It's June 30th and it is HOT, HOT, HOT

Speaking of HOT: I spent last Thursday at my oldest nieces house and played with her and her two daughters, my grand-nieces! What a fun day. I ask Karmen the 5 year old, if she would write a note to her mother on the top of some origami paper and I would make the words into beads to make a necklace for her mother. Karmen wrote: / I love / you / Mom / from / Karmen / age 5 / - six beads in all and made them into the necklace on the right above. My niece wanted it to match a brown and green ring she has. Imagine wearing this necklace when Karmen is a Mother herself and remembering the sweet girl struggling to write her best and her smallest for her Mom!

Karmen wanted a necklace also so the blue on the left is hers. She wrote, 'My favorite things are, Mac n' cheese, cats and dogs, playing, drawing, nintendo, my bike, Ava (her little sister), and blue! It made 14 beads in all and of course I had to put everything blue into the necklace - blue dogs and cats, frog, hearts. Again, all in Karmens own handwriting that can be viewed and worn for years and years. I have made beads out of maps, book covers, magazines, sheet music, love notes, tissue paper, wall paper, scrap cloth - if there is anything you have that you'd like to see put into a necklace, leave a comment and email address and I'll get right back to you!

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The People's Market last Sunday was great! A lot more vendors and a lot more visitors. It was fun. The pleasant morning temperature, however, soon faded into a roasting oven, but by about 2:00pm the breezes kicked in and it didn't feel quite as bad. I love meeting all the people and seeing everyone's ideas. You really ought to come out and have a look. And thanks to the young girl, whose name I have forgotten, for that wonderful acapella song she sang at the end of the day - It gave me goose bumps! Next life I want to come back as a singer!

New hint from this week:

"Quilling! What in the world is that", I said. One girl suggested I look it up on the internet and try it because that was the next thing I would probably get into since I do all those paper beads!

So does anyone out there have any suggestions of a good place to go to learn quilling? I looked at some pictures of quilling but need more information, inspiration and lessons!

June 22 People's Market

Well, this market day was rather slow. But still I would rather sit 5 hours outdoors in beautiful weather selling and watching people than be indoors all day! The weather was spectacular. This first picture is a surprise picture taken by my husband as I was setting up in the morning. The wishing wells to my left belonged to the only other people there before me. And no, I did not wear the hat all day long! I tried an experiment and just laid out a few necklaces but all of the earrings I had on hand. I thought more people would buy them because of the lower price for a little souvenir for the day and because of all the young girls that come to the market. Did it work? No, not really. The earring themselves didn't seem to draw people to well...

But next week I will have 4th of July themed items and mostly bracelets. I think bracelets along with the paper bead necklaces will be the highest selling because of the prices and uniqueness, but we will see! I am definitely learning! The 2nd picture is of my point-of-view from under my canopy out to the center of the market. It is near the end of the day so people are sparse.

The park is so beautiful because of all the very old, huge trees. Just a few steps to the west of the market location is the entrance into the Peace Gardens. The walk through the Peace Gardens should be part of everyone's Sunday morning reflections!

Interesting happenings of the day:

I had one lady come to my booth who, after looking at the paper beads, said that she had just been to a wedding in Green River, Wyoming about a week ago and someone had given the bride a necklace made out of a map of Wyoming. She said it was so beautiful and maybe I should try something like that. I said, "I made that necklace!" I then asked, "Did you see it close and see I cut it so that some of the names of cities and such showed up on the beads and that it was five strands twisted together?" She said "YES, that was so clever"!

My cohort at work gave me a map of Wyoming asking me to make that necklace for him to give to his girlfriend because she was moving from Wyoming to Utah. When he came to get it he said he was in a hurry because he and his girlfriend were on their way to a wedding in Green River, Wyoming!!! Now what are the chances of having that happen? But now I just need to ask him about which girlfriend got the necklace... OR did he get married????

Anyway, I also want to say thanks to the brave man who said I looked 42 years old! It's pretty sad when that is a really exaggerated compliment! And actually his dog liked me the most!

Well, I'm off to make some 4th of July bracelets - catch you next time!

My Own Roses!

Terry took this from in front of our house early this morning. I love my house!

recycled materials beads by Bowenwright

First Day at "People's Market" Fair

How cool is it to spend a beautiful Sunday morning at the International Peace Gardens in downtown Salt Lake City, meeting new people, selling your own handmade treasures! I had a great time and very much look forward to more Sunday mornings that are just as wonderful. I had almost forgotten how restful and comforting shade is from a huge tree in a well maintained park! The old swimming pool is now a skate boarding thingy - I don't know what those cement whoop-dee-doos are called.
One client will be emailing me a list a typed family names. She wants me to make each name into a paper bead and then string it for a new Bride! What a cool idea. If I remember to put new batteries into my camera I'll take pictures of the necklace and of the People's Market next Sunday.
I hope everyone had a wonderful Father's Day! Aren't men who let their wives buy jewelry for that one rich aunt in Connecticut who has everything except a handmade paper necklace wonderful! Yes, they are! And what a wonderful one-of-a-kind present that makes because no two necklaces are ever exactly alike!

I have several new listings on my eBay store page. Hit the link on the left side of this Blog and see what is selling now.

Hint for Today: One hint I learned last Sunday from a lady who used to teach senior citizens how to make paper beads, is to use a knitting needle to roll the beads onto. Don't start gluing until you are near the end then the bead will slip easily off of the needle. The hole through the bead is a bit larger but much more easy on older, stiff fingers!

Sunday the 22nd will be "Earring Day". I'll bring a hundred, or so, earrings for the People's Market along with a few paper beads like the ever famous "junk mail bead" necklaces! See you there!

Yes, my LAST Summer Vacation!!!!

This is important to note that to an "about to retire" teacher, the last summer vacation is very monumental! Not nearly as important as Karmen learning how to ride a bike (way to go Karmen, your Mother was WAY older before she could ride a bike - but your Dad was just 2 years old when he did!), not nearly important as Brikell getting baptized (WOW does she looks SPECTACULAR in that beautiful white dress or what! - those good looks are obviously from MY side of the family!), not nearly as important as my finally getting to meet my newest grand-niece, Brooklyn last Saturday, but none-the-less important to mark a final summer vacation!
The first week of vacation I spent at home, SICK, with the stomach flu - 3 days of agony! But, I also got to see my niece, Lisa and see that her surgery has made her look so healthy and I got to visit with my own aunt Lois and Uncle Evan in Logan, Utah.
Terry and I had to go for a cheese run. If any of you out there have never had Gossner's Cheese, you are really missing out on a heck of a deal! We have a yearly trek to Gossner's on 10th North and about... 900 west, I believe, there in Logan. Some of the cheese is economy priced and you can really save a lot of money. We take a cooler and fill it up! $50.00 worth of cheese and we could hardly lift the cooler. We freeze the cheese (goes a bit crumbly but still cooks the same as fresh). Anyway that was out goal last Monday and we had the added bonus of seeing Aunt Lois and Uncle Ev. Brad even came by while we were there (he is getting old but I'm sure not!) - how great to see them all. They were a big part of my life when I started school at USU! I couldn't have gone to college if they hadn't offered me free room and board my first year! I'll never be able to repay that!
And the added bonus of using only about $2.00 worth of gas in our new Honda Civic natural gas car!! Yes, that's all!
I went to Richfield on Saturday to see my father and it cost a little over $3.00! I LOVE THIS CAR! Right now Honda is the only company who makes a natural gas car (only a Honda Civic) and Ken Garff is the only dealer in Utah currently who sells them and the only salesman at Ken Garff's who sells them is Ron Brown - tell him I sent you! Only $500.00 down and wait your turn!
Today, Monday the 9th of June (2nd week of my last summer vacation) Terry and I went up as far as we could go to Mirror Lake. Holy Cow you should have seen how much snow there still is up there - where in the world was my camera? We couldn't get beyond the road up and around Mt. Baldy (the road was still closed beyond that point) - some of the drifts they had to cut through to clear the road were probably at least 7 ft. tall! The road down to Mirror Lake itself, is still completely covered in snow, no attempt has been made to clear that road at all, Lost Lake was just barely beginning to thaw!
I just heard on the news that we may get snow in the mountains again tomorrow night or Wednesday night! Weird. But as I reminded Terry, the summer of 1975, I was hired again as a firefighter for the BLM in the Richfield area and it was so cool and rainy that spring that I didn't report to work until well into the middle of June. But because of all the rain, the fire season later that year was pretty bad! So, will this summer be "wet and hot" or "dry and hot"???? I just want to put my prediction out there for everyone to make fun of .... I predict Wetter and Hotter here in Northern Utah, and Dryer and Hotter in central and Southern Utah. I think there is a Nobel Prize in this prediction!!!
Well, I have a whole load of paper beads from recycled junk mail, brochures, and magazines and old maps that I lacquered tonight and tomorrow I'll get them made into necklaces. I start the People's Market Fair this Sunday! See you there!