Judy came by because she had this angel she wanted to make as earrings and was having trouble increasing. So we worked together, each trying to make an angel from the sample she had. It was done in iris-cut 15s so it had a long narrow look which there is no way we could get with the beads from Fire Mountain. Yet we both wanted to figure it out and Judy needed help with the increases. I felt it was better to do it with the brickstitch so we did our first ones in 8s. I was very unhappy with the face.
So I remade the whole design on the basis of nine beads across at the bottom of the dress, before the fringe, instead of seven and this gave me the extra beads I felt I needed to do the face. Late in the evening I tried it out with Delicas and got the angel on the left. My crystals are way too big but I was too lazy to go searching for tiny ones. These do go fast since there are not that many beads used.
Judy said her friends had bought hers in Alaska and paid $20 for the pair. I wish I had taken the time to scan in that because it really had a lovely delicate look. My angel is more of a self-portrait! Next time I will make the wings bigger also.
What is hard to see on the photo are the arms. They are sewn on the front side and look very realistic and give the piece dimension.


Two more of my fish. The top one is made from a Rapala 'Rattling' lure and is the only one, aside from a minnow, that does not have the ugly plastic lip. It was on sale at the Fisherman's Warehouse the other day and I bought two because they were cheap - not that I liked that bright orange! and they turned out to be the only two in the order without the plastic lip. I used 15s on the little one (2 inches) and 11s on the larger (4 inch) fish.

I got my book made from my blog and am really thrilled with it. I saw the ad here on Google and checked it out: "blog2print" and thought about it for several days before finally getting one. They offer a 20 page book, 8 x 11, full color inside and covers for about $14 - 15 for a soft-cover. They also offer hard covers, too. I opted to print all my blog which took up 83 pages and paid $37 postpaid. The entries are indexed and the color photos are well placed. You can start your book of your blog and then look through the pages. You have the option of adding your own photos on the front and back and can even write a small introduction. This is the ideal solution for those of us who believe journaling should result in a book!