And now, for a little "Me time" :)

Continuing with "Focus on Life 2013," Sally's prompt for us this week was "Me Time." She suggested we "Really [take] time for YOU without feeling guilty.  Just you for 5, 10 or 15 minutes, dare I say longer!"

I gotta say, this was a toughie for me.  On the one hand, I kinda feel like I take a lot of time for me, since I have no significant other and no children.  But on the other hand, I teach seven English classes, try to make jewelry for a living, and have a LARGE extended family, with whom I love spending time.

So, I decided on 2 things for my "Me time" this week.

First, I've been working on these components for a few weeks now, but I had just never found the time to put the set together. So, I did.  :)

The Goddess bead is by Desert Rabbit Design.  The lentil in the bracelet and the rounds in the earrings are by Lampwork Beads by Linda. I made the netted pearl sections after learning the technique a class I took at my favorite bead shop, Sparkle Spot Beads, a few weeks ago. ow to find something to wear it with! :)

And my other thing?  Well, I got my nails did.  lol!  Okay, that's something I would do anyways, but with all I have going on right now, it was LOW on my list of things to do.  But I decided I needed the pampering!  :)

Go check out the other entries in this week's hop!

RanaLea

Words, words, words...

I'm back!  :)  Okay, so this week's Focus on Life prompt for Week 2 is "your word" for 2013.  I've heard of other folks choosing a word to guide them in the coming year, but I never really had.  Also not really a "resolutions" person, since I tend to forget about them...  But, I thought it might be interesting, especially considering Sally's prompt, to choose a word for myself to guide me in 2013.

Of course, then I had to actually choose the word!  Never easy, especially if you're wordy (well, I teach English, after all...)  So, I started a list (I'm a list girl...) I had things on there like "move," "forward," "onward," "live," "love," "persevere." Good words all, but none of them were really it, you know? So, I pondered all these words, and finally settled one that encompasses all of these concepts... So, without further ado, here's my word for 2013!

CREATE!  I made this using the "Meritum Paint" App on my phone.  It's fun! :) 

 So, what do I plan to create?  Well, I plan to create stuff:

Mostly jewelry, but also some card stuff.  See my word there in the mix?  :)  The iron?  Yeah, no idea why that's there... 

I also plan to "create" more blog posts:

My 'puter! :)  I love my Mac... 

And I need to "create" order in my stuff... 

Boxes... :( gonna be a while with the boxes...

Is this all I plan to "create"? No.  But this is a start!

Check out all the other 2013 "Word" posts here.

Thanks for stopping by!

RanaLea

Me :)

Have you ever really thought about yourself?  Who you are and what makes you you?  I have.  A bit, at least....  That's what today's post is about.  But first, why?

Well, I learned about a wonderful weekly blog hop idea through one of my favorite jewelry artists yesterday, THEAJewellery, the Gossiping Goddess. Sally Russick, of The Studio Sublime, is hosting a year long photo journaling blog hop.  She's calling it "Focusing on Life 2013" and I think it's a fabulous idea.  :)

So, back to me. (one of my favorite subjects. lol!)  I do like to talk about myself, this is true. And, if you ask my bestie, it's all about me.  But, I don't much like pictures of myself (a common sentiment among women, I think...)

I started thinking.  What is a self portrait?  Well, it can be the easy answer--a picture of yourself.

This is me, several years ago.  I think I look like my grandma....

 But then, that also begs the question, which you?

The ready to take on the world you, with your armor of makeup in place?

Love my green eye shadow.  Makeup by Dollipop Cosmetics.  :) 

 Or the working at home, not going anywhere, chillaxing you?

or the slightly ditzy and just found the fun stuff in the PhotoBooth controls you?

Or the internal, "this is what makes me thrive" you?

Well, I guess it's ultimately all up to you.  But this is me.  :)

Thanks for stopping by!

RanaLea

Floral Holiday Treasures!

Lisa Lodge, of Pine Ridge Treasures, put together this FUN hop for us!  Thank you Lisa!

Lisa sent each of the participants a selection of kind of "out of the box" beads and elements for an "out of the box" hop.  Her instructions to us included the guideline that these creations did not have to be jewelry, nor did they necessarily need to be "Christmas." Rather, this is a December "holiday" hop.

But, Christmas is my 2nd favorite holiday of all (Halloween and Thanksgiving tie for 1st place... lol!) so, I went Christmasie.  Plus, she sent me the most GORGEOUS red and white lucite flowers!

Okay, here's a partial pic of the kit itself (I'd already started using it when I realized I hadn't taken pics... oops!)

So, I knew early on I wanted to weave a combination spiral rope and nepal chain, mainly to see if I could do it.  I needed small enough seed beads (11s are perfect for that) and decided to go with red and green, to maintain the theme.

Now, my first thought was to make a bracelet, but then I decided that maybe I would make a garland...  Therein lies the problem....

This is not done...  If you look close, you can see the thread up there at the top....

When I decided to go with a garland, I neglected to take into account that this is pre-finals week for me (the students really want their essays back, you know?) AND we scheduled my mom's retirement party for the same day as this blog hop, and of course, I have LOADS of things to do to prepare for that... But I managed to get about a foot of it done... and then I changed my mind again...  it's so pretty, I don't want it just hanging out in my house.  I want to to travel about! with me!  So now I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it...  I will be putting more of those beautiful lucite flowers on it, at random intervals... Oh, and you see that vaguely holly-berry lookin' bit at the bottom? That's the nepal chain stitch.  So, you know, yay!  It worked!  lol!

Now lest you think I was a total slacker, I did get 2 pieces completed.  Admittedly they were earrings, but still:

More of the awesome red and white flowers, but Lisa also included the orangey flowers as well!  They remind me of orange blossoms, even though I know those are white...  What can I say, I'm weird...  :)

So that's it!  I'm looking forward to finally figuring out what I want to do with the garlandy piece.  Maybe a lariat necklace...  I'll keep you posted!

In the meantime, why don't you go visit the other artists in this hop! Here's the list:

Your Host: Lisa Lodge, Grateful Artist (Pine Ridge Treasures)

Courtney Breul, Beads by Breul

Jeannie Dukic, Jeannie's Blog

Kimberly Flood, Goddesses and Beads

Mary Govaars, MLH Jewelry Designs

Tanya Goodwin, A Work in Progress

Kathy Lindemer, Bay Moon Design

Alicia Marinache, All the Pretty Things

Cheri Reed, Creative Designs by Cheri

Toltec Jewels, Jewel School Friends

Rana Wilson, RanaLea Designs <--you are Here! :) 

Thanks for visiting!