Hardware Mania!

Introducing..."Hardwaria"!!

Antique Key Escutcheon Focal

Can you tell these beautiful earrings are vintage clock hands?

Recognize the pendant??

My New Line has a Bold New Look!

                  

Hi, All!

A great big THANK YOU! to all who came to see us at Champion Forest Baptist Church! We had a phenomenal show, and now we are re-charging our batteries for the next one. This is a great show to conquer that Christmas list!  

Panther Creek 27th Annual Fall Art & Craft Fair

Saturday, November 10  -  9am til 5pm

Panther Creek Shopping Center http://www.panthercreekmerchants.com

Corner of Woodlands Pkwy. & WEST Panther Creek Dr.

We are normally in front of the liquor store.

Last show for this holiday season is:

Allen Center Lobby Holiday Market

Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday, December 11, 12, & 13  -  8am til 4pm

Two Allen Center

1200 Smith St., Houston 77002

We appreciate you all so much!  

                                                                                                                     

Just a quick note to let you know of our next show:

Champion Forest Baptist Church Wonderland Market

Friday & Saturday, November 2 & 3  -  9:30am til 5pm

Champion Forest Baptist Church

15555 Stuebner-Airline Rd., Houston 77069  http://championforest.org

The remainder of our fall/winter schedule:

Panther Creek 27th Annual Fall Art & Craft Fair

Saturday, November 10  -  9am til 5pm

Panther Creek Shopping Center http://www.panthercreekmerchants.com

Corner of Woodlands Pkwy. & WEST Panther Creek Dr.

We are normally in front of the liquor store.

Allen Center Lobby Holiday Market

Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday, December 11, 12, & 13  -  8am til 4pm

Two Allen Center

1200 Smith St., Houston 77002

Thank you, Everyone, for your continued support!  We love seeing you and appreciate your business!

 

Foundry UMC Judy Dierker Holiday Market - Oct. 19th & 20th

Hi, Everyone!

A big THANK YOU! to all who came out to see us at Creekfest!  We are off and running again this coming weekend!!

When and where:

Judy Dierker Holiday Market

Friday & Saturday, October 19 & 20  -  9am til 4pm

Foundry United Methodist Church

8350 Jones Rd., Houston 77065  http://FoundryChurch.org

This a new show for us, and we are very excited to be able to participate in a venue for local artists.  Hope you can join us!  We will be in the parking lot under our white tent-spaces 237 & 238.

Sounds like we will have gorgeous weather for early holiday shopping!  Come check out all our new designs!

 Normally, I don't add much of my personal life to my blog...this was just too good not to pass along!  My youngest son and his Beautiful Wife Kristy, got married in our back yard this past Saturday!  T'was a very Irish wedding, complete with kilts and Unity Sand in the place of the unity candle...3 different color sands in jars with Patrick, Kristy, and Heather (my new granddaughter!)'s names...all poured into one jar...unified!!  Lovely idea!  All the decorations were simple and befitting a back yard (mine!) wedding on a  semi-rainy day!  I am passing along some of my fave pix of the day!  Hope you enjoy!

 My grandson to the left....my niece and great-niece above!  Grandson, Austin, was co-ring bearer with the handsome laddie below!  Couldn't you just eat them up!!!!

 Sneak Preview!  Now a few exclusive rings are part of matching sets!  This ring is made with fine silver and blue lace agate.  The silver on the matching set is all fine silver as well...

I'll be starting this fall season with my daughter, Heather, and her CU29Designs...an exciting collection of all hand-wrapped jewelry featuring copper and brass mixed with pearls, crystals, and gemstones!  She has done excellent work, and I look forward to our first show together!

Where:  The Met TRUTH Student Bldg. (across from the Metropolitan
           Baptist Church)  12903 Jones Rd. 77070  
              "Just Shop for a Just Cause"  This very worthy show was created
              to raise awareness of human trafficking which is still a huge problem right here in Houston!
When:    Saturday, Sept. 22 - 9am - 4pm

Good Morning! It's Friday!

Just a quick sneak peek of what's to come before I head off to work this morning!  Love these little rings!  They will be making their debut at our first show of the season on September 22..."Just Shop For A Just Cause"...sponsored by the Metropolitan Baptist Church on Jones Rd. in Houston TX.  This show was created to raise money and awareness for the victims of human trafficking.  Yes, folks, that still happens!  And Houston is a major hub!!!  More later...Have a great day and remember to continue to pray for the people who lost so much to Hurricane Isaac.

Hey! Looks like I'm back in business!

A lot has happened since I was unable to access my blog...

•  Finally had follower #15 and was able to hold a drawing to pick the winner of my copper and sterling silver earrings.  The lovely Andrea Durham was the winner.  You can find her on Etsy at Andrea Durham Designs.  She is a fantastic copper artist.  She also has her own horse training business.  Congrats!  Andrea!
• My computer has finally gone by the wayside...most likely...it's in the shop.  Right now I'm on my husband's new computer...checking it out...making sure I can post on my blog!  Which, it seems, I can!  Hooray!  No pix right now since I have none downloaded to this computer :{
• It's been a busy summer...lots of summer family birthdays, wedding showers, baby showers...a wedding coming up on September 29...in my backyard!!!!  I will be sure to post pix! 
• Have a few new metal designs!  Great new earrings I designed, a new ring I just love to make, and a bracelet!...just check in again soon to see them!! 
• Was planning a trip to New Orleans...tagging along on my husband's business trip to visit relatives!!!  Was sooo excited to go...plans halted due to Hurricane Isaac!  Go figure!  Prayers and well wishes go out to all in Isaac's path...be safe!!
• Back soon!  Thanks for being patient!  God Bless!!

hey where'd you go?

I'm getting a message that my browser is no longer supported by Blogger....I promise to be more faithful to my posting...as soon as I figure this out!  Sorry :(

Meet Pearl aka BlueBell (as in homemade vanilla)...owing to her color-she's a Texas girl either way!

We drove the first new Tahoe (my first new car EVER!) home at 10pm Friday nite...Sat. am we got out to go back to the dealership...I had forgotten the title to the trade-in!  When I walked around to the passenger side of the car there was a BIG DENT in the front quarter panel!!! No paint was missing...it was a just big 4 inch crease....no way the detailers of the night before could have missed it! It was dark when we left the dealership Fri. nite and got home so we never saw it! (Originally, we had been looking at a different one..but this one was just a little bit more with more goodies we wanted...we had not inspected it for 3 days like the first one!)

By the time we got to the dealership I was shaking and almost in tears...they did their little talk about fixing it and making it all better for just $100! That's when the tears started! And the mad...They thought WE put the dent in it....I told them not only would we not pay $100...I didn't want my very first car to start off with body work! They back-pedalled on the $100 and tried to convince us that they could pull the dent out of it and we'd never know it had been there...When I couldn't take any more I told them I still had the title to my trade-in, the '05 Tahoe...to just bring it back up to the front and we'd drive it home...no way was I setting foot in that other one again!  
Looooong story short:  The only other one on the lot (in our color scheme and what we wanted in it) was a step up due to the paint color and one or two other differences! She is a beauty...we test-drove her...then went back inside to start the haggling process all over again! Of course, they wanted more money...that lead to more stress!  Finally....we left with the NEW, new Tahoe....the main difference, other than the dent!, being the color...OMG!  I bought TWO NEW CARS! in 2 days!!! 

All's well that ends well...We really love this one better! But stress has taken it's toll...I've already lost my phone charger and car keys!

PS...bet you thought it was going to be a new goat!

First Things First! I wanted to show the end result of the charm bracelet from a couple of posts back.

Thank You, Followers! Breaking News!!

I want to take a minute to thank my new followers for coming on board...and my "already" followers (notice I didn't call you my "old" followers!) for hanging in there and not giving up on me when I'm not the best blogger...ie. not adding to my blog often enough....I confess I'm severly "time challenged" lately.  But I have a great excuse! 

First, and most important!  My youngest son (32...about time!) was married on Feb.8 to a fantastic girl we are all just crazy about!  She and her 14 year old daughter (our new granddaughter!!) have already brought so much joy to the family.  They belong to us like crazy!!  Pictures to follow soon!

Second, we have another new member to the family:  "Prissy Pearl Butzke"....stay tuned for more info and pix, Dear Readers!

Custom Charm Bracelet To-Be

This is just a preview of a custom charm bracelet for a client.  Each of her neice and nephews' names have been riveted, ransom-note-style, on a textured sterling silver heart charm.  They will be tumbled, oxidized, tumbled again, and polished before they are done.  The charm bracelet itself will also be custom-made.  Stay tuned for the finale!

Our show at the Panther Creek Shopping Center in The Woodlands

I just couldn't wait to share this!  Isn't she beautiful??!!??  She was a display in Camille's (of Old Towne Spring) booth at the Champions Holiday Market show we did earlier this month.  My hubby (who KNOWS me) saw it first and talked Camille into selling it to him after the show.  Isn't she just the bomb???!!

Much as I love her, she was just a small portion of the wonderfulness of that show!  You know how sometimes you meet someone and know immediately that you will be great friends?  That happened in multiples here!  You know who you are Kathy, Genie (and hubbys), Shelley, Camille (thanks for giving in to my husband!), Lynn, Robin and mom, Millie!! (love her!) and all the other vendors and new customers that have become new friends!  Funny how we all just came together by chance...Thank you all for being there! 

I love you all!

A Couple of Pics From a Recent Show

 A big "Thank You" to all who came out to support us at this show.  It was a great success...we are so blessed!

It's Show Time!!

Our shows are starting in full swing this weekend.  If you are in the Houston area, come see us at the Holiday Market at Champions Forest Dr. and FM1960.  It's open from 10 til 6 each day, Oct. 29 thru Nov. 6.

Texas Wildfires!

You have all probably heard of the Texas wildfires...today was the first time we could see the smoke from our house! Monday when we were still getting winds from hurricane Irene, we could smell it.  Tho the wind has died down considerably, the fires have shifted and are more spread out.

Tonya's Pendant

We attended the birthday party for my hubby's niece yesterday...she made out like a bandit!! She said she loved the pendant, and I have to believe her since she received lots of other jewelry but put our's on immediately! Another niece wanted one as well...so this one will be for her. I decided to rivet today instead of solder! I'm really liking the rougher, more primitive, organic style as opposed to a picture-perfect mirror finish. This looks to be my niche!

Like the slate background? The store let us have it for a sample....soooo we're going to a different store each weekend to pick samples til we have enough to floor our hot tub porch! LOL!!

Who out there remembers what ransom notes looked like before computers?

If you saw my last post, you might be thinking how odd that I know two people with children born in August whose names are almost exactly the same. Guess again! It's the same pendant...wrong spelling! The little pendant on the left looks sooo innocent, but in reality has cost three days of panic and a cut finger! It all started when a friend texted me while I was at work and asked if I could do the pendant....Of course! I said. I wrote the name "Delanie" on a note, but left it at work. I was more than a little rusty at stamping and messed up two (!) hearts! I finally had this one done (yippee!) when I realized I had stamped "Dalanie" ! Like an idiot, I texted my friend to verify the spelling, all the while HOPING that somewhere in the back of my mind this was supposed to be the correct spelling! She is a labor and delivery nurse who works nights...I should have taken into account that she's probably tired and there is a lot of adrenaline flowing at her work place...she texted back "Delaine"!!! What?!!??

Enter my precious husband who has been trying to help me learn to solder this week...I tell him I have an idea to fix it but it involves soldering the copper name to the pendant...will he help me? Never one NOT to show off his great abilities, he of course agrees...I knew he would ;0)...we change it to "Delaine" by stamping it on copper and cutting it out, then soldering the nameplate...We are both pretty impressed with ourselves...til yesterday evening when my friend realized her mistake and texted me...It is "Delanie" after all!! Now comes the really impressive part...with a little heat from the torch the copper nameplate will come off, then you can cool your metal (the heart) and start all over again! Sure beats ruining a 3rd sterling silver heart! I have to give my husband credit for this one!