Happy Halloween!

I didn't make many Halloween-themed beads this year--a few spiders and candy corn, but that was it. However, many other beadmakers did, including some of the amazingly talented Southern Flames beadmakers.

You can see their work here, at Flame Tree Glass's Halloween Contest page. There's information on the main pane, and on the left there are two .pdf files with pictures of the entries. All I can say is WOW, WOW, WOW! at the imagination, creativity, and quality. These people went ALL OUT. Puts my candy corn in the shade, for sure --- but I'm in awe!

Some of my favorites: The Trick or Treaters, by Marcy Lamberson:

Raven's Last Temptation, by Koi Creek Beads


In sculpture, there's Stephanie White's Graveyard:



And a phenomenal boro life-size skeleton by Doug:



Go over to Flame Tree and look at ALL the entries -- they're beyond incredible.

Happy Fourth of July!!

Whatever your plans are for today -- just taking the day off and watching fireworks on the tube, going out to your neighborhood picnic, spending time with family and friends -- I hope you have a wonderful day with it! I am going to my friend Esther's house for our annual pool party. Swimming, mmmm!! Esther is in her eighties and still folk dancing, gardening, swimming, and just being an all-around wonderful person. After that, I am going to hit the Decatur fireworks festival, as usual.

For your daily dose of fantastic eye-candy, check out this treasury of LEST members' red, white, and blue items!