Wow! It's been 2 months since my last post! On my way to changing that. I've decided to forgive myself for not making it more of a priority and I'm not going to worry any more about the shoulda, woulda, coulda's for posting. One of my inspirations is Marie Forleo's video, 8 secrets to write faster.

To write faster, Marie's first step is to flip your script (done in my first paragraph). I haven’t been too busy, but I have been telling myself I’m too busy. I’ve been telling myself I have too much to say and too much to catch up on. Now I’ll flip that script and write.  

Marie talks about having a goal. I want you to walk away with a desire to do something, whether it is to look at my beads on Etsy or my Face Book, my Pinterest board, check out Marie Forleo, improve your own writing efficiency, or share my blog with a friend. 

Marie also says keep a topic list. My topic list for today is: Chocolate Chip Cookies, Lick the Bowl Good, Marie Forleo, Rock Recipes, beaders color pallet contest, and photography.

Pinterest has been very inspirational; my cooking is more interesting, more healthy, and more tasty! I found the Savory Sweet Life Blog while looking for "the best chocolate chip cookies" and these really ARE THE BEST! I've made them 5 times already.

My favorite baking web site is Lick the Bowl Good. I've made so many things from her recipies and I enjoy the personalization of her blog with stories about her family. For mother's day I made an amazing and easy no bake lemon cheese cake, and her recipe for a very chocolaty dense cake is a MUST try; makes great cupcakes too! I did the whole thing in my Cuisinart! A gift from my mom; now I use it for EVERYTHING.

My second fave food blog is Rock Recipes. I love their pics and for mother's day I made my own version based on their recipe for bacon cheddar potato frittata. I used the cuisinart to shred potatoes and added the raw shreds to sauteed garlic, onions and bacon in a cast iron skillet and topped with half the cheese. I added dried rosemary, salt, and pepper to the egg cream mix, poured over potatoes, topped with the rest of the cheese and covered with foil. 350 degrees, 40 minutes, remove foil and bake for another 10 minutes. YUM!


 As  you know I make lampwork beads and you might also know that I put myself on restriction from making more until I sell what I have either as they are or in jewelry I make. That's going to change too! I miss making beads, and so much of what I do on the computer involves the lampworking community, art and color, that the daily inspiration is screaming at me to get back on the torch! But I also need to do more than make beads; I've decided I need to retake my photos.

I started new pictures by shooting a necklace I made in natural lighting on different backgrounds and have been playing with GIMP freeware photo software. This is taken in natural, indirect light on a yellow background. I'm not satisfied; what do you think? I think I need to read this photo tips article from Digital Camera World!

I plan on sharing more, and more often. I would like to leave you now with a fun giveaway contest for a copy of The Beader's Color Pallet by Margie Deeb; she'll be drawing a winner on Monday May 28th.

Here's how to enter:

1 - Read Margie's article, "Shapely Jewelry, Beautiful Design" (the third in a 6-part Design & Color Mastery series) in the June 2012 issue of Bead & Button magazine (page 30).

2 - Email Margie answers to these two questions:

1. What shapes do you enjoy working with and why?

2. Is there more you would have liked to have learned from the article? If so, what (be specific)?