The new Bandroom revealed

After 12 years of being in what he called 'the tin can'- an inner room,
on an inside hallway, with no windows or light from the outside, the
new classrooms and office seem like Heaven to Mr Aytch!! The students
love it as well, and are much happier.
Thank you, Cherokee People!
(remember any photo can be clicked to bring full size)

Out with the Old, In with the New

Kurt's Music Awareness/Piano Lab makes way for the
brand-new Film class this January at Cherokee HS, and
we have spent many hours changing things about. Flats
from the old HS were brought over, felt applied to one
side and black paint to the other, to separate the viewing
area from the lecture/discussion area. The screen was built
from a piece of the old glass beaded screen, stretched over
a 1 X 4 wooden frame, stapled in place and then hung. A
traveler rod hangs on that frame, with velvet curtains to
protect the screen when not in use.
The class will take the students on a journey from Man's
earliest attempts to save images right up to today's most
modern techniques of film. This will be a college level class,
with much thinking, discussion and writing- not for the
faint-hearted, but for those who want to know all they can
about film producing, directing and showing will find most,
if not all, their dreams realized...and Kurt will have a blast!

comment moderation

has been started at my blog, because of scammers. Sorry for any delay in comments being posted, but it is better than comments being posted for ads no one wants ( except wierdos ) and notifications about supposed women who want men.

All done~

My DH thinks the color scheme is right out of

Fredericks of Hollywood, so the name 'Frederick's Lantern.

Added an extra row of dangles and peyoted the top V

of the inner ones, because I do not like the wonky look

of single delica lines.Also added a few dangles to the top

sections for more bling...gotta have bling!

Lantern Pagoda ornament

This was supposed to be the Paula Adam's pattern

featured in the Dec 06 Bead and Button magazine,

but I got to wondering what would happen if I

changed out the side and added some crystal

roundelles in two sizes....well, what happens is;

it gets longer, and I am running out of the main

bead color. Plus, what was I thinking with all that

purple and no other colors to warm it up. Dk Green

Iris doesn't do it and neither does the crystal AB

for the 'windows'.

Hate the bottom- and there are too many passes

for me to be able to get it to do what I want...I see

the trusty scissors coming and redoing. Yep, I am

a perfectionist...but this is the perfect medium for it,

only losing a bit of Time and thread, and I am going

to use 4# Fireline, so that I have more room to get

thread inside the delicas!

You can also purchase Paula's pattern at;

http://www.beadpatterns-paulaadams.com/ and see

all her other wonderful patterns as she would

wish them done.

Ruby and Frost Earrings

These were adapted from a photo of some done by another

beader, who had used the pattern that came with the Bead

Calendar. I don't have the calendar, but it looked easy enough

to figure out!

Funny thing is, the pattern had it as a two needle piece, but

mine used a single needle, making less unwieldy to create.

I did not have enough 5mm to use on the outside, so used more

4mm.

Happy Holidays!

It's Ornament time!

I finished this one, called Ole' because it looks like a flamenco

dancer with hat. I started out doing just netting on a teardrop

ornament, and kept adding...well, y'all know that is what I do! LOL!

our bodies, go for the alkaline!

It was asked on a wire group if being acidic might affect how
one's body reacts to metals like copper and silver, and if there
were foods that might help...here was my reply.
AHH, a subject near and dear to my heart...have been on the
trail of figuring out how the body actually works with foods;
vitamins, minerals, enzymes, PH levels, etc for the past 30 years.
Certain foods promote acidity of the body, other make us more alkaline.
A quick way to find out is to buy PH strips from the drugstore.
If you are in the base, or center range, that is good. The body functions
well at those levels.
If you are in the mid-high acid range, you are prone to more than just
turning your silver black; all sorts of bacteria, viruses and 'diseases'
can attack you with success.
Stress increases acidity.
A quick fix, tho not one that is expected to be the cure all and be-all
of fixing this problem is to take 2TBS of maple syrup with 1 tsp of
baking soda mixed in it. This actually tastes quite pleasant. Avoid
using Arm and Hammer, because their aluminumm levels are too high.
A more permanent solution is to increase your intake of fresh fruits and
veggies to a total of 5 servings per day- that is a mixed of veg and fruit,
or all veg, or all fruit, but 5 a day.Cut back on your carb and sugar intake-
both make you acidic.Cut out soft drinks, even the diet (which not only
make you acidic from unbalancing your phosphorus/calcium levels-
leading to other bad things like bone loss-but the stuff in diet drinks
also upsets your insulin levels and will actually make diabetes worse!).
Drink water- either carry something like a bottle around you, so you
know you have drunk it, or set 'times' for it, like drinking 1 cup- 8 oz,
right after getting up, before meals, and before going to take your
shower in the evening. You will be surprised at how much better this
little bit can change things.
Do things that make you happy and calm- stress increases acidity.
Learn meditation, biofeedback, take a walk, play with your pets,
talk to your family and friends, read a book, create, whatever works for you.
Check out http://www.mercola.com/ and see his latest article on how being
alkaline can extend and even save your life!
Interesting that the National Health group just put out that the medical
society in our country is the 3rd leading cause of death here...most just want
to promote drugs and surgery, but not know a darn thing about how the
body works! Sort of like putting in whatever petroleum product in any
part of a car, and expecting it to work fine, then send it to the mechanic
to replace things when it doesn't. When is the last time you put kerosene
into your gas tank? The medical docs here think that doing the equivalent
in our 'foods' is fine, yet our bodies haven't changed from the primatives
they were hundreds of years back, and you cannot fool Mother Nature!
If you think they have our best interests at heart- check out the new
drugs to help folks stop smoking- they cause paranoid schizophrenia,
according to their own side effects!
"hey Honey, I quit smoking, but why are those people talking about me?"
Nice, real nice...and I have a family that is firmly entrenched in the
medical world- doctors, medical transcriptionists, nurses, and
THEY are afraid of the world they work in...
OK, I get off my soap box now..LOL!Thanks for letting me pass this
on...and if you try even just one suggestion regularly, bet you feel better!

While I have your attention...LOL!

After being away from Facebook for awhile, and back to blogging, I have to say I like blogging best. While I may not have as big an audience, neither do I have to clear out tons of apps that folks try to set me up in, nor do I waste hours and hours creating virtual worlds.

It was a good time in Farm Town, and it probably helped clear out cobwebs that formed after 3 years of working and worrying way too much over someone else's business, but the creative spiral I am experiencing now is worth way too much to waste time in a virtual world!

Thank you, my Friends who read these little notes, and take the time to look at and comment on my photos- you are the BEST! Just thinking about you makes me happy...and it is for you that I create!

Happy Season, whichever it is for you, and Happy Life, too...

It's Snowing! It's SNOWING!

Well, sort of anyhow...looks like South Carolina and Georgia

are getting most of it AGAIN!

What's with that? I move to the NC mountains, expecting it

snows here, but nooooo, can't let her have snow!

I grew up with snow. lots of it my entire young life, until

I moved to Florida in 1972. I am used to snow, I LIKE snow,

can drive in snow, and don't view it as a life-threatening event

that you must go out and buy bread and milk

(MILK? If you lose power, you can't refrigerate it and

if you put it outside, it freezes...plus, who runs out of bread???)

for, in case you are snowed in for weeks and weeks...c'mon!

If you look at the weather patterns where we live, most of

our weather comes from the Gulf. Warm. and wet. We have

higher humidity here than in the northern mountain areas,

like Boone, and if you watch weatherunderground.com you

will see that temps and humidity often are the same in Winter

as Wilmington, NC area, where we moved from....so not fair!

Summers ARE cooler here, thank goodness, but where is my SNOW??

Here is a pic of Tippy, just a year old, looking confused at the

dusting of whatever on the deck and the spidersilks hanging f

rom the tree by the corner of the house, where the poor spiders

woke up and hatched this week, while the temps were in the 60s.

Poor things!

Hoping we get more snow, but you know what they say around here

....."it can't snow here...doncha know it never snows in Hell?"!! (

referring to how hot it gets downtown in Bryson- they chop down

all the trees in town, and it being in a bowl(valley) and lots of asphalt,

it gets in the high 90s all Summer-thank goodness we live out of town

and up the mountain, with lots of trees).

Crossing my fingers for REAL snow! But NOT holding my breath.

Angels, Angels, Everywhere

> > > See free tutorial at:http://www.beadjewe%20lrymaking.%20com/2009/%20project/december%20_kid.html
Christine (angelbeadflower) has awesome tutorials, many of them using RAW
stitch at her free site. These angels were an adaptation, as I didn't have
the exact beads she required, nor the longer headpins, at least until my DH
stopped by after work and picked some up for me!
This angel was made using
the tall 1" bugles, and the method outlined below, using thread
instead of bugles to hold the bits together. Crystal briolettes
are her wings here.
The angel on
the left was done to Christine's instructions, using a headpin
to hold all together, but I turned the hanging loop at top to
make it her halo.
The angel on the right;used headpin to hold together, her
halo is a SS roundell, crystal briolettes for her wings.
This is a headpin
attached angle, with pressed glass wings and a SS beadcap for
her halo.
This was my first angel
and I had to adapt the pattern a bit- no long headpins, not
enough 3mm bicones, and no 12o seed beads! I used 3mm
round crystals in place of the 12o, with doubled Fireline, and
4mm bicones between the bugles, with SL seed beads
between bugles and crystals. After I got the skirt finished
to her instructions, I went back with the thread and added
more 11o SL see beads between the others, and between the
3mm round crystals, to strengthen it up and fill in the thread
gaps...I am funny about thread showing! LOL!I used a 10mm
round crystal at the base, with an 11o seed bead to hold it in
place- made a surgeon's knot in the Fireline, then used thread
burner to create a little bunch next to the knot, so it would
not pull out of the 11o, and would be at the bottom of all. I
then went up through the skirt, add the arms/wings combo
(substituted two briolettes for wings), and took thread
between the 3mm rounds I substituted for the 'hands',
through the 11o SL in the skirt, back over between the
3mm hands and down through the skirt to the base 11o,
through it and back up through the 10mm round, skirt
and arms/wings.I then added a large glass heat, point up,
and went through it, poking the top of it through the
arms/wings, added a 6mm round for the head, a SS roundelle
for the halo and a largeish Czech seed bead to hold everything
together at the top- then back down through the halo, head,
and heart. Then I added 3 110 SL seed beads, took the thread
through the 11o SL seed bead at top of skirt, back up the
3 SL 11o beads, heart, head and halo, pulling tight as I went
along. Her head then dropped down like she was praying,
and I like the look. I went out through the seed bead holding
the halo on, then added some more 11o seed beads to make a
circle to hold her onto the tree.
I have to say that both methods; headpin and sewn-together,
work much better for me when I used thread and 2 seed beads
to hold the skirt and arms/wings together.
I really enjoyed making these, thank you Christine! I hope my
Friends and Family like getting them for their gifts!

More stars..

These are the stars created for the members of
our local beading group, which met for Christmas
dinner at Pearl's home in Cherokee, NC- she is
the mom of our instructor, Rita Owle, and it was
a joy to visit and see all the handmade cloth ornaments
she created and had about her home.
Now they want me to teach them to make the stars,
but I need to have Lidia's permission AND completed
tutorial, first!!And extra patience- some of these ladies'
fav stitch is frog stitch!!

Lidia's fantastic star

Lida Cimins created the pattern for this star, the bottom
of which is pictured below in the first photo. The next photo
shows the top, which just begged for a rivoli to be stuffed
inside, so I did!
Thank you for letting me test this pattern, Lidia- your tutorial
was easy to follow with both words and photos!

don't know why

the entire set wasn't shown, but here it is

The Ice Queen cometh!

18 large beads at each juncture; 9 on either side of the 8o delica juncture. 17 junctures for the bracelet, 32 for the necklace..not as heavy as it looks, either, and lots of bling! Click on any pic to make it full size.

After the flood..

These pics came from areas around Bryson City and
Cherokee, NC, including the Ela Dam area. Notice the
Christmas lights are still shining in the pics of Island Park.
click on any pic to make it full size, and should bring up
the name of where it was taken...this is what 4 inches of
rain after a very rainy summer (38 inches from June 1-
Oct 1) will get you...I say the drought is over!