Diabetes Awareness Month

November is American Diabetes Awareness Month. It is also a special month to a host of other illnesses and causes, all very important, but I'll be focusing on diabetes. My daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes 10 months ago, so a cure is at the top of our wish list. 

This is the army of mini Dinobeadies for Diabetes that are on hand right now in my Dinos for Diabetes section. Each one is $10, and proceeds will go to the JDRF. 

**Also, during November, everyone who purchases a mini dino will be entered into a drawing for a FREE bead! It's my way of saying thank you for all the support these little dinos have gotten over the past few months. These mini dinos have already earned over $1000 for the cause! I'm hoping to add a lot to that total during November.

During November I'll photograph the mini dinos with some of the equipment that comes with being a diabetic.

 This little blue dino is staring down the opening of the lancing device. Hold that hole on your finger, and with one quick push of the button a tiny lancet pops out and pierces your skin. This is how diabetics get that much needed blood sample to test their blood sugar. 

Next that tiny drop of blood is put on a test strip that's been inserted in a blood glucose tester. The pink dino above will be sure to throw away her used test strips. She knows that as cool looking as they are, leaving them on the table or the counter is not the best idea.

After a few seconds, the tester reads the amount of sugar in the blood. This dino is in the safe range, at 108. Way to go! Normal is from 70 to 130.

If it's time to eat, then a diabetic has to put insulin into her body before her meal. The orange dino uses an insulin pen for injections. 

The purple dino has picked out a pen needle, which attaches to the insulin pen and is used for the injection, which can be in the stomach, leg or arm. 

The yellow dino is hanging out on some glucose tablets. These sugar tabs help a diabetic with low blood sugar get her numbers up quickly to the normal range. Diabetics should always carry glucose or other fast-acting sugar with them.

Thanks for checking out my new mini dinobeadies for diabetes and all of their equipment! They all hope to help raise money for a cure for Diabetes.

Turtle Tuesday ~ Turtle to the Rescue!

If you love turtles, you will love them even more after watching this video showing one turtle helping  another. We could learn a lot from turtles. :)

And here's my example of a helpful turtle. This one is transporting an octopus around ~ and he's even smiling while doing it. :)

In celebration of Turtle Tuesday, I've marked down the Turtle Taxi bead. It will be on sale for the rest of the day. There are still two other turtle beads in my shop that are on sale. You can find them in my Turtle section.

HAPPY TURTLE TUESDAY!

Murrini Monday - I can see it in your eyes

It's no secret that I love murrini. I especially love using perfect little slices of murrini for owl eyes. Certain pieces just jump out at me and beg to be turned into owl eyes. 

As soon as I saw the murrini slices I used in teh above bead (from Lori and Kim's Fun Dip blend), I knew they would make perfect owl eyes. But I think I could have shown them off much better than I did. I wish I hadn't used turquoise for the owl's chest feathers - see how it blends in to the blue on the bottom of the murrini? Not good, in my opinion. I should have used green as the chest feathers, or maybe pink. Then the murrini would stand out much better.

This owl has successful murrini eyes. Even thought there's a good deal of blue on the inner part of the murrini, it's bordered by silvered ivory, so the blue of the bead doesn't blend in with the blue on the murrini. The contrast works much better. 

I still have two more slices of that awesome murrini from the Fun Dip blend, so I will give it another go. This time I'll make it work. :)

Happy Murrini Monday!

Happy Catterday!

This is our living room. You're probably wondering why there is a teepee in our living room. It used to be in our basement for the kids to play in when they were little. It folds up nicely and doesn't take up a whole lot of room unless it's set up. Well, the kids don't use it a whole lot anymore, but Ernie and Bert love it! One of the kids set it up in the living room and the cats play in it all the time.

Ernie (the ginger cat) is obsessed with the teepee. He hides in it and springs out at anyone (dog, cat, person) walking by. I think he meditates in there, too.

If we can't find Ernie, he's usually in the teepee.

This is a classic teepee situation. Ernie "hiding" on the inside while Bert innocently walks by. But I think Bert is catching on. 

Happy Catterday!

Therapy Thursday ~ Dance Off!

This video puts a smile on my face every time I watch it. It was shot at a Chicago school where a student was doing a sort of mock dance battle - challenging teachers to an impromptu dance-off in the halls. Little did he know that the Dean of Students had some mad skills. 

Happy Thursday!

Turtle Tuesday

Why is this turtle smiling?

Because he's the Turtle Deal of the Day! I've marked him down to $12.

Happy Turtle Tuesday!

Murrini Monday ~ Spooky Edition

Halloween is on the horizon, but there's still time to enjoy some spooky murrini. Don't be scared.

This Boo murrini from GlowPondGlass will add a bit of fright to your beads.

FritNChips has gone batty with some spooky bat murrini slices.

And here is some murrini in action on a beautiful bead called I'm Not Scared by FlamingEck. I'm not scared. Really, I'm not. But that one-toothed jack-o-lantern is looking right at me.

Happy Murrini Monday!

Turtle Tuesday ~ Fall Edition

Today I have actual living (not glass!) turtles to show you. We saw these leaf turtles during a trip to the zoo over the summer. Isn't it cool how their shells look like leaves? And the turtles are flat like leaves, too. I'm not sure why they look like this - maybe to hide from turtle hunters? I hope the disguise works.

          This is my version of a leaf turtle. He's not flat, but he's covered in leaf murrini. I don't think he's fooling anyone.

And this is the Turtle Tuesday Deal of the Day. I just marked this sweetheart of a turtle down to $13 - but just for today.

HAPPY TURTLE TUESDAY!

Murrini Monday

I had A LOT of fun playing with murrini last week. I was dying to try out Fun Dip by Lori and Kim, so I used six (6!) pieces of this awesome candy-colored murrini on my new favorite owl. I love how the colors pop.

Then I made a Greenpeace Dragon ~ this sweet green dragon clutching a colorful peace sign from Lori and Kim's Groovy Girl blend.

Like the dragons, koalas love murrini. This chubby koala opted for a nice slice of grapefruit (he's watching his figure) from Frit N Chips. Jo, the maker of these delicious murrini slices, has over thirty (30!) varieties of murrini in her shop.

Happy Murrini Monday!!!

Sneak Peek Sunday

Here's a preview of some of my freshest beads. Some will be listed in my Etsy shop later this week. Some are part of a special order.

Happy Sunday!

Turtle Tuesday/Murrini Monday

With yesterday being Columbus Day and my kiddos all being home from school, I completely forgot it also was Monday. So I guess I blew off Murrini Monday. To make it up, I've combined Murrini Monday with Turtle Tuesday. 

So first up, here is a new turtle with an encased spotted shell. To the outside I added my new fall leaves murrini (from the Cornucopia blend from Lori and Kim). The leaves are so pretty!

I know, this is not a turtle. But I had to show off the cupcake murrini (again from Lori and Kim) in action. When it came in the mail, my daughter looked at it and said I should make an elephant holding a cupcake, and I very much liked that idea. :)

And now for the Turtle Deal of the Day! These two rainbow turtles have been hanging around my shop for a while now. They'd like nothing more than to be turned into something fun ~ like earrings or charms. So to help them find a new home, I've marked their price down to $18.

A belated happy Murrini Monday to all, and have a terrific Turtle Tuesday!

Saturday is Catterday

My son runs high school cross country. Before a meet or a long run, he makes sure to get his carbs. One of his favorite ways to carb up is with a nice big bowl of cat - delicious and full of those important vitamins and long-acting carbohydrates.

       

See how fast he runs? Like a panther.

 Now he's sweatin' like a dog.

         

Happy Catterday!

Therapy Thursday ~ do something for you!

Yes, you! It's much easier said than done, I know. My day today was scheduled with appointments - physical therapy for me and a trip to the orthodontist for my daughter, whose brace bracket came off yesterday. But in between these appointments I managed to carve out time for a quick walk with the dog and enough torch time to make a dent in a custom order and also have a little fun.

Later when I got home, my murrini order from Lori and Kim  was waiting in my mailbox. I ordered in on Monday afternoon! And now it's here, in my hands. So that was an upper for me - can't wait to use it.

Did you do anything for you today? The day is not over - take a few minutes and indulge in something you like. You'll thank yourself later.

Happy Thursday!

Turtle Tuesday

What's better than a turtle? Two turtles! 

I've been busy making mini turtles and turning them into earrings. 

 I love making earrings that don't match. At first glance, these turtle earrings do match, but I slightly altered their shells. One is green with periwinkle spots outlined by blue. The other shell is periwinkle, with green spots outlined by blue. Everything else matches.

At a recent trip to a local bead store, I bought a strand of these tiny antique bronze hearts. I love them! And because I also love turtles, I wire-wrapped this pair with the little hearts. ♥♥

And now for the Turtle Deal of the Day - this patchwork turtle is sporting a whole bunch of rosebud101 murrini on her shell. Melted in together, the murrini reminds me of a patchwork quilt. I've marked this turtle down from $14 to $10!

Happy Turtle Tuesday!

Murrini Monday ~ a Cornucopia of Murrini!

This is me:

Oh look, what's that? Brightly colored murrini chips in retro candy colors???

This is me again, under the spell of FunDip murrini by Lori and Kim: 

I'm am in your power. I will resist all attempts to keep these perfect murrini chips out of my shopping cart. Pretty pretty chips.

And oh no, a Cornucopia of murrini! Leaves changing colors, feathers in varying shades of autumn. I am powerless. I don't even know what I'd do with them, but I must own them.

Happy Murrini Monday!

Try to resist ~ I dare you!

Therapy Thursday - it's physical

Today I started physical therapy. I had knee surgery back in July, and I finally got my PT scheduled. I was a little nervous about it because my knee is still fairly sore, but it wasn't strenuous and I was stronger than I'd thought. :)

Before I went to PT, I gave myself a dose of my own physical therapy and took our dog Chunky on a walk. I may have mentioned this before, but Chunky normally goes to work every day with my husband. In the fall, however, he stays home with me once a week (those are the days my hubby goes right from work to cycling, his own version of therapy). So today I had Chunky at home and it was a beautiful fall day, so we took a nice brisk walk. My knee wasn't super happy about it, but my head sure was. I felt great afterward, and I know Chunk did, too.

It's not too late - take yourself out for a walk. It's a natural upper. 

Happy Thursday!

Turtle Tuesday ♥ ♥ ♥

That's right, I'm bringing Turtle Tuesdays back. Sneak Peak will move to another day - Sneak Peak Sunday sounds good. :)

So back to turtles . . . turtles are one of my very favorite beads to make. What I love about them is their simplicity. My turtle beads are basically round beads with heads, feet and tails added to them. I love to get creative with the turtle shells, but I also love the simple layered spots on shells. 

Recently I've been experimenting with the sideways swirled hearts on turtle shells. I think the turtles like them, because they're smiling.

 This turtle has a pea green shell with a pink heart outlined in darker green. 

And this turtle's periwinkle shell is decorated with violet hearts outlined in lapis blue.  

I've also been playing around with turtle shell styles for my big hole beads. The shells I used to make were much narrower - now I'm trying a nice round shell and I really like the change.

As usual on Turtle Tuesday, I've put one of my turtle listings on SALE! These turtle triplets have been marked down from $26 to $20 ~ but just for Turtle Tuesday. So don't be a turtle - act fast to grab these mini turtle beads.

Murrini Monday ~ a healthy dose of vitamin C

Last week I received my first murrini purchase from FritNChips - tiny slices of grapefruit murrini that flew across the pond to be used in my creations. They are so cool and perfectly detailed! I went straight to my torch to play with them. But first, I had to decide which critters deserved this yummy murrini - let me tell you, it wasn't easy. But I think I made some critters very happy.

Of course I had to give a slice to the alligator - he's from Florida where all the juicy citrus fruits are grown. Also, he threatened to bite my finger off if I didn't give him one. So I did. 

Then I caught this kitty cat goofing around with a slice - something my kids do a lot with orange slices. I love how the murrini looks like an orange slice over the white glass.

Next I gave a slice to this little green mouse, who confused it for an aged cheddar. But that's ok - it looks good on her.

There's plenty more fruity murrini over at FritNChips, including lime slices (now my critters will want to do tequila shots!). You can find the grapefruit slices here.

Have your beads gotten their Vitamin C today?

Happy Murrini Monday!

Saturday is Catterday

This is my boy, pretending to be unfazed by me taking a picture of him in a restaurant. Little does he know that while he's staring me down, the cat on his shirt is taking a lick of his pizza. 

Therapy Thursday ~ it's for the dogs

In need of a good laugh? Then check out this post - My dog: the paradox - at The Oatmeal. It's full of dog humor and sweetness.

Even our dog Chunky laughed out loud - except not at the part about fireworks and staring contests with cats. 

This post at The Oatmeal was so popular that it's been turned into a poster ~ you can purchase it here.

Follow The Oatmeal on Facebook here.

HAPPY THURSDAY!

(it's almost Friday)