I finished my tiara!

Okay, after some technical difficulties, i've finally finished it! i love it! can't wait to wear it for my birthday (Sept. 19th!)

Gracie went to the vet...

Gracie also has lyme's disease. how weird is that? i'd better take my golden in for a blood test just to be proactive. must of been a bumper crop of deer ticks this year!

De ja vu - now Gracie isn't feeling well

also, when i got home from Boston, Dillon says to me "Gracie isn't acting like herself". that is exactly what he said last week about Pepper when i got home from boston! come on! i agree. she is lethargic and feels warm. so i immediately made an appt. for her tomorrow. no waiting this time. she probably has Lyme's too! (or ate something wonky - but she's not vomiting or having diahrreah which is classic gastro issues!) ummmmmmm - it is always something! this seems to be my mantra lately!

soldered tiara class

So, yesterday i drove up to Boston ( a 5 hour drive) to take part 2 of the soldered tiara class held at Absolutely Everything. wow, what fun we had! it was a hot drive, so i was a little tired when i arrived. i grabbed a bite to eat, did a little shopping in Kate's wonder store and then got ready for class.

since charms were soldered, it was time to layout the wire and start making our curly cues and swirlys to be soldered onto tiara. after measuring our heads for size (Patty asked "how big should the tiara be?" to which i replied, "well, do you want to look drunk or pretty"!), we then got to work. my soldering iron was being very naughty and i was getting quite aggravated. then kate (owner of Absolutely Everything and teaching the soldered tiara class) came to the rescue by teaching me how to re-tin my iron; which helped it worked so much better.

it is a long process doing your first tiara and i admit, i was getting annoyed! i think by learning some mistakes the first time, the second one would go faster. kate made her crown in no time (show off!) also, i wasted a lot of time dealing with a tempermental iron - next time of which will be thrown in the backyard! no just kidding........?

i spent the night with Jackie, one of the ladies in the class. she was kind enough to offer me a place to stay to save on $, which was very much appreciated. i made her a little thank you gift. i will be staying with her again in late aug. for the tim holtz class. big round of applause for her doing something nice like that! (she will also be getting another handmade gift as a thank you when i stay there for the tim holtz classes). i am taking all of the classes (8 i think) and kate is making t-shirts up for those taking all classes. it will say something clever like, "i did it 8 times with tim holtz and it was very distressing!" cute huh?

pictures from soldered tiara class

Here are the pictures from class. they are quite fun! i will tell you how/what each picture is:

1)Me and table mate, Ida

2) close up of Kate's (teacher and owner, Absolutely Everything) original crown - demo

3) Melissa's layout for her tiara

4) Raine's (right side table mate) tiara

5) me and Kate

6) Queen Kate's finished christmas tiara - pretty, huh?

7) me soldering

8) Princess Raine

9) Ida's tiara

10) Ida's layout to solder

11) me and Raine

12) Jackie soldering (she's not a celebrity, she just misplaced her glasses!)

13) Claudia helping Patty solder

14) Kate's demo crown

15) Queen Kate models her monarchy!

due to my crown having some "technical difficulties"....... i didn't include any pics yet. once i've finished it, you will get to see!