Precious Gems.

There's a new store in town called Perch Bead Studio. The ladies on my hospital moms listserv have been talking about going, so last Saturday, when I was supposed to just be running to the post office to send some baby clothes to my friend JT, who is going to have that baby girl any day now, I decided that I could spare a short trip over to see where this place was. It was open, and I went in, and after talking to the owner, I decided that I would make it back over there sometime this week for a free class on jewelry design, specifically wire-wrapping.

Thursday night has been our young women's Bible study, but we're still on a summer break (though the women's ministry is reorganizing, so it may be a permanent break). I decided to invite all those girls to come with me. Well, three of them came, plus a roommate. We had a great time. Want to see what I made?


I wore it to school today with my t-shirt and jeans. I think it would be better suited to a button-down, collared shirt but I was anxious to wear it. I actually don't know if it is any good, and I can't stand not being good at something! I don't feel I have any particular talent in this area. I just copied a design by the owner, but substituted in 50-cent beads for some of the more expensive charms. We used sterling silver wire and chain. In the end, materials and instruction cost me around $25. More that I would pay for a necklace, but then again, I gained some knowledge which is priceless. If materials weren't so dad-gum expensive, I could see myself playing around with this as a hobby.

And so, at this point, I'm going to throw in a shameless plug for my bloggy friend, Valerie, who makes jewelry. It was actually her recent postings about it (in the past 6 months or so) that piqued my interest in going to the bead studio. Valerie, along with her best friend (who is my college friend's little sister) has just started her own etsy store, Spunk & Sass, to hock her wares. Give it a look-see.

It's the weekend. Eli's out of town. Elsie and I are going to work concessions in the morning if it's not raining. The middle school football team is hosting a jamboree, scrimmages against other teams in the area. They needed volunteers, I volunteered. I hope it rains.

And I can't keep my eyes open.

Cheers.