Facebook to enter. After that, just leave a comment below about anything (beads, glass color combos, the weather, the holidays, your pets, etc.). Also, be sure to leave an email address or a way to reach you.

For an extra entry, share the post I put on my Facebook page about the giveaway. Then leave me another comment telling me you did so.

I'll pick the winner Wednesday night (12/7/11).

That's it! Thank you so much for your support!

Lauren