Look - A Car that you can steer!!!

We couldn't afford it, but we had to do it. Our trusty old Minivan was getting about 25 miles to a quart of steering fluid. The parts were back ordered and there was just no fixing her. DH didn't want to put any more money into it. but he also didin't want higher car payments. There just wasn't much else we could do. So, we spent the entire day buying a "new" car. It's new to us and the mileage was low. Unfortunately, the payments are twice what we were paying. We had one stinkin' payment left on the old car. Do they KNOW when to break down or what?

We could use a few prayers sent our way. It's going to be very hard to make the new payments. Something else is going to have to go. We just haven't figured out what yet. Oh, how I hate having to own a car!

Candy Corn Earrings - Win These!

Just in time for the upcomming Autumn season. Win these cute little hand beaded earrings.

These yummy little gems are glued to gold plated posts and come with gold plated backs.

Here is how you can enter. Do one, do them all, the more you enter, the greater your chances of winning.

1. Leave a comment to this post.

2. Twitter about this post. Include @forbesfarm so I see it.

3. Post a link to this post on your Facebook or other social networking page and let me know.

4. Go to either of my Etsy pages and come back here and let me know your favorite item. The Earring Boutique or Forbes Farm Gifts

I will pick a winner next Sunday, August 6th. I use random.org to pick my winners. I won't be able to send out the prize until Tuesday because of our Labor Day holiday.

Fall and Winter Colors

Here are the colors that Fire Mountain Beads say will be "in" for the coming season. I've often wondered just who sits down and decides what colors we should wear. Is is some mystical "they" people are always referring to? Is is some pannel of judges in the fashion world? Who knows. Personally, I think we should be able to decide for ourselves. There are colors in the chart above I wouldn't be caught dead in. AND - Who names the colors? The exact same color will have half a dozen names or more. I think they should stick to the names Crayola gives to their crayons myself.

There, my rant is over. Now down to business. I would like some input into what colors you really like to wear during the Fall and Winter in the Northern Hemisphere. I tend towards the browns and golds, with a splash of red for some pazazz. At least that is what is running through my brain at the moment. I may be way out in left field, so I'm asking for your input. What colors make you feel pretty when it's freezing outside or when you Snowbirds are basing in the Florida sunshine while the rest of us freeze?

Surprize! It's Halloween at Forbes Farm

When I was little Mom would make me fancy costumes out of crape paper and I even won a few contests at the fire hall. I just had to pray it didn't rain because crape paper runs! When my kids were little, we made them costumes out of what we could find around the house, or borrow from others. Great gobs of money never went into it, and still they had fun.

These days it seems Halloween is as popular as Christmas. I must admit, I don't see the attraction. Oh, I don't mind the cute stuff but I don't like the demons and spooky parts that seem to thrill others. I'll stick to cute cats and cute ghosts like Casper.

With that in mind, I set out to fulfill a request for Halloween earrings. Once I found my seldom used orange beads, I got busy yesterday and created these 4 pair. The Jack-O-Lantern and the candy corn are original designs. The cats are from a pattern I got years ago that has evolved over time and has more or less become my own. Sometimes I just don't like the way the originals turn out so I tweak them until I am happy with the look.

All 4 pair can be seen on my Etsy page. The Earring Boutique

Dichroic Glass Necklace

Going through my stash yesterday, I came across this lovely dicroic pendant I had purchased at least a year ago. I intended to wire wrap it, but after doing that with a similar piece I decided not to cover any of it's beauty this time.

As luck would have it, I also had some glass beads with much the same effect as the pendant. They almost look like they were made for each other. Truth is, I purchased them in two different cities several hundred miles apart, so I doubt the same person made them.

The black beads are rescued beads. They were headed for the land fill on a very ugly, broken, old pices of jewelry. I try to find these treasures every time I come across a garage sale or flea market. I used to find tons of it but these days flea market vendors want retail prices, so much of it stays with them.

It's another dark, dreary day here. I still have to sew the backing on the Native American style choker I'm making. It's so tedious. I also discovered I don't have everything I need to finish it, so the stitching has come to a stand-still. I really need someone to light a stick of dynamite under me or something. Just can't get my rear in gear as they say.

Hope you all have a great day. The sale offered yesterday is still good.

Here is the link to today's necklace.

Dichoric Glass Necklace

Another SALE at Forbes Farm

I am having another sale . My despiration is your gain. I need to liquidate some of my inventory ASAP so here goes....

Buy one pair of earrings and get a second of equal or lesser value for 1/2 off on my earring site.

The Earring Boutique

OR - for my blog friends only - Get 30% off anything on my general jewelry site. Offer expires 8/28/09

Forbes Farm Gifts

Just convo me at either site to let me know you want the speical prices. I will send you an adjusted invoice, so wait to pay.

Here is the sob story behind the sale. I was sort on funds to pay the existing bills this month, so of course the car broke down. DH is driving it, but the steering fluid is leaking as fast as we put it in. He had to put it in twice this morning for a 30 mile trip! Now, the Good Lord felt that wasn't enough of a test. Yesterday my tractor wouldn't start. I depend on that poor old thing to help me get the grunt work done here. I mow with it, haul with it, etc. My DH is a loving, well meaning man, but he doesn't know the 1st thing about anything with a motor. Needless to say, we need cash to pay someone who does for both vehicles.

There it is, in a nutshell. It's a whole lot easier to enjoy life when you have money! Or, maybe it would be easier to enjoy life if I just gave up trying to have money and resigned myself to the fact that I don't!

Dainty Cat Eye Bracelet

I first made this bracelet in a child's size. It turned out so pretty I just had to make one for us grown-ups to wear. Sometimes you just want to feel pretty and adding this to your wardrobe sure wouldn't hurt.

Most of yesterday was consumed with mowing the grass before the predicted rain came. The strangest thing happened. I would be interested in hearing from anyone else it might have happened to. There were rain clouds way to the North of us, but here it was sunny and there were just a few puffy white clouds over head. While I was mowing, it started raining. I kept looking for the culprit cloud, but I couldn't find any. No rainbow either. Weird. I'd like to think of it as God's way of saying "I'm still here", so don't spoil it with any weather phenomenon explanations. Just let me know if you've ever experienced it too.

Here's the link to the bracelet.

Cat Eye and Faux Pearl Bracelet

Bear Clan Beaded Earrings

As promised yesterday, I am presenting my Bear Clan earrings today. Again, I used the colors of the Senecas. Okay, to be truthful, the bead box calls this color "Fancy Dark Fushia" but it looks purple to me. I guess I love purple, no matter what color it is.

I may work on other clans in the future, but right now their logos seem quite daunting to me. Some are too complicated to get on a pair of earrings, even with the small size 15 beads. I'll have to ponder them a bit longer.

It is so humid here today, you can cut it with a knife. Looks like a good day to ignore the growing grass and sit inside beading!

Here is the link to the Etsy listing for these earrings. It gives you more detail.

Bear Clan Beaded Earrings

Digging Deep

Yesterday I was at an all time creative low, or at least it felt like it. It's a horrible feeling for a person who has a creative nature to feel like nothing is worth doing. Those of you who are artist or artists at heart know what I mean.

I bummed around half the day away before I could get myself to do anything. Dang video games. Someone should shoot whoever invented them. What an addictive waste of time! Once I tore myself away from shooting at marbles on my computer screen I wandered around wondering what to do. My eyes fell upon a plastic tub of clutter that I had cleared away a long time ago in a rush to make room for overnight guests. By a long time, I mean years. It's sat there daring me to tackle it. Yesterday seemed like the day so I started digging. I found a lot of "missing" items and things I'd forgotten about.

Once I had accomplished something, all be it nothing major, I got back to the real work at hand. Once again digging deep, only this time into my heritage. I found myself back at the computer, but this time it was to create. I pulled up my BeadTool program and did a search for Indian Clans on Google. I ended up with two new patterns. This pair of Turtle Clan earrings is the result of one of them. The other is for the Bear Clans. I will post them when I get them finished.

Turtle Clan Beaded Earrings.

Creative Block or - Woe is me...

The folks at Forbes Farm have been in a horrible creative block lately. Wish I could find someone to share the blame, but I am the only "folks at Forbes Farm". DH never was very creative, so no one notices if he's in a creative block. I can't seem to come up with anything new that is worth making. There's such a backlog of stuff not sold I certainly don't need to work on making any more of what I already have. Whatever I start doesn't work out. I've started the same choker twice and both times it looked terrible so I tore it out. What's a girl to do?

Kind folks have given me all sorts of suggestions from take a vacation to take a long walk. I can only afford the long walk since I can't even pay the bills, let alone take a vacation. I tried the long walk, but you know what? The bills were still sitting here when I got back. I'm in a catch 22. When I'm working I don't get anything accomplised and when I'm not working I keep thinking I should be.

I heard on the news last evening that the reason the recession is stalled is because the consumers aren't spending. I only wish I had something to spend and I'm willing to bet a lot of folks are in the same boat. I suppose it would be very tacky to get on Twitter and shout out to all the rich people and tell them to spend some of that money they're hoarding. Yeah, it would be. The thought has crossed my mind though.

Well, I'm off to the studio to sit and stare at the beads and pray for inspiration I guess. Not much else I can do but hope and pray for better days. Wish me luck. I sure hope yourday is going better!

Get A Great Sample Bag

I am excited. For the first time I am participating in a sample bag sale. This one
is completely Vegan, (even if I'm not;-). The proceeds are being donated to an animal sanctuary. You can find all the details here: It's All In the Bag

There are quite a few contributors so I'm not sure if you will get one of the gift certificates I contributed but you are sure to get a fun package to open! You will be supporting a lot of crafters as well as the animals, so give it a whirl.

Friday Fling - 25% Off

Today only - Friday, 8-14-09

25% OFF your entire order.

Does not include shipping.

Good at either of our Etsy sites: The Earring Boutique or Forbes Farm Gifts

Just click on the shop name above.

Please wait for an adjusted invoice.

Grapes on the Vine - Netted Necklace

We live right on the boarder of grape country along the Chautauqua Wine Trail. Just a few miles away grow beautiful wine grapes. Our area used to provide Welches with their wonderful Concord grape juice but they moved out long ago. Signs painted on buildings still show the shadow of the Welches company. Our growers didn't throw in the towel though. They switched to grapes for wine and produce some of the best wines in New York.

Living where we do, you can imagine everything has a grape theme to it, at least along the Trail. I fell in love with this pattern the moment I saw it. This is the 3rd necklace I have made from it. It takes several days to do because I need to put it aside and let my fingers and eyes rest quite a few times. The results are so pretty I keep at it though.

Here is the link for more information on this choker.

Grapes on the Vine

SALE

I am extending my sale. Buy one pair, get one pair of equal or lesser value for 1/2 off today. Good on my earring Etsy site.

The Earring Boutique

Earrings Galore - On SALE!

Sale today Only (Sunday, August 9th) - Buy one pair get one pair of equal or lesser value for 1/2 off. Please wait for a revised invoice to pay.

The Earring Boutique

Tried Something New

Obviously, I'm bored with making earrings. Besides, I have about 300 pair sitting here gathering dust. Enough already!

I love to paint. Unfortunatley, my skills are limited to Donna Dewberry's One Stroke method. When I was going to school I wasn't allowed to take any art classes that weren't required. After all, "Art will not get you into college". (Quoting my Mom) So, I took Latin instead, which does me little to no good these days. Still, every once in a while I get out the brushes and paints and sit down to putter. There was a time I would paint on anything that didn't move. I had doll chairs, records, Christmas ornaments and slate pendants when I had my shop open in my home.

Yesterday I was once again going through my stash. I tried my hand at stained glass for a short time. I realized my hands aren't strong enough to score the glass for any length of time and gave up. I still have all the equipment though, which I found on my search. I knew I had enamel paint left from a wine glass project. Putting the two together resulted in these pretty little pendants.

You can read all about them, and how I made them on Etsy. Here are the links:

Top photo

Bottom photo

Okay, I admit it. These are not my typical style. I get bored. I do silly things. I start digging through my stash and I get into all kinds of trouble.

First I tried using eyelash yarn for these but the results were very fuzzy balls that would be constantly tickling the wearer. That would drive me over the edge. I tore those apart and dove back into the stash and found this bumpy yarn. It results in a much nicer bead. The inner core is plain yarn to save on weight and expense. After wrapping it all, I sewed 20 tiny beads on and sewed many more times through the beads to secure them. I added a few more beads to a T-pin and vola - an earring!

Here is their Etsy link:

Fun Fuzzy Fiber Fobs

How About A Necklace For A Change Of Pace?

I've done earrings, copper bracelets, beaded bracelets, and more earrings. Time for a necklace, wouldn't you say?

This simple, stylish necklace looks stunning on a bare neck or over a sweater and sweater weather is just around the corner. Heck, it's been here most of the Summer in Western New York. I almost had to get out my flannel night gown last night.

Got sidetracked again. The necklace is made from a basic bead netting stitch. After the base was finished I went back and put in some sparkle with a Czech fire polished bead in each point. It adds just enough to catch the eye without shouting "Here I am". I love purple. I adore purple. I tend to make everything purple sometimes, so of course, this necklace is purple.

Here is the link if you would like to see more:Purple Handwoven Necklace

Autumn Moon - Not your everyday bracelet

Today's item is another of those never ending projects that I finally ended. I can't tell you how long it sat here staring at me begging for it's snaps so it could be worn. I finally made myself sew them on. It seems simple enough right? Just sew on some snaps. Trouble is, with beads, there are only so many places you can put the needle and still keep the snap where you need it. I really should find an easier way!

Autumn Moon is one of my original bead cuff designs. It is done in three drop Peyote stitch and I count, count, count to get it right. It is one of my favorite patterns.

Here is the link if you'd like to see more: Autumn Moon