Earthenwood Studios

Sometimes people enter your life and make it brighter. That's just what Melanie Brooks of Earthenwood Studios did recently. Check out these amazing ceramic components ("Steam Stones") she sent me featuring gears, keyholes, nuts, and bolt--all my favorite icons! These pendants, links, and beads are not only gorgeous, but cleverly made with beaders in mind. For instance, the screw-top beads I'm using for a piece in an upcoming book (sorry--can't show you, but there's a peek at the left)are sculpted on both the front and back sides so as the beads flip around--as coin-shaped beads are apt to do--you get a good image either way. No ugly backsides.

Melanie is a very talented ceramicist, but also a very hip crafticist in general. There seems to be no surface that her Steampunkilicious sensibilities won't tackle. A quick visit to her blog will reveal punked phones, boots, scarves and the like. I wish she was my neighbor so we could exchange fabric paints and Dremel bits!

Kit Kittredge

I'm Kit Kittredge this week, putting together packages of beads for my Principessa II class for Swarovski in Tucson (February 4th) and my Le Cirque Bracelet and Peyote Buttons classes I'll be teaching at the Glendale Bead Museum (February 7th and 8th). Kitting can be quite droll, but it went by quickly yesterday as I was glued to the set during the inauguration and ensuing festivities. What a beautiful day, full of so much goodwill and promise...

The photo of my Principessa II Necklace on Swarovski's program very clearly shows the clasp I'd used, and unfortunately my usual supplier doesn't carry them anymore. Conscious of the fact that some student might want to take the class just for that clasp, I madly searched the web and was elated to find the same clasp on a site I'd never used before--A Grain of Sand. It's a well-appointed outfit that has great service; I'll use them again. Another reason I'll buy from them again is this wonderful picture they have on their newsletter today! Visit their site to get the story.


Back to kitting!

What the ?!

Yes, that's a negative symbol before the 27.

There are lots of Minnesotans who say this kind of weather makes us strong and proud and honest. I'm pretty sure those aren't the terms I'd use. Mine might be a little more, uh, colorful.

Just finished!

Some projects I work on are more addictive than others. This one has been completely addictive! Its like going back to SMCDAA and hanging out with my teachers and friends Bob Ebendorf, John Grant, and Bob Wilhite again. Ah, to be in school again...

Cheezcake

Many of you who know me personally know that I had a health miracle last year. After years of all kinds of drugs and weird therapies for digestive, joint, and other maladies, my body just kind of shut down. I gave up and was ready to go on disability. Through some goodness of the universe I made my way to see a naturopath--a natural healer. Through diet, supplements, home remedies, and a little at-home accupressure, I am now the healthiest I've ever been in my whole life. Really. Even since I was a little girl. What a gift.

An added gift is that after Joe and the kids started seeing Diane they are better now, too. The various allergic, attention, anxiety, sinus, and digestive problems they had are all but gone. It's crazy.

The reason I go on about this is that I've had lots of people ask how we did it. The main thing has been diet. Diane put us on a diet specifically geared toward our blood type. I thought it was a bunch of hooey at first, but I was desperate, and it worked. If you know your blood type you can go to Dr. Peter Dadamo's website to see what's good/bad for you to eat. It looks crazy, but it works.

My family and I are all type O, so our foods are pretty restricted. The biggest challenge is no wheat and very limited dairy, which make up most of a typical American diet. Cooking is a challenge (especially with 1 huge teenager, 1 hormonal preteen, and 1 triathlete to feed!), but I've turned it into a passion, researching all kinds of cuisines, mainly Asian, and coming up with some great meals.

I meet people all the time who either want to try the diet or are on the diet but can't come up with anything to eat. So, even though my gig on this blog is all beads all the time, I'm going to start sneaking in some recipes to help those people with this crazy diet.

Here's a recipe I came up with for "Lemon Cheezcake". It's very light, delicious, and not too sweet. Dylan liked it alone, Joe and Emma liked it with a little blueberry compote on top.

Lemon Cheezcake
Canola oil cooking spray
1/2 cup Mi-Del arrowroot cookie crumbs
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
1/4 cup cold water
16 oz soy cream cheese
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup soy sour cream
2 tsp lemon extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
Fresh fruit or homemade compote (optional)

Spray the bottom of a 9" springform pan with oil. Spread the cookie crumbs in the bottom of the pan. Put the water in a saucepan and sprinkle the gelatin over it--let sit 1 minute. Cook over low heat until the gelatin dissolves and the mixture is clear. Let cool. Put the cream cheese, sugar, and sour cream in a food processor and mix well. Pour in the gelatin mixture and extracts and mix thoroughly. Pour into the prepared pan and place in the refrigerator until firm (about 3 hours). If desired, serve with fruit over the top. Note: You can usually find Mi-Del Arrowroot cookies at your local co-op, but you can also find them at regular grocery stores, sometimes in the baby food aisle.

And please--if you have Type O recipes to share, please do! I'm always looking for new things to feed this hungry crowd.

Doppelganger

My Wednesday blog on Beading Daily this week involved a story about how Emma was home from school, barking like a seal. (This was an actual true story and not something I made up, which I admit I've done from time to time when faced with a deadline.)

Anyway, I got a note from Markéta in Prague, telling me that she was a bead magazine editor and her daughter, Emma, was at home barking like a seal, too! Isn't that crazy? Then we started going back and forth and figured out that we both have aspiring rock stars in the house, too. Strange how you can live a parallel life on the other side of the planet.

Markéta said she'd send me a copy of her magazine, Koralki, which translates loosely to "Beadz". She also invited me to come visit. I hope it happens someday!

First 6 Days

My neighbors got together the other day and were deciding whether to call the police. They were worried because the light in my office wasn't on 24 hours a day as usual. They thought we'd all been carbon monoxide poisoned! Now how pathetic is it that my neighbors judge my health by my office light? Oh, well. I'm lucky to have neighbors who are on their toes.

I actually spent the weekend in beautifully frigid Duluth, Minnesota at Dylan's hockey tournament. We had a great time cheering (Go #17!) and goofing around with the other hockey families. We hockey people--especially the moms--aren't as nasty and tough as certain governors claim. We're actually big softies who love our kids enough to sit through 5 hockey games in 2 1/2 days in sub-zero temps at funky arenas out in the middle of Nowheresville, USA.

I brought my beadwork, of course. I may be the only person in the 5-state region who beads at the hockey rink. I'm working on an alternate colorway sample for my Peyote Buttons class at The Bead Museum in Glendale, AZ next month. Diane Fitzgerald and I will head up there after Tucson--I'm so excited!

My playtime was definitely over on Monday as I walked into my office and shut the door. I'm hard at work on Rachel Nelson-Smith's upcoming book by Interweave Press. Holy cow! If you don't know Rachel, do yourself a favor and check out her work. She takes the obsessive beader's cake to a new confectionery genius level. It's going to be a superb book.