The Chatter Box 10/05-12/05

12-27-05

I seem to get all my computer work done late at night/early in the morning. Here it is 1am and Wally is sound asleep and I just finished the card contest gallery page. I'm off to bed and then I get to spend the day packing up my booth to ship to Grapevine, TX. I'm still not able to make the new images so I'm hoping that the supplies I need arrive tomorrow so I can offer you the Love postoid now. Best laid plans and all.

12-23-05

I see Santa is coming! Gosh, these animated gifs are addictive. I'll have to find them for every holiday there is. I have one last little game to post. Actually I have others but they really aren't politically correct. This is a silly one probably best for kids...Elf.

Also I added a new Tips and Tricks page. An Xray Amy Scenic Tutorial! Let me know what you think about it. Next I have the contest page to do and then I'll email the group with an update.

12-20-05...almost 12-21

Another late nighter for me. Remember that card contest during the summer? I'm finally scanning in the cards and I'll work on the gallery page for posting in January. I have so much stuff to get up on the website so I'll be parceling it out a little every few weeks. I have one more Holiday sight for you. This one is kind of a game. You should do well enough to see Rudolph....Slingshot Santa.

12-19-05

I'm up late...which in now actually early morning...working on a new tutorial of one of my scenes. But more on that later. I wanted to show you Trevor's latest thing. He has been retrieving things since he was a little baby. Misha did too but he's outgrown it now. Usually Trevor likes to play with his mousie (actually one of the many dozens of mousies laying around the house). He brings it to one of us and drops it at our feet and we throw it and he brings it back, again and again. He'll want to play this 3 or 4 times a day. Sometimes he finds a stray piece of rubber that he wants us to throw but lately it's my glove. It's pretty funny watching him run through the house with my glove hanging from his mouth.

12-15-05

Tonight I'm going to an Open Torch Night at the local glass store. Local for us is a 45 minute drive. I guess they have a bunch of different torches set up and provide glass and everything else you need and you just do what you want. I really haven't met any other lampwork artists before except the couple that are in the rubber stamp industry. And I've never watched anyone else at a torch before unless you count MaryKay of Stamp Camp making a few spacers beads on a hothead. A few years ago MK and I went to a friends house and watched her make a bead on her hothead and then we made a few. I never wanted to make a bead again after that. Hotheads are a small tank of gas with a torch head connected right on it. You have the tank of gas between your knees while you work and it's really loud and kinda scary. Also, the gas starts to get cold in the tank and then your flame is very cool and it's nearly impossible to melt the glass. I thought it was just icky. I can't believe that people make beads on those things and lots of people make incredible things on them. About 8 months after that Wally got tired of seeing me drool over the pretty beads on ebay and he went out and bought me a torch, a real torch. What a huge difference from a hothead. I was making nice round pretty beads on the first day. Somewhere on this server is a picture of the fist set I listed on ebay. I'll have to hunt it down since I lost everything on my own computer when the hard drive died. A Beeswax stamp customer won that auction too so she can say she has my first beads.

12-6-05

I've already gotten some comments on my Christmas Tree. Isn't it cute? I figured since we can't have a Christmas Tree in the house ('dorables and a tree...I don't think so) I would put one up here for all of us to enjoy. I have a website for you too for a little Holiday/Winter spirit. Be forewarned though...it's very addictive. Here you go: Snowflakes . I have a couple of other fun holiday sites that I'll post over the month. If you have any to share, email me!

12-3-05

I guess I'm not much of a weather forecaster because there is no storm coming for at least the next few days. It's just very cold here now which makes it hard to make beads in the garage. Now that I actually have some ebay customers back I want to keep them so I get to go freeze right now. Anyway, here's another sneak peek and a new image. This one is a garden wall and I just love it. Let me know what you think, I worked a long time on this image!

12-2-05

The 'dorables love helping daddy. Here they are helping him wind the grandfather clock. They have gotten so big. Misha, who was the smallest kitten, now weighs more than Trevor.

I have three bead auctions up on ebay right now. You can click here to go to my seller page.

I'll have another sneak peek at some images tomorrow if I can get on the internet. The weather here was awful yesterday (which in my book is wonderful...I love the rain) and our satellite connection fails in stormy weather. I think another storm is on the way so you may not hear from me for a day or two if that's the case.

11-30-05

Buck watch: It seems our buck has now decided to hang out with his friends during the day so he is no longer squatting in our backyard.

I promised a sneak peek of some new images and today I'll show you something a little different for me. I got totally into creating faux postage and couldn't seem to stop myself. I have a couple of others too. These won't be available until mid-January but if I get my plates back soon enough I can have the love post for sale long before Valentines Day.

11-28-05

Buck watch: This is day #6. Yesterday he was gone and we thought he had finally decided to leave. Then on the way back from the store I spotted him in our neighbor's front pasture...no Randy, Wally didn't open the gate and shoo him over to you! But today he's back. He's like a lost little sole and I feel sorry for him that he doesn't get to be with any friends. This is the best picture I've gotten of him but that's because he was about 8 feet away from our living room window. Hope your grandson likes deer pictures Barb!

I also promised a sneak peek of some new images so maybe I'll do that tomorrow. I did send them off to the engraver a few days ago so I hope to have them at the Grapevine, TX show and then up on the web site mid January.

11-24-05

We have a squatter on our property and we're really not sure what to do about it. We always have deer on our property at night and by sunrise they leave. Well this young buck has decided he wants to just stay all day. This is now day #2. He's very cute and I would love to keep him and give him hugs and kisses but I know that's not possible. We have to be careful not to spook him when we go outside for fear of him running down to the road and getting hit by a car. Hopefully he'll just leave on his own soon.

Happy Thanksgiving!

11-22-05

The card on the right was made by Susan List. Well, this isn't just any card....this is her wedding invitation! I'm so honored to have a Beeswax stamp as the focal of a wedding invitation! When I do images like the swan couple, I usually picture them in a scene since I am a scenic stamper at heart. But look how well these work all on their own! They would also make a great Valentine card too! I just love seeing the creative things people come up with. Susan is very creative. She has sent me a few things to put in my new 3-D Gallery which should be ready late January. If you have anything that would fit email me!

11-18-05

Another bead auction is up! Click on the picture to go to the auction.

We took a road trip yesterday back to the Bay Area where we used to live. I smashed my wedding ring a couple of days ago while pressing rubber and I needed to have it repaired. I have major trust issues when it comes to my diamond so I would only take it back to the place we purchased it. One of my prongs was bent and they were able to fix it in about 15 minutes. We were able to visit with both sets of parents so it was a nice trip but it did mean a total of 5 hours on the road. I guess I can no longer wear my ring when I press rubber.

11-15-05

It's been pretty quiet around here which is just fine with me. I've been working on new images and I'll give you a sneak peek maybe next week.

Wally did bring home a little something today. He had gone fishing on the American River last week for salmon and came home with nothing. He gave it another try today and brought home this 30lb beauty! I LOVE salmon. Guess what we are having for dinner tonight!

11-9-05

Anyone been waiting for some beads? I sure hope my ebay customers didn't forget all about me. I have a new auction starting tonight at 6:15pm. I have some new bangle beads that will be posted in a few weeks. I like to have a little bit of a selection for you before putting them up. It sure is nice to get back on the torch. Unfortunately it may not be for long as this year is coming to a close very quickly. Our first show next year is the second weekend of January so we really need to get ready NOW. So much for a little time off. Actually I'm looking forward to next years shows. You'll see us at some new locations so check our convention schedule. I still have a few more shows to post as soon as I get the apps.

11-8-05

Guests just aren't safe in our house. If Misha doesn't jump on your back then both 'dorables will just help themselves to your drink. And if you happen to fall asleep on our couch while watching TV...then I might just take your picture....huh, Randy ;) Lucky for him I don't listen to my husband and post that blackmail picture right here for all to see.

11-3-05

The Direcway tech. came out today and fixed (hopefully) our internet connection. He had to bolt the dish down better because it had come loose and was able to move in the wind. If you've never seen what one of these looks like here's a picture of ours. They are about three times the size of your TV dish and the end looks like a boxing glove. They are pretty space age looking. I have a strange feeling that we'll be calling David back out real soon. Our signal is already down from when he left and as soon as I start getting errors again he's coming back. I'm slightly embarrassed though because as he was kneeling down talking to me about our internet connection, Misha pulled he's latest trick and jumped up on his shoulders. It's bad enough that he does it to Wally and me but to guests in our house?....so not cool!

10-31-05

Happy Halloween! Hmmm, pictures of turkeys are a little more Thanksgiving-ish but here you go anyway. Remember those baby turkeys we had in the spring? Now they are all grown up and a whole flock of them were in our pasture yesterday. There were about a dozen of them that I was chasing around trying to take pictures of. Our digital camera isn't so hot for distance shots but I tried.

10-30-05 I haven't been able to update the site due to an awful internet connection. Other than dial up, our only other option here is satellite. We decided to go with satellite so I would have less issues working on the web site. Well our connection has been so bad I finally called to report the problem. It seems that all the tweaking they had me do over the phone was worthless because it looks like our dish is out of whack. Now someone has to come and reposition it. Hopefully that will happen in the next few days. Until then, I made some beads yesterday...first time in months! We also spent some time unpacking/cleaning the garage. It's been about 10 months since we officially moved in and we still have a lot of unpacking to do. We need to get some of it done before we start on our huge project of remodeling the main house. I'll be taking some before and after pictures as we go along. I never really showed the inside of the house here when we first moved in because it really needs some work. I'm always embarrassed when one of my pictures shows our disgusting carpeting...I try to photoshop it to make it look better...tricks of the trade! I can't wait to rip the carpeting up!

10-28-05

Last night we had our first fire of the year and it was the 'dorables first fire ever. They have been fascinated with the fireplace since they were babies. They had been determined to get in it and we had to practically barricade it so they couldn't. Now they know what it's really for. They were pretty amazed and afraid at first but you can see below that it didn't take them long to realize that it was nice and cozy warm! I guess I won't have 'dorables in my lap keeping me warm at night anymore.

Regular power to our servers has now been restored so I'll be able to add some cool things to the site once I get caught up again on orders. Of course I'll email the group when I'm done updating the site so if you aren't a member already you can go back to the the main page and join or email me and I can do it for you.

10-26-05 Beeswax is back up and running but we'll see if it lasts. Apparently my web host has servers in different parts of the US and ours is in Boca Raton, FL. They had tested the back up generators a few days before Wilma hit and of course they were fine. Then when the power went out the generators failed. They got them working after about 20 hours only to have the whole generator plant crash. Now they got that back up so our server is running on generator power. If you have any problems getting on the site during the week you know that the generators died again. I had planned to do a lot of work on the site yesterday too. I have new art from Mark, Diana, Sulea and Hannamaija including some scenic tips and a bio on Hannamaija too. I'll also get the contest winners up sometime in the next two weeks.

10/19/05

Nothing much happening around here. I've just been getting ready for the GA show which is my last show of the year...yippee! I've done a few new images too since our first show next year is the second weekend of January. I won't post any new images until January though so I guess I shouldn't tease you! When I get back from GA I will also get back on the torch. I haven't made beads in months and I bet that all my ebay customers have now forgotten all about me. My own bead page is rather bare too. The only problem is that the weather is ready to change and it's pretty hard to make beads in the garage when your hands are so numb you can't feel them. I will have Wally take some pictures of me at the torch and also of the rubber making process. I plan to have an "about us" page and then I can post some pictures there on how we make everything...not that it is all that exciting!

I should be able to update from GA. I can't wait to go to my favorite restaurant there, Barnacles. I should be able to eat there at least two out of the four nights!

10/13/05

How many people can say they have their own fire hydrant on their property? I'm not talking about the city's fire hydrant by the curb either. I mean your very own fire hydrant. Here's ours. I sure hope we never have to use it but if we do we have a fire hose to attach to it too. We just traded one possible disaster for another. Before we lived in earthquake country and I mean right by a huge fault. Now we live in fire country. I think I like this better since I kept having a feeling that a big earthquake was coming soon. Sure hope I didn't just jinx myself.

10/11/05 So nice to be home! I have to pack up a box of rubber and cushion to send to GA and then I'll get started on the orders that have come in....sorry for the wait! Anyone reading this that is going to the Duluth, GA show...I have free passes so email me with your address and the first three will get passes. Someone called and left me a message asking if I was bringing the cling foam cushion to the GA show. Sorry, I accidentally deleted it. I am bringing the foam but I don't have much left so get to my booth early Saturday if you need some.

He has learned to jump on to the stair railing, then on to the entertainment center and then finally on to the ceiling beam. You can see his brother looking at him with admiration trying to figure out how to get up there with him. It reminded me of an interesting web site that MaryKay of Stamp Camp found where a couple actually built cat super highways all throughout their house...thecatshouse.com Personally I don't want them up high like that since I've already had the bad experience of having a cat with a broken leg. Not one I want to relive...ever.

10/7/05 Well I had a whirl wind two days at home and now here I am in Virginia Beach. I had a UPS problem which seems to be normal lately. Look at the condition my bin arrived at the convention center:

Luckily I'm only missing my back drop and a roll of duct tape. I may find more things missing once the show starts but all my rubber made it which we all know is the most important thing.

Usually I have a cool room with an ocean view but I couldn't get one this trip. Let's all enjoy a picture of the view from my room last year:

It's so nice to have a room with a view of the ocean and to listen to it all night. I'm at a Double Tree this time and it is not the greatest. If you have never been to Virginia Beach before they have some very bizarre signs up:

These are up on every street corner on the ocean front road. Yep, they mean no swearing along with no cruising, no lewd behavior and so on. pretty strange, huh?

This will probably be my only update until I get home from the show. This hotel has no free high speed internet access so I'm on slow dial up and probably racking up phone charges so I'll check in with you when I get home.

10/2/05 I got to meet Roberta Schinner at the York show today. Roberta is the winner of the Best Holiday Card for our card contest (those cards will be up in a gallery late this month). Here's a picture of us at the show:

Hey Roberta...you look a lot better in this picture than I do! She also brought me some goodies too:

Isn't she a sweetie! You'll notice that one of the brownies didn't quite make if for the photo session...gee, don't know what happened to that one!

And now I'm going to kick back in the hotel room and watch the CBS movie Mayday. It's based on a book by my favorite author Nelson Demille. I just hope they do it a little justice. You know how a movie is never anywhere near as good as the book. I'll be home tomorrow afternoon!

10/1/05 Well I'm here at the York, PA show. I have a picture of what I think is the most unusual jewelry I have ever seen. This woman was wearing these bangles at the show and I almost didn't notice them, but when I did see them I was totally fascinated. I took these with my clie so they aren't the best pictures but they show the little critters pretty well!

Yep, at one time those were real live bugs. I'm not sure what kind they are and I'm pretty sure I don't want to know. They look like some kind of iridescent rainbow lady bugs....big lady bugs!