Farm Girl Studio

Here are some pictures of my tattoo. My sister in law and I have been wanting to do this for a long time now. We had wanted to do it for my birthday in March but the month got away from us. The tattoo is a fairy sitting on a tree branch blowing a flame out of her hand. It is on my lower back and is about 7inches by 7inches. I am getting ready for a show this weekend so I am not sure how many bead or jewelry posts I will be able to have. Look forward to strange and interesting things from my world to end up here. Have a great day.

Sorry about not posting over the weekend. I was in Chicago getting a tattoo. More about that tomorrow :P Before I left I made homemade butter, it was very easy. The taste is wonderful. Take a look at this video, you can have fresh butter tomorrow. I will be getting ready for the Dubuque Farmers Market that starts this coming Saturday. A few more items to finish and I need to price alot of things. Check back tomorrow for pictures of my tattoo.

I really think every single day is "Earth" day. We all need to think of how we treat the earth and try to make it a better place. I am a crazy recycler and reuser. There is so much waste, our culture has a very disposible mind set. Think before you throw something away. Can I recycle this? Reuse it? Just to give you a couple of ideas you can use old yogurt containers to start seeds in. Old dishsoap containers can be used to spray you plants with soap water for bugs. That way you don't use hard chemicals either. My jewelry is very earth friendly, I alway look for ways to use what I have on hand in a new way. Here is a link for my ideas for Earth Day

This is a site you must check out! I only just started to read it and love all of the information I have found. It even has directions on making butter, which is the next thing I am going to be trying out. Food Renegade

Well I went to the Madison Horse show on Sunday. It was my first time at a horse show and I had a great time. My friend Kim and I made a girls day out of it. We left at 7am and didn't get home until after 7 that night. There was soooooo much to see. I think we might have to do two days next year!. The shopping was unbelieveable!! I am going to start saving for next year now lol. One of the coolest things was beads!! yes beads!! I was able to pick up some very cool turquoise beads there. I even saw two vendor selling lampwork. Horses and beads how can you go wrong with that! With the warmers day finally here we are going to get in as much riding as we can here at the farm. Here are a couple of pictures of our horses. Have a great day!

The Fire Divas Spring Challange entries are up and ready for you votes. Follow this link to cast your vote One of my customers, Sharon, entered this challange with one of my purple lentil beads. Her entry is number 10, my glass is sold under Magikal Glassworks. This is what Sharon wrote about her entry. My necklace submission for the Fire Diva's Spring Challenge surrounds the MagikalGlassworks focal bead with amethyst beads, pearl and crystal dangles, and Vintaj brass components. It can be worn in any season to remind those who love spring and lilacs and purple that they will indeed arrive!

and the need to freshen things up a bit. I changed some items I had at the Driftless Market for new items I had been working on. If you are ever in the area Driftless Market is a must. They have a wonderful selection of local produce and organic items. Along with that they have a great varity of local art work. Below you can see some of my new stuff, all available at Driftless.

     

     

“Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value." Albert Einstein

Check out this wonderful site. Great color experiments and lampwork beads Mind Melt

Follow the link to the Fire Divas April challange. Don't forget to vote for your favorite April Challange

I have been making bars of soap for years now. I don't think I have had to buy soap in abot 7 years. I love the fact that I can make my soap as pure as possible. I was able to make a batch yesterday. I usually make two batches a year. Each batch makes 8lbs so 16lbs is more than we need. The soap makes great gifts also. I am getting ready for the farmers market that opens May 1st. I hope to have three different kinds for the market. Here is a basic recipe, you can add any scent or additives to this. I love to add lavender petals to this when I make lavender soap. INSTRUCTIONS FOR COLD PROCESS SOAP- BASE RECIPE I This is an easy, mild olive oil soap, good for beginners. Recipe: (Makes 8 lbs.) 24 oz. olive oil 24 oz. coconut oil 38 oz. vegetable shortening (Crisco) 12 oz. lye 32 oz. distilled water 3-4 oz. any essential or fragrance oil Equipment Needed: Scale that weighs in pounds and ounces Large one-gal. stainless steel or enamel pot (use this exclusively for soap-making

This give away is a little different than my last ones. I am giving a way the DVD Where the Wild things are . It is the Blue Ray version with the DVD and Digital copy included. This DVD has been opened and watched once. It is still in new condition. You can enter to win this DVD by answering the question below in the comments. What is your all time favorite movie and why I will pick a winner the end of next week. Thanks for looking.

Hot Trends: Jewelry Great video about Creative Soul, where I sell my jewelry. The store is in Shullsburg Wisconsin. Check out the video , you can see a large lentil necklace of mine.

This is a great way to combine two of my favorite things, recycling and beads lol. Most of use have or have seen old spice racks at garage sales. These are wonderful for storing beads and findings. The little jars are just the right size for most bead stands. Soak the empty jars in hot water or put them in the dishwasher and let them completly dry. Then fill with beads. You will be amazed what you find when you start going through your bead stash!. I found beads I purchased years ago and forgot I had lol. I collect little jars also, these are good for really small beads. Seed beads and crystals look so pretty in them. One of the great things about storing your beads this way is you can always see what you have. If you can't find any spice racks you can use old baby food jars or condiment jars. Be creative :)

I have been making soap for a couple of years now, but have never made laundry soap. Here a recipe I have heard good things about. I am going to give it a try today. Liquid Laundry Detergents ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 3 Pints Water 1/3 Bar Fels Naptha Soap, Grated 1/2 Cup Washing Soda 1/2 Cup Borax 2 Gallon Bucket 1 Quart Hot Water Cold Water Mix Fels Naptha soap in a saucepan with 3 pints of water, and heat on low until dissolved. Stir in Washing Soda and Borax. Stir until thickened, and remove from heat. Add 1 Quart Hot Water to 2 Gallon Bucket. Add soap mixture, and mix well. Fill bucket with cold water, and mix well. Set aside for 24 hours, or until mixture is gelled. Use 1/2 cup of mixture per load.

One of my children's poncho is in a Treasury on Etsy! Check it out here

    And the winner is The Prickly Pinecone said... It would have to be deep blue and turquoise. I am intrigued by the sea and those colors just have good memories! Thanks so much everyone that entered, I will be having another give away later this week.  

We don't really do Easter as a holiday.  Spending time as a family and getting the green house ready for planting is the plan for the day.  Our garden last year was a total flop, mostly do to the large amount of rain and lack of sun we got.  I hope this year is better weather wise.  We are "over" planters and usually have alot of  veggies and plants that we can't use.  I will be bringing our leftovers to the farmers market this year so they don't go to waste.  I also need to make soap this week so it has time to cure before the market opens.  Enjoy the day with what ever you do.

We decorated "spring" eggs today, and had a blast!.  This is the first time we used glitter, but I am sure it won't be the last.  The eggs where dyed first then after they dried they where "painted" with modge podge.  You can use any clear drying glue though.  After each egg was covered with glue we sprinkled glitter on it and let that dry.  Cover your work surface with newpaper because glitter gets everywhere!.  Hope you have a great weekend.

follow the link to see how to enter Bead Give Away

 I had to go to the "big" city yesterday to pick up my new glasses.  I alway try to hit my favorite stores when I am there.  While I was in Borders I saw the new magazine by Stampington & Co."Jewelry Affaire "  This is an amazing book.  There are so many ideas in this book you will be busy for months!.  It looks to me like each project has a tools and material list along with a step by step.  I am going to work on a couple this weekend and will post pictures next week. 

The Bead Divas along with trying new creative ideas are getting into shape too.  We started walking this week, most days we cover over 4 miles.  Luckly we live in a beautiful area that is very hilly.  That makes for a wonderful workout, and it's free!  Most of us work from home so the workout is also a great time to socialize and share ideas.  Tuesday we walked in Galena and stoped by Jess's newly organized studio.  I loved all of her creative ways to store things.  Feeling very motivated I went home and organized all of my beads.  It is so much easier to design when you can find what you are looking for.  Not to mention you "find" alot of thing you forgot you had ! Yesterday we walked by my house in the country 4.4 miles of beautiful country roads.  We took the dogs with us and even picked up a dog along the way.  He finished our walk with us too.  I hope with the warm weather you get outside and enjoy it.  Nature is also a great inspriation for jewelry. 

Bead Give Away you have till the end of the week to enter :)