The View Above

For week 33 of the Focus on Life:2014 Weekly Photography Challenge, Sally prompted us with "The View of Above" during our August theme of "Outside". 

"Change your photo taking perspective, look up!  Looking up is one of the simple exercises in focusing on your surroundings.  This day in age with all the wonderful modern technology we tend to miss things going on around us because we are simply not looking up.   This week take a glance up at the world around and see what you may have been missing."

Here was my view one morning this week. 

It really did look like pink cotton candy. 

Let's go see what everyone else captured in their "View Above" this week.

Until Next Time,

Peace, Love and Above The Clouds!

Cheers,

~Shel~

An InLinkz Link-up

Fun Cords!

Hey all, I ran across a couple of great products recently and wanted to do a little shout out today.

I'm always on the search for different types of pearl stringing materials, and although I can't remember exactly how I came upon her shop, Patricia over at Patricia Saab Designs on Etsy had what's called Beader's Secret Thread that's said to be more durable than silk (it's polyester), comes in an array of colors and is perfect for knotting pearls.

Well I just had to try this out, so I messaged Patricia - who happens to be a fellow GIA Pearl Girl!! - and asked some questions in regards to the size of the thread compared to the Griffin silk sizes and she messaged me back quickly. 

I can be rather long winded at times (ya think?!) but she was super sweet at answering all my questions as best she could and even offered to send me a sample of some Beader's Secret Thread along with a color chart showing the variety that she carries in her shop. (how's that for customer service, right?!!)

So, in a flash, there it was in my mail box this week.  

What a sweetie! 

It's a very thin, dainty thread, comparable to a size 1 in Griffin Silk and to the micro-fine size of both C-Lon and SuperLon cords and just a smidge larger than size '0' silk cord by the Bead Smith. It's soft and very supple, just like silk, which is exciting. And, since it's a synthetic, it shouldn't fade or stretch as much as 100% silk either. (that's a plus!)

Patricia even sent me two large-hole beading needles, because she tells me you should knot with it doubled over.

Now, I haven't gotten the chance to get my pearls out and do any knotting yet, hopefully that will happen this weekend, but I'll let you know when I do and how I like it.

I suggest you hop on over to Etsy and check out Patricia's store. You should see the lovely jewelry designs she has - stunning!!  And the pearls she has for sale - WOW!  I'm in love with these,....

Patricia Saab Designs

 

SWOON!

And wait until you see all the lovely colors of Beader's Secret Thread she has available - it'll make you smile!

 _______

 

I'm sure you've all heard me mention how I love the waxed jewelry cord that Sandra over at The Knotty-Do-It-All carries (it's great for knotting gemstones and some of my large hole pearls!) and how I love both my large and smaller Knotty-Do-It-All boards, so when I saw that Sandra was carrying some 'Tassel Cord', well, of course I had to order some and try it out. 

I failed to get a photo of the tassel (duh!) that I completed, but the cord feels great and it works up into tassels that have that 'swing' you want a tassel to have. (yes!)

Tassel Cord from The Knotty-Do-It-All

I got quite a few colors, but I might have to go back for more - they're all so yummy!! 

So, if you're making tassel necklaces (like, who isn't these days?!) and stocking up on things you'll need for the 'holiday times' then you're gonna want to grab up some of these spools so you'll have them. 

Oh, here's my little 'disclaimer'.  

"No one paid me to do these reviews or asked me to do them or anything. I did these reviews of my own free will and spoke completely freely about my feelings regarding the products I mentioned here today, okay?"

Okay folks, that's it for today. 

Everyone have a great weekend. 

Come back over on Saturday and see what everyone who participates in Sally Russick's Focus on Life Weekly Photography Challenge has snapped if you can. 

 There's always awesome shots taken by the people who participate each week!

Until Next Time,

Peace, Love and Creating with Soft, Colorful Cords!

Cheers,

~Shel~

A Breath of Fresh Air!

Our topic for August for the Focus On Life: 2014 Weekly Photography Challenge is

 'Outside' 

and for week 32 Sally prompted us with

 'Fresh Air'

and told us to "Spend a little time taking a deep breath of fresh air, feeling the sun or the rain on your face!"

Here's the 'rain on my face' while sitting up at the very top of the tree house the day before we left the cabin.

You can't see the drops coming down through the trees, but it was heaven for sure!! 

 

The View From The Top of the Tree House!

Now, let's see what 'Fresh Air' everyone else captured!

Until Next Time,

 Peace, Love and Breathing Fresh Air!

 Cheers,

~Shel~

An InLinkz Link-up

Outside the Box

It's August!  (Already!?!)  

Our topic for the month of August for the

Focus on Life:2014 

Weekly Photography Challenge is "Outside".

This is week 31 and our prompt is 

"Outside The Box".

Sally didn't technically give us any rules for this one and it could be a play on words or it could be literally "Outside the box",  so today I'm going to share a photo I took back on Mother's Day while down at my sis's house.  

We usually take a photo of all the cousins when we get together, but this Mother's Day only Logan and Chad were actually there and so we tried to skype with all the other kiddos who live out of state or who couldn't make it that day.

My nephew had moved to Florida earlier this year and as the boys were standing around the t.v. chatting with Preston, I said, "Boys, squat down in front of the t.v. so I can get a photo of all three of you together."

"Seriously?", was what I think both of them said at the same time.

"Yes, Seriously. How else am I gonna get a photo of all three of you today?"

And if you look really closely, you can see my bro-in-law's face in the little square to the bottom left of the t.v. as he was on the computer skyping with them! LOL!!

So, Preston's actually 'in' the box,...not out of it. 

I'm pretty sure no one else with find this as odd funny as we all did, but I think it's pretty much an 'out of the box' way to take a photo.

What do you think?! 

Catch all the "Out of the Box" pics everyone else has captured and posted today, won't you?

Until Next Time,

Peace, Love and Snappin' "Out of the Box" !!

Cheers,

~Shel~

An InLinkz Link-up

FOL14 - Week 26

Wow - half way through the year.  The first part has flown by, if you ask me.  Hopefully the second half of the year will slow down just a tad bit so we can all catch our breath, right?!

For week 26 of the Focus on Life 2014 weekly photography challenge, Sally has given us this prompt:

June 2014: Putting the Fun In Photography

Week 26: Free Space!

"Like the good old bingo cards state, "FREE SPACE" right smack dab in the middle of the card!  We have reached the half way point of the year, REALLY!  

We are half way through 2014!  

For this week you have a "free space" to photography what ever you would like in what ever way you would like."

Oh, so many possibilities.

I took some pics over Memorial Day Weekend while we were up in the mountains at my sis and brother-in-law's cabin.   

I rather like the look of this one, so I played around with editing it a bit. 

And, being our country's symbol of Freedom, I thought it would fit nicely for our 'Free Space' prompt.

I haven't watched the video that Sally no nicely put up on 'softening' your photos - so I'll have to do that because this one might look cool that way. 

Please check out the below links and see what every one else chose as their 'Free Space' this week, won't you?! 

Oh, and be sure to come back 
here tomorrow for the 
Pearls! Pearls!! Pearls!!! 
Blog Hop - Link Up.

I'd love for you to link up with us and show us what you've created with your pearls!

Until Next Time,

Peace, Love and "FREE" Space

Cheers,

~Shel~

Free Space to Grow! ;-)

An InLinkz Link-up

Girls and Their Pearls

This Sunday, June 29th, is the 

2014 Pearls! Pearls!! Pearls!!! Blog Hop 

here on the MiShel Designs blog. 

The challenge was simply this: 

Create something using pearls. It doesn't have to be jewelry or bead related at all. It can be anything your little heart desires; from pearl encrusted stilettos, to a pearl laden writing journal or lamp shade, the choice is yours.

June has been a much busier than normal month 

here in our household.  

There's been more travel this month than usual, some very sad moments of losing friends and other loved ones, an unusual amount of extra paper work for our business and school (yes, even though it's summer!), appointments for senior photos, dental and doctor appointments, designing and ordering our 20th Wedding Anniversary rings (Mine's being created by the wonderful team over at Todd Reed in Colorado, and Mike's having our friend Steve help him craft his own - I can't wait to see them both!!) and all sorts of other 'home' stuff to manage.

So, needless to say, I started to majorly stress out about the Pearls! Pearls!! Pearls!!! Blog Hop I decided to host this month. 

However, a friend nicely reminded me that although I'm hosting this hop, it shouldn't be stressful at all because it's just a "link up" type of hop. 

What's that mean you ask?  

It means that if you'd like to participate that all you have to do is come here on June 29th and 'Link Up' with us via the InLinkz link up tool that will be at the bottom of my blog post that morning. 

Simple as pie!  

So, I hope you'll link up with us here on 

Sunday, June 29th 

and join in the Pearl Fun!

In the meantime this week, I am going to give you a couple of posts to wet your whistle on pearls - I mean, how could I knot. I mean not. LOL!

First up, here's a couple of quick and easy reminders on how to care for and store your  pearl jewelry.

Always keep your pearl jewelry, whether it be real pearls or imitation pearls, out of the 'chemical baths' of perfume spraying, lotion lathering and hair spray fogging.  Seriously. Be sure to use your lotion, your perfume and your hair spray BEFORE donning your pearls - and yes, that goes for pearl earrings as well gals! 


Never clean your pearls with liquid chemical jewelry cleaners. I did this once. It was on some really nice Swarovski Crystal Pearl jewelry I created many years ago with sterling silver. I dunked the entire necklace into the little basket, put it in the jewelry cleaning liquid, sealed the lid and left it there for almost 15 minutes. When I came back and took out my beautiful Swarovski Crystal Pearl and Sterling Silver Necklace,...the silver was all shiny and gorgeous again, but the crystal pearls were, shall we say, a bit 'sticky'. 

I had thought, "I'm only dipping them for a brief moment, what could possibly harm them that quickly?"  Well, DUH!  It's a chemical that cleans,...deep cleans. And obviously eats away at certain substances,...like pearl coatings, plastics, pearl nacre, resins, the stabilizing materials in stabilized turquoise and other gemstones.   So, my advice, "No chemical cleaners for your pearls, okay?" 


Also pearls, if strung on silk, nylon or other cording, should not be hung up in your jewelry box or from those cool DIY jewelry displays made out of a old picture frames and vintage drawer hardware or hooks. Nope. It looks really cool indeed, but it stretches the cord more quickly than normal wear and tear, thus leading to having your pearls restrung sooner than is actually needed.

Not Knot on Etsy

Ideally, it's best to store your pearls in a flat box - not a zippy bag or sealed plastic container as they need to breathe - with a nice soft jewelry cloth around them. I've used antique hankies to store mine in and to wipe them clean (you'd be amazed at the damage oils from your own skin can do over time) before I put them away.   And, I feel good that my antique handkerchiefs are getting used and not just stored in a drawer somewhere. 

Okay - that's about it for today. 

Until Next Time,

Peace, Love and Pearls, Baby!!

Cheers,

~Shel~

FOL14 - Playing Catch Up

It's been a whirlwind couple of weeks around here. 

Busy, fun, crazy, happy, excited, stressful, frustrating, confusing, shocked, sad, lost,....we've run the gamut.

So, I'm playing a bit of catch-up today with the Focus on Life: 2014 Weekly Photography Challenge.

Sally over at The Studio Sublime, gave us these two prompts for weeks 24 and 25.

Week 24:  Have FUN and get snappin'. To shoot with abandon, basically. 

These folks are kinda making fun of me taking photos. We're all 'snapping' each other 'snapping' each other - fun. And FUNNY! (it was to us, anyway!) I laughed so hard last weekend my sides still hurt.

Week 25: Be Colorful 

a) full of interest; lively and exciting.

b) having much or varied color; bright. 

Each day this summer I've tried to 'drink my colors'.  I mixed various fruits in my glass each morning, add ice and water and drink several glasses and then at the end of the day, eat the fruit. It's really refreshing, especially here in the desert with the 100+ degree temps.

I hope you're all having a great summer!  Be sure to hop around and see what 'colors' every one else has captured this week!

Until Next Time,

Peace, Love and Colorful Fun!

Cheers,

~Shel~

An InLinkz Link-up

FOL14 - Week 22 -

May's topic for the Focus on Life 2014 weekly photography challenge is 

'In, At and About' 

and for week 22, Sally (The Studio Sublime) gave us this prompt:

"This week we are focusing on what is IN Bloom!"

The only thing blooming here in the desert right now is the heat.

Well, there's tons of saguaro blooms that are looking pretty awesome right now, but I couldn't capture a good pic of those this week.

And, bougainvilleas and bird of paradise are always in bloom here when it's summer and super hot, but the pics I took of those didn't come out as well as this shot of one of the last roses in our rose bush. 

The pics from the top looking down on the rose showed all the scorched petals, so I chose this angle because it looked the prettiest!

Okay, back to the bloomin' heat!

Until Next Time,

Peace, Love and Beauty In Bloom!

Cheers,

~Shel~

*A little side note,...

Today would have been my Dad's 95th Birthday. 

Happy Birthday Dad!! 

Miss you so much - every single day! 

 

May 31st, 1979- My 8th Grade Graduation and my Dad's 60th Birthday

An InLinkz Link-up

Pearls! Pearls!! Pearls!!! Blog Hop Update

I've had some people message me that they 'missed' signing up for the Pearls! Pearls!! Pearls!!! Blog Hop that we're doing with the reveal date on June 29th.

  

I wanted to let everyone know that since I'm doing a link-up via Inlinkz, anyone one who wants to just 'hop along' with us on the reveal date, which is  Sunday, June 29th, is welcome to just jump in that day and join in our fun with Pearls! 

This makes it super easy for people to join in the fun if they feel like it at the last minute and it also gives people who might not be ready on the reveal date the opportunity to back out with out anyone knowing. (sweet, eh?!)

And, I like the Inlinkz link-up because it gives you just a little 'sneak-peak' of what someone has created. 

Plus, if you don't have a blog, but want to link up via your facebook post or your Flickr account, the Inlinkz link-up makes it convenient to join in with out having to have a blog or do a lengthy post if you don't feel like it. 

And, you can also link-up with a photo over on Instagram now too. How cool is that?! 

 

Click here to go to the Inlinkz Blog and see how to do it.

For those of you who have 'signed up' for the Pearls Blog Hop, if you've sent me your email, then I'll be able to give you the Inlinkz code the night before the hop so you can post it on your blogs too, if you'd like. 

But, don't feel like you have to have the Inlinkz thing on your blog post if you don't want to.  It will be on mine so all you'll need is a link to my blog or my actual post on the 29th of June. 

So, easy peazy, right?!!

"Freya" by Michelle Buettner - aka, me ;-)

Thanks to everyone who has shown an interest in the Pearls Blog Hop. It warms my heart. Especially since I've been a bit out of the loop this year with work and all,...makes me feel like I'm not missing as much as I think I am! LOL!!  

I have missed quite a few hops that were right up my alley - like Diana P's Waxed Linen Hop that just happened and Lori Anderson's Bead Soup Blog Party, just to name two (out of more than 10 that I wanted to  participate in!!). 

Yes, it's been tough missing out, but I've had fun seeing so many fun and beautiful designs as I've tried to visit as many people's hops and blog posts as I can.

Okay - it's time to get your pearl-mojo going.  There's tons of Pearl inspiration over on Pinterest if you get the chance to hop over there and take a look. 

Here's  a link to my Pinterest Board

Pearls! Pearls! Pearls!

Via - http://www.pinterest.com/jodymatt/

 

And remember, what you create doesn't have to be jewelry or jewelry related. 

It can be anything.

 

Lamp shades adorned with pearls 

(I really want one of these!), 

Pearl Lamp via A Bit of Bees Knees Blog

 

Shoes adorned with pearls 

(yes, I'd love a pair, thank you!),

Via - http://www.pinterest.com/PaulaHasAvon/

 

writing journal adorned with pearls, 

Pearl Journal via Pinterest

 

home decor items, and the list goes on!

By Soiree Supply on Etsy

 I'm going to be doing a few "Pearl Posts" through out the month of June with various types of pearl info, but if anyone has any questions, please shoot me an email or message me here on my blog or over on facebook (just FYI - I'm not on FB all that much anymore, but I do scoot over there at least once a day) and I'll answer you as quickly as I can. 

Have a great week everyone!

Until Next Time,

Peace, Love and Fun with Pearls!

Cheers,

~Shel~