It's been quite awhile since my last post.   Journaling is something I have to work at!
 
In my post from 2014,  I talked about my daughter's wedding gown.   I've attached some photos.
This gown was a custom design, hand-made by my good friend, Karen Lukianoff for my daughter, Aliisa.   It is awesome!  

My daughter is seeing her dress put together for the first time.    Still more fittings and alterations were to come.   At this point, most of the beading on the lace was done.

 My long time hair stylist, Peggy, doing a trial hairdo with veil prior to the wedding

 The day we received the bridal veil in the mail from Spain!   The groom's aunt made this for Aliisa.  She has a bridal business in Spain.

More details of the veil.   We didn't quite know what it was going to look like, especially the length!  It is beautiful!!

 The tiara I made for Aliisa.   She gave me an idea for what she would like...more like a headband than a crown.  Crystals and pearls.   Looked great in her hair after the veil was removed at the reception.

 Karen at her kitchen table working on the dress.  The dress took over part of the living room and part of the dining room for weeks!

 Bustling the gown and figuring out where the hidden buttons would be.

at work in my "studio" on the brooch bouquet.   Mostly vintage rhinestone brooches I have been collecting for years.   Some brooches from both of Aliisa's grandmothers.   This was a surprise I made for my daughter.  My first time making one of these, but I knew that I wanted to make this for her big day!

 You can see a little of the sparkle of the beads on the dress.   Myself and a group of my Beady buddies worked on sewing 3mm crystal roundels on the lace of the dress.   Karen did the heavy beading on the top of the dress.   We had about a month to work on the beading.   Karen gave us lace panels of the skirt to work on.

 The first time, during alterations, that the veil and gown met up.

 Bridesmaid jewelry I made.   I forgot to take a picture of the Bride's jewelry I made!  I made Aliisa, crystal drop earrings and a pearl and crystal beaded bangle bracelet.

 This velveteen cape with crystal closure, was also made by the Aunt in Spain.

 The wedding was on Jan. 4th, and our church, Christ Our Savior Lutheran Church in Livonia, MI, was still beautifully decorated from Christmas!

 The completed Brooch Bouquet, with pics of the 2 Grandmothers attached!

2014 -What a year this is turning out to be!

Aliisa and Jesus are expecting their 1st child in Oct.!!  My son Jake proposed to his girlfriend 2 weeks ago, they are looking at dates next year -- May or June.  
Just talked with my daughter, they are in Italy right now.  My son-in-law is presenting his research at a conference.   They will visit Venice tomorrow then they are home Tuesday and I arrive on Friday to visit for 2 weeks.
I should be packing instead of writing on this blog - lol!
I'm still trying to figure out how to punch up the looks of this blog....

Oh well, I would rather be working on some of my jewelry pieces.   My friend Cindi B. and I have been busy working with our Bronze clay & learning as we go.  
I still had a package of PMC3 that was workable, so I used up the clay with some small charms and 2 rings.   Just pulled the silver out of the tumbler and it looks awesome.   Next out of the tumbler are the Bronze discs to use with the Diane Sepanski style lampwork headpins.  And also made some discs with Copper clay, they haven't been fired yet.  The silver looks so cool but is the most EXPENSIVE!
I have some that has to be rehydrated.   I feel bad that I let that happen....
Also, I'm working each night on my Sherri Serafini  raku heart pendant piece!!  I love this piece and I feel addicted right now to seed bead work, especially Sherri's kits ---so gorgeous.   This was from a class 2 years ago.   About time to get it finished up haha

Ok -- so I better get off this blog and do some packing....or maybe some seed bead work first or .......
Till next time, then I'll figure out to add photos to this blog.

The wedding has happened!!  Yay, what a great and glorious day it was!   The bridesmaids dresses were gorgeous, dark red and looked wonderful on all 5 of the girls.
Aliisa's dress was custom made by my friend Karen.    She has made over 20 wedding dresses in her years since college (and studying dress design).   Karen made the offer to Aliisa and she immediately said yes, she'd love that.   It was a wonderful experiance for all of us.
I'll do a special post about it with pictures.

Well, that didn't go as planned.   Last Post in January??  I said I would commit to once a week!  HAHA

It looks like Spring has arrived in the Detroit area!  YAY!   It's a heat wave out there.   60 deg. maybe??    and a blue sky day on top of that!   Must get off the laptop and get outside.....

Quandary of the day -- when do hummingbirds start make an appearance in this area?  and why is my lil' feeder dripping,  must investigate this.

Still planning "our" wedding.  Settled on the Hall, Photographer, videographer, Band --whew.   Now just need to keep track of when all the payments are due : )
Still talking about Dresses, veils, shoes, jewelry, b'maid dresses, bouquets, showers, etc. etc.......so much thinking to do!

OK that's it!  Gotta get outside...

Well, pooh!   who knew that the deadline for sign up was by midnite EST!   I'm in Central time zone.
Oh well.  I guess I need to stick to Glass Act challenges.

Are posts like a journal entry?  A diary?   hmmm,  how often should I post?  I'll commit to, at minimum, once a week.   More posts if 's I feel inclined.

Spoke to the bride-to-be, Aliisa, today.  2 hrs.45min.  
We're still hall searching.   Truthfully though everyone likes the looks of Dearborn Inn.
We're discussing, Bridal gowns, Bridesmaid dresses, Brides Bouquet, Bridal jewelryl  Monica's wedding details,  Lyndsey's wedding date, Tuxedo's, M.O.B. dresses, etc etc, etc........

Must figure out how to spruce up my  blog page.

1st post

OK, I'm going to do this!   The Bead Soup project has spurred me on to start a blog.  I have read about this challenge in past years and thought that it looked like such a cool idea.   So I'm jumping in.... cuz it looks like you have to have a blog to be part of the challenge.
Does this mean I have to understand all about Blogs and how to put one together??    Well, I don't know that much about starting one up, I'll just stumble through it & learn as I go.
What do I want on this blog?   My ramblings about making jewelry, making lampwork beads, learning metalsmithing and all the good people I have met and made friends with on this artful journey.
My love of photography and taking a gazillion pictures of patient family members and every beautiful outdoor/indoor scene I think is wonderful.   I always carry my point & shoot digital with me.   A picture is worth a thousand words -- so true.
The busy life of a "retired person"  haha
And best of all,,,helping my daughter plan for her upcoming wedding, a year from now!   What fun we'll have!  I'm the field Rep. as she lives in Spain...see where the camera comes in?
So this is the first post!   Tomorrow I'll register to join the Bead Soup challenge.