Busy Beading

I have been busily beading away between breaking in my new netbook, watching the Pens wil the Stanley Cup and a bit of sewing.

This is one of the pieces newly listed on my etsy site. I had a really hard time deciding to part with it because I love the toggle so, so much. Plus, matching earrings. Yum!

My brother's fiance had a birthday, and I made her a mother of pearl and crystal illusion necklace and earrings in a pretty hot pink color. I forgot to take a picture of it! She wore it to dinner tonight and it looked very nice on her.

After dinner, my mother asked for the same necklace in tan mother of pearl with dark wooden 3mm beads. Very funky and neutral, but I still failed to take a picture. Oh well.

This week, I also learned a valuable lesson about using the right lighting for your photography. I made a DIY macro light studio out of things I had around (duct tape, a box, and parchment paper). The website claims that it takes stunning gorgeous pictures, and I was so hopeful. I used the clamp lights my husband has and shot away and....everything was so dark and tan! Not at all the results promised. After poking around with different white balances, I decided it was probably the bulbs. (I have no idea what kind of bulbs or what color temperature). I took the whole works outside and used the sunlight, balancing my camera for sunlight and got much better results, including the picture I have in this post. I think it was really worth the

After I had my whole macro studio set up on the deck, a bird flew DIRECTLY into my head. Seriously! I literally didn't know what hit me. Then the little guy stood on the deck looking kind of confused and his birdy friend landed on the railing and started chirping at us in a really lecturing fashion. I told the lecturing chirper that it was very much not my fault and told them both to get off my porch. Jeezch!

P.S. Most creative submissions for the giveaway are past due. I am trying to decide which is the most creative, but it's hard! Such good answers. Winner coming soon, I promise.