Patti Gill

OMG! Look what I found on Craigs list. I couldn’t be happier!   Oh, and a picture of my two newest grandbabies hanging out together. Sophie and Dezmond (they’re in love).

So, if you haven’t already seen them, be sure to check out the bling I’m making these days for spinning wheels. They are just too cute!

If you decide you want one, I sell them for $25.00 in my Artfire store. Go to www.artfire.com and search for MissP. The price includes Priority shipping. I’m trying to list new hooks every Sunday morning. I’ve found that it is best to sell them with the end un-bent so you can customize the hook for your wheel. If you want one that is already bent, be sure to measure your wheel to make sure it will fit. Thanks for stopping by.

OK. So my sincere appologies. I know, it’s been a long time. Let’s see, we had 2 new grandbabies, traded the motorhome for a toy hauler, traded (kind-of) my Matchless for a Rick Reeves, and now I’m trying a new thing … Wheel Candy. What do you think?

Oh, I also discovered Wollmeise!!! YUM!!!!

Wheel Candy!

Soooo … I’ve had my super-reliable Honda Civic since she was brand new. She’s got close to 100k miles on her, but there’s not a thing wrong with her and I wouldn’t say I’m unhappy with her. BUT a few months ago I’m sitting at a stop light not paying much attention to anything and this vehicle rolls past that absolutely took my breath away.  No kidding, I took a triple-take. I had no idea who made it or what it was, but I knew I wanted one.

I eventually figured out it was a Toyota FJ Cruiser. There’s somethng so cute about it, but at the same time it says, don’t mess with me, I’m badd-ass!!! Not only that, it fits perfectly with our new found passion … 4-wheeling and camping in the National Forests!!!

Well, let’s start out by saying that the FJ’s are not cheap. Without going into detail, lets just say that my hubby and I are fortunate enough to both have had long and successful careers so an FJ is not out of reach. It’s just really hard to justify when I’ve got a perfectly good, super reliable, economical, FREE and CLEAR vehicle parked in my garage.

As luck would have it, my oldest daughter graduated from college about a year ago and has her first “real” job. It is however a commute of about 35 miles each way every day. Well, her poor vehicle finally died last week and that started a chain reaction that was unstoppable.  She asked me if I would go vehicle shopping with her since she had never purchased a new car before and as soon as the words “yes, of course” left my mouth, I knew I was in trouble.

First we stopped at the Nissan dealer and looked at what they offered.  Mmmm, OK. So we went down the road a lo and behold, the next dealer was TOYOTA!  And wouldn’t you know it, parked high on a perch in a very 4-wheeling-type pose …. well, you know how this ends don’t you?

Car payments again??? Well, yes. Painful??? Well, yes. Do I care???   NOT!

OK. So after all that excitement, here’s my pick of the litter for this week. I’ve got tons of beads made and patiently waiting my attention in the box. Hopefully I’ll get to them this week. This one is avaliable on www.artfire.com. Just search for MissP. Thanks for stopping by.

Well I realized that I forgot to tell you all the details about my newest grandson. His name is Dezmond Timothy. He weighed in at 5 lbs, 15.5 oz and was 19.25 inches tall. The only bummer is that now I have a tremendous cold or flu or something so I can’t even be in the same room with him. GEEEEEZ!!!  I’m so worried that I may have unknowingly exposed the little guy to this cold, but so far Maggie says he is fine.

In the meantime, if you’ve followed my blog at all, you know how frustrated I get with taking pictures of my beads. It’s hard to know where the problem lies however. Is it the lighting? Is it the camera? Is it the camera settings?  I decided to concentrate my efforts on lighting and to that end, I’ve built 2 different “light boxes,” both of which were huge disappointments.

I broke down and purchased a professionally bult light box. I got it on EBay. It is called a Prisma Photo Light box. Since I’m sick I haven’t spent a lot of time with it yet, but I did take a few photos yesterday and so far things look good.

So, 2 of my 3 daughters are expecting. Maggie and Bekah were really excited for Halloween this year and here’s why … can you guess what they are??? OMG this is just toooooo funny!

And just a few short hours later …

Life is good!

Well, Rich has got my shop all finished. I should be toasty warm this winter. I’ll post some pictures later. But in the meantime, here’s the pick of the day. On http://www.artfire.com/users/MissP for $10 including shipping.

Here’s one I just listed on ArtFire. Eventually, someone will get brave and be my first sale over there!

Here’s a link to my new shop:  http://www.artfire.com/users/MissP

Sometimes I just need to make something simple like spacer beads. And actually, they are quite challenging. Trying to make tiny little spacers and have them come out exactly the same size is almost impossible. But I do love making them. It’s fun to see the kiln full of mandrels sticking out!

The guys have been busy insulating my shop for me. I’m so excited! They built a wall (complete with a door) for me and now I’ll be able to make beads year-round. This of course prompted a cleaning spree. They still need to insulate the roof, but hopefully the shop will be toasty warm in no time. Good thing too, ’cause the mountains are getting pounded with snow today and the wind is howling here.

Here’s a sampling of the spacers on Artfire (http://www.artfire.com/users/MissP). Just $3.50 and that includes shipping!  Thanks for stopping by.

OK. Here’s the deal. My EBay auctions usually sell for the $9.99 that I list them at. The fees, however are quite substantial. Etsy is better, however they also charge final value fees.

I don’t make a lot of money on my beads to begin with and that’s not why I do this.  I make beads because I love doing it.

So, I’ve made the decision that I’m moving my beads to http://www.artfire.com/users/MissP. This is a great site that charges a low flat monthly fee for me to list my beads for sale and NO final value fees … whoo hooo!  That means you don’t have to wait for auctions to end either. However, you might have to be fast to grab the good ones since they will all be “Buy It Now’s”.

I hope you understand why I’m making this move. It will save you a lot of money in the end. Thanks for hanging in there with me and be sure to check my ArtFire shop often. New beads will be added regularly.