Still On the Road - Challenge 2012

.  

Lajitas Peak

Another day in Lajitas.  Where no plan is the best plan.
Yesterday we geocached and got our Texas badge.
Today, the boys went shootin' and the girls went walkin'.
Then we sat in the sun and watched the mountains.
Made a pair of earrings.
Pizza at the Long Draw.
A quick update of all social media.
Tomorrow? Quien sabe?

The inspiration for today's earrings came as i stepped out the back door.  There's a large specimen of calcite setting at the foot of the stairs and little pieces frequently fall off.  I picked up two pieces, washed them off and set them down on the mat.

Not drilled.  Going to have to wrap them with wire.  Uhh. Free form wire wrapping is harder than it looks.  For me anyways!  So i took a piece of practice wire and played a bit then went the 18gauge non-tarnish brass plated copper core wire and wrapped those rocks, baby!

Then i used 22gauge wire (same as above) and made ear wires. The earrings are a teensy bit heavy but hey,  they're rock steady.

I really like these ear wires.  I used them for the green discs and for at least one another pair.  If you remember, it's a single piece of wire with a large loop and then the other end goes through your piercing.

So here's another pair in the challenge.  ha ha!  The challenge has morphed but we shall persevere and make earrings wherever we go!

Earring count:  35 in 37 days

On the Road - Challenge 2012

Whewwwwww.  Tuesday February 7.  "You have reached your destination on the left."

Lajitas, Texas

Over 4000 miles from home so far.  Since i posted Monday, i took a vacation day on Tuesday.  Fair enough.

Today's pair is called Full Moon over Tucson.

Monday we drove east from Barstow.  We planned to leave earlier and drive farther but we wanted to lighten the load in the car.  We left Barstow two hours later than planned because it took us that long to find the shipping service and get things boxed and mailed. 

The two hours included a nearly 30 minute wait, standing in front of the store with our trunk emptied to the sidewalk, staring in the window.  Once we got in and to the counter which didn't take long, the ladies were wonderful and the young lady that packed our stuff did a professional job.  It took a while.

One hundred pounds lighter, we're headed east for....Tombstone but we only make it to Tucson.  Where many of the bead shows are still open.  Where the suites on either side of us were vendor suites.  Where i could have spent a day or two buying beads.  Buying more beads.  Seeing new items.  Meeting vendors.  Buying beads.

Since i didn't come prepared, we didn't stay.  Left Tucson early on Tuesday and drove I-10 east through Las Cruces and then El Paso with Ciudad Juarez spilling over onto the US side of the line.  Border Patrol very evident along the way.  Big and showy.  Lots of equipment visible at points of entry.

Left the sprawl of El Paso behind and dropped south soon after, heading for the Big Bend of Texas.  Wiiiiiiiild country. Rugged canyons and wide washes.  Large rocks poised to tumble down the high high canyon walls. And through it runs the river border we share with Mexico and all the excitement that brings.

Anyways, lots of driving through stunning country and maybe the next pair of earrings will reflect on that but for tonight, it's the color of the sky at sunset as we pulled into Tucson on a night of the full moon.  ahhhhhooooooo!

Supplies:
shell rings, drilled through
mother of pearl beads, 10mm or whatever fits
coral beads
wire - i like 22gauge
ear wires

Assemble and put 'em on.  I wish a round shape looked good against my face, because these are colorful and fun to wear with good movement.  It's important for earrings to have movement, i think.

I should have something for you tomorrow, next day.  Check back so as not to miss anything.  Are you following us on Twitter yet?  @BeadBoutiqueKC

On the Road - Challenge 2012

Maybe it's obvious to some that i missed yesterday's blog.  Technology and fatigue combined to deter me from completing it.

We left SF later than planned but not by much.  With the car (over)loaded, we headed across the Bay Bridge on I-580 and then south into the Central Valley on Highway 99.  What a great ride!  Remnants of the extensive agricultural lands that once dominated that area still border the highway.  Fruit orchards in manicured rows.  Cherry trees pruned and groomed to a fare-thee-well festooned in pink flowers.  Livestock in abundance.  The land is flat flat flat looking all the way west and flat flat flat til it meets the foothills to the east.

We ran parallel to the Sierra Nevada Mountains on our eastern side, passing the turnoffs to the fabled parks of Central California:  Stanislaus National Forest, Yosemite, Mammoth Lake, Kings Canyon.  We cruised through Bakersfield to our destination for the day:  Barstow.  On the edge of the Mojave Desert.

What an adventure this is!

And the nature of an adventure is that you just never know.

Inspired by the sweet beauty of the cherry blossoms, i made a pair of earrings, photographed them....and then discovered that the hotel's WiFi wasn't working and that Terry's hotspot wasn't working and thus if there is no internet access then there is no blogging.  OMG!!!  In the midst of my great dismay of not being able to blog - OMG!!! - i had an internal headslap and realized that making earrings every night while on vacation with Terry was undercutting our time together.  So i'm cutting back.  I obviously now won't be making 365 earrings in 365 days - darn it! - but ima gonna keep on making earrings and ima gonna keep on blogging and ima gonna hope you'll be following along.

Here are the earrings from yesterday.  I had a strand of pink glass flowers that, naturally, i've had forever and i combined them first with pink Swarovski crystals and then Terry said i should use red so the second earring has dark red crystals.  And i just let them be.  You decide which color crystal you like best.

Also!!!!  We're on Twitter!!  I'm not sure why i'm so excited about it or what exactly we're going to do with it, but we're @BeadBoutiqueKC so follow us!

Earring count:  33 pairs/35 days