{Candie Cooper's Journal}

Sunday Breakfast

Just another picture of food...sorry.  I was sitting down to eat and thought, I love this kind of breakfast.  Yogurt.  Dry cereal.  Fruit.  Done.  I also love bacon, french toast and scrambled eggs, but it's not that kind of morning.  You have to plan for that kind of breakfast.  Last night I grilled fish for dinner and that pretty much did me in on planned meals. ;) 

I prepped some photo things this morning for my new beading book, next it's over to church to hear a friend sing and back to the photographing.  It's gloomy here and Rocky has been lazy all morning. Dogs really know how to live it up on these sort of days.  I'm a bit envious. Couch.  Curled up.  Sleep.  Done.  I just heard him let out a big sigh.  It's like he knows I'm typing about him.

I'm reading The Alchemist finally thanks to a good friend putting it in my lap.  I haven't read in forever (other than magazines).  It's such a small book, but 50 pages in and already giving me so much to think about.  I love that.

I hope you are having a great weekend wherever you are doing whatever makes you happy!

Breakfast at Tiffany's Charm Bracelet

Charm bracelets are still a favorite of mine to make.  This one was centered around our girl, Holly Golightly, in Breakfast at Tiffany's.  I like to pack as much in per link as I can.  This project is featured in the Wristwatch section of the new Everyday Bracelets eMag publication by Interweave.  There's a little video of me talking about my love for making charm bracelets. Check it out here!

Metalworking 101 for Beaders book WINNER!

Congratulations to commenter #5!  Mary Ann Beckley!  This is a screen shot of the random comment generator page.  If you look closely you can see I had to google "screen shot on mac" because I had no idea how to do that.  Off to send Mary Ann an email to let her know...  Have a great Tuesday!  I ship out for the Bead and Button show tomorrow and I'm excited!!!

Apartment Therapy Book

This book changed the way I think.  It's called Apartment Therapy--the eight step home cure by Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan.  Apartment Therapy is brilliant!  You know this.  The book is AMAZING!  If your home does not feel like a sacred, comforting space, then truly, I think you'll find relief and answers on these pages.  A place to hang your hat?  What to keep.  What not to keep.  Something is broken?  I learned so much.  You don't have to live in an apartment either.  This is all basic info that can be applied to a tent or a mansion in the Hollywood Hills. 

 

Thanks everyone for commenting on the book give-away!  Sigh of relief!  I worried I was going to be like the Maytag man sitting here waiting for the comments to come.  You all saved me!

So keep em' coming.  Contest ends this Sunday @ Midnight EST!

Metalworking 101 for Beaders GiveAway!

Hello, lovely people!  In honor of my guest curator spot on Crescendoh, next week is Bead and Button, my birthday was May 21, I'm teaching two metalworking classes next week, and I'm filming 2 segments for Beads, Baubles and Jewels at the end of the month..... 

I AM GIVING AWAY A COPY OF MY BOOK METALWORKING 101 FOR BEADERS! 

OK?

This is terrifying to me because what if nobody comments?  So here goes, I'm counting on you, folks.  Leave a comment answering "what is good about your life right now..." 

Did you water the flowers this AM?  Your kid graduated from H.S.!  You paid off your credit card bill!  I want to hear.  Tell your friends, tell your neighbors!  Entries are over this Sunday--June 5th at midnight EST.  Until then, tell me what's great... please! :)

New Jewelry Book on the Shelf...

Man, oh man this book is super cool!  It's by Linda Kopp who was also the editor for Metalworking 101 for Beaders.  It's called the Jewelry Design Challenge because all of the designers were sent the same materials to create one piece of jewelry for the book.  We could do whatever we wanted with the materials plus add one "wild card" material---this element made the challenge even more fun.  I chose fiber/felt.  I was really inspired and intrigued on so many variations with the same materials.  Here's a little snippet of my piece in the book...that looks way better in the actual book.  Shooting on polka-dots...what was I thinking?

Links...a little late

Here are your Bead Blogger Links served sunny side up...and a little late.  Something was "weird" with the internet back home late last week.  Hope that's not the latest and greatest "blocked site."  I'll just die!  I took a picture of the book that's been on my work desk for awhile now because I wanted to share it with you.  It's by my pal, Terry Taylor/Lark Books.  There are some really fun ideas in here and I think you'll find that the projects are very versatile---make em' by yourself or with your kids (or dog in my case).  Enjoy!

Links...

About.com  Thinking of diving into the Etsy pool? Then you may want to take some of this excellent advice first.
Art Bead Scene  Inspired ways to finish your designs - think of the claspossibilities!
Jewelry & Beading  Cyndi's stuck on V-pendants, and has decided to share another way to turn them into wonderful wearable necklaces!
Naughty Secretary Club  Think you have an amazing idea for a piece of laser cut acrylic or wood jewelry? Well Jen will be the judge of that, literally. Jen is the guest judge at the Ponoko 10 day jewelry challenge. Did we mention the $10,000 worth of prizes?
PearlEsq.  Check out where Robin's going to be this weekend and what comes back to you from the love of making jewelry.
Savvy Crafter  Candie shows a sweet little charm bracelet featuring, Tassels, Blossoms, and Beads, Oh Deer!
Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done!  This lovely cover is a good example of teamwork. Teamwork has been on Jean's mind lot lately. Check out the necklace Jean made for Simply Beads Magazine with a little help from her friends Lisa Kan and Green Girl Studios. Friends are truly gifts. Jean feels lucky every time she thinks about her wonderful, amazing friends!
The Impatient Beader (is going to Paris)  Madge shows a jaunty little necklace she's sporting on her trip to the City of Lights. Yes, she's going to Paris and she's rubbing it in. Thanks a lot, Madge.

Button! Button! Who's got the button fever!?!

If you're a lover of buttons, you might want to add this book to your wishlist for Santa.  Now that I think about it, you may want to add buttons also because this book has 50 button blooming projects!    Last Spring I contributed four designs for this---one of them is in the upper left corner of the cover.  It was fun to work on because I used up and got to add new buttons to my ever growing button box.  That's a good thing! 

Can't Wait To See This...

This was a little project I worked on this past winter with Terry Taylor at Lark Books.  Several wonderful designers contributed fabulous projects.  I really can't wait to try some of the projects out myself! Keep your eyes peeled for it this Fall.  Nothing beats fixing a mug of hot apple cider and needle felting the afternoon away.