FF - Got Faves?

I do!!! And today I'm sharing one of my fave faves, though I seriously have debated it. I like to share resources, but sometimes I want to hoard special finds all to myself!!

I'm diggin' deep here peeps to share a favorite cab source. shhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Its just between us. K?


Not long ago I bought some seriously wickedly delicious stones. (wow, is that grammatically correct?) Anyway - I had the nerve to post them - I like to tease. I haven't made anything with them, but I do take them out on occassion and fawn over them. One day I might actually make something with them, but that day may be long off in the distant distant future. Sooo, you just wanna know where they came from...right??

ok, ok, ok....

Pam Chott who makes LOVELY jewelry and also have GORGEOUS cabs for sale. So go see, but PLEASE, if you buy, just save some for me - ok?

Another fave which I've probably mentioned before is.............





its my FAVORITE breakfast






Go Lean Crunch and Dannon Light and Fit yogurt.

MMM, so good -and so good for you!




and its easy to prepare -

the yogurt serves as the bowl -


just pour the cereal right in, stir, enjoy

I actually pour as much as I can, stir, pour some more, stir some more, pour once more, stir. THEN enjoy. mmmmmm.


You can get just about a whole serving in there if you follow my above pour and stir method. ;-)



Today I had lemon, but normally its Orange Mango.

It makes me happy.

See?


So yea, rocks and yogurt. Exciting stuff huh?



;-)


Tomorrow morning we have our second swim meet - its at a pool about 50 minutes away. What time do we have ot be there? ohhh, quarter after 7.

AM

on a Saturday.

Uhhh, yea, we'll be thinking REAL hard before we sign up for swimteam next year.

Hope you all get to sleep in tomorrow - I'll be up at about 5:45am.

oy.

~Janice

TFT - Stuck & Yuck

Confession time.

I delayed giving the TFT yesterday because of this yucky feeling - didn't want to be all whiney - feel like I've been whining a lot lately and who wants to listen to that? Not me. Not you either. *sigh* So I thought it might go away after a day. It hasn't. There isn't anything I can put my finger on...just feeling 'off'.

This is how my post yesterday began:

"I wish I had something to show for my time last night, but alas, nothing finished, and not much started..."

and there it ended because I just felt so ...well....I dunno. Un-interesting.

I don't mind saying that I feel icky or 'off' or whatever, but I don't want to sound whiney. Thats NOT who I am. I am really a very positive person, pretty upbeat, glass is half full, I realize how blessed I am - I guess sometimes its just hard to sound like it when I'm feeling so blahhhhhhhh.

And I think I feel really disjointed right now. School just ended last week, we went through Friday.........and we're busy with swim team, and we had the birthday party and whatnot - and I got very little sleep end of last week....and my studio is a MESS again - how does that happen so quickly!?? And I guess I need to grab a hold of my bootstraps or brastraps, or something and pull myself up and get on with it.

Time for an adjustment....attitudinally, organizationally,
and time management(ly...?) ;-)

Maybe Tales from Tuesday are just boring, maybe not boring, but too repetitive. Maybe that is part of what got to me yesterday - seems like every Wednesday's post was beginning to sound very much the same. ICK. YUCK. Sameness. ewwwwwwwwww.

I actually do have one or two things new in progress, I'm pleased to have something besides a ring for a change!!

I have a sweet little pair of earrings that will go with just about ANYthing. Was unable to get a decent picture of them though. Thats me wearing them.....you can see more pics on the forum - I wanted to get feedback on the backs - half post, half earwire...

(Hi y'all!!!!)

And I have a new pendant in the works that I am DETERMINED will have a neck-thing to go with it by, well, very soon. AND it will be listed for sale by the end of next week. (i think) I simply MUST start finishing things!!

That is going to be my new matra...finish it, finish it, finish it.

Later!

Janice

TT - "Fairies and Photos"

So, its tutorial Tuesday and I am going to share some photo tutorials. Since many of those who read here are my jewelry making buds, we are all concerned with images. Good photos can make or break our online presence/business.

I do ok with my photos - they are 'so-so' - not stellar, but not bad. Currently I am just editing in picasa. Its basic stuff. REAL basic....crop, lighten, darken, sharpen, done.

A lot of people use photoshop - but I have never purchased it and don't know anything about it. There is also paint shop pro - which I used a LONG time ago but don't really remember much about. I have a photo editing program that was given to me a while back, but I've never installed it on my computer and I can't recall what its called. I intend to install that, its just that I never get around to it. I will. One day I will. In the meantime, I had downloaded GIMP a long time ago and never did anything with it. I think I am going to learn how to use it, and today I found some tutorials for using GIMP as I was scrounging the net for something else, so I thought I'd share. :) GIMP is a free download and looks pretty promising.
GIMP Tutorials

I also came across Photoscape which is a free download and looks really interesting, though I know NOTHING about it, so I can't vouch for stability or anything.

Besides editing our photos, we need to take good photos to begin with, there are lots of free tutorials on light boxes out there, here are a few I had bookmarked long ago:

$5 photo set up (video tutorial)
Build a light tent
Booth Systems: basic set ups for jewelry and product photography (by Charles Lewton Brain)
Photo Tips by Cynthia Eid

If you've had trouble with photos in the past, I hope you find something useful in all of that!

On to fairies......

I've been meaning to post about a little fairy I have - I have a coffee fairy.

Each morning, Monday through Friday, as I'm in the bathroom brushing teeth, or applying fake-up, or drying my hair - a cup of coffee 'magically' appears on the bathroom vanity.

True. I kid you not.

I turn around or blink and when next I look - voila its there.

Piping hot and not too full, lest I spill it.

mmmmm. I'm spolied, I know.

Well, my fairy flew the coop for a few days and this morning I had to brew my own pot of coffee and pour my own. Not like its any big chore, but it adds time to the morning routine and reminds me how blessed I am. :) My son was watching tv yesterday and out of the blue said, "We've got a good life don't we?"

I said we sure do hon, we sure do.

I don't know what my son had in mind when he said it, but we really do have a good life, and when my coffee fairy returns I'll make sure he knows how much we know it and how much he contributes to it. :)

~Janice