new toy....

I've been playing with my new cameral lens....too much fun.  

mischief

Everyone at our house was full of mischief yesterday!  We are die-hard Husker fans....
As you can see by the red, white & black....
Lots of fun playing games with cousins....
And lots of "candy-sneaking-mischief" by this little "sweet tooth!" 

Peace, Hope & Love

A few pictures of new enamel babies.
I need to put these together as bracelets and pendants, however....
it is Christmas Eve, and there is so much to do!!!   Peace, hope & love to you!

happy birthday, Carl!

Yesterday we had two milestones....I set up the new bead collar on my kiln and got busy making some new enameled copper disks.  
AND.....it was Carl's 1st birthday!  I wish he would calm down just a little bit.  He gave himself a birthday present...christmas lights,....he came up the steps of the deck carrying a string of lights he had acquired.....we're not sure how he did it.  We should have named him "Digging Chewing Houdini."

final project

My final project from the enameling class with Jess Starkel at the Lux Center.  Three weeks before finishing my project, I was overwhelmed with the thought of making a "final project!"
This piece is hammered copper disks with random holes punched then enameled with transparent green.  The copper links are repurposed copper from my dumpster 4 years ago.  I am beyond excited with how it turned out.

Hopefully, the first of many!  By the way, thanks Kelli, for the invitation and new addiction!

little trip to the zoo

My good friend and I took our boys to the zoo on Friday.  Which was much better than shopping!  There is a new butterfly pavilion, it was amazing!  I need to go back with my camera and take more pictures.

this thing called "love"

On Saturday, my good friend and fellow "addict got" together and played with enamels and metal...
Talk about instant gratification!!!  I feel so much better since pounding a little piece of metal!  As soon as I can make more they will be on my etsy site.

special request!!!

I had a comment from my sweet sister to give her a link to my little website....sometimes I actually post something.  Here you go, you may have to copy and paste.

http://web.me.com/betsyramm/Site/Welcome.html 

bags & beads

I've been busy making bags and beads for the upcoming Art in the Bag...check it out at http://artinthebag.blogspot.com  Lots of really cool bags and of course, lampwork beads!  

I am transitionin over you can also find me at www.web.me.com/betsyramm  it's a little easier to upload photos!

today is the day

I get to do the happy dance!!!  For one year, every one of these boys will be in the same school!!  It makes me so happy.  I will drop them off at the same time, pick them up at the same time and they will all wear uniforms!!!!  

My youngest is in Kindergarten.  He is really excited, some of his buddies are in his class, oh boy, those kindergarten teachers better be prepared!?!?!

Middle is in 2nd grade and so excited for his first sacrament.

Oldest is in 8th grade, where did the time go?  I am so proud of him.  Playing football for the first time, I am not ready for this!!!

waiting...

No pictures, not many words, still waiting for my iMac. They told me mine was first on the list today. Oh, please let it be true! I have so many pictures from Minnesota and "THE" reunion to post.....waiting, but not very patiently!!!

tuba-ruba!

We're in Minnesota! Splash Camps is so much fun! The kids LOVE Wild games. Today they played Tuba Ruba...Sumo wrestling with inner-tubes!! Oh my!!!

2 xcting not 2 share

bread love

I've been experimenting with different grain combinations for bread...this is sprouted red wheat in the dehydrator.  I neglected to take pictures of it before I dried it.  
Once this is dried, it can be used in a bread recipe like white flour.  My friend Anna told me about www.suegregg.com .  I was amazed the first time I tried the two-stage process whole grain bread.  My bread came out moist and delicious.  The suegregg recipe for blender waffles is awesome, no sugar in the recipe!  It's worth the time the night before!

almost completed....

I started this last week, it's almost finished!  A few beads and some embroidery and it will be done.  
I really like the detail on the top, I ironed small parts of the fabric to fusable webbing then cut out the flowers.  The ric rac is vintage, I didn't want to machine sew it on, so it's handsewn on.  It is difficult to bead in the evening!  I'm going to save this for sitting and watching the kids swim!
Last month I found the handles on a bag at the second hand store....for .99 cents!  The bag had seen better days.  A few years ago, I found this fabric in Mendocino, CA.  I love it!

who knew macrame was cool again?

One of the lampwork guild members, Jeri Wiskus taught us how to make a macrame bracelet with a large lampwork piece.  Definately fun and great to use up little orphan beads, or big ones!  

Oh my goodness

Right after I snapped this picture, hubby and I said, oh my goodness, we better go to the basement!  It started to rotate, ever so slowly!  We were in the basement for about 3 hours.  My sister came out just before the storm and brought a chicken...we put the chicken in at 6pm, went to the basement at 6:15, ran upstairs about 7pm grabbed the chicken and had a little picnic in the "bat cave." I call that divine intervention!!!!  We continue to pray for the entire Boy Scout community.  We had a very personal connection to the camp, those boys and their families need to be lifted in prayer.

Speaking of picnic...has anyone checked out picnik.com?  Miss Jill showed me this website on Weds.  Oh so easy!

have you seen my puppy?

Oh my goodness, can you believe Carl is almost 6 months old?  This little guy wants 15 kittens and 15 puppies...we told him he will have to live on a farm.  Any ideas on how to get Carl to stop digging?  

thirteen

This little man turned 13 last week, we had a great time celebrating his birthday!  I love this picture of him...he was one.  Oh my.

toothless hillbilly

This fine young man lost his front tooth this morning.  We have had some pretty good laughs lately when he would stick that loose tooth through his lips....looking like a hillbilly.  Hopefully, the tooth fairy is one top of her game and doesn't forget, it has happened before.  What are we supposed to do with these teeth?  I'm pretty sure his future wife doesn't want an old tooth.

thrown & blown

This afternoon my little boys and I went to Thrown & Blown at the Louisville Art Gallery.  This wonderful potter gave my middle his first experience at the wheel!  From cutting the clay to sponging out the water.  

As soon as his little hands touched the clay and the wheel started to turn his face was lit by an enormous smile.  It took a little while for him to get used to having clay on his hands.  When I asked what his favorite part of the day was, he said, "getting to make a pot on the wheel!"  I have to say, his little pot turned out very nicely!!

before & after

As I look at these pictures, I hope that once I put a little distress & glaze on this buffet it will look better. In the before picture you can't see the leg that is gnarly or the top that had a weird gunk on it...
Once I get some little touches done and the glass jars back it will look just right.

wrist love

A few bracelets I put together from the last batch of lampwork.  
Most of the colors are true...it was nice and sunny when I took the pictures!
Can't wait to get back to the torch and work on the May MLG challenge!  

uploading issues

I had some success with photoshop...however, I can't get the photoshop file to upload.

This weekend was very fun!  I went on a retreat and did alot of quilting and visited a camp in SE Minnesota.....I loved the sign on the dumpster.

I used the Pioneer Womans tutorial for Photoshop....Ooohh it is so addictive!  Someday, I will get the picture up here, try, try, again.

good intentions

I had good intentions of taking pictures this weekend at our neighborhood party, but I didn't take one picture!  I take that back, I took pictures with Jen's camera...now I have to hound her for copies!!!

Today, I took my first Photoshop class at Apple!!!  It was so exciting.  I have go back, cause now I can't remember how to get a picture from iphoto to photoshop...oh the dilemmas!!  I learned to layer, desaturate, lasso and use the eraser....so exciting!

I love this pic of my hubby & youngest.  Youngest has just started to look like dad's clone...love.it.

big paws!

This dog has mighty big paws!  It's amazing, he is only 4 months old.  Last week we started training him on the hidden fence.  He gets it.  It is strange how different dogs respond to the correction.  He doesn't cry/yelp when he gets corrected, but slowly moves back. 
The tiles in this picture are 12x12....he is going to be huge.  He's a good puppy.

easy peasy

Yesterday, I looked at the pile of felted sweaters and decided it was time to do something with them.  Betz Whites book, Warm Fuzzies helped with some inspiration and techniques.  It turned out much better than I hoped!
Here it is laying on the living room floor.  After getting the squares cut, it was really simple.  While I was cutting the squares, I watched all the internet episodes of "Eli Stone" on abc.com.  Just what I needed, another televisionshow to watch!

gone!

I am so excited!  All of these beads and a few others sold this weekend!  The Bead Bazaar was a lot of fun.

It was great to see all the guild members and people who stopped by.
Time to make more beads!

I am very excited, I had a little tutorial from Tanya (up there on the right) about how to do free motion quilting!!!  Can't wait to try it!!

39 & decisions

My love had a birthday...he is an April fool.  Did my in-laws need humor at that time?  My husband is the youngest of five...I think he provided much humor in everyones life!  Including mine.  Love you, honey!
I am trying to figure out how I want to tag my beads for the weekend.  I can't decide if I want to use colored paper or grey.  After looking at this picture, I think I might change the tags...

a "little" fish story

My little guy was the first to hook one yesterday.  He brought him up from the lake on the pole.  Eeewww!  Big mouth bass, or "little mouth!"  As you can see, he was thrilled with his catch!
Not too much later, brother comes up the deck stairs with another.  Since I do not touch fish, I was yelling for daddy!!!  He came in from the garage and removed the hook.  Meanwhile, Carl thought this was a treat/toy.  Both of the boys requested for the fish to stay in the sink and swim around for a little bit.  Luckily, daddy thought we should put them back in the lake so they could grow some more.  Then we can catch them again!?!?!